Do you consider Watershed a "transition" album?

[batmura]

When I say "transition", I'm talking about a shift from MAYH to SL stylistically. It wasn't until BWP came out that they fully achieved the sound they were going for. In other words, while SL and BWP could be somewhat similar, the gap between MAYH and SL was totally huge.

Any thoughts?

 

[Slynt]

Can't say I agree with your premise that My Arms and Still Life are so similar; I feel the transition in this case was actually Blackwater Park which was the first album where they wrote songs which were less all over the place, a style that returns briefly in "Ghost of Perdition" and "Heir Apparent" and a few other songs.

 

[batmura]

Can't say I agree with your premise that My Arms and Still Life are so similar

I said MAYH and SL are very different, not similar. To me Watershed is as much of a departure from Ghost Reveries as SL was from MAYH.

 

[Maggai]

yes

 

[mexicola]

yes

+1

 

[dwoakee]

When I say "transition", I'm talking about a shift from MAYH to SL stylistically. It wasn't until BWP came out that they fully achieved the sound they were going for.

I consider MAYH to be transitional. While Opeth has always changed and progressed from album to album, MAYH imo marks the transition from the "old" Opeth style present in Orchid/MR to the "new" style present from SL onwards.

Now, if Watershed is a transitional album in that (or any other) sense can only be decided after the next album (at the earliest). Expectations certainly are that it is a transition and that there will be more radical changes with the next album.

 

[Whisper and Weep]

I consider MAYH to be transitional. While Opeth has always changed and progressed from album to album, MAYH imo marks the transition from the "old" Opeth style present in Orchid/MR to the "new" style present from SL onwards.

Now, if Watershed is a transitional album in that (or any other) sense can only be decided after the next album (at the earliest). Expectations certainly are that it is a transition and that there will be more radical changes with the next album.

Yeah. MAYH was definitely a transition.

A concept, shorter song lengths, more songs.

Still Life more or less built upon the idea of MAYH. This time the album was way more technical and had more complex riffs and time signatures. The concept was more immediate throughout the album(love story) and more understandable where as MAYH's concept is a lot harder to understand and has a lot of symbolism.

Watershed is definitely a transition album in my eyes. It's opened up a new door for Opeth. One thing is for sure is that there not going to suck up to their fans and make a Stilll Life 2 and they never were about making what people wanted.

It's all about what Mike's into at the time as well. This time around he was into Scott Walker and a lot of "cock rock" and that is definitely shown through out the album, theres definitely a Scott Walker vibe on The Lotus Eater, I mean the riff right before the fusion breakdown is pretty much ripped right from "Cossacks Are"(great album btw) and Burden is a song that shows Mike's love for his now older aged idols.

One thing is for sure is that wherever Opeth decides to take their sound, I'll always support them because they still somehow come up albums that are superb and unique, even after all these years.

 

[Darkfloyd400]

Yes, I do. I don't want BWP part II but another album a little heavier, (NOT GHOST REVERIES STYLE) mixed with the soft acoustic melodies and clean vocals of all the previous albums would be great. On Watershed it seems like it's either one or the other, heavy or melo. And not such simplistic lyrics for the clean vocals.

 

[Sexy_Grandpa]

The question I ask here is what do you really mean by the term 'transition album'? To me every album has been just as different to the previous as each other. They don't really have any albums that really have the same sound/vibe to each other however I don't really think there is any that have changed drastically. Whilst they have progressed a lot, you can still clearly tell it is the same band that you were hearing on the previous album. This is just my opinion though.

 

[isolation_years]

great thread, best one in a while, yes i do, i tihnk this is a new begining for opeth, i think they are moving forwards(as they always are), but changing slightly, this could have to do with the linup changes as well, or just natural progression

 

[demon of the moor]

im guessing your saying transition as in a stepping stone.
and if so..i agree!
I think the next album is the one to really look out for. (not saying anything about watershed)

 

[Slayer101]

Really I think every album is a transition album, every album is different in some way from the previous one, but also builds on the style of the previous album.

 

[RoadKing]

Haven't all of Opeth's records signified a "transition" of sorts, to one degree or another? Face it, this is a band that will always inhabit a perpetual state of "transition" (growth). Far from a bad thing, this is precisely what makes them unique; their steadfast refusal to stagnate and persistent hunger for conceptual and compositional growth are what separates them from lesser acts and are the very things that make them, well... Opeth!

Why not just accept it and enjoy the ride? I know I haven't been disappointed yet!

 

[Alteredmindeath]

Watershed is a healthy continuation of Opeths grand saga. I don't know what it is, but something about this band that mystifies the mind, they take you to places other bands simply cannot.

 

[dwoakee]

The question I ask here is what do you really mean by the term 'transition album'? To me every album has been just as different to the previous as each other.

Of course, Opeth have always progressed, changed over time. No two consecutive albums are exactly the same. Yet, listen to Watershed and then listen to Orchid. While you can identify certain elements that are present in both of those albums, they are pretty different. I'm sure, if you would do a thorough, informed analysis of the musical styles on the records you would find that the differences between some albums are somewhat bigger than between others. Those are the transitions we talk about.

I see such a transition happening with MAYH. On MAYH they abandoned the twin guitar harmonies, they have a much less prominent bass and pretty different drumming style (cause of the line-up changes), they have less riffs, and more "wall of sound" sections, ...