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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Revision of a Great Album, May 27, 2008
I already held "Still Life" as one of my top 5 CDs, so the 5.1 mix enticed me to buy this. Definitely a good choice!
The "CD" portion of this package is just the same old "Still Life" with a slight fix on some of the audio. It no longer drops in places (such as the moor) but you won't get anything else new. The CD is just a nice addition to replace your old one.
The real seller is the 5.1 audio DVD. One quick warning though: there is no LFE channel in the mix, so technically it was only mastered for 5.0. This is not to say your sub wont work, just that there wasn't a dedicated channel to the lower frequencies. It has plenty of bass, it just wasn't mastered in true 5.1 Don't let that dissuade you though, the sound is quite superb.
The use of the surround speakers to add ambiance to the music is great, and the center channel pushes Akerfeldt's voice right out. The mix is absolutely amazing, and the music sounds totally different and new (in a good way of course). The acoustic guitars and some leads sound as if they were re-recorded (very apparent in Benighted), and the music takes on a different dynamic, becoming more drastic in changes from crunch to clean. (if you can imagine "Still Life" having more drastic dynamics)
All in all, a solid re-mix and re-master. The bonus footage of Face of Melinda live is great as well.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite album, September 4, 2008
The first Opeth song I ever heard was Harvest. I heard it as part of a random collection of songs that came packaged with a magazine. I'd never heard of Opeth but loved Harvest. Of course I had no idea then that Harvest doesn't give a good impression of what Opeth really does. Harvest is only half of Opeth.
Before that, I wasn't a fan of metal at all, and surely not death metal. The genre was completely foreign to me and not even something I wanted to explore. Still, this was the time of Napster so I got a few more Opeth songs from Blackwater Park to see what else they had. Needless to say, they didn't compare to Harvest much and I wasn't much interested at first. It sounded like noise and screaming. Not to mention the songs were really long.
I got to like it, though. There are two things I think separate Opeth from other metal acts: Mikael Akerfeldt's voice, and the dumming. For the albums that I was first into, Martin Lopez was the drummer. He's awesome. (I've watched and re-watched the documentary that comes on their "Lamentations" DVD and I'm awed just not by Lopez but by all of them.) I don't see a lot of other people say that drumming is Opeth's main draw, and I agree, it's not. But I ask myself, why don't I like other progressive metal acts as much as Opeth? Take Agalloch's "The Mantle," for instance. It's supposed to be highly regarded. When I listen to it, though, I'm just bored. The musicianship just isn't as good. And the vocals don't even come close to Akerfeldt's.
I'm digressing a lot. The point I'm trying to make is that Opeth isn't just for people who are into metal, anger, and screaming. This music is beautiful. True, it's brutal sometimes. Lyrically, it's not something you'd hear in church. The death growl is jarring at first and hard to take seriously if you're not used to it. You have to get past those things, though. Do not be scared to give this album and this music a chance.
Anyway, after buying Blackwater Park and then the others, Still Life is my favorite Opeth album. It's got all the same elements as other Opeth albums so it's hard to put into words why I like this one just a bit more than all the others.
And if you buy this at retail, and have a chance to listen to it on a 5.1 system, it's quite an experience, especially if you've been listening to the album for a number of years. You'll hear it in a whole new way.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Musicianship, February 14, 2009
I think "My Arms, Your Hearse" was a better album then this but it cannot be denied that Still Life showcases some amazing muscianship by everyone in the band. Opeth are without a doubt some of the best musicians in metal these days and almost every song on this album highlights this arguable fact. The stand out tracks for me are "The Moor", "Moonlapse Vertigo" and "White Cluster" and the only track I really don't like is "Benighted" but that is only because the singer is fairly weak when it comes to the clear vocals thing and the whole song is clear.
This is an atmospheric album without a doubt and it is worthy of picking up whether you are into metal or not. If non metal fans can get over the growls and the seriously weak clear vocal style they might be pleasantly surprised by the awesome musical gifts these guys have in creating soundscapes that take you right into the songs and the stories they tell.
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