Best Watershed review ever

[Vivören]

This may have already been posted, but I am unlikely to care because this is too fucking dead ON!

On Watershed, Opeth’s stately soundtracks for snow-flecked forests feel more spacious and majestic than ever. Setting oboe against pipe organ and blues-rock solos against madrigal harmonies, warming their placid acoustic opener with a wood-nymph’s warble, letting nimble Celtic strumming evolve through ferocious horror-ogre thrash into an extended minimalist swirl, Opeth specialize in an eclecticism so ambitious you’re shocked it doesn’t topple over. Fancy drumming, “I Am the Walrus” cackles and track-lengths averaging eight minutes are ominous echoes of prog-rock excess. But prog was rarely as songful as the brutal beauty here.

http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=5137

 

[dwoakee]

I agree, that's one pretty good review. It is short yet says it all. And it is positive.

 

[Tyminator]

I see flaws in Watershed, it's a great album still tholl, I just prefer SL, and MR. Hessian Peel for example- to me seemed strung out directionless, but I ain't no Akerfeldt.

 

[Hedon-]

^how many times have you heard it? i thought the same until today, i suddenly realized it owns (i think it took over 20 listens)

 

[dwoakee]

imo hessian peel is the best song on watershed. i liked it best from the start.

 

[Hedon-]

i still like the song about bush the best, but wait till i finish my brewtal era and start listening to real music, guess i would change my mind

 

[billyneverdies]

I see flaws in Watershed, it's a great album still tholl, I just prefer SL, and MR. Hessian Peel for example- to me seemed strung out directionless, but I ain't no Akerfeldt.

+1

Hessian Peel is very overrated. The transition from the prog into the heavy section is abysmal. It really lacks any semblance of coherence.

 

[Hex Omega]

+1

Hessian Peel is very overrated. The transition from the prog into the heavy section is abysmal. It really lacks any semblance of coherence.

To each his own...

 

[Unbelievable21]

To each his own...

Exactly.


Also... I wouldn't quite say this is the BEST review, although I do like it a lot. I'm quite fond of AllMusic's reviews (altogether, not just Opeth's. Even if I don't agree with their ratings, they aren't asses about hating music, the give excusable reasons why).

Read them all. Morningrise's and My Arms, Your Hearse's aren't that long, but the rest are excellent. Oh, and 4.5/5 is absolutely fantastic by AllMusic's standards.

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=OPETH&sql=11:d9ftxqehld6e~T2

 

[Holocaust on the Moon]

Wow, and Blender usually hates prog.

 

[Headcrab]

Wow, that's quite a word soup. I guess in such a short paragraph it takes that many well-placed adjectives to describe an album like this one. And it didn't include the word "Mario" once.

 

[Frosties]

And it didn't include the word "Mario" once.

Therefore = fail.

 

[SeViMeTaL]

IMO hessian peel and porcelein heart are the best songs on Watershed

 

[Lightbulb Sun]

I'm quite thankful I actually looked at this thread because I haven't listened to Watershed in awhile.

But through this, I have come to a realization. The less you listen to Watershed, the more it grows on you (I think this has been mentioned before). First listen, I loved it. Second listen, still did. Then, a couple weeks later, I listened to it all the way through again, and it sounds that much better. I think that a year from now, we'll be discussing Watershed and the genius that goes into it. Even the little things like the artwork is amazing. The one thing that I can appreciate with Watershed, as with almost any other Opeth album, is the flow. Songs just sort of piece together so perfectly on the album and the transition works so well. It's no Fear of a Blank Planet in that sense, but it still is one of my favorite listens.