THE OPETH REFERENDUM MMXXI: Results -> Blackwater Park wins again!

Heart in Hand
Chrysalis
Elysian Woes - I like parts of it, but it's clearly the weak link on Pale Communion.
River - Too disjointed and feel-good at times.
Voice of Treason - I don't care for the theatrical vibe of this track. It isn't why I listen to Opeth.

Best songs of the NuPeth era:

Devil's Orchard
Folklore
Eternal Rains...
Cusp...
Moon Above...
Faith in Others
Sorceress
Wilde Flowers
Will O' That Sexy Wisp
Era
All Things Will Pass

JudasMyGuide said:
Also, sorry, but ICV is even more melancholic and autumnal and bathing in decay than PC. I know you don't like it, but that doesn't change the fact :p
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Hard disagree. Far too many jovial, feel-good parts on it. I don't get autumn from it at all. As much as I think Heritage is the band's weakest effort, I could listen to it sitting at a bonfire sipping Scotch while the trees die around me. Same with (most of) PC and much of Sorceress. The only time ICV gets autumnal for me is near the end (although there's some wintery moments sprinkled about).

The end of Continuum could have come straight off of PC.
 
Voted for Continuum, Sorceress and The Wilde Flowers from first two albums. Also voting for Elysian Woes, Goblin and River from PC. Tough choices already, as all 3 songs are better than the songs I'm voting for from the first two albums.

My Pale Communion review from 2017
 
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Eliminated after Round 4:
Elysian Woes - 6 votes
Goblin - 6 votes
Sorceress - 5 votes
 
Easy votes for Continuum and The Wilde Flowers. Choosing which 3 songs from PC I want to go through is incredibly hard - decided to vote for Cusp Of Eternity because it's least epic and the version with orchestra/choir is superior to the studio version, and River (easy). Can't choose between the remaining 4 PC songs just yet (currently Voice Of Treason is most likely to be my next vote but I'll listen to PC some more).
 
I have no idea if I’ll ever join this game, but I did find In Cauda Venenum a week or so ago on CD (Swedish and English) and I bought it. So there’s that.
 
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Eliminated after Round 5:
Continuum - 4 voters
Will O The Wisp - 4 voters
Cusp Of Eternity - 3 voters

Promoted after Round 5:
Heart In Hand
Lovelorn Crime
All Things Will Pass
The Wilde Flowers
Chrysalis
Era

The Wilde Flowers got promoted ahead of Will O The Wisp because it had better average performance per round.

Heritage + The Throat Of Winter joins the game!
 
Oh boy, Heritage. I'll have to give it another listen, if I'm able to. Couldn't make it all the way last time.
 
Yeah, this album is not very good. There are so many senseless transitions, like the ending of The Devil's Orchard where they try to tie it back together, or I Feel the Dark randomly getting heavy... And these are the good songs.

The entire stretch from Nepenthe to The Lines in My Hand is an absolute slog, and are probably the worst thing I've heard from Opeth, unless Morningrise is exceptionally shit.

Slither is a bad Motorhead song, and Folklore has some good moments but is still so, so, far below the standard you expect from Opeth.

What's left... Marrow of the Earth is kind of okay, Pyre lost me after 2 minutes, and Face in the Snow is actually good. The Throat of Winter didn't start special, but it surprisingly evolved into a very good song!

Voting for Heritage, Slither, Nepenthe, Haxprocess (worst Opeth song??), Famine, The Lines in My Hand (maybe this one is), Marrow of the Earth, Pyre, and also Eternal Rains just to have something from PC.
 
Heritage is at its best when it’s focused on vibe-y instrumental music. Some of the vocal passages on here are are a bit awkward, Mikael seems to be still learning how to write melodies for this style of music. But a lot of the riffs and instrumental melodies are really cool. A lot of the transitions between parts are kind of awkward, but that can be said for a lot of Opeth’s discography, I take it in stride. I find that I enjoy a lot of individual parts on this album and have a hard time pinpointing full songs that I really get into. It all kind of flows as one thing.

Shmoolikipod said:
Slither is a bad Motorhead song
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Wat. I missed the Motorhead song with prog rock riffs, vocal harmonies, an organ, and an acoustic outro. Slither is a tribute to Dio and seems to be a pretty obvious attempt at writing a Rainbow song. Very Blackmore-ish riffing.

In general I have to say I disagree entirely with pretty much everything @Shmoolikipod said. The run from Nepenthe to Lines in My Hand (+Folklore) is where the album most excels. Lots of really cool instrumental passages and some of the vocal parts feel a bit more natural compared to other songs (Haxprocess first comes to mind). The album starts very strong with The Devil’s Orchard and then immediately drops off with the next two songs. To this day, I think this has really hurt perceptions of the album. There’s some really great stuff in the middle, Folklore is probably the most “classic” Opeth sounding track. But I Feel the Dark is so noodle-y and doesn’t really go anywhere. Slither might be the most straightforward rock song, but it really lacks a great hook. When we get Nepenthe, the album’s true nature really reveals itself and most of the next 30 minutes of music is really enjoyable.

Overall, I think Heritage is an album that has a rocky start but once it picks up steam it’s an enjoyable listen. Some of its problems, primarily lack of concise catchy songs and awkward transitions between parts, is something that Nupeth still has a problem with although the newer albums definitely have at least one or two songs each that stand on their own. Pale Communion actually kind of has the opposite problem as Heritage, where almost every song is really strong but the album as a whole has virtually no flow whatsoever. I feel like I can listen to that album on shuffle and get the same effect, which can’t be said for any other Opeth album. But with that said, the songs tend to matter the most and Pale Communion is still the best thing Nupeth has produced. I think Heritage is a close second though. I find that I enjoy listening to it much more than Sorceress or ICV. The album has a great vibe, and it’s the best sounding Nupeth album. The instruments are really warm and everything sits nice in the mix. It’s not over compressed.

Voting for the three bonus songs, the two instrumental bookends, + I Feel the Dark and Slither.
 
Mosh said:
Wat. I missed the Motorhead song with prog rock riffs, vocal harmonies, an organ, and an acoustic outro. Slither is a tribute to Dio and seems to be a pretty obvious attempt at writing a Rainbow song. Very Blackmore-ish riffing.
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Well, it's this song! :D

Okay yes, it's more Rainbow-like. But at least in the verse and the tone, it does sound like Ace of Spades on prog.
 
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