Music Snob's Opeth Album Tier List
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- čas přidán 24. 08. 2021
- Here is my Opeth Album Tier List. Finally after all this time.
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Say what you want about Morningrise. But” To bid you farewell” is one of their most creative & well written songs.
That's what I was thinking. I really enjoy to bid you farewell, I wonder what other people's take of it are
@@TheBestofJuan I once played it on a very rainy day for some of my friends who don’t like any metal while we were chilling. They all really enjoyed it. And you can tell when people are actually vibing to something and not just saying “yeah this is good” to be nice. They were really liking it a lot.
Exactly what I was thinking! Beautifully sad and melancholic with super interesting harmonies, a great dynamic structure and the few lyrics are very heavy
Best song on Morningrise by far
Not only To bid you farewell !
I have to go back and listen to Watershed again. Maybe I was a little bit in haste years ago.
This. Lotus Eater, Hessian Peel, and Heir Apparent are all god-level Opeth.
@@blppt Last week I listened to Watershed all the way through for the first time in about 8 months and the first time I didn’t really like it that much. Blackwater Park is my n°1 favorite Opeth album but Watershed is now an extremely close 2nd. I’ve been listening to it everyday and I’ve even started learning Heir Apparent on guitar
Oh and by the way, Hex Omega is extremely underrated
@@zapper4945 If nothing else, the production on Watershed is far superior to BW Park---i freaking hate the way they mixed the drums on that otherwise brilliant album.
@@blppt I don’t love the BW P drums but I do really really really like them. The second half of the title track after the clean calm section is SSS+ tier drumming in my opinion. The drum tone they used was perfect for that song
@@zapper4945 Oh, don't get me wrong, I love Lopez' drumming, its just the way they mixed them sounds rather weak at times.
Steven did a much better job on Deliverance/Damnation in that area.
*Don't want to be a pretentious fan but I REALLY love Orchid, Morningrise and MAYH cause of how beautiful the riffs are*
The placement of mayh on his list was most triggering for me 😅
I don't understand how most Opeth fans don't care about morningrise tbh, it has so many tasty and beautiful riffs
I love all 3 about those albums, they’re all really beautiful in my opinion (in a different way than the others too). I am a fan of black and death metal though, so my perspective is definitely a *lot* different than Mike’s, but man they’re really good albums, in my opinion at least.
@@gechuzhao2178 its about the songs too. Riffs are cool yes but songs are garbage
@@malawigw uuh
To bid you farewell and Advent are among their best songs
The first minute and a half of In Mist She Was Standing is one of the best melodic passages in metal I have ever heard
Yeah, it's an absolute banger. A very unique take on folk/black/death/progressive metal and rock
@Rener Abano That and Forest October, HOLY SHIT, how good they are! The little Silhouette and Requiem are so enveloping, too...
FINALLY. Now I know what opinions I should have about Opeth.
lol
lol
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Lawl
I don't care what everyone is saying morningrise will always be one of my favorite albums not only of Opeth but of all time. It has so so so many tasty riffs
Morningrise is a killer album
To Bid You Farewell is one of the greatest songs ever written
@@DrewCheech To Bid you farewell is absolutely fantastic
morningrise = best opeth album
@@garrettreardon6910 definitely not
I won't stand for the MAYH slander. April Ethereal is my favorite Opeth song.
Agreed, by far their best from early era. Still life starts mid era, and that’s one of the best songs on the album.
It's also my favorite Opeth album too.
Same here man. MAYH for life. One of my absolute favorite Opeth albums for me. 🤘
April ethereal is an amazing song
When is great too
For me, Still Life is the best album. Face of Melinda and The Moor are the best Opeth songs.
I'm inclined to agree. Face of Melinda is possibly my favorite Opeth song but I also simp hard for Moonlapse Vertigo.
I am also inclined to agree. Serenity Painted Death in particular is my personal favourite Opeth song.
The moor is a masterpiace, one of my favpurite songs ever. Genious songwrighting, hounting melodies, and the bridge is one of my favourites ever. The wrighting for the bridge is ascendent, when hes done with the beautiful creepy melodies and returns to the chorus with that fade in growl is one of the most terrifying piaces of music I have heard, truly genious.
Godheada lamment has my favourite solo of all time. Solo in the first corus is such a genious transition. Few relativly fast phrases with few bends and then this harmony line wich is the repeated just as a vocal melody. Truly masterful use of guitar lead, it makes it another voice, one more vocal part in this beautiful song.
Benighted is a wonderfull song, vocal melodies work perfectly, the solo is face melting, and the vibe is just as creepy as on the rest of the album.
Moonlapse is a perfect song, and saldy realy underrated. This song gives me fucking chills, the acustic bridge is so fucking uneasy and creepy, before a killer killer solo. And the verses/choruses are soo fucking good, and the outro both the growls and the clean part is stunning. Holy shit.
Face of melinda, one of fan favourites, and mine too. Beautifull intro, makes you enjoy the creepy, sad, acustic sections before this wierd bridge and then one of the best Opeth riffs in the distorted verses, then the outro melodies, and its a happy song? He finaly meets Melinda with positive outcome, but then listening to this is dreadfull knowing the next track.
Serenety painted death, a fucking brutal song, fucking brutal, insane solo, banging chorus, and agin the wrighting for this is insane. The acustic buildup before the return of the chorus, the wierd melody after the first chorus, the near scilent parts before the bridge, and then that bridge is like brutal as shit, holy fuck.
Whit cluster, people say this is the best Opeth solo, i think its a bit too "look fast" but its great, rest of the song has mostly calm wibes, intro is growly but thats it, the outro gets heavy and then just melts and you are left with this heavenly guitar lines.
Holy fuck what an album!
@@Yenneffer vertigo is very underrated, that song is creepy as fuck.
Moonlapse vertigo has one of the most beautiful intros ever. Hands down my favorite Opeth album.
You gotta thank the almighty Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, solo artist, Storm Corrosion, No Man and more contributions in music) for the phenomenal production quality of 'Blackwater Park.' His taste in tones and mixing helped Opeth craft their best work! I'm surprised you haven't talked about the band Porcupine Tree on your channel Mike.
Wilson even contributed in some tracks in damnation, bwp
Fucking genius
That guy can do anything singing, playing tons of instruments, production, mixing and mastering and obviously one of the greatest songwriter with outstanding composition skill
OMG yes! I love love love porcupine tree! The new album was fantastic.
@@stirlock agreed 100%. Very well produced and engineered. Every song on that record has its own personality. I really hope they write at least one more solid album.
I couldn't disagree more with this tier list. 😂😂
Ikr MAYH boring?? 😂
@@fortjr5600 fr
Kind of is, if you like it it’s because of its more Blackened sound/tone rather than the music itself as it has significantly improved post still life.
@@youreokayboah2128 thats the thing. I like MAYH a lot, but Still Life onwards was just a whole other level for them in terms of songwriting and kind of blew their early work out the water in a lot of ways. MAYH was definitely the best from their "early" era though imo, and you can certainly hear a lot of what Opeth would soon become starting to manifest in that album. It has it's good moments and I really enjoy the atmosphere. I do think a lot of people tend to rate it a lot lower than it deserves, but I also understand why a lot of people were maybe spoiled by their mid era stuff. If I were going by Mike's tiers, I would likely put MAYH in the "good" tier myself.
If all of the albums aren't S tier, I'm still gonna be respectful about your opinions
Godhead's Lament is low-key top 3 Opeth songs of all time. Still Life is my 2nd favorite album.
That clean middle section in Godhead's is easily my favorite moment from Still Life
I actually discover Opeth a few years ago because you talked of them in one of your videos, they became, short after in my favorite band ever, so thanks you Mike, your objective and universal opinion never dissapoints.
Listening to Opeth feels like a marriage, divorce, mid-life crisis, graduation, peaking then falling, and a slow crawl back to normal, with a sudden high and slow decent to normal.
Now we need a Metallica album tier list
Ride The Lightning is their best
@@shadowedlvnar1635 correct
@@shadowedlvnar1635 MoP for me, but this is a close second
first 4 S tier
Hardwired b or c tier
Everything else F tier
Master of Puppets
Ghost Reveries is on top for me. Mostly because of the rhythms got way more interesting here, on top of their trademark great melodies and seamless mood changes. Also that Jens Bogren production is just wonderful. Cheers.
It’s my favourite as well, for those reasons; the way parts of songs flow together, going from a soul-crushing heavy riff with growls to a soft, melodic acoustic section with very ominous clean singing. The keyboards also added such a great atmosphere on that record.
GR & BWP continually fight it out for me. One day it's one; the next it's the other. Both are in my top 5 favorite albums period list.
@@ashamael What specific qualities do you think make those records so good? One record may have more appealing qualities that could tip the balance in its favour
@@dogbiscuits752 The dynamics... going from soft & ethereal to massive & heavy, then shifting to some kind of groovy/funky thing ... then some cool lead work ... then who knows? That's most of the songs on each record, though. I think the GR album itself is a dynamic piece of work in and of itself, with tracks like Atonement, Hours of Wealth, and Isolation Years providing that softer, melancholy type vibe in between the more intense tracks like Ghost of Perdition, Harlequin Forest, Baying of the Hounds, etc. On some days, I feel that vibe more, whereas BWP has fewer tracks like that (basically just the one, Harvest, and it's without a doubt my least favorite on the record), but the songs themselves are more dynamic.
I think my overall stance is BWP has my favorite overall song (title track) with another 3 or 4 songs that are just titans (Drapery Falls, Funeral Portrait, Bleak, Leper Affinity, Dirge for November), while I enjoy the overall flow of GR more.
But that's at 10:49pm on 8/25. Tomorrow, I may feel differently! Hell, just listing out those tracks on BWP is making me feel differently.
What a beautiful problem to have! Thanks for the discussion-invoking comment, my man!
@@ashamael I have a similar “problem” with My Arms, Your Hearse and Still Life (Ghost Reveries is a well cemented favourite, but these two battle for silver). I prefer the writing on Still Life but when I listen to the records in full, My Arms, Your Hearse gets the slight edge because of its fluidity and overall atmosphere.
Yay an objective Opeth album tier list. I can link this to all of the forums I’m having arguments with people in.
Agrees with me = Objective
@@nicoloenricorimoldi7425 that is the rule
Lol
I think you can't measure the value of an album objectively, everything depends on how much you like it
@@four4r92 Art has to have objective criteria to judge it, otherwise we get a banana glued to the wall being comparable to the Sistine Chapel terms of artistic value.
Likewise, music can be judged objectively. Is St. Anger as good as Master of Puppets?
If there’s no objective criteria, it could be.
Still, we have music theory and knowledge about production techniques et cetera.
Art can be judged with objective criteria as well as subjective criteria, that’s some the beauty of it.
IMHO all the albums from My Arms all the way up to Watershed are 10/10. I love every single one. Probably one of the best streaks of albums in all of metal, easily.
Imagine putting Morningrise in "No" and My Arms Your Hearse in " Boring"
Morning rise is carried mostly because of to Bid you farewell. My Arms Your Hearse is not bad but not good either imo.
@@youreokayboah2128not at all, advent, nectar and black rose immortal are all amazing
@@youreokayboah2128imo mayh is possibly the best concept album ever
Right? Embarassing.
Right? This popped up in my feed and if this is how he's ranking Opeth, nty.
I remember taking a smoke break with Mikael at NAMM 2010, he was really excited about this pitch drop pedal he bought at the convention and was telling me how excited he was for Heritage. Good times.
In Cauda Venenum was really an amazing album. The second half of "All Things Will Pass" ripped my heart so bad.
1000% Even after my first listen of the whole album that part hit so incredibly. Melts you...
@@BecomeTheKnight I'm going to let Mikael rip my heart a little more and I'll be crying for I can't sing "I am you, you am I" part. Damn, I wish I could sing instead of painting.
@@BecomeTheKnight im glad you like it too cuz i really enjoyed after a few listens got me back into Opeth
Still Life is easily my favorite album. It’s what got me into them.
Same it got me into death metal in general way back then
Orchid is awesome tho, so many cool riffs.
Also MAYH is top 3 IMO, respect your opinion tho.
Orchid is a poor mans morningrise but I agree MAYH has its own character and easily one of the albums I play front to back on a regular basis.
MAYA has such a unique tone to it and feels different from the rest of their albums. At times depending on my mood it's my favorite Opeth album, but it's so damn hard to pick a favorite.
@@sixthseparatist MAYA? My Arms Your Arse?
@@soakedbearrd *Morningrise is a backwards evolution from Orchid
@@Nicolas1909_ I completely disagree, MR is more polished and less discombobulated than Orchid.
Here's my tier list:
S - MAYH, Blackwater Park, Still Life
A - Orchid, Ghost Reveries, Morningrise
B - Watershed, Damnation, Deliverance
C - In Cauda Venenum, Pale Communion
D - Sorceress, Heritage
Everything in B tier and above I consider to be a near perfect album.
Now this is how it should be though I'd probably swap Morningrise and Blackwater Park around
@@jamesfinch1706 Yeah I can understand that. Morningrise used to be my second favourite Opeth album after Still Life. Opeth's first three albums in general are very underrated and I consider Black Rose Immortal to be their best song.
That's surprisingly not too far off my own list
S - MAYH, Still life, Blackwater park
A - Ghost Reveries, Watershed, Deliverance, morningrise, ICV
B - orchid, damnation, pale communion
C - Sorceress, heritage
Yes theres 5 albums in A rank but I didnt want to do any of them a disservice. Also they are in order.
Inserts Steve Carell thank you meme
the only change i would do for my personal opinion is watershed in A and Orchid in B.
Hey Mike, I noticed your recent videos are about “I guess I’m doing this cause people want me to.” Idc what your vids are about bro just keep doing you
This list is why I don't know what heavy music to donate for as you can see the heaviest stuff are lowest on the list, the death metal Opeth is his by far most hated albums. Just don't feel like wasting my money. BUT you told Mike to keep doing you and I think that I should be doing me too, so thanks!
Still Life is Opeth's greatest work.
That was a great tier-list! I can't wait to see you do the TOOL tier-list next!!!!
Watch his video he made about Tool. He's not a big fan of them.
He talked about every Tool album in his last Tool video.
tool album are all classic imo
Was waiting for this
confirmed that I can't listen to a word this man says when he called My Arms Your Hearse boring
MAYH is my favorite too 💗
Infinite respect for putting Damnation where you did. EXTREMELY underrated album in the catalog
I have seen several videos ranking Opeth albums, but this one was the best. Great breakdowns of each one and your selections were grounded in reality. I wouldn't have ranked every album the same way, but they would have been similar and you made a hell of a lot of sense justifying each one. Excellent!
The commentary on Still Life applies exactly to MAYH as well. It’s a full package, must be listened to from start to finish (read the lyrics as well). Totally poetic and brilliant. One of Opeth’s top 3 most inspired albums (which btw does not include Damnation, which was intended as bonus/extended play material, but blew up simply due to the surprise/novelty at the time of a death metal band doing an accessible rock album).
I weirdly agree with most of you ranking, I’d have basically just ranked “my heart, your Hearst” and “pale communion” a little bit higher. Awesome video
Both fantastic albums
My Arms your hearse I actually think is there most ambitious album in the lyrical sense and the way it is a concept in which every song is a different chapter in one long story about someone who dies and is trapped in spirit form, dealing with the reactions of his loved ones and his moods changing through the seasons. April Ethereal, Demon of the fall etc, before finally coming to peace with his own death. Once you listen to the album in its whole it kinda hits different with that concept behind it. Atleast to me it does anyway. It's what made Opeth stand out to me, as it's one of there first albums I listened to by them.
I get though that someone who isn't into the whole story and wants more of an instant release within the music and lyrics may gravitate towards other albums.
Great stuff man. What an amazing band!
Great video Mike! I always wanted to listen to Opeth but I never knew where to start, thanks a lot, man!
My first experience with Opeth was listening Damnation. In my opinion this album have one of the best melodic progressions of all time, such a beautiful chords and sweet clean guitar solos. The mellotron parts are amazing too. The entire album brings me tons of different emotions. It's one of those albums that you listen to, from start to finish, without ever getting bored.
Amazing song writting too
@@xertiasstrat8957 of course, i forgoted the letters
Still Life was the album that got me into them (and harsh vocals in general) so that's always been my favorite.
Excellent tier list and pretty bang on honestly.
I finally got into this band a few days ago and then Mike drops this video. Good shit
You are lucky man you have 13 albums worth of fun
Even the albums I thought I didn't like grew on me to become some of my favorites. Have fun, I've been obsessed with Opeth for many years and it's hard to find music like them.
My current favourites:
5. My Arms Your Hearse
4. Blackwater Park
3. Deliverance
2. Watershed
1. Pale Communion
Mike: "Sorceress is boring"
Me: "God dammit Mike"
Mike: *makes me laugh through pretty much the entire explanation*
Me: "...I can't be mad at you"
Goes to show just how good opeth is in that sorceress was the album that got me into them and its my least favorite album of theirs
Great list and presentation! I'm glad you mentioned In Cauda Venenum should be listened to as a full album, actually I think Mikael arranged the song order on the album kind of like an Ouroboros, If you listen to it on cd on repeat the last track flows right into the 1st track like the snake eating himself and restarting the cycle. My favorite Opeth at the moment.
The face when Orchid is ranked on "No"
The riff leading up to the first solo in 'The Leper Affinity' and the solo itself is probably one of my favorite moments in any song ever, so damn powerful!
Opeth is my favorite band of all time, and while I still do appreciate what they're doing with their newer stuff, My Arms Your Hearse is the one I go back to most. Killer album, plus if you got the bonus version there's easily the best covers of Iron Maiden and Celtic Frost I've ever heard.
Plz do more tiers lists I loved this !!!!
Discovered you last night man, already saw several of your videos! :) Couldn;t agree more more with your OPETH album ranking; only album that surprised me was "Pale Communion". Never really liked it, but never paid much attention as well. I will give it another try after that! :) Greetings from Greece. Haven't seen an top 10 Opeth songs, would be happy if you would do it!
God bless you, I've been begging for these tier list videos!
Edit: I won't stand for this Sorceress slander.
Wish my begging worked but we never got a BtK onlyfans
@@conormurphy4328 It would be just Mike saying "it's not that fucking hard" in progressively angrier voice.
@@ShinDSER good memories
@@conormurphy4328 It's too late now anyway
@@Yenneffer 😢
Watershed reminds me a lot of The Sound of Perseverance by Death. Has that last stand vibe.
Thank you! Really cool list! I cinda agree to everything, but I still have my list totally different. But your list is yours and that's cool! 🤘 Opeth is great! I can't wait for opeth to do another album!
That's awesome you ranked Damnation as Classic dude! By far one of my favourite Opeth albums Hope Leaves was one of the first song's I ever heard by them and other tracks like Windowpane, Death Whispered A Lullaby, In My Time Of Need are amazing. Also to top it off it was produced by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree. Simply a masterpiece
Watershed is actually Opeth's most depressing album.
While some cannonically sad albums like Still Life, Blackwater Park or Damnation are actually weirdly soothing in their gloom, Watershed seems detached and meandering which makes you feel as if you were constantly losing focus and everything kept slipping from your control (I've never had depression but this is what I imagine it feels like). This is even more reinforced with uncanny lyrics and the fact that after its release, the guys basically did a 270° backflip and miserably smashed their faces to the ground (wounds of which event only managed to heal by In Cauda Venenum). Nevertheless, Watershed is still top tier prog metal and definitely worth a listen if you want to call yourself a prog connesseur.
Watershed perfectly encapsulates that feeling of brain fog and having dissociative episodes, really depressing album
Okay....Orchid was a bloody masterpiece, thank you very much
You're well-spoken. Strong opinions yet not arrogant. Subscribed.
Now I gotta binge some Opeth, thanks alot man.
I actually really love orchid (top 3 opeth albums for me) they were my intro to opeth and the album that got me into them so it might be a bit of nostalgia talking but I thought it was a really creative album and I end up listening to it way more often than not.
seeing morningrise down there makes my heart bleed
Yeah, i Enjoy it too, "To bid you farewell" is so pleasant and fresh, i even learned it on guitar. For me Morningrise and Blackwater Park go in pair.
Awesome video Mike!
Very nice take \m/
I've only listened to Orchid and Morningrise at this point (the reason may be the growling, I really can't enjoy it; but after listening to every album that Chuck Schuldiner made it should be easier), but damn, you guys make the next albums seems fabulous. It's a must!
Bbrrrruuuuuhhhhh.....you're missing out on ALL of the good shit from this band.
Advent, The Night... and Nectar are the proto form of what Opeth would become at their best. If you find anything that speaks to you in those songs dig further.
That's actually really close to my own tier list, but MAYH is an absolute CLASSIC.
I haven't listened to all of mornignrise, but the song to bid you farewell automatically makes me love morningrise so I'm curious to see what everyone's take is
I can understand your low placement of Orchid and Morningrise, but that pair of records will always hold a special place in my heart. Surprised My Arms Your Hearse is so low too
Opeth have the most beautiful album covers
Blackwater Park is really fantastic, but Ghost Reveries holds a special place in my heart as the first album I encountered. Ghost of Perdition is still so incredibly tight and memorable, probably my favorite Opeth song.
Cool list ... and interesting that you describe "Still Life" to be a necessary whole-album-listen-through experience ... and you don't see that for "Watershed" ..., which to me personally is just that: A masterpiece from beginning to end, to be experienced as a whole, since most songs transition so nicely into another.
Pretty happy with your tier list Mike, very similar to what I would have done. I probably would have swapped Sorceress and Heritage but other than that wouldn't change much at all.
Regardless of their albums and what not, Opeth has to be one of the most creative bands out there. And I will let them do what they want with music for now. Every album is different and unique, but still somehow distinctly Opeth imo. Very similar to Tool, in that they are undoubtedly themselves.
You’re not a music snob. You’re a metal snob. Big difference.
Personal favorites are Damnation and Watershed, also I wish you did an Amon Amarth tier list cuz damn this was a good video.
I had never heard of this band before watching this video and I've never really been a fan of the genre, tbh. Damn, this music is amazing! I've already listened to Blackwater Park twice all the way though. Thanks for the recommendation!!
Hey Mike, I don't know if you know this, but it's not really that their albums go ... BP -> Deliverance -> Damnation ...
They wrote and recorded both Deliverance & Damnation simultaneously, and I think due to certain time constraints, they had to do it in the same amount of time as one regular album.
This was Mikael's idea, to write one album that's supposed to be incredibly heavy and aggressive and the other very mellow and chilled-out.
I am glad Still Life was put in the Excellent tier. That was my first introduction to Opeth. So it holds a special place for me.
Your opinions are wild!!
First of all thank you Mike for sharing this with us, enjoyed it and especially the technical explanation you gave
I have a disagreement with you on still life, I believe you should try again more on this one, the reasons you gave for it not to be a classic is actually why I consider it classic, I do actually like to listen to it as a whole and I do actually love it not being fully polished, it gives me the chills
Thanks again
Funnily enough I was just thinking about my ranking yesterday. I really like and respect your ranking, but I would say:
Mediocre: Heritage
Decent: Morningrise, Sorceress, Orchid
Good: Pale Communion, In Cauda Venenum, Watershed
Great: Deliverance, Damnation, My Arms Your Hearse
Classic: Still Life, Ghost Reveries, Blackwater Park
Kind of disappointed that Still Life didn’t make Classic tier as well, but this is acceptable
I just found this video while at work so I can't dive in completely just yet but if Still Life isn't in the top tier, I can't imagine what this is going to look like at the end. :)
Wow! This is the first time someone speaks my mind about Opeth albums!
I can understand this list. I may be wrong but if you didn't hear the earlier Opeth Albums when they first came out or around that time its easy to dismiss them. I heard their first three in 1998 when I was 17 and went on from there. That's why I like them.
I got into Opeth right before Heritage dropped, so I don't have the long term fandom of some other fans.
*Because this comment is so long and I would still very much appreciate it for everyone to actually read this, as this comment is very much from the heart. I'll sum my tier list up top here;
S. My Arms, Your Hearse, Ghost Reveries, Deliverance, Blackwater Park, Damnation, Still Life
A. Watershed
B. Morningrise, Pale Communion, In Cauda Venenum
C. Orchid, Heritage
D. Sorceress
*
Had to pause real quick, I'll edit this after the video, but damn man, it's crazy to see and hear other people's opinions on music sometimes because of how we hear and perceive things differently.
My Arms, Your Hearse is actually my favorite album of Opeths. To this day I still listen to it and just marvel at it, not only being an extremely beautiful and entoxicating album to me musically, but also having Mikaels best growling performance on any Opeth album. There is so much emotion in his vocal performance on that record that it's the real highlight of it to me. It would be the first album I'd put in the S tier if I did one of these for myself, right before Deliverance, my second favorite album of theirs.
It's interesting how it's boring to you, but everyone perceives things differently, and this one just really caught me off guard. Also, I absolutely love The Night and Silent Water. I can hum that whole song through my head from start to finish... To me, it's absolutely a beautiful song.
Okay, I watched through the rest of it and agree in places with you and disagree with some placements as well, but that's completely fine. I'll rank them the same way you did just for continuity, but I wasn't really a fan of how you generalized the tiers from Classic to No. For me there is no "No" for any Opeth album.
So the things I'd change about the list is move MAYH into classic, move Deliverance into classic, and move Still Life into classic (S). I know that's 6 albums in classic but that's just what it is for me. Those albums have all had a profoundly huge impact in my life growing up in my teenage years, and I find everyone of those albums to be classics to me.
Watershed stays in excellent. (A) I'd move Orchid into boring (C), move Morningrise into good (B) , and finally move down In Cauda Venenum to good (B). If I enjoyed every song on Pale Communion as much as River, I might move that album up excellent, but I'm content with where you put it (B) and really agreed with most of the things you said about it. I'd maybe put Heritage into good too, or somewhere in between good and boring (B/C). I absolutely hated that album when it first came out, but there where a few moments I liked a lot, so after many subsequent listens trying to get over the massive change of sound and understand the album for what it was, I actually became more fond of it, and a few tracks I ended up really liking, notably Haxprocess and The Lines in my Hand. I do think it has the worst guitar tone of any Opeth album. Lastly, I think I actually might move Sorceress down in between boring and no (C/D). That's the least listened to album by them for me, and I have absolutely no desire to ever listen to that album. The only time I ever hear it is when it something from it comes on a Spotify playlist.
I was lucky enough to discover Opeth when I was 13 from my dad. He was the frontman of a ridiculously good band he founded, that covered Judas Priest and Black Sabbath songs, and a few originals, He was an absolutely amazing vocalist and could sing Judas Priest like no one else. They were the most popular local band in Alberta in the late 80s early 90s. God I miss him.
He bought Deliverance at this local music store that was run by a metal head. It was located in a dying mall, so the owner could just kinda do whatever he wanted with the place until it was closed, so it ended up becoming a haven for metalheads until they closed the mall. It was a fucking awesome place.
We ended up getting all of Opeths albums for him the next Christmas, which he said was the best Christmas ever. He got me to listen to Ghost Reveries and I was super put off by the vocals because I never heard anything like that at first, but I ended up loving them. I was listening to metalcore at that time, stuff like Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Shadow's Fall and other bands like that. I was also still listening to a lot of older heavy metal like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Metallica's first 3 album's and some other stuff.
The growling was something I never heard before and it was a bit freaky to me when I first heard it, but the music was so good and different from anything I ever heard that I couldn't stop listening to it and ended up loving it so much. MAYH was the second album I listened to from them and I fell completely in love with it. When I think back 15 years now I have such fond memories of listening to all of Opeths music when I was a kid. I spent a few years of my life really only listening to Opeth. It was the most euphoric music listening experience when I was first listening to all there albums and listening to the. For a second and third time and so on. Opeth was everything to me.
I still don't think I'll ever hear a band again that will make me feel like what Opeths music did, and that's something extremely special about them. Even though I've discovered so many more amazing and incredible bands that have shaped who I am as a music listener, Opeth will always be number one to me.
TL;DR - I absolutely love Opeth and they will always be my favorite band.. even though I'm not exactly to keen on their newer records past Watershed.
You're a true fan like me, these people don't get it.
I just want to say brother, your music taste is unbelievably good which I can personally connect with. Thank you 🙏🏿
Surprisingly I actually agree with your tier list almost 100%, although personally I would put Sorceress one tier higher because there are several songs I genuinely enjoy on that album.
I could accept just giving an A tier to every album, None of them are bad albums, there was a period where I listened to the whole discography daily, but now there are some I gravitate more towards...
S: Ghost, In Cauda, Watershed, Blackwater
A: Deliverance, Pale, Morningrise, Damnation
B: Heritage, Sorceress, Still, My arms
C: Orchid
I can agree on almost everything, and be ok with your statements... the only thing I'd change is the name of the last two categories... there is no boring or NO Opeth albums in my list.
Even the worst Opeth album is better than some bands opus.
Fr to both
Such a good list. I enjoyed the video thoroughly. Although I will say if you’re putting an album in the top two slots, idk how you’re ever wondering when it’s gunna end LOL
At the end of the day I don’t care where these albums are placed, thank you for introducing me to what has become one of my favorite bands EVER!!!
Only Steve Vai left from your Top 3, can't wait for that tier list!
You are just straight up incorrect about orchid and morningrise , “it sounds like a blackened death metal” yeah, they were a blackened death metal band at the time, how dare they
Some people are just so sensitive about black metal music. It's just music and good even. Well you can't change the snob and christian way of life.
Yeah, that pretty much sums it all up. XD 'Still Life' will always be special to me, as it was my first Opeth-album, but 'Blackwater Park' is absolutely their magnum opus, hands down.
your the reason I discovered opeth a long time ago so I wanna say thanks for that
Yeah finally my favorite band
Ouch this hurts
@Mistweaver that’s how long it takes to have your heart broken
I respect your list. My tier list is very positively skewed so I’ll tier mine a little differently. There are no Opeth albums I find bad or particularly boring entirely.
Masterpiece: Damnation, Watershed, Blackwater Park
Amazing: Still Life, Deliverance, Morningrise, Pale Communion, Ghost Reveries
Great: My Arms Your Hearse, Orchid
Good: In Cauda Venenum, Heritage, Sorceress
Opeth must be an incredible band then
I saw Opeth at the Beacon Theater in NYC for their 25th anniversary of ghost reveries. They played the whole album. That shit was amazing. My favorite song off that album is harlequin forest.
I was just swinging by to make sure you put Blackwater Park first and Damnation on top as well. I laughed while listening to your experience of Damnation because I had something similar happen. Love that album. Blackwater Park is one the best albums ever made in any genre.
Watershed was the last album Opeth released that I liked. Everything they did after that album I didn’t care for anymore.
Same. Golden age for Opeth for me personally is Still Life through Watershed.
Hey Mike, Give a try to black metal with prog (not on an opeth way) check Ihsahn's 2018 album, it has even pop and electronic
Good list! Is almost the same way i would rank them
Oh so this is why you mentioned coming around to Still Life on twitter. Was wondering why you were re-listening to opeth albums. Honestly was hoping for this.