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FloydWright View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:00
Originally posted by Geee Geee wrote:

Originally posted by Logos Logos wrote:


Yes I understood that. Let me explain:You don't like growls. Opeth has a lot of growls. --> Opeth might be hard to digest since their music has lots of growls.


It actually is their MUSIC that I like. I wouldn't call those growls music, would you?



Done properly--yes. This really isn't as easy a thing to do with your voice as you might think...and then to do successful clean vocals right after it? Not easy. It's tough to do in a very controlled manner as he does, and you really start to notice after awhile exactly how carefully he matches what he's doing to the music. It's not very easy to describe, but this does lend a sort of musicality to it. When I was first getting acclimated to their stuff, I didn't feel that way, but definitely came to notice over time.

As for the people who are complaining about it, they always have the option to trade their CDs in, listen to something else, and not constantly inflict their hatred of the genre upon those who do like it. It doesn't mean our tastes are inferior or anything--just different.

Edited by FloydWright
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:03
Originally posted by Geee Geee wrote:

Usually growlers are those who cannot sing, whereas Mikael CAN SING!

Cheers

Edge of Sanity and In the Woods, just two name two obvious counterexamples .

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:07
Originally posted by Geee Geee wrote:

I wouldn't call those growls music, would you?

No less so than sprechgesang, surely?

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:08
Originally posted by goose goose wrote:

Originally posted by Geee Geee wrote:

Usually growlers are those who cannot sing, whereas Mikael CAN SING!

Cheers

Edge of Sanity and In the Woods, just two name two obvious counterexamples .



Are those who can sing, or those who cannot?  I cannot speak of In The Woods, but Edge Of Sanity's Dan Swano is one of the best growlers in the business...  and he's often worked with Mikael Akerfeldt. 

If you've got an Edge Of Sanity album with horrible growling, well..  there was that one time that the rest of the band tried to make an album without Swano, and it blew. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:09

I could never get into this band because of the death metal vocals.

 

I heard most of the songs off of the damnation album though, and I have to say, it's excellent, im contemplating buying it. However, all their other stuff is stupid growly death metal crap, I hate death metal siknging. It's got good technical instruments, but nothing to offer with the growling voice.

 

I think that the singer is an excellent singer though, and I mean SINGER, not SCREAMER. The screaming is what ruins it.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:11
It's really sad when so many people who pledge allegiance to a genre called "progressive" can't handle it when a band tries to truly progress...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:29

Opeth is special exactly because they can blend ''The vocals!'' and Blackmetal growling so finely and perfectly. Listen to them some more, and you'll see, you'll start liking even the growling.

Opeth is a band that makes black metal haters become black metal lovers... or at least Opeth lovers!

 

''Master's apprentices'' is a great example of how growling is actually really nice.



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:40
I agree with the above statement, except the growls haven't been blackmetal-ish since Morningrise.  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 12:42

Originally posted by Man Overboard Man Overboard wrote:



Are those who can sing, or those who cannot?  I cannot speak of In The Woods, but Edge Of Sanity's Dan Swano is one of the best growlers in the business...  and he's often worked with Mikael Akerfeldt. 

If you've got an Edge Of Sanity album with horrible growling, well..  there was that one time that the rest of the band tried to make an album without Swano, and it blew. 

They were bands who can sing - I've heard the EoS without Swano (weren't there a couple) and you're totally right. When Swano's with them though, I'd pick them over Opeth any day.

 

To whoever made the last post (at the time I'm writing, anyway...) I'm pretty sure Opeth moved away from black metal after two or three albums - Blackwater Park, certainly, is far more in a death metal vein.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 14:03
As most of us agree mikael is one of the best vocalists in music today.  He has the most versatile voice. A beautiful melodic voice and an amazing brutal death metal growl, the best in my opinion.  He says that he is a novice vocalist but i guess that's modesty for you.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 14:58
Opeth are awesome....i used to hate the growling but try to imagine opeth's heaviest songs without growling.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 15:03
opeth's dilemma: break the CD with a hammer or just roll on it with your car?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 15:51
That's nice.

Why is it everybody has to completely flame the bands and albums they can't stand?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 16:30

I too have recently purchased "Damnation". I love it. I first heard Akerfeld on Ayreon's Human Equation and saw him on the dvd. That sparked my interest and I eventually bought "Damnation" based on the reviews on this site. Though I love it, it is a bit softer than I expected.

I like heavy music and have been debating trying some more Opeth but I have been hesitant b/c of the "death metal" label that has been placed on Opeth. I frankly don't know much about it (meaning death metal). I like progressive metal such as Ayreon, Porcupine Tree (not always that heavy) and Dream Theater, and Metallica arguably some of which is progressive. I also have historically enjoyed heavy music, Hendrix, Zeppellin, Black Sabbath, and on and on. I have mellowed somewhat but still enjoy heavy music and heavy progressive rock, but I like interesting music, not plain and simple thrashing and head-banging. I don't think I would find any run-of-the-mill head-banging music in any of Opeth's offerings, but I am leary of this "death metal" thing. What does that mean other than some growls, which I don't find that offensive, but have not really heard much of it.

Where do I go from here with Opeth? From the reviews it seems that "Still Life" would be a good next choice for me w/o getting too much into "death metal", whatever that really means. I think I would like Blackwater Park, but I am a bit leary.

Thoughts?

Raymon
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 16:39
For Opeth, anyway, you should expect the lyrics to take on a darker (though not obscene) tone, and if you have heard Mikael growl on The Human Equation, you should expect to hear that a good bit more.

Still Life may well be the best place for you to start, because it'll go 50-50 between the harder and softer stuff. You should find the particular riffs interesting, not your standard three chords. Do be aware that the theme of Still Life deals with somebody who is being persecuted by religious leaders and he and his love are eventually executed--still, I wouldn't call it anti-religious, especially when you notice the virtues that the narrator shows in his own dealings (well, until he goes insane, but anyway... ).

If you like, you can read the lyrics to any Opeth album here: http://www.darklyrics.com/o/opeth.html

Hope this helps a bit! BTW, Blackwater Park is also a very cool album. Some say it's the one to start with, though I think Still Life would be good for that, too.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 16:51
Thanks. Your comments are helpful.
Raymon
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 18:19

Originally posted by Entropia Entropia wrote:

Opeth are awesome....i used to hate the growling but try to imagine opeth's heaviest songs without growling.

That would not sound very good. Guys, it takes a lot of time to shift from light melodic Prog rock to heavier Progressive bands like Opeth, Green Carnation and Evergrey, but afterwards, you get used to it.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 18:28

I think it is wonderfully eccentric to hear "growling" defended as an "art form"LOLDead

Does anyone here recall the story of The Emperor's New Clothes????Wink

Tie a pretty ribbon on a turd and it's still basically sh*t in an unconvincing disguise.Confused

 




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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 18:56
Originally posted by Reed Lover Reed Lover wrote:

I think it is wonderfully eccentric to hear "growling" defended as an "art form"LOLDead

Growling is definitely an "art form", but unfortunately it is cherished too much in the ridiculous Death Metal scene and criticized in the Prog Rock/Metal scene. I see some growls to be quite good and necessary like Mikael's vocals on "Day Twelve: Trauma" on The Human Equation. Some just suck like anything Mr. Crybaby Chris Barnes has done.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 06 2005 at 19:15
Originally posted by King of Loss King of Loss wrote:

it is cherished too much in the ridiculous Death Metal scene and criticized in the Prog Rock/Metal scene.



"Cherished"? It's a mainstay. It's a required element.

Tell me why the scene is rediculous. Unless you can back up your absurd claims, don't say stupid things.
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