Opeth - Sorceress
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=107978
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Topic: Opeth - Sorceress
Posted By: Valen
Subject: Opeth - Sorceress
Date Posted: October 03 2016 at 01:25
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Well, I've been playing my copy over the weekend and here's my review, based on being a fan of both the old days and the new direction - I hope it provides a balanced perspective: https://momentstransition.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/opeth-sorceress-2016/
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Replies:
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: October 03 2016 at 05:41
| http://momentstransition.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/opeth-sorceress-2016/" rel="nofollow - http://momentstransition.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/opeth-sorceress-2016/ |
Posted By: fracturematt
Date Posted: October 07 2016 at 14:02
| nice Review! I really love their new album. I'm a fan of both new and old Opeth and I can understand the metalheads missing their old stuff, but I find myself listening to their newer prog stuff more and more. The new album has so much to it. Digging it a lot. |
Posted By: Roj
Date Posted: October 08 2016 at 10:03
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You can put me in the pro-old Opeth camp for sure, although I do like the new stuff too. I think Sorceress is a good album, and like Pale Communion has songs where if they were given "heavy" arrangement would fit right in with their pre-Heritage days. Though the title track, The Wilde Flowers and Strange Brew are particularly excellent, overall I find the strength of the material on the album to be way below that of Pale Communion. That for me is the best Opeth album post-Ghost Reveries. I rate Pale Communion as better than Watershed, which for me is a great compliment. |
Posted By: Valen
Date Posted: October 11 2016 at 04:41
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Thanks for the kind words on the review. Sorceress is certainly proving to be quite a talking point isn't it? I really like it and get more out of it with each listen. I can understand why older fans might feel let down by the new direction - I felt the same when Rush went all keyboard after Moving Pictures and was quite a while before I started enjoying them again. But just as I constantly find Rush fans who view the synth phase as their favourite era, there'll be a whole host of Opeth fans who totally dig the current sound.
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Posted By: backtothegarden
Date Posted: October 13 2016 at 10:41
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I really want to like the new Opeth material, but I just can't seem to latch onto it. I like the new style, but the music from the last three albums has yet to connect with me. I think part of it is that Opeth's last three albums stand in the monumental shadow of previous work, like Ghost Reveries, and Blackwater Park. Those records are solid enough to get someone like myself, who despises "cookie monster" vocals, to not only appreciate them, but listen to them routinely. Now, ironically enough, they ditch the cookie monster, and I can't get into it. Now that I know what they have the potential of creating, I guess the bar has been set too high for the last few albums.
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Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: October 14 2016 at 12:21
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I thought Sorceress was going to follow more in the vein of Pale Communion, but I was wrong. It did not disappoint, but I'd rate it as the weakest Opeth albums in their more proggier trio. It has some good moments, but overall it has yet to connect with me as much as Pale Communion, which had classic and memorable Opeth songs like "Cusp of Eternity" and "Goblin" (which is one of their best songs period!). Here's how I'll rate them: Sorceress - 4/5 for me, with Heritage 4.25/5 and Pale Communion 4.5/5.
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Posted By: NothingHill
Date Posted: October 20 2016 at 12:57
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There's a Hawkwind gravits in this album and it is a surprisingly good addition to their musical colours. |
Posted By: hieronymous
Date Posted: October 20 2016 at 17:49
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I am enjoying the album and psyched to see them at the Warfield in San Francisco this Saturday! I'm still kicking myself for missing the Pale Communion tour - that was my favorite album of the three. To me, Sorceress strikes me as more like Heritage. I thought your comments on the sound quality in your review were interesting - I was immediately struck with this one that the low end is pretty boosted, and high end diminished, which struck me as quite retro. I'm going to listen for more of that in Heritage & Pale Communion. My favorite moment is when Sorceress (track 2) comes crashing in after the acoustic opener Persephone - love that opening riff! All in all, I love these latest three albums - I was never a huge fan of the earlier stuff, though I liked what I heard (Blackwater Park & Ghost Reveries) - I listened to Blackwater Park for the first time in several years the other day and was struck by how many of the elements of the recent three albums were already there - what are people complaining about - just the lack of cookie monster vocals? I'm going to have to go back and investigate some of the early stuff...
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Posted By: hieronymous
Date Posted: October 23 2016 at 21:37
Quick report - they opened the show with Sorceress - I was down on the floor for the opening band The Sword and stayed, then they played Ghost of Perdition and the moshpit spontaneously manifested so I was out of there! Can't afford to have my glasses smashed or sprain an ankle (or worse!) so I wimped out! They only played two songs from Sorceress and one from Pale Communion - setlist.fm can be annoying but in this case someone did a good job if you want to see the setlist: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/opeth/2016/the-warfield-san-francisco-ca-7bfaaab0.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/opeth/2016/the-warfield-san-francisco-ca-7bfaaab0.html
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: October 24 2016 at 00:21
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Back when Damnation was released, I whipped up the vinyl copy real quick (thanks Aussie Byrd) and only found out then that they had been around a while incorporating Growling vocals. I never thought much of growls, they never made much sense to me. Fast forward several years........... Well, I wouldn't say that they're cool in any way, but I accept select bands that chose to 'growl' within their art. They are a weaker element, but when Progressive music is as good as it is in these cases, I can only enjoy the craft immensely for how it is. Opeth are masters of the craft. My vinyl copy of Sorceress is waiting for me with a mate of mine, 2000 K's away, by Friday, we'll have explored its charms intensely !! |
Posted By: Roj
Date Posted: October 25 2016 at 06:45
I had seen the recent setlists too and found this a bit of a surprise. They seemed to be distancing themselves from their "heavy" past but this is a real contradiction - only three songs from the "modern" era. Now I'm even more hacked off they decided to play just one gig in the UK on the upcoming European tour. |
hieronymous wrote:Posted By: ColonelClaypool
Date Posted: October 25 2016 at 07:21
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For me, losing the growls meant that Opeth lost that little "edge" that made them stand out from the crowd. The post-growl albums, while still decent music, just feel like they're missing something to make them truly shine. ------------- With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: November 22 2016 at 06:53
Not keen on growling at all so I've only purchased the last 3 Opeth albums (inc this) . Sorceress is pretty close to my favourite album of the year so far with only Haken and Headspace ahead of it. The title track in particular is superb and do I like the 'Light and Shade' aspect of the whole package. Works for me
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: November 22 2016 at 21:28
| I just got this album, and though I have only heard it twice, I have really liked it. It's too early to make up my mind, but so far it might actually end up being my favourite Opeth album. Mostly, I really dislike growling too (though I have been warming up a little bit to it), and Opeth are no exception for me, so I have been searching for the non-grunting songs and found a good amount of music that I have come to love, but this is the first album that really feels like a metal album from them without growling, so that's something that really helps for me. So far, the only song from them with grunting that I like is "The Drapery Falls"... the Lamentations live version (actually, this song has become my very favourite Opeth song), and the only artist whose grunting I have actually come to enjoy (in some cases, not always) is Devin Townsend. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: November 25 2016 at 15:39
| This album has taken a few spins to sink in. Another great Opeth album - in fact, from the 5 LP's I have of theirs, they can do no wrong, growling or not. I'm not a fan of growl vocals, but I've come to accept them in many bands creating exciting, technical music. |
Posted By: Aled91
Date Posted: December 05 2016 at 01:27
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Am I the only one thinking that "Sorceress" is mixed and mastered super badly????? It would be a great album but it sounds awful!! It's so compressed!
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 05 2016 at 01:49
| ^ *Very* bottom-end and bass-heavy, almost muddy. Still an excellent album. |
Posted By: Pigab
Date Posted: February 04 2017 at 06:27
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I like the album overall, but I am very disappointed by the master of the album which is, in my opinion, too compressed. It sounds so bad in my opinion! What do you guys think? Am I the only one complaining about this?
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: February 04 2017 at 06:42
| ^ Very boomy, or bassy. Way too much low-end. Great album, but Pale Communion was stronger. |
Posted By: paragraph7
Date Posted: February 04 2017 at 08:56
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Yeah the low end is quite huge, and maybe not a in a good way. What I found the most disappointing about the record was that it lacked focus - the title track and Wilde Flowers are completely different from what follows on the album, namely, a Jethro Tull song, a Deep Purple song (which is pretty good, granted) and some ok to great prog like "Era". It's such a mixed bag. ------------- What you cannot speak of, you have to pass on in silence. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: February 04 2017 at 12:10
^ 'Variety' they say 
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Posted By: paragraph7
Date Posted: February 04 2017 at 14:37
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^ "Fanboyism" is more like it. I hope he grows tired of making these mixed bag tribute records and returns to create something completely holistic and original. It's not like there isn't flashes of brilliance in all post-Watershed records. ------------- What you cannot speak of, you have to pass on in silence. |
Posted By: Dopeydoc
Date Posted: February 04 2017 at 14:47
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Sorceress is just a good album. Nothing remains in my head after a first listen. Heritage and Damnation are far more catchy and memorable. It was a small disappointment... They can do better than that! |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: February 04 2017 at 22:04
I find it the other way around. Damnation never did much to me... too soft and boring. Heritage was nice, but a sort of disappointment. Even Pale Communion, which was up to that point the best for me, sort of had something that didn't fully satify me. But Sorceress is so far my very favourite, with it's acoustic and folky passages and all... it's also kind of the warmest sounding album they have made. However it is, it's the one with the most special sound. |