WATERSHED

Watershed ? 2008 (3.4/5) 11 ? Best Song: Burden? After revolutionizing death metal and reinventing progressive folk rock, you'd think the band members would be content with sitting on their asses ordering fancy Swedish pizzas from pizza delivery companies with names I couldn't pronounce. They probably did that for a time, but now, a few years after their excellent Ghost Reveries, they up and decided to give the fans another. My first reaction to the thing was: Gosh, this is an older record. Let me rephrase that. My first reaction was: Gosh, this is a more mature record. It sounds as if the band's aged a good ten years. 'Coil' is haunting, with a female singer thrown in to make things sound more reverent. If anything, Watershed seems to showcase the band in a state of willingness to retread old ground. It's a shame but it's true. The material is still more than solid. 'Heir Apparent' rocks several levels of ass, with a thick-as-concrete riff. They also know how and when to solo ? a trait lost on most metal groups of the epoch. As much as I enjoy the overall style, I can't help but feel as if they're not taking any risks anymore. Watershed feels a lot more like Still Life than it does either Blackwater Park or Ghost Reveries. 'Burden' is undeniably beautiful, though. They haven't lost their touch for bracing melodic sense, though. 'Porcelain Heart embraces dreary hard riffing and gothic calmness like the best of their work', but this is possibly the first case of Opeth going through the motions and delivering product built around an inherent formula.