For me it's a possible tie:

Dev's deconstruction ofc. and

Pagan's mind - Heavenly ecstasy, there's 3 samples from their new album below which took my breath away,

http://www.cdinzane.com/product.php?pro ... t=1&page=4

Apart from Deconstruction? I don't understand the question......... : |


Okay seriously though:
I'm really looking forward to Part Two of Pain of Salvation's Road Salt albums.
And Symphony X - Iconoclast

Excluding Deconstruction (which very well might be the best metal album this year period)... the only 'prog' metal albums I know about this year/am looking forward to are Opeth's latest (if it can still be considered 'metal' in any way) and Between the Buried and Me's new EP, along with the album supposedly following it. The latter sounds pretty promising; the preview for 'Specular Reflection' on Soundcloud has my hopes up. Tommy's never sounded better vocally, which in a way, makes me even more excited for Deconstruction. Planet of the Apes, anyone?

Aside from those few... there's plenty of other heavy stuff I'm looking forward to - new Novembers Doom in May; new Primordial next month; new Meshuggah in September, sometime; new Dream Theater... whenever (I'll listen out of curiosity, if nothing else), etc.

2011 is shaping up to be a hell of year for music in general, not even counting metal releases...

New Devins, Meshuggah, Steven Wilson, Opeth, Ulver, Septic Flesh, Fredrik Thordendal, Dan's shit, The Bridds EP, amongst others.

Oh wait, PROG METAL.

Considering Opeth had Steven Wilson with them producing their latest album, I'm going to say theirs.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Damnit, knew I should've put something about how I have nothing against Watershed in thar, would've saved you a lot of time. :p
I'm just used to all of Steven's small details in Blackwater Park, and D/D, like the telephone voice and ebow shiz.

@Abydost: Haha, it's fine man, no worries... I would've run my mouth anyways; nasty habit I have. 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... )

@Abydost: Haha, it's fine man, no worries... I would've run my mouth anyways; nasty habit I have. 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... )

Well I haven't really any facts about the ebow, it's just it would seem it was SW's idea since he uses it alot more than Opeth.

New Opeth will be amazing. SW has always known exactly what to do, as the above guys have said, little things like the e-bow and not so little things like his mellotron playing have really taken Opeth's music to the next level.

As perfect as Watershed's production was, it sounded a little less... proggy. Opeth have always had a slight vintage feel to their albums, and Jens' mixes are incredibly modern. Steven will hopefully bring back that 70's touch, but if not, it's Opeth for fuck's sake!

Damnit, knew I should've put something about how I have nothing against Watershed in thar, would've saved you a lot of time. :p
I'm just used to all of Steven's small details in Blackwater Park, and D/D, like the telephone voice and ebow shiz.

Oh god the telephone voice... What is it with Steven and that effect? He uses it more than Mikael uses the word "lingering."

Oh and Watershed: good but gimmicky. is that a real word?

[Blazingmonga]

I liked Watershed...it wasn't like the older stuff. Did you ever hear the album "The Drift" by Scott Walker, that inspired Watershed? It's a terrifying album, and when you listen to Watershed afterwards you can really see what they were trying to do with the album.

Anyway, I am really interested in anything SW coming up this year. And obviously Dev...