OPETH SURVIVOR 2016: Results -> The sun sets forever over Blackwater Park!

My votes for the first two albums stay the same: Moon, Apostle & Rose.

My Arms, Your Hearse is a breath of fresh air after the monotony of the first two albums - swapping Maiden harmonies for a more riff-based approach was the right call. Just sounds way more pleasant to the ear if you ask me. Production is a bit dirtier but with more reverb which separates it from the first 2 albums. Clean vocals are much better on this album and drumming is way more varied. However, it's still a transition album. I'd say that everything they tried to accomplish with this album, they did 10x better on Still Life. April Ethereal and Demon Of The Fall are classic Opeth songs though, and When, Credence and Epilogue are solid too. The Amen Corner and Karma lack memorable moments and Prologue and Madrigal are nice but expendable on this album.

My favorite version of Demon Of The Fall:
Demon Of The Fall (Live from The Roundhouse Tapes)
There's also an acoustic version released as a bonus on Pale Communion:
Demon Of The Fall (live acoustic)
And they played a mashup of these 2 versions a couple of times:
Demon Of The Fall (acoustic/electric)
And another version with orchestra:
Demon Of The Fall (live with orchestra)
 
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Eliminated after Round 2:
Prologue - 6 votes
Madrigal - 6 votes
The Apostle In Triumph - 5 votes
 
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Eliminated after Round 3:
Epilogue - 5 votes
The Amen Corner - 4 votes
Karma - 4 votes
Advent - 3 votes
Credence - 3 votes

Promoted after Round 3:
The Night & The Silent Water
Black Rose Immortal
To Bid You Farewell
April Ethereal
When
Demon Of The Fall

Still Life and Blackwater Park join the game!
 
Advent not being promoted is a fucking blasphemy. Best song on the first 2 albums. Right songs were promoted from MAYH though.

There wouldn't have been enough songs if I only put Still Life in the poll, so... I suggest y'all take a few days to listen and analyze Still Life, then we move on to Blackwater Park, then vote. Just don't go vote right away.
 
I'm now going to join the game. I'll need to do a relisten of Blackwater Park and the first 4 songs first but I will definitely be joining this round
 
MY ARMS YOUR HEARSE

April Ethereal - Fantastic way to start this album. I love the devastating riffs that start this off. Thunderous opening. Mikael's vocals have improved in a big way. This is basically the first "classic" sounding Opeth track. More riff driven, as NP said, and doesn't feel like a random hodgepodge of ideas the way much of the earlier material does. I also like the way the clean vocals were handled on this album in general. Younger Mikael has a more haunting quality to his voice that lends itself well to the more dirge-like aspects of this music. Also excellent guitar work.
The riff around the 6 minute mark is awesome, one of my favorite parts of the album. Really hypnotic stuff.

I also love the transition to When. It's a great outro on its own but the way it crossfades is very cool. Different stuff for them. Overall an awesome song and a great way to kick off this album.

When - This song is the second part of one of the greatest 1-2 punches in the Opeth canon. I love the tones of the clean guitars at the beginning. They went for a different sound there, much more lush with the chorus and reverb. It's a sound that you won't find on any other Opeth album. I feel the clean sung chorus of this song wouldn't be that out of place on the next album. You can also hear that the guitar solos have gotten better, although this was never really a weak point for them anyway IMO.

The clean bridge is very haunting. Love the way it explodes into a heavier section. Other than the fact that this is already a typical Opeth trick, this moment can take you by surprise.

Fantastic buildup to the end of the song. They really upped their games on the outros for this album. Previous two albums were weaker in that category.

Another great song. Up there with the best from the following albums.

Madrigal - It is just an interlude but a good one. Very nice transition and a moment of calmness before going back to heavy.

The Amen Corner - So as I alluded to earlier, I'm not a big fan of this song. Not bad at all, similar level of quality to a lot of the stuff on the first two albums. Just feels like a hodgepodge of riffs and harmonies that didn't belong to any songs yet. It also doesn't do anything besides what When and April Ethereal already did better. This also disrupts the flow of the album for me. Take this song off and the album is a much more enjoyable experience.

Demon Of the Fall - Best song on the album, hands down. Yea the main riff is just a tritone, but the 6/8 rhythm, tom driven beat, and turnaround riffs give it a more exotic feel. Very similar in tone to April Ethereal but with even more power. Love the double tracked growls. That sort of thing can be gimmicky, but it is perfectly implemented here. They're going for a wall of sound deal there. A bit limited by the low budget production but it still comes across.

Another hypnotic acoustic section. Really effective at making the heavy parts more of a surprise.

The clean sung parts that follow are also excellent. The complementing melody is also nice. Yet another great outro.

Credence - I really like the way this one starts. The intro is actually somewhat cinematic. Overall this is very much a successor to To Bid You Farewell, but much more concise and enjoyable. The vocal melodies are also better. It's no Face of Melinda, but it's a nice dynamic change before the final heavy song.

Karma - Rough start with the intro, but once it gets going it's a pretty good song. I really like the clean sung parts in the middle. Overall though this one is similar to Amen Corner in having a lot of "filler" sounding parts. Definitely better than Amen Corner but lacks the same punch as the coherency of this album (April Ethereal/When/Demon).

Although I really like the second half of the song. Some really great grooves there and another top notch outro. Love the syncopated riffs and double bass. Very groovy stuff.

Overall a bit of a mess, but there were actually some really cool parts I forgot about.

Epilogue - Very Pink Floyd-esque instrumental here with the guitar solo and organ background. Would've liked more of this within the album itself. Great harmony to end it all.

Overall, this is the black sheep of the Opeth catalog. No other album sounds like this. They are evolving but the quirks of the first two albums are still present. On top of that, there are many traits in the sonics and songwriting that they experimented with here but never again. It is also very uneven. The three best songs are among Opeth's all time best, but everything else is more of a take it or leave it deal for me, so I don't listen to this whole album much anymore.

Demon of the Fall
When
April Ethereal

Credence
Karma
Epilogue
Amen Corner
Prologue


Brief note on the covers: Circle of the Tyrant is cool, never heard the original Celtic Frost (?) version but it's good stuff. Remember Tomorrow is awesome! One of the best Maiden covers I've ever heard. Not only is it a good performance, but I feel it's a song that really lends itself well to what Opeth were doing at that time.
 
Strangely enough I don't find the solos good in Remember Tomorrow, while they pulled off some great ones on their own material on the first couple of albums.
 
Still Life is my favorite Opeth album. I think that with this album they refined their style to perfection. It had their best production to date; I think only Ghost Reveries managed to top it but it's a much weaker album. They upped the ante on pretty much everything; most brutal harsh vocals, best clean vocals, best solos, best drums. Dunno about bass because I didn't pay much attention but I noticed it more than on previous albums :p

Like its predecessor this is also a concept album. It's based on a short story that Akerfeldt was writing around the time of recording and it was about how being an atheist would've affected someone centuries ago.

Trivia: It’s the first album with Martín Méndez on bass; he joined the band during the recording of the previous album, but didn’t play on it since he didn’t know the songs. Him and Martin Lopez auditioned at the same time as they were best friends and after Lopez joined the band, he insisted they let Méndez join too, even though he didn’t speak any Swedish at that time. After they got the job they revealed that they tore down all the ads the band put up so that they’d eliminate competition; only 4-5 guys ended up applying for the jobs at the end :D

Also it’s the first Opeth album completely written by Akerfeldt. He says this album has their most complicated music ever.

The Moor
"The Moor" tells that the protagonist was shunned by his community. He was called an "ungodly freak - defiler", and was "branded a Jonah with fevered blood". He was beaten, burned, covered with mud, and banished from his town, returning in secret 15 years later for his love Melinda, whom he had to leave behind when he was banished.
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Starts off with a lengthy acoustic section that lasts for about 2 and a half minutes. It might be a bit repetitive but when the metal kicks in the song never lets up. Lopez is incredible in this song; probably does more awesome fills than the old drummer on the first 2 albums combined. Best moments: Lopez drumming during the intro (2:30 - 3:27) and return to metal at 10:20 (also Peter Lindgren’s leads kill on this part and whenever it appears in this song).

Godhead's Lament
"Godhead's Lament" finds the outcast attempting to conceal his return. He contemplates the consequences, considering leaving for safety's sake, but does not, his desire to see Melinda again outweighing any concerns for his welfare. He watches her from afar, only to discover that she has become a nun (godhead). Yet he still tries to get her back.
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Unlike The Moor this one starts out super heavy with some awesome leads; once again I have to say how much better this style is - instead of non-stop harmonizing we get awesome riffs and awesome leads instead. At 2:54 we get one of Mikael’s (and Opeth’s) best solos ever. At 5:50 we get an awesome Lopez fill that kickstarts one of my favorite sections in an Opeth song. Haunting stuff. This song was my favorite song from the album for a long time just because of that section. They did sections like that numerous times in their discography up until the Prog-Rock era and is probably what I miss the most in their current sound at the moment. At 8:51 we get another awesome section that’s repeated from earlier in the song but much heavier; shows how awesome they are at buildup.

Benighted
"Benighted" reads like a love letter, basically an unspoken ode to Melinda. The outcast tries to convince her to come with him because he loves her. He tries to convince her to abandon her religion which is like a chain around her neck in his eyes.
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It’s a solid song but easily the weakest song on the album. I think all songs on the album were at one point my favorites, apart from this one. It’s fully acoustic but the music is just too subtle and simple and solid vocal lines just can’t make up for it. I think it would’ve worked better if it had a heavy section at the end like Face Of Melinda.

Moonlapse Vertigo
"Moonlapse Vertigo" is a reminder that the people of the town would kill him if they realized he was there. The song references the Council of the Cross, referring to the Christian government, who openly show scorn for the disgraced and the poor. He realizes that he has no time left to flee from the country and decides to meet Melinda at last and lead her out of the country with him. In this song the outcast really shows his immense hate towards the Council.
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This song only clicked with me a few weeks ago. It’s very melodic and guitar lines are reminiscent of the early stuff from first 2 albums. Main melody that kicks in at 0:47 is out of this world. It becomes even better after that awesome Lopez fill at 1:16 when they also add in an acoustic guitar to the mix. When you think it can’t get any better we get that awesome riff at 2:35. They must play this whole album live on a tour one day. That part is just made for live performances. Would headbang my head off. Solo at 5:39 is also quite kickass, this time it’s Lindgren rather than Akerfeldt.

Face Of Melinda
"Face of Melinda" paints the black-haired lady as a quiet, brooding creature as he approaches her. After his failure to court her, she was sworn to the life of a nun, however, he does not give up, plotting to have her back to fill his emptiness. He is disheartened, but tells her about all that he had risked to return to her. She tells him of her own moral failings, but surprises even herself when she tells him that she still loves him. The song ends with a grim clue of what's to come - "and baffled herself with the final line - 'my promise is made but my heart is thine'", implying these are Melinda's very final words.
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One of their most popular songs and definitely the most popular one from this album. I think it’s the first Opeth song that only features clean vocals and it’s an instant classic. They used a fretless bass on this one btw. Despite being a calm ballad for most of it’s duration it features one of their best riffs ever. There’s also a cool harmony section at the end to appease the fans of first 2 albums :D

Serenity Painted Death
"Serenity Painted Death" begins when the outcast awakens to find Melinda has been taken and her throat slit for being 'unfaithful' to the church, which she was supposed to be "married" to. Consumed by pent up pain and rage, he brutally kills the soldiers who had killed Melinda, in a momentous and final act of aggression. In a frenzy of rage he assaults and kills every townsman he can before he succumbs and collapses in total exhaustion. When he regains control over his mind, the Council of the Cross is there to take him.
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Kicks off with another harmony and Akerfeldt with his most brutal growls. At 1:26 it morphs into a pretty weird section for Opeth with an awesome hardrock/heavymetalish riff with pinch harmonics and ends with probably their most brutal chorus. Some people might be a bit put off by it but it fits the storyline which is quite important to the album. At 5:26 we get another brutal section (the part in the storyline where the main character goes on a killing rampage) that’s followed by another awesome Akerfeldt solo. Wraps up with the chorus again. It’s repeated only twice in the whole song but I’ll count it as a chorus :p It’s too catchy for sure.

White Cluster
"White Cluster" starts as the outcast is in a dream-like state, most likely because of the blood loss. The dreamlike state slowly turns to reality. The Council of the Cross tries to make him repent but he is insincere. He is led to the gallows to be hanged. The townspeople who have gathered to watch the execution wear white instead of black, showing that they believe he is a lost soul. The hangman approaches him and ties the noose, allowing him a moment of reflection before he is hanged. Just before he dies he feels a hand on his shoulder and as he looks behind him he sees Melinda standing right behind him, ready for him to join her in death.
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This one starts with an awesome drum fill by Lopez and pummels along with crushing riffs until the first clean vocal part and that’s all when it comes to growls in this album. The clean vocal part that follows is just so awesome and heartfelt. At 4:29 there’s a pretty awesome scratchy riff. Then the song just stops. Would’ve liked a better transition there, but then we get another brutal part at 5:34 with kickass performances from pretty much everyone, especially Lopez with his awesome fills. And at last, at 6:21 we get the best Opeth solo section ever - Akerfeldt starts, Lindberg continues and Akerfeldt finishes off. Masterful stuff. They kind of let me down with a fade out intro though. Wish they didn’t do that. Album ends as it started, with an acoustic section.
 
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