Opeth are nine albums into their carrer and each one has been different from the last one, and their latest outing Watershed is no different. The band suffered a significant lineup change before the making of this album. Long-time guitarist Peter Lindgren and drummer Martin Lopez had departed from the band prior to it's recording, they were replaced by Fredrik Akesson on guitar and Martin Axenrot on drums respectfully. Despite the member changes, Watershed still manages to sound like Opeth and like all of their other albums, it's progressive, epic and different from the one before.
Watershed carries a heavy progressive sound like all Opeth albums, but there is a lot more influence from 70's prog than their other albums. It still hasthe heavy riffs, acoustic passages, jazz and progressive interludes and Mikeal Akerfeldt's great vocal range mixing his deep death grunts with soft clean singing that all Opeth listeners know and love, but there is still somewhat of a new sound present, one of them being the incresed role of keyboardist Per Wieberg. His presence is felt greatly on the songs "Burden" and "The Lotus Eater." The band also uses string and wind instruments along with a mellotron on Watershed too which help build a somewhat meloncholy atmosphere on a few tracks. Watershed is also a bit more straightforward and easy to listen to than most of their past albums, but I'll get to that in a bit.
Watershed opens up very differently from their other albums with "Coil." The track is entirely acoustic and features female vocals, it is also one of the shortest Opeth tracks clocking in at less than four minutes. It's a very powerful and somewhat mourful track that starts the album off on a great note. After it comes the brutal "Heir Apparent" which can be described as one word, relentless. The track is heavy in it's nine-minute entireity with very few clean passages. "Heir Apparent" is followed by "The Lotus Eater," another track that begins very soft until it explodes into a heavy passage where new drummer, Martin Axenrot shows off some of his skills too. There's also a lengthy prog influenced solo in the song too, which sounds for lack of a better word, awesome. The song takes a very drastic turn after the four minute mark, as a sudden change in tempo leads into a an interesting mellotron passage along with a few other atmospheric passages. Definitely one of the most creative songs on the album.
After the brutality and craziness of "Heir Apparent" and "The Lotus Eater," the band slows things down with "Burden." This track is much more relient on keyboards and piano than any of the other tracks. It's also a lot more folk sounding than the other tracks as it's almost entirely acoustic. "Porcelian Heart" is also another lighter track but it does have it's heavy moments. There's also a lot of great instrumental passages present too, including an organ solo. It's ending sounds a bit out of place with Akerfeldt softly singing a lullaby like tune backed with wind instruments. "Hessian Peel" begins as if it's another light track, until around three minutes, where the traditional Opeth heavyness nearly erupts on this track. However, this track really lags being eleven minutes long and having no climax whatsoever. The heavy sound is great, but it doesn't really go anywhere on this track. The closer, "Hex Omega" contrasts the heavy and light sounds very nicely. Starting out with distorted guitars leading into softly sung verses. This method is very effective as it builds almost a doom-like atmosphere, especially towards the end. It's another interesting track that shows a great progression in Opeth's sound.
As mentioned earlier, this album is a lot easier to listen to than most of Opeth's discography and might make a good starter album for those looking to get into Opeth. Watershed shows a great progression in Opeth's sound as mentioned earlier. It doesn't sound exactly like anything the band has done before but it still sounds like Opeth. There isn't a lot of death metal present on Watershed but the band still knows how to bring the heavyness when they want to, see "Heir Apparent" for proof. How they added more folk and early progressive influence was a great move as well as the doom influence on "Hex Omega." It'll take a few listens to fully grow on you but most will grow to love it eventually.
Favorite Tracks: Heir Apparent, The Lotus Eater, Hex Omega
