What Opeth Means by "Watershed"

[yellowsnow]

That's a pretty fucking bold statement.


Oh, and by the way, Baying of the Hounds ALONE beats anything I've heard on watershed. So put that in your opinion pipe and smoke it.

Yeah it's bold. And it's just my opinion. I'm sure most people will probably disagree. I didn't say it to bash the other albums either, they are all excellent anyway.
The main thing I like about this album is that it's consistently good. I personally find GR and Deliverance to be good albums, but when I put them in it seems like I skip half the songs. I'm not so sure that will be the case here...although time will tell I suppose. I dunno, I might prefer Orchid over this.
At first I was a little disappointed but it's really grown on me.

 

[Whisper and Weep]

That's a pretty fucking bold statement.


Oh, and by the way, Baying of the Hounds ALONE beats anything I've heard on watershed. So put that in your opinion pipe and smoke it.

Yeah.. Baying is a great song.. without a doubt the best on GR and its great that you have your own opinion.. like I said I wasnt trying to change that, even though I dont agree with yours.

 

[OpethAllenPoe]

This is their first album with a new guitarist and a new drummer. In my opinion, Per's keyboarding is way better then GR's because he has probably adapted more to Mike's style of writing music. Take the transition from Ander's to Lopez on My Arms Your Hearse, his drumming was good but it wasn't nearly as technical or as good as the shit he did later. Watershed has awesome riffs, Mike's best clean vocals, and Per's keyboarding has evolved to a higher degree in the band. This is a transitional album that is excellent for being one which from what I have heard is better then GR (imo). Considering that, I think Opeth is losing NONE of their beauty or brutality and Watershed is a splendid album that I think paints a bright future for the band.

 

[wut wut]

But uh.. why are you telling me to respect your opinion when your not respecting mine.. I was clearly not even referring to you until you had to bud in.

I might have been in the wrong here. I just saw you referring to GR as "heavily flawed," which in my mind is an absolute term.

Sorry if I read into it the wrong way.

That guys review is great... but it doesnt change my opinion.. and I know my rants dont change yours as well... im not trying to change opinions, its impossible, no one has the same tastes, what I'm doing is proving a point that WS is certainly not bad.. its brilliant in fact.. but thats not to say that WS doesnt have flaws.. it most certaintly does, but the whole way the album flows and the different path the band has taken overshadows the flaws and doesnt make them as apparent as before.

I wasn't expecting it to change your opinion. I was just under the assumption that you believed that Ghost Reveries had all these flaws, and that if someone couldn't see them, they weren't as well versed in music as you.

And I know you weren't referring to me, but for what it's worth, I think Watershed is a good deal better than Ghost Reveries. Which means it's my favorite Opeth album. It's definitely a change for the band, but I think they're being truly creative and innovative with this one, whereas with Ghost Reveries, they'd just perfected their earlier style, only with keyboards.

Nothing wrong with just perfecting a style, but being truly innovative is always a lot more exciting. So yeah, I love Watershed.

 

[Whisper and Weep]

Yeah I could see why you got angry
The old Opeth def wasnt perfected on GR.. it was most certaintly perfected on SL.. but I wont get into that
I'm glad you're loving WS.. it is brilliant for sure.

 

[Lucius_Sulla]

Personally, i think this albulm is going mainstream, not GR, cuz it sounds sucky like all other mainstream bands, at least GR was incredibly written well and complex and actually had more than 5 vocal lines per song. And actually some songs that mixed things up. This new albulm is basically either a song is all growlng or all singing. Rarely does it mix things up or even get catchy or addicting, cept on Lotus Eater, which is i think still a rip off of The Baying Of The Hounds....

I totally agree. This sounds like all those other songs on mainstream FM radio these days. I mean, FM radio is just drowning in 7 - 13 minute songs.

 

[OpethAllenPoe]

I totally agree. This sounds like all those other songs on mainstream FM radio these days. I mean, FM radio is just drowning in 7 - 13 minute songs.

HAHAHA are you fucking serious? Yeah lets see The Lotus Eater start being played next to Pearl Jam you moron.

 

[BefriendedUnit]

HAHAHA are you fucking serious? Yeah lets see The Lotus Eater start being played next to Pearl Jam you moron.

You suck.

 

[serenity_painted_death27]

Marking the transition away from growls.

This album contains the first ever Opeth song to only have growls in it...

 

[Carta's]

This album contains the first ever Opeth song to only have growls in it...

Yeah, like Blackwater Park didn't

 

[Hellequin]

I have to say, after the first listen I hated it, was pissed at Opeth for the worst album they ever released. Now, I can't get enough, there are are plenty of brilliant riffs and harmonies that I can see this album being one of their best ever. I won't really know until I get past 100 play counts (where GR lost its appeal) but so far it gets better with every listen.

Mikael is fucking brilliant. I have to say that this album wasn't what I was expecting, but after a couple plays through it there is some definite depth and progressiveness that I am really starting to like...

 

[Brave.Archangel]

Yeah, like Blackwater Park didn't

some can argue during the clean interlude there are clean vocals subtly in the mix

 

[Opethian666]

Complete fail on both your parts calling it underwhelming and "ripping off" GR.. I laughed when I read that.
First of all if you didnt notice.. theres a lot more going on with WS. More sudden stops and changes as well as a lot more progression as it is by far the most progressive thing theyve recorded. Burden and Heir Apparent single handedly rape anything on GR as that album was flawed by having the cheesiest keyboard lines, various weak songs and an overproduced sound in general.. TGC for example .. I will admit though that Baying is a great song in its own right but its still the only song upon hours of listening that I thoroughly enjoy.

Per's contributions on GR are horrible and I had doubts about this one but he truly outdoes himself on Watershed adding a new element to Opeths style in.. without him this album would not be possible. The atmosphere and momentum he brings is breathtaking. To say this is less talently written is completely unbiased and down right stupid... the technicality and transitions as well as the atmosphere put that of GR to shame. Some of it is truly a throwback to the BWP days and even some MR. How can you even compare one song to Atonement or the horrid dragging ending of Harlequin Forest.

This is by no means a bad record or a bad Opeth record for that matter.. its up there with BWP and MAYH so listen again and stop whining that theyre evolving, that they wont go back to the old days and that theyre going mainstream. Mikes clean vocals are more passionate than ever if you actually listen... this albums gold.

Fucking period.
Although imo MAYH > SL > BWP, but that's just a minor difference. I won't list WS in that order yet as I haven't listened to it nearly enough times compared to the others, but it definitely kicks GR's ass, which I got bored of after less than about 15 listens. GR only has 2 songs that I really love, which are GOP and BOTH, of which the second has my favorite Opeth section/transition ever. I really do think Watershed is a good title for the album, since it is the most dramatic change from album to album since MR - MAYH, and the most daring and experimental record they've ever produced. Anyway, I can see why some people might not like the record, what with all the new Opeth fans generated by GR, and then the sudden changes with the new record.

 

[Whisper and Weep]

Yeah, it seems a lot of old school fans and die hards are really enjoying the album.
But seriously fans who were generated by GR need to listen to their entire back catalogue and let in sink in to fully appreciate this album, I think thats what the problem is.

Btw.. April Ethereal doesnt have any clean vocals either.

 

[noura]

Excellently put though I disagree with what you said about GR, even though it's my least listened-to Opeth album.

 

[the opeth affinity]

Mike has said he has chosen album names in the past that sound cool or are tributes to other bands (MAYH, SL, BWP). Probably not too much meaning behind it.

Maybe he's a big fan of K.D. Lang and this is his way of thanking her for all the years of inspiration

 

[Crysiss]

Have you even listened to Watershed? Like, at all?

I take it you downloaded the album.

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

I take it you downloaded the album.

OMGWTF NOES!

If Samsara hasn't closed this thread yet, that's a pretty sure sign that he's probably just given up trying to stop discussions like this from happening, especially when this is probably one of the biggest debates on the forum since nfu left lmao. At least it's in one big jumbo thread, rather than 20 small ones.

 

[isolation_years]

ive been a fan for about two years now and it only took me a few months to go through their entire back catalogue, i mean its all preference whats the best, i dunno, everytime i choose one, ill hear another and think its 100 times better hahaha. id say my top few(as probably with a lot) are MAYH, still life, and BP, but at the same time, i got into them with GR so that will always hold a special place for me, and actually theres some real kickass songs on orchid, damnations amazing too, i love every song, the only one ive never really liked is deleverance, but i was listening to a fair judgment and wreathe and ive come to like it more than i used to, i guess my biggest problem was it was rushed and if you listen you can kinda tell with the recording, still a damn fine album though, opeth is still #1 in my books and i know there is nothin i could ever write that would come close to its magnificance

so keep up the good work mikael haha

 

[EternalDamnation06]

ive been a fan for about two years now and it only took me a few months to go through their entire back catalogue, i mean its all preference whats the best, i dunno, everytime i choose one, ill hear another and think its 100 times better hahaha. id say my top few(as probably with a lot) are MAYH, still life, and BP, but at the same time, i got into them with GR so that will always hold a special place for me, and actually theres some real kickass songs on orchid, damnations amazing too, i love every song, the only one ive never really liked is deleverance, but i was listening to a fair judgment and wreathe and ive come to like it more than i used to, i guess my biggest problem was it was rushed and if you listen you can kinda tell with the recording, still a damn fine album though, opeth is still #1 in my books and i know there is nothin i could ever write that would come close to its magnificance

so keep up the good work mikael haha

I've always thought "Deliverance" was rushed as well ,but for some odd reason I always go back to it. It's kind of the odd ball cd of Opeth. "Wreath" and "A Fair Judgement" are defintly over looked alot. I would have liked to see how the cd would have turned out if they had more time to work on it. (Considering they was doing Damnation at the same time). I used to consider it my least favorite ,but I think it might have went up a few spots since then.