I wonder what a Steven Wilson produced Maiden would sound like. I don't know if he'd do it, from what I understand he's only into the more extreme types of metal, but it'd be interesting. I have a hard time blaming Caveman for the production issues on the last few albums though. Seems like that's Steve's fault really. Listen to the Rush and Dream Theater albums he produced, those sound amazing. Somehow I feel like Steve Harris would ruin even a Wilson produced album.
Anyway, I've been going through the Opeth discography for this week and have noticed something interesting: With the exception of one album, you could group every Opeth album in pairs of two. Not that they always sound the same, or even similar, but they can be grouped together for a number of reasons. So for my comments on Opeth's albums, I'll talk about them in pairs.
Orchid/Morningrise:
The early albums. Very poorly produced compared to the other albums and really different from what they'd go on to do. There isn't as much progressive rock influence here, but instead influences range from Iron Maiden to folk to even black metal. These albums are often disregarded by fans but I think they're really good. Orchid is really strong for a debut when you think about it. You've got these long intricate progressive songs with really strong transitions already. Honestly I think if the production was more up to snuff, these albums would be liked more. I mean, listen to them perform these songs on the live albums, they sound amazing. It's pretty much 100% impossible now, but I would've loved for them to redo those albums. Or play them live in their entireties or something.
Morningrise would probably be my least favorite Opeth album, but it still has some stuff I like. I think my main issue with the first two albums (especially Morningrise) is that songs are a little bloated. The transitions are good but, but taken as a whole I think some parts could've been trimmed or made into their own songs. But it's a minor gripe anyway, since most of the time when I listen to these albums I don't think about what song I'm listening to and just take them as single entities. Like movements in a symphony. This makes the music much more enjoyable to me and you get to focus more on the riffs and the songwriting, which was very strong even then.
My Arms Your Hearse:
This is the one Opeth album that can't be paired. And understandably so as not only is it one of the most different sounding albums, but a very transitional moment for them. I find it pretty underrated though. It's not at the caliber of their next albums, but I think it has some really great moments. It's a bit bloated with fluff pieces and some unmemorable tracks, but if you were to cut the flub, you'd have an album that is quite strong. It has some of my favorite Opeth songs, such as When and Demon Of the Fall (which would land in my personal top ten probably). Sonically it's very unique too in that it has almost no acoustic guitars. Opeth's sound has always been characterized by frequent use of acoustic guitars, so this album is quite the anomaly. There are clean sounding guitars, but they are drenched in effects and overall much different sounding than the acoustic guitars or even clean guitars that are used live. Plus the clean passages are a lot different and less folky than the first two albums.
This album is also transitional in that the band is starting to write in a more concise format; none of the songs exceed 10 minutes, whereas most songs on the first two albums exceeded that length. Opeth would go back to long songs on their next album, but these would be much more balanced and the word bloated will no longer be used again by me to describe Opeth's music in this post.
Still Life/Blackwater Park:
The two classic albums. These are easily the two most renowned Opeth and represent their sound best I think. These albums show the band's best balance of heavy and progressive. The last three albums were a bit more focused on death/black metal and staring with Ghost Reveries, the band egan to head in an increasingly heavy direction. And of course Deliverance/Damnation blatantly divided these styles. But Still Life and BWP really balance these well and are the albums I'd recommend to a an aspiring Opeth fan.
I don't have much to say about these, since they're pretty renowned and most of what could be said has already been said. I don't go back to these albums much though, admittedly. I like them, but I tend to go for Opeth's more progressive metal sound in later albums. Both are great albums though and a must for metal fans in general. Still Life is probably their most complex album, featuring intricate instrumental passages and odd time signatures throughout. BWP is a bit more on the atmospheric side, flows better as an entire album, and show a darker side of Opeth akin to their earlier albums but with the sound of Still Life continued.
To be continued...