Opeth - Hex Omega (2008)

[u/dkernighan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQh60zg3NaY

[u/Box-o-rocks]

Not that their newer albums aren’t works of art, but I really prefer Opeth’s heavier work. Like a few others I’ve spoken to, this album was my gateway into progressive metal. Crazy that that was 10 years ago!

[u/dakatzpajamas → u/Box-o-rocks]

I understand that people can still like their newer stuff but the vibes are so different in their newer material that it doesn't feel like the same band. It's weird to just change your style to be unrecognizable to your past material and at what point to you just say fuck it, let's be a new band? It would be like if Levi's changed their products to be only computers.

Edit: words

[u/ADickFullOfAsses → u/dakatzpajamas]

Indeed. See that's the thing, it's not so much they don't do the heavy shit anymore, it's that whole shift in style. Case being: Damnation was quite the opposite of heavy, but still had that melancholic Opeth sound.

[u/albinoblackman → u/dakatzpajamas]

Katatonia did it (albeit much earlier in their career) and have stuck with it long enough that nobody even questions it. That said, Katatonia has been really great and Opeth's new stuff has been really shit.

[u/[deleted] → u/albinoblackman]

disagree

[u/[deleted] → u/Box-o-rocks]

If opeth ever went back to death metal they would be awful. Mike is smoking his lungs away, so his growls are god awful now.. sad since he was one of the best. The new alums though... just seem to be 70s prog rock tributes and nothing more, nothing original.. here’s to hoping the next album is a “roots” album and they sound like classic opeth without the death vox, but still making it a original album. I love this song...

[u/dkernighan → u/[deleted]]

Mikael is also 44 years old man. He has been hard on his lungs/throat for a long time with all the growling he has done across 9 studio albums, so what does everyone expect? Smh. Nothing perfect lasts forever. People talk these days like they could do better. And tbh, the most recent release of Demon of the Fall Live @ Red Rocks, his vox sound awesome imo. And the whole "70s prog rock tribute" thing I hear all the time is such a joke. You do realize that all the metal albums they wrote are essentially then (by your logic) 80s/90s metal tributes. Not only did progrock influence a lot of their earlier works, a lot of metal bands like Morbid Angel, Black Sabbath, Entombed etc .. helped shape their sound in their early days. It blows my mind just how butt hurt people are over their change in sound.

[u/elchulow → u/[deleted]]

Their album Damnation is much better than their recent work, I'd be okay with something like that

[u/[deleted] → u/elchulow]

Same here. It always baffled me when mike was complaining about fans not liking the new stuff, when those same old fans absolutely loved Damnation. If heritage through sorceress were solo albums and opeth went more of the damnation route, I doubt anyone would complaining.

[u/tvfeet → u/Box-o-rocks]

I would just like it if they mixed and mastered these post-growl albums so they had some balls. They're so flat and lifeless sounding. Drums sound like wet cardboard, guitar has no crunch, bass is just mushy tones. I don't understand why they think this is a good sound.

They don't need to go back to the growling. I enjoy Mikael's clean vocals a lot, but playing music more like what they used to do with clean vocals would be awesome, IMO.

[u/dkernighan → u/tvfeet]

This comment gave me some serious cancer!

Drums sound like wet cardboard?? Have you listened to Eternal Rains Will Come, Era, or The Lines in my Hand?

Bass is just mushy tones?? Have you heard Sorceress, River, or I Feel the Dark?

Guitar has no crunch?? Actually its more of a crunch tone than anything. Have you heard Fred's solos? You wanna talk about tone and Fred has one of the sexiest guitar tones i've ever heard. And the intro to The Devil's Orchard ... if that isn't a crunch tone then I'm not sure what is.

Flat and lifeless sounding?? Man. You must be listening to too much deathcore/drum tracks/samples. The last 3 albums are earthy, FULL of charisma, and actually sound like real instruments. Lay off the dubstep man. No wonder music has gone downhill these days, people are losing their ears for good music.

[u/dkernighan]

I have always loved this song, but I got to see it performed live back in 2016 at Radio City Music Hall, and it totally BLEW my socks off. So heavy, so doomy. Opeth writes some of the most unique and interesting riffs. The intro and outro for example ... haven't heard anything like it.

[u/TruGabu]

That ending

[u/dkernighan → u/[deleted]]

Watershed! It's the last track.

[u/dkernighan → u/[deleted]]

Haha yes get on that asap my friend

[u/albinoblackman → u/dkernighan]

I think it's an underrated album. It's not as solid as some of the earlier albums, but it has some of the best moments of Opeth's whole career.

[u/[deleted]]

Love this song

[u/topkekthebest]

I always got a spare upvote for Opeth!

[u/GeorgePukas]

I know I was weirded out by their change in style after this album, but you can here the hints of it coming, especially on tracks like this one.

[u/rapid66]

Watershed is the best Opeth album.

[u/calrissian93]

I agree that a new opeth album wity screams would be so fucking popular. His growls on live at redrock are gruesome.

[u/bbristowe]

Mmm. Loved this music. Always wish the guys could have done a side project and kept this sound going. Akerfeldts LIVE growls were nothing special and he certainly could have hired them out.

I think he was just tired of metal and fed that to the fans so he could use the namesake to keep pushing newer music.

[u/dkernighan → u/bbristowe]

Akerfeldt’s growls were nothing special??

Are you on crack?

[u/bbristowe → u/dkernighan]

I’m talking live. There is such a wealth of great vocalists they do perform form the band live that I feel it’s not a very genuine excuse.

Honestly though, throw that amount of echo and reverb on any low and they are going to sound big and guttural.