Wish I could have been for the live, but thank you for your analysis. Opeth is one of my all time top 5 bands. The live performance I attended was one of the most musically satisfying rock/metal shows I've witnessed. Mikael is such a gifted musician. He is untrained as both a guitarist and vocalist, being largely self-taught. He does not read music, just lets the ideas flow out. Fredrik, guitarist, says Mikael will come up with things that make his life as a trained player challenging, just because Mikael isn't hindered by being "right". Each member of the band is a virtuosi on their instrument. Several times I've seen lists of "greatest guitarists", and often Mikael and Fredrik are listed as a team. I recommend something from the "In Cauda Venenum" album. The album is unusual in that there are 2 versions, one in English, one in Swedish. Even as a native English speaker, I prefer the Swedish version overall. Seems a bit more genuine. "Minnets Yta" is a beautiful song, and probably the closest you'll get to a love song from Opeth. Fredrik's guitar solo in the middle is absolutely stunning. About Red Rocks. My aunt once performed on stage there for the sunrise Easter service when she was in college. She mentioned how spiritual it felt.
That'd be Martin Axenrot, replaced now by Waltteri Väyrynen, before him was Martin Lopez, and originally Anders Nordin. As I understand it all of them are very well respected 🙂
Opeth to me always sounds like a metal opera that takes place in a haunted medieval forest. They are completely unique. Nobody else sounds like them. Nobody. That’s maybe the highest praise you can give a musician. It’s TOUGH not to sound like anyone else when mostly everything has already been done.
Can you imagine, I heard about Opeth 25 years ago, but the growl singing turned me off and I didn't want to listen to a single whole song. Then my daughter played this song for me and I couldn't believe what I had missed for so many years. In the last three years, I've been making up for everything missed and indescribable I admire Mikael Akerfeldt's talent. He is a very listenable musician with many different influences from various genres, which he manages to turn into something recognizable as his own. What particularly fascinates me is the fact that he creates music as he feels, he is not afraid of losing the audience, so he moved from death metal to prog metal, pure prog and managed to combine everything on the last album, absolutely incredible.
My first time watching your channel,I have really enjoyed it,I subscribed at the end of opeth. They truly are an amazing band, all eras of their music I love,their latest,the last will & testament,which is a concept album,has blown me away. Songs to recommend,there are so many,but a couple that spring to mind, harlequin forest,live at the Royal Albert Hall,& moon above sun below,from their ,pale communion album.
Missed it live, but definitely here for the wonderful reaction to this masterful band. Definitely one of my top three ever bands. Harlequin Forest at the Royal Albert Hall would be a great next Opeth song to check out. There are tons of other fantastic Opeth songs as well, literal oceans to swim around and get lost in.
That guitar solo (at 29:30) is a perfect snapshot of how tasteful their musical decisions are. He could have ripped and shredded for 5 min, but instead plays a beautiful melodic to complement the song.
Unrelated to the reaction but, I've been following your content for so many years now and I wanted to say thank you for all the entertainment. You look gorgeous, too!
Actually that is the second song in that set. If you want to know how they close their shows, check out "Deliverance" in tha same gig. There are so many masterpieces you could react to such as: - Harlequin Forest - Bleak - Windowpane - Closure - A Fair Judgement - Heir Apparent - Face of Melinda - Moonlapse Vertigo - Burden - Cusp of Eternity - The Devil's Orchard - The Moor - Blackwater Park and many, many more. Nice reaction, BTW.
Great video! And by all means pause all you want, nothing worse than someone hearing such an incredible song and all they say is at the end: "It was a good song" like people don't already know it 🤣 As for recommendation, Harlequin Forest at the Royal Albert Hall is usually another great live introduction to them
Loved this reaction Christi and to answer your question about prog recommendations I would recommend 2 things; "Arriving Somewhere but not Here" by Porcupine Tree and Syphony X. Porcupine Tree is the band of Steven Wilson, who is usually the Opeth producer as well (see what I did there) and you have heard the lead singer of Symphony X, Russell Allen, in the Ayreon song "The Day the World Breaks Down" as the President.
I would recommend The Leper Affinity from The Sheperds Bush Empire (2003) or Demon of the Fall from The Roundhouse Tapes (2006)! I think those two are peak Opeth sound live, especially when it comes to Mikaels vocals! Outstanding performances! Going to see them for the 4th time this summer:)
Greatd band. I've been listening to their music for over a quarter of a century.they have so much great music, and one of their songs could often be used to create several...
By the way, if you have already met the Ukrainian band Jinjer or are planning to meet them, it should be noted that the singer Tatiana Mikael Åkerfeldt is the biggest role model for her singing and fan
The live performance of Sorceress is also quite amazing. They are extreemly tight. So if you want to have more of Opeth live, I'd check that one out. Otherwise things from their earlier albums Still Life, BlackWater Park, Ghost reveries and Watershed tend to be fan favorites. As for clean vocal only experience the early album Damnation is often referenced, but anything from Heritage to the recent In Cauda Venenum is clean vocals, but way more progressive rock influenced than earlier albums. If you listen to anything from In Cauda Venenum, make sure to listen to the swedish version. While you might not understand the lyrics, there's so much more emotion in the swedish version. But I cannot recommend enough anything from their latest album, The Last Will and Testament. It's a 10/10 album. Album of the year for this guy.
As to where to go next: I highly recommend you check out Steven Wilson. Another modern prog legend. It’s less metal, more rock, but compositionally stunning. I’d recommend as a starter do the official video for “The Raven that Refused to Sing”. It’s a stunning composition and it will break your heart. From watching your reactions I know you will love it.
Cracking review, thank you. Opeth are always like this, seen then a few time and a Ways brilliant, last gig they played one track from each of their studio albums, the tracks picked by fans on an online poll! Prog metal is a very rich pond to go fishing in with some brilliant vocalists - Tesseract Legion, Sleep Token The Summoning, Haken The Cockroach King and pretty much any Tool Song but Lateralus will blow your mind. For something lighter check out Exploring Birdsong, a small band but they make fantastic piano oriented prog rock.
I’m insanely biased but I think this is one of the most talented bands of my generation. You kind of have a choice with opeth as far as the route you go. “Beknighted” is my personal favorite of their softer/acoustic songs. The same album has a song called “master’s apprentice” that is on the other end of the heaviness spectrum. Their later stuff up until the newest album have been incredibly proggy, much of their earlier stuff was sort of neoclassical/death metal centered but that’s understating the sun of their work. Go later albums if you’d like to ease into the harsh vocals. Go early albums if you’re into them. Also- check out Between the buried and me- white walls. Also mind blowing prog metal. Great reaction!! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 😊
Hi Christie I'm Wintersun Alexs mother cathy my son and I couldn't make it again this week but another great reaction from you as always. Much love Wintersun Alex and Cathy ❄️🫶
I think the singer Mikael's secret is in those big nostrils. Those things are flared way open when he is singing with all that resonance, and he tilts his head backward for his singing. When he does the gutteral growls his chin tucks forward as most do and he really widens his mouth out. One thing to keep in mind when you hear gutteral singers like Tatiana from Jinjer, or even Will Ramos of Lorna Shore is that they use their hands on the mic to cup it. It changes the dynamics of how hard they have to push. Mikael never touches a mic and gets these brutal lows, and never seems to be straining either. It's also hard enough to sing and play guitar in a straight up rock band, let alone an extremely complex band with massive tempo, odd times, and dynamic shifts. He is the crown jewel of metal frontmen. He was a massive inspiration for Tatiana too.
My heros 🥰🤘🏼. Bit if you are going to listen to Kameot it has to be with Roy Khan.. maybe Elisabeth part 1-3 from a cold Winters night… live in Oslo🥰🥰epic
Not sure but I think my original 100k formula was Tool+Opeth+Slayer=100k. Very little good live Tool so Lateralus studio version. Slayer. Best to start gently so Seasons in the Abyss. Official video. Some of the most awesome fast drum fills by my favorite drummer, Dave Lombardo.
Slayer will help you get views? un, ok. Ignore that take, They were my 3rd concert in 1985 on Reign in Blood ... I would not hurry to do much of their music. It was a cool experience as a 16 year old, but not really music I would tout as meaningful today. Stick with Opeth, and maybe include Amorphis and Arcturus and some relevant bands. Slayer hasn't mattered for 25 years.
Don't have any metal suggestions...but would be interested in seeing Your opinions on the rock bands *"Chilliwack", "Trooper", and/or "Prism".* And just for a treat..Canadian country/folk legend, *"Stompin' Tom Conners".* 😊
As requested, here are a few Dream Theater requests, with a couple other bands thrown in: 1) Dream Theater "Night Terror" official video: ruclips.net/video/2IPT60hvGw4/видео.html 2) Dream Theater "Metropolis Part 1" Live at Luna Park ruclips.net/video/pEkWYrmk7OA/видео.html 3) Dream Theater "The Spirit Carries On" Live "Score" 2006 ruclips.net/video/5BfDId_DLug/видео.html 4) The Neal Morse Band "So Far Gone" official video ruclips.net/video/rL5u8nCI8FY/видео.html
![Arab Man Reacts to OPETH - Ghost of Perdition [LIVE at Red Rocks Amphitheatre]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k7nfC6ywims/mqdefault.jpg)
![Arab Man Reacts to OPETH - Ghost of Perdition [LIVE at Red Rocks Amphitheatre]](/img/tr.png)
Wish I could have been for the live, but thank you for your analysis. Opeth is one of my all time top 5 bands. The live performance I attended was one of the most musically satisfying rock/metal shows I've witnessed. Mikael is such a gifted musician. He is untrained as both a guitarist and vocalist, being largely self-taught. He does not read music, just lets the ideas flow out. Fredrik, guitarist, says Mikael will come up with things that make his life as a trained player challenging, just because Mikael isn't hindered by being "right". Each member of the band is a virtuosi on their instrument. Several times I've seen lists of "greatest guitarists", and often Mikael and Fredrik are listed as a team. I recommend something from the "In Cauda Venenum" album. The album is unusual in that there are 2 versions, one in English, one in Swedish. Even as a native English speaker, I prefer the Swedish version overall. Seems a bit more genuine. "Minnets Yta" is a beautiful song, and probably the closest you'll get to a love song from Opeth. Fredrik's guitar solo in the middle is absolutely stunning.
About Red Rocks. My aunt once performed on stage there for the sunrise Easter service when she was in college. She mentioned how spiritual it felt.
Their usual final song is Deliverance, and if you'll listen to it you'll see why: its ending is amazing.
Faith in others is a master piece by them no growls just cleen singing .😂 Cheers from Sweden
drummer is amazing
That'd be Martin Axenrot, replaced now by Waltteri Väyrynen, before him was Martin Lopez, and originally Anders Nordin. As I understand it all of them are very well respected 🙂
Thx Christi, for me Opeth is a perfect band, the TOP.
I always love seeing people appreciate the genius of songwriting like this
I saw Opeth live for the first time last summer here in Finland, at a festival. Instant love. Amazing band.
And great stage banter ❤😂
oh my i hope you do more Opeth
remember they have a lot of soft songs too !
Unfortunately, the softer songs and albums are not so popular among some alleged Opeth fans
Ghost of Perdition is a perfect song. Thank you for your great react video .
Opeth to me always sounds like a metal opera that takes place in a haunted medieval forest. They are completely unique. Nobody else sounds like them. Nobody. That’s maybe the highest praise you can give a musician. It’s TOUGH not to sound like anyone else when mostly everything has already been done.
Can you imagine, I heard about Opeth 25 years ago, but the growl singing turned me off and I didn't want to listen to a single whole song. Then my daughter played this song for me and I couldn't believe what I had missed for so many years. In the last three years, I've been making up for everything missed and indescribable I admire Mikael Akerfeldt's talent. He is a very listenable musician with many different influences from various genres, which he manages to turn into something recognizable as his own. What particularly fascinates me is the fact that he creates music as he feels, he is not afraid of losing the audience, so he moved from death metal to prog metal, pure prog and managed to combine everything on the last album, absolutely incredible.
My first time watching your channel,I have really enjoyed it,I subscribed at the end of opeth.
They truly are an amazing band, all eras of their music I love,their latest,the last will & testament,which is a concept album,has blown me away.
Songs to recommend,there are so many,but a couple that spring to mind, harlequin forest,live at the Royal Albert Hall,& moon above sun below,from their ,pale communion album.
Opeth are wonderful story tellers.
Missed it live, but definitely here for the wonderful reaction to this masterful band. Definitely one of my top three ever bands.
Harlequin Forest at the Royal Albert Hall would be a great next Opeth song to check out.
There are tons of other fantastic Opeth songs as well, literal oceans to swim around and get lost in.
I also suggest the same
the creativity is just too damn high!
That guitar solo (at 29:30) is a perfect snapshot of how tasteful their musical decisions are. He could have ripped and shredded for 5 min, but instead plays a beautiful melodic to complement the song.
Unrelated to the reaction but, I've been following your content for so many years now and I wanted to say thank you for all the entertainment. You look gorgeous, too!
Actually that is the second song in that set. If you want to know how they close their shows, check out "Deliverance" in tha same gig. There are so many masterpieces you could react to such as:
- Harlequin Forest
- Bleak
- Windowpane
- Closure
- A Fair Judgement
- Heir Apparent
- Face of Melinda
- Moonlapse Vertigo
- Burden
- Cusp of Eternity
- The Devil's Orchard
- The Moor
- Blackwater Park
and many, many more. Nice reaction, BTW.
I second that, and would like to add Sorceress from the Red Rocks show as well.
Great video! And by all means pause all you want, nothing worse than someone hearing such an incredible song and all they say is at the end: "It was a good song" like people don't already know it 🤣
As for recommendation, Harlequin Forest at the Royal Albert Hall is usually another great live introduction to them
Loved this reaction Christi and to answer your question about prog recommendations I would recommend 2 things; "Arriving Somewhere but not Here" by Porcupine Tree and Syphony X. Porcupine Tree is the band of Steven Wilson, who is usually the Opeth producer as well (see what I did there) and you have heard the lead singer of Symphony X, Russell Allen, in the Ayreon song "The Day the World Breaks Down" as the President.
I would recommend The Leper Affinity from The Sheperds Bush Empire (2003) or Demon of the Fall from The Roundhouse Tapes (2006)! I think those two are peak Opeth sound live, especially when it comes to Mikaels vocals! Outstanding performances! Going to see them for the 4th time this summer:)
I said it before but Opeth is metal Pink Floyd
Greatd band. I've been listening to their music for over a quarter of a century.they have so much great music, and one of their songs could often be used to create several...
If you want to keep it live, I would do In My Time Of Need from the same concert. It's all clean vocals. That song really shows off his cleans.
By the way, if you have already met the Ukrainian band Jinjer or are planning to meet them, it should be noted that the singer Tatiana Mikael Åkerfeldt is the biggest role model for her singing and fan
Mikael has said that he keeps so still on stage because he has so much to focus on so if he would jump around he would get lost!
The live performance of Sorceress is also quite amazing. They are extreemly tight. So if you want to have more of Opeth live, I'd check that one out. Otherwise things from their earlier albums Still Life, BlackWater Park, Ghost reveries and Watershed tend to be fan favorites. As for clean vocal only experience the early album Damnation is often referenced, but anything from Heritage to the recent In Cauda Venenum is clean vocals, but way more progressive rock influenced than earlier albums. If you listen to anything from In Cauda Venenum, make sure to listen to the swedish version. While you might not understand the lyrics, there's so much more emotion in the swedish version.
But I cannot recommend enough anything from their latest album, The Last Will and Testament. It's a 10/10 album. Album of the year for this guy.
You should hear something from the new album, especially because of Mikael's vocals. There are even more singing styles.
As to where to go next: I highly recommend you check out Steven Wilson. Another modern prog legend. It’s less metal, more rock, but compositionally stunning. I’d recommend as a starter do the official video for “The Raven that Refused to Sing”. It’s a stunning composition and it will break your heart. From watching your reactions I know you will love it.
Cracking review, thank you. Opeth are always like this, seen then a few time and a
Ways brilliant, last gig they played one track from each of their studio albums, the tracks picked by fans on an online poll! Prog metal is a very rich pond to go fishing in with some brilliant vocalists - Tesseract Legion, Sleep Token The Summoning, Haken The Cockroach King and pretty much any Tool Song but Lateralus will blow your mind. For something lighter check out Exploring Birdsong, a small band but they make fantastic piano oriented prog rock.
I’m insanely biased but I think this is one of the most talented bands of my generation. You kind of have a choice with opeth as far as the route you go. “Beknighted” is my personal favorite of their softer/acoustic songs. The same album has a song called “master’s apprentice” that is on the other end of the heaviness spectrum. Their later stuff up until the newest album have been incredibly proggy, much of their earlier stuff was sort of neoclassical/death metal centered but that’s understating the sun of their work. Go later albums if you’d like to ease into the harsh vocals. Go early albums if you’re into them.
Also- check out Between the buried and me- white walls. Also mind blowing prog metal. Great reaction!! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 😊
*Benighted (overtaken by darkness, literally or metaphorically) 👍
Hi Christie I'm Wintersun Alexs mother cathy my son and I couldn't make it again this week but another great reaction from you as always. Much love Wintersun Alex and Cathy ❄️🫶
Lies.
I think the singer Mikael's secret is in those big nostrils. Those things are flared way open when he is singing with all that resonance, and he tilts his head backward for his singing. When he does the gutteral growls his chin tucks forward as most do and he really widens his mouth out. One thing to keep in mind when you hear gutteral singers like Tatiana from Jinjer, or even Will Ramos of Lorna Shore is that they use their hands on the mic to cup it. It changes the dynamics of how hard they have to push. Mikael never touches a mic and gets these brutal lows, and never seems to be straining either. It's also hard enough to sing and play guitar in a straight up rock band, let alone an extremely complex band with massive tempo, odd times, and dynamic shifts. He is the crown jewel of metal frontmen. He was a massive inspiration for Tatiana too.
23:10 You're hearing jazz influences, I'm hearing Rush, lol.
My heros 🥰🤘🏼. Bit if you are going to listen to Kameot it has to be with Roy Khan.. maybe Elisabeth part 1-3 from a cold Winters night… live in Oslo🥰🥰epic
Um. Yes. Opeth
Not sure but I think my original 100k formula was Tool+Opeth+Slayer=100k.
Very little good live Tool so Lateralus studio version.
Slayer. Best to start gently so Seasons in the Abyss. Official video. Some of the most awesome fast drum fills by my favorite drummer, Dave Lombardo.
Reaction actually starts at 06:30, then stops, then picks up again at 09:39
The Dream Theater have arguably worse vocals. They have nothing on Opeth
Slayer will help you get views? un, ok. Ignore that take, They were my 3rd concert in 1985 on Reign in Blood ... I would not hurry to do much of their music. It was a cool experience as a 16 year old, but not really music I would tout as meaningful today. Stick with Opeth, and maybe include Amorphis and Arcturus and some relevant bands. Slayer hasn't mattered for 25 years.
This is definitely not one of Mikaels best vocal performances
Don't have any metal suggestions...but would be interested in seeing Your opinions on the rock bands *"Chilliwack", "Trooper", and/or "Prism".*
And just for a treat..Canadian country/folk legend, *"Stompin' Tom Conners".* 😊
As requested, here are a few Dream Theater requests, with a couple other bands thrown in:
1) Dream Theater "Night Terror" official video:
ruclips.net/video/2IPT60hvGw4/видео.html
2) Dream Theater "Metropolis Part 1" Live at Luna Park
ruclips.net/video/pEkWYrmk7OA/видео.html
3) Dream Theater "The Spirit Carries On" Live "Score" 2006
ruclips.net/video/5BfDId_DLug/видео.html
4) The Neal Morse Band "So Far Gone" official video
ruclips.net/video/rL5u8nCI8FY/видео.html
Highly recommend another great Swedish band, Soilwork and their epic song A Whisp of the Atlantic.