Watershed - Opeth

I have eagerly awaited the release of this album as I did with Ghost Reveries and it's predecessor. After Ghost Reveries, I did not know what to expect as that album included pretty much every style and influence of music into all of the songs.

So let's look at which genres are included in most Opeth albums:

Blast beating death metal ..... Check
Classical guitar ....check
classic rock.... check
...
....... check
blues .... check
Folk ... check
the list goes on....

And this is what I love about Opeth, to me they are primarily a metal band, but they open your mind to every other style of music and artistic expression.

So onto this album Watershed, it ticks all the boxes for meshing all different types of genres into their signature sound and I think this album surpasses their other albums.
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I have eagerly awaited the release of this album as I did with Ghost Reveries and it's predecessor. After Ghost Reveries, I did not know what to expect as that album included pretty much every style and influence of music into all of the songs.

So let's look at which genres are included in most Opeth albums:

Blast beating death metal ..... Check
Classical guitar ....check
classic rock.... check
grunge .... check
pop music ..... check
jazz .... check
blues .... check
Folk ... check
the list goes on....

And this is what I love about Opeth, to me they are primarily a metal band, but they open your mind to every other style of music and artistic expression.

So onto this album Watershed, it ticks all the boxes for meshing all different types of genres into their signature sound and I think this album surpasses their other albums.

It is not as heavy as other albums, but when they are heavy, e.g. in 'the lotus eater' they totally nail it and you wished you were in the middle of a mosh pit cutting loose.

Alot of the songs are very poetic, at times soflty sung with beautiful chords and melodies.

The tracks:

1. Coil - 3:10
2.. Heir Apparent - 8:50
3. The lotus eater - 8:50
4. Burden - 7:41
5. Porcelain heart - 8:00
6. Hessian Peel - 11:25
7. Hex Omega - 7:02

As you can see by the track length, Opeth have kept up their tradition of less songs but long songs and each song twists and turns almost into completely different songs and back again, you never know where song is going to take you or where it will end up, but once you know the songs, you really start to appreciate each instrument and often the unsung heroes called bass players, really shines in this album. The drumming is of a high quality and when called upon to deliver 'the goods' with blast beats and double bass, it is performed seamlessly. The guitaring, as usual, unbelievable, true mastery, vocals as usual, brilliant. Often keyboard is used exquisitely and a really cool funky groove in the middle of the lotus eater demonstrates mastercraftsmanship.

I think this album is brilliantly written, recorded, mixed, produced to a high quality finish which represents their live performances, which are very polished.

I don't think Opeth are capable of producing a poor quality album, they are seasoned veterans and this is their 9th studio album.

You willl enjoy this album, whatever your listening pleasure may be as there is something for everybody and I often use Opeth as a way of introducing heavier music to others that are interested in metal, a good stepping stone.

So if you are a non-metaler or seasoned veteran of all things metal, you will take something away from this album.

There are also bonus tracks and DVD interviews and brief live studio performances, which is pretty cool.

Enjoy!

 

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