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

My Arms, Your Hearse

Prologue: N/A

An effective yet simplistic introduction to a chilling ghost story. It obviously can't stand on its own as the piano only hits a few chords (and there's even some annoying studio background noise in there) but it sets up the true opening track nicely...

April Ethereal: 8/10

...and we're greeted by Opeth's signature 6/8 groove introducing new drummer Martin Lopez with pummeling double bass. The growls are already far more guttural and defined than the relatively immature black metal screams of the previous two albums, and I couldn't be happier for that. The second section (between the verses) hints at an infamous upcoming track, and I like the way the acoustic guitar fades in towards the end of the next verse. Enter some neat start-stop riffing followed by the first of many indistinguishable wall-of-sound sections with Mikael grunting about the agony of being a ghost or something. The next riff is moderately cool, but the following clean vocal section really shows how much the band has matured since Morningrise. Finally we have some melodic guitar parts dropping into an acoustic section that echoes the same melody but fails to be as memorable as the acoustic sections of the previous album. But then... one of the best riffs on the album. Chugging, haunting droning guitar, syncopated drums... this is what Opeth is about! More lyrics about ghosts and forests and mist and women "laughing and weeping at once," yada yada. It's kind of cool how every track on this album ends with the title of the next song, though. Decent but overall unmemorable outro.

When: 5/10

Every Opeth album seems to have that one song that everyone loves but that never clicked with me, and this is the one in this case. The clean intro had potential, but it gives way to generic heaviness too quickly. I'm not going to go into too much detail with this song because none of the individual parts really stand out. It could be the production, but this song just doesn't make me feel anything. The ending to the guitar solo is awkward and kind of kills the ghostly vibe with the good-time-blues fill. Immediately afterward we're treated to an acoustic section that the band perfected on their far superior following album, but it's neat to hear the evolution. More chugging, walls of sound, ghosts being creeps... honestly, the best part of this song actually is the lyrics. It only took six minutes, but finally we stumble upon something catchy in the mellow section! Here, ghost man catches his former woman with another guy in the parlor? I think. It's impossible to figure this out since I'm not really a lyric kinda guy. Then he cried. Because she lied. And he died. I don't even care anymore. I'll say that at least the last third of the song is somewhat catchy, and the only real redeeming thing here.

Madrigal: 7/10

Creepy and chilling. I love it. You can almost see the steam rising off the ghost in the middle of the foggy woods during a full moon at this point. That low thumping of the acoustic in the first section hints at something really ominous. This track does its job. It's a perfect lead-in to the best few minutes of riffage on the album in...

The Amen Corner: 8/10

Definitely not the best overall song here, but probably my personal favorite for the first few minutes alone. A lot of these riffs are clearly a blueprint for what we'll hear on their next few albums, with chunky upbeat chugging and dissonant distorted notes ringing together. These are the most locked-in moments of the entire album, save for a few sections in the following track. Then white summer! Musically the middle of the song loses me a bit, but lyrically this is when the ghost tries to show himself to his lost love and she gets freaked out. Next up we have an even weaker vocal section over a melody similar to that in the middle of April Ethereal (maybe it's the same, I honestly don't know since I don't find it particularly memorable). Anyway, solos! After the second solo is one of my favorite sections where it gets heavy and kinda bouncy and the ghost gets mad and "eerie circles above the waters" clearly references him stalking this poor woman and it's just freaking cool. Then the final spark that blew life into him, but not before a cool outro where the listener is reminded that the album does indeed feature bass guitar.

Demon of the Fall: 10/10

Finally, a song that people think is great that I concur with. Amazing intro, with that one note that is harmonized that is just enough to sound evil as hell. This is followed by the trademark Opeth harmonized octave chord section that the band brought back on almost every album until Heritage. Then there's daggers and the wind cries and merges with the gray and next... the best section of the entire album. Remember when they played the growl-free version of this song live? Yeah, no thanks. After another average verse we're treated to a dissonant quiet section and the song's magnificent outro, with the chilling "run away, run away" lyrics representing my course of action during most of When. I love the call-and-response of the panned guitars here, something they'd repeat in several years in Windowpane.

Credence: 7/10

This song isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't really hold my interest until that catchy outro riff starts. It just kind of drags on and fails to show the maturity of songs like Benighted, Melinda, or To Bid You Farewell. The verses are nice, but nothing special. I do like the harmonies in the second verse, even if the lyrics are a tad emo. They played this on the Heritage tour and people loved it, but I actually think it felt out of place. Anyway, that outro riff should have gone on for a bit longer. Just magnificent atmosphere there; probably the best on the entire album.

Karma: 9/10

Have they ever played this track live? Because if they haven't it's a damn shame. The sudden burst of the intro to pull the listener out of Credence was expected but still welcome. Similar in its intensity to April Ethereal, this sounds much darker, and since it's now winter it probably should. The second verse is filler, and I swear they're reusing riffs straight up verbatim from April Ethereal, but whatever. The clean middle section is beautiful, and lyrically unsettling. I mean, I guess the whole album is lyrically unsettling, but that kinda goes with the territory. The vibe of the entire section staring at 3:41 is incredible, and when those heavy chords and guitar fills come in at 4:40 I'm simply stunned. It reminds me of the following album (Moonlapse Vertigo?) quite a bit; a pleasant preview of things to come. The next few verses are possibly the most bleak-sounding of the album, and are reminiscent of their earlier black metal sound. Finally, the ending is such a burst of intensity, frustration, and hopelessness that we've all surely felt at some point in our lives (not the whole ghost thing, but still), and it's chilling. That scream, oh lordy...

Epilogue: 7/10

A neat little closing instrumental, with some very emotional lead playing from Peter (or maybe Mikael, I honestly can't tell in this case). The final "theme" is one of the catchiest melodies on the album, and I wish it was foreshadowed in one of the previous tracks. This quaint little piece does its job by wrapping up this growly ghoul story quite nicely.

After careful consideration, I still place this album near the bottom of my list in terms of quality. I'll break it down below...

Better production: +3
Slightly deeper ultra tuf growlies: +2
Improved chunky riffage: +2
Decreased melodic riffage: -3
Lack of memorable vocal melodies: -2
Many walls of sound: -5
Few memorable bass lines: -4
No more counterpoint stuff: -3
Nine minutes wasted on When: -3

Depending on my mood, I'll place this album slightly higher or slightly lower than Heritage and Deliverance.
 
*Booing elimination of Nectar!*


I adore those shorters songs on My Arms. They make the album as good (and atmospheric!) as it is. But there's a possibility I need to sacrifice them. A tactical move, if I want to do my best to protect some other songs I like. I expect most out here might go for the more performed epics like Demon of the Fall.
I prefer April Ethereal and probably When as well. I am not a big fan of The Amen Corner and Karma.
I'll surely not touch Epilogue. What a track. Best Floyd/Maiden combination I've ever heard. ;)

I haven't decided on anything yet. I think I'll give the album one last spin to be sure which moments of this record I care the most about.

EDIT:
Okay, this went a bit quicker than I thought. This is probably cursing in the church but the vocals in Demon of the Fall and Karma sound like a parody on death metal. Exaggerated. Not fond of some vocal melodies near the end in Demon either.

I really like the first half of When. Love these riffs and early solo! And I dig that short clean vocal before the solos starts. Good acoustic part. But later it goes downhill. So I see good things in When and I like Madrigal as well.

But then I looked at the remaining songs from earlier albums. As much as I like My Arms, Your Hearse, most individual songs don't generate -and maintain throughout the whole song!- the same level of excitement and admiration I feel in some earlier songs. Only April Ethereal, Epilogue (masterpiece) and Credence do. Like Flash said, the ending in Credence is so beautiful.

Other epics are heavy but are not intense in different realms. They do not create breath holding suspense, do not change atmosphere, do not work towards a climax, they do not possess that melodic brilliance. They hit me hard, but they don't draw me in as deep in the world of Orchid's and in lesser extent Morningrise's top tracks.

  1. The Apostle In Triumph
  2. Advent
  3. Black Rose Immortal
  4. Prologue
  5. When
  6. Madrigal
  7. The Amen Corner
  8. Demon Of The Fall
  9. Karma
 
Last edited:
Forostar said:
O great, more early Opeth opposition. As if there wasn't enough already.
Click to expand...
I never said that I didn't like early Opeth. I've only gotten through Orchid once and like half of Morningrise and that's not enough for me to go on. I've heard Still Life - Ghost Reveries quite a few times though and I will try to have the early albums listened to before I make a decision.
 
I see but will you vote against these early songs if you feel you haven't gotten through enough? Or are you waiting til they disappear? ;)
 
Forostar said:
I see but will you vote against these early songs if you feel you haven't gotten through enough? Or are you waiting til they disappear? ;)
Click to expand...

Maybe he's waiting for the number to cut down to be able to find the time to check them out?
 
My thoughts on My Arms, Your Hearse (the actual songs, at least):

April Ethereal - Immediately levels up the band. It's heavier, groovier, and far more malevolent than anything that came before. The opening riffs and verses are just pummeling. Lyrics are more poetic and more coherent. Great stuff. Mikael's growl of "She faced me with awe" is skull crushing. The first clean vocal break is abrupt, but so confident that it works. The guitar solo is nice, simple, and leads perfectly into the harmonized section at 4:50. Ending that first acoustic section with a scream and then leading into that octave chord groove is one of the best moments on the album. The final heavy verse is violent, yet somehow melodic. It's great to hear how Mikael's vocal rhythms have improved. A very, very good song. 9/10

When - I don't love the clean part that bridges these two songs (mostly due to the fade out of April), but it makes the intro of When that much scarier. However, the first two minutes of this song don't do much for me musically. It's a nice mood piece, but nothing stands out. Once the "find my way back home" part hits, and the lead guitar after it, I'm onboard. The transition to the clean part has many shades of the first two albums but the layers are starker, more mature. I love the simple chord riff that starts at 4:25. "Graven face, she said my name" through the "whispers in the parlour" part is just plain awesome, then the pause followed by "And I cried" makes it even better! The vocal harmonies are gorgeous and the whole part really shows how far Mikael has come as a vocalist. The ending is fantastic. This is what I wish we heard more of in Newpeth: heavy riffing with perfectly clean vocals. It works wonders here. Again, not a perfect song. But really good. 9/10

The Amen Corner - The blend between the ending of Madrigal and the opening riffs of this song is simply astounding. I adore the heavy stop-start section with the acoustics tailing the riff. This song has the best riffs on the album and they're all in the first two minutes. Once the vocals come in, though, the song loses its magic for me. I like it, but there's nothing memorable until the clean section and heavy reprise halfway through. Overall, it's a good mid-tempo set piece of the album and the guitars are great all around. The random harmonized section mid-solo is pretty cool as is the clean outro. Vocals don't do anything for me in this song at all. 8/10

Demon of the Fall - Classic, brilliant, what more can be said? Easily the best song on the album. The opening SFX tell us that something has changed in the story (the protagonist losing all hope? Embracing darkness?) and the riffs, lyrics, and vocals all match that idea. It's dark and twisted and wonderful, from the swinging heaviness to the acoustic break to the best chorus of any early Opeth album. Despite all the demonic heaviness, this song ends with pure beauty. The contrary nature of the song melds the theme and concept perfectly. Even this song knows that autumn is the time for demons (and Opeth)! It's a fucking masterpiece of a song. The crowning achievement of their first three records. 10/10

Credence - The slow build of the drum intro ending with Mikael's sigh really helps to characterize the story well. I like the music here, especially the acoustic slides and the ending, but the vocal melodies are so monotonous. They would write this kind of song later with far better outcomes. My least favorite from the album. 6/10

Karma - Another killer song that punches you in the face from the get-go. The first few lines are very catchy and rhythmic. "You have nothing more to find, you have nothing more to lose" is beautiful. The guitar melody halfway through the song is the catchiest on the whole album. Another great outro, truly rocking stuff. The final layered scream of the album leaves the story complete, yet emotionally unfinished, which is perfect. A killer ending. 9/10

Epilogue - I don't love the fade in and out, but I get that it makes the song basically a passing funeral dirge that connects the end to the beginning and the beginning to the end and so on and so forth. It's a nice piece of music, but ultimately nothing incredible. I like it, but I think it could have been shorter to match the length of the other instrumentals. The harmony section is amazing, though. 7/10

My Arms, Your Hearse is absolutely a transitional record, but the transition is highly enjoyable. The production could be better, the vocals are still not perfect (that will come next and later), but overall it's a powerhouse of an album. The change in style here should not be understated: this is a radical departure from what is heard on the first album. Sure, it's not as stark a contrast between the differences of Deliverance and Damnation or Watershed and Heritage, but the sound of this metal is mostly quite different from the metal on Orchid and Morningrise. What we see here is a shift towards the band sounding like a band instead of a bunch of players. Mikael taking the forefront of the songwriting was definitely a plus for this band at the time and led them in the direction they needed to go. It's easily my favorite of their first three records.

Album rating - 8.4/10

Detective Beauregard said:
When: 5/10

Every Opeth album seems to have that one song that everyone loves but that never clicked with me, and this is the one in this case. The clean intro had potential, but it gives way to generic heaviness too quickly. I'm not going to go into too much detail with this song because none of the individual parts really stand out. It could be the production, but this song just doesn't make me feel anything. The ending to the guitar solo is awkward and kind of kills the ghostly vibe with the good-time-blues fill. Immediately afterward we're treated to an acoustic section that the band perfected on their far superior following album, but it's neat to hear the evolution. More chugging, walls of sound, ghosts being creeps... honestly, the best part of this song actually is the lyrics. It only took six minutes, but finally we stumble upon something catchy in the mellow section! Here, ghost man catches his former woman with another guy in the parlor? I think. It's impossible to figure this out since I'm not really a lyric kinda guy. Then he cried. Because she lied. And he died. I don't even care anymore. I'll say that at least the last third of the song is somewhat catchy, and the only real redeeming thing here.
Click to expand...

I liked your post for the overall analysis, but this is absurd. When shows a confluence of Opeth's sounds better than any other song on this album. It is the only track that features moments similar to those on the first two records, while also foreshadowing the riffs and style that would come later in Opeth's catalogue. The only song that does a better job at showcasing this band firing on all cylinders on MAYH is Demon of the Fall. I don't see how you can condemn this song for being a "wall of sound" but not April Ethereal, Amen Corner, or Karma.

Night Prowler said:
Orchid:
My opinion changed a bit. Twilight is #1, Mist is #2.
Click to expand...

:clap::ok: :rocker:

Also, you're crazy about bass. Bass adds so much to good metal bands that care about musical dimension.

Anyway, voting for:

- Forest, Apostle
- Advent, Night
- Prologue, Madrigal, Credence, Epilogue
 
Metal without bass sounds very plastic to me. Everything else has to be fucking phenomenal in order for me to enjoy a metal record without audible bass. (...And Justice for All is one)
 
Sorry I haven't gotten to this. Will listen to MAYH soon, if not today nor yet tomorrow then some other day.
Probably tomorrow though.

Edit: Went ahead and voted anyway so the game can continue.
 
No worries, I would've waited. I'll try to vote soon. In the meantime, if you plan on writing a long post after listening again, I'll let you change your votes if you wish.
 
I don't think that'll be necessary. I have been listening to the album, just in chunks in the car without really paying much attention. Prologue and Madrigal are no brainers, Epitaph is as well to a lesser extent. Amen Corner and Karma haven't done much for me, but I'm fine waiting until the next round to vote for those.

And I've listened to enough of the first two albums by now to be certain about my votes there.
 
Rather: don't wait til the next round with voting for songs from this album that do less for you than songs from previous albums. You have a week to find out.
 
Not sure what you mean. At this phase of the game I'm mostly just comparing songs with other songs from their respective albums. I only start comparing everything when I run out of votes and that wasn't the case this round.
 
The point of the game is to compare all songs with all songs, in order to make the favourite ones survive the longest. If people wait too long with putting a song in context of the total, they risk getting stuck focusing on separate albums too much. And they risk early elimination of songs they prefer over others from other albums. Remember, every vote counts. Literally.

It's not the goal to only find out which are the two or three best three from each album, while it's possible that a fourth is at least as enjoyable as the best, or second or third best one from another album.

People who constantly vote for everything but the few best of each album, without relating the quality of third and lower ranked songs to all songs, categorically disadvantage songs from albums that appear the earliest/earlier.

E.g. Why a vote for Weeping Moon, if you like it more than e.g. Amen Corner, a song that hasn't done much for you?

I see you want to give the new stuff more time. Then do that before/instead of disadvantaging work that has appeared earlier in the game.
 
Last edited:
I agree with that Foro. I vote for what I like least overall in each round. Hence why, when the next round comes along, I won't be voting for a single new song because I prefer everything on Still Life to everything left in the game except Demon of the Fall and To Bid You Farewell.
 
Yep. As long as you play the Still Life songs (again) when it comes on, and play the other remaining ones (you gave some very high grades for pre-Still Life songs as well) and see how everything stands together. We constantly need to update. Sometimes a song grows, sometimes it gets less interesting. Just my 2 cents of course. I don't want to force anything.
 
Forostar said:
E.g. Why a vote for Weeping Moon, if you like it more than e.g. Amen Corner, a song that hasn't done much for you?
Click to expand...
But I don't like it more than Amen Corner. If I did, I would vote for Amen Corner too. Weeping Moon in particular has really dropped in my ratings this time around, the ambient section really kills it for me. I had plenty of votes leftover but I didn't think it was necessary to vote for any more songs. On the whole I prefer MAYH to the first two albums and I would rather eliminate the songs from those albums I don't care for first. Even if I'm not directly comparing across albums, if there's a song I from MAYH I like less than anything from the previous albums, I'll vote for it.

I did listen to the MAYH songs before voting btw. I just haven't had a chance to listen to it all in one sitting while giving it my complete attention.
 
Mosh said:
But I don't like it more than Amen Corner. If I did, I would vote for Amen Corner too. Weeping Moon in particular has really dropped in my ratings this time around, the ambient section really kills it for me. I had plenty of votes leftover but I didn't think it was necessary to vote for any more songs. On the whole I prefer MAYH to the first two albums and I would rather eliminate the songs from those albums I don't care for first. Even if I'm not directly comparing across albums, if there's a song I from MAYH I like less than anything from the previous albums, I'll vote for it.

I did listen to the MAYH songs before voting btw. I just haven't had a chance to listen to it all in one sitting while giving it my complete attention.
Click to expand...
Alright. I had a different impression from what you've written in this topic. Your Weeping Moon comments were more positive than your Amen critique.
 
Well I haven't really had a chance to give an in depth review of Amen yet.

Weeping Moon I liked more when I wrote about Orchid, after repeated listens it has declined.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top