OPETH SURVIVOR 2014: Results -> Bleak wins!

Satisfied with the results?

  • Total voters
    6
Night Prowler said:
EDIT: Am I the only one who really likes Mellotron Heart? Would fit in very good with Damnation songs, great atmosphere.
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I like it. It's not my favorite, but it certainly is memorable. The juxtaposition of heavy/light is great. Those final verses/refrains are also quite good.

Mosh said:
I think that was posted in the Opeth thread already.
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Forostar said:
It was, and the silence afterwards was rather deafening. I can imagine that Mosh, CornFed, Knick and possible others don't like this.
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I think I posted that...?

CHECKED: I definitely posted that.

I did not see the Heritage tour, but I did see them last year and there was a good amount of Heritage songs in the mix.

Forostar said:
I am a bit double in it as well. I do like it that he understands that people like to hear heavy Opeth. Because Opeth did so much good heavy stuff; it's hard to suddenly ignore that rich bulk. But other than that, to give in to the audience, rather than following your own path. Hmm, that's Priestish. Still, he said that songs were chosen which the band liked.
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I see both sides of the coin. It's good to follow your heart, but at the same time: music is a job. If the fans don't like what you're playing, then you make less money. I think you need to understand this to be successful. Yes, it's important to write and record and play what you want to write and record and play, but at the same time, you need to give the fans what they want. Maiden (usually) does a pretty good job of straddling this line.

Mosh said:
Nice conspiracy theory you've got there. :p

I agreed with the interview. Make whatever album you want, but concerts aren't self indulgent affairs. The audience paid for tickets, you should give them what they want. That doesn't translate to play songs you don't like, because then the performances will suffer. I saw them on the last leg of the Heritage tour where it was a mix between old and new, and they seemed just as passionate about the old stuff as they did the Heritage material. Everybody's happy.
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Exactly.
 
The first four songs of Watershed: straight bullseyes! Different songs, but all good on their own. I also like the regular album closer, Hex Omega, although less than the first four. Porcelain Heart and Hessian Peel: well the segments in these songs are just not that grabbing imo, so overall more meh in comparison.

Beneath the Mire and Grand Conjuration are top class Opeth material.
 
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Forostar said:
The first four songs of Watershed: straight bullseyes! Different songs, but all good on their own. I also like the regular album closer, Hex Omega, although less than the first four. Porcelain Heart and Hessian Peel: well the segments in these songs are just not that grabbing imo, so overall more meh in comparison.

Beneath the Mire and Grand Conjuration are top class Opeth material.
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I really don't get the Grand Conjuration hate on here. And as much as I think Heir Apparent is a good song, it is in no way the best song in this list (as the votes would make it seem).

Forostar said:
When didn't they in your opinion?
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I think 2+ years of the same setlist (Maiden England) is a bit overkill. It's meant to service the fans, but only the broadest spectrum. It's neither in the spirit of playing whatever they want nor in the spirit of pleasing their hardcore fans. I think they tend to play the same "crowd-pleasing" songs all the time, regardless of the tour, i.e. even when the majority of the set is "crowd-pleasers".

Forostar said:
Concerts like from A Matter of Life and Death tour?
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Playing your new album is not self-indulgent, it shows confidence. If they had played 20 minute versions of every song from AMOLAD, it would have been self-indulgent.

But back to Opeth...

Watershed is a mixed bag for me. A lot of the songs resonate very well, but I still feel like the majority of the album feels either meandering or forced. It's strange, as I rank it at number 4 in my Opeth catalog due to the strengths of several songs, but as an album I find it to be rather underwhelming. Usually Opeth albums rely on the strength of the whole rather than the individual parts. Watershed is the opposite: good individual parts that don't necessarily play brilliantly together.
 
Forostar said:
Concerts like from A Matter of Life and Death tour?
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Of course there are always exceptions and I can definitely see the case for that tour being a bit self indulgent. I don't think it was presented that way though. To me it seemed like they wanted to do something special for the very hardcore fans, before kicking into full nostalgia mode with SBIT. I think Iron Maiden's problem is that they have two large camps of fans (people who just like the old stuff vs people who like the new stuff just as much, if not more) and I don't think they've figured out a good way to please both at the same time yet. So not an issue of self indulgence.

Bringing this back to Opeth: Opeth doesn't have quite the wide range of fans. They have a smaller catalog and most people in the audience aren't going to complain as long as there's plenty of death metal stuff present. This might change as they delve deeper into prog rock and start getting more fans who like the post Heritage stuff the best, but they don't have to worry about that yet and either way they're doing a good job representing both sides of the band in the setlists after that first Heritage tour.
 
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Eliminated:
Derelict Herd - 7 votes
Beneath The Mire - 5 votes
Hex Omega - 5 votes
 
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Eliminated:
Porcelain Heart - 6 votes
Hessian Peel - 5 votes
Burden - 4 votes
The Grand Conjuration - 3 votes

Promoted:
Ghost Of Perdition
Harlequin Forest

Heritage joins the game! :( This round is extended because of that.
Pyre and Face In The Snow are bonus songs.
The Throat Of Winter is a song that appeared on God Of War III game soundtrack (Dream Theater's Raw Dog is on it too), but it fits stylistically with Heritage.
 
And now I must go listen to Nu-peth.

Although I understand that we want to move on to new albums, I think eliminating Burden and Grand Conjuration was a bit hasty. If one song has 6 votes, why eliminate the ones with 2-3 less votes in the same round?
 
I eliminate Top 4 excluding ties. Here's how it works:

1. Song 1 - 6 votes
2. Song 2 - 5 votes
3. Song 3 - 4 votes
4. Song 4 - 3 votes
5. Song 5 - 2 votes

or

1. Song 1 - 6 votes
2. Song 2 - 5 votes
3. Song 3 - 4 votes
4. Song 4 - 4 votes
5. Song 5 - 4 votes

Songs in bold are eliminated. Can't explain it better than this :P
 
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Eliminated:
Marrow Of The Earth - 5 votes
Face In The Snow - 5 votes
The Throat Of Winter - 5 votes
 
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