WATERSHED

Ok, so after another long wait, the prog metal masters are churning out their ninth album release. Expectations are high, very high. Will they live up to the success of Ghost Reveries? Read below, I hope I've managed to explain what I think in an as unbiased manner as possible.

1. Coil: Different from the start. I don't know of who it reminds me, but probably Deep Purple or someone similar. It has this subtle 70's feel which I like overall. Different, but good nonetheless. Mike's vocals are not to my liking however. ~1:20 there is a nice change that sounds very old proglike. The female vocals fit in very well, unlike what I expected. Crisp and dry, just like Mike used to record his voice. Very short song, about three minutes long. Good overall, but nothing spectacular, ending with something that reminds me of the series Lost: a kind of whooshing sound that increases in volume, leading to the... to the... [7]

2. Heir Apparent: ... to the Big Bang! There, right in the middle of your forehead, a huge smack composed of dissonant, hellish tones hits you like a speeding train. The childish part of me jumps up and screams @w3s0me!. Ok, great. But it really does sound good. And when the piano bit comes in, the contrast is just pure Opeth. Nice. 1:07, another train crash on your forehead. And then the processed growls. And I mean, really processed. They sound evil as hell. Cool stuff. The guitar riffing is also great, leading up the very good break at 2:30 on to my favourite riff. Very metal, yet proggish as can be. Around the three minute mark we get Akesson's solo, which though quite shreddy, does not jut out of the style. I must say I like it too, though it doesn't have the feeling of the Akerfeldt blues. This is followed smoothly by a quiet part with some layering, and herein we meet the first big problem. At this point, ~3:57 or so, the moody part transforms into a repetitive acoustic riff without warning, which in my opinion, simply lacks creativity. Moreover, this acoustic riff is suddenly followed by quick drum break and heavy riffing. No. Definitely lacking. This is not like the train wrecking your forehead in the beginning, which was a beautiful continuation. No. This is pure and simple disjointedness in the songwriting. One of the worst I've heard in any Opeth song. The heavy riff itself is quite uninspired too. Anyway, this goes into a very nice clean part overlaid with a moody dark guitar melody. Unfortunately, again we get the repetitive acoustic riff and the disjointed heavy riff at 5:30. Nothing much to say here. A typical hellish riff at around 6:30. Nice. This goes into another short but very well done crunching riff at around 7, rising up to a chaotic crescendo. And that's all... but no! There's more! Oh the beauty. The harshness of the orevious riffs transforms into a beautiful melodic ending ala Ending Credits or Epilogue. It sounds like pure gold to my ears at this point, and the transition is perfect this time. This repeats for a minute or so, but never feels repetitive or anything, finally fading out on a fedback note. Phew... Very mixed feelings on this one. Barring the jittery transitions and a couple of uninspired riffs, I would have given the song a 9, but I can't. Very good nonetheless. [8]

3. The Lotus Eater: Starts interesting, with Mike humming. Argh... this heavy riff kicks in, with Mike... well... singing. I dislike the singing. Very much. Definitely does not sound Opeth. I almost can feel a commercial tinge to it, but anyway. Same goes for the vox transition at around 1:00. The guitar riffing at this point alternates between proggish, interesting, and simply generic. 1:47. No. I don't like this at all. Neither do I like the happy sounding vocals. The music is on the whole very dark, and the vocals really strike a badly dissonant chord with the instrumental music. I like the extremely dissonant guitar melodies at around 3 mins. At 3:40 you get the typically beautiful and bluesy solo from Akerfeldt. It's very welcome here, though a bit on the short side. Nevertheless, very well done. The song calms down, sometime after the 4 min mark, turning very nicely prog rock for a short while. The transition at 5:10 sounds quite jittery too. An experimental part follows at around 5:50. Offbeat keys and interesting drums. Good. Then you get more happy sounding vocals. The growls are well done, however. The guitar riffing is very dissonant and dark. At around 8:00 the riffing stops to allow a cacaphony of whispers and talking through. I can hear Akerfeldt himeself at some point. Well, that's it. Not very much to my liking. [6+]

4. Burden: Beautiful piano intro, with whining guitar on top. Melancholic. As the drums and vocals kick in, first thought that lights up in your head should be Deep Purple!. Not a ripoff, and very well done. I like the vocals this time, although they are very different to what Opeth's done in the past. The song feels quite balladish up to this point. The prog keys are simply amazing. Wiberg knows his stuff. Still, the song feels quite a bit out of place at this point. I would have put it at the end, as it has this very closing feel to it. The prog influences are everywhere. The bluesy solos that start at 4 mins wail in a subtle yet heartfelt way. The melodies that start at 5:15 sound very familiar, similar to Heir Apparent's ending and Epilogue, etc... Then the song fades into an acoustic guitar which at first starts fine and then is progressively detuned until it all gets ridiculous. This is all concluded with a recorded laugh that is heavily processed and repeated. In my opinion, this last bit ruins the rest. Otherwise, a good song, though not in the best position. [7+]

5. Porcelain Heart: Drums and heaviness from the start. I like the riffing, though it sounds somewhat generic at times. A nice acoustic interlude at around 0:47 with subtle harmony. Very, very dark. Mike's singing brings up dark images of a desperate man in a gothic setting (as portrayed rather cheesily in the video). The heavy riffing from the beginning again. At around 2:15 there is this chaotic desynchronization between the guitars and drums that just about blows your head apart. Very well done indeed. Again the song calms down with more dark melodic singing. At 3:30 a guitar fades in, accompanied by a heavy chunky guitar. Hmm, nothing to die for at this point. 4:30, a sudden fadeout to a slightly distorted guitar. Sudden changes seem to be very common in this album, unfortunately. The next bit, with the Mike's falsetto singing, has very cheesy lyrics. Rest your head now, don't you cry. Please. 6:20 or so, a very Camel sounding melody fades in, with heavy riffing kicking on top. Nice, but not amazing. Some vocalizing and that's pretty much it. Not bad, not very good. [7]

6. Hessian Peel: Well, it starts off western sounding, hehe. Except for the bass that is. And then a quick paced acoustic and slightly distorted lead melody. An accidental every other bar keeps things interesting. Quite backgroundy sounding till this point. 2:06, reversed vocals (haven't tried putting them in order yet). This is followed by some Dream Theateresque sounding keyboards (sounds close to something off of their last album if I recall correctly). Some repetitive doodling on the same theme for quite some time. Not half bad though. I don't really like the elative guitar riff at around 4:20. A piano comes in at 5:22. A very welcome change, which transforms immediately into a short prog sounding interlude before a heavy quick paced brutal section kicks in. The transition may be too quick and sounds so so. The kick drumming is furious and heavy. This is followed by a prog section that yearns to be done on damped distorted guitars but is just perfect as it is. 9:30+ is a very dischordant part. There might be some overuse of dark dissonant melodies here. It all ends with some fading bass and techy sounding keys. I don't know what to make of it overall, but I don't feel like I've listened to anything very consistent here. It almost tends to become a jumble of individually good parts at times. *Sigh* [6+]

7. Hex Omega: Heavy from the outset, though quite generic sounding and not very inspired in my opinion. Chaotic concoction of drums, distorted, and clean guitars. This quietens down, with some synth playing a melody. The following bassline and overall setting sounds right off of Repentance in Dream Theater's last album. I don't know whether it was intentional or not (considering that Akerfeldt himself is heard on that track, along with Steve Wilson, etc.). Some more heavy riffing and a fast solo which does nothing much to me, followed by a forlorn sounding key section at around 3:20. Very beautiful indeed, throwing me back into a 40s kind of film-noir mood. The moody psychadelic section with the DT bassline follows yet again. Another gritty transition at around 5:30, leading into a very full sounding heavy guitar section. I bet they layered everything many, many times throughout the whole album, evident in parts like this. The repetitive melody fades out on the synth. Something seems missing. Not too good. [6+]

I can't say I wasn't disappointed. I am very disappointed. At the same time, this was not a complete waste of time. Being an avid Opeth fan, I can say that it is definitely better than most other releases you get in the mainstream market, but unfortunately I feel the band is taking a step in the wrong direction. Call it experimentation if you will, but it seems that most of the songs had a few extra minutes to them that were chopped down during the recording phase. Real intentions or external pressure? I cannot say. Furthermore, you get these wierd effects at times that sound like a failed effort to sound interesting, like the guitar detuning, laughing, and some overly processed sounding bits here and there. Some riffing sounds uninspired and generic like I've said. Otherwise, there are some pretty good parts, especially in Heir Apparent. I don't feel that the new band members had any real effect on the quality of the music. If anything, they are technically proficient. The problem (in my opinion, always) lies with the songwriting. The focus seems to be more on the general atmosphere than the complex guitar work we've seen in earlier releases, at times almost classifying the music as doom. Some will like it. Others, like me, won't. And the fits and stops that mar the album won't help. OVERALL, 7.0