OPETH — Watershed (review)

OPETH — Watershed album cover Album · 2008 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Pekka
2005's brilliant Ghost Reveries introduced Per Wiberg as an official recording member of Opeth, bringing along his vintage keyboards to refresh the band's sound to great effect. The time between Ghost Reveries and the next album Watershed brought two more new members, with Martin Lopez and Peter Lindgren quitting due to health and motivation problems respectively. Yet another Martin was introduced in the form of drummer Axenrot, who despite perhaps lacking some of Lopez's most subtle touches is an extremely solid and powerful drummer capable of handling the softer parts as well, and taking the other guitar was Fredrik Åkesson, about whom I honestly can't say anything, since I have no idea which guitarist plays which rhythm and solo parts.

Usually Opeth's albums begin with a bang or a fade-in followed by a flow of metal, but Watershed is launched with a truly gorgeous ballad, Coil. Originally intended as an interlude, Mikael Åkerfeldt turned it into a proper song when he hear Martin Axenrot's girlfriend sing. This fantastically beautiful duet between the big Å, whose both voices improve with every album, and Nathalie Lorichs serves as a perfect intro to A Heir Apparent, a track among the most brutal Opeth tracks ever. If not the most brutal. The one-note onslaughts around four and five minutes are absolutely devastating, and Wiberg's keys bring a twisted edge setting an atmosphere never heard on an Opeth album. The same growing keyboard presence is apparent in The Lotus Eater as well, which also makes great use of blast beats, dissonant fragments of melody, silence and a quirky instrumental section. All these tracks are among my favourite Opeth songs, as is Burden, a stunning power ballad with essentially a basic pop song structure, an explosive organ solo by Wiberg and a fantastic vocal performance by Åkerfeldt. And the fascinating air of weirdness is maintained by a detuned guitar outro.

But unfortunately four brilliant tracks in a row lead to a big let down when one suddenly doesn't meet the standards. Porcelain Heart is a considerably more plain track, even borrowing a distinct rhythm from The Grand Conjuration from the previous album. Despite this and it's slight disjointed nature it's a good song, only not near the opening foursome. Hessian Peel is a step up with its first half containing some very beautiful moments and the latter some brutal headbanging goodness, but as a whole it's still somewhat shapeless to me after two years of active listening. The same goes for the closer Hex Omega, a good enjoyable track, but not very memorable.

This album contains the most brutal, the most beautiful as well as the weirdest moments Opeth has ever recorded. And perhaps the best sound. If the rest of the album would be on the same level as the first four tracks, this would be my favourite Opeth album ever.
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