Let's Review!
Man, I haven't done anything like this since I ripped on Stained like over a year ago, but since I just got a new CD that is apparently the magnum opus of all black metal, I'll be giving it a few listen-throughs and deciding whether or not they live up to the hype, which mostly consisted of Marcus going "LOL THESE GUYS ARE GR8 BUY NOW", only in coherent English.
The CD in question is Blackwater Park, the fifth studio album produced by Opeth. Since I like really heavy stuff, I figured this would be right up my alley. I spent MONTHS downloading it on this shitty connection, and it just finished last night. So, I grab my iPod, load it up, snap on some headphones, then head out to the running track, prepared to be blown away!
Only, I wasn't.
It kind of... lacked that heavy impact that most of the other guys I listen to has. It was heavy, but not fast, which is usually what I prefer to listen to. Take Soilwork's earlier stuff, In Flames, even Trivium to a lesser, gayer extent. That's not to say it was all bad, of course, just not what I expected.
So where to start... first off, the music is incredible, from a composition standpoint. These guys play some unconventional riffs that are technically complex enough to be interesting, but not annoying. Some guys, like Douchebag Darryl from Pantera, are so technical it's boring, and I'd think reading the sheet music would be more entertaining than listening to the shit. The drums aren't quite as heavy as I prefer, with only a few spots of double-bass work, the fastest of them being in the first three minutes of the album, but the timing signatures are very unique when they break away from 4/4. When I read about these guys a few weeks ago, I read that they actually incorporate jazz into their style, and I had no idea how this work before listening.
It works well, as it'd happen. The drums, when not doing the heavy metal bit, are mellow and complex, going slowly enough for you to take in every fill the guy throws at you. As well, some of the tracks feature a jazz-style guitar being played during the interludes, which, much to my surprise, also works very well.
As for the vocals, they're also very impressive. When you listen to death metal, black metal, doom metal, or what have you, the singers usually carry the lyrics with a guttural roar or a high-pitched screech. If they sing, they're usually capable at best, and embarrassingly bad at worst. Most heavy metal bands start out with the death growl as their only vocals, then incorporate melodic singing as they gain popularity for a more accessible sound that appeals to a wider audience (e.g., selling out). With Opeth, the singer has a deep, robust growl, but rounds it out with a singing voice that's not only competent, but actually damn good. He can sing better than a lot of mainstream artists who aren't even metal bands, like Linkin Park and Seether. It doesn't feel like the melodic vocals were added on as an afterthought, but rather, worked in seamlessly along side the intelligible growling.
Something else I found I liked was the fact that the accoustic parts of the songs were performed with real instruments and added to the track, not detracting from it by feeling tacked on. A lot of times accoustic melodies in the middle of a heavy metal track last for only half a minute or less, and add little to the song other than some masturbatory twinge of self-indulgence. Take Trivium, who typically has at least four tracks that are 2 minute long, repetitive loops of the same grainy Sampletank strings and sampled piano (I know this because I used Sampletank myself :D)
There's also the track length to consider, as some of the songs are in excess of 8 minutes long. At the very least, it's 8 minutes of music, beginning to end, as opposed to, say, The Mars Volta, who have 20 minute tracks that are 2 minutes of music and 18 minutes of whooshy, jingling 'ambient textures.'
All in all, not blown away, but impressed nonetheless. Next on my list is Mastadon!
The CD in question is Blackwater Park, the fifth studio album produced by Opeth. Since I like really heavy stuff, I figured this would be right up my alley. I spent MONTHS downloading it on this shitty connection, and it just finished last night. So, I grab my iPod, load it up, snap on some headphones, then head out to the running track, prepared to be blown away!
Only, I wasn't.
It kind of... lacked that heavy impact that most of the other guys I listen to has. It was heavy, but not fast, which is usually what I prefer to listen to. Take Soilwork's earlier stuff, In Flames, even Trivium to a lesser, gayer extent. That's not to say it was all bad, of course, just not what I expected.
So where to start... first off, the music is incredible, from a composition standpoint. These guys play some unconventional riffs that are technically complex enough to be interesting, but not annoying. Some guys, like Douchebag Darryl from Pantera, are so technical it's boring, and I'd think reading the sheet music would be more entertaining than listening to the shit. The drums aren't quite as heavy as I prefer, with only a few spots of double-bass work, the fastest of them being in the first three minutes of the album, but the timing signatures are very unique when they break away from 4/4. When I read about these guys a few weeks ago, I read that they actually incorporate jazz into their style, and I had no idea how this work before listening.
It works well, as it'd happen. The drums, when not doing the heavy metal bit, are mellow and complex, going slowly enough for you to take in every fill the guy throws at you. As well, some of the tracks feature a jazz-style guitar being played during the interludes, which, much to my surprise, also works very well.
As for the vocals, they're also very impressive. When you listen to death metal, black metal, doom metal, or what have you, the singers usually carry the lyrics with a guttural roar or a high-pitched screech. If they sing, they're usually capable at best, and embarrassingly bad at worst. Most heavy metal bands start out with the death growl as their only vocals, then incorporate melodic singing as they gain popularity for a more accessible sound that appeals to a wider audience (e.g., selling out). With Opeth, the singer has a deep, robust growl, but rounds it out with a singing voice that's not only competent, but actually damn good. He can sing better than a lot of mainstream artists who aren't even metal bands, like Linkin Park and Seether. It doesn't feel like the melodic vocals were added on as an afterthought, but rather, worked in seamlessly along side the intelligible growling.
Something else I found I liked was the fact that the accoustic parts of the songs were performed with real instruments and added to the track, not detracting from it by feeling tacked on. A lot of times accoustic melodies in the middle of a heavy metal track last for only half a minute or less, and add little to the song other than some masturbatory twinge of self-indulgence. Take Trivium, who typically has at least four tracks that are 2 minute long, repetitive loops of the same grainy Sampletank strings and sampled piano (I know this because I used Sampletank myself :D)
There's also the track length to consider, as some of the songs are in excess of 8 minutes long. At the very least, it's 8 minutes of music, beginning to end, as opposed to, say, The Mars Volta, who have 20 minute tracks that are 2 minutes of music and 18 minutes of whooshy, jingling 'ambient textures.'
All in all, not blown away, but impressed nonetheless. Next on my list is Mastadon!