Ranking the Studio Albums: Opeth

The fact that fan's lists are so different and diverse is a testament to how great Opeth's entire catalog is. Its virtually impossible for me to do a list on this band, however I could easily compare this band to other metal bands!

For me it’s very simple. 1. My Arms, Your Hearse 2. Everything else

You might be the only person on the planet who’s favorite Opeth album is Sorceress haha

Morningrise is the first album i heard from Opeth. I was hooked after that. To bid you farewell is amazing. Black rose immortal etc.

I did posted a ranking a couple weeks ago, and I love all Opeth albums but for me it’s 1. Deliverance 2. Blackwater Park 3. Still life 4. Ghost reveries 5. Watershed 6. My arms your hearse 7. Damnation 8. Morningrise 9. Sorceress 10. Pale communion 11. Orchid 12. Heritage Edit: Writing this like a year after I posted this, and I think still life or Blackwater park is my favorite, and deliverance is 3rd, GR is a very close 4th. Hard to judge as all of their albums kick ass. A lot of the ranking for me has changed for me to be honest.

Opeth have so many great albums, but Ghost Reveries is the best of all their styles both heavy and light. A masterpiece.

Doing worst to best is definetly better, great show Pete!  Some ideas for next "Best to Worst" Albums : PFM -Symphony X - Steely Dan - Echolyn - Kansas - Pantera - Dixie Dregs - Zao (the french band) - Ayreon - Fates Warning - IQ - Return to Forever - Meshuggah - Univers Zero - Neal Morse - Greg Howe - Shadow Gallery - Soft Machine - Banco - Spock's Beard - Toto - Death - Marillion - Gentle Giant - Steve Vai - The Mars Volta - The Flower Kings - Between the Buried and Me - Dream Theater - Devin Townsend - Weather Report - Led Zeppelin - Van Der Graaf Generator.

THANK YOU! Watershed is wayyy underrated.

I’m curious to see how you would rank Jethro Tull albums.

Hi Pete! One thing about Opeth is that none of their albums are duds! This band has really matured musically! Very dedicated in their crafting of music! I respect them for that! All their albums are just great stuff! So, there's no way I could do a list! Great video! Thanks!

uffff.. its an almost impossible challenge to rank Opeth albums, i love all of them, but i will try my best to give my opinion, as a prog fan and metal fan 12. Heritage - love some moments in there, but its just a bit to quiet in some ways, the cut with all the stuff before was rough aswell to take as a fan. 8/10 pts. I feel bad for putting this on the last spot though. 11. Sorceress - I know its a great album, but somehow when i listen to it, i am really missing some old opeth features, not neccesarily the growls, but i think some more heavy chords and real metal riffs could have made it sooo much better. 8/10 points 10. Morningrise - Not so sure about it, except "To bid you farewell", most tracks sound similar to me, Balck metal part after acoustic guitar after black metal part... "To bid you farewell" on the other hand is the very first, but maybe the most beautiful opeth ballad to me. It has a crazy atmosphere and makes you fell a very unique way when you listen to it. This track alone should probably set the record to a higher ranking for me, but i just didnt want give a single track such a high influence on the ranking 8.5/10 (7.5 without to bid you farewell) 9. Orchid - Similar to Morningrise, but it has some really psychedelic vibes in some tracks, that are absolutely unique and i never heard combined with black metal like this on any other album (check "under the weeping moon") 8/10 8. Pale Communion - Magnificient Opeth record in their post - deathmetal era, best one so far. Love "Eternal rains will come", "moon above, sun below" and "river". Somehow, i really dislike "Cusp of eterenity", my least favourite Opeth track, idk what was going on with them with that "aahhhaah"- Chorus. Still, i dont want to give single tracks to much weight in this list. 8.5/10 This is were it starts getting tough, i am totally fanboing for everything from Opeth between "My arms your hearse" and "Watershed".... 7. Still Live - I know this is a top 3 opeth record for many fans, it has great, long, complex, proggy, heavy and heartwarming Songs, every single one on it actually. Still, in my opinion its missing a tiny bit of atmosphere compared to some albums, and some wildness compared to some of the others that i have ranked higher 9/10 points 6. Damnation - its just so hard to compare damnation with the other records, its defenetly a masterpiece, and if you say you didnt get that much into the second half of the record, you probably just didnt listen enough, i find the second half even better than the first, personally. "To rid the disease" and"closure" are absolutely outstanding tracks 9.5/10 points from here on, since 10 years i struggle to decide which i like most, every single one of those have been my number 1 record for a while, and it might change every day.... 5. Watershed - This one i cant decide with place 4, you might just switch them up in the ranking if you want. what can i say? absolute prog metal masterpiece, crazy stuff in here. Listening the album as a whole is a 10, if you rank track by track its maybe a tiny bit weaker than the top 3 in this list. 9.5/10 4. My arms your hearse - Dude, next to Demon of the Fall you listed the Outro and Madrigal, a short instrumental, what the heck? This album ist just raw, its pure, there is no other opeth album that has this kind of energy. In my opinion, this record was the biggest step in the evolution of opeth, its just SO much more complex, prog stuff going on than in their previous record morningrise. Also Mikaels disorted Vocals switching from Black Metal screaming in morningrise to death Metal growling on this one is a great step. besides the legendary Demon of the fall, every single real(!) track on this album is a killer that comes really, really close to it. Only missing a nice ballad eventually. 9.5/10 points 3. Deliverance - "Deliverance", "A fair judgement" and "Master apprentices" are all like 11/10 tracks. Brutality, great riifs, gigantic tranistions, incredible Beauty especially on Fair Judgement and the filling instrumental "for absent friends". Just the first and the last track on the record i consider a tiny bit more generic, but still 9/10 tracks, so the whole record gets its 10/10 2. Ghost Reveries - In its sound a bit similar to watershed, like you said, a great comination of Deliverance and damnation. sick prog metal masterpieces with crazy transitions, no words needed, 10/10 1. Balckwater Park, what else could be here? The title track is not only a Prog Classic if you consider the instrumental work, its also simply the heaviest Death metal track ever written. Its sounds like the end of the freakin world. What else to say about it? Oh wait there are seven 10/10 tracks leading up to this song i was just talking about. 10/10 points

At the moment: 1. My Arms, Your Hearse 2. Still Life 3. Morningrise 4. Blackwater Park 5. Damnation 6. Watershed 7. Heritage 8. Deliverence 9. Ghost Reveries 10. Orchid 11. In Cauda Venenum 12. Pale Communion 13. Sorceress It’s hard because they almost have a flawless discography!

I completely agree with this list, in its exact inverse - respectfully. Big fan of your content and insight brother

DOES ANYBODY KNOW What opeth albums have no growl vocals,I love the music but can't get that vocal style,

Man, we have SO different rankings 13. Sorceress 12. Heritage 11. Pale Communion 10. In Cauda Venenum 9. Damnation 8. Watershed 7. Ghost Reveries 6. Deliverence 5. Morningrise 4. still life 3. My Arms, Your Hearse 2. Blackwater Park 1. Orchid

You can't do a "worst to best" with Opeth because they're all good. You have to do a " the album I like the least to the album I like the most".

I can't get behind your list-mine would be radically different-but I am damn glad you did this....cool channel,keep up the great work...

1. Blackwater park, still life, my arms your hearse, watershed, ghost reveries, deliverance&damnation, heritage 2. morningrise, pale communion, orchid, in cauda venenum, sorceress. ranking them in any other way is nearly impossible i just love them all in so many different ways

Hey Pete. I went back and rewatched all the rankings. I’m curious to know where you would place their newest album “In Cauda Venenum” at on this list

I love 70s prog and classic rock, but I much prefer Opeth's heavier material. 1. Still Life 2. Blackwater Park 3. Ghost Reveries 4. Deliverance 5. Damnation