WATERSHED

Watershed can be considered as the swang song of the traditional Opeth sound. Not comfortable resting on laurels, Opeth show more desire to experiment with new sounds than to stay in the traditional extreme metal territory. We have mellow, almost commercial radio friendly tracks, doses of heaviness, plenty of acoustic moments (for the last time) and a clear tendence to sing in clean vocal. Growling sounds uninspired and the voice has deterioriated since 2005's Ghost Reveries. No wonder also that Akerfeldt left Bloodbath in 2008.

With the first track (tender vocal duett) and "Burden", Opeth entered the world of mainstream rock which is melodic and well executed but also a bit too simple for such a band. One of the most brutal song ever and bearing extreme contrasts is "Heir Apparent". Not my immediate favourite, I started to like it more as I heard it regularly live on concerts - where you experience the contrasts even more. Acoustic guitar, piano, doomy guitar smell something coming down and that is growling and very powerful riffs. Growling and death metal spirit is not as majestic or sophisticated as we usually expect from Opeth - it's mainly about heaviness. Progressive metal with mellotron and acoustic moments with flute are more mature and essential. The definitive headbanging moment comes with brutal death metal a la Bloodbath. Pity that Akerfeldt didn't have the powerful growling vocal anymore to give this song a bit more lasting echoing growl. Many fans also treasure the typical Opethesque chord sequence after the 7-minute mark.

"The lotus eater" has interesting busy death metal drums and combined growling/clean vocals. The inclusion of keyboard is refreshing and sounds more retro. Excellent guitar solo in the middle of the song and later the acoustic guitar bring tender but dark emotions at the right spot. The progressive rock retro section with electric piano is a precursor to later sound of Opeth.

"Porcelain Heart" is again from the doomy world but we manage to get a heavy/progressive metal instrumental section and harmony clean vocals. The clean acoustic Akerfeldt led passage reminds me of "The moor" "Hessial Peel" is the closest nod to progressive rock, well developed. However, the song gets heavy in the second half maybe reminding us that Opeth come from the metal corner but prefer being progressive at any time. We also get growling after a long time, not sure if it brings much to the song development but it can considered a heaviness climax.

"Hex Omega" could be a sister to "Porcelain heart". Kudos for nice electric piano playing. The mischevious chord structure can only be played by Opeth so well.

It is my least preferred traditional Opeth album. I admit I don't like so much the compositions but playing and sound are excellent. The band has made another step (forward) and that should count for progressive fans.