As a longtime fan (since Blackwater Park came out) I am pretty happy with the new common ground Mikel found to please both OldPeth and NuPeth fans alike.
I agree that the last 4 albums were mostly forgettable, aside from a few songs a riffs.
My biggest gripe is how much stuff is packed into each song. I liked when Opeth songs were long cause they really let an idea sit and stay with you. It wasn’t overly repetitive, they always made the long sections (aside from a few choice selections) interesting even they repeated a riff for 2-3 minutes.
I will say that this album has some AWESOME grooves. All the more reason I wish they lasted longer. I feel like songs would be more memorable and distinct if they did.
Overall I’m really happy with the new compromise of sound. I know they don’t want to do the same thing over and over, and this is a happy medium that is a great step forward.
I just finished listening to it.
It's a bit cryptic to me at first. But it's not unexpected when it comes to prog music.
So I expect my second and third listens to be more enjoyable (and fourth even more and so on).
I did enjoy this first listen nonetheless.
had some really good parts, like this flute solo in one of the §.
also gonna be hard remembering them just by number.
I do feel what someone else said (rigatti@lemmy.world) , that there's none of this repetitiveness that got me to like Opeth in the beginning, with their Morningrise album.
I'll preface by saying I prefer Ghost Reveries and their later albums more than their older ones. I'm not all that into growling.
The first three songs falls flat on my first listen, §4 and §5 I found more interesting. The instrumental part of §6 were nice.
None of the songs stands out though, not sure if any of them will make into the gym playlist rotation.
A shame they didn't explore further the style they tried with In Cauda Venenum, as a Norwegian I find Swedish vocals more interesting than English, though it could just be the novelty of it.
I'm super stoked for this one. Haven't heard it yet but I'm planning on listening to it tonight with my wife. The songs they released already are awesome.
I haven't listened to it yet, and I've liked their albums less and less since the Heritage shift, so I don't have high expectations for this one. But I'll give it a run and check back in.
Akerfeldt growled again! Rejoice! I've been waiting for them to mix in a little more metal with the prog sound, and there's moments of it which sounds pretty cool. Overall my initial thoughts are that the album is fairly good but lacks some of the repetitiveness and groove that made mid-career Opeth some of my favorite music. I usually dislike any album the first time I hear it though, so it's a good sign that I thought this one was decent.