Beardfish anyone?

**sergio** · 10-05-2013

Beardfish... anyone? This is the next big thing. Truly inspired. i started with Mammoth, quickly followed by Void. Then stacked up on the whole back catalogue. Funny how Opeth came up with that vintage tone not very much dissimilar to Beardfish's. But Beardfish reinvented it first. That snare drum application... something to die for

**polmico** · 10-05-2013

Love 'em, but I'm not seeing the similarity with Opeth.

**sergio** · 10-05-2013

I just mean that whole vintage vibe in the tone. Not the material as such.

**progeezer** · 10-05-2013

Absolutely one of my 10 favorite current bands!

Rikard S. is the Swedish Mort Sahl or Dick Gregory

.

**SteveSly** · 10-05-2013

Great band and I think you will find a lot of fans here. I have had the chance to see them live twice and they were great both times.

Steve Sly

**thedunno** · 10-06-2013

I like me some Beardfish.

I am not too happy about the heavier direction they took with The Void and Mammoth although I understand why they do it. My favourite albums are the Sane Day and Destined Solitaire. I still do like "the Void", but for me its a step down.

**gibberish** · 10-06-2013

I like the Mammoth album quite much, tho The Void went a bit heavy for me. Destined Solitaire is heavy at times as well, but good. Beardfish is a blue collar band that always tries to please. I think they do a good job of that.

**Progatron** · 10-06-2013

Love them. People don't mention their debut album much these days, but it's a killer.

**bill g** · 10-06-2013

The Sane Day is great, as is Mammoth. Also felt 'The Void' was a step down but still good. Solid songwriting for sure.

**Plasmatopia** · 10-06-2013

Originally Posted by sergio

I just mean that whole vintage vibe in the tone. Not the material as such.

I knew what you meant.

Beardfish (and most everything Rikard has been involved with like Gungfly, Bootcut, and his Cyclonmannen album) are fantastic. They're right up there in my top 5 or 10 bands (considering it's only 5 or 10, it feels increasingly crowded, lol).

I really like the debut album and I think it's pretty much on par with everything else they've done. The Void is one that took longer to appreciate. I don't mind the heavier direction so much as the fact that the album has a harsher, more brittle sound. Less warm analog vintage vibe. The drums and guitars are designed to rip your eardrums out.

Looking at the ratings on ProgArchives I can see I'm in the minority in my belief that Sleeping In Traffic Part II is one of the weaker albums. It's the highest rated (and most rated) Beardfish album on that site, but for me it's not as good as the two that preceded it or the two that followed it.

**sergio** · 10-06-2013

introduction of heavier tones only allows them to expand on dynamics. How heavy is Ludwig or Lights? Check out dynamics in Note. I personally like cranked up guitars.

**polmico** · 10-06-2013

While I really like The Void, I agree about the brittle harshness. Even with that, it's my favorite album from the band.

Disagree about the retro thing, though.

I can namecheck the influences on Opeth's last album (Oh look, there's a Deep Purple reference, there's a Tull reference). Beardfish doesn't wear their influences on their sleeves quite like that (though they are there, even quoting The Nice/Emerson on Destined Solitaire).

For an obviously namechecked retro vibe check out Astra and Wobbler--both great bands but both obviously showing their retro influences.

For me, Beardfish takes some obvious influences but doesn't fall completely into that retro category (and, again, there's nothing wrong with being retro).

**Joe F.** · 10-06-2013

Love Beardfish, but The Void is my least favorite album from them.

I got into them when The Sane Day was released. I prefer it and the first album followed by Destined Solitaire and Mammoth. They seem to be trying to fit in with the Inside/Out stable of bands, and removing the Zappa-esque influences their first few releases had. I prefer my Beardfish with a hefty keyboard influence, which was missing on The Void.

**Progatron** · 10-06-2013

Originally Posted by Plasmatopia

I can see I'm in the minority in my belief that Sleeping In Traffic Part II is one of the weaker albums. It's the highest rated (and most rated) Beardfish album on that site, but for me it's not as good as the two that preceded it or the two that followed it.

I love that one. The huge epic is magnificent IMO! But I truly do like all their albums quite a bit. It took me a bit longer with both Destined Solitaire and Mammoth, but I eventually warmed up to those as well. I personally prefer the first four albums to anything that came after but they're all great in their own way(s).

**sergio** · 10-06-2013

yip, thats nothing to do with retro, but rather vintage. It's how N.Morse once said "to get a good guitar tone, you need a good guitar and a good amp". So you get all these guitars with not much processing there and that raw edge in production which makes it sound very lively and human. Minimise compression etc (isnt it the way S.Wilson produced his Raven lately). Was going to mention how similar the snare drum sounds to Lopez on Opeth-Damnation. And Lopez always maintained that Damnation was his favourite (and hard hitting drummer he was). Very creative.

**Teal** · 10-06-2013