ATTN: Dudes into Opeth

[holly]

I'm writing one of my concert reports for my Composers class on the Opeth show...

1. Does anyone remember the setlist?
I remember most of it, but I don't know what a couple of them were.

2. Any ideas as to how I would go about applying actual musical terms to modern music, or if there are any webpages that have explicated the band in such a way exist?

Thanks.

[TheKshatriya]

I dont know how Opeth writes their music but you could say that they sit at a piano and write down a basic one line melody then compose a whole song off that melody, writting out all the sheet music.

[Greg]

When is it due?

If you've got time I'll let you borrow my copy of the Lamentations DVD, it's got a documentary of the making of Deliverance and Damnation where the band talks a lot about their songwriting process.

There are also really detailed journals of each album being made on their website www.opeth.com - click discography then whatever album then "session diary" for each one.

Here's the setlist as best as I can remember (though not in order):

The Baying Of The Hounds
Bleak
Face Of Melinda
Blackwater Park
When
In My Time Of Need
Demon Of The Fall
Deliverance
The Grand Conjuration

[holly]

When is it due?

If you've got time I'll let you borrow my copy of the Lamentations DVD, it's got a documentary of the making of Deliverance and Damnation where the band talks a lot about their songwriting process.

There are also really detailed journals of each album being made on their website www.opeth.com - click discography then whatever album then "session diary" for each one.

Here's the setlist as best as I can remember (though not in order):

The Baying Of The Hounds
Bleak
Face Of Melinda
Blackwater Park
When
In My Time Of Need
Demon Of The Fall
Deliverance
The Grand Conjuration

I need to turn it on Wednesday.
I would still like to see that DVD.
Haha.

[Greg]

hmm... I can grab it from my friend's house Tuesday morning and leave it at WREK for you I guess.

[holly]

hmm... I can grab it from my friend's house Tuesday morning and leave it at WREK for you I guess.

Oh awesome!
Thanks dude.

[Asrynth]

Opeth writes epics so how Mikael goes about his buisness I really dont know. If you are in a classical composing class, metal songwriting really wouldnt apply, because for composing you are usually creating your outer voices first and then inner voices. In metal, most people just write a riff and then either outline the progression for a melody or solo. (Unless you are Arsis, who uses a great deal of counterpoint with 3 guitars and such) If I had to take a gander, I would say that Mikael Akerfeldt is just very skilled at coming up with chord progressions that lead very easily to the next progression which he is going to use, of course you have the lead melodies that help him get from place to place, (like in Bleak and numerous others). I take Music Theory as a class, and as much as I try to relate it, Metal doesnt really correspond at all with classical composing, seeing as most bands dont write songs in any keys or understand what they are doing really. Guys like Bach, would usually put a different chord on each beat to get around while mozart would hold chords for 2 bars alot of times and make changes few and far between and then either make complex melodies or improvise. Im sure if you look at some of the chord progressions in classic songs like "The drapery falls"or any of the others you can make musical sense out of it, because in reality, you can make theoretical sense out of anything. I know in the initial vocal riff on drapery, he starts off playing a minor third, then adds the tri tone (neopolitan 6th) then goes to the seventh to lead him back to one, as the seven serves as a dominant functioning chord. I dont really know if I have answered any of your questions, but it would certainly be interesting to dissect a Opeth song, as even though they arent "br00tal" Mikael Akerfeldt, (whether he knows what he is doing or not) has one of the best understandings of harmony of many guitar players. I find Opeth's music a adventure everytime and extremely interesting to listen to when I am tired of listening to Christian Muenzer and Muhammad Sucimez do a sweep clinic on my "Epitaph"cd. As you do, I too have to have a piece ready (baroque era) for tommorow and I have only completed 16 of the 32 bars and must return to it. I hope this has been beneficial to you in some way or another, good thread, It is cool to chat with people who are interested in theory as well from time to time.

[holly]

It's actually Composers 1800-present, so really anything goes.
Your input is enormously helpful, though.

I wish this wasn't just a 500-750 word "essay," though, because writing a real paper on this would totally be worth the research and time.

On my first paper, I used up all of my words on just the intro, one Dvorak piece, and one Chopin piece, so I don't know how the hell I'm going to keep this one short if I'm going to write on all nine...

[holly]

Anything else anyone would like to add about song writing, the guitar work, or the drumming would be greatly appreciated.
I can hold it down when talking about vocal work, but these are areas I'm not too good with.

[Greg]

I remember when it used to be a pain in the ass in high school to write a 500 word essay.

Now I'm not happy if my intro to a paper isn't about a page and a half single spaced.

I'll leave my Opeth DVD in the Wrekage mailbox in the morning around 9 or so if I get there in time barring shitty traffic and/or weather, otherwise I'll drop it off at 11 after class.

[ratanda]

This site is awesome for describing metal in technical terms. http://www.anus.com/metal/about/genre/. It's primarily geared towards more extreme metal though. Some of those album reviews are very interesting.

[Matt]

anus is such an elite site. they talk shit about everything. a lot of it is funny to read though.

[Wireneck]

I don't know a whole lot about theory, composition etc....but I can offer a few terms that apply heavily to Opeth's music (and one of the main reasons that they stand out).

-DYNAMICS!
-Irregular key changes
-Extremely long phrases/measures (for most metal)
-Lots of diminished chord shapes/ occasional dissonance
-Harmony patterns that are non linear in their movement.....they also tend to stay away from 3rds (typical metal guitar harmonies)
-Lots of modulation going on with their leads/solos as well (kind of comes with the Irregular key changes).
-I suppose you could work something in about Syncopation as well...lots of cool chuggy syncopated stuff happening on their more recent albums.

Those are the things I think of when I think Opeth. As far as writing a paper, thats the reason im no longer in college . Maybe it will help you? You could always research 70's prog, this is pretty much where Opeth swipes most of their mellower side haha.

[holly]

I don't know a whole lot about theory, composition etc....but I can offer a few terms that apply heavily to Opeth's music (and one of the main reasons that they stand out).

-DYNAMICS!
-Irregular key changes
-Extremely long phrases/measures (for most metal)
-Lots of diminished chord shapes/ occasional dissonance
-Harmony patterns that are non linear in their movement.....they also tend to stay away from 3rds (typical metal guitar harmonies)
-Lots of modulation going on with their leads/solos as well (kind of comes with the Irregular key changes).
-I suppose you could work something in about Syncopation as well...lots of cool chuggy syncopated stuff happening on their more recent albums.

Those are the things I think of when I think Opeth. As far as writing a paper, thats the reason im no longer in college . Maybe it will help you? You could always research 70's prog, this is pretty much where Opeth swipes most of their mellower side haha.

This is all awesome.
I still haven't done it.
Haha.

[Wireneck]

Cool glad that I could help....well maybe? If I think of anything else, ill post it.