WATERSHED

A relatively weak release by Opeth standarts, Watershed, like Ghost Reveries before it, proves that Opeth really is past it's prime, forced to stick to it's traditional formula instead of treading new ground.

Fortunately, that formula is an effective one, and Akerfeldt manages to squeeze enough new ideas to make Watershed quite an entertaining listen. 'Burden' is the only track that really sounds like nothing the band ever did, but there's quite a few unpredictable moments throughout the album, such as the funk-like riff in The Lotus Eater, or the female vocals on 'Coil'.

Unfortunately, the album also suffers from several other problems: Akerfeldt's death growls are not used nearly as prominently as they should, damaging the famous Opethian dynamics, and the songs are relatively short in length, and therefore fail to achieve the famous 'adventure'-like listening experience that the band usually provides. these major flaws, along with many smaller ones (such as Axenrot's inferior drumming and the weak guitar tone), lower the album's grade even further.

Overall, this is still a bit of an improvement over ghost reveries, despite not being as good as Opeth's first 7 albums. 3.5/5