Track Listing

1. Coil
2. Heir Apparent
3. Lotus Eater
4. Burden
5. Porcelain Heart
6. Hessian Peel
7. Hex Omega

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48756 in Music
• Released on: 2008-06-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

CD Description
The ninth album from legendary Swedish progressive metallers Opeth is a typically engrossing affair, taking in generic shifts from pummelling metal to jazz to more avant-garde instrumental explorations. Another large step into uncharted waters for the band, they still manage to identifiably sound like the same authors as previous records, but still make stylistic lunges to continually move forward as a group. Dualities of progression and old-fashioned riffage make for a veryentertaining and varied metal album, sure to delight existing fans and lure newcomers alike.

Customer Reviews

Akerfeldt with a sense of humour
This is the only album that I play every single day...this isn't because I only own one album but simply that this album is pure genius and one that I hear something new everytime I listen to it.

I've been with Opeth since "Orchid" and while "Watershed" is a 1000 miles from that album, "Watershed" will last and will define Opeth in the future.

A track by track analysis is pointless, every single song is absolutely outstanding. If you've ever been curious about what Opeth do...start here. You won't regret it.

A word of warning though..whilst the CD/DVD version has the 'making of' documentary and the extra pull of the cover of Trower's "Bridge of Sighs", the packaging is terrible! A flimsy box extra single cardboard cases to hold the CD and DVD separately. Roadrunner could have done better for the extra few quid I paid.

They've done it again...
I tend to get nervous when Opeth release a new album, because I'm always worried that their insanely high standards will one day slip and they'll give us something that doesn't blow us away. I'm happy to say that I'm still waiting for this to happen. Watershed is absolutely superb.

Some have criticised some of the newer elements on here, but I think they all work. The addition of the female voice on the opener is a great touch, and I love the funky breakdown in Lotus Eater - to me there is no suggestion that it was just chucked in there. Even the detuned guitar trick sounds right, and it's pretty hard to take a piece of music that's meant to sound bad and put it into a song so it doesn't just sound like exhibitionism.

As has been pointed out, there is less death metal growling on here than many of their albums, but that doesn't bother me, as Mikael's clean vocals are getting better and better over time anyway. His vocal performance on Burden is marvelous. And he CAN still do the growls when he wants to, as Heir Apparent will prove.

The "new guys" (Axenrot and Åkesson) fit in very nicely, and Per Wiberg really starts to make his presence felt with a lot of proggy keyboard work. Åkerfeldt is still the core of the band, and without him Opeth would no longer exist, but he knows how to surround himself with talent and write to their strengths.

It's tricky to pick out a best song, because Opeth's albums aren't really designed like that, but for me, Coil, Hessian Peel and Heir Apparent are especially excellent. But the album works brilliantly as a cohesive whole, and should really be listened to in this way.

I can now relax until they announce their next album, whereupon I'll start getting unjustifiably nervous again!

4 1/2 stars really
Opeth's latest offering, "Watershed" was really something of a surprise, and comes as proof that they will never let us get comfortable and settle into a predictable rut as so many talented bands do. Instead, Opeth continue to challenge their listeners with something really quite different, not only from "Ghost Reveries" but also from all their previous albums. Of course it is still unmistakably Opeth, with Akerfeldt's trademark vocals and their unique combination of blasting death metal ferocity with mellow acoustic brilliance and awesome prog solos. However they have gotten a bit more experimental on us and mixed in some touches of jazz/blues (for example in the beautiful "Burden" and the unexpected funk section at the end of "the Lotus Eater"), a few moments of strings and flutes in the awesome "Heir Apparant", some very effective but not overused female vocals in the stunning opener "Coil" and the unexpected humour of the discordant ending of "Burden".

"Watershed" is also pleasantly varied and progresses very neatly through different styles, blending them together perfectly. They move very skillfully from the mellow acoustic sadness of "Coil" with its moving female vocals and beautiful lyrics into the brilliantly heavy, fantastically discordant "Heir Apparant", moving into the jazz tinged acoustic perfection of "Burden", then varying between the heavy and the melodic with their usual ease throughout the remaining songs. Some of them don't quite hit you at first and take a few listens to appreciate. Initially, hearing the complete change of direction of "The Lotus Eater" and the discordance of "Heir Apparant" I wondered what had gone wrong with Opeth, but "Watershed" is one of those albums that you will still be listening to in a year's time, not something catchy which hits you on the first listen and then you forget about it. I still think "Ghost Reveries" and "Still Life" probably can't be beaten, but "Watershed" hardly fails to live up to expectations.