http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/opeth/watershed/
Opeth's ninth album is really where it's at, if you thought Deliverance or My Arms, Your Hearse were heavy, this is going to blow your mind. Mikael Åkerfeldt himself has said that he has been influenced by the darkest of the dark, Darkthrone, and to top it off, 1349 and Gorguts as well. The first time I heard Watershed, I thought "Wow, is this Opeth? This sounds so much more brutal!", and I think most people will agree with me on that. Opeth's music is usually not as fast-paced as other "extreme" prog metal bands (which I guess doesn't make them very extreme at all, apart from the growling vocals). But on Watershed, most of the songs (Except for the slower "Burden") are very fast-paced and brutal, pretty much more like Death Metal usually is, and also very technical.
Lyrically this album is perhaps not as strong as some of Opeth's other albums. Mikael Has resorted to making up new words (Porcelain and Hessian for example) and I mean, "The Lotus Eater"? What the hell? Apparantly, that song is about Mikael's friend who eats bugs. Yuck. But musically that song is very strong. Especially the thirty-five acoustic interludes that Opeth usually uses makes the song extra progressive. I especially love when he growls "VOMIT! VOMIT!" at the end of the song. It is said that his friend actually ate Lotuses in front of Mikael and Mikael vomited when they recorded the song. That is gross but also very cool and metal. When I grow up I want to be just like Mikael and his Lotus eating friend.
The greatest track here is of course Hex Omega. The song is about how a god turned all of Earth's human beings into frogs for five seconds, and during that time they laid eggs, the eggs hatched new frogs and all of a sudden big frogs ate everybody. Yeah, it's a bit scary, I know... But the way Mikael delivers his lines: "Hex! Hex! Watch me flex! RAAAH!" sends shivers down my spine everytime.
Well, Opeth here sounds more brutal and metalish than ever before, but they still don't bring THAT much new to their sound. I think they should try and be more Avant-Garde and do something different. Because doing something different is always cool. But this record should be more appealing to death metal fans than progressive rock fans really. I still think it's quite enjoyable but I can't stand "Burden" which is pretty much 10 minutes of "The Burden is mine... The Burden is mine... Alone... Alone..." and I don't like it one bit. The fact that Opeth has signed to Roadrunner is apparent here really. "Coil" is a ripoff from Slipknots song "Duality" which is very easy to hear, and Mikael's growling sounds raspy at times. Also I have heard they changed their logo to look more like a hip nu-metal band. Still it is a pretty good record and I give it 3.5 stars.
http://rateyourmusic.com/~MusicalSalmacis
Opeth's ninth album is really where it's at, if you thought Deliverance or My Arms, Your Hearse were heavy, this is going to blow your mind. Mikael Åkerfeldt himself has said that he has been influenced by the darkest of the dark, Darkthrone, and to top it off, 1349 and Gorguts as well. The first time I heard Watershed, I thought "Wow, is this Opeth? This sounds so much more brutal!", and I think most people will agree with me on that. Opeth's music is usually not as fast-paced as other "extreme" prog metal bands (which I guess doesn't make them very extreme at all, apart from the growling vocals). But on Watershed, most of the songs (Except for the slower "Burden") are very fast-paced and brutal, pretty much more like Death Metal usually is, and also very technical.
Lyrically this album is perhaps not as strong as some of Opeth's other albums. Mikael Has resorted to making up new words (Porcelain and Hessian for example) and I mean, "The Lotus Eater"? What the hell? Apparantly, that song is about Mikael's friend who eats bugs. Yuck. But musically that song is very strong. Especially the thirty-five acoustic interludes that Opeth usually uses makes the song extra progressive. I especially love when he growls "VOMIT! VOMIT!" at the end of the song. It is said that his friend actually ate Lotuses in front of Mikael and Mikael vomited when they recorded the song. That is gross but also very cool and metal. When I grow up I want to be just like Mikael and his Lotus eating friend.
The greatest track here is of course Hex Omega. The song is about how a god turned all of Earth's human beings into frogs for five seconds, and during that time they laid eggs, the eggs hatched new frogs and all of a sudden big frogs ate everybody. Yeah, it's a bit scary, I know... But the way Mikael delivers his lines: "Hex! Hex! Watch me flex! RAAAH!" sends shivers down my spine everytime.
Well, Opeth here sounds more brutal and metalish than ever before, but they still don't bring THAT much new to their sound. I think they should try and be more Avant-Garde and do something different. Because doing something different is always cool. But this record should be more appealing to death metal fans than progressive rock fans really. I still think it's quite enjoyable but I can't stand "Burden" which is pretty much 10 minutes of "The Burden is mine... The Burden is mine... Alone... Alone..." and I don't like it one bit. The fact that Opeth has signed to Roadrunner is apparent here really. "Coil" is a ripoff from Slipknots song "Duality" which is very easy to hear, and Mikael's growling sounds raspy at times. Also I have heard they changed their logo to look more like a hip nu-metal band. Still it is a pretty good record and I give it 3.5 stars.
http://rateyourmusic.com/~MusicalSalmacis
