WATERSHED

Watershed follows up Ghost Reveries which to many, including myself, is an all time classic of progressive metal and that album showed the band infusing elements of progressive rock into their sound to probably the strongest degree that they ever had at that point in their career. Watershed arguably does even more of that and along with that there's a really interesting vibe and atmosphere to this record, they continue to explore that romantic yet very menacing sound found on Ghost Reveries. However on this record, it generally feels like a very downbeat and somber final chapter of something which in many ways, that's exactly what it is. Lead singer/songwriter Mikael Akerfeldt says that after this record he had felt that he had fully and exhaustively explored the progressive death metal sound the bands career had been based upon up until that point, and I can hear where he's coming from in a way based off the general tone of the music. This album just sounds like a fitting ending, but i'm certainly glad that it was only the ending to this style, rather not the ending of Opeth because over the next 10 years they showed and continue to show they had a lot more to say. Also worth mentioning is that this album marked a pretty significant lineup change with longtime guitarist and drummer Peter Lindgren and Martin Lopez leaving the band to be replaced by Fredrik Akesson and Martin Axenrot. I think in general these changes were never especially polarizing because both of these guys are incredible and extremely competent musicians and this was evident right away. While Lopez brought some extremely iconic and memorable rhythms to the band that give many of those classic records that special flair, I have to say I prefer Axenrot and some of his jazzier stylings. He delivers an absolutely killer performance front to back here, but I think he reaches his highest peaks on a couple of the following albums as well as in a live setting.

The album opens with Coil which is this really peculiar but gorgeous cut that carries almost a bit of a nostalgic feel. There's these gorgeous oboes and (maybe?) clarinets in the background and the vocal lines are all incredibly melodic and singable. The lead alternates between Akerfeldt and a guest female vocalist which is something never before seen in Opeths music up to this point in their discography. The song menacingly fizzles out leading straight into Heir Apparent which is an absolutely earth shattering cut. One of their best songs, hands down. It's one of a very small selection of Opeth songs that exclusively uses harsh vocals. Even on Blackwater Parks title track there's some clean backing vocal harmonies in some of the softer passages and during In Mist She Was Standing there's some whispered vocals, you'll find none of that here. However, for those of you who love that dynamic and contrast in Opeths music, it's very much still present as the song moves from section to section and for perspective I listened to this song for well over a year and it never actually hit me that there were exclusively harsh vocals until someone pointed it out to me. The track opens with these dark brooding guitars raining down on you under this real slow and striding rhythm before Akerfeldts brutal vocals come in. This song develops into a maze of filthy riffage and it's just impossible to not headbang at every turn here, like take 2:27 for example, everything about what happens there is just obscenely cool. The track has these strong peaks and valleys as following this, it fizzles down into this very mellow and chilling interlude before it leads you right back in with an acoustic guitar riff abrasively switching it right back into top gear with the band firing on all cylinders. Following this very chugging passage it smoothly lands into a super groovy and almost psychedelic section with a swelling and droning guitar lead on top of a distinct acoustic guitar part that really moves and this is exactly what i'm talking about when I say the contrast is still very much present in the music despite the absence of clean vocals. As following this, it goes into yet another absolutely brutal segment before the music turns into a chaotic tornado of sound that gets released into this epic instrumental ending playout. I think this song is absolutely perfect and a highpoint of their career.

They keep the momentum up with The Lotus Eater which clocks in at just about the same time as Heir Apparent and keeps the bar pretty much just as high with plenty of creative and well executed ideas. The band enters with a machine gun blast beat while Akerfeldt sings clean vocals on top of it, it sounds absurd in writing, but it's just one of those things that gives this song and album so much weird and quirky personality. There's quite a bit in common with the previous track bringing of course more nasty riffage but i'd also argue there's even more ground covered between the heaviest and softest moments of the track. Around halfway through the song settles down into a little bit of a mellow and ambient wave giving the listener a little breathing space. As this passage goes on you can slowly hear the song rebuilding itself and coming together to lead into the next section and I think it'ss really well executed as is the eventual transition it's building up to. This awesome distorted electric piano riff takes the lead bringing us into the final stretch of the song. I love the eerie sound bits that end this song, they sound so.... Watershed. The same can be said for the next song: "Burden." This ones a fan favorite and it's Opeths take on the classic mellotron led prog ballad. It has a very mystical and dreamy aura around it and I think it's quite the unique track. A couple minutes in there's an extended rocking organ solo and I don't really have much of an opinion on it. I think it's a little dispensable and doesn't quite carry the weight of some of the guitar soloing that will come up a little later in the track. After another repeat of the verse along with some vocal harmonies, Akerfeldt and Akesson trade off dueling melodic camel-esque guitar solos eventually coming together for a memorable unison. The track closes in a very unique way, but it's another case of me being a little lukewarm on something in this song. There's a repeated acoustic guitar part for the final minute and change that is progressively downtuned throughout. It's not exactly pleasant to listen to, but I think that's very much the point of it. It's supposed to make you uncomfortable with it's very jarring sound and it's another one of those things that give this record that distinct vibe I keep bringing up.

The next song, "Porcelain Heart" is one that i've always flip flopped on and been on the fence about. Sometimes I really get into it, but other times i'm iffy on it. It's a bit of a slow burner and its repetitive by design, as between each repeat of the verse the band unleashes deeper and deeper into polyrhythmic chaos. While this sounds awesome, I'm just not super huge into the main vocal melody presented in the verse, and it's repeated a lot throughout. It might be a little too dramatic sounding for me and on top of that, I think some of the transitions between these sections can feel a little touch-and-go, perhaps the two main ideas in this track don't exactly jive all that well together. I do really enjoy the aforementioned instrumental parts of this song and how they build throughout, but there's another acoustic interlude later in the song that once again sorta falls into a little bit of an overdramatic camp. This isn't a bad song, but I think it misses the mark a little bit structurally and doesn't quite justify it's 8 minute length. The next song Hessian Peel is excellent throughout and pulls things back up to the high quality found within the first 3 songs. It once again opens with this melancholy melodic guitar lead that fans of Camel like myself will certainly be enthralled by. I really love the opening of this song as it feels like a glimmer of light shining through this very dark void the rest of the album has built up to this point. There's a strange backwards vocal lead like nothing i've ever heard before and once again, there's not better way to say it, it just sounds very Watershed. It kicks into a shuffling groove backed by windy acoustic guitar and some pretty romantic and hopeful sounding mellotrons in the lead spot. It keeps developing this section and it's clear throughout the first 5 minutes that this is very much just straight up progressive rock. However, halfway through you hear this tapping organ charging towards you and the song does a complete 180 and dives head first back into progressive death metal land and this change up is awesome. It's especially effective because at this point it's actually been over 20 minutes since you last heard any sort of guttural death growls back on the Lotus Eater. The guitar and organ lead is very dissonant and frantic sounding and it's almost like you're back into riffy Heir Apparent land until 7:24, where it really satisfyingly drops you back into a sweet clean passage that doesn't forget to keep the song moving. They do another spin on this passage at 8:29 with a sick acoustic guitar lead riff that along with the somewhat off kilter drumming, sounds like it's in an odd time signature, but you might realize you can still comfortably tap your foot to it. This is an awesome track and there's a ton of replay value within it.

Hex Omega is the closing track and overall, it's pretty good. It opens with a nice headbanging riff before settling comfortably into a bit of a lowkey verse. Listening back now I actually think this might be somewhat of a better execution of the Porcelain Heart style song as it goes back and forth between this pretty cool verse and instrumental hook. Though halfway through it kinda comes to a stop for another mellow and somber electric piano interlude. It's fine and generally inoffensive, it doesn't really go anywhere or lead into anything particular so it makes me question it's purpose. The main verse cadence fades back in and I appreciate the subtle guitar playing and atmosphere they bring along with it. After the vocals take you through another lap of the verse, a really slow doomy guitar riff takes place of the main hook and brings you into a real ominous ending playout closing out the record. Overall it ends up being a little bit of a middle of the pack song, which is fine in the grand scheme of things. Watershed is a good record and I think it's very much a textbook 4 star album which it would appear progarchives rating does justice to that sentiment. There's no dud here in the tracklisting, but I think the album peaks a little early and you can't help but compare some of the lesser songs to the real goliaths of this album such as Heir Apparent and The Lotus Eater. The strongest quality about this album is the sinister tone throughout and it's an precise itch that I'm yet to find on any other album and that's what brings me back to Watershed. A good end to a brilliant chapter of Opeths career, I highly recommend some of the bonus tracks, especially Derelict Hands and Bridge of Sighs which I'd argue could have had a place on the record.

4 Stars