Sell me on "Blackwater Park"

Slynt

Lord and Liar
May 31, 2001
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It's been a while since Opeth released Blackwater Park, and I am still struggling to come to terms with it. What is it about this album that makes you like it as much (or more) as the other Opeth releases? What is it about this album that I don't get?
It took me a long while to dig My Arms Your Hearse too, but that album didn't bore me while I figured it out.

To me, Park sounds very uninspired. It's sluggish, the tempo is generally low, Mendez' drumwork is very open and repetitive, riffs are repeated more often than on other albums and are more similar to each other. Very little (compared to more progressive tracks such as, say, "When") happens in the songs on this album (or am I missing something?) - "Harvest" drones on and on, "Blackwater Park" likewise. "The Drapery Falls" tries to be more exciting, but is slow and the parts don't flow together very well.

I put the disc on regularly, hoping that BAM now it comes and I have a new Opeth album to love, but before "Bleak" is over I'm bored, and I put on any of the other CDs (Damnation excepted. A man needs growling.)

There is a distinct difference between Park and the other Opeth albums IMO - usually an Opeth track takes you through a varied soundscape. As an example, the parts that make up a song like "Ghost of Perdition" or "Advent" are different from each other, yet flow together - many ideas crammed into one song. On Park, ideas are repeated over and over.

Libera me
 
Well I was hoping that some insight or analysis would enlighten me, perhaps make me rethink or reevaluate my opinions. Also interested in just hearing what others think about the album especially compared to their other efforts, and why so many think Park is their best album even though it's an untypical album for Opeth.
 
Hmmm... how can you rationally convince someone else to love something? Either you like it or you don't. Don't give up though. BTW, it's Lopez drumming.
 
It's been a while since Opeth released Blackwater Park, and I am still struggling to come to terms with it. What is it about this album that makes you like it as much (or more) as the other Opeth releases? What is it about this album that I don't get?
It took me a long while to dig My Arms Your Hearse too, but that album didn't bore me while I figured it out.

To me, Park sounds very uninspired. It's sluggish, the tempo is generally low, Mendez' drumwork is very open and repetitive, riffs are repeated more often than on other albums and are more similar to each other. Very little (compared to more progressive tracks such as, say, "When") happens in the songs on this album (or am I missing something?) - "Harvest" drones on and on, "Blackwater Park" likewise. "The Drapery Falls" tries to be more exciting, but is slow and the parts don't flow together very well.

I put the disc on regularly, hoping that BAM now it comes and I have a new Opeth album to love, but before "Bleak" is over I'm bored, and I put on any of the other CDs (Damnation excepted. A man needs growling.)

There is a distinct difference between Park and the other Opeth albums IMO - usually an Opeth track takes you through a varied soundscape. As an example, the parts that make up a song like "Ghost of Perdition" or "Advent" are different from each other, yet flow together - many ideas crammed into one song. On Park, ideas are repeated over and over.

Libera me

here we go...

:headbang::kickass:This album is the BEST album EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!:headbang::kickass:

:headbang:IT RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:headbang:

:headbang:IT CRUSHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:headbang:

it is BRUTAL and gentle...

If I do not listen to this album every day, I find no meaning in life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I also find Blackwater Park to be a more "boring" album than the others, exept Damnation. I think it's rather dull, and may lack the energy and creativity from the first releases, and the very complex and thought-over arrangements from the latter ones.

It is a pretty straightforward album, and I guess in a way that's why it's so popular, because it's so easy to get into.

The drapery falls was the first Opeth-song I heard, and while I back then thought it was really clever and probably the most proggish metal I had given a listen to, now when I hear it, I am bored to death. It is fun to play tho'.

Blackwater Park as a whole just seem to me to lack something, that little extra.

But who the hell am I to express my meanings, they are all in fact just mine.
 
The Drapery Falls never gets old.

Never. Sounds just as magical as it did 4 years ago when I first heard it. And I can't even comprehend NOT liking Harvest.

To each his own though. You've come to the conclusion that you don't like it....why does it matter?
 
The Drapery Falls never gets old.

Never. Sounds just as magical as it did 4 years ago when I first heard it. And I can't even comprehend NOT liking Harvest.

To each his own though. You've come to the conclusion that you don't like it....why does it matter?

Harvest is kinda okay I guess.

Come to think of it, none of the albums Steven Wilson produces are amongst my favorites! Coincidence? I think not.
 
dude, ur a tard. if you dont like it, fine, thats your opinion. but really, why would any of us take the time to convince you to like it? its not like the world will crumble if you dont like it. who cares?
 
erk at this thread, erk.
+1

I don't see a point in having somebody convince you to like something that you don't like. If you dislike it, get over it and go do something else. (Although I'll admit repeated listens tend to work fantastically for me, the best example being bands like Meshuggah or DSO that definitely don't appeal on the first listen. I don't see why this would be one of those cases though because this album is relatively easy to get into.)
 
It's been a while since Opeth released Blackwater Park, and I am still struggling to come to terms with it. What is it about this album that makes you like it as much (or more) as the other Opeth releases? What is it about this album that I don't get?
It took me a long while to dig My Arms Your Hearse too, but that album didn't bore me while I figured it out.

To me, Park sounds very uninspired. It's sluggish, the tempo is generally low, Mendez' drumwork is very open and repetitive, riffs are repeated more often than on other albums and are more similar to each other. Very little (compared to more progressive tracks such as, say, "When") happens in the songs on this album (or am I missing something?) - "Harvest" drones on and on, "Blackwater Park" likewise. "The Drapery Falls" tries to be more exciting, but is slow and the parts don't flow together very well.

I put the disc on regularly, hoping that BAM now it comes and I have a new Opeth album to love, but before "Bleak" is over I'm bored, and I put on any of the other CDs (Damnation excepted. A man needs growling.)

There is a distinct difference between Park and the other Opeth albums IMO - usually an Opeth track takes you through a varied soundscape. As an example, the parts that make up a song like "Ghost of Perdition" or "Advent" are different from each other, yet flow together - many ideas crammed into one song. On Park, ideas are repeated over and over.

Libera me

its slow, dark, sluggish and subtle .. perfect opeth album... while tracks like blackwater park and harvest drone on seemingly to dark oblivion, progressive tracks like bleak and parts of lepper affinity and funeral portrait blow most prog metal bands out of the water... Park is a subtle album.. and there are times when i dont like it as much either... and as a whole "album"... its probably the one that flows together the least... but imo it has some of their strongest songs... BWP... Bleak... masterpieces
 
In the beginning BWP also was one of my least favorite Opeth albums but nowadays it´s one of my favorites. I think the "boringness" is it´s strength. The downpart of the album i think is Lopez drumming which is his least inspired record,i agree. But the guitars on BWP on the other hand are absolutely marvelous. I think there´s a higher degree of sofistication in the guitars on BWP than say,Still Life. I think BWP is the most personal of all Opeth records,the record i can relate the most to.