BLACKWATER PARK

This became my third Opeth album in my collection and there were a few things i've noticed from my first two buys. I know that Still Life had a more mellow sound with some great heavy riffs and that Ghost Reveries had more proggressive riffs through each track as there were so many changes in each that you really had to pay attention before getting lost. But Blackwater Park well it was different for me but in a very good way as this is one of Opeth's finest works. Well first off the riffs in each song had more of a groove than a straight forward fast riff like most of these death metal bands do. i mean literally i found myself swaying a little bit in these groovey riffs like the ones from The Leaper Affinity and Bleak. Plus the solo was different i mean it might be an inspiration from Steven Wilson but the solos are more hard rockish than shredding which is really cool i really like the way that Opeth did that in this album. Plus the vocals well to me on this album is only downfall cause i feel like at times Mikeal shouldn't growl as much in certain sections especially the title track but the clean vocals really surprised me on how pure they were almost pop sounding unlike the other two albums. These changes really made me think of how unique Blackwater Park as each song really displays something new. The Leaper Affinity and Bleak both display great stuff from Opeth with unique Soloing, Groove inspired rhythms, great clean vocals (not to big on the growls of course), and well they just sound so tight. Harvest is yet another grand Opeth acoustic track featuring some really great clean vocals from Mikeal and i think Steven is singing on this one too. The Drapery Falls gotta be honst wasn't really into this until i paid ALOT of attention to it and i love this song now. To me it has more of a dark epic feel with the traditional sounding riff of Opeth with a very melodic solo. My favorite part is the cool changes from the acoustic sound into the raging riffs with the AWESOME DOUBLE BASS by Lopez (WHY DID YOU LEAVE WHY OH WHY) sorry anyway then it goes into Dirge for November which really isn't one of my favorites but it has a nice intro with awesome clean vocals. The Funeral Portrait ROCKS one of my favs. with some great groove riffs and what seems like duel soloing from the guitar players very awesome. Then another short nice little acoustic with Patterns of the Ivy. And then into the monster of the album BLACKWATER PARK!!! this song rocks as the riffs get very dark but still has an awesome groove and the solo OH MAN IT KICKS BUTT. the only thing that bugs me about this song is that there are no clean vocals but that doesn't take away how great this album is. So a definite buy for all Opeth fans as they show more diversity that they can be more than just a death metal band as they can be so much more. there are some parts i feel they could've done better so i will give it 5 stars but to me its more like a 4.5 for me. but still great album by the swedish metal monsters

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