Death Metal....whats it all about?!

plonk

Ive never been a fan of the big 3 Pantera Slayer and metalica. I dont know what it is about them but im just not into them.Opeth were my first taste of metal then trivium and now In Flames Racer x Children of bodom and maybe a few songs from death. I just love how melodic In Flames are I can see how it can get a bit sickening but then I will just listen to something else and in a couple of months I will go back to listening to whatever I got sick of and appreciate it even more

conzy

Racer x

Racer X are great, so is everything by Paul Gilbert:o , Its not Death Metal but check out Mr Big;)

The Drill Song!!!!!!!

gline

plonk wrote:

Ive never been a fan of the big 3 Pantera Slayer and metalica. I dont know what it is about them but im just not into them.Opeth were my first taste of metal then trivium and now In Flames Racer x Children of bodom and maybe a few songs from death. I just love how melodic In Flames are I can see how it can get a bit sickening but then I will just listen to something else and in a couple of months I will go back to listening to whatever I got sick of and appreciate it even more

ah i was young;)

i dont know what the big deal is with opeth though? been listening to them the last few weeks and i really dont like their stuff

what is it everyone likes about them?

Karl Hungus

gline wrote:

ah i was young;)

i dont know what the big deal is with opeth though? been listening to them the last few weeks and i really dont like their stuff

what is it everyone likes about them?

Hard to explain. Very, very hard to explain. I don't know, maybe it's because the music is so densely layered? I remember that I often kept hearing new things in Blackwater Park every time I listened to it. It's a rare band that can pull this kind of thing off. It's some of the most intelligent, original and complex music out there.

I don't know, they're definetly one of the hardest bands to put into words.

gline

Karl Hungus wrote:

Hard to explain. Very, very hard to explain. I don't know, maybe it's because the music is so densely layered? I remember that I often kept hearing new things in Blackwater Park every time I listened to it. It's a rare band that can pull this kind of thing off. It's some of the most intelligent, original and complex music out there.

I don't know, they're definetly one of the hardest bands to put into words.

i just dont hear that when i listen to them, 3 of their albums just bored me. Awell, suppose its just not for everyone

Karl Hungus

gline wrote:

i just dont hear that when i listen to them, 3 of their albums just bored me. Awell, suppose its just not for everyone

I didn't hear it either when I first listened to them. It literally took a month before I started getting the vibe.

What albums did you listen to, out of curiosity?

gline

1st was orchid (i think), still life, then blackwater park, i got all their albums, but i stopped listening at 3 as it just didnt do it for me, id say ive listened to each of the 3 maybe twice or more and i cant see anything in it, it just sounded like they were adding too much into the music.... its proabably because i like a band either to be really heavy or not at all.. these are lukewarm in my opinion

im gonna go to their gig over here though, maybe they play well live??? that usualy helps me get to like a band... if they play well live

Karl Hungus

gline wrote:

its proabably because i like a band either to be really heavy or not at all.. these are lukewarm in my opinion

Ah, that's probably it so! Part of the magic of Opeth for me is the synthesis of Death Metal and 70's Prog Rock, it's a lot about the dynamics and contrast. You're probably not going to like them at all if that's the case.

If you're after a real heavy band, may I suggest Cryptopsy?

gline

Karl Hungus wrote:

Ah, that's probably it so! Part of the magic of Opeth for me is the synthesis of Death Metal and 70's Prog Rock, it's a lot about the dynamics and contrast. You're probably not going to like them at all if that's the case.

If you're after a real heavy band, may I suggest Cryptopsy?

yeh i heard some of their stuff

What I said above isnt a hard and fast rule but is generally the way my taste goes.

Though i love the likes of My Dying Bride for some reason, even though I would say they are "lukewarm", its just the atmosphere they create.

Anyway I'l see how the opeth gig goes, should be a good night anyway

Pugsley

id say ive listened to each of the 3 maybe twice or more and i cant see anything in it

Twice is nowhere near enough to enjoy a good Opeth album, I usually just listen to them through discography (ie: all in order, except ghost reveries, cant get into it at all), so I cant tell one album from another, but twice isnt enough. Opeth wouldnt be my favourite band by a long shot, but their great now and again for a change of scenery from the Russian folk/black metal I have been listening to a lot recently (Little Dead Bertha, Nevid, etc), and some good ol' death metal (Death, Morbid Angel).

Im surprised Michael Stanne hasnt been mentioned yet (vocalist from Dark Tranquility), he has a great growl by any measure and is also brilliant for powerful medodic vocals, Dark Tranquility are an excellent band too (their new stuff is a bit poo tho), their album The Gallery is probably the best melodic death metal album ever released (imo).

kevin_de_big

death metal is a mixed bag to say the very least. i generally feel the need to cnnect with the lyrics, and generally speaking, goe doesnt seem to make me emote powerfully i love melodic death metal like later day carcass, in flames, dark tranquility etc. highly musical and not overbearing in the numbging blastbeats

Necronomicon

It's all about the riffs/rhythm for me. If the music is good, the vocals don't bother me too much. If it's just someone beating the **** out of a snaer drum, I turn it off. That's why I love some Carcass stuff I've heard, things like that with a good rythm. I've also gotten into Opeth more lately.

gline

kevin_de_big wrote:

i love melodic death metal like later day carcass, in flames, dark tranquility etc.

i agree, i love early inflames (lunar strain/subteranean etc), very melodic, also acoustic bits are cool added in.

pants on fire

OK KH, you've convinced me. Opeth seem to be the most mentioned band on this post, so I'm gonna give them a shot.

What album is the best\most accessible?!

Karl Hungus

pants on fire wrote:

What album is the best\most accessible?!

Well, I think a good place to start off is Blackwater Park, or Ghost Reveries.

Here, have a look at this and see what you think, before going off buying anything. Might give you an idea about Opeth's stuff.

pants on fire

Thanx man.

Will let ya know in a week what the verdict
is!!!

It wasn't me!

Not Ghost Reveries! Seriously, that album will not give you a taste of what Opeth really sound like. Blackwater Park is a great starting point though. I think it'll give a beginner the best meld of what they sound like, acoustic and metal parts, though the metal parts especially were differen in their first two or three albums. Blackwater Park is what I'd recommend though, and it's an album that never gets old.

Blowfish

Karl Hungus wrote:

Here, have a look at this and see what you think, before going off buying anything. Might give you an idea about Opeth's stuff.

Heh, my only experience of Opeth before this was Damnation which is definitely a lot quieter. tbh i'm not that much of a metal fan, but I love prog rock style stuff, and this has spilt over into some metal-ish stuff like Evergrey, Ayreon and Dream Theater. Ah sure like pants on fire, i'll get back to you as to what I think, although i'm definitely intrigued.

kevin_de_big

It wasn't me! wrote:

Not Ghost Reveries! Seriously, that album will not give you a taste of what Opeth really sound like. Blackwater Park is a great starting point though. I think it'll give a beginner the best meld of what they sound like, acoustic and metal parts, though the metal parts especially were differen in their first two or three albums. Blackwater Park is what I'd recommend though, and it's an album that never gets old.

i have to agree. ghost reveries however has definitely grpwn on me the longer ive owned it. i find still life to be just as good as blackwater park. basically, they are transcendental

It wasn't me!

Still Life is too complicated for a first Opeth album to be honest. Ghost Reveries has grown on me alright too, but still nothing to its predecessors. Morningrise and Orchid are my favourites to be honest, but My Arms... can be recognised as their masterpiece.

Undergod

It's turned into an opeth thread!

It's all It wasn't me!'s fault. If he hadn't gotten me into Opeth, I never would have gone out and gotten blackwater park. I would never have bought My Arms, Your Hearse on my holidays. I would never have gotten nearly the entire rest of their discography.
And I would never have gotten Carcass's Symphonies of Sickness, or Cynic's Focus, or Slowly We Rot by Obituary or Human by Death.
And I could have happily lived out my days listening to Kool and the Gang.

But seriously, I regret not a thing. Every band I mentioned above I've come to love. When as little as a few months before getting Blackwater Park, I would have considered death vocals to be just noise, but Mikael Akerfeldt is just so melodic even his death vocals, it's a great place to start.

Cryptopsy I'm working on at the moment, it's just so incredibly heavy. But I know I'm gonna like it.

kevin_de_big

It wasn't me! wrote:

Still Life is too complicated for a first Opeth album to be honest. Ghost Reveries has grown on me alright too, but still nothing to its predecessors. Morningrise and Orchid are my favourites to be honest, but My Arms... can be recognised as their masterpiece.

morningrise is easily, if not more complicated than still life. they are a complicated, musical band every album is a challenging listen that bears fruits only after opening up. as for their masterpiece...its subjective. to me, it would be the equivalent of comparing the mona lisa to the last supper....i.e. theyre both works of genius

projectmayhem

is it wrong for me to love ghost reveries more then anything? i see lots of people quoting blackwater park, but GR is a killer album for me.

Karl Hungus

projectmayhem wrote:

is it wrong for me to love ghost reveries more then anything? i see lots of people quoting blackwater park, but GR is a killer album for me.

I wouldn't mind what other people think tbh.

Undergod

I adore Ghost Reveries, in a way it sums how good they are by taking a very different route musically, and still being awesome.

rainbow kirby

Opeth-wise... I really have a thing for Still Life. I can't explain why I love it, but I just think it's fantastic!

Shiminay

My 2c:

I haven't read everything so I'm just gonna tell you all why I love Death Metal so much...

You have to realise that to listen to death metal, your ears and brain need a complete readjustament period I remember when I moved to Galway and Karl gave me a load of cds to listen to as I was still emerging into the world of metal (listening to the likes of Pantera and Sepultura) and I just didn't get the dm stuff he gave me. 6 months later and I had developed an ear for it and I now must have a daily dose of something brutal to liven me up! It's all about making you feel GUUUURRRRRRR!!!!!!! and a very handy by-product of that is I de-stress considerably cause I get cross along with the music and work any bad vibes outta the system.

There's a re-ordered heirarchy of instrumental and compositional importance for most death metal...

• Guitars - ALL important. It's all about crushing riffs played at warp speed that encourage whiplash through rapid movement of your head
• Drums - BLAST BEATS! That "machine gun" sound you get from a daft dm drummer like Flo from Cryptopsy (I met him at their last gig btw ) just ensures shattered vertabrae from head flailing madness
• Bass - to keep everything flowing along at the same warp speed.
• Vocals - the least important part of death metal and quite possibly the silliest It's really a counter to the guitars and something that's more a traditional part of a band and so is still there. You need a front man on stage cause the guitar players are so busy concentrating on playing pitch perfect at stupid speeds, they don't have time for much past head banging or windmilling

Of course, a band like Opeth defy all the above rules

Live, death metal is a violent affair that'll definitely leave a mark Intense athmosphere especially in a smaller venue, (which is fortunately where most dm gigs happen in Ireland) and a savage pit (if you're that way inclined). A lot of fun

Who do I listen to? Cannibal Corpse (saw them the other night, they were savage), Suffocation (playing later this year, I will be there!), Carcass, Decapitated (also playing later this year, again, I will be there), Deicide, Dying Fetus, In Flames, Intestine Baalism, etc... I'm also into the even more extreme gorey sort of stuff like Visceral Bleeding, Anal Blast, Digested Flesh and I especially love Devourment (there's no describing them ).

Pat O'Brien of Cannibal Corpse wrote:

"Why do I love death metal? Cause it's a slap in the face of queer kind of music."

Sums it up really.

As an aside...
It's very much a case of being in the mood for dm, to chill out I like doom, sludge and stoner stuff (Electric Wizard, Isis, etc)

gline

Kharn wrote:

As an aside...
It's very much a case of being in the mood for dm, to chill out I like doom, sludge and stoner stuff (Electric Wizard, Isis, etc)

this is how it goes for me too
when i am coming home from work (de-stressing) then some extreme heavy dm is needed and by the time i get home am i de-stressed and usually go to sleep that night listening to some my dying bride or the 3rd and the mortal. but dm is all about the energy... it gives you energy and motivates you.. makes me happy anyway

Pugsley

to chill out I like doom, sludge and stoner stuff

If you want to chill out to some sludge I cant recommend Pelican enough, the best sludge band I have heard by a fair margin, all their albums are excellent but I would probably rate 'Australasia' as their best.

Tar.Aldarion

Isis have a new album coming don't they?