Embracethedeath

as i suspected. As soon as something other than praise enters this thread, all we get is accusations. I'm not a close-minded metalhead. I love metal. I enjoy all genres of metal, except maybe power metal where i only love a few. Death metal happens to be my favorite subgenre of metal. Overall, Opeth is just boring.
Mixing genres of metal, or music for that matter, can be disastrous. Opeth decided to take a high dosage of progression and mix it in with death metal. What comes out is obviously progressive, and has death metal in it, but that death metal isn't necessarily too good. Opeth is obviously a talented band. Mikael's clean vocals can be seamlessly transformed into thunderous growls. I really just don't connect with any of it. It seems almost uninspired or way too calculated. Like all music, its just a matter of opinion. Liking Opeth isn't a problem, I just don't see them as anything special, and a lot of metalheads would agree with me. Listen to Aker****e or Lykathea Aflame, there's some progressive death metal

Edit: haha A k e r c o c k e i mean

Seltzer

My point is that when you say "that death metal isn't necessarily too good", you are probably judging it by metal standards instead of judging it for the sake of music - that's a completely different set of ideals because death metal fans praise brutality/aggression whereas that might not even be the aim of their 'death metal' parts... but most metal fans will still always judge them by those criteria due to the genre-tag.

And Lykathea Aflame is wicked.

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Embracethedeath

I think you're absolutely right. I do judge everything that is supposed to be 'metal' by my own metal standards. And tbh, i don't really care for anything that is like that. I listen to my fair share of rap, classic rock, grunge, and other things but i think opeth isn't for me in general. Have you checked out Aker****e? Some of their stuff is mediocrity at its finest, but Words that Go Unspoken... is an excellent album.

jackhammer

Liking all types of Metal is not an example of being open minded I'm afraid. Mixing genres of music can be disasterous but why play safe? Many bands within the Black Metal genre via off into Ambient and Folk and the juxtaposition of heavy riffing and ambient acoustic passages is exactly why Opeth are good.

I can understand you not liking them but saying that 'agression is non-existent' in their music is the sound of someone who only digs power chords and riffing.

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Seltzer

And that goes back to my original point - the only reason people think it's supposed to meet all the death metal ideals or even supposed to be metal at all is because of their expectations based on a genre-tag. I'd argue that they have some DM elements but definitely shouldn't be judged by that criteria because they're more deeply rooted in prog rock and stray too far from DM anyway... yes, they are aggressive and somewhat brutal, and there is a bit of double-bassery and growling, but their riffery and composition style has never really been DM-like.

Words that Go Unspoken is great, but I haven't heard any of their other stuff (which is probably a good thing ). Do you like Gorguts and Demilich?

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Embracethedeath

Maybe in the sense of riffing, drumming, or vocal power there is aggression, but in the sense of attitude, there really isn't any aggression. I dont really know what i'm trying to say, but i guess maybe that Opeth's music is purposeless. Idk, that'll probably piss some people off but i'm not very good at conveying my message.

And, in general, i tend to frown upon many black metal bands that incorporate folk or ambience into their music. Agalloch, primordial, and Arcuturus are all good bands but for the most part i really dont like that whole thing.

The Unfan

Opeth utilizes doom-death which isn't meant to be aggressive. Its meant to be sombre while still maintaining heaviness. Opeth aren't aggressive because they're not supposed to be.

Embracethedeath

Opeth are not really doom/death at all. Doom/death is a very aggressive type of music. Have you ever heard of Asphyx, Paradise Lost, early Amorphis? They are all very aggressive bands. I'd stick to progressive death metal for Opeth

The Unfan

Actually, being a fan of all 3 mentioned bands I can honestly I can't think of any of them as being aggressive. They're heavy and have their "angry moments" so to speak, but the all around atmosphere seems to be more mournful than aggressive. Pissed off, but not aggressive.

Edit: Actually now that I think of it I'd actually say Opeth are doomier than Asphyx. Asphyx is more like death metal with bits of doom, but not quite doom/death.

Embracethedeath

Hmmm... Asphyx not being aggressive? I think you're absolutely wrong in every sense of the word but whatever. Opeth reallly aren't doom/death so this argument has no validity anyway.