Mike's new blog...

[dcat]

My 2 cents...

Mike has access to some very obscure music from the past, a wide variety of genre's, he is I believe a lateral thinker / composer in music therfore whatever he listens to has the potential of giving him an alternative take on it.

It also may intrigue him about the social conditions at the time these past songs and tunes were composed albiet the technical limitations.

Just my lateral thoughts on hibernal dreams opinion.

Mike's honesty is bound to cause him grief but that also may inspire him, tis a shame he rarely pitches in on his own forum but some of us have seen the neg rep he has had to deal with from past forays for him in here.

One interesting thing in the news that the Swedish people are reading atm is the row between Sweden and Cuba over human rights issues, I agree with Sweden!

So there. away if you will.

 

[biggsy]

Well, that just about wraps it up for Opeth. As soon as you start throwing a bunch of influences into a patchwork quilt of a song which sounds like "this and that", you stop creating music as far as i'm concerned.

So your saying that's not implying Opeth are ripping other artists off?

I'll check the new album but this is very disappointing.

I'm not "imputing" you're disappointed with the album. I'm "imputing" you're disappointed with Opeth. I'm not saying they have to do everything how other people do, but what's wrong with taking the elements that have worked for other artists, then adding your own product to that?

 

[hibernal_dream]

So your saying that's not implying Opeth are ripping other artists off?[/wuote]

Right on.

I'm not "imputing" you're disappointed with the album. I'm "imputing" you're disappointed with Opeth. I'm not saying they have to do everything how other people do, but what's wrong with taking the elements that have worked for other artists, then adding your own product to that?

Well that's the thing - it's all down to personal taste. I don't find it a particularly creative approach, and Opeth have succeeded in the past and shown they don't have to resort to that. The trend is that the more a band gets on in years the more effort is needed to keep creative, even though the possibilities are greater. Don't you find it funny that most bands fail to capitalise on that and get worse as they go on? I feel Opeth could benefit from a more "top-down" approach given their talent. Would be a waste to have something sounding like a bunch of other bands with the "opeth touch" (which was never about a talent for combining different things anyway - there was definitely a spark there no other band had). Anyway, there's no hope of me influencing Mike and as I said, it's a personal thing.

 

[Treitan]

Lucky for Opeth there are hundreds of thousands of people that like their recent work. I even like TGC.

Lucky for you you can always listen to MAYH and Morningrise over and over.

The new album will be nothing short of amazing.

 

[Belligerent]

everyone tears TGC apart.
The song absolutely KILLS live and the end reminds me of a morbid angel song

 

[hibernal_dream]

The new album will be nothing short of amazing.

Let's just lay it down now - if it isn't amazing, people will say it is nonetheless. Same thing if Cradle of Filth actually put out something amazing - people will still say it sucks. Some people just can't think for themselves.

 

[Opethian666]

Well that's the thing - it's all down to personal taste. I don't find it a particularly creative approach, and Opeth have succeeded in the past and shown they don't have to resort to that. The trend is that the more a band gets on in years the more effort is needed to keep creative, even though the possibilities are greater. Don't you find it funny that most bands fail to capitalise on that and get worse as they go on? I feel Opeth could benefit from a more "top-down" approach given their talent. Would be a waste to have something sounding like a bunch of other bands with the "opeth touch" (which was never about a talent for combining different things anyway - there was definitely a spark there no other band had). Anyway, there's no hope of me influencing Mike and as I said, it's a personal thing.

Using other well known (to his fans) artists as a description for the music you are creating doesn't automatically imply that you start use those artists' work as an important part for your own music. Of course, influences always play a role, be it conscious or subconscious. But it's just the easiest, most direct way of communicating to fans what an album will sort of sound like. You can just as well try and make something completely new and original, and then turn out describing the end product by artists of which you recognize certain distinct aspects in your music, without this meaning that your music isn't progressing the boundaries of music. Ghost Reveries was an album that relied heavily on other influences, without breaking much new ground, but it was also an album that indicated a big shift in Opeth's musical approach. As with all learning processes, before making something completely your own, you need to first rely upon the basis that others have already laid. If Ghost Reveries was a framework, this next album may be the final construction which uses the framework to build something completely new and awesome.
Of course, we will only know this by hearing the album, but I just think you're reading too much in how he described the music.

 

[all_sins_undone]

lol hibernal, to think that Mike wasn't influenced by bands when he wrote MAYH or morningrise is incredibly inaccurate. the difference is, right now Mike is TELLING you what he is being influenced by, and before he didnt. PERIOD.

 

[cheechonaleash]

Would be a waste to have something sounding like a bunch of other bands with the "opeth touch"

I honestly don't believe that Mikael is going to write a record that sounds like a bunch of other bands with the "opeth touch" as you put it. I'm seeing it in quite the opposite light. A record that sounds like Opeth with the touches of a bunch of other artists.

Either way, the DVD is going to kick serious ass, and so is the album.

 

[Mr Samsara]

Let's just lay it down now - if it isn't amazing, people will say it is nonetheless. Same thing if Cradle of Filth actually put out something amazing - people will still say it sucks. Some people just can't think for themselves.

In this I'd say you're pretty much on the money btw...

 

[BurningSky]

Well, that just about wraps it up for Opeth. As soon as you start throwing a bunch of influences into a patchwork quilt of a song which sounds like "this and that", you stop creating music as far as i'm concerned. I'll check the new album but this is very disappointing.

Are you serious? wow

 

[Seance]

Well that's the thing - it's all down to personal taste. I don't find it a particularly creative approach, and Opeth have succeeded in the past and shown they don't have to resort to that. The trend is that the more a band gets on in years the more effort is needed to keep creative, even though the possibilities are greater. Don't you find it funny that most bands fail to capitalise on that and get worse as they go on? I feel Opeth could benefit from a more "top-down" approach given their talent. Would be a waste to have something sounding like a bunch of other bands with the "opeth touch" (which was never about a talent for combining different things anyway - there was definitely a spark there no other band had). Anyway, there's no hope of me influencing Mike and as I said, it's a personal thing.

no, see, you're clueless. you're going on this unjustified rant against Mikael and Opeth's creative process. a process you know absolutely nothing about. he did nothing but describe song arrangements he's kicking around. he didn't say "I tried to make a Scorpion's song, then I attempted to make something that sounded tech-death." he said "I've been writing some music and here's an idea of what some of it sounds similar to"

Let's just lay it down now - if it isn't amazing, people will say it is nonetheless. Same thing if Cradle of Filth actually put out something amazing - people will still say it sucks. Some people just can't think for themselves.

and, obviously, this applies to you too. i've seen you trash great albums and i've seen you laud horrible ones. if nothing else, i applaud that you admit you can't think for yourself

 

[Mikael Åkerfeldt]

Hi guys!

Well, he has the right to think it's going to suck or whatever, and to be honest if he lingers on those two records (MR and MAYH) he probably will think the new stuff sucks regardless of what we do. In those days I didn't really have a forum in which to keep in touch with the people who liked our music and was never given the chance to say what the new stuff "sounded like". If I could have I'd said the whole of the MR album was created because I was listening to Steeleye span, Mellow candle, Wes Montgomery, Folque, Kebnekajse. Judas Priest, Scorpions, Bathory and At the gates. MAYH was created on a healthy dose of Bathory (always, fucking always), Robin Trower, Porcupine tree, Alphonse Mouzon, King Diamond, Pink Floyd and Morbid Angel.

I can't help it. I listen to music all the time and it influence me to that extent that the only references I have is from other bands. I can't say "That new part" and "The other new part"...I always find a reference in other bands or a mishmash of bands. It certainly doesn't mean that I write something that sounds exactly like...Bathory. It's just a reference that sometimes can be based on one chord, one note, one beat, one pause...something, anything, nothing. Most of you will never hear why I called it "that" in the first place! You can be calm, it won't be more of a rip off album or uninspired shit than any of the other records we've done. But I can't guarantee you'll like it or deem it "progressive" enough. I'll await judgement...

Cheers + hope you're all well, including the "non-believers"...
Mike

 

[Botfly]

fucking period

 

[i aint play this]

lmao@ Mike explaining himself to someone like Hibernal douche

 

[BurningSky]

Yeah. How you could interpret Mike's blog any differently is beyond me, anyway.

 

[Braighs]

welp I've got new bands to check out

 

[soundave]

I just really like Mike. My vote for nicest, most down-to-earth guy in metal.

 

[DEMIgOD]

and BOOM this thread jumps 10 pages over night. haha

yes, mike is def very down to earth. How many band leaders at the height of where mike is right now would continue to post on a fan message board filled with as many morons that plague this message board.

 

[all_sins_undone]

lol hibernal, to think that Mike wasn't influenced by bands when he wrote MAYH or morningrise is incredibly inaccurate. the difference is, right now Mike is TELLING you what he is being influenced by, and before he didnt. PERIOD.

In those days I didn't really have a forum in which to keep in touch with the people who liked our music and was never given the chance to say what the new stuff "sounded like". If I could have I'd said the whole of the MR album was created because I was listening to Steeleye span, Mellow candle, Wes Montgomery, Folque, Kebnekajse. Judas Priest, Scorpions, Bathory and At the gates. MAYH was created on a healthy dose of Bathory (always, fucking always), Robin Trower, Porcupine tree, Alphonse Mouzon, King Diamond, Pink Floyd and Morbid Angel.

Hmm...

PERIOD