Donnerstag, 24. Apr 2008, 5:54

I can say, that i own the Promo of Watershed for about 3 Weeks or so. If you belive it or not! I planned to wait a bit, before I write this Review, because I know exactly that i cant judge an Opeth-Album after I listened to it for 10times or something. Meanwhile ive listened for about 100times to it, and I just can say, that it was good to wait!

I read alot about Watershed, and saw a new song in a Live-Clip on Youtube. So I was extremely anxious to that Album. Maybe it is the most anticipated Album ever for me! Mh .. what could I say about Opeth? For me it is the best band in the whole World, and I love their Music. You cant describe Opeth in a few words. Its that Musical-Magic that you have to feel when you listen to their Music. I cant say this to much! Every Album is a masterpiece and Still Life is for many people the best Album of all time. Whatever! Watershed is Opeth. But it is … different. There were a few Lineup-changes in the Band. Drummer Martin Lopez left them for health reasons, and 6 Months later, Peter Lindgren left. I think nobody really knows why… Now they needed some replacements! In 2006 they catched up “Bloodbath”-Drummer Martin Axe Axenrot for the Band, and a year later Fredrik Akeson joined as a new Guitar Player. The man, who tortured the strings for Arch Enemy for a few years, describes himself as a “Shred-Monster” and predicted a good work with Mike & co. And so it was !!!

So, here we are. I am nobody who describes every Song in a Review, but for Watershed, i have to! Everything starts with a very smooth song ala Damnation. From the beginning it is another athmosphere than on the other Albums. Everything sounds a bit turned off, even it is just an Acustic-Song, like this one. The beautiful Key-Board Sound from Per in the Refrain is gorgeous! Coil is the Song, where we can hear Axes Girlfriend, Nathalie Lorichs singing. The whole thing is very dreamy and blue … she has a fantastic voice, and it fits perfectly in that Song. Coil is a average Opeth-Song which seems to get better and better, the more you listen to it! After this odd “Ballad”, you can hear a dark Tune, that hints, that it will get heavy now! Heir Apparent! The second Track starts with a very doomy Riff, which impressed me a lot! After 1 minute or so, its getting quiet and creepy … piano sounds are ringing out. That Fill, fits very good! Nice athmosphere. The Riff from the beginning continues now … but very varied! And Mike just growls … and growls … and growls! Here we doesn’t find any Clean-Vocal part. Very untypical for Opeth, but very very heavy! The whole Song is complex and contains nice acoustic Parts, which are followed by some fucking Death Metal. For me it is the heaviest Opeth song, they ever wrote! Very niiiice. The Lotus Eater … good title, good song actually. First of all we get a little moaning by mike. It sounds very good at all. So its not negative! It has a nice melody in it. And then it starts! With some blastbeat! Together with some Clean-Vocals. For the first time, it sounded very confusing to me, but when i listened it again, and again it was getting … cool! In addition, it fits nicely into the whole Song and the Album. Because ist just different and .. weird. A very good collection of sounds and experiments. It cant get more extreme and complex. It even contains a Key-Board solo like in Dream Theater. So here we got everything that a fan of progressive Music needs. Burden reminds me of “A Fair Judgement” from Deliverance, everytime I listen to it. This Songs begins with a Piano too, which attends the Voice and Guitars the whole song. A calm song, that isnt that calm at all! Because you can hear a ingeniously Guitar-Solo by Fredrik, and a kinda jazzy Drumming by Axe. The Voice from Mike sounds in my ears a bit higher … just like he said in the Interviews. Nice song. Porcelain Heart is the Single from Watershed! Now .. we all remember “A Grand Conjuration” … so im not looking forward to the “Radio”-Edit.
The whole Song is 8 Minutes long, and quite good. There are melodies that we know from “old” Opeth songs in this Song. I don’t really know that they want to reach with that, but somehow it gives a good Vibe… This one represents Watershed … ! Maybe because of this, they picked it as the Singe .. who knows Just listen to it, and youll love it. Haha! Now comes my favourite song on Watershed. Hessian Peel. This Song is so absolutely beautiful. There is a riff in it … in the middle of the song, which cracked me up .. and still does. What we can hear, is a … I don’t know. It sounds like a frequency tone, that last for about 30 seconds. Now they added some acoustic Guitars … I don’t know if it is because of the promo, but it fits! Just like everything in this Song. And with 12 Minutes, it is the longest song on this Album. Diverse and consistent, I love it! The fallowing sentence might be weird to you … but it is the spell of “Bibi Blocksberg” in germany! Ene Mene, eins zwei drei, flieg los Kartoffelbrei - HEX HEX! … Hex Omega introduces the ending of this Album. But ist everything … but not slow! The Riffs in this sond are amazing, and we all know that, riffs are good! It is very strange, but Opeth always get Tunes into their songs, that would not fit in every song in the world … but only in this one. Hex Omega is such a song for me. … Game over! But hey! Why don’t you press “repeat all” and play the whole album again? I is the best thing you can do, belive me! … and again … and again … and again!

Oooookay .. Watershed. What can i say about this kind of Album?! For me it is a Masterpiece, and the best Album in the last 5 years. Much (!) better than Ghost Reveries. And I guess that you Guys, and the Die-Hard Opeth fans will think the same. The Band doesn’t go back to their roots, but they keep their own style! The Lineup Change was just good for them. It is everytime very very good, when an Album comes up with the expectations. For me, Watershed just excels them … Dont judge the Album after you listened to it 5 times. You just need to explore the whole Album, and their Music. You know that … .because its Opeth!
For everyone who heard the name “Opeth”, Watershed is a MUST-HAVE. Highest Rating incoming!

10/10Opeth