Watershed: Are you disapointed with it?

Think about applying that same statement to In Flames: They are "too weird" and "not heavy enough" and I understand them completely. They suck donkey balls. The new Opeth album is very soft and relatively uplifting (Coil, Burden, Hessian Peel). I understand it, and have been into them since MAYH was released. Watershed is just very different. It's ball-sucking loyal nubs like yourself that readily admit "Opeth can do no wrong" that gives the Opeth fanbase a pretentious fanboy image that it shouldn't have. Watershed is an interesting disc, but it's really a "hit or miss" cd for long term fans.
 
Mikael Åkerfeldt;7349944 said:
Haha, well I must say that review was an interesting read. I don't know if I want to applaud him or punch him in his fucking face.

I could only understand his flaming if he's into crazy freeform or Univers zero and it's likes. But as with all these type of people they worship Marillion and nothing else. That's what complaining about the "off" note implies to me anyways...

I wonder what's progressive to him? Keeping his virginity for a lifetime? Sorry, low blow, but what a fucking geek!

Cheers people.
Mike

Hey Mike,

Check out this thread:

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49320

It's more or less about this review ... the discussion shows that indeed most people immensely enjoy the album, as do I. Of course it is really hard to please everyone, and I guess for any artist it is best to not even try in the first place, or bother with negative reviews.

BTW: Kudos for the 5.1 mix on DVD-Video ... a great move, since DVD-Audio doesn't work on most of the commonly used DVD players.:)


Regards,

MikeEnRegalia
 
Mikael Åkerfeldt;7349944 said:
Haha, well I must say that review was an interesting read. I don't know if I want to applaud him or punch him in his fucking face.

I could only understand his flaming if he's into crazy freeform or Univers zero and it's likes. But as with all these type of people they worship Marillion and nothing else. That's what complaining about the "off" note implies to me anyways...

I wonder what's progressive to him? Keeping his virginity for a lifetime? Sorry, low blow, but what a fucking geek!

Cheers people.
Mike

:worship:
 
Sorry, but surely there is no such thing as the "wrong note"..it's a matter of taste. Western music consists of 12 notes, you can play them in any order you like. They are organised into scales/modes but that's just a reference point. I like it anyway, and like Watershed on the whole. As for some people wanting to go backwards to Steve Wilson production and an "autumn" sound, not for me thanks!. I'd rather Opeth just carry on writing great songs, who cares about genre?
 
^Well, I do to certain degree. I know I started listening to Opeth because of what they did at the time, not because they were great musicians (which they are). There are tons of amazing musicians which I don't listen to. Genre does have a limited but very present effect on what I like. Of course, I don't expect them to record Blackwater Park over and over, but I think this last record is slightly off the line of what I expected and what I would call beautiful.
 
^Well, I do to certain degree. I know I started listening to Opeth because of what they did at the time, not because they were great musicians (which they are). There are tons of amazing musicians which I don't listen to. Genre does have a limited but very present effect on what I like. Of course, I don't expect them to record Blackwater Park over and over, but I think this last record is slightly off the line of what I expected and what I would call beautiful.

what were u expecting?
 
^Well, I do to certain degree. I know I started listening to Opeth because of what they did at the time, not because they were great musicians (which they are). There are tons of amazing musicians which I don't listen to. Genre does have a limited but very present effect on what I like. Of course, I don't expect them to record Blackwater Park over and over, but I think this last record is slightly off the line of what I expected and what I would call beautiful.

That's fair enough..I do think Watershed is beautiful though!!!..all in the ear of the individual as usual!.
 
Not correct. I've been listening to Opeth ever since they released Orchid here in Sweden, and I think Watershed is a great album.

I've been going strong for 8 years and I am blown away by Watershed. The future looks bright for Opeth.
 
right i've been listening solidly for a week, here's what i've got so far review-wise
Coil- beautiful, well-written, catchy, whets your appetite for something epic. 9.
Heir Apparent- brilliant composition, epic riffs, don't even notice the lack of clean vocals, like deliverance-era opeth in technicolor, amazing outro. 9.5
The Lotus Eater- stutters and sputters into life, the clean with blasts thing could work but maybe should be elsewhere in the song. song really gets going 0-48 and smashes hereon for a good long while. that descending keyboard line that happens for no reason doesn't work. funk section is the greatest thing ever and it WORKS!! clean vocal later on a little weird. lots of good stuff here though. 8
Burden- meh. what. cheese. harmonies at the end nice but the backing's all a bit simple and i don't see myself listening to this much. 5
Porcelain Heart- worst thing they've done, no coherence, dull opening riff, dull acoustic riff... dull... 4
Hessian Peel- floats along beautifully, before the death metal comes in for no reason at all. feels like two large sections stuck together, which isn't cool, cos there are some great bits in here, but the structural problems compromise my enjoyment of it. too many uses of the word *children* 6
Hex Omega- reaaaaally nice, doesn't really go anywhere, but it's, yeah, nice. 7

yep, a teensy bit disappointed apart from tracks 1-3
 
right i've been listening solidly for a week, here's what i've got so far review-wise
Coil- beautiful, well-written, catchy, whets your appetite for something epic. 9.
Heir Apparent- brilliant composition, epic riffs, don't even notice the lack of clean vocals, like deliverance-era opeth in technicolor, amazing outro. 9.5
The Lotus Eater- stutters and sputters into life, the clean with blasts thing could work but maybe should be elsewhere in the song. song really gets going 0-48 and smashes hereon for a good long while. that descending keyboard line that happens for no reason doesn't work. funk section is the greatest thing ever and it WORKS!! clean vocal later on a little weird. lots of good stuff here though. 8
Burden- meh. what. cheese. harmonies at the end nice but the backing's all a bit simple and i don't see myself listening to this much. 5
Porcelain Heart- worst thing they've done, no coherence, dull opening riff, dull acoustic riff... dull... 4
Hessian Peel- floats along beautifully, before the death metal comes in for no reason at all. feels like two large sections stuck together, which isn't cool, cos there are some great bits in here, but the structural problems compromise my enjoyment of it. too many uses of the word *children* 6
Hex Omega- reaaaaally nice, doesn't really go anywhere, but it's, yeah, nice. 7

yep, disappointed.

lol.

dear mikael,
please stop using the world children.

with hate,
fps

ur post gets a FFS.
 
lol.

dear mikael,
please stop using the world children.

with hate,
fps

ur post gets a FFS.

that bit was written with tongue in cheek. no hate here, the man's a genius. just giving my response as it currently stands, it's quite a bit more positive than the first few listens so i'm gonna keep listening and hope more of it strikes me
 
I agree with FFS that Porcelain Heart is a bit of a drag, but so was Harvest, The Funeral Portrait, Blackwater Park, Atonement... I can live with that (and I even find Heart better than the aforementioned songs); the sheer genius of the rest of the discography weighs up for a few flaws..

...the one thing I feel is jarring with this delicious album is the song listing. I'd definitely make Hex Omega the bonus track and put Derelict Herds in there...

I have a CD-R in the car that I made which has the album like this:

1. The Lotus Eater
2. Hessian Peel
3. Burden
4. Derelict Herds
5. Porcelain Heart
6. Coil
7. Heir Apparent

I find this to be more satisfying personally, but to be honest it's not a big fucking deal and on the home stereo I just enjoy the original CD the way it is. Was fun experimenting with the track order though.
 
right i've been listening solidly for a week, here's what i've got so far review-wise
Coil- beautiful, well-written, catchy, whets your appetite for something epic. 9.
Heir Apparent- brilliant composition, epic riffs, don't even notice the lack of clean vocals, like deliverance-era opeth in technicolor, amazing outro. 9.5
The Lotus Eater- stutters and sputters into life, the clean with blasts thing could work but maybe should be elsewhere in the song. song really gets going 0-48 and smashes hereon for a good long while. that descending keyboard line that happens for no reason doesn't work. funk section is the greatest thing ever and it WORKS!! clean vocal later on a little weird. lots of good stuff here though. 8
Burden- meh. what. cheese. harmonies at the end nice but the backing's all a bit simple and i don't see myself listening to this much. 5
Porcelain Heart- worst thing they've done, no coherence, dull opening riff, dull acoustic riff... dull... 4
Hessian Peel- floats along beautifully, before the death metal comes in for no reason at all. feels like two large sections stuck together, which isn't cool, cos there are some great bits in here, but the structural problems compromise my enjoyment of it. too many uses of the word *children* 6
Hex Omega- reaaaaally nice, doesn't really go anywhere, but it's, yeah, nice. 7

yep, a teensy bit disappointed apart from tracks 1-3

I agree with you about a lot of this, but my grades are higher overall, especially for Burden & PH.

As far as use of the word "children", I couldn't disagree more. This is a heartfelt album, if nothing else. And the matter that concerns his heart now is family--particularly his children. I think he can appreciate the horror of his happy family going awry, and the thought of it is scarier than any Deliverance-type killer drowning him in the sea.

There are a number of recurring themes on the album. The one that strikes me the most is the repetition of the word "sorrow".