Opeth - Watershed, Review #2

TheWyvern

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Opeth – Watershed, Review #2
Roadrunner Records – 6th June 2008
By Dan Fisher

opethwatershedcover-wince.jpg


...and so here we are. The wait is finally over and we can inspect the latest septet of offerings from Opeth.

The album art. The special edition design is very interesting, aching with a sense of masculine loneliness. The series of images convey what a boy might feel like, watching his parents begin to drift apart and eventually separating and/or dieing, with the mother absent from his life. I haven't decided yet whether the 'dieing' mentioned in the lyrics is meant literally or symbolically. It's confusing because in the opening track 'Coil' the woman sings: "when you get out of here, when you leave me behind, you find that the years passed us by." This is ambiguous when cross referenced with the lyrics in 'Hessian Peel': "Will the children cry? When they're mother dies?". On one hand, the woman is 'leaving'. On the other, the man is. Perhaps he left her behind at some stage in his life and only when it was too late for him to reconcile his relationship with her, as she had died, did he start to resent the fact that he hadn't ever made up with her.

The image on the front cover, depicting the figure slumped over his desk, perhaps after reading the letter that the special edition is cleverly packaged in, has a desperately sad, internalized silence to it that is both shocking and moving.

The album begins with the haunting 'Coil', a darkly mournful, folk influenced tune that is one of the most moving melodic pieces Opeth have offered since Damnation.
Placed in the context of the album, the song reminds me of those films that begin with the end scene, only to follow by telling the story of how the main character got to that point. The lyrics seem to convey speculation about moving on to a different plane: "I can see you, running through the fields of sorrow", not unlike the striking image in Gladiator when Maximus walks through the fields of Elysium to be with his wife and child. A special mention should go to the female singer, Nathalie Lorichs, who I believe is the drummer's girlfriend. Her vocals are absolutely gorgeous on here.

Cue low rumbling noise into.....

'Heir Apparent'. A very cool, majestically evil opening riff into eerily quiet piano. I actually thought the pianola could be better recorded here; In my opinion Opeth have never recorded piano better than the section at the end of 'The Leper Affinity'. 'Heir Apparent' , according to the documentary, is Akerfeldt's attempt at impressing his new band mates by flexing his technical muscle and casting a distinctly death metal (as opposed to prog. rock) feel over the song. Of course, this is fragmented through the Opethian prism and you are left with a punishing, but ultimately very listenable piece of work. To this end, I am not surprised they decided to debut this at 'Melloboat' as the first song played off the album.

The only thing that amuses/annoys me about the song is the outro which is basically ripping off another of my favourite bands, Daylight Dies. Go listen to 'A Dream Resigned' on their myspace if you don't know what I mean.

'The Lotus Eater'. Mm mm mm mm mm mm. A bit naff. Then there are those blast beats underpinning the singing. I think I know what he was going for here, but it needed to be pushed further, in terms of embracing that new style. Even Roadrunner, on their press release, saw fit to head this contentious piece of songwriting off at the pass by pretending to be proud of the fact that this was the first time ever that clean vocals had been sung over blast beats. I suspect there may be a good reason for this! It reminded me of a style of composition that Arcturus use alot, but with more reverb. It does work, but only just.

When the song gets going though - with the trademark Opeth gallop - it sounds much better, if a little 'album-tracky'. There isn't much that stands out until about 3 minutes with those crazy descending chromatic runs. Then we open out into a wicked solo that is spoilt by some over-complicated drumming.
About 6 minutes in, we have the crazy piano prog. section that has been affectionately titled 'Mariopeth' by some folks. Type that into youtube to see what I’m talking about. This song has alot of good ideas in it but doesn't really convey much to me apart from schizophrenia.

'Burden'. Anyone who doesn't like 'Burden' can bugger off and live in a cave like the fetid cave troll they are. It's like Spandau Ballet had sex with The Scorpions in ballad mode and the resulting spawn was pushed through an Opeth tea strainer to get rid of all the crap. I especially liked the Hammond Organ solo, though the song lacks any real warmth to help its cause. Again, I feel if they are going to do something different, they really need push as far in that direction as possible. I think it sounds too pro-tooled, especially the drums.

'Porcelain Heart'. A great opening riff, probably the best riff on the album. And, it has to be said, a nice use of simple structure here. The drum improvisation at the end of the repeated riff part is intrusive and frankly unnecessary. I have thought a while about why it's there and whatever they were trying to convey, it was an EPIC FAIL. Nevermind. Another FAIL for this track are the lyrics. For Dani Filth's sake Mikael, get a rhyming dictionary; there are more words that rhyme with 'cry' than 'why'.

'Hessian Peel'. Love this track. Not just a great track on the album, but a great track against the Opeth catalogue in general. The opening is clean and beautiful and the song actually progresses as opposed to the stop-start nature of the rest of the album. Having just written this, It occurs to me that one of the key elements experimented with here is silence. There are times when the songwriting pushes the audience into unsafe territory as to how long the band can leave them hanging before starting a new section. I am pleased by this perceived level of maturity in the record buying public and hope they continue to challenge us in this way.

'Hex Omega'. Another incredibly atmospheric track that winds the tempo down nicely with its spidery glissandos that drip out of the bass, pianos and guitars. The track definitely needs to be heard within the album's context as it doesn't really contain enough to be considered a standout.

To quote an earlier post of mine, I believe Opeth are in an experimental stage at the moment which is completely understandable considering the lineup changes that have happened in the last couple of years. Akerfeldt seems to have adopted a more laid back approach to making music that shows in his barely concealed joy of being able to make a record like this. Reading his comments in recent interviews, he appears relaxed and even willing to joke about the songs. While this may not sit very comfortably with some of the curmudgeonly Opeth die-hards, the very essence of progressive rock is to progress. And, unlike their last album, this eclectic and enchanting collection of songs shows a willingness to piss into the winds of stagnation that threaten to close in on once good bands and render them irrelevant. The story continues......


Official Opeth Website
Official Roadrunner Records Website
 
For some reason I envisage the "Mariopeth" bit as Opeth attempting porn music.

Havent had time for the album to sink in yet but is sounding solid as so far, miss the creativity of the drumming on GR though.
 
Havent had time for the album to sink in yet but is sounding solid as so far, miss the creativity of the drumming on GR though.

I keep reading all this stuff praising the drumming but I just don't hear it so to me he's no where near as good...

It's still a solid disc....
 
I keep reading all this stuff praising the drumming but I just don't hear it so to me he's no where near as good...

It's still a solid disc....

Couldn't agree with you more. To me, the difference between Axe and Lopez is the difference between excellent drumming and exceptional drumming. There is nothing at all to criticize about the drumming on Watershed, but also nothing that makes the drums stand out above the music. Lopez at his best often managed to make his drums a primary focal point of certain passages, even when the amazing guitar work should have been taking the spotlight!
 
review is pretty gushy, but the album is good

the lotus eater and burden are by far the best tracks
 
re: your comment about opeth ripping off daylight dies.. i love DD, and never noticed that before *goes to compare* - but, and you probably already know this, they are friends, so maybe it was done intentionally and with permission?

great review btw!
 
This is their best album in recent years. It's a great combination of beautiful and harsh elements and it's not lacking in either department.

As for the drums, well, I may not have been shitting my pants over them but there were times where I was like 'hell yeah' because they were so good. Damn fine overall.
 
i actually prefer ghost reveries over watershed, both are great though. The new drummer is excellent, but I liked Lopez's style better. The main thing I like about this album is that they experimented more. And I love akerfeldts singing more on this release then any previous one.
 
very good review! I believe opeth is a band to expecto absolutely nothing from, you cant be "I hope next album will be like X Y Z songs/albums" and just never think about, buy the album, listen to it 4 or 5 times and all of a sudden its the best piece of music youve ever heard in your life. It works that way for me at least

Edit: The lyrics part on porcelain, these swedes are horrible for rhyming in English! if you think opeth lyrics are bad, check out katatonia, those lyrics do FAIL BIGTIME