Metal Reviews

Sounds good to me.

Arguing with you is impossible. I wish I was your brother, I could sit on your head and shut you up.

Oh brother, then I would just stab you in the spine.



...

Wink.

You don't know how much I weigh...

How much?

:roll: :roll:




and for good measure

Opeth aren't supposed to be about technicality, so yes, DM I would join with you in disagreeing with anyone who hypes them up on "musical ability" alone.

Of course, the reason some people feel so vehemently anti-Opeth lies in the fact that they are hailed so ubiquitously as the most unique, progressive band on the planet by the mainstream "metal" press. But to me their music is truly beautiful, regardless of how justified those rags may or may not be. Why? Precisely because of the meandering qualities which I suspect form one of your main objections. I do not feel that focus is a necessity in music.

It would be different if the territories meandered to were left only partially explored- but this is rarely the case. The ideas Opeth attempt they usually pull off expertly. Listen to Benighted or Credence... The metal bands (in fact, bands period) that are capable of constructing prog-rock influenced acoustic pieces of this calibre are few and far between. When they want to be heavy, they can be wonderfully so... Listen to the end segment of Deliverance for something that can crush you with sonic weight, but at the same time be mesmerizing, and almost psychedelic. And finally, the breakdown into the bluesy folk riff in Demon of the Fall and its subsequent build up is porbably my favourite musical moment ever. *SMILEY FACE*

It is in long pieces. Long pieces without any focus are largely boring.



Is this going to turn into another sixteen-page Opeth argument?

Deliverance is a terrible album, through and through, even by Opeth standards. The breakdowns are cheesy and syncopated, and they play the riffs for far too long. There is no 'sonic weight' at the end of Deliverance, only boring melodeath-y riffs played at a slightly louder volume then they were for the ten minutes previously. If I punched you for ten minutes straight, and then punched you just a bit harder your resistance would've been built up to a certain point and then stopped, so you'd be surprised.

Demon of the Fall is a decent song, nothing more. It's still irritatingly jarring and they still don't know how to really write a decent riff.

They are a sequence of ideas. A sequence of ideas does not need a unifying focus, so long as those ideas are all relatively interesting. (Of course, I can guess what your answer will be to that, so perhaps it's best if we stop here).



I meant the track Deliverance, not the album. Because I am sure we can agree that the last few minutes of the track is not melodeath as you have described. I do agree that as a whole entity Deliverance is their weakest album.

We certainly don't need another 16 page argument, so I'm content to let it lie. I don't see whats jarring about Demon of the Fall, but I suppose that our opinions are, as ever, irreconcilable.

That's for certain.



Ah, I see. The last few minutes of the track Deliverance isn't melodeath, but it is amazingly boring. The juxtaposition of sonic weight and beauty... Pelican, Isis, Neurosis, Cult of Luna and other bands all do it better.



Opeth never figured out how to write a decent mood change into a song without throwing off the listener entirely, is what I mean.

Yeah, it seems that way.

Well that's that.

Honestly, I really don't care much for Isis, Cult of Luna... Neurosis... This entire area is one that I find very uninspiring for some reason.For me, those are the bands that receive truly misplaced critical acclaim. That's another debate entirely, though.

Farewell forever, Opeth related arguments!

What of Pelican? I noticed you excluding them. But seriously, how can you say that OPETH capture sonic beauty well and then ignore Pelican? It's like saying that Big Macs taste great and then hating Filet Mignon.

Madness.

Yeah, I bid them farewell as well.

Three tracks you should hear:

Isis - The Beginning And The End (from Oceanic)
Cult Of Luna - Leave Me Here (from Salvation)
Neurosis - Stones From The Sky (from A Sun That Never Sets)

Especially the COL track.

I excluded Pelican because I like them a bit more than the others. Actually, to be fair, I vastly prefer Neurosis to the other two as well. But I included them because I still feel they are significantly overrated.

Before dissing Neurosis, bear in mind that you admitted to liking Slipknot. And check out the tracks I mentioned above.

I bought Oceanic a few years back- when I was a Patton fanboy, because they were on Ipecac. But anyway, this is a record I find it extremely hard to get into, and virtually never listen to- Despite attempts to enjoy it on several different occasions over the time I've owned it.

"Leave me Here"? Was that the single that got heavy MTV2 rotation? Similar to ISIS really, although I never owned a CoL album. Kinda slow, weighty riffing- But if it's slowness and weighty atmosphere I'm after, I usually tend to veer much closer to the Black end of the doom spectrum.

I also own "A sun that never sets". To be fair, I do like Neurosis. I think they're well worth a spin when the time is right. Really, I just find that certain sources tend to vastly over rate them. that's really the only reason I included them on my list of dislikes.

Slander!

I admitted to liking a few tracks from their S/T... That is categorically all, Zadster!

Mad.



Yes, and no, it's not really similar to Isis.



We'll have to teach you to think for yourself.



You like Slipknot, na na nana na!


Who?

We'll have to teach you who Chuck Schuldiner is.

WINKROLLEYES!!!!

:evil: I do know, honest!