Opeth "Porcelain Heart" (video & my babble)
The first time I heard about Opeth was from a former roommate who had a mild lisp.
“Opus?”
“No… Opeth.”
“Opus?”
“No… Opeth.”
“OK, I hear you saying ‘Opus,’ but that’s obviously not what you’re saying… argh…”
Flash forward a few years, and I get into a prog band called Porcupine Tree. I had pretty much sworn off prog, as I was seriously getting sick of most of the prog bands with their singers who wear too tight of pants… anyway, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree turns out to be a fantastic singer, guitarist, writer, producer, et cetera. He does solo stuff, has side bands (Blackfield, No-Man), produces other bands, et cetera… I quickly gobbled up his stuff, and then I heard that he produced this Swedish metal band Opeth.
No, Opeth.
Anyway, Steven Wilson produced three of my favorite records of theirs: Blackwater Park, Deliverance, and Damnation:
Damnation was the oddity, though… it was primarily mellow. The other albums (even those not included above) always had mellow “interludes,” but the primary songs on the records were full-on Swedish progressive death metal, complete with “cookie monster” vocals and kick drum blasts that could knock the Pope right off his bejeweled seat. (I would have stated that the Pope was sitting on his bejeweled seat at a truck rally, but I know that that’s a given. So, I didn’t mention it. Obviously.)
Anyway, Damnation was a primarily non-metal, metal album. It was released simultaneously with Deliverance (which was the muy-metal, metal album to “relieve the haters,” perhaps).
Anyway, Opeth‘s next album, Watershed (not produced by Steven Wilson but likely still damn good), comes out on June 3rd. Here’s a video for the edit of the song “Porcelain Heart.” It dances on the cusp of what’s good about Damnation, but hints about what the non-edit sounds like:
Porcelain Heart
I’m looking forward to the album.
~Dan
Oh, for an example of the cookie monster Opeth, here’s “The Grand Conjuration” (1:06 for cookie monster):
I love it, too!
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hehe – I like your popups for ‘too tight of pants’. Which leads into… We (my wife who listens to Bach, Schubert, Handel etc. but wants to hear why I’m still listening to Opeth after hearing Deliverance six years ago, and I) will be seeing Opeth in concert on May 29 in Myrtle Beach SC — without Dream Theatre though the bands are currently on tour together. This is good. Opeth is still on a creative roll (sounds like Watershed is well received by early listeners) while DT hasn’t done anything that I can listen to for… 10 years.. except maybe a track here and there. Doesn’t seem Opeth gets out Oregon-way (as doesn’t Porcupine Tree, another superb live act) but if you like Opeth you must try to hear them live – just stay out of the mosh pit… We’re older than the usual Opeth listener and have reserved seats in a balcony for this show. I saw them in a tiny venue 2 or 3 years ago and they put on a great show, horrible acoustics and body-slams (supra mosh pit at that) notwithstanding.
Glad you liked the tight pants pop-up, and I wasn’t the only laughing… :)
Dream Theater fell apart for me when Kevin Moore left… Awake is my fav, and FII was OK… but lately, I just can’t dig ’em as much. Petrucci/Portnoy/Myung are great, but I really can’t stand LaBrie & Rudess. Eh.
But, yeah, I’m looking forward to Opeth’s Watershed… I just pre-ordered the special edition from Amazon today… I’m glad Roadrunner isn’t screwing us over and releasing it months after the normal version. That had always been annoying of RR in the past…
I’ve seen Opeth three times (in Ohio). They may get to Portland on a tour… we shall see. Porcupine Tree also… 3 or 4 times so far (in Cincinnati and Chicago)… Steven Wilson is an amazing artist. I love just about every band of his.
Cheers!
~Dan