Talk:Still Life (Opeth album)

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Magnum Opus[edit]

According to Wikipedia, all three Opeth albums "My Arms, Your Hearse", "Still Life", and "Blackwater Park" are widely considered to be the band's magnum opus. Obviously that doesn't make much sense. Perhaps they should be changed to say "like other Opeth albums, this album received universal praise" or something along those lines? DarkSinisity (talk) 03:58, 25 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is no general consensus regarding Opeth's having one "magnum opus," and if there was it would probably lean toward Blackwater Park (though personally I like Still Life more). Hajatvrc hajatvrc 02:26, 3 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Source[edit]

- When the album was released the band received several death threats on account of "Face Of Melinda"..

Anyone got a source for this?

I have looked and can't find anything, so I'm removing it --Nosmo 01:00, 6 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"Face Of Melinda" had been played before the 2004 US tour. They played it when I saw them live in Sweden 2003. 81.216.34.170 21:52, 13 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Concept - White Cluster[edit]

I think the last paragraph of the concept section concerning White Cluster is wrong. I don't think the protagonist has any sort of religious experience, and I don't think he embraces Christianity. The people in white are members of the crowd at the execution, probably wearing white as some sort of religious symbolism. These people in white are "seemingly jaded and lost" perhaps because they are no longer passionate about their religion, or perhaps because they can see how it's being taken too far in this instance (namely the exile of an Atheist, followed by execution of Melinda due to unfaithfulness and the execution of the main character). He says "I forge myself into your dreams" as he's awaiting execution, perhaps begging the crowd not to forget what religion is capable of and asking them to reconsider the merits of such zealous dedication to a religion.

The phrase "I will come for you" could mean the character wishes to believe in the presence of some sort of afterlife just as he's about to be executed, or could be interpreted as being from the point of view of the hangman "hangman clutching at his tools, I will come for you" although I think the prior is the more likely.

I think the "touch" he feels at the very end is the imaginary touch of Melinda - a hallucination just prior to death.

Just another possible interpretation.

58.110.90.92 01:24, 17 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Most technical Opeth album?[edit]

- Still Life is often considered Opeth's most technical album from a guitar standpoint, especially with its many complicated acoustic guitar passages.

Doesn't this seem like a completely baseless statement? I don't see how you could arrive at the absolute conclusion that Still Life
surpasses Ghost Reveries and Deliverance as far as technicality goes. I think this statement ought to be removed unless someone points out something I may be missing. Obtsu 03:59, 24 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You are correct, there is nothing in Still Life which surpasses more recent albums greatly. The past few months I have been listening to the album intensely, and also studied the tabulatures which I could find intensely. While the acoustic parts of Still Life generally are "complicated" - for example "Face of Melinda" as a whole, and the 7/8 length bar before the jazzy solo in Benighted, then there are many examples of other acoustic fingerpicked Opeth songs that are equally complicated to play, and fingerpicked: The backing for the verse on "Isolation Years", the bridge in "A Fair Judgement" (~3:30), and the acoustic part of "Harlequin Forest". "A Fair Judgement" also has a pretty rythmically complex clean solo, same goes for "Ghost of Perdition" and most more recent Opeth solos. One thing that might have explained this statement might have been, that Opeth's sound and focus has developed towards a more progressive soundscape, for example with the inclusion of synths in the acoustic parts, and a "thicker" guitar sound. The sound on Still Life was more dry, and this left more room for the individual note to be heard, which could have an impact on complexity-judgement. - Jacob Kjær 04:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Deliverance is nowhere near as technical as Still Life. 76.5.78.156 (talk) 00:02, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have studied Opeth for some time and, in my opinion, Still Life has more complex guitar instrumentations than other albums. For example the "Fair Judgement" bridge mentioned above is a complex riff but played only on one guitar and Watershed's complicated because of the keyboards etc, but the bridges on the Moor and Godhead's Lament and also some parts in Face of Melinda have up to 4 guitars playing simultaneously. So it's the most complicated album ONLY in that specific way. Best not to mention it at all (though we can mention the multiple clean guitars as a trademark of the album as they appear many times) 91.140.36.253 (talk) 20:49, 9 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Incorrect placement[edit]

Don't think that goes there but I saved it here until we can decide where it goes.

During this track a significant lapse in volume can be heard from right to left ear (in traditional earphone sets). This is the technical difficulty Mikael Akerfeldt speeks of in Still Life diary/bio section on Opeth.com. Akerfeldt went on to say no one could figuere out how to prevent the problem (since it had been occuring multiple times) so they ended up just leaving it on the album.

--CircafuciX (talk) 07:48, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Main Character[edit]

The main character appears to actually be an albino. "Wearing my death-mask at birth" would imply that he was born with whatever would afflict him and cause his fate - one is not born with "atheism". Also, in a pre-science culture (or a strong religious one) being an albino might be considered an illness (of the devil?) - "labelled a Jonah, with fevered blood, ungodly freak, defiler".

He also refers in one track to "red-eyes prowl the scene", and it seems odd that as part of his initial exile there would be "damp mud, burning in my eyes" - eyes being a particularly obvious feature of being an albino that might be targetted by the ignorant. He also refers to himself as a "pale touch"...

194.75.171.33 (talk) 09:27, 12 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Whether Mikael ever meant for that detail to be present is unclear (and improbable) and thus it should not be placed in an encyclopedia. Hajatvrc hajatvrc 02:26, 3 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"one is not born with atheism." Yes, you are. Unless you mean atheism as some sort of physical feature. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fedryktulu (talk • contribs) 16:00, 21 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Concept error- Melinda[edit]

The concept section on the page says that Melinda is a nun and is "married" to the church, neither of which are true. In the deluxe edition of the CD, Aferkeldt's notes say that Melinda is supposed to be unwillingly married to another man after her family arranges the marriage. Zaruyache (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:49, 28 August 2009 (UTC).[reply]

You are completely correct, and this should definitely be changed. Hajatvrc 06:00, 2 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mikael was talking about the story in its initial form. The line "a harlot of god upon the earth", clearly proves that he changed that. Melinda is a nun in the final version of the story. Fedryktulu (talk) 16:02, 21 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Another Concept Error[edit]

The main character is in not deformed or anything. The notes on the special edition from Akerfeldt read "Tha main character was a religious man who somewhere down the line started questioning his faith and eventually would lose it. He was to be banished from his village by "the council" and would only return years later for his then past love, Melinda..."

So, not only was he not derformed, but, obviously, he also lived the first years of his life normally before becoming an atheist and being banished. The lyrics about his deformity are propably metaphorical and reffering to the way his was viewed by others.

So I'm changing this, if anyone has a good source to back up the whole deformed thing then he should post it here for discussion. 79.107.5.110 (talk) 12:43, 26 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In the note on te special edition Akerfeldt was talking about the story in its initial stage. Fedryktulu (talk) 16:05, 21 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Genre[edit]

Not that I disagree with the genres added, which is irrelevant anyways, but from the last edit which refers to AllMusic's statement "Having taken their oppressive black metal symphonies to their furious zenith with their third effort, My Arms, Your Hearse, Sweden's Opeth began deconstructing their sound on 1999's brilliant Still Life. A logical next step in their evolution, the album finds the band re-examining their unlikely fusion of progressive rock and black metal to highlight the former while staying in touch with the latter.". So with that, I'm not sure where "progressive death metal" comes from in this review, while identifying both prog rock and black metal from "the album finds the band re-examining their unlikely fusion of progressive rock and black metal to highlight the former while staying in touch with the latter." is a relatively weak argument. I suggest trying to find better sources from this relatively popular group. Andrzejbanas (talk) 15:27, 28 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]