BLACKWATER PARK

I read the various reviews posted in Progressive Archives regarding Opeth's Blackwater Park that referred to this as a Prog masterpiece so I had to give them a try. I do not like death metal and I admit that I was sceptical because the samples that I heard did not appeal to me. There are other reviews from reviewers who say they don't like death metal, but really liked this album and this band so I thought that if I heard the album as a whole or if I gave it a few listens it would grow on me. It didn't. Based on the music I would rate them as a 4 star, excellent addition to any prog music collection, but the death growls or "cookie monster" vocals just do not appeal to me and ruin the songs for me, thus the 2 star rating of for collectors/fans only.

For me, the best songs on this album were Patterns in the Ivy, an instrumental, and Harvest, a song where he sings with a normal voice. I think that both songs would appeal to Porcupine Tree fans since their is definitely a touch of Steve Wilson heard here.

This is probably sacrilege but I know that there are some good bands that have recorded some good music in their native tongues and then in future years re-released their music with English vocals. If Opeth were to do that with this album except to change the death metal vocals to a normal singing voice vocals then I might be first in line for that re-release. Until that day happens, I would recommend that if you don't like death metal vocals then there is a good chance that you won't like this album either.

P.S. I have also listened to Damnation and like what I have heard there so far. I will give it a couple more listens before I post a review but so far so good (no death metal vocals). I haven't read the reviews of Damnation yet, but I suppose that the big fans of Opeth probably don't like Damnation as much as their other albums for the same reasons that I like it.