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Opeth : Blackwater Park
Genius. A must-listen. Yes it has "cookie monster" death style growls, but they're light and contribute to the music rather than dominating it.
I still think Still Life is better, but this is a close second.
'Course, a few albums after this, their style change completely and both won and lost them a significant segment of their audience.
Will do - thanks!
Incidentally - Cult Of Luna just released a new album. I haven't heard it yet, but it's an autobuy.
The Absolute Universe ("Forevermore" and "Breath of Life")
Transatlantic
The beast has finally been released.
The story: The four members of Transatlantic met in Sweden Fall of 2019 and recorded the music which clocked in at almost 100 minutes and planned out the solos and lyrics then all four went their separate ways to finish the music.
Well Covid hit and the four got stuck in their home studios with unexpectedly a lot of time to tinker and play. When they virtually reconvened they found they had each altered the basic stuff as well as the lyrics and who would sing what, creating a huge mess of material; some similar to each other, some massively different.
After a lot of deliberation they finally decided to release one double concept album "Forevermore" clocking at 97 minutes and a single concept album "Breath of Life" clocking in at 64 minutes. The songs are interconnected and there are no breaks from start to finish. Some of the songs share music but not lyrics others share lyrics but not the music or maybe who sings it. It is very audibly clear that all these songs are meticulously crafted.
Far and away, these are the best albums these guys have released, across both versions there is so much to hear. After hearing both I agree that each and every song is worth hearing. I find Trewavas and Portnoy have never sounded better which is saying a lot. Stolt breaks out of his guitar sound mode several times. Some times it is very much signature Transatlantic, some times it doesn't sound like them at all. These are very unique albums for the four.
Many thanks for the write-up! I need to get this. The only thing i really, really don't want to hear is Roine's vocals - which are why I have a hard time listening to anything by The Flower Kings. For the rest, though, I'm looking forward to it.
I had lunch with Pete Trewavas in PA several years ago, at a ROSfest. I interviewed him, and then we sat and sipped wine for about 2 hours - missing the next show. We nattered on about our families, where he could get a certain style of Nikes to take back to the UK for his son, US vs Brit lifestyles, and so on. The closest we came to discussing music was his description of how Marillion self-manages their affairs. Very businesslike, which surprised me a bit. Nice guy.
I've heard Trewavas is a nice guy. Actually, I've never heard anything bad about any of Marillion.
Honestly, I totally agree about Stolt's vocals - he has a nasally twang quality that grates.
One thing I will say, the newest Flower King's album "The Island" is my favorite of their catalog for two reasons: (1.) the songs are shorter which works better for the band as their epic tracks tend to get long winded and mushy and (2.) Stolt doesn't sing as much and there are very capable other singers in the band. The album might surprise you.
Confession time: I pulled my bass out after I don't know how many years. The layer of dust was scary. It was more grey than turquoise.
I played (or at least attempted) ELO, Tears for Fears, Police and U2, all things I played in cover bands years ago.
End result....man, I suck. The years have not been kind.
I did not tuck it back away and will attempt again soon....I think.
Gah!
Confession time: I pulled my bass out after I don't know how many years. The layer of dust was scary. It was more grey than turquoise.
I played (or at least attempted) ELO, Tears for Fears, Police and U2, all things I played in cover bands years ago.
End result....man, I suck. The years have not been kind.
I did not tuck it back away and will attempt again soon....I think.
Gah!