Ahh, so, We all saw it coming, a new album from
Opeth, and it's what all
Opeth fans have been waiting for since
Ghost Revries was played out (but not worn out). As most people probably already know,
Watershed is the title of the new album, and is the first one to feature the drumming of
Martin "Axe" Axenrot (
Bloodbath, Satanic Slaughter, Witchery), and the epic
guitaring of
Fredrik Åkesson (
Krux, Talisman), and of course features noise from
Per Wiberg, Martin Mendez and the one and only
Mikael Åkerfeldt.
As to be expected the album was leaked to all a few weeks before the release date, which is always a shame. I find it ruin the experience of cracking open a newly bought album, an flicking through the booklet as I hear the album for the first time. Almost feels like
christmas, especially when it's a band as awesome as
Opeth, and an album as good as this one!
At first fans didn't seem all too happy about the different sound, those that '
acquired' it started talking about things that were wrong with it. The
criticism started with the live recording of
Heir Apparent, which I saw the day it was out, and as expected, it boosted my excitement for the album more than you could imagine. Of course it was the bands
first live show since Peter's departure, so you can't really blame the band if they weren't playing 100% on a brand new song, while on a boat out at sea with a lead singer who apparently suffers from a bit of sea sickness.
The sound on the video wasn't the best, but what I heard within that recording was just amazing. and now that I finally have the
CD, I must say the album is
precisely what I was looking for.
The opener,
Coil, is a short, clean/acoustic number featuring the vocals of
Nathalie Lorichs alongside Mikael. This also marks the first time for a guest vocalist to be featured on an
Opeth record, and yes, I do know that
Steven Wilson has done vocals on previous albums, but nothing as 'solo' as this. Already we can tell this is going to be a completely different
Opeth album, but in a very good way, to be sure. As coil
Coil bids farewell, an epic introduction to
Heir Apparent sounds.
This song sounds so different on the record if you compare it to the live recording that surfaced in April. Those who decided to judge the album from that alone are truly fools. Again this album follows the same old
Opeth rule, with the mixture of clean and heavy sections, but, as I'm sure many people will argue, it's not the same as the other records! Sure, they follow the same methods in pretty much all of their albums, but there's always a new twist added to make it somewhat different to the previous albums. I could go into a futile attempt to explain all the differences between albums, but this isn't a review of all their albums, just this one.
This alum certainly features a lot of different, experimental endings. Heir Apparent finished with an interesting medium to high pitch feedback sound, while irritating to some, it does add to 'dramatic effect'.
The Lotus Eater, has itself a rather interesting beginning. Basically Mike singing along with some of
pers playing, before going straight into heavy guitars and blast beats. Now that's what I'm talking about! Continuing the traditional
Opeth-
ness with a mixture of growls and clean singing, brutal heavy metal and a very mellow middle section. What I thought was a nice touch was something I never really thought I'd hear in a
Opeth record, but it reminded me a LOT of camel, so I suppose it's
feasible. Towards the 6 minute mark there's a rather
proggy keyboard interlude which sounds remarkable like something you'd
expect to hear on a 70s
prog record. Certainly a different twist for a record such as this. The ending again being different, loads of speaking with keyboards and screeching violins. Interesting.
Burden begins with a piano playing, before continuing into pure
Opeth ballad. A very nice touch indeed, with a pretty long solo section and an ending that you will either love, laugh at or just absolutely hate. It ends with a nice acoustic
Melody and solo over the top, then it decays in a way I would never have thought of. As the
Melody is played, the guitar is tuned down constantly, occasionally sounding way off, but damn if it isn't interesting.
Porcelain Heart, released officially before the album as a digital single, which I personally would have preferred as a physical release, but you can't always win. This was their second song to be featured in a dodgy Roadrunner
film clip. It was quite hilarious in parts, with a few moments of 'what the hell is that all about?', despite all that, it's a very decent song in the end. It features what could have been an updated or re-vamped version of
The Grand Conjuration form
Ghost Reveries, using the same sort of chord structure, but in a slightly more creative manner and with a nice melody over the top.
Hussain Peel is the only song to extend more than 10 minutes on this record, and it begins with a very jazzy acoustic bit which goes down nicely. They added a bunch of 'hidden' messages, within some reversed vocals. There's probably a bunch of videos on
Youtube regarding the matter, and a few extensive topics on the official forum about it all. Some speculate the section around the 2
mins mark, to be a take on Led Zeppelin's
Stairway to Heaven since it mentions "
My Sweet Satan", which was part of some freakish words present when one part of the song was played in reverse. But, of coarse
Opeth's version differed and was intentionally done.
After some soft moment it goes into some
awesomely heavy guitars, perfect for insane headbanging.
Hex Omega, begins heavy and awesome and progresses into another softer ballad, which I quite liked. There's some really creative ideas amongst this 7 minute epic masterpiece, kinda hard to explain really, but it makes a wonderful ending to this already amazing album.
Watershed is a whole new step in possibly the right direction for the band as far as popularity goes. Watershed debuted in the top 25 of the U.S. charts, number 7 in Australia and number 1 in Finland. Pretty good for a band that hardly anyone had heard about 2 years ago. They've been experiencing sold out shoes, and people going crazy just to get a taste of
Opeth. About damn time too.
All up, this is an album you'll either love, or absolutely hate and wonder where they went wrong. For me, its an album that I absolutely love. It's different to the older
Opeth, so it's not another remake of
Blackwater Park or Still Life, which I
believe their intention is with each new record. If you
haven't heard this album yet, buy it as soon as possible. The bonus content in the Special Edition DVD was a
Nice addition too, with a 5.1 mix of the whole album, interviews with the band, bonus songs and some jam room sessions.
And as most people probably already know
Martin Mendez became a father not too long ago.
Noak Mendez Artigas came into this world on the morning of June 14. Many congratulations to Martin and Sandra!
Opeth were next, of coarse, and it couldn't have come (and gone) any quicker. They were tight as ever, I didn't even notice the lack of Peter! Fredrik did a great job, as did Axe. The whole evening was just an abundance of awesome. They opened with a Watershed track, Heir Apparent, and later they played The Lotus Eater which was flawless, as expected, and it sounded great live.
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