WATERSHED

My first opinion when i bought Wathershed was that this was a true masterpiece. But now, a few months later, I can say I was wrong. I belive many people makes this mistake. They listen to an album, gets excited and rates it five stars, even though the album probably isn't that great. Well enough about that...

Wathershed starts off with beautiful Coil, I truly love the balance between Åkerfeldt and Lorichs voices. Then it gets heavy, really heavy. Heir Apparent is the heaviest track on Wathershed that is Opeth's least heavy album ever (except Damnation of course.) Next track The Lotus Eater is another heavy track, but this one is more progressive. I love the way that Opeth experience new things without getting bad. Next track Burden is quite different from their original sound. It's a bit Dream Theater kind of ballad with some great solos and a strange outro. Porcelain Heart was the first single from the album. It's really not that good and I don't like the way the pieces is put together here. The song doesn't develope and the feeling I get is that this is just some random pieces of music that they have put together in a bad way. Then it's time for the highligt on Wathershed; Hessian Peel. A masterpiece which I would say is one of the ten best Opeth songs ever! The album ends with Hex Omega which is another boring track that doesn't develope.

Among the bonus disc tracks is Den Ständiga Resan a very beautiful Marie Fredriksson cover. Very similar to the orignial but Åkerfeldts voice adds an extra dimension to the song.

It's not a masterpiece but still a good album. It's bad that I can't find the feeling of the album as whole but there is still 4-5 great songs and this is an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

Rate: 4-