Abydost wrote:aleksi wrote:Abydost wrote:AlucardXIX wrote:Considering Opeth had Steven Wilson with them producing their latest album, I'm going to say theirs.
Yes. It's going to be really interesting hearing what they cooked up together. Steven and Mikael finished writing their collab material too, apparently.
Do you guys know how much Steven had to do with Damnation and Blackwater park? I know he produced/mastered/mixed them or whatever don't know the term but did ne write anything in them?
Nah he didn't technically write any of the material (these are all guesses) but he adds alot of flavour to the music. Watch the Lamentations documentary (Deliverance/Damnation making of) and I guess you'll get some questions answered. No question that the new album will be less anonymous than Watershed though.
Just my opinion, but I completely disagree about Watershed being 'anonymous' in any way. In fact, I think it was a much-needed refresher for them - Ghost Reveries was great, but another album following that formula would have been pushing it. Not only that, but I think it has a huge amount of individuality in their discography, because of all the differences it possesses musically. Burden and Porcelain Heart have some questionable moments, yes (and maybe Hex Omega too...
maybe) but Coil, Heir Apparent, The Lotus Eater and Hessian Peel are all flawless tracks, as far as I'm concerned. I know a lot of people don't care for the 'modernized' lyrics and themes, decrease in heavier sections/growling, and the fact that Porcelain Heart uses a (*gasp*!) verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, BUT... Watershed is still my most-played Opeth album despite not being my favorite, so I hardly think it's an anonymous effort in any way at all. And, for the record, I actually don't care for Porcelain Heart's... simplicity... but hey, for what it is, it's a good track. Now, if Opeth made an entire album filled with songs like that, then I think I'd have some issues...
...that aside, what I actually planned on saying - I don't know much about what Steven did/didn't contribute on Blackwater Park and D/D, but I do know (thanks to the Lamentations documentary) that he wrote the lyrics to Death Whispered a Lullaby. He named it 'Eevile Cruelty' or something funny like that when it was first written, but obviously that didn't sit well with Mikael. And, yeah, I'm pretty pumped to see what influence he had over the new album - even though he only mixed it, I'm still hoping he had at least somewhat of an impact on the music. Blackwater Park and D/D are pretty much flawless, IMO, so any contributions from him are welcome. The ONLY thing I hope he doesn't bring back is BP's overly sterile production, because it ruins the kind of atmosphere Opeth's music normally creates. Watershed is perfect in that regard, as far as I'm concerned; it has this wonderfully warm, but slightly dirty sound to it, and it fits the music perfectly. To each and his own, though.
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:01 am
And, completely agree with you about his little touches here and there; he took songs like The Drapery Falls to another level with those. I thought Mikael was the one behind the e-bow, though? (Or, I think he was on Still Life, at least... )