:: Opeth - Watershed

Opeth

If you’ve been following the progress of Swedish progressive death metal act Opeth over the course of their eight albums released to date, you’ll no doubt have noticed that change and progression within the band only comes in small subtle doses. Usually such slow progress or the general familiarity from one album to the next would hinder most bands’ growth and appeal to a wider audience. But in the case of Opeth, their unwillingness to force change purely for the sake of it has had the opposite effect, with every new release being lauded with more critical acclaim from a wider fan base than the one that preceded it. With that in mind, I couldn’t help but feel that when it came to the new Opeth album, I knew exactly what I was in for. There was never going to be any doubt that it was going to be good, but there’s always a small sense of having heard it all from the band.

That may have been the case in the past, but with a newly established line-up in place, Opeth have dared to try something quite new and different on their ninth album ‘Watershed’. Casting aside the tradition of opening up the album in a heavy manner, Opeth have opted to gently ease the album in with the acoustic/strings enhanced wonder of ‘Coil’. Although starting out as something that could have appeared on ‘Damnation’, it soon turns into something completely different with the inclusion of Swedish vocalist Nathalie Lorichs. The combination of stirring strings and the dual vocals is nothing short of stunning, not to mention surprising, and proof that Opeth is willing to take a chance with something new. The heavy doom like overtones at the start of ‘Heir Apparent’ is typically Opeth. Although broken up with some atmospheric passages and touches of strings in places, this is Opeth at their death metal best. ‘The Lotus Eater’ appears to continue the same aggressive feel of the former track (especially with the blast beat drumming) with both clean and aggressive vocals, but it’s the funk/progressive keyboard experimentation from the second half onwards that really provides instrumental colours to the song writing shades normally served up from the band.

Much like ‘Coil’, ‘Burden’ is another mellow track that highlights the band’s contrast between styles. The song has a very strong seventies progressive rock feel with a subtle blues influence in places. ‘Hex Omega’, ‘Porcelain Heart’ and the epic ‘Hessian Peel’ are a little familiar sounding Opeth songs with their mix of melodic death metal and acoustic passages. While I was expecting some changes on ‘Watershed’, I certainly wasn’t expecting the band to push their sound this much, and succeed as well as they did. I was happy for the most part with ‘Ghost Reveries’, but this album has reignited my excitement about Opeth. Although a little slow coming, ‘Watershed’ is a big turning point in the band’s career, and without a doubt a turn that points the band in the right direction.