Opeth

Holy shit! this guy can actually sing, and the band can play. And if it wasn't for intermittent forays into grunt vocals it'd so be a band I'd really get into. As it is based on their live show even their occasional grunts can be tolerable, hell even halfway ok. It's interesting that someone who can really sing can can actually grunt in a less objectionable manner to my ears. I could almost understand lyrics even in grunt mode.. Don't ask me to explain that, but it worked. As I sat there enjoying the show something kept reminding me of old Yes, or very early Rush.. not the drums but the epic melodic songs.
I wished I could put my finger on exactly what is so nostalgic about this Swedish band. But it took me back to the 70's and some great bands I saw back then. Guess I'll be buying some CDs pretty soon.

One song that they did really reminded me of Rush as if covered by Slipknot. Well a Slipknot that was talented and could actually play all 6 strings on the guitar.
I'm starting to think they do the grunt stuff because they have to, to connect to the "kids" of today who expect the "hip" bands to sound that way. Sad as that may be.
Another observation was that these guys speak between songs more eloquently and coherent than any of the american bands whose first language is english. At least bands that Ive seen recently. Shit they grunt more coherently than american bands, now how fucked up is that?

A note about photography, Once again the lighting guys used a lot of reds. Pretty much all night long, so I at one point I started shooting BW with red filter. And that helped some. That's why you'll see a few black and white shots on the page.
Satyr
10/22/2005