Interview with Mikael/Info about new Opeth album




Posted by Omni

Taken from February 2008 issue of Revolver Magazine, and stolen by me from another website:


[quote]Swedish Prog-Death Wizards Explore Their... Even Darker Side

If Opeth's upcoming album turns out to be too dark and heavy for your progressive sensibilities, blame it on frontman Mikael




Posted by cool gamer dad

Way looking forward to this. Opeth is a band I'm mega gay for! Deliverance is my favorite. I really dig Ghost Reveries, and I think it's a very close second to Deliverance.

I'm liking the sound of this. But they could put almost anything out and I'd like it.




Posted by Borealis

Yeah, I love Ghost Reveries. Excited.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Man, this should be pretty good. I haven't been disappointed with anything they've done so far.




Posted by Omni

I've got a tracklisting and some more info now. The album title will be Watershed.

Track listing:
[quote]1. Coil
2. Heir Apparent
3. The Lotus Eater
4. Burden
5. Porcelain Heart
6. Hessian Peel
7 Hex Omega

[quote]All the songs have been written by M.




Posted by Shade

Can't ****ing wait.




Posted by Slade

I haven't listened to them at all since I was obsessed with them right before I got into other kinds of metal. I'll probably make this the first thing I listen to after over a year of no Opeth.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire


Quoted post: 3. The Lotus Eater


Nice track title. Sounds good so far.



Posted by Omni

I like the new song titles, and it's weird that they covered a song by Alice in Chains.




Posted by Shin-Ra


Quoting Omni: I've never figured out why a lot of their fans dislike it.


A lot of their albums have a very similar atmosphere and style that's different with Ghost Reveries. It's not that same dark, swampy vibe with the past few albums. Good stuff though, I'm glad Opeth has avoided stagnation thus far.


Quoting Vampiro V. Empire: Nice track title. Sounds good so far.


Yeah, it was an awesome title when Nevermore used it too.



Posted by Omni

It was cooler when it was used hundreds of years ago.




Posted by Shin-Ra

Who sang that one?




Posted by Shade

Homer. =P




Posted by Shin-Ra

Pfff, cheap Symphony X rip-off band.




Posted by Omni


Quoting Shin-Ra: Who sang that one?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotophagi

Oh, and here's a poem, which is almost a song.

[quote]"The Lotus-Eaters" (or, in the original spelling, "The Lotos-Eaters") is a celebrated poem written in 1833 by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) based on the passage from the Odyssey mentioned above, though in Tennyson's version, Odysseus does not feel bound to force the lotus-eaters to return to their homeland.



Posted by Shin-Ra

Yeah, I know, I was being a smartass. Hence my Symphony X comment.




Posted by Shade

Which was ****ing epic. Pretty sure I love you for it.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire


Quoted post: Yeah, it was an awesome title when Nevermore used it too.


Nevermore sucks though, so....



Posted by Shin-Ra

...you should die. :(

So how does everyone feel about the new line-up. I mean, between Ghost Reveries and this one, we're looking at three new members and two very influential band members leaving.




Posted by Omni

Only two band members left.

One was Martin Lopez, who was the drummer. I don't know how influential he was on their music, but he was a pretty great drummer.

Peter Lindgren, however, was influential on their music, although his contributions to songwriting had apparently dwindled over the years, something he and Mikael talked about in interviews.

The newest member of the band aside from either of their replacements, Per Wilberg, appeared on Ghost Reveries.

I have a lot of faith in Mikael to deliver something really amazing, no matter who else is in the band. He's definitely the core of Opeth, even though he wasn't in the original lineup, which dissolved before any recordings were made.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

I might care if I was still a really big fan of them, but I'm not really, so it's not a big deal. As long as Mikael is still there I think the other members are pretty interchangeable as long as they're still talented.




Posted by Shin-Ra


Quoting Omni: Only two band members left.

One was Martin Lopez, who was the drummer. I don't know how influential he was on their music, but he was a pretty great drummer.

Peter Lindgren, however, was influential on their music, although his contributions to songwriting had apparently dwindled over the years, something he and Mikael talked about in interviews.


That's what I said. There are three new additions to the band and two old members left since Ghost Reveries.

Martin was very influential. If you watch the documentary included on Lamentations, you can see him and Mikael constantly arguing about how the albums Deliverance and Damnation should sound. It was actually pretty interesting.

Yeah, you can tell his contributions were fading. Opeth took on a more progressive approach here lately rather than the old crunchy guitar tone mixed with sharp acoustics. I attribute the older sound more to Peter, although I'm sure it was quite mutual between him and Mikael.

Also, where did you read that Mikael isn't an original member? I've never seen that before.



Posted by Omni

[quote=Wikipedia's article on Opeth]Opeth was formed in 1990 in Stockholm, Sweden by vocalist David Isberg and guitarist Mikael




Posted by Shin-Ra


Quoting Omni: Except one of them was on Ghost Reveries, so there's only 2 new members.


That's why I said since Ghost Reveries, meaning the recording itself. Otherwise I would have said, you know, "now". Also, you were trying to correct me on the amount of people who left.



Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

They need another ****ation. Or a regular Opeth with pure clean vocals only. That's be sweet.




Posted by Richaod


Quoting Omni: I have a lot of faith in Mikael to deliver something really amazing, no matter who else is in the band. He's definitely the core of Opeth, even though he wasn't in the original lineup, which dissolved before any recordings were made.


Agreed. I'd be interested to see the contribution the new members make to the songwriting as well, if any.



Posted by Shade


Quoting Vampiro V. Empire: They need another ****ation. Or a regular Opeth with pure clean vocals only. That's be sweet.


That's what I thought ****ation was when I first got it, I was kinda let down that it wasn't, but not really because it's awesome anyway.

Still has to have SOME of his death vocals, though. <3



Posted by Omni

I love his voice, whether it's clean or death vocals.




Posted by Omni

[youtube=zXi0QpbduGM]zXi0QpbduGM[/youtube]

"Heir Apparent" live. Quality's pretty ****ty, but this sounds pretty awesome.




Posted by Omni

[IMG]http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/954/watershedcovertb1.jpg[/IMG]

Album cover.




Posted by Omni

[URL="http://vgchat.com/showpost.php?p=842976&postcount=2437"]It leaked.[/URL]




Posted by Shade

**** YEAH! To think I was sad about coming home from my trip. Great news. :cool:




Posted by Richaod

So what does everything think of Watershed now that it's been out for a while?

As with virtually any Opeth album, I love it... though I prefer Ghost Reveries. The transitions in Watershed are a bit more jarring, and overall I'm feeling less of a rock influence - except for the mellotron freakout in Burden which is amazing.

Seeing them live in September too. :D First overage concert!




Posted by Omni

I don't like it as much as I did Ghost Reveries, but it's still pretty cool. Lindgren just has better chops for playing and composing on guitar than Mikael can pull of with this new guy, and I think the last one had cooler lyrics.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

I should download that.