[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Gorefest, on 10 May 2019 - 08:37 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 10 May 2019 - 08:11 AM, said:

If you like Still Life I'd say give Blackwater Park, Damnation and Deliverance a go too.

Blackwater Park and Deliverance are my two favourites. As Tiste said, it all went downhill with Ghost Reveries and I've lost interest with the band completely now. Akerfeldt's work on Bloodbath was awesome though, some of the best deep well grunts in the business.

I enjoy Bloodbath live but they've never been a band I listen to on CD weirdly (I have a lot of heavier bands like that!)

Blackwater Park has The Drapery Falls on it - so it wins everything for me

[Tiste Simeon]

Still Life/Blackwater Park/Ghost Reveries are the three peaks of Opeths greatness. Some incredible work there. And Bloodbath are just good fun. I'll admit Akerfeldt is talented (I like his work with Ayreon on The Human Equation too) but he is an arrogant jerk - he once was in an interview and was like "I'm here to save metal" and my eyes rolled so hard I had to get surgery to fix them...

As for my favourite DT albums, Images and Words is good but Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory is an utterly phenomenal concept album and holds some of their most beautiful and impressive work. Train of Thought is also amazing is probably their most aggressive and heavy album.

[Gorefest]

Tiste Simeon, on 10 May 2019 - 10:05 AM, said:

Still Life/Blackwater Park/Ghost Reveries are the three peaks of Opeths greatness. Some incredible work there. And Bloodbath are just good fun. I'll admit Akerfeldt is talented (I like his work with Ayreon on The Human Equation too) but he is an arrogant jerk - he once was in an interview and was like "I'm here to save metal" and my eyes rolled so hard I had to get surgery to fix them...

As for my favourite DT albums, Images and Words is good but Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory is an utterly phenomenal concept album and holds some of their most beautiful and impressive work. Train of Thought is also amazing is probably their most aggressive and heavy album.

Oh yeah, he's definitely a conceited twat. He's claiming ownership of what other artists have done before him (clean/grunt vocals in DM/prog). Sure, Opeth really pushed it to the fore and launched a lot of other bands doing it, but they sure weren't the first.

[Serenity]

Deliverance is bloody brilliant. The title track is hands down my favourite Opeth track. Well, along with The Funeral Portrait, The Moor, The Baying of the Hounds. And Faith in Others. I actually quite like Pale Communion <<runs and hides>> but pretty much hate Heritage and Sorceress.

But yeah, Haken are outdoing everyone else for me - apart from Eluveitie and Cellar Darling (obviously!). I can't listen to DT anymore. I used to love them, but The Cheese Man sets my teeth on edge the moment he starts singing these days.

[Serenity]

Oh incidentally, I saw Mike Portnoy's Shattered Fortress a year or two back - that's him, the guys from Haken, and Eric Gillette, playing Dream Theater's 12 Step Suite, and other DT stuff. That was excellent.

[Gorefest]

Serenity, on 10 May 2019 - 10:56 AM, said:

Deliverance is bloody brilliant. The title track is hands down my favourite Opeth track.

That insane riff where all the instruments come together 10 minutes into the song is just orgasmic. Seen them do it live and the timing is just immaculate. Only other timed instrument riffs that come close to it for me are in Enslaved's 'Havenless' and in Gorefest's 'For the masses'. I love that sort of thing.

[Serenity]

Gorefest, on 10 May 2019 - 11:28 AM, said:

That insane riff where all the instruments come together 10 minutes into the song is just orgasmic. Seen them do it live and the timing is just immaculate.

Yeah, last time I saw them they closed the show with it. Amazing.

[John II]

I actually like Sorceress. It's got some good moments.
For me, JLB's best moments are in Pull me Under and Lie (and TDoE... ). Agree regarding SFAM... especially considering it was preceded by the slightly disappointing Falling into Infinity. Rudess' keyboard solo in Home where he just emerges from the fog is just amazing. Don't really agree about their recent work, so much. I like Octavarium and BC&SL, but find Systematic Chaos, Dream Theater, and A Dramatic Turn of Events a little boring. Distance over Time has a couple of good songs, but still not as good as SFAM or I&W. You'll notice that I missed out one album in that list... please do me the favour of not mentioning it:p. I agree that Haken beat them hands down at the moment, however. Celestial Elixir is possibly my favourite album closer ever.

[Tiste Simeon]

Celestial Elixir is great but you obviously haven't heard Visions as an album closer, as it is actually the best song ever written.

[Serenity]

Visions is awesome. Crystallised is awesomer

[Tiste Simeon]

Sacrilege!

[John II]

CE > Crystallised > A Cell Divides > Visions > Somebody > BbG
However, Aquarius > Vector > The Mountain > Restorations > Visions > Affinity (2016 was a bad year for prog metal bands)
There, I ranked them. Sue me.

[Tiste Simeon]

Wrong in all counts but not everyone is as awesome as me.

[John II]

Tiste Simeon, on 11 May 2019 - 12:21 PM, said:

Wrong in all counts but not everyone is as awesome as me.

We can agree that Haken is awesome, and that gives you enough cool points to avoid dying by my hand.
On a different subject, does anyone else have trouble listening to Metallica's ... And Justice for All without thinking of the Forkrul Assail?
Also, as I said before, Unleash the Archers' Apex is about a T'lan Imass. Finally, I think of the Jaghut huntress whenever I hear Within Temptation's Ice Queen from Mother Earth.

[LinearPhilosopher]

John II, on 10 May 2019 - 06:18 AM, said:

Haha, I learned how to do harsh vocals because I had a cloth ear and I couldn't be bothered training it...
As you mentioned Megadeth, I am obligated to say that Dave Mustaine is awesome. If you don't believe me, just ask him. Also, Megadeth > Metallica > Slayer. However, Master of Puppets > every other thrash album. If you want to start out in thrash, MoP is the one. If you don't like that, you won't like thrash.
Opeth! Still Life is absolutely amazing. Akerfeldt is currently one of my favourite musicians... he's like a more ADHD version of Yngwie Malmsteen (I say that in the nicest way, as I am also blessed/cursed with ADHD [and more than a touch of arrogance]... ooh, shiny...).
Speaking of vocalists, is James LaBrie a bit of a turn-off for anyone else? Some moments I quite like him; he nails the powerful parts. However, in anything moderately soft he just annoys me. It's almost like "Shut the fuck up James, I want to hear the real musicans." I know that he is quite popular, so I was wondering if anyone else felt this way.
Richard Henshall (of Haken) has announced an album. Rejoice!

So opeth I did enjoy back in the day, think i need to get back into them. Was listening to an amon amarth album on Friday. Not bad.

Ill definitely listen to slayer as i've listened to a few of their songs but never really dug into it. That being said metallica is good for an occasional listen, though i fear i over consumed metallica when i was younger so its just not the same. (in general i can't stand a lot of the stuff from my teenage years.)

[Gorefest]

Contemplating going to Download Festival. They got Tool on Sunday night. Been a while since I've done destivals though.

[Maark Abbott]

I didn't like Ghost Reveries. Blackwater Park and Deliverance are pretty swell though.

For DT albums? Black Clouds is hands down my favourite. Everything I love about DT condensed into one album.

[Maark Abbott]

LinearPhilosopher, on 08 May 2019 - 12:16 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 07 May 2019 - 09:37 AM, said:

Children of Bodom's finest moment was their cover of Oops I Did it Again by Britney Spears. Otherwise they're a bit meh. As for Megadeth and Pantera, they're important if you're interested in the history of the scene as they've both played important parts (plus the murder of Dimebag Darrell was quite a historic moment) but they're not really my thing. Couple of good tracks but there's a lot more interesting stuff out there.

The recommendations were done with a view towards their vocalists and what they accomplished. As i'm slowly learning how to do harsh vocals myself, its time i get educated as unlike classical, it's not like there's an established cannon of repertoire.

Melissa Cross, 'The Zen of Screaming'. You're welcome.

[Gorefest]

LinearPhilosopher, on 12 May 2019 - 05:54 PM, said:

Ill definitely listen to slayer as i've listened to a few of their songs but never really dug into it. That being said metallica is good for an occasional listen, though i fear i over consumed metallica when i was younger so its just not the same. (in general i can't stand a lot of the stuff from my teenage years.)

What sort of style are you looking to emulate/practice, though? I'm being a bit generic and over-simplistic here, but are you looking for 'raw' grunt voices (the cigarette/whiskey-style grumble that a lot of thrash bands use), growling screams (black metal), tortured screams (hardcore), high-pitched screams (speed, power metal), deep grunts (death metal) or just a wide vocal range?

[John II]

Maark Abbott, on 13 May 2019 - 07:56 AM, said:

For DT albums? Black Clouds is hands down my favourite. Everything I love about DT condensed into one album.

That is an underrated album imo... apart from A Nightmare to Remember the first half is a bit boring, but the second half is absolutely astounding. The first part of TCoT is almost like a DT cover of Celestial Elixir. No need to mention TBoT.