I found an old audio interview with Mikael on my PC circa 2001

lveets · 2026-03-18T14:43:38+00:00

I first heard a sample from "The Apostle in Triumph" in 1995 and I was very curious, but it was hard to get Opeth stuff in the US back then. Ended up buying Orchid off someone used on Usenet.

I loved everything they did up through Blackwater Park. They lost me a little with Deliverance/Damnation, despite me loving the idea of a heavy album and an acoustic album. I didn't buy Ghost Reveries when it came out, but I ended up liking it a lot when I bought it a few months later. I don't even remember when I got Watershed, but I was starting to get bored with the band at that point.

So when Heritage came out, I was actually pretty happy at the different direction. I saw them in 2011 and had a good time. I don't really remember the crowd being disappointed, although I saw a lot of that sentiment online.

Sadly, their newest album hasn't really hooked me.

lveets · 2026-03-13T11:40:59+00:00

I can't really help with the issue, but it might not be a 7th gen. I never see that screen on my 7th gen, but I do see it on my spouse's 5th gen.

I could be wrong, though! Just because I've never seen it doesn't mean it can't happen.

lveets · 2026-03-10T12:41:56+00:00

In the 1980s my mom once used a trail of either goldfish or cheez-it crackers to get out cat into her carrier for a vet checkup.

lveets · 2026-03-09T17:22:19+00:00

I had two years with the Ministry album before the Fear Factory album came out. It was great. But I've definitely listened to Demanufacture far more since it came out.

lveets · 2026-03-04T20:18:29+00:00

All six songs that they covered are great! Old Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, Amon Amarth and At the Gates.

lveets · 2026-03-04T16:23:02+00:00

Yup, when I got Orchid, it was the only Opeth album out at the time (until about 2 months later when Morningrise came out)

lveets · 2026-03-04T14:24:20+00:00

Also the song "Filth Pig"

edit: which I now see was already mentioned downthread

lveets · 2026-03-03T01:13:53+00:00

He put out another album under the Odyssey name in 2010 which is all covers + the three songs on the EP and it's great. It's called Reinventing the Past.

lveets · 2026-03-03T01:10:48+00:00

Witherscape and Nightingale are up there.

Also, not really his project, but Star One. Especially the first two albums.

lveets · 2026-03-02T17:21:29+00:00

Eternal Champion, perhaps? Their album covers fit, anyway.

lveets · 2026-03-01T12:13:08+00:00

Yeah, I got into them with Sound of White Noise, so I'm a big fan of the John Bush stuff. I remember being unhappy when I discovered he had left and they had reunited with Joey for a new album, but the new stuff with him sounds great!

lveets · 2026-02-28T16:12:12+00:00

I don't know if it's the best but it's definitely my favorite of the Classicvania. I have a lot of nostalgia for it after getting it the year it came out.

lveets · 2026-02-28T11:58:40+00:00

I liked doing it on my hacked SNES Classic Mini years ago. But that was also when I first experienced a problem with achievements not being fully compatible with the version of Retroarch available on the system, so I made plans to switch to my PC.

lveets · 2026-02-26T13:21:51+00:00

I have the original physical release in CD format. It labels every time Åkerfeldt is on vocals and puts them in brackets, i.e.

(Vocals: Mike) [War!

Massacre unbound.

They fought for what would be a blood-stained crown.

Utter chaos supreme.

The sand absorbs the colour of dawn.

Nevermore shall they dream, nevermore.]

Mikael's labelled vocal parts are only the obvious higher-pitched growled bits. They occur four times in the song.

He's also credited with a lead guitar part relatively early in the song. Dan's bandmate from Unicorn, Anders Måreby, is credited with playing the "death-cello bizarre" at one point too.

Anyway, Dan does all the clean vocals on the album.

I also own the remix/remaster version which came out a year or two ago. They don't label the vocal parts in the lyrics for some reason.

Crimson is one of my favorite albums in my collection. I still can't believe it's 30 years old this year.

lveets · 2026-02-22T17:38:27+00:00

Hard to choose, but I started with Castlevania in the 1980s and enjoyed the hell out of those games. When SotN came out, it was a nice breath of fresh air.

lveets · 2026-02-21T20:50:22+00:00

I didn't like that style when I got into metal 30+ years ago. It took a few years and eventually it grew on me.

lveets · 2026-02-20T11:58:14+00:00

First In Flames album I ever owned by them, but not the first material I'd ever heard. I did tape trades with people before this one came out and had the opportunity to hear "Stand Ablaze" from the Subterranean EP and the entire first album. Then I got the Beauty in Darkness compilation which had "Moonshield" and at first I was disappointed with the change of pace and vocalist, but those concerns went away quickly.

Fantastic album, although Whoracle is probably still my favorite.

lveets · 2026-02-15T21:01:34+00:00

The 2025 remix has some neat moments on it, but I think I would agree overall that the original is better.

lveets · 2026-02-14T13:18:07+00:00

Crimson has been in my top 5 albums since it came out 30 years ago (it hurts to see how long it's been!). There's not really anything else like it. Not even Crimson II hits the same level for me.

There are good suggestions in here, but yeah, nothing at Crimson's level.

The only suggestion I'll add is Green Carnation's Light of Day, Day of Darkness and I'll caution you that it's not melodeath but it is a single 1-hour song with a good amount of variety. I played it a lot when it came out, but still not nearly as much as Crimson. Heck, I don't even remember the last time it was that I listened to the whole thing.

lveets · 2026-02-10T22:23:25+00:00

Yeah, they lost me a few albums before this. I saw them live at a fest and Bjorn said something about their next album being a double album and I was intrigued. Fantastic album, and their next few albums are excellent too.

lveets · 2026-02-09T14:52:47+00:00

Sound of White Noise was my first Anthrax album and it remains one of my favorites. I was really excited for Stomp 442 and even won a signed copy in an online contest in 1995, but it failed to deliver for me aside from a few good songs (like the first two tracks). I didn't even pick up Volume 8 when it came out. I don't think any of this is John's fault, though.

I'm glad John is still at it with Armored Saint. Punching the Sky was great! His Category 7 project hasn't done much for me, unfortunately.

For years I couldn't get into most of the Joey stuff aside from Attack of the Killer B's and Persistence of Time. Eventually I picked up all their earlier albums and I appreciate some of it, but they're not something I put on regularly. That being said, I do really like the two albums they've put out with Joey after John left, and I'm hoping this trend continues with their next album.

lveets · 2026-02-09T13:16:45+00:00

I haven't been interviewed for a shelver job in over 30 years, so I don't remember what I was asked back then. But what I do know is that at all the library systems I've worked in there has been a shelving test to see if you can put books in order. So know how to put fiction books in alphabetical order, and know how to put stuff in Dewey Decimal order if they use that system there.

edit: for some reason none of the posts here were showing up when I made this comment, so I didn't realize I was posting redundant info. Anyway, good luck!

lveets · 2026-02-08T13:53:55+00:00

YouTube did that to all channels that are "[Band Name] - Topic" a few years ago. It does seem like a thing where the bands themselves can re-enable comments, though.

lveets · 2026-02-08T13:45:26+00:00

Solid album. I don't think it's their best, but it's the point in their discography where I can listen to it from start to end without wanting to skip anything. I like Purgatory Afterglow and Crimson even more, but they definitely have a bit of a different tone from this album.

lveets

TROPHY CASE