WATERSHED

Considering this is my first ever review, I have decided to pick an album I am very familiar with I have listened to this album time and again, and it's absolutely fantastic. Competing with the previous album 'ghost reveries' I feel would have been counterproductive considering it was near perfect, so opeth this time round went for something different, Involving much more melodic and acoustic intervals between the heavier thrash riffs, a much more experimental and gentle Opeth emerged which derived from the use of complex soundscapes and more sophisticated Prog song writing. The album starts with the softest song a three minute track involving some female vocals which is a new for opeth, this track gives me the impression that akerfeldt is destined to go solo in the near future with he himself saying that he would like to, 'coil' which is the name of the track doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album and should have really been a bonus track showing akerfeldt's soft vocal talent, on the other hand it does feature some very nice acoustic guitar almost reminiscent of the damnation album. The second track 'heir apparent' starts off where 'ghost reveries' left off a very nice heavy track but not to the quality or standard of anything like beneath the mire or reverie/harlequin forest of the previous album. It does boast a lot more keyboard orientation, and is a much slower track to the rest of opeth death metal songs, and does have some lovely guitar work including a very nice solo coming towards the middle of the song which urges a great solo ending time change into acoustic opeth. This type of heavy to soft time change opeth has grown accustomed to but it's always a welcome break in every song. The song then re- enters the heavy metal guitar and growling from akerfeldt and after a minute or so breaks out into an amazing guitar riff accompanied by some lovely drumming and mellotron to end a nicely worked song. The third track starts with some unusual humming which I personal feel is a great way to start such a heavy track like 'the lotus eater', as the name suggests this very heavy melodic metal, is a fine example of opeth's better work. And although it packs a very fast paced beat and features a lot of thrash guitar work the growling is combined much of the time with the clean vocals of akerfeldt this only improves the heavier bits and makes a fresh change. Akerfeldt himself admitted this is one of his favourite tracks saying it was very unusual and weird. The track throws in some very unusual yet impressive guitar and keyboard combinations and gives us some more of opeth trademark brilliant heavy riffs. This track is without doubt one of opeth's best and it was extremely welcome on this album. 'Burden' is single handily opeth's greatest soft track it brings together a soft mellow Prog tone with a somewhat sombre mood. This song like the album is very experimental in terms of opeth combining lots of keyboard and some more great guitar, the powerful feeling given to the guitar is something of a miss in most of Opeth's more gentle tracks, but just like the guitar in 'Windowpane' from 'damnation' it adds so much to the mood created by the piece. The track ends with a transition from normal to de-tuned acoustic adding some more unusual aspects to the songs in this album, in a way it ruins the complex momentum built up in the track, yet it also expresses the willingness to experiment and try new things this can only be good to the build up of Opeth's next studio length album. The fifth of the seven album songs is 'porcelain heart' this eight minute track combines one long heavy metal riff that throughout the song breaks down into the gentle very sombre and haunting acoustic guitar, soft vocal parts where Mikael Akerfeldt really shows his talent. The riff then reoccurs getting more distorted with some great drum work, some more soft vocals in sue and as the last interlude ends, Then enters the staggering riff which builds in power, until the end of the song. Hessian peel at the start feels very inspired by the softer classical folk Prog than anything you would expect from opeth, considering it is in my opinion the main song of the album. The very powerful feeling created by the acoustic guitar starts the song in a very typical opeth way, but then comes in the strangest riff of the album very classic folk rock; the song from then on carries with the well constructed tuneful singing and acoustic guitar topped with melodic keyboard, and almost as expected a beautifully powerful and elegant metal riff emerges from gentle melody (one of those hair stand on end moments) and as softly it started it fades back into more soft and tranquil acoustic guitar and piano tuned keyboard. Then as if to relive the past heavy tracks on the album comes some death metal vocals, at last and although they are brief what comes next is simply sublime, so powerful and meaningful are the guitar sounds and that mutates into a nice metal riff followed by some clean vocals over impressive drumming and more melodic keyboard, the song finishes on an organ beat similar to that on 'porcelain heart' which fades out giving an end to a strangely beautiful opeth masterpiece fitting for any album, but perfect for this one. 'Hex omega' the last track on the album I thought would have finished where 'hessian peel' left off with much more death metal growling, but it was on the contrary this song had more emphasis on akerfeldt's clean vocals which gave rise to a softer atmosphere, akerfeldt's voice is stronger than usual in times and he obviously favours this song because he was very powerful when they played this live, this song also introduces more of Per Wiberg onto the album with his almost jazz inspired keyboard playing. Overall a good Finnish to the album but was lacking that more epic ending like 'Blackwater park' back in 2001 or the 'grand conjuration' on 'Ghost reveries'. Out of the bonus tracks 'Derelict Herds' is by far the strongest combining the heavy riffs of opeth with the some quite unique sounding vocals, I really don't know why they didn't include this as the first track replacing coil as a bonus track because it truly is a wonderful song. The two covers are also pretty good, 'den standiga resan' is sung beautifully and there are some memorable solos in the end of 'Bridge of sighs', but the song is very repetitive. Overall the album as a whole is a much more sophisticated and progressive experience, everything is well constructed and has clearly been thought through, some of the experimentation and decision making has been a bit unusual and unsettling however as a whole it's brilliant. Songs such as 'Burden' and 'hessian peel' are a fantastic inclusion to the album and a more sinister melodic tone has been created in opeth's work. The only downside to the album is that when compared to albums like 'Ghost reveries' and 'still life' the songs seem less meaningful and the album doesn't flow or intertwine as well. So given all the circumstances and taking everything into consideration id give this album 4.2/5. A truly wonderful journey through the sombre and melodic atmosphere of one of Opeth's finest albums.