Watershed Concept?

[BlueSky]

It seems to me like it is a concept record of sorts. The cover is someone singing a Will, the package has the seal on it, and obviously the rest of the art ties in as well. The songs about a son/children/the Heir's to a wealthy family. Not that I've read them, but the lyrical themes seem to be the same throughout the cd about a mother dying. What's with the cypher? Is Mike trying to get the fans involved in trying to figure out the concept of the cd or something?

Did Mike say Watershed wasn't a concept record? I haven't seen anyone mention this although it's prolly already a thread. Oh wells, if it has then this is just one more shit thread in a pile of shit threads.

 

[osmosis2259]

interesting... but honestly i dont know.

 

[Katatonic89]

It seems to me like it is a concept record of sorts. The cover is someone singing a Will, the package has the seal on it, and obviously the rest of the art ties in as well. The songs about a son/children/the Heir's to a wealthy family. Not that I've read them, but the lyrical themes seem to be the same throughout the cd about a mother dying. What's with the cypher? Is Mike trying to get the fans involved in trying to figure out the concept of the cd or something?

Did Mike say Watershed wasn't a concept record? I haven't seen anyone mention this although it's prolly already a thread. Oh wells, if it has then this is just one more shit thread in a pile of shit threads.

I belive that it is a concept album. Remeber, Mikael said that the lyrics were not printed in the album to.

 

[Gëist]

No concept, but related subjects. That's what he said.
In the year of his sovereign, rid us of your judgement, heir apparant

 

[_Serenity_Painted_Death_]

Hmm, yah that makes sense. My mind fills in the blanks to make it seem like a concept album.

 

[soundave]

I think it's a concept album in the loosest definition of it. Or maybe the most accurate definition. It's not, I think, a story. When I listen to it, it just feels like one cohesive unit, and that each song helps to put another into context.

I feel like we're talking about the fragility of innocence and beauty on this album. Among other things. And I think having a couple of daughters has a great deal to do with it. LOts of mother/father/children issues here. Mike said something to the effect of (and really only paraphrasing here by way of writer John Irving) that he never really knew what fear was until he had children. As a dad, I totally agree. So, that's shaping how I hear the album. Whether or not it's correct, I don't know.

 

[BarackObama]

It seems to me like it is a concept record of sorts. The cover is someone singing a Will, the package has the seal on it, and obviously the rest of the art ties in as well. The songs about a son/children/the Heir's to a wealthy family. Not that I've read them, but the lyrical themes seem to be the same throughout the cd about a mother dying. What's with the cypher? Is Mike trying to get the fans involved in trying to figure out the concept of the cd or something?

Did Mike say Watershed wasn't a concept record? I haven't seen anyone mention this although it's prolly already a thread. Oh wells, if it has then this is just one more shit thread in a pile of shit threads.

I thought the same thing when I first heard Coil. I thought Ahh...this is a prelude to something. I guess it isnt, but as Geist said
its a loose concept album where the subject matter is related but not directly as in a story. Like a lament or something.

 

[Ninfix]

What's up with the cypher on the last page of the booklet? Anyone figuret it out ,yet?

 

[Sisyphus's Struggle]

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/opeth/400903-watershed-some-sort-concept-album.html

here is the answer.. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news/article/0,,4700709,00.html ...

Watershed seems to have a consistent thread throughout. Would you say that's the case?

Well, I don't know. I think so. It's definitely a complete album. I can't really think of a single song that represents the whole album. I think they're all quite different from each other. It's not a concept record or anything. But, yeah, I would say it's an album that you enjoy as a whole, as opposed to playing certain "key" tracks or anything like that. They're all "key" tracks.

 

[BlueSky]

Ahh, that's really too bad since he could have had a really good concept going.

 

[floppa]

I think all the songs are connected in some way. I got that vibe from the start. Lyrically Coil and Hex Omega are very similar in content, While the rest of the songs I feel share the same theme as bot of those.

 

[ramses]

Coming from a mental and physical abuse situation as a child, I can tell that a lot of the subject matter on this album is about spousal abuse, abandonment, and family detatchment. This album upon the first listen, and since, has a creepy psychotic feel to it. Although I still think it's too soon for me to rate it, I feel it being in my top 4 or 5 when it's all said and done. I think the really abrupt changes musically on this album helps convey the angst, and back and forth psychological conflict in the Watershed subject matter. Just a magnificently (to me) creepy album!

 

[fps]

seems to me, from the snatches i can get, that it's about a son killing his father then having to live with the *burden*. that's the first 4 tracks anyway, after that it doesn't seem to keep it up.

 

[Maggai]

Reading the lyrics, and looking at the artwork, it's hard to believe it's not a concept album. Not sure what to think.

 

[ramses]

To me, in Heir Apparent, and Lotus Eater, he's pissed at the father coming back, talking his way back into his wife's/ child's life. The father seems to be a real mentally/physically oppressive man. And in Hex Omega, there's a line about leaving a space for you...which I think is directed towards the ill mother he came back guiltily to see after years of being away. The space left, I'm thinking for the buried body(mother) in the back yard.

 

[Light]

The whole album is so obviously about the grand existential dichotomy of sheep.

 

[ramses]

Could be...sheep may eat Lotus plants...

 

[FUBAR]

The whole album is so obviously about the grand existential dichotomy of sheep.

This is true...

its clearly a concept album where you fill in the blanks.

Mikes giving you ideas and room to think, i think thats cool.

 

[Meanspark]

The band doesn't speak a lot about the concept.
Some people could get bored, I dunno

 

[ramses]

As we all know, the only true Concepts were MAYH, and SL. But with Deliverance, Damnation, and definitely GR, only a song or two on those albums kept them from being concept albums. I think the same can be said for Watershed.....but it seems a lot like a concept album to me. At the least, a theme album.