Read First: Opeth FAQ

Moonlapse · June 10th, 2004, 01:40 AM

So, it is about time that we bundled the most common questions appearing on this board and answered them in one place. I know this doesn't leave alot of topic matter for newer members, but I'm sure they will come to terms with it and start creating slightly more profound threads.

Thanks to all the people on the board who suggested these questions, those who provided answers and also a thank you to Mr Niel and all those before him who had suggested an FAQ in the first place.

General Information

[Opeth tabs]

The best Opeth tabs are featured on www.powertabs.net. You will need the Powertab program to open these. Another great site is www.mysongbook.com which requires the Guitar Pro application to open tabs.

If you are after text tabs, then you will find the biggest assortment at opeth.darkwood.com.

[Requeim/Apostle in Triumph mastering fuckup]

The start of the song Apostle in Triumph is in fact supposed to be the end of the song Requiem. This occured when the master mixing was done, not due to any fault of the band. They have expressed their regret at it numerous times in the past.

[The Moor tracking/channel cut outs]

[Mikael] Yes, it's an DAT error...something happened with the DAT while we were mixing the album. Nobody noticed at first, then Anders from In flames heard these "drop outs"...they we're all over the place at first, but we managed to cut some of it out in the mastering...still that part couldn't be helped and I HATE listening to it!

[The Serenity Painted Death ending]

[Mikael] While I'm on the subject of recording errors...a lot of people have asked us about the ending of "Serenity painted death"...yes, it was meant to be there! Nobody seemed to think it's cool apart from myself and the band.

FAQ

What do I have to do if I want to do a cover of an Opeth song?
You need to credit the songwriter/publisher on the sleeve and register it with MCPS so that mechanicals/Prs income flows through to Opeth.

Who is Melinda?

Mikael: (laughs) No one. She's a fictional character. I took her from this song by Uriah Heep called "Come Away Melinda".

---AND---

"Mikael Åkerfeldt's wife, Anna gave birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl on the evening of Monday the 13th. This is the couple's first baby, and also the first born child within the Opeth camp. Their daughter's name? Melinda Åkerfeldt (of course)!! Weight: 3290 grams, height: 50 centimeters." -- Opeth.com

How do Opeth get their live guitar tone?

There has been much debate over this - namely wether a majority of Opeth's distorted sound comes from the amps or their pedalboards. I managed to find an interview with Peter that puts some of these matters to rest.

'We have a Boss GT6 pedal board, which has all the effects in it, like distortion and delay. We only use the clean sound in the amps, always, which is a good thing. We don't have to use the amp distortion and rely on that. If the pedal board goes down then we're fucked basically, but we have spare ones with us."

In refference to the amplifiers...

"It's called the [Laney] VH100R, it's a hundred watts and two channels. I only use the clean channel but it's got great distortion in it which I don't use, not live at least *laughs*. All I need to do is reprogram all our sounds but that would take some time. The ideal situation for us would be to use the distortion in the amp and then go around it to have effects only on board. But we still would need two channels."

Why doesnt Mikael like 'Night and the Silent Water'?

[Posted by Mikael on these forums] I don't wanna slag off any of my/our older tunes, but with TNATSW it's different as I wrote that to my grandfather who'd passed away and it was terrible. Much like the whole recordings of the new albums was "tainted" by my grandmothers passing.
This together with the fact that I don't like the production of the "Morningrise" album at all + some of the riffs for that song feels really "old" today. I liked it at the time and I still think it's a good song, but if I have to chose my least fave Opeth song then that is it.

I consider all songs a document of that time and TNATSW is no exception, but I can't really relate to that tune anymore. Lyrically it's one of those songs I just wanted to leave behind as soon as I was done, you know.

Are Opeth religious or anti-religous?

[Peter Lindgren]"We are atheists; we are not religious at all. At the same time we're not anti-religious either. The occult is an interesting topic to write about and read about but it's not extreme at all - like I said, we are just regular guys, but if people want to think were evil, then that's cool!"

Why does the Lamentations DVD only have songs from the last 3 albums?

Their label, Music For Nations would have had to pay licensing fees to whichever labels own the intellectual rights to Opeth's old catalogue. Since the DVD was mainly a promotional tool, MFN didn't see a need to exert themselves and promote a catalogue that didn't belong to them.

What equipment do Mikael and Peter use?

You can find an official band equipment list on www.opeth.com.

For live gigging, they both mainly use their respective PRS Custom 24 guitars, and some Les Pauls. For acoustic material Mikael uses a CF Martin 00016GT (with Fishman pickup).

Do ex/members of Opeth ever post on the forums (and if so under what SN)?

Mikael Åkerfeldt posts here under his real name. Anders Nordin used to post here under the alias 'ante'. Martin Lopez also used to post here under the alias 'martin78' .

Who are Opeths Influences?

Primarily 70's progressive rock bands such as Camel, Rush and King Crimson. From the metal realm, Opeth is heavily influenced by early Morbid Angel.

Where does the name Opeth come from?

[From the Official Site] The name was taken from a book by author Wilbur Smith, and was originally spelled Opet without the "h" at the end. The meaning was unknown for me until I quite recently found the book myself, and got the knowledge that Opeth is the city of the moon. (The book is called 'Sunbird').

Hey! The intro to benighted is similar to Camel's 'Never Let Go', what's the deal?

It's fitting that there are similarities between the music as the band are big fans of Camel. No doubt Mike was using the song to stir his creative muse, so to speak.

Why is Damnation so different to their other albums?

The idea was for the band to do one really heavy album after Blackwater Park. However, Mikael had all these acoustic parts that he didn't know what to do with. So a friend of theirs - Jonas from Katatonia - had the idea for the band to release an all-mellow album. Thinking this was a great idea, the band went ahead and created Damnation. It's an experiment, and as Mikael has said in the past: also exclusive. We shouldn't expect to see another album like this from Opeth.

Who plays Silhouette?

Anders Nordin played the song on the Orchid album.

Who plays bass on My Arms your Hearse?

Mikael.

Why did Johan DeFarfalla get fired?
Conjecture: The story is that there were issues with royalties. The band had allegedly refused to give him any royalties from album sales, coupled with the fact that he wanted to go off and do his own thing.

What was the name of the black metal band Mendez and Lopez played in?

Lopez had played in the band Amon Amarth. They were both also previously a part of Requiem Aeternam. Yeah, that's them, the guys in corpsepaint (on the left).

What is the song if you reverse the sample before Demon of the Fall?

N/A So far.

What is the going on at the end of By the Pain I see in Others?

You're hearing the acoustic verse from Master's Apprentices in reverse. Yes, I'm afraid Mikael cannot in fact talk gibberish.

Why does Master's Apprentice sound like a Morbid Angel song?

Because they were Mikael's inspiration for it at the time.

What does '3 eggs' mean in the credits of 'Blackwater Park'?

Egg shakers - used in various parts of the album.

Briefly, what's the story behind My Arms Your Hearse and Still Life?

[Mikael] For 'My Arms, Your Hearse' it was like a ghost story. The basic theme was that this person dies. He's kind of reborn as a ghost, and he stays in the same environment. He sees his loved ones, like family members and friends, going on with their lives. It's almost like a film - what's it called? The Sixth Sense - he doesn't understand that he is dead - but I wrote it actually before the Sixth Sense came out. It's almost like a film. 'Still Life' was not Satanic but an anti-Christian theme. It sounds pretty naive when I explain it like this. It kind of takes place a long time ago when Christianity had a bigger importance than it has today. The main character is kind of banished from his hometown because he hasn't got the same faith as the rest of the inhabitants there. The album pretty much starts off when he is returning after several years to hook up with his old "babe." Obviously a lot of bad things start happening with, as I call it on the album, "the council." The big bosses of the town know that he's back. A lot of bad things start happening. They see him as a hypocrite in a way. It's almost like a devil's advocate or whatever it's called.

Why does this Opeth shirt say 'Profondo Rosso' on it?

Well it's Italian for 'Deep Red'. It's taken from a movie of the same title, to which an influencial band of Mikael's - Goblin, did a score to.

The chorus in 'To Rid the Disease' reminds me of another song - is it just my imagination?

No, in fact Mikael ripped the chorus from an earlier song he did with his former sideproject 'Sörskogen'. The original track is entitled 'Mordet I Grottan' and I encourage all Damnation fans to listen to it as soon as possible

Who/what is Sörskogen?

A sideproject of our very own Mikael and Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale etc.). This collaboration was made to pay homage to 70's era progressive rock. They played a very cliched style of prog rock wherein they used moogs, mellotron, synth leads, rocky guitars, pumped bass and warm drumming. Only one track was ever recorded. This track is 'Mordet I Grottan' and it's still being distributed on the net by fans.

Who is playing the drums in the video for "The Grand Conjuration"?

It's none other than band friend and metal legend Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, SYL). The video was filmed in Los Angeles before the band's L.A. performance on the "Sounds of the Undergound" tour. Gene was filling in for Martin Lopez for the remaining dates after Lopez was unable to continue the tour due to the effects of his illness.

Important Notes!

Åkerfeldt causes death to birds. (Why?)

June 10th, 2004, 01:40 AM	#1 (permalink)
Moonlapse And the Drapery Fell... Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 10,302	Read First: Opeth FAQ So, it is about time that we bundled the most common questions appearing on this board and answered them in one place. I know this doesn't leave alot of topic matter for newer members, but I'm sure they will come to terms with it and start creating slightly more profound threads. Thanks to all the people on the board who suggested these questions, those who provided answers and also a thank you to Mr Niel and all those before him who had suggested an FAQ in the first place. General Information *[Opeth tabs]* The best Opeth tabs are featured on www.powertabs.net. You will need the Powertab program to open these. Another great site is www.mysongbook.com which requires the Guitar Pro application to open tabs. If you are after text tabs, then you will find the biggest assortment at opeth.darkwood.com. *[Requeim/Apostle in Triumph mastering fuckup]* The start of the song Apostle in Triumph is in fact supposed to be the end of the song Requiem. This occured when the master mixing was done, not due to any fault of the band. They have expressed their regret at it numerous times in the past. *[The Moor tracking/channel cut outs]* [Mikael] Yes, it's an DAT error...something happened with the DAT while we were mixing the album. Nobody noticed at first, then Anders from In flames heard these "drop outs"...they we're all over the place at first, but we managed to cut some of it out in the mastering...still that part couldn't be helped and I HATE listening to it! *[The Serenity Painted Death ending]* [Mikael] While I'm on the subject of recording errors...a lot of people have asked us about the ending of "Serenity painted death"...yes, it was meant to be there! Nobody seemed to think it's cool apart from myself and the band. FAQ What do I have to do if I want to do a cover of an Opeth song? You need to credit the songwriter/publisher on the sleeve and register it with MCPS so that mechanicals/Prs income flows through to Opeth. Who is Melinda? Mikael: (laughs) No one. She's a fictional character. I took her from this song by Uriah Heep called "Come Away Melinda". ---AND--- "Mikael Åkerfeldt's wife, Anna gave birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl on the evening of Monday the 13th. This is the couple's first baby, and also the first born child within the Opeth camp. Their daughter's name? Melinda Åkerfeldt (of course)!! Weight: 3290 grams, height: 50 centimeters." -- Opeth.com How do Opeth get their live guitar tone? There has been much debate over this - namely wether a majority of Opeth's distorted sound comes from the amps or their pedalboards. I managed to find an interview with Peter that puts some of these matters to rest. 'We have a Boss GT6 pedal board, which has all the effects in it, like distortion and delay. We only use the clean sound in the amps, always, which is a good thing. We don't have to use the amp distortion and rely on that. If the pedal board goes down then we're fucked basically, but we have spare ones with us." In refference to the amplifiers... "It's called the [Laney] VH100R, it's a hundred watts and two channels. I only use the clean channel but it's got great distortion in it which I don't use, not live at least laughs. All I need to do is reprogram all our sounds but that would take some time. The ideal situation for us would be to use the distortion in the amp and then go around it to have effects only on board. But we still would need two channels." Why doesnt Mikael like 'Night and the Silent Water'? [Posted by Mikael on these forums] I don't wanna slag off any of my/our older tunes, but with TNATSW it's different as I wrote that to my grandfather who'd passed away and it was terrible. Much like the whole recordings of the new albums was "tainted" by my grandmothers passing. This together with the fact that I don't like the production of the "Morningrise" album at all + some of the riffs for that song feels really "old" today. I liked it at the time and I still think it's a good song, but if I have to chose my least fave Opeth song then that is it. I consider all songs a document of that time and TNATSW is no exception, but I can't really relate to that tune anymore. Lyrically it's one of those songs I just wanted to leave behind as soon as I was done, you know. Are Opeth religious or anti-religous? [Peter Lindgren]"We are atheists; we are not religious at all. At the same time we're not anti-religious either. The occult is an interesting topic to write about and read about but it's not extreme at all - like I said, we are just regular guys, but if people want to think were evil, then that's cool!" Why does the Lamentations DVD only have songs from the last 3 albums? Their label, Music For Nations would have had to pay licensing fees to whichever labels own the intellectual rights to Opeth's old catalogue. Since the DVD was mainly a promotional tool, MFN didn't see a need to exert themselves and promote a catalogue that didn't belong to them. What equipment do Mikael and Peter use? You can find an official band equipment list on www.opeth.com. For live gigging, they both mainly use their respective PRS Custom 24 guitars, and some Les Pauls. For acoustic material Mikael uses a CF Martin 00016GT (with Fishman pickup). Do ex/members of Opeth ever post on the forums (and if so under what SN)? Mikael Åkerfeldt posts here under his real name. Anders Nordin used to post here under the alias 'ante'. Martin Lopez also used to post here under the alias 'martin78' . Who are Opeths Influences? Primarily 70's progressive rock bands such as Camel, Rush and King Crimson. From the metal realm, Opeth is heavily influenced by early Morbid Angel. Where does the name Opeth come from? [From the Official Site] The name was taken from a book by author Wilbur Smith, and was originally spelled Opet without the "h" at the end. The meaning was unknown for me until I quite recently found the book myself, and got the knowledge that Opeth is the city of the moon. (The book is called 'Sunbird'). Hey! The intro to benighted is similar to Camel's 'Never Let Go', what's the deal? It's fitting that there are similarities between the music as the band are big fans of Camel. No doubt Mike was using the song to stir his creative muse, so to speak. Why is Damnation so different to their other albums? The idea was for the band to do one really heavy album after Blackwater Park. However, Mikael had all these acoustic parts that he didn't know what to do with. So a friend of theirs - Jonas from Katatonia - had the idea for the band to release an all-mellow album. Thinking this was a great idea, the band went ahead and created Damnation. It's an experiment, and as Mikael has said in the past: also exclusive. We shouldn't expect to see another album like this from Opeth. Who plays Silhouette? Anders Nordin played the song on the Orchid album. Who plays bass on My Arms your Hearse? Mikael. Why did Johan DeFarfalla get fired? Conjecture: The story is that there were issues with royalties. The band had allegedly refused to give him any royalties from album sales, coupled with the fact that he wanted to go off and do his own thing. What was the name of the black metal band Mendez and Lopez played in? Lopez had played in the band Amon Amarth. They were both also previously a part of Requiem Aeternam. Yeah, that's them, the guys in corpsepaint (on the left). What is the song if you reverse the sample before Demon of the Fall? N/A So far. What is the going on at the end of By the Pain I see in Others? You're hearing the acoustic verse from Master's Apprentices in reverse. Yes, I'm afraid Mikael cannot in fact talk gibberish. Why does Master's Apprentice sound like a Morbid Angel song? Because they were Mikael's inspiration for it at the time. What does '3 eggs' mean in the credits of 'Blackwater Park'? Egg shakers - used in various parts of the album. Briefly, what's the story behind My Arms Your Hearse and Still Life? [Mikael] For 'My Arms, Your Hearse' it was like a ghost story. The basic theme was that this person dies. He's kind of reborn as a ghost, and he stays in the same environment. He sees his loved ones, like family members and friends, going on with their lives. It's almost like a film - what's it called? The Sixth Sense - he doesn't understand that he is dead - but I wrote it actually before the Sixth Sense came out. It's almost like a film. 'Still Life' was not Satanic but an anti-Christian theme. It sounds pretty naive when I explain it like this. It kind of takes place a long time ago when Christianity had a bigger importance than it has today. The main character is kind of banished from his hometown because he hasn't got the same faith as the rest of the inhabitants there. The album pretty much starts off when he is returning after several years to hook up with his old "babe." Obviously a lot of bad things start happening with, as I call it on the album, "the council." The big bosses of the town know that he's back. A lot of bad things start happening. They see him as a hypocrite in a way. It's almost like a devil's advocate or whatever it's called. Why does this Opeth shirt say 'Profondo Rosso' on it? Well it's Italian for 'Deep Red'. It's taken from a movie of the same title, to which an influencial band of Mikael's - Goblin, did a score to. The chorus in 'To Rid the Disease' reminds me of another song - is it just my imagination? No, in fact Mikael ripped the chorus from an earlier song he did with his former sideproject 'Sörskogen'. The original track is entitled 'Mordet I Grottan' and I encourage all Damnation fans to listen to it as soon as possible Who/what is Sörskogen? A sideproject of our very own Mikael and Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale etc.). This collaboration was made to pay homage to 70's era progressive rock. They played a very cliched style of prog rock wherein they used moogs, mellotron, synth leads, rocky guitars, pumped bass and warm drumming. Only one track was ever recorded. This track is 'Mordet I Grottan' and it's still being distributed on the net by fans. Who is playing the drums in the video for "The Grand Conjuration"? It's none other than band friend and metal legend Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, SYL). The video was filmed in Los Angeles before the band's L.A. performance on the "Sounds of the Undergound" tour. Gene was filling in for Martin Lopez for the remaining dates after Lopez was unable to continue the tour due to the effects of his illness. Important Notes! Åkerfeldt causes death to birds. (Why?) Last edited by Mr Samsara : November 13th, 2006 at 04:30 PM.