Opeth - Pale Communion

corplhicks wrote:

In everything I've heard of Opeth this far, so far Elysian Woes and Faith in Others seem to be his most emotional songs.

I would add Isolation Years to that.

Still need to revisit Ghost Reveries. I don't remember anything of that album because it didn't click with me at the time, but that wasn't a very good time for me and music.

I would probably still pick Ghost Reveries as my favorite, though Pale Communion is creeping up the list after it

I have to be honest - I can't get enough of Pale Communion and Heritage, but as much as I dig the music of Blackwater Park and before, growling vocals are not my cup of tea. It's the same with bands like Arch Enemy and Morbid Angel--the music is INCREDIBLE, but the cookie monster shit is something I have great difficulty filtering. It's hard to stay with albums like these.

Looking forward to Damnation and Ghost Reveries - I'm placing an order for both on Friday (my copy of the latter is scratched bad and missing artwork).

I'm not a fan of death metal vocals usually, but I got used to Mikael's take on them.  Knowing how good his clean voice is helps me take it more seriously I think.  And like everything else Opeth does it was used intelligently, as an arranging tool, a way to build tension in compositions.  I started with Damnation and had to gradually acclimate myself to the harsh vocal tracks.  

The musical arrangements in those songs is what got me to stick with them.  There are 3 heavy Opeth tracks that really tipped me over the edge into appreciating the arranging power of alternating between clean and harsh vocals.  The title song Deliverance from that album, Ghost Of Perdition and Baying Of The Hounds from Ghost Reveries.  It's also worth pointing out that all 3 of those songs are AMAZING! After those tracks "clicked", I no longer minded the harsh vocal songs.  But Opeth is really the only group I listen to that uses that style.