Running Opeth album cover themes
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Topic: Running Opeth album cover themes
Posted By: frenchie
Subject: Running Opeth album cover themes
Date Posted: May 28 2005 at 20:14
Has anyone else noticed that all of Opeth's album covers since Morningrise feature a forest sort of atmosphere with a ghost lurking in each cover? The gloomy covers relate to the music really well, its almost as if their music has a ghostly atmosphere, especially damnation. Morningrise has this gloomy landscape. there is no visible ghost but there might be one if you look closer. definetly has a ghostly atmosphere. I havent seen any other related artwork in the album book or case  My Arms, Your Hearse is a gloomy forest like landscape. Very difficult but you can clearly see a ghostly figure standing on the brown bit just to the right of the purple water in the middle of the cover. The ghosts face is visible. It's easier to see the figure on the back of the cd case on the version i have. (i dont know if there is any different artwork on the bonus tracks version)  Still Life is a lot more vivid and has more life to eat which fits with the title. i have always seen the woman in the picture as being a statue. it could be a real woman (perhaps melinda, a theme in the albums lyrics) or she could be a ghost. In the reflection of the red water underneath the crost you can see a human shape which could be a ghosts reflection, you cannot see the human casting the shadow.  Blackwater Park has some very gloomy human figures amongst the dying trees, i think these are ghosts, yeet it seems like there are 5 figures so it could be the band (with steven wilson). There is also another gloomy water shot like on all the other covers above.  Deliverance moves away from the gloomy landscape, this looks like a setting of a haunted house that could be in a gloomy forest near a lake like the other album covers. There is a ghost pearing into the window next to the grandfather clock. The doll creeps me out too.  Damnation has the creepy doll too. it looks like the same house as the previous cover. Maybe this is taken at a different angle or room of the house. The white light on the right is almost like a ghostly presence. Notice how this album is a lot lighter than the previous song, reflecting the more gentle tunes on the album. Cant wait for the next album and to see what its cover is like. I bet it will have a theme of ghosts, maybe going back to outside rather than in a house. ------------- The Worthless Recluse 
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Replies:
Posted By: Paradox
Date Posted: May 29 2005 at 10:17
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Opeth's next album will be a black metal release. It will be interesting to hear how it sounds. Should be quite impressive. Not really a fan of black metal, but we shall see. ------------- 
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Posted By: Richardw
Date Posted: May 29 2005 at 10:59
| I love the Opeth album covers too. They are really dark and brooding. Kind of eerie at the same time. I can't wait for the next album as well. I know it's going to be good. Opeth do everything with a touch of class. |
Posted By: Radioactive Toy
Date Posted: May 30 2005 at 05:50
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where's orchid you monster!!! -------------  
Reed's failed joke counter: ||||| R.I.P. You could have reached infinity.... |
Posted By: lynton samuel
Date Posted: May 30 2005 at 11:06
are you saying there is a ghost there for sure, or that there might be? i can't see it. |
frenchie wrote:Posted By: frenchie
Date Posted: May 30 2005 at 14:31
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i dont know if there is one for sure on morningrise but it has a watery landscape like most of the others. Also i said at the begining i was going to include them all BUT orchid because it has no ghosts or landscapes, therefore not following the theme. ------------- The Worthless Recluse
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Posted By: lynton samuel
Date Posted: May 30 2005 at 14:58
indeed! i agree with you on the ghost thing. i was just curious if you saw one or not 
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Posted By: frenchie
Date Posted: May 30 2005 at 17:29
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well... i looked at an enlarged version and thought i saw outlines of 2 translucent figures but it could have just been me... ------------- The Worthless Recluse
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Posted By: Trotsky
Date Posted: June 02 2005 at 02:38
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Reminded me of this one of course ... and yes I think I do see one in Morningrise ------------- "Death to Utopia! Death to faith! Death to love! Death to hope?" thunders the 20th century. "Surrender, you pathetic dreamer.” "No" replies the unhumbled optimist "You are only the present." |
Posted By: lynton samuel
Date Posted: June 02 2005 at 07:51
really? i found an enlarged version of the cover, and i've stared at it for hours (eeeh, well, minutes) and i can't see anything! i've added some goodwill as well, but it doesn't help 
do you care to share excactly where you see it, or think you see it? |
Posted By: colin007
Date Posted: June 02 2005 at 14:27
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damnation is just as heavy as the rest of Opeths stuff... BTW, the name of the new CD is "Ghost Reveries"! ------------- This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality. Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion. |
Posted By: lynton samuel
Date Posted: June 02 2005 at 14:38
please explain why you say that
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Posted By: colin007
Date Posted: June 03 2005 at 09:22
heaviness is not a factor of the "metal"ness of a song. for me, it has to do w/ the atmosphere it conveys. IMHO, the songs on damnation are not happy or genial. they are dark, grim, and heavy. ------------- This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality. Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion. |
Posted By: frenchie
Date Posted: June 03 2005 at 11:39
Dark and grim... yes. yet all of their songs have a sense of postivity, some of the lyrics are actually beautiful despite the darkness of their music. However i can't see how damnation is heavy when all the tracks are mellow. There isnt one distorted riff. ------------- The Worthless Recluse
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Posted By: frenchie
Date Posted: June 03 2005 at 11:42
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i dont think there is a ghost in morningrise, some of the shapes in the trees, grass and water are just creepy. ------------- The Worthless Recluse
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Posted By: colin007
Date Posted: June 03 2005 at 11:59
what im saying is that heavy does not necessarily represent distorted, loud, aggresive guitars for me. heavy is more of a mood for me. on the other hand, if youre talking about "metal" then you would prolly be refering to typical "heavy metal" (although black metal is not always distorted instruments...) ------------- This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality. Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion. |
Posted By: Trotsky
Date Posted: June 03 2005 at 12:25
Oops ... I admit that the pillar of the
bridge on the right (as we see it) really looked like it was shaded to
be ghostly, and even the reflection in the water seemed to confirm
that, but when I saw a blown-up version of it, it didn't seem to be one
anymore ... looked like just a pillar again ... Sorry about that ... ------------- "Death to Utopia! Death to faith! Death to love! Death to hope?" thunders the 20th century. "Surrender, you pathetic dreamer.” "No" replies the unhumbled optimist "You are only the present." |
Posted By: lynton samuel
Date Posted: June 03 2005 at 13:06
colin, of course you are entitled to mean that. but i don't think many would agree with you. i certainly don't. if you were to describe that album to someone who had never heard opeth, i don't think you would have succeeded. but the fact that you say for me simplifies this argument alot, as everyone are entitled to have their own opinion. but i personally think you're very wrong. as for the ghost, i don't think there's supposed to be any ghost there. but it's definitely a creepy picture.
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Posted By: Eemu Ranta
Date Posted: June 04 2005 at 08:02
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The Morningrise cover is originally a souvenir postcard from some
sightseeing place in England - and I believe unedited - so I don't think there's a ghost present. I've never noticed the one in MAYH, but now when you say it, it's pretty obvious, and fits the album's concept too! ------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable - George Bernhard Shaw |