Opeth?

^ make no prisoners!

schizoid_man77 wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: I agree ... even on their early records they weren't much related to Death Metal except for the vocal style.   Totally agree, all my friends who know anything about Opeth al agree that besides the vocal style, Opeth is no way death metal. I've even been made fun of before because I called them death metal!

Opeth's music *is* closely related to Death Metal ... consider what he says in this interview:

- Mikael's first band ("Eruption") in the 80s was Old-School Death Metal
- His project "Bloodbath" (2000s) is Death Metal
- When asked what he thinks about people calling Opeth the "Death Metal version of Dream Theater" he says that he feels honoured and that he's a big fan of Dream Theater although he lost interest a bit in their more recent albums (the interview is from around 2002/2003, which would make the most recent albums Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance and Scenes from a Memory).

So: Death Metal and Opeth have a lot in common. You cannot call Opeth's music Death Metal because the songwriting is much different, and of course the acoustic parts have no place in Death Metal (unless they're played as intros, which isn't the case with Opeth). But the growling, drumming and pace of the music justifies to include "Death" in their genre label. How about "Symphonic Progressive Death Metal"? At least for albums like Orchid, Morningrise, My Arms Your Hearse and Still Life this makes sense to me.



Edited by MikeEnRegalia - September 22 2007 at 06:03

I personally find Akerdfelt's growls velvety and luxurious.  Like a fatherly lion's roar.

It's often said that growling expresses anger and rage, but it can also express extreme joy and happiness.    That is what I get from Opeth.  The extreme nature of the vocals gives their music an edge towards the joyous.  

May be a little simple...but I love Opeth.

i see that many are complaining about growls ,but what is opeth without growling, it points out agression, it filts with blast beats , it gives new dimension ,accents on dark side, otherwise it will be just another prog metal band.along with clean vokals, acustic guitars, it is a perfect blend

MikeEnRegalia wrote: ^ IMO Opeth are one of very few bands who have growling vocals which actually fit the music. I'd recommend you give them a chance again after some time ... you may come to like them in the end. Like black coffee, dry wine or extremely dark chocolate it's something that takes some time to get used to.

bingo....  that kind of vocal style is not is not what I normally listen to but that growling really does fit the music well... and I found is a really nice contrast to Akerfeldt's 'normal' singing voice which I happened to like as well..

Visitor13 wrote: Cannibal Corpse or Devourment lyrics are meant to be silly, so maybe growling works for them. Truly disturbing lyrics can most likely be sung... can't think of an example, though, Diamanda Galas, maybe? Though I'm not really familiar with her music.

Silly or not, growling is really the only way I can imagine those lyrics being performed.

Other than something like that, no, nothing really necessitates growling. But it's just as valid a choice as singing in any other style when it comes to lyrics like Opeth's.

Visitor13 wrote: I don't think growling works with any kind of lyrics, to be honest

You think Cannibal Corpse or Devourment lyrics could be sung?


Perhaps Opeth could go purely instrumental or sing all of their lyrics. But, in my opinion, Prog is not about what a band should be, but what a band can be--exploring the possibilities of music. And they do that very well, I think.

I would settle for the instrumental, but I think that I would prefer clean vocals, or at least Rob Halford-type screams versus the death growls.

I have mentioned my feelings in other Opeth related threads.  If Opeth's albums were sung with clean vocals they might very well be my favorite modern band, but since they growl instead I just can't get in to them and truly have a hard time understanding how anybody else can.  I agree that instrumentally they are very melodic and that is why the death growls seem so out of place to me.  I have half-joked that I would like to see their albums re-releases with clean vocals just to see how they would sound (and I know that this would be sacrilege to those of you who think that the death growls have their place in prog music).  This would be the equivalent of bands that sing in their native tongue re-releasing their material in English so that it can be more universally enjoyed.  (And yes, I know that these translations don't necessarily work all that well, especially for those from the native country that understand the original language).