1. Can you elaborate? The song is relatively dynamic and has multiple tonal shifts.
I like the intro riff and the first acoustic interlude, but the rest is incredibly bland, sorry, especially riff-wise, with the atmosphere being just "generic evil" without anything making it special for me. The chorus was catchy and cool once, but I overplayed it. The clean vocal part near the end is a somewhat nice touch (though Mikael has better such) and it comes only near the end.
I kinda get why people love it, but I can't help but find it monotonous, even for the standards of the first three albums. Not necessarily talking about precise musical elements, more like the overall... "feel".
And I don't hate it or anything and on the album it's a reliable "brick", but on its own, well... it's not really high on my list.
Also, yes, I absolutely don't get why people love this track so much and then go heap shit on Wreath, which has the same "generic evil" atmosphere, but IMHO much better done, with the lonely, haunting passages utilising the wall-of-sound approach much better (I'm talking 2:00-3:00 or the unbelievably creepy vocals e.g. in 9:30-9:45). But yeah, I usually go against the majority, I'm used to it. It's not even intentional!
2. That's one of my favorites from Still Life, along with Godhead and Moonlapse. Poor Moonlapse, Mikael will forever hate thee. Serenity is such an evil, sinister song... and that chorus...
Moonlapse has become not only my favourite Still Life Track, but quite probably my top 5 Opeth track in general, there were times I thought about it being my favourite track altogether. I also love Godhead a lot, that 1:53-57 riff is one of my favourite riffs ever, I love the guitar harmony part, I love the clean vocals ("Searching my way to perplexion..."), the chaotic intro...
Next to these, well, I find Serenity to be trying to be the "brutal" track just like (most of) Godhead, but I find it kinda lacking in ideas somewhat, I like the descending riff at about 1:40, I like the feel of the intro, but in general it's really not memorable enough (compared with the rest of the album!), the syncopated chorus with the pinch harmonic (? I'm not a guitarist, but you know what I mean) feels too "dudebro" to me and I hate the abrupt change into the chorus near the end.
The subdued section feels also weaker next to others on the album and I personally dislike that echo (? or what it is) effect they use there (for personal reasons, back when we were behind the Iron Curtain yet, there was this popular "rock" ballad that used a similar effect which was terribly cringey, yet it became a cult classic, I won't bother you with that).
So yes, once again, a person on the forum that likes Cluster much more than Serenity. The hipster's at it again!
But with Cluster, even the Pink Panther theme evocation in the main riff + the Dream Theater section there would on their own be interesting enough to put it above SPD, sorry.
WHITE FACED
HAGGARD GRIN
THIS SERENITY PAINTED DUHYEAHUTH
Yeah, like this.
Wait. You're being serious.
Oh. My bad, sorry.
3. Heir Apparent is my favorite track from Watershed. It's also one of the few Opeth songs with no clean vocals. Those verses in the beginning are so powerful and doomy...
I like the doom feel you mention, but here really I'm speechless - I personally love
Watershed very much (much more than is usual, I guess) and I even agree that Heir fits the album and its atmosphere like a glove. And I can't really say why I don't like it as much as I should. It just sounds...
off somehow (the production? Well, the production's the same for the whole album). When I'm now going through it, I like the riffs, I like the tinkling interlude, in fact all the subdued passages, contrasting with the heavy ones are really sweet. I like the rhythms, the melodies...
... and I can't really tell you why it is that I almost
never go and listen to the track on its own. Why it kinda slips my mind while listening to the album.
Also, I love Opeth for their dynamics and I like how the song is playful in that regard, but be it the production or the mastering, it feels unpleasant, like,
too loud, I mean, the beginnings of Perdition and When are memetic among the fans, and rightly so, but this somehow feels worse, the whole sequence Coil-Heir, with the loud acoustic shocks... don't know, I usually like that in the band's work, but I don't here.
Also, I realise I picked some of the "heavier" stuff, but that's really not it, it's not like I disliked the "dark" stuff or something. Blackwater Park, Leper Affinity, Wreath, the first half of Apprentices and Godhead's Lament are heavy and dark af, it's more like these songs above just didn't click.
