Alright, we're gonna dive into some Opath. Here's Hopelie off the Damnation album. And yeah, Stephen Wilson produced it, Stephen Wilson from Borg Pine Tree. And I just read that Mikhail Ackerfeld, the From Man of OPED, his grandmother died during the recording of Deliverance and Damnation. So he dedicated both of these albums to her. And I bring that up because there's so much added in this song. And it's called Hope Leaves, right? Um let's get into it. And there's a lot to say about it. I mean, there's pretty much like three intersections and they're all just so beautiful, and that's like why I chose to break this one down. So it's on capo two, right? So I'm just gonna label everything like E minor, A minor. The song is in A minor. It's actually in B minor because of Kot 2, but I'm just gonna call it A minor to keep things simple. And the riff, the sound of it, look. No, it kind of has like a radio-y kind of effect to it. And I'm getting this sound, which is similar to the original, by a little bit of reaver, but I'm doing a high pass and a low pass filter. So the high pass kills the lows so that the high frequencies pass up, right? And then a low pass kills the highs so that the low frequencies shine more. So I'm doing both of them, and then when you do both of them, it kind of if you really accentuate it, it sounds like a telephone kind of effect. So I'm like moderately accentuating it, nothing too crazy. Killing lows, killing highs, letting the mids cut through. And that's how you get that kind of radio effect. I also have a sansamp plug-in, which is uh kind of like a little bit of saturation, a little bit of distortion. Such a gorgeous riff. This is uh section one, right? We'll call it section A or section one. Now, the way I'm playing it is 5x550. Okay. That's like the main pattern, and then the bass goes and then everything else repeats. And then what's going on if we were to just simplify it? Well, we're doing A minor, but it's like A minor seven. It's actually A minor nine because it has the which is the major ninth or the major second. The major ninth is just an octave up.
SPEAKER_00Right?
SPEAKER_01So it's like an A minor seven chord with the added nine, so it becomes A minor nine. And then so that that's very important. That's like the other chord here. It's essentially just A minor to F, which has the G as the gap. Like it like bridges the G kind of bridges both chords. So it's like A G E F G A F. So it's pretty much A minor to F, right? The G and the and that quick E are just acting as like a bridge. And anytime you go from A minor to the six, which is F, it just sounds like deep and dark. I talk about this chord all the time, and so many of my favorite songs, so many of your favorite songs have the six in it. It's a very I I always describe it as deep, dark, it's very emotional, right? Look how different it sounds if you just do A minor to G. It's very different than that's the sixth chord, okay, in the key of A minor, the sixth chord. F. Okay, now this song, section one really relies on this chord progression, and Mikhail's vocal melody corner beside a window. He's just outlining the key of A minor, um, but it's just so beautiful, right?
SPEAKER_02And the corner beside my window hangs a lonely full ground. There is no reason I never notice memory that could hold me back.
SPEAKER_01I watched here be here comes section B, okay. Section two. He does like this is Opeth right here, okay. Oh like that is Opeth, and that's what he does. Like, apparently I've heard comments in my Harvest video that Mikhail doesn't like know a lot about like formal music theory, like education. He's not formally educated on music theory, rather. And he just kind of explores things with with his fingers and his chords, right? And uh I could see that. I mean, look at this chord is insane. Like those chords are insane, but what you have to know is that in the key of A minor, he's playing F sharp, which is the major six. It doesn't belong in the key of A minor, but not only that, he makes it a crazy chord. It's like F sharp, right? Sus, suspended, with the flat five. The flat five is like kind of devilish, it has a tritone in it, right? Like look at that. And then we go down to F, which is the six, right? But he does a crazy chord. It's like F major seven with a flat five or a sharp eleven, they're like the same thing essentially. This is like the most opet section. Pretty much every OPET song has stuff like this, just like outlandish dissonant chords. But it's right after that beautiful A section, right? So one more time it's like memory that could hold me back.
SPEAKER_02And then there is a wound that's always bleeding. There is a room that's always walking, and I know.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I love that he's saying there is a wound that's always bleeding, right? There is a road I'm always walking. It's like it's very tense in this moment. I mean like it's like falling down. It's like devilish raindrops, right?
SPEAKER_02There is a wound that's always bleeding.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's just saying bleeding, it's just like falling down.
SPEAKER_02There is a room I'm always walking.
SPEAKER_01Okay, now we're gonna break out of this tension, right? Watch, it's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_02And I know you'll never return to this place.
SPEAKER_01This riff is insane. This song has always stuck with me in the Damn Nation album. I remember when I as I was listening to this album for the first time, I was like, yeah, this song really sticks out as being so beautiful. Like I love the mix, like the reverb on his voice, his vocal performance is like insane, right? It's so well delivered. And I love the tone of the electric guitar. And I love the bass too. Like, oh, we'll talk about that. But the way he gets out of this progression. Watch. Right? And then so now he doesn't do the F sharp anymore, he goes F G, which is like makes a lot of sense to the return to A. So just like the A section, the first section one, right? That's an A minor, and then section B, the that's like revolves around like a weird F sharp chord and then F. Now when we get out of it, we go F G A. And it's just like is outlining the key of A minor. In a very like clever, like just beautiful way. Like that's just one, two, three, four, five, seven. Like that's just the A minor scale right there. Right? And it this is the chorus, and it's lyricless, right? He just he just like fades into it. You'll never return to this place. Okay, now watch this. Right here. That only happens once that transition. He goes. Okay, so he's just doing the power chords F, G, and then right here. That's the flat second. He's outlining B flat. He's outlining B flat. It's like a Phrygian move. Phrygian is a minor mode often used in like flamenco music. It's I just love the timing. Oh. And then the Lee guitar joins in, it's like And then the bass joins watch. And as he does that, like he goes, Oh man. And then the drums. Oh, it's such like a vibe, it's such like a great groove, nice and clean groove. And this might be my favorite verse. I just love watching this.
SPEAKER_02He goes, On for days without talking. There is a comfort and silence.
SPEAKER_01Oh man.
SPEAKER_02There is a comfort and silence.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Like it's so sad. Man, this this was my favorite part growing up.
SPEAKER_02So used to lose. Right here. Whole ambition.
SPEAKER_01Like the way he says it, it sounds like he says haul, but he's he's saying so used to losing all ambition. But he's like, whole ambition. Beautiful words. It just like sounds really nice with the melody, and his voice and the mix, like the reverb on it is great.
SPEAKER_02Struggling to maintain what's left.
SPEAKER_01And then back to the troubling chord, super tense B section.
SPEAKER_02There is a one that's always playing. There is a road I'm always walking. But I know you'll never return to this place.
SPEAKER_01And he doesn't do the He doesn't do that, right? He goes. And then it falls into That's so nice. That's like open 225. And then we do like the flat five. Or the sharp 11, whatever you want to call it, like raise fourth or flatten fifth. Really? Like OPETH, right? Look at this. This is OPETH, just dissonance, beautiful dissonance, and then love that. I think he does that. He goes. That's like two, two on the D and G and then two open open. Starting on the A, and then that's the six chord, right? It like catches you. Up to the G. Like beautiful movement. Like we're late. So it's like we're like A. So we're like A leading to the F, the six, and then the seven chord. And here's the five chord, but like first inversion, like the third is on the bottom. Look at that. And beautiful. And I love this. I love. He lets all those notes ring. And I I think they like tur slowly turn like that amp feedback. It's kind of feedback. It's like ringing notes. It's so beautiful. It's like a thick condensed cloud. It's like. Oh, listen to that moment. Like the the the tom fill. The moment going into this final verse is beautiful.
SPEAKER_02Once and done.
SPEAKER_01I always thought he said once I'm done, but he says once undone.
SPEAKER_02Once and done. There's only smoke burning in my eyes to blow to cover up. What really happened? Right here. Force the darkness unto me. Right here. There is a road that's always bleathing. There is a road I'm always walking. And I know you'll never return to this place.
SPEAKER_01The gates are opening. So just to recap, there's essentially three sections. The first section is right. Pretty much A minor to F. Again, I'm on Cape O two, so it's actually B minor to G. But A minor to F, the minor one to the seven, and then the next section, we got this crazy F sharp chord. It's just the it's just F sharp O peth, is what it is. And then and then F G. But it's like an interesting chord, right? It's like with the add nine, suspended nine, I guess, suspended two. And then the C section, the third section is that like it's so beautiful it didn't need the vocals over it, right?
SPEAKER_02Just please.
SPEAKER_01Serene. Oh, it's so gorgeous. Hope you enjoyed that, guys. I'm always happy to break down some mo path. If you'd like some free ear training, check out my audio practice guide. That's at learn.dambericuda.comslash practice. And if you're interested in working with me on a production level to bring your songs to life and work with me to really craft out your sound, check out learn.dambaricuda.comslash own your sound. Really appreciate you tuning into Barracuda Breakdowns, and I'll see you in the next episode.