Opeth

By Request, Part 1 - Orchid:


  • Total voters
    10
Great, although before that second vote for Mist appeared I was wondering whether this will die off once every active Opeth fan votes in such a way that every song has exactly one vote and you'll be too annoyed to continue :D So far our Maiden choice is the same as my prediction for the ultimate fan choice - I honestly think they'll gonna pick the opener.

Also, considering the fact Opeth have been talked about in the GMAC as well I'm kinda toying with the idea of updating that document I made with every Opeth mention and discussion that I found - until it becomes too large a change to update in one sitting. I actually find myself quite often going through that along my listening and indeed - thank you all for your thoughts and contributions in the past threads, discussions, Survivors etc. Probably my most cherished treasure of this forum :D (to wit - it's mostly opinions on particular songs and albums, put together across the forum and across the threads, so you can look up, dunno, for example The Grand Conjuration and you see how people talked about it in various survivors and thread, how their opinions developed etc).

Connected with that: Once again, @Night Prowler I beg of thee to reconsider your sourpussiness and begrudgingly at least participate in another Opeth Survivor. And I ask all of you as well - @Mosh , @The Flash , @Detective Beauregard , @MrKnickerbocker , @Forostar (I appreciate even the early albums and there are negative things I could say about Still Life! :D ), @Cornfed Hick , @Saapanael (c'mon, even Petrucci would approve!), @Black Wizard , @Midnight , @Brigantium , @Ariana (hey, I got into Alter Bridge for you, so do an Opeth new-vivor for me :p ), @karljant (you certainly didn't participate last time, 'cause I don't have your posts in that document I mentioned), @Collin (I'll carefully go through the entire Tool discography for you!), @Diesel 11 (hey, the previous Opeth survivors along with the last Dream Theater survivor were a prototype of your graphomania approach even before your time! You should honor the tradition), @Onhell and everyone else you can get. Anyone? @Perun ? @LooseCannon ? @KidInTheDark666 ? Do we even have other members? :D

I didn't have the chance to participate the last time and I need an excuse to actually spend that much time doing a long write-ups, 'cause there's a lot of stuff in my life that should have preference now, but I'll do so if you're gonna join me. And I've been thinking about what would I write about the albums and songs for the past year or so at least. Also, this time around we could have actually more voters, if the people above heed my call.

If you wish, I might even try hosting it, I never did so before and I'm kinda afraid, but I'm willing to do it. Yep, I'm that hell-bent. :D

Also, if anyone wanted to read the original version of that document before I update it, it's in the last post of the page 42 on this thread.

Let's do a send-off to the unique and challenging band. I promise I won't bother with this again.

If y'all decline, I'm gonna start a commented discography here, but that's really not as much fun. And you're gonna break my heart. As if I had any...
 
I will do a discography or a survivor, but my comments probably won’t be as expansive
 
Yeah I’m down for some Opeth. I’m due for a relisten of the first couple albums anyways. I won’t be kind the post Watershed era though.
 
Also, I know that we all talked about Mikael's distaste for the old music and his declining growling skills, but...

But I don't know whether the Red Rock Amphitheatre was picked in particular (as an example of a night gone right) or what, but I found his growls on that last live album pretty okay. Not as great as they used to be, but less of an embarassment than on the Sorceress bonus Drapery. Ghost of Perdition, Heir and Deliverance were absolutely fine and Demon of the Fall okayish. Don't know, aren't we a bit to strict? A bit too unforgiving? That concert was actually pretty great. Want to buy the BluRay asap.

Makes me wonder about:

Mikey can’t growl anymore and they clearly don’t enjoy playing that stuff live. Mark my words, the metal stuff is going to leave the setlists sooner than we might think.

I don't know if I agree - the songs get an immediate response and I don't think they've picked up enough new-era fans so as to discard the metal stuff altogether. I mean, I like the last 4 albums a lot and yet I wouldn't want them to do that. And they are able to reproduce them live - I'd kill to see the Garden of Titans set live.
 
Growls on Red Rocks live album are overdubbed.

Also, I saw them live last year and as I said before - he's gotten really bad. Growls are barely audible and he doesn't seem to even try to get them right. Higher growling is better than the low growling, but he does the latter way way more, even if the studio version has higher growling.
 
Not much of a fan of the old stuff, but the swedish version of in cauda venenum is VERY good, I think. Some stuff on pale communion is quite good too, I like Will o‘the wisp, but my favorite track is PYRE from heritage — it‘s just FIRE.
They‘re my favorite prog band right now, since Mastodon hasn‘t come out with something outstanding in a while.
 
Well, Mikael killed my idea at the first opportunity. You can only vote for a few songs from each album. COP OUT, WEAK AND SAD! I LIKE BANDS THAT DON'T FORBID YOU FROM VOTING FOR ANY SONG!

 
I voted for:

  1. Under The Weeping Moon (still, not having In Mist She Was Standing in the poll is such a cop out)
  2. Black Rose Immortal (there would've been an outrage if he didn't include this one)
  3. Demon Of The Fall (no April Ethereal - sad! they did play it 10 years ago, so maybe that's the reason; I don't really care for any other songs from this album)
  4. White Cluster (no Moonlapse Vertigo - sad!!!!! no Serenity Painted Death - sad!!!!! I figured they'll play The Moor and Face Of Melinda again eventually)
  5. Blackwater Park (I wanna finally hear it live and they haven't played it in a while; just 6 times since 2014)
  6. Masters Apprentices (no By The Pain I See In Others - sad!!!!!!)
  7. Windowpane
  8. Beneath The Mire (no Isolation Years - sad!!!!!)
  9. Burden (no songs with growls - sad!!!!!! (although I wouldn't have voted for any of them, but still :p))
  10. The Devil's Orchard (lame options; overplayed awesome song + 2 shit songs)
  11. Cusp Of Eternity (already heard all 3 options, why not play Faith In Others which was never played live? sad!!!!!)
  12. Era (awful options - no Strange Brew, sad!!!!!! all 3 options suck)
  13. All Things Will Pass (cop out not to put the song with only bass guitars as an option, sad!!!!!!)
 
Well, Mikael killed my idea at the first opportunity. You can only vote for a few songs from each album. COP OUT, WEAK AND SAD! I LIKE BANDS THAT DON'T FORBID YOU FROM VOTING FOR ANY SONG!

I expected this. Opeth can't afford to do a full-on request setlist for one very simple reason: Time. The same would be true for any band with so many long songs in their discography. Imagine if the longest song wins the poll for each album.

Black Rose Immortal (there would've been an outrage if he didn't include this one)

I'm sure he's already started practicing it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Black Rose Immortal is precisely the song that inspired this whole concept - Mikael mentioned the constant requests for BRI and that he was open to playing it in an interview.
 
Yeah, it's disappointing but I think it could have been expected (like The Flash says, time, time, time although when I put the longest songs off each album in a single playlist it was somewhat under 2 and a half hours, which is long, but manageable).

Some of the selections really suck, though.

1. Forest of October
2. Black Rose Immortal (I like Night and the Silent Water more, but I took this one for the team)
3. Amen Corner (no April, no When)
4. The Moor (the selection really sucks - where's Lament and Vertigo?)
5. Blackwater Park
6. Master's Apprentices (pity, wished for BTPISIO)
7. To Rid the Disease - less overplayed than Windowpane to me
8. Beneath the Mire (I really hoped for Hounds, though)
9. Porcelain Heart
10. I Feel the Dark (Orchard is overpraised/overplayed. Wanted Folklore)
11. Eternal Rains, though I really don't care for either, actually they picked the three songs I like the least. Cusp is unfortunately probably going to win, though
12. Era (where's Strange Brew? Shit)
13. All Things Will Pass, 'cause it's a better closer than Kin. But I wished for Continuum.
 
1. Forest of October
2. Black Rose Immortal (Not a particular favorite of mine, but the novelty is too big to pass up)
3. The Amen Corner
4. White Cluster
5. The Funeral Portrait
6. Master's Apprentices
7. To Rid the Disease
8. Beneath the Mire
9. Hex Omega
10. I Feel the Dark
11. Eternal Rains Will Come
12. Era
13. De närmast sörjande

Generally went for the less frequently played options. The biggest disappointments are the omission of In Mist She Was Standing from Orchid, and the triple-omission of Godhead's Lament, Moonlapse Vertigo and Serenity Painted Death from Still Life.
 
So, my overlap:
6/13 with Night Prowler
9/13 with The Flash (and I actually thought about picking both Portrait and Kin)

The biggest disappointments are the omission of In Mist She Was Standing from Orchid, and the triple-omission of Godhead's Lament, Moonlapse Vertigo and Serenity Painted Death from Still Life.

I wanted to agree, but no, it's the selections from the NewPeth albums that are a damned travesty. I like Era and all, but it's like they didn't even try.

P.S. - also, can't it be Lament, Moonlapse and Serenity are harder to play live, with all the overdubs?
 
If they don't randomize the setlist, I hope they start with the Softpeth stuff. Get it out of the way and just have the juicy stuff from 6th song onwards.
 
I don’t think time has anything to do with it, you could play the longest song from each album and have a decent length evening-with set (which I assume this will be anyway). Plus many of the songs that were excluded aren’t really that long. I think it really just comes down to there being songs that they don’t want to play/learn. With that in mind, my interest in this concert has dropped considerably.

I voted for these:
Under the Weeping Moon - still a good choice, although excluding Mist is farcical.

Black Rose Immortal - Who am I to fight against the meme? I would probably rather just hear Advent again tho.

Karma - Meh

The Moor - Meh. I don’t like White Cluster and I’ve heard it live twice already. The other two are probably going to be played live again anyway. Biggest disappointment of the poll.

Blackwater Park - Title track, pretty much a no brainer. This was the least interesting album to choose from even if they allowed all songs.

To Rid the Disease - Maybe it has a chance? Probably gonna be windowpane.

Masters Apprentices - Really hope this one wins.

Beneath the Mire - Another one I genuinely want to hear live.

Porcelain Heart - Lame choices, Hex Omega is weak and Burden is nice but I don’t really have any urge to hear it live. Porcelain Heart is the least bad choice.

Pyre - Why not?

Eysian Woes - Cool song, didn’t realize they’ve played it live already. The first two are pretty overplayed, more disappointing choices.

Era - Great song. Disappointed again in the choices here but Era is a great song that sounds even better live
 
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