{"id":128,"date":"2008-07-08T05:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-08T05:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/severebassarchive.wordpress.com\/2008\/07\/08\/review-from-a-while-back"},"modified":"2008-07-08T05:31:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-08T05:31:00","slug":"review-from-a-while-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/2008\/07\/review-from-a-while-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Review from a while back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah fergawt ta post tha Soilent Green<\/a> review from Metal-Realm.net<\/a> when they posted it. Here’s the link:<\/p>\n

Soilent Green – Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction<\/a><\/p>\n

N here’s a sneak preview of the Opeth<\/a> review ah just finished while ahm at it (cuz ah don’t know how long it mite take fer them ta put it up):<\/p>\n

Opeth \u2013 Watershed<\/b><\/p>\n

Opeth\u2019s best and worst attribute is that their albums come with a large amount of anticipation and generally high expectations. They are some of the most technically skilled musicians in the modern metal scene as well as some of the most diverse and subtle, so there\u2019s a reason they are pretty much the only progressive atmospheric metal band out there that can tastefully and effectively blend beautiful instrumentals with pounding rhythms, guitar pyrotechnics with lush melodies, etc. etc. Watershed starts off as one would expect \u2013 a soft acoustic song exploring the differences in Mikael Akerfeldt and guest vocalist Nathalie Lorichs vocal styles and setting you up for the crunch of \u201cHeir Apparent,\u201d which is a great transition \u2013 the first time you hear it.<\/p>\n

With every other song clocking at over 7 minutes, there seems to be a lacking of original parts in some of them. \u201cHeir Apparent\u201d and the following track \u201cThe Lotus Eater\u201d sound almost identical when one ends and the other begins, which might be the point, but when you\u2019ve only got 7 tracks (and one of them is \u201cCoil\u201d the acoustic intro), I kind of expected a little more diversity. The songs do switch up the vibe rather effectively, and some of the best moments are when switching back and forth from driving angry musical blasts and the fast but still well played acoustic moments. But contrast is not necessarily enough to make a strong album, and after the second listen, this album begins to drag. Especially obnoxious is the last minute or so of \u201cBurden,\u201d which features out-of-tune acoustic guitar and then some smarmy laughing at the end of it. Hey Opeth \u2013 when Type O Negative plays a joke on it\u2019s listeners, at least they don\u2019t make it last more then 20 seconds. The production is great, although the bass is a bit behind the mix then I like (but I\u2019m a bassist so that could just be my opinion), and the overall sound is air-tight, although anything less would be a monumental disappointment.<\/p>\n

Finally, for an album that screams to be digested in one sitting, the last track \u201cHex Omega,\u201d is completely unnecessary. The second-to-last track, \u201cHessian Peel,\u201d puts pretty much everything out on the table and leaves you feeling somewhat satisfied. By throwing another track on the end of what is already a 48 minute album, it gives the whole thing the feeling it wasn\u2019t completely thought out. Not to mention that \u201cHex Omega,\u201d doesn\u2019t explore any musical territory that hasn\u2019t already been done (almost to death) in the preceding 5 tracks. There\u2019s also a large amount of self-indulgent guitar playing that I noticed after I\u2019d digested the album as a whole.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a bad album by any means \u2013 there are some great riffs in this track, some very cool progressions and phenomenal guitar playing. But when you expect a little bit more from a band that is as polished and professional as Opeth, it leaves sort of a bad taste in your mouth and seriously takes away from it\u2019s ability to be revisited over and over again. The determination in \u201cWatershed\u201d is obvious, but some of the focus is lost, and that makes for a more-then-slightly uneven album. Which is a shame, because there\u2019s hints at greatness spread throughout.<\/p>\n

Rating: 6<\/b> out of 10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah fergawt ta post tha Soilent Green review from Metal-Realm.net when they posted it. Here’s the link: Soilent Green – Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction N here’s a sneak preview of the Opeth review ah just finished while … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145,424,488,528],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-damn-ah-listen-ta-free-metal-sometimes-now","category-opeth","category-reviews","category-soilent-greens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/severebass.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}