WATERSHED

This album is one of the more different ones from Opeth. With much less growling, it seems like the band is changing it's style.

The first song, Coil, is an acoustic song with clean vocals that is very atmospheric and even uplifting at times. The female vocals on this song adds a nice touch to it, giving it more of a "whole" feeling. 8/10

The second song sounds more like the "typical" Opeth. It starts out with a droned, guitar chord that sounds almost out of tune. After this a soft piano part begins, making the song sounding a little bit lighter. Now the growling starts, with lyrics of rage. After about a minute or so, a fantastic guitar solo kicks in, keeping your attention and reminding you that this is still a (progressive) death metal band. The solo is then balanced out by an acoustic guitar part before the growling starts again. But then, what is this? A keyboard part with some soft guitar parts. But again the acoustic guitar starts leading to the growling. Overall I think that this will please the people who did not like the first song. 9.5/10

The Lotus Eater starts out with clean vocals, which in my opinion, are better than some (not all!) of the growling done in this song. After a line or two of growling, we hear more clean vocals and... a flute? I think that this song has a good balance of non growling and growling, while it is very diverse (there is even a keyboard section!), there is nothing that really grabs me here. 7/10

Burden is a fairly soft song that is very touching. There is no growling in this song and mainly acoustic guitars. After the second chorus, there is a keyboard solo that will bring Keith Emerson to his knees! It is simply wonderful! The last minute of the song is led by an acoustic guitar the gradually becomes out of tune. I think that overall, the song is one of the best ballads in a long time. 9/10

Porcelain Heart can best be described as dark. There is a metal section that transitions to acoustic while reatining the song's integrity. But there is really nothing too memorable about the track. 7.5/10

Hessian Peel I think best represents Opeth's current sound. The first part of the song starts off acoustically, and it's a little boring. The second part of the song is just brutal reminding me of Blackwater Park. I think this song will either be loved by fans of growls and clean vocals alike, or hated by both. 9/10

Hex Omega is a metal song that shows that Opeth can still be metal without the growling. Although there is really nothing special about this song, there is nothing to dislike either. 6.5/10

Overall I think this would be a good starting spot for Opeth if you don't like the growls. This album shows many changes in style and is very consistant, but sometimes boring. I would recommend this to anyone who likes prog metal, but I don't think that it is essential. 4/5

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