[QUOTE=eighty d]Lyrics aren't really Opeth's strong suit. And I still maintain that GR is a fantastic album.[/QUOTE]

Opeth's lyrics are actually quite fantastic when Mike's not trying to rhyme.

[QUOTE=Moses]Just listen to the bass and drums.[/QUOTE]
Ah OK.

Yeah I saw that sometime.

Anyway, they might change that after Lopez left, with Axe and all that jazz, you know.

[QUOTE=eighty d]Lyrics aren't really Opeth's strong suit. And I still maintain that GR is a fantastic album.[/QUOTE]
You cannot deny the lyrics on damnation were quite deep and well illistrated.

[I]Damnation[/I] has good lyrics, but I still think [I]The Twilight Is My Robe[/I] is still one of their best-written songs.

I love Opeth lyrics, [I]Morningrise[/I] contains my favorite lyrics.

The lyrics on Damnation are solid gold.

[quote]I can't see the meaning of this life I'm leading
I try to forget you as you forgot me
This time there is nothing left for you to take
This is goodbye[/quote]

awesome.

It just occurred to me that it would be so funny if the next Opeth album had Behemoth vocals.

[QUOTE=Eleventeen]That's my main beef with newer Opeth.[/QUOTE]

I actually agree. I sorely miss those.

[QUOTE=hollowpainting]You cannot deny the lyrics on damnation were quite deep and well illistrated.[/QUOTE]
If I remember correctly, I believe Mikael said he sat in a room in the studio and wrote whatever b[COLOR="Black"]ul[/COLOR]l**** came to mind for both those D/D albums. S[COLOR="Black"]h[/COLOR]it, he himself will tell you that most of the lyrics are pure meaningless rubbish. Nevertheless, I enjoy his lyrics a great deal because they do paint some great beautiful pictures and atmospheres.

I however love the lyrics on GR. I mean, how can you read the lyrics to The Baying of the Hounds and not think it's awesome? They're so evil! Isolation Years is another stand out lyrical track.

A lot of the beauty of his lyrics comes naturally, because of the elequence with which he speaks. He has an awesome vocabulary and wit.

[QUOTE=eighty d]Lyrics aren't really Opeth's strong suit. And I still maintain that GR is a fantastic album.[/QUOTE]
Harlequin Forest is almost the only part of GR with really bad lyrics, and likewise most Opeth lyrics are great. Everyone picks on GR's lyrics because HF's are just SO horrible, but the whole album's lyrics are on par with any other Opeth, really.

[quote]I mean, how can you read the lyrics to The Baying of the Hounds and not think it's awesome?[/quote]
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That "his mouth is a vortex....his body is a country" part is ****-mazing.

What are you on about? I think Harlequin Forest is with Ghost of Perdition as the best song on the album, and it has great lyrics.

[QUOTE=Kage]What are you on about? I think Harlequin Forest is with Ghost of Perdition as the best song on the album, and it has great lyrics.[/QUOTE]
It just oozes cheese. I think Beneath the Mire is also kind of weak, and Atonement isn't really too great either...in fact, neither is Hours of Wealth. None of the songs are really lyrically great...except Ghost of Perdition and Baying of the Hounds, which by themselves make up for any other deficiencies the album has.

Ghost of Perdition is truly a lyrical masterpiece.

In fact, now that I think about it, those lyrics remind me of a literature short story I read. [i]Damn[/i] it, I can't think of the name. It was about a guy who couldn't get past his girlfriend dying so he kept her corpse around or something. There was more to it than that, though.

[QUOTE=eighty d]Lyrics aren't really Opeth's strong suit. And I still maintain that GR is a fantastic album.[/QUOTE]
That was stupid. Read the MAYH lyrics all the way through, as well as Still Life. Prepare to be schooled in the art of lyrics.

[QUOTE=Kage]GR didn't have MAJOR METAL RIFFAGE so it SUX DICK.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much, the amazing riffs blended with Mikaels always excellent vocals are what make Opeth, thats pretty much fact. This album had Mikaels always excellent vocals, but "DUN DUN DUN" and "CHUG CHCHCHUG" doesn't work - listen to BWP for the amazing riffing I'm talking about.

I'm only pursuing this argument because I really was disappointed with GR, and I know I'm not the only one. It's not like I really mind that this album doesn't stick with me like the others do, I just hope the future brings a better progression for the band. I won't argue anymore about this album, it's nearly been done to death in this thread.

Well it's not like I haven't heard the obviously legendary riffing on BWP. But there's more to an album than that for me. Maybe that's not so for you.

Well good riffing helps make good song writing IMO. Though you obviously can have one without the other. GOP doesn't really have any good well written riffs IMO, but the song writing was just so good that the song is now an Opeth classic. It's not one of my favorites, but noone can deny that the song is anything short of amazing just because of the structure and sheer vocal emotion.

I disagree. Riffs are a big part of why I dislike alot of metal.

[QUOTE=Moses]I disagree. Riffs are a big part of why I dislike alot of metal.[/QUOTE]

Riffs are just as good as chords for me. Thats why all my songs contain both, well, most do. Ideally the vast majority of my songs would have a good riff in them to make them stand out. Either that or an interesting arpeggio'd chord progression or two.

That said, songs arn't all about the riffs, damnit.

It's just a really uninteresting and stupid idea to me. It's like every band on the face of the earth has to have a repeating guitar part in every song. Like there's no other way to make a song. Go talk to mister Beethoven for a bit, Opeth.

Atonement sounds JUST like Porcupine Tree.

Steve Wilson influence d'ya think?

[QUOTE=Clunge]Atonement sounds JUST like Porcupine Tree.

Steve Wilson influence d'ya think?[/QUOTE]

I only just realised that it sounded like PT when you said. It really does doesn't it?

[QUOTE=Moses]It's just a really uninteresting and stupid idea to me. It's like every band on the face of the earth has to have a repeating guitar part in every song. Like there's no other way to make a song. Go talk to mister Beethoven for a bit, Opeth.[/QUOTE]
...are you kidding man? Nothings wrong with haveing some riff based songs. Opeth never does only like 3 riffs repeated throughout a whole song, you've picked the wrong band to say that about. Opeth always blend wonderfull riffs/leads with dissonant, heavy chords (The Drapery Falls). Just because a riff in the intro shows itself at the end of the song (often 6-8 minutes later) doesn't meen the band is uninteresting and stupid.

[QUOTE=Darkness]...are you kidding man? Nothings wrong with haveing some riff based songs. Opeth never does only like 3 riffs repeated throughout a whole song, you've picked the wrong band to say that about. Opeth always blend wonderfull riffs/leads with dissonant, heavy chords (The Drapery Falls). Just because a riff in the intro shows itself at the end of the song (often 6-8 minutes later) doesn't meen the band is uninteresting and stupid.[/QUOTE]
Of course Opeth probably has the best usage of riffs than any other metal band, which is probably because they are [B]the best[/B] metal band, but I'm saying the whole entire idea of riffs in music at all was a bad idea. Classical composers laugh at the idea of "riffs". I don't laugh I just think it oversimplifies things.

/getting *** kicked by Wreath.

*riffs Moses's head off*

I like when kids who don't know anything about music criticize Opeth:

'Their riffs are gay, it's like they threw a bunch of notes together to sound hard.'

I'd rather hear that instead of "They are emo. 'Waah, my girlfriend'"

At least the riff argument is somewhat subjective, but give me any "Waah, my girlfriend" in Opeth, other than maybe parts of Still Life, but that's part of a story so it's acceptable. And it isn't exactly whining.

[QUOTE=pate]I'd rather hear that instead of "They are emo. 'Waah, my girlfriend'"

At least the riff argument is somewhat subjective, but give me any "Waah, my girlfriend" in Opeth, other than maybe parts of Still Life, but that's part of a story so it's acceptable. And it isn't exactly whining.[/QUOTE]
Believe it or not I've heard that before. The guy that I heard it from is a big Devildriver fan so I wouldn't expect him to have a very high IQ or anything like that though.

I agree with Moses on this matter.

[QUOTE=Kage]Ghost of Perdition is truly a lyrical masterpiece.

In fact, now that I think about it, those lyrics remind me of a literature short story I read. [i]Damn[/i] it, I can't think of the name. It was about a guy who couldn't get past his girlfriend dying so he kept her corpse around or something. There was more to it than that, though.[/QUOTE]

You mean the movie Psycho?

Or wait, that was the dude's mom, huh. :p

Anyways, I agree with you that Ghost of Perdition and Harlequin Forest are the best tracks on GR. My least favorite is probably The Grand Conjuration. The last 3 minutes are so meaningless. It would be so much more powerful if Opeth would have just ended the track after the intro riff was played again. Ugh.

Oh, and regaring Atonement sounding like Porcupine Tree - Maybe. [i]Maybe[/i] I can heard the main 'riff' in a Porcupine Tree song, but other than that, there are no similarities. The atmosphere isn't even close, the bass is extremely un-Colin...You guys need to listen to more PT. :p

[QUOTE=Moses]Just listen to the bass and drums.[/QUOTE]
Not to mention Mikael's guitarplaying and tone.

Anyways, I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about. Some of my favorite Opeth riffs are from GR - the climactic stop/start one on Ghost of Perdition ("Ghost of Perdiiiiiittttiiiioooon") is a great example.

I've heard alot of criticisms of GR that are just plain silly. For example, "Too many repeated riffs" is a fairly ironic thing to say, considering that the album probably has the LEAST amount of repetitions compared to previous albums. That, actually, is my one major complaint with GR. The repetition and development in the older songs tended to give them a bit more...breathing room. With GR, I feel like the band was trying to cram too many ideas onto one record - they almost could have done another D/D type thing with the amount of material on it.

I still think that it's a solid as hell album, though. You guys who are complaining about the lack of fingerpicked guitaring need to seriously get over that. Yeah, it's cool...but they've already put out 7 albums chock full of it. If they started forcing those kinds of parts onto the music, it would sound horribly contrived..."oh, the fans want us to do this, better find a way of making it work or else the album won't sell!" :rolleyes: