A bit late.

Song is really good in the second half

Jeez the first two minutes are so lame

Best single yet, Mikael going back to the intricate riffs

The solo is one of Fredrik's best. Totally legit stuff.
But man that riff in the verse is boring af

Good news by geofftatortott: udderrated and certified sputnikker (def not geoff tate).

What is it with Opeth having terrible intros as of late

Yeah the intro is the worst. The transitions and outros are also very lazy.

This band did Blackwater Park...

Good sang

Best single so far.

By far

The outro was the only good part really

How do they fuck up this bad after striking gold with Heritage. It honestly baffles me to no end

Heritage is so good

Barring Ghost Reveries, its their best post Candlelight record.

And I believe that FIRMLY

It's a 5 for sure man

shit

pretty wack

so they still ripping off king crimson?

riff is fucking awful tho

I wouldn't call Heritage striking gold.

Heritage was good, obviously it was no BWP but it was solid.

Heritage was more like striking a cavernous tunnel ten miles below ground and digging the hole deeper with pan flutes, synthesizer farts, and wicked shredding, dude, solos until the whole cave system collapsed in on itself and killed the entire excavation crew.

After listening to these new Sorceress songs, Heritage sounds like old school Opeth

"I wouldn't call Heritage striking gold."

Bruh

Solo rules

"Heritage was more like striking a cavernous tunnel ten miles below ground and digging the hole deeper with pan flutes, synthesizer farts, and wicked shredding, dude, solos until the whole cave system collapsed in on itself and killed the entire excavation crew."

didnt that happen in Brazil a couple of years ago

2soon

notsoonenough.
I stole the album like a champ and let me tell u some stuff.
Title track and into to Strange Brew (the rest comes out of nowhere and just ruins it, good drumming tho) have a damnation vibe for sure. Once again, Frederick is the star of the show here, he is the best addition to the band.
I do not miss the growls but I think the singing here is just too much, like Mike wants it to sound as *70's* as possible.

listen to bloodbath- resurrection through carnage instead tbh

"Heritage was more like striking a cavernous tunnel ten miles below ground and digging the hole deeper with pan flutes, synthesizer farts, and wicked shredding, dude, solos until the whole cave system collapsed in on itself and killed the entire excavation crew."

Audible laughter

Heritage is in the higher half of my Opeth ranking easily

Song's sweet. Not amazing but I keep coming back to it

First few minutes are phenomenally bad

Am I the only one that doesn't mind the first few minutes? I think the song is solid as a whole. You're all being picky choads.

lol what the fuck is this? That riff is godawful.

well, it certainly got better as it went on! still like the Jethro Tull-esque single most. actually I love it.

more like NOpeth

hahaaha

the three singles overall 4/5

second half is good at least yea

This song is one of the best ones in the album.

the beginning is lame but the rest of the song rules

What are you guys on about? The beginning is pretty good. Nice vocal harmonies.

Also, this is probably one of the top 3 tracks on the album

Some cool riffs on this one. Very Opethian at times. Nice to hear a solid guitar solo too, dude can def shred.

Heritage is their worst, IMO. Pale Communion is one of my favorites from them.. Sorceress is a slightly better than Heritage, but doesn't come close to Pale Communion

was it released in 1971 ?

Yeah, heritage is easily the weakest and least focused of the three newest. It's clear they were just trying to find their new sound

I've never listened to any Opeth before and I can say guys that you're being picky about the intro, it's fine. This song is quite enjoyable

heritage is easily the best of the 3, it's no contest

Heritage is without a doubt the best of the 3 yeah [based on what I've heard of the new one at least]. I can kinda see why Opeth fans might not dig Heritage as much as the safer and less adventurous PC but for me there really is no contest.

Heritage > Sorceress > Pale Communion, anyone knows that.

Heritage was more like striking a cavernous tunnel ten miles below ground and digging the hole deeper with pan flutes, synthesizer farts, and wicked shredding, dude, solos until the whole cave system collapsed in on itself and killed the entire excavation crew. [2]

This wouldn't be bad if it wasn't intentionally crafted to mimic other artists and as much as possible. Why couldn't 70s prog be left to die a dignified death?

^^That doesn't describe Heritage at all lmao.

Your first post that is. I presume the latter is purely about this single.

Oh wait nevermind just seen that Underflow said it originally. He hasn't even heard Heritage (clearly).

About 4 mins of 70s prog wank and 2 mins of Opeth.

Really want to like this but... :[

bloodbath- resurrection through carnage guys!

2.5
The fanboy struggle is real.

Mikael's starting to sound really bored of his own music.

Fredrik's solos have been abysmal. I'll never understand why Mike hired a metal shredder guitar player only to get bored of metal one album later.

"I'll never understand why Mike hired a metal shredder guitar player only to get bored of metal one album later."

Haha this is a good point. I don't find his solos abysmal but that is really odd.

I can only imagine Fredrik's disappointment when he was told that Opeth would stray from metal right after being hired.

Underflow: He is a fantastic guitarist, imagine another blues player bending his way through this. Would literally be 70's worship through and through.
Blues playing was still quite popular in the 70's but Fredrik brings a Blackmore influence (always a good thing, Richie is a fucking beast) and it makes this stuff at least bearable.

Fredrik is a great player and I always enjoy his solos. He'd probabky be better suited to metal, but he does a great job in this new Opeth.

He's a good guitarist in another band, sure, but his playing style doesn't suit the band at all.

You're off your head mate. Fredrik's guitar playing is fantastic on Sorceress. It really isn't a bad album at all, 3.5/5 for me so far. If anyone else but Opeth made it then it wouldn't come under half as much nit picking scrutiny.

new album is decent, a 3 at most tbh

" If anyone else but Opeth made it then it wouldn't come under half as much nit picking scrutiny."

Mostly because Opeth fans wouldn't listen to it.

Better than the first two singles. Still a bit underwhelming though.

Ugh, that production is so muddy.

You guys do realize that Akerfeldt ripping off 70s prog bands isn't a new thing right? He's been doing that for two decades.

They didn't mind it when he growled as well.

He might have been ripping off the style but they were still fusing it with metal and making a cool original sound. This is straight 70s cover band level sound at times.

@Eakflanderyof, no fucking shit m8.
Everyone knows Mike loves his 70's prog and in the past he has infused it into their sound, no arguments there. The problem I have with the stuff post-heritge is that there is nothing of the "old" Opeth to be found, not just in terms of Metal but what made them actually unique. Damnation was an example of Opeth and 70's prog meeting each other in the middle. The weird notes and scales Opeth loved to use, mixed with the blues and slightly jazzy leaning of prog.
Now we just have Steven Wilson style Dad Rock revival. It was done much better in the 70's by bands on a lot more acid.
No need to forsake who they are just to indulge mikes "I wish I was a band alive in the 70's" mindset.

At the end of the day, if Mike doesn't want to scream or make metal, fine. But putting a group of talented musicians like Opeth together to make music that is stuck in a bygone era seems like such a waste of talent to me.
We all know they can play their asses off an make original music, perhaps Mike needs to loosen the reins a bit but who knows, maybe they will continue like this for the foreseeable future?

Watershed could be completely growl-free and it would still be a superior album. Listen and compare.
It's more inventive, original and satisfying than the last 3.

Watershed was fantastic. That's what I mean by it meets somewhere in the middle in terms of their older sound the proggier stuff.
Don't know how heir apparent would sound without growls. Maybe just have it as an instrumental.

Weakest Opeth album to date 3/5. Heritage was incredible prog, PC was good, and now this is seriously average. Those chug chug riffs are not what you want to hear from Opeth. Oh well who can blame them after releasing 11 albums of pure magic

Everyone hated watershed when it came out for a lot of the same reasons people say now but I agree that watershed is awesome.

I would also agree that damnation is their finest prog rock album

its orite

"I would also agree that damnation is their finest prog rock album"

damnation is becoming THE example of what they should've been doing after watershed. still feels like opeth with excellent songwriting...their new stuff is ok but holy shit is it tiresome

as ive said before damnation was more of an experiment than an overall change in sound

heritage should have been a once off

Damnation is quite possibly their most well written album period even though it's not my favorite. I think the main problem now is their lack of focus. It sounds like they're still trying to find their footing with their new sound

"Watershed could be completely growl-free and it would still be a superior album. Listen and compare. It's more inventive, original and satisfying than the last 3."

All of the songs without growls on Watershed are far less inventive than most of the songs on Heritage. The only songs where your latter statement might actually ring true to some extent are The Lotus Eater and Hessian Peel.

This is song is so appallingly bad. Don't know if I have the heart to listen to the record.

Inventive and heritage don't go together for me Jamie mate. There is nothing truly unique on Heritage IMO (that was the aim, but it fell flat). I disagree that it's all rip off of other 70s prog bands, but what they aimed to achieve on that record missed the mark by miles. Transitions in songs like Famine, I feel the dark and Haxprocess were very weak.
This is coming from someone that loves the record, but not for its inventiveness.

Hessian Peel blows the entire album away on its own when it comes to creativity.

Heritage is better than Watershed even with the growls

@Buttery: Inventive does not necessarily mean it has a truly unique sound. Heritage was musically inventive and adventurous for Opeth, more so than most of the songs on Watershed, bar the two I mentioned as exceptions. I stand by that.

That's what I mean though. Nothing on Heritage was musically adventurous. Unless you mean musically adventurous for Opeth? I personally find the heavier songs on Watershed to be among their best. Heir Apparent for example is incredible and a perfect blend of metal and prog - that to me is inventive.

I do mean musically adventurous for Opeth yes but also generally (at least within the constraints of what they were going for). There was sense of adventure to how they approached the album in terms of instrumentation and composition.

The only song on heritage that I thought was worth a damn really was haxprocess

Me and you clearly differ there. With regards to your comments on Damnation I think very little of that album is worth a damn (no pun intended) and I don't really think it's well written at all and I find a lot of the songs incredibly bland.

Yeah, I could see how someone would think that. Damnation is overall a pretty safe album for opeth and not very experimental. I still do believe the songs are well written but to each their own.

I may have to give heritage another listen since all I can remember at this point is that part in haxprocess where's he's all like... moon is ridin hiiiiigh... so badass