There's A Demon in the Drapery

[@deminybs]

"demons need love too" -Lauren

[@Rose-From-the-Dead]

The Moor. Opening track to the greatest album of all time.

[@lucianoastudillohenriquez2866]

I agree

[@sultanalkhader1630]

Yup it is my favorite Opeth Album & the especially “the moor”, but lets not forget “Face Of Melinda” they are the highlights of the album imho, although its a concept & its better to listen to the whole album from start to finish…☕️ lets agree on that🤷🏽‍♂️

[@gj4312]

It's either bwp or still life. I definitely think bwp but they're both in my top 5 albums of all time

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

Best Opeth song ever written !.. thank you for reacting also to this one ☝️.. 🖤🎸🎵🤟🏼

[@ertz5489]

thanks lauren for reacting to this song. greetings from Chile. please react to hessian peel next time . 🙏

[@skabeche81]

I like your sincere, honest and natural reactions

[@Johnytomm]

I agree with the phrasing, it's so good in that section "A lullaby for the ones who've lost all, reeling inside"

[@bernhardkrickl3567]

Around the time of that record Opeth used an "e-bow" a lot. They still sometimes use it but back then it was a pretty prominent element of their signature sound. What is a "e-bow", you asked? You know, violins are played with a bow which enables the player to sustain a note endlessly. On a guitar you pluck the note and then the volume decays more or less quickly . An "e-bow" is an electronic device simulating a bow. It is a small box with a battery and an electromagnet that you hold close to a string and the magnet will keep the string vibrating until the battery dies or your arm falls off. Whatever happens first ;). So you hold the e-bow in place with your right hand and with your left you hold down a note and, without lifting your finger you slide across the fretboard to make a melody that never has a pause or drop in volume. It produces that eerie, haunting sound that, if I understood correctly, you mistook for a mellotron. It is also not a "slide guitar". I can't remember Opeth ever playing slide guitar. That would sound different, because the volume is not sustained but more importantly you would get to hear all frequencies in between scale notes during the sliding because with a slide you do not press the string down to the fretboard.

[@bekfasttime7001]

The song itself is about a toxic relationship. The soft vocals represent the more vulnerable, sad side of the speaker’s view on the relationship. The growls represent their frustration and rage.

[@PaulHilburger]

The Swedish Demon is coming to take your SOULLLL

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

LOL

[@bobbyanderson7133]

I have a few things to add. *The sound you asked about is slide guitar. It allows the guitarist to move seamlessly between notes. I'm going to assume you already know what slide guitar is though and just leave it at that. There is a ton of reverb on it as well. *The reason there's no end note is that some of the songs on this cd end into the next song. The Drapery Falls picks up where Harvest ends. The Drapery Falls ends into Dirge For November, which finds Mikael sounding almost painfully whispering. Even though Still Life is the only true concept album from them, my opinion is that alot of their music is written with a concept album in mind, and then for whatever reason, things change. Bleak, Harvest, The Drapery Falls, and to a lesser degree Dirge For November, were recorded so that they flow into the next song. *I used to call it the Demon as well. I think he uses the growls to create an alternate personality within the song - almost as a separate entity. Eventually, I stopped thinking of it as the Demon, and came to recognize it as the violent/angry/painful side of the song's narrator. *Burden is nothing like the previous songs you've heard. There are no growls. But, it's still a great song, so you'll like it. Keep reacting to Opeth! They're a great band! Subscribed.

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

4:00 spooky sinister guitar and “PLEASE REMEDY MY CONFUSION AND TRUST ME BACK TO THE DAY” ... 🎵 🎙 just LOVELY!..

[@hazembenabdelhafidh3286]

Harlequin forest next it has more dinstinct sections if that's what you want. And with opeth you have to feel the music not listen to it! Great reaction btw :)

[@jlm10181978]

Congratulations on 1k subscribers!!!!!!!!

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

Thanks! :)

[@jlm10181978]

@@MusicCatsandCoffee love the content and your refreshing reactions will hopefully gain you many more subscribers!!

[@victorlojero8318]

I might have to revisit some of your other videos but I think this is the first where I can't recall any Corey "Freaking" Taylor references in it, lol. I'm glad you are enjoying Opeth, they are an amazing band. One I wish to see live someday. I highly recommend watching some of their live acoustic versions.

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

Oh no, I think you're right. I'm slipping. :)

[@victorlojero8318]

@@MusicCatsandCoffee When you mentioned listening to the Moody Blues because of your Dad it brought up lots of memories. I almost forgot how amazing that band is. There are so many bands of that era that I wish to discuss with you. But my main inquiry is this. Are you familiar with Saint Raven's cover of Nights In White Satin? I really think you may enjoy it, also please share it with Dad. :)

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

11:30 🕦 the lyrics are about the topic of the Concept album 💿 where this song come from . People trapped in desperation in a BLACKWATER PARK. A Hunan state of mind more than a real place

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

I don't listen to this song too often but based on your comments, maybe I should. lol

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

@@MusicCatsandCoffee i think so. BlackWater park is a concept album 💿♥️ and for me this is the perfect song 🎵 out of there

[@Celatra]

i honestly really like your honest reaction and also i find it hilarious that you find the "demon" sections funny lmao xD always good to get humour out of a song i guess, as for the fade out, you make a good point, but I think some songs should just have 2 versions, the live and the studio one. songs like this cannot be replicated in full scale with only 5 band members on a stage.

[@jacksonthetaco165]

I highly recommend you check out the band Porcupine Tree. Earlier Porcupine Tree inspired Opeth, and Opeth inspired later Porcupine Tree. Plus, Steven Wilson, the main songwriter and producer for Porcupine Tree produced the Opeth album you just listened to a song from. I recommend you start with their song Arriving Somewhere but not Here. Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth plays a solo on that song and you’ll also like the fact that Porcupine Trees music contains no growls.

[@GhoulishGrinMedia]

I may be mistaken but I believe that the sound you were hearing on top of the acoustic guitars was an electric guitar. However the petal used makes it sound less fuzzy and more like wailing. And combined with the recording technique gives it an ambience like it’s in the distance. They have that sound a lot in this album and it gives you the vibes of being in a dark forest, much like the album cover. I just love it.

[@KazraineMaars]

@LaurenSeeWrites was correct, it is a slide (unhelpfully named finger tube thingy) often used in more country style rock often with clean type sounds but as you said there's a lot of production used on the album version too for that haunting buzzing far away sound. I remember seeing them use the slide live but they can never quite emulate that cool almost reverse tone from the album :( Also the vocal EQ effect (basically a high pass filter) is lovingly referred to as "telephone voice" by the band who picked it up from producer Steven Wilson and then used it a lot on these particular 2000's Opeth albums! :D

[@KazraineMaars]

I just realised you probably were talking about the ambient leads in the intro/outro sections not the slide part :P But yes so many cool guitar textures and production in general regardless!

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

Finger tube thingy! I knew it! :D

[@dafff-23]

It's an electric guitar drench in delay and reverb effects with the use of an ebow

[@adamburdick4353]

to your question @ 6:18. That instrument is a slide electric guitar.

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

6:45 priceless your face in the reaction

[@markblaauw4961]

Think I might know why you are accepting the 'demons voice' more. It's probably because Mikael Åkerfeldt knows when to add that voice in a song. Also, the music keeps on being melodic. That combination of things makes it acceptable at first and awesome when you get used to it. You're welcome😊

[@markblaauw4961]

BTW subscribed. I like the way you comment things. Be sure of more Opeth (?) Also like the Slipknot thing.

[@mellertid]

The not quite megaphone is a telephone (as in landline) effect, cutting out both treble and bass for a legible but kind of "dry" sound.

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

1:32 this bass line at the start and then at the end is just serving the song 🎵 in an insane way

[@andresaedozapata7549]

Yeah Burden is a different one, very straight forward. And the voice of Mikael, beautiful!

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

7:50 starting the best growling ever

[@chokovok7231]

A great 50/50 growl/clean song would be Bleak from this same album

[@Nagl1981]

First Opeth song i heard, still my favourite =)

[@thefounder681]

The ebow was blowing her mind

[@satanvenit]

In the studio version, the instrument that sounds like a harmonica during the intro/outro, is just a guitar using an Ebow, which is a magnetic device that you hover over the strings and basically sustains the note forever. They don't use in the live versions however, and instead just use just the guitar with a compressor with high sustain. Also, you were correct about the sound during the verse, which is a regular electric guitar with a slide and some effects layered on top.

[@andreknippschild1105]

It's a guitar, played with a slide bar (could be a brass or metal pipe or made of glass), mixed far into the background using a lot of reverb to create that eerie, creepy vibe... .

[@mr.monroe4076]

Demon of the Fall if you want full demon.

[@anypsotis7976]

Isn't there some clean at the end though?

[@moonfool4042]

Heir Apparent and Blackwater Park are the only songs with full demon!

[@anypsotis7976]

@@moonfool4042 Yeah I think you're right, I can't seem to remember any others (perhaps one of the demos of the first 2 albums? I dont remember those)

[@mr.monroe4076]

@@anypsotis7976 you're right I forgot about the run away part. Blackwater Park is an amazing song tho. That's a journey.

[@3601-c3k]

@@anypsotis7976 In The Mist She Was Standing has even less amount of clean singing than Blackwater Park, Mikael just sings 3 notes around 2 minute mark and wispers few lines. However, technically, Heir Apparent is the only Opeth`s song that doesn`t have Mikael`s clean voice at all

[@massacrationable]

No one has more originality and uniqueness than Opeth (as in Mikael Akerfeldt). Literally all the songs are different, yet a few seconds into the song and you know it’s opeth.

[@Scirzo]

You're a fun reactor. I think you might like The Ocean - Jurassic Cretaceous. About the Cretaceous extinction event...or is it? Metal, progressive, clean and demon voices (but more like the singing ones you mentioned in this song and less dark) Big fat German accent. Well no not big fat, but distinguishable...Lol!

[@HattemAlHajry]

An EPIC song indeed.

[@_BLACKSTAR_]

Mikael is one of the few vocalists who can do cookie monster voice & still enunciate the words clearly enough to be understood.Wheras alot of vocalists doing that style are all about the style & arent intelligible at all even when you try reading the lyrics along with the song.

[@toxicred_9510]

Harlequin Forest next plz

[@wildtruthfacts]

About the sound, it's not a finger tube thingy, not a mellotron, not a fuzzy ambient pedal, it's an ebow, you can find it on almost all the opeth records.

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

15:09 clever comment

[@neelmukherjee9690]

Best song from opeth!

[@dutchmastah07]

I know you probably have a lot of Opeth requests but if you could please, please react to “To Bid You Farewell” by them? I can’t get any KZbinrs to react to it lol. Everyone always upvotes the more popular songs by them and it doesn’t get enough to attention to me. It’s one of my favorite songs ever and I’d really appreciate it.

[@dutchmastah07]

I wrote this comment before I seen your video of The List lol. Sorry. I know you have a lot on your plate.

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

I do have many songs on the list, but on the plus side, I really love making Opeth videos so I'll be doing more of them.

[@GetzGoth]

By any chance has "The Contortionist" been recommended to you. They are the first band with a part time Demon that I have actually begun to warm up to. Their vocalist also shares some similar vocal stylings with Maynard from Tool. You may like those cats. If you were to check them out you might like to start with Primordial sound or Return To Earth. Cheers!

[@fhare666]

Not a harmonica, it's called an eBow. It's a little battery powered box you put against electric guitar strings and it makes them vibrate as long as you want them to, never decaying, and therefore sounding a bit like a synthesizer. Opeth use the eBow a lot to create haunting long atmospheric notes, especially in the earlier recordings, because there was no full time keyboardist in the band (there is now).

[@robin-38-]

Why haven't you done Demon of the fall yet?

[@fernandapereira4623]

Demon's love songs 🖤🖤🤘

[@fhare666]

Although they may use a real Mellotron in the studio, I believe they use Nords live. Mellotrons ceased production in 1986(?). A Lot of synthesizer makers have Mellotron sounds, but Nord makes some of the best. Very distinctive sound.

[@exscape]

I don't think picking out the bass and sticking with it is weird for this track! It has one of my favorite Opeth basslines together with Bleak.

[@JJay2410]

Check out the bands Skyharbor and Irepress!! Cyette Phiur is an amazing epic by Irepress and Guiding Lights by Skyharbor is beautiful!

[@vince8081]

I'm surely not the first to say that, but you have to listen to Katatonia, great sweeden band, friends of Opeth, lots of albums... and no demons. :)

[@effectosis742]

They use quite often in this era E-bow , which makes endless sustain of the guitar and sounds synthic ... like here : kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2TJi314icZjrtU

[@antoniomoreno6982]

Demons are a girl's best friend

[@linusfotograf]

That instrument is simply a guitar played using a slide.

[@Kaufmanesque]

If you are to learn anything about Opeth, it is that nothing in the songs are accidental.

[@KillerwhaleTRX]

Ebow shit....

[@deathdefier-mf7ei]

React to dead memories by slipknot Corey’s vocals are awesome

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

I did. :) It was one of my first reactions.

[@Heavymetalparkingattendant]

Don't bother trying to make sense of the lyrics lol

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

Yeah, I think you're right. :D

[@HattemAlHajry]

@@MusicCatsandCoffee This song is about "depression", and how it might consume you

[@egilskallagrimsson2941]

When they were still good.

[@chikenspongebob5434]

They still are. Just not on the same level.

[@nicolascinquepalmi5849]

@@chikenspongebob5434 They still are. Just at a different type of music

[@robertevans2143]

Bought my first Opeth CD, and it will be my last. Just don't get it. Great musicians and talented. Tried to like it but no way. Music should make you feel good, but this just makes me feel depressed. The CD I bought was Sorceress. I think they should just stick with the music and scrap the lyrics because they are just nonsense. And you can't understand what the hell they are talking about anyways.

[@chriscoote2690]

Opeth is not the band for you if you are looking for happy upbeat lyrics...the music is killer though.

[@Celatra]

opeth is MEANT to make you feel melancholic. that's exactly the point. and you can understand quite alot of what is sung or even growled. btw Sorceress is garbage. should have gone for Still Life, Blackwater Park, Damnation or literally any other album but sorceress. even In Cauda Venenum or Pale Communion or Heritage would have been better.

[@robertevans2143]

@@Celatra I have heard good things about Blackwater Park so maybe I will give that one a chance. It figures that I would buy the worst album to start! lol

[@Celatra]

@@robertevans2143 bwp is the one with this track. My personal favorite is Still Life, however if you don't like Growls, go for Damnation. In Cauda Venenum is another pick for all cleans (i would highly reccomend the swedish version as it's the canon, the true version, even if you dont understand the words, there is just so much passion in Mikael's voice) Pale Communion and heritage are also great and Heritage is crazy technical too If you want a bit of both but leaning towards all cleans , Watershed is your pick. Ghost Reveries is considered their magmun opus by some, but I disagree. If you want straight up black metal go for Orchid or Morningrise And then there is My Arms Your Hearse, which is this weird transitional album The bass was recorded by Mikael so its underwhelming compared to the rest of the Opeth albums And then there's the rushed Deliverance that was written under a hurry and lots of negative feelings due to the situation the band was in People love this one but i just think it feels unpolished compared to the rest

[@Celatra]

@@robertevans2143 ranking the albums rawness / radiofriendliness from raw to friendly 1 orchid & morningrise 2 Deliverance I may not like this one but i cant deny its heavy 3 My Arms Your Hearse & Still Life (Becsusue they have longer clean sections but the songs here are absolutely brutal holy shit) 3 Blackwater Park Their breakthrough album. Strikes a nice 50/50. 4 watershed. Half of it may have no growls, but good god this album is jusT HEAVY, especially when it comes to the subject matter of the songs, and the songs themselves are either crushing or just plain sad, they make me often cry lol 5 ghost reveries. Despite the songs being heavy, they feel alot more calm. 6 sorceress The bad production and use of downtuned guitars give it a heavy feel. 7 in cauda venenum Same as sorceress minus the guitars. Difference being, this is much better in quality 8 heritage & pale communion Nothing to comment here, they're soft but good 9 Damnation Their only album that is almost all acoustic. Written at the same time as Deliverance, but this one is a straight up masterpiece. Some of their all time best songs are on here too

[@Fitchie69]

Opeth - Harlequin Forest (Live at the Royal Albert Hall) Please

[@MusicCatsandCoffee]

I'd love to do a live video for this band but a few more songs first. I'll probably do some kind of poll.