Ruthless

Ok, I admit Watershed is a disappointing album. Might someone point me towards a band that does a similar type of thing in '08 but better?

Ever heard Novembre? Specifically the album "The Blue"? It's super awesome. I don't know if it's that similar to Opeth musically, but it's quite stylistically similar. I'll upload it if you want.

Sounds interesting. Yeah, please upload.

The Blue is good, not nearly in the same league as Watershed though. I'm disappointed in ya'll.

Also, what the shit is wrong with you people not liking the keyboards!? Show me better fucking keyboards!

Purchased this today.

The 5.1 mix sounds amazing. I wish more bands would release albums in this format.

Lex, I found Watershed to be disappointing as an Opeth album. Otherwise I like it and think it's one of the best albums I've heard this year, but it's just not in the same league as, well, everything from MAYH to Ghost Reveries. Damnation excluded, obviously.

I like the keyboards just fine and Axe does a good job, though I'm a total Lopez fanboy, but the main problem I have is with songs themselves. They're not as dynamic and exciting as before which might have something to do with Lopez's absence, but then again, what do I know?

Also, regarding Steven Wilson, I think his involvement with Opeth has only improved the albums he's worked on. For instance, the only consistently interesting part of Damnation are the vocals which sound amazing throughout. In fact they could've used him on Watershed because some of the clean vocals are, well, embarrassing.

I see, well just hope for a better one next then.

I'm waiting for my special edition, which purchase on The End records gave me a link to the other version of Porcelain Heart.. Mellotron heart. It's been moogie'd. Also, I just got Still Life 5.1 and it's intense, like you said Matt. It's perfectly done.

edit: I wonder, which of the first three albums do you guys think is the best?

Jesus fuck, this is the best Opeth album since Blackwater Park. You fucks.

Fucking A.

My Arms, Your Hearse. Simply because it's just a bit different to their usual output. More straightforward and dare I say, more br00tal?

Still Life and Watershed are the only two I atually own, simply because of the 5.1 versions. I'm holding off on purchasing the others in case they release them in 5.1 as well.

Novembre's a great band, but not really very similar to Opeth besides the whole heavy/light thing. They have more of an italian sound to them, the singer is dronier, and they seem to have listened to a lot of Depeche Mode. Novembrine Waltz is definitely their best. Classica, Materia, Dreams D'Azur and The Blue are well worth checking out too.

I figured Watershed would grow on me, but it didn't, it just is a huge letdown and has gotten worse with time. It's even worse than deliverance/damnation, which were easily their least interesting beforehand. Hessian Peel is the only song on the album that had me feeling like "now THIS is why I listen to Opeth." It's just very dull and very retro throughout, with a few moments of life in "The Lotus Eater." Ghost Reveries was far better, and I still think My Arms, Your Hearse is their best.

Thats not saying a whole lot.

Ghost Reveries has a 5.1 mix on the special edition, it's well worth it.

Forgive a band for maturing and growing as a band over the years while their fans remain in a permanent stasis.

Thulsa, suck a dick. Blackwater Park is probably the best thing Opeth has done. Deliverance sucks, Ghost Reveries is ok, Watershed is Opeth strecthing out to great effect and a lot of moments remind me of earlier works (the outro to Heir Apparent comes to mind).

I guess I should not expect much from people that still hold tech death as brutal music, maaaaaaan.

There's a lawl. BWP is good, but nowhere near MAYH or even Still Life.

Why do fans of this cd have to get so bitchy and try and psychoanalyze people who don't like it? I think ghost reveries is their second best. It's not the new elements that suck, it's that the songwriting is garbage. Lotus Eater is only good cause of the bizarre crap they throw in there and I love the wind stuff on Hessian Peel. The songs are just stale. There's not one memorable riff in Hex Omega, Porcelain Heart is made up of about 1 powerchord riff with a bunch of bland stuff layered over it, the first song sounds like jethro fucking tull, etc. I was very disappointed by it after Ghost Reveries was their most fresh sounding since MAYH and had so many tracks that rank up there with their best.

I found Ghost Reveries bland and lacking any atmosphere.

Coil sucks, I usually listen from Burden then on the the rest of the tracks. I didn't like it either but shifting the track order made it click for me for some reason.

On first listen, this cd is striking me as pretty meh. that said, thos eof you criticising yhr drumming are cackling douches. And if one more person mentions Lopez's nonexistent latin feel, my dick is going to explode...in rage.

They've released their masterwork Still Life in 5.1 too.

http://www.amazon.com/Still-Life-Opeth/dp/B0013N4AT0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1212928013&sr=1-1

I'll definitely have to grab that.

Are you so insecure that you resort to juvenile "insults" whenever someone questions your taste? If you're that tight ass I suggest you go to a gay bar on a Saturday night and ask every guy there to sodomize you, it just might help loosen you up.

Back onto Opeth, MAYH and Still Life are Opeth's best albums. On these albums Opeth's songwriting is at its peak, mainly because the meandering and repetition is kept to a strict minimum. BWP is Opeth's black album, lots of flakiness and attempts to being somewhat mainstream friendly.

Ghost Reveries was total fucking bore. Even as background music that album fails completely. Deliverence is almost as boring as GR. Damnation was a decent album, but again more suitable for background music than anything else. The new one is just the same old boring, meandering, poorly structured Opeth we've all come to expect these years.

This board needs more Opeth hate.