1. MIKAEL AKERFELDT (Opeth) 2. Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) 3. Jack Owen (Cannibal Corpse) 4. Jimi hendrix 5. Devin Townshend 6. James Hetfield
On a personal note, as much as I appreciate Tägtgrens work as a composer and a studio wiz, I have to say he should leave writing lyrics to someone more able. Most of his texts end up being pretty naive. @forestofmyths: That story on your sig actually went down? That's hilarious! Åkerfeldt seems to have a good sense of humor, and most of the viewers probably didn't in that case, so he was right on the money. Damn, I want a videorip of that...
Indeed Although Duncan did some magnificent songs too for sure. Even John and Darren didn't do so bad.
hmmm....this is totally off the top of my head without much thought but here goes....(I might change it later....) 1. Anders and the crew of course...... 2. Mark Kozelek 3. Carl-Michael Eide----Bjørn Dencker----Yusef Parvez-----shit....basically everyone involved in Ved Buens Ende and dodhiemsgard.....and related bands.... 4. Jeff buckley 5. Paul Masvidal and crew from CYNIC 6. AND GARY JULES.....the most underrated musician in his genre....if he has a genre....
1. Bill Steer (Carcass) 2. Michael Amott (everything in the pre-Gossow era) 3. Jeff Loomis (Nevermore) 4. Chuck Schuldiner 5. Nicke Andersson (ex-Entombed, some solos on Dismember's debut CD - killer!!) 6. of course, Dan Swanö... and, if I could replace one, this one would be replaced by Lee Dorian (Cathedral) all six choices I've made are either because of their technical skills and way of playing their instruments or their way of arranging killer songs...
Michael Amott, everything pre-Gossow era?! Have you heard new Arch Enemy?! It's fucking awesome! The riffs are just fucking unbelievable! I love the earlier shit too but the new shit is even better! I listen to the Doomsday Machine every day since I bought it! One of the best new albums I've heard in months! It's so fucking good! Check it out! And Nicke Andersson rules. One of my favorite bands are The Hellacopters. Entombed has been almost lost without him. Did you know he sang vocals on Clandestine? He's not credited. But he did. I've always wondered if his name was pronounced Nick or Nicky. Hmmm, I wonder... -Vince
Jonas Blakkheim Neil Young (next to katatonia he makes the music that touches me more than no other) Leonard Cohen (v under-rated lyricist in my opinion, particularly his 70's output) Tony Iommi Btw whats with that Opeth advert, 'hottest new metal sensation since slipknot'. Roadrunner trying to make them stars?
Dan Swano (all his projects) Renkse & Blakkheim & Norrman ( ) Mikael Akerfeldt Alexander Balanescu (The Balanescu Quartet) Stevie Ray Vaughan (in spite of his premature death ) Daniel Gildenlow John Petrucci Cavanagh Bros. (recently, they performed in 2004 in Romania an excellent acoustic live) Peter Tagtren (all his projects) Johan Edlund Messiah Marcolin ( :Smokedev: ) Ralf & Florian (Kraftwerk) Tori Amos (this woman drives me crazy ) Keith Jarrett (greatest piano master in the world) This is not a ierarchical order, it's just how they came into my mind...
I'll keep it to six: 1. Jonas 2. Anders 3. Danny Cavanagh 4. Jon Nodtveidt 5. Fenriz 6. Liv Kristine This is a pretty random list, I'll admit, but with so many to choose from I took a name from here and a name from there. I could list six from each genre I enjoy quite easily.
I'd say Lopakka's lyrics easily hit 9 out of 10 times. Up until the Funeral Album (which, I'll admit, I have yet to hear in full ... still a bit hesitant to buy it, as I feel it could only go downhill after Down/Frozen/Crimson. TCWL was good, but not quite great) there was only one song of his (the River) I didn't find deeply disturbing, touching or depressing. Jarva kicked ass, and Ville L is decent too, but after Poisonblack I felt he was too, er, modest to write using anything other than misery as inspiration.
1. Daniel Liljekvist 2. Ville Valo (HIM) 3. Matthew Bellamy (Muse) 4. Mikko "Linde" Lindström (HIM) 5. Mika "Gas" Karppinen (HIM) 6. Mikko "Mige" Paananen (HIM)
Lopakka is an awesome writer for sure, but in my opinion he has done too many cheesy lovesongs. Stuff like Killing me Killing you, Drown together and You are the one just aren't somethings I appreciate. But it's also a matter of personal taste of course. And what comes to The River, damn I love that song. The feeling of a depressed hang-over morning put into a song perfectly. The Funeral Album didn't hit it as good as it could have, in my opinion TCWL is better. TFA has its moments, but there are few mediocre songs, which is always a dissapointment from a band like Sentenced...
Aside from Katatonia..... Matthew Good for being a kickass Canadian Trent Reznor (NIN) for soothing so many temper tantrums....and starting some Neil Pearts (Rush) for his historic drum kit and abilities All of Dream Theater because of Change of Seasons Maynard James Keenan I know most of these guys are mainstream, but I can't help but love em for their abilities. There are so many more I am not mentioning, it feels like I'm giving an Oscar speech or something.
