RedHawk wrote:
Alright... I know ive already commented but ive been listening to these two tracks several times and my opinion is quite different from most of you here.
Now ive been an Opeth fan for a VERY long time now (I started listening to them in the mid-90s). I have all their albums and I still listen to them on a regular basis. My two personal favorite albums are Moringrise and Blackwater Park and honestly I even loved their slower tempo songs on Damnation.
Now in my opinion Ghost Reveries step in the wrong direction. Dont get me wrong! Its still an excellent album....and I would definitely rate it highly. But it is no way near as perfect as their older material. I miss the spark their music had prior to Deliverance. Whenever I listen to Ghost Reveries and then play Moringrise I notice an obvious dullness to their sound in the former(at least to my ears).
I know bands "evolve" and change their sound but to me this isnt what I would call an improvement. And from what I heard on the two songs from "Watershed" it seems to be going in the same direction Ghost Reveries did. I feel the unique sound of Opeth is gradually disappearing and we get this new death jazzy sound. Its still great stuff...but not as special as their older material.
Anyway just my two cents.....
IMO Ghost Reveries was a very good idea in principle; a lot of the elements they added were ones that went well with their sound. The problem was the songs weren't as good or inventive as I would want to hear from Opeth.
I like these songs a lot because they incorporate the elements that I thought were a good idea and make them work better. Maybe because whatsisname on the keyboard has settled in more, perhaps, or because Mikael was feeling more inspired.
On the GR tour I thought it was funny how the keyboard actually sounded better on the older songs, that they had just had to hurriedly write a keyboard part into, than the newer ones where they'd written it with the keyboard in mind.