I should start out by saying - Opeth is a try-hard band and its fans just don't know much about music.
Some may think this is amazing prog music but today we're going to analyze 3 of their songs (the first 3 i found on youtube, yes) and prove that they may not be a terrible band but they most certainly are not even close to amazing.
Some may think this is amazing prog music but today we're going to analyze 3 of their songs (the first 3 i found on youtube, yes) and prove that they may not be a terrible band but they most certainly are not even close to amazing.
FIRST SONG - PORCELAIN HEART
We begin with a WOW SO METAL riff that is actually the chorus and a very simple rhythm that is obnoxiously repeated throughout the verses in the cliché shape of:
{personal pronoun - action or state}
or as you see in the lyrics:
I lost all I had (that April day),
I turned to my friends (nothing to say),
I wrote down a name (and read it twice),
I wallowed in shame.
Anyone can write this, yes even you, just try it.
The fingered part is just following the rhythm of the lyrics, it sounds 'oh so complicated' because he goes up and down with it.
Then a small pause because too many *EMOTIONS*, you need the silence to take so much poetry in.
We jump into the chorus, which is just that riff from the beginning, no lyrics there, because he needed to pass so much *EMOTION* through this instrumental chorus.
Another verse, a little solo there so you know THAT GUY CAN SOLO just like any other guitar player in the world and we get to the, i guess, outro. He again uses the ready at hand construction, every line has about the same size so he can fit ANOTHER repeating fingered riff. Now to the most important part of this song, the catchiness is right here in the ending part where he cleverly goes "AAA AAA AAAH" as if the rhythm of the song was really fucking amazing.
SECOND SONG - THE GRAND CONJURATION
{personal pronoun - action or state}
or as you see in the lyrics:
I lost all I had (that April day),
I turned to my friends (nothing to say),
I wrote down a name (and read it twice),
I wallowed in shame.
Anyone can write this, yes even you, just try it.
The fingered part is just following the rhythm of the lyrics, it sounds 'oh so complicated' because he goes up and down with it.
Then a small pause because too many *EMOTIONS*, you need the silence to take so much poetry in.
We jump into the chorus, which is just that riff from the beginning, no lyrics there, because he needed to pass so much *EMOTION* through this instrumental chorus.
Another verse, a little solo there so you know THAT GUY CAN SOLO just like any other guitar player in the world and we get to the, i guess, outro. He again uses the ready at hand construction, every line has about the same size so he can fit ANOTHER repeating fingered riff. Now to the most important part of this song, the catchiness is right here in the ending part where he cleverly goes "AAA AAA AAAH" as if the rhythm of the song was really fucking amazing.
SECOND SONG - THE GRAND CONJURATION
Alright, now as the song begins please remember that "AA AA AAH" from the first one and fit it in through the verse.
It's the same song.
Its the same song.
SAME SONG.
Remember how I said same size lines are just a pre-built lyric construction?
Oh and using a bass line for the verse, yeah, that's pre-built too.
Majesty
Faithful me
Pour yourself
Into me
Exactly, he just did the same thing, with pretty much the same rhythm. But this time he wants to sound METAL so he goes into the chorus growling about satan. Here's the trick, he speeds up from time to time so it sounds MORE METAL.
And also 0-x-0-x-0-x-0-x
Nothing's more metal than OPEN-MUTE.
But he can't not have *EMOTIONS* in his song, so there is another clean and slow part after all that METAL.
THIRD SONG - THE DEVIL'S ORCHARD
It's the same song.
Its the same song.
SAME SONG.
Remember how I said same size lines are just a pre-built lyric construction?
Oh and using a bass line for the verse, yeah, that's pre-built too.
Majesty
Faithful me
Pour yourself
Into me
Exactly, he just did the same thing, with pretty much the same rhythm. But this time he wants to sound METAL so he goes into the chorus growling about satan. Here's the trick, he speeds up from time to time so it sounds MORE METAL.
And also 0-x-0-x-0-x-0-x
Nothing's more metal than OPEN-MUTE.
But he can't not have *EMOTIONS* in his song, so there is another clean and slow part after all that METAL.
THIRD SONG - THE DEVIL'S ORCHARD
Why is the first riff so joyful? Ohh he's trying to look prog!He only has that one shape though, too bad.
But he also wants to be satanic because METAL, so he has to say "god is dead!" over and over. Talking about satan is only cool if you're under 16, after that you've just seen too much of the same Incipt Satan and Satan My Master.
He did get the formula right this time though:
{One ringing chord - singing - "complicated prog riff"}
I'd rather listen to Coheed and Cambria - Shattered Symphony which is pretty close to this, but actually good.
He's also not using the same size lines from before, making every last word longer does not make your song good though, it helps the harmony, yes, but it just fucks up everything else.
The loud bass doesn't make you prog either.
Trying to be psychedelic doesn't make you as good as Porcupine Tree.
A random organ in your song doesn't make it experimental.
Trying to get funky out of nowhere without knowing what you're doing is just shameful.
Oh and not everything from Dream Theater is good, songs like Another Day are just boring (it has a sax in it for fuck's sake, it just doesn't fit in right).
As expected this band is something you can endure, but there's really nothing to be appreciated. From the lyrics to the riffs and even the main structures of the songs it is just bad, they are not real musicians and they'll never make a masterpiece unless someone else writes it and they don't tell you about it.
2/10
Because i'm being nice today, but you're still getting the Soulja Boy Award
But he also wants to be satanic because METAL, so he has to say "god is dead!" over and over. Talking about satan is only cool if you're under 16, after that you've just seen too much of the same Incipt Satan and Satan My Master.
He did get the formula right this time though:
{One ringing chord - singing - "complicated prog riff"}
I'd rather listen to Coheed and Cambria - Shattered Symphony which is pretty close to this, but actually good.
He's also not using the same size lines from before, making every last word longer does not make your song good though, it helps the harmony, yes, but it just fucks up everything else.
The loud bass doesn't make you prog either.
Trying to be psychedelic doesn't make you as good as Porcupine Tree.
A random organ in your song doesn't make it experimental.
Trying to get funky out of nowhere without knowing what you're doing is just shameful.
Oh and not everything from Dream Theater is good, songs like Another Day are just boring (it has a sax in it for fuck's sake, it just doesn't fit in right).
As expected this band is something you can endure, but there's really nothing to be appreciated. From the lyrics to the riffs and even the main structures of the songs it is just bad, they are not real musicians and they'll never make a masterpiece unless someone else writes it and they don't tell you about it.
2/10
Because i'm being nice today, but you're still getting the Soulja Boy Award