The much awaited new album from Opeth leaked tonight when I was at work, and it will most certainly be living up to expectations. Coil starts off with clean guitar and singing, a trademark for bits of the newer Opeth albums, and I must say it's done masterfully. Mike's singing has changed a bit but I certainly can't say that it's bad. It also introduces soem beautiful female vocals that are done very effectively at the end of Coil. I wasn't expecting the first track to be completely clean, but Opeth immediately deliver at the end of it, with some awesome guitars at the beginning of Heir Apparent. Again with the trademark heavy/clean interludes this is unmistakeably Opeth, yet there's something so awesomely different.

The album feels more organic than their earlier efforts and there's so much life in this, the guitars sound absolutely stunning and much better than they have on earlier releases. At times the ambience created will completely blow you away, and the soft interludes fit perfectly in. Mike's growls are even better than ever, and they add more of a natural harsh feel to the music, Bloodbath was a good testament to his vocal abilities, but this just blows them out of the water. The progressive influences can be heard so much clearer here than on for example Ghost Reveries and it really adds a new, greater dimension to the album.

The Lotus Eater brings another dimension to Mike's vocal expertise, with both the growls and clean vocals outshining even Heir Apparant. The guitars are incredibly catchy and memorable, and you can really see Opeth have matured from their earlier material, if such a thing was even possible. The drumming is constructed brilliantly, and it stays away from many of the downfalls of metal drumming, it keeps everything together brilliantly without being overboard. The guitar solo in Lotus Eater is even better than Heir Apparent and it's great to see some well played solos as I've never really found that to be Opeth's strong point. Quiet bits continue to impress as Lotus Eater reaches the halfway point with some incredibly ambient pieces, that despite their generally slower approach never completely lose the momentum of the song.

Burden starts out with a slow piano and ambient effects that sets an incredibly dense atmosphere, which just keeps building as drums and vocals are added. The instrumentals on Burden are some of the most stong and progressive that Opeth has ever done, and it's a joy to behold the band maturing in such a way. The guitars are brilliant, and the same can be said for everything else within the song. It's the second song completely devoid of metal and it's great to hear such progression.

The album progresses further with some lovely acoustic guitars on Porcelain Heart, the lyrics are an obvious downfall but then again they are basically just an afterthought for Mike. The dual guitars work perfectly, and in places such as Porcelain Heart are simply glorious, there is so much depth here, on just the first listen that I can feel this being even more of a grower, definitely with a very high replay value.

Hessian Peel is a very heavy listen despite the acoustic/clean instrumentals, there's something primal about it, and this works so effectively within the album. There are some incredibly 70's styled riffs filtered through the song, and it's starting to become clear that there's a lot of nostalgia throughout the whole effort. This is certainly delivering and has been well worth the wait since 2005's Ghost Reveries. There are a lot of influences that only become apparant if you really look for them, but it is certainly well worth the investigation. There are some incredibly psychedelic parts to Hessian Peel and it's definitely the best layered song on the album.

Some of the more quiet parts of the album are, to me, very reminiscent of Ulver's Shadows of the Sun, yet it's so brilliantly balanced with the heavier metal parts. Although there are some death metal vocals, it never even borders on the genre, this is pure progressive metal/rock and I'm incredibly pleased Opeth have decided to go even further in this direction. The whole album just simply sounds more fun and experimental than the earlier work, and it's clear it's got a lot less pretentia in the production.

Overall the album was incredibly refreshing and certainly didn't dissapoint, actually I don't think much of it dissapointed at all. It's certainly one of the top three releases of this year so far and the score I give will be deserving of such a place. Brilliant from start to finish, with great production, incredible intro's and outro's. The progressive element has been taken up to a whole new step, however it feels a bit more like immitation than their own progression, but that really doesn't take away from the enjoyment. Brilliant album.

Ok, I've recreated this thread and copied Comus' review into it since it mystically disappeared.

I've been away from home and as such, haven't had a chance to give it a full listen. But I've heard half of the songs so far and it sounds good.

A disappointment from top to bottom. The melodies, progessions and structures are very standard Opeth, with the usual dose of painfully effusive sentimentality (Åkerfeldt should really avoid trying to sing folk, it just comes off as comical). Far as arrangements go, other than a few new ideas on the drumming side (well, they do have a new drummer afterall, no major surprises there), there is really very little new here. It feels, in all honesty, like the tried and tested Opeth formula, and in terms of development only continues what they've been playing around with for the last 7+ years. These tracks might as well have been throwaways from the Ghost Reveries sessions.

It's simply just another reworking of Opeth, the result being a fairly generic prog metal album. It's not going to convert any new fans, nor satiate the more demanding among the older ones.

Other bad points include the fact that the studio work is SO evident on most of the guitar lines that it just sounds robotic. It might as well have all been done on midi using synthetic sounds. The human touch has been all but torn away from it and the result is, to say the least, extremely displeasing.

If Åkerfeldt knows what he's doing, he'll try something genuinely different next time and reinvent his band entirely, because hell, a makeover of drastic proportions is needed at this juncture. Then again, with the unduly great reviews the album is likely to receive, I guess they'll feel little need to change. Oh well. Pity.

Huh, I found it completely the opposite. I utterly disliked Ghost Reveries because of how mechanical the sound was.

Listening again, I'm going to try to identify the parts I find to magnify the evidence of studio work.


As a good point I would put in that the album certainly makes for an enjoyable enough listening experience, as Opeth always does. But that does nothing to set it apart from a lot of other equally enjoyable listens.


On the topic of the band's evolution, would you agree that they really haven't changed a great deal since the Deliverance/Damnation era?

Nope, in the studio Opeth is a completely different beast, and now they're finally re-creating the magic they have created live.

And yet they sound more or less unchanged in 8 years of recording...

I used to love Opeth, but this band are now officially among the most redundant, jejune, dull bunches of pure hack-writer journeymen in the history of prog metal and it's so transparent as to be sad (but also funny) that so many seemingly cannot see through it.

Infinitely funnier, though, is the point that those who are willing to settle for this underwhelming tripe are also seemingly the exact same people who enjoy slating WAY more adventurous and inventive non-prog experimental artists.

I find this is the first Opeth album I can enjoy properly since Blackwater Park, and even then I found it tedius, I've never ever called Opeth masterful, I have found their earlier albums boring, pretentious and lacking in any form of energy. Watershed is a step in a completely different direction, the songs now have energy and there's some true form of passion put into it, especially the more prog oriented parts.

The overall sound of the album is completely different as well, there is far straightforward metal, and while the focus on singing reveals some weakness in lyrics, who the **** cares? It's Opeth.

Listen to their earlier albums, and tell me this isn't different.

You may have some points, and so I will redress the topic after listening a bit more.

I have only played the new album once but I was instantly struck by the very clean sound which I don't actually like and a few tracks had the same loud/quiet structure that did'nt give the tracks a huge amount of seperation. I still like it but it needs a few more listens until I can post a more acurate review.

Well first and foremost, the best and most creative album Opeth ever did, by a cakewalk, was Morningrise.

As far as goes what's come out since then, if you're talking the best set of melodies, riffs and complete songs, I agree that it's Ghost Reveries, though it's by no means at all innovative or anything.

Yeah, Morningrise is my favourite... I still haven't had a chance to give this a full listen, but my flatmate has been listening to it non-stop. From the songs I've heard, Burden seems to be my favourite, even if it is entirely clean. Holy ****, the shared leads in the centre (after the vocal part) are brilliant... they're just so fluid and bluesy.

And I guess I was right when I predicted Per Wiberg might have a bigger role in this - what about that 70s synth solo? :D

I don't think that Opeth have released a uniformly consistent album since SL, except perhaps Damnation which can't really be considered a typical Opeth album.

This album is very good on its own but is still disappointing.
I'd rate the individual tracks as;

Coil - awful, one of their worst songs ever.
Heir Apparent - excellent, great growls and will be a crowd favourite at their shows.
The Lotus Eater - arguably the best track on the album and with Opeth at possibly their most technical.
Burden - another great track, the ballad track of the album and worthy enough to be considered among songs like To Bid You Farewell and Face of Melinda as their best work. Reminds me a lot of older Porcupine Tree.
Porcelain Heart - good one, compared to The Grand Conjuration but far better than that disaster.
Hessian Peel - this is like Harlequin Forest from GR, decent track with no bad parts but nothing stands out much either.
Hex Omega - this is a bit repetitive like Porcelain Heart but is not unbearably so. Nice keyboards too.

I guess this has to be the most divisive Opeth album yet; while GR wasn't as brilliant technically it didn't get nearly as many negative reviews either. Also somehow despite trying many new things in terms of instrumentation the sound remains too much typical to the band.

People seem to expect Opeth to blow them away with every new album they release but it seems to me that they finally have reached their limits of musical expression and style. They still remain my favourite band overall but I'm sure that Watershed won't be album of the year for me.

I'd say it was Orchid even though it didn't have the varitey provided by the acoustics in BRI and To Bid You Farewell. It is probably the only Opeth album I still listen to regularly. As a whole I think the songs on Orchid is better than the ones on Morningrise.

Also the break part in Under the Weeping Moon about 6 minutes in is imo the best thing Opeth have ever done.

Edit: the poll seems to be broken btw.

The problem I have with Orchid is that it is so unpolished. I mean, it is a great album, but it was a bunch of ideas piled together at the last second. It was almost like the band just wanted to create the sound. I think the band was smart in doing this though. They established their sound early on and then polished that sound with Still Life and then polished it with a different tone on Blackwater Park. Morningrise, my favorite, is probably the most diverse record of theirs. The folk interludes were also done best on that album.

I think the best thing about Orchid is that I felt it had a sort-of black metal feel to it, which is way different then any of their albums. The guitars were lose and the band sounded like a folk black metal band. When they did My Arms, Your Hearse they moved much more into the death metal genre. That album, IMO, is the most death metal album they have made. Deliverance was heavy, but I thought that album had more of a progressive sound then death. It reminded me of Meshuggah with a more deathy sound.

More deathly sound than Meshuggah, eh? If Deliverance sounds more Death Metal than Meshuggah to you, I suggest getting your nerve endings checked out.

What I mean is Meshuggah is more chuggah-chuggah whereas Deliverence had a bit of that, but still had a really dark vibe to it. Meshuggah isn't really dark. I never found their albums dark, just heavy and dissonant.

Can i change my opinion to excellent?:D
This is turning out to be one of my favorites.
Might seem a bit fanboyish, but i came to this conclusion after listening to it more than 10 times!
Definitely gets better with more listens.

Agreed - it gets better with every listen... I still find Porcelain Heart to be a bit bland and boring, but the rest is top notch. I'll be damned if Burden isn't one of the best songs they've ever written and Heir Apparent isn't one of the most brutal.

They're definitely progressing too - there's a lot synth work throughout and they seem less restrained in that regard... for example, the chicken funk (in the words of a negative review I read) section in the Lotus Eater.

I'm changing my vote too.

Does anyone else think that the keyboard work in Hessian Peel sound like it is from Zelda OTC's Forest Temple? I don't know why, but it reminds me of the music from the Forest Temple.

I thought the same until I listened to it a bit more. I personally think the acoustic parts are better though. Opeth needs to make a folk album because I really want to hear more songs like Coil.

That is a great song. I love the ending where the acoustic guitar is slowly being detuned.

I just began listening to Opeth, starting with Damnation. I listened to this album for a first time a couple days ago, and I thought it was brilliant. I really enjoyed Burden and Porcelain Heart. I thought they blended acoustic and metal riffs very effectively, reminded me of Metallica's Fade to Black.

I love that track...prolly my 3rd favorite now from the album.(only after Burden & Heir Apparent...akerfeldt's vocals are so brutal there)

Anyways, i find that most ppl who dislike this release is mainly on the basis that they haven't progressed all that much. I do kinda understand that argument, but I'm still far from being bored my them. One should just enjoy their consistency. Still very few bands out there try to copy their style.(unlike what happened to 'melo-death' which i just ignore now-a-days) I mean, give me any of their release and I'd still enjoy listening to it.
And their sound is definitely changing imo...The usual long structure and harsh/clean vocals thingy still exist, but the atmosphere doesn't feel the same at all...not to mention, akerfeldt's harsh vocals has definitely changed a bit. More in the vein of Unblessing the purity.
The only thing I'm worried about now is Roadrunner Records. I don't care even if they sell out(or whatever it's called) as long as they do their own thing and nothing influenced by the record label.

EDIT:After another listen, Porcelain Heart has got a bit boring...It's still catchy but i think the problem is that it stretches for too long and way too formulative...But Heir Apparent just becomes better and better with each listen. Quickly becoming one of my all time favorites.

BUMP.

Am I the only one who loves Coil on this album? It's a very good acoustic track, IMO.

I think that this album is one of the best I've heard. It was very rewarding to listen to. "Excellent" is my vote.

The thing is, while I can fully understand that Watershed would sound impressive to somebody not fully acquainted with the rest of Opeth's discography, it sounds like nothing particularly interesting or special to somebody who is. I still think it is the worst thing they've got in their entire catalogue, showing minimal progression and development from where they were 3 years ago. The Ghost Reveries is a vastly better record than Watershed and I struggle to understand even for a moment how anybody could opine otherwise.

Well Rainard, how important is it really that any group must make leaps and bounds on every single new release? Isn't one of the main draws of Opeth the fact that their sound, even as it changed from Orchid onwards, was consistently something of beyond-competent quality composition, both technical and lyric-wise? And over a whole decade at that....

Personally, I would say its fairly difficult for ANY group currently around right now to meet your rather pompous expectations when for the most part, Opeth HAVE improved themselves in almost every instance over the course of their 9 studio albums (and yes, even when compared with Ghost Reveries, I do think they have grown a bit on Watershed).

This isn't avant-garde we're talking about here. You can't expect massive growth on every single damn release. Opeth are not the freakin' Residents! Keep your expectations grounded in reality or YOU WILL be disappointed. Its that simple.

Not to mention the fact they kick-ass live no matter what they play...:)

I certainly do feel that Watershed was a dissapointment and rather bland IMO. Whilst expecting dramatic changes in their sound might shift their demographic too far, Opeth's music has lent itself to be a little more experimental and their heavy/ambient sound is becoming a tad tiresome now. I am an Opeth fan but feel that they could certainly be more experimental if they had the balls to do so.

I can't actually listen through their other albums anymore. Only watershed remains listenable to me.

I still like Watershed. :)

I like Watershed a lot, my favourite.

Do you know also 3 bonus tracks on DVD?
They are different and two cover versions... but it's interesting for me. You can listen to them on Youtube - Derelict Herds, Bridge of Sighs and swedish song Den ständiga resan. Great music, in my opinion they should put it on normal album.
I love diversity in voice of Mikael. When you listen to these 3 songs, in every song his voice is different :)

After a couple of years and a bit more perspective makes Watershed Opeth's worst album and the only one that I don't bother listening to anymore. I'd like to change my vote to average :D

My rating was very good and I still agree with it. I like Watershed.

But after seeing Opeth live and some more listens... Blackwater Park, Damnation, Still Life, Ghost Reveries are so much better ;) Watershed would have fifth place for me.

Opeth never disapointed me :D

Not thier best album, but with a band like Opeth, they are not known to put out bad albums. Personal favorite The Lotus Eater. Overall, very good album.

I absolutely lost my faith in Opeth when this came out. They have steadily gone worse after Still Life. Can't blame them since I consider Still Life to be a masterpiece and it's still one of my favorite albums, but Watershed is a huge dissapointment for me. I don't find it to be that well put together and it feels like a mixtape of bad Opeth songs. There are some good ones in there but as an album it seriously isn't that good.