Metal Reviews

What you don't understand is that a Metal band is usually faithful to it's audience in a concert, so that the energy can come from both sides, and the concert be a fucking energy bomb. Of course Pete Doherty can choose not even showing to the concert or Amy Winehouse may choose to pass out during the concert and end it. But then again, they are not metal bands, and we fuck their throats with knifes for how much they suck . So yeah, they fact is Opeth CAN show up half naked and turn off the distortion for the entire concert; but they are at the same time refusing to be a metal band, which they CAN if they want to obviously! BUT WHEN I BOUGHT MY FUCKING TICKET THEY STILL WERE A METAL BAND, WERN'T THEY???? So the gig doesn't belongs to a NON-METAL BAND! WAR

Haha, well. Double-album = two albums, no? I suppose it depends on what you think the meaning of "entire" is. Which I'm not debating.

I'm excited to hear this album, but may have to wait a long time as I'm behind the great firewall of China these days, and getting things posted here can be a bit of a 'mare! I don't want to waste cash on a VPN so I'll have to wait until I get to Canada next summer...

All the same, I've found my musical tastes mellowing over the last few years - for example I find DTP's Ghost my personal favourite out of that series, which, as we know, is not a metal album in the slightest.

Ironically, and I'm not making this up, I put on Damnation just before I read this review! I hope whatever this album is, I'll enjoy it, but perhaps Akerfeldt is mellowing like me with age?

I love my metal, always will, but it's nice to hear something a bit lighter these days. Whether there is growling or not/it's metal or not is insignificant, as long as the songs/album experience is of a high quality. That's what matters to me, and not whether it's metal or not.

Reading the comments and review here, it sounds as if the musicianship and creativity is still there, if not the heaviness; so unless the songs suck (in a subjective sense), I can't see any problem. Roll on July!

Oh, and I had to give a rare post as I see Kenny's back!

Of course they can do whatever they want, but they built their success on the type of music they used to play. They have now decided to do something different, and that is fine, but they should at least have the common decency to tell people that their live shows are changing as much as they are.

Is it really so strange?

.:crast:.

lmfao!!

Oh, fans are retarded.

The person who complains about people not buying CDs because they don't support the artist monetarily thinks that artists have no obligation whatsoever to provide a product that the consumers expects and wants, e.g., an Opeth show with classic Opeth tracks? People bought these tickets prior to the album coming out. They had expectations when purchasing tickets and supporting the artist.

It's not like they had a signed contract stipulating that there had to be metuhl and grwwls... Any artist is still free to do whatever the hell he wish to do regardless of how disappointed the audience will be (which is never what a band looks for when playing a show).

Surely you're supporting the artist, rather than the songs? You're paying to see the artist live, not hear a bunch of random people play those songs live, after all.

When bands bend to the will of fans, they become stale. Look at a Def Leppard live show these days. It's all hits. Night after night. Because if they don't play them, fans whine like little bitches. Well, fuck that! A band should play whatever the hell they want to play, not what they supposedly "have" to play.

Same with AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, Scorpions and many many many other veteran acts.
Opeth are way too young to sell out this way.

There is a difference between bands doing only their hits and doing a style which makes up only a minimal percentage of their entire catalog. Opeth is not comparable to Def Leppard insofar as they write quality albums. They could play any song off of Your Arms and not simply Demon of the Fall each night and I'd be quite a happy participant. However, playing only songs off two albums when you have a discography of nearly ten is rather weak no matter how you cut it. I love Damnation but years ago when I saw them, the one track they played off it was the weakest of their live set.

So what do you want? Should bands start posting their setlist before selling tickets now?

There needs to be a fine line between what the band wants to play and what fans want bands to play. When you appease the fans without sacrificing your artistic views than you have a perfect harmonious relationship.

But when a band decides to tell their fan base to shove it and play only what they want to play than there is no point in making albums and doing live show because it's moot to play to people you don't care about.

Regarding their live show, the set list is a bit disappointing to me because I like Opeth's other material more and I think Heritage is mediocre. However, that being said, if they're primarily focusing on Heritage right now, I can definitely understand them only playing material off of that album and Damnation. In terms of musical cohesiveness, those two albums come together quite well. If that side of softer Opeth is the general message they want to convey during these months, then it would be pretty weird to randomly launch into Deliverance or some other heavier song. Plus, they've played plenty of tours where they've done the heavier stuff, and I'm sure they'll play plenty more. This is just one tour of many.

I'd watch Opeth playing a "worst of" setlist, they're that good. They got a great vibe live. However, if I came there expecting to hear Advent and Demon of the Fall without any prior knowledge of what their setlist looked like on their current tour, I'd be crushed.

You're actually making sense here. Dare I say I might agree with ya. Opeth is the biggest name ever in progressive death metal. To tour not playing progressive death metal should not warrant the name Opeth. I'm not heartbroken because they passed by here four days ago and I opted out. I know from past experience though with the mellow Opeth live tracks that I wouldn't want to hear an hour of it. Personal opinion, I'm out.

Um, no.

In recent years, sure, but not the biggest ever. No way.

I can't think of a bigger one.

Cynic, for one.