I just purchased the special edition of the new Opeth album. Listening to it through as we speak! I will write my thoughts here.
Coil: Beautiful song. Akerfeldts haunting vocals and still as crisp as ever, this song takes all the best aspects of Damnation. The added effect of a female singer (Axe's girlfriend?) really brings a whole new level to an Opeth song. But just when shades of a damnation style album grip you, Heir Apparent slaps you in the face!
Heir Apparent: Powerful intro to say the least which leads into a scary sounding piano line. If this song is setting the mood for the rest of the album I can't wait to hear it! Opeth seem to still be exploring and pushing the limits of dissonance in their chord progressions in the best was possible. Michaels roars bring back memories of songs like Wreath and are nowhere near as clean/produced sounding as Ghost Reveries, they are raw in the best way possible. Although Peter brought some key elements to previous albums, his replacement is filling his shoes seamlessly. The acoustic guitar line that comes in at about 3:30 is perfect and leads into one of double kicked heavy annihilation riff changes that jump at you that Opeth are known for, a la When. This song is kicking my *** totally. It really does a great job of perfectly blending haunting acoustic lines with in your face heaviness. This song really is Opeth at it's best. Upon first listening I would classify it as Wreath meets Blackwater Park. Martin Axenrot is also playing beautifully so far. The outro just started and it's very melodic with a Fair Judgement outro feel. This song has really blown me away. As for Martin Mendez, he is blowing me away also, playing those basslines that are complex but fit so well in the song and are so in the pocket you would barely notice them, in a good way of course!
The Lotus Eater:
Now, to see what all the fuss is about, I've only heard snippets of this song. From what I can tell this a very aggressive song, the intro of Michaels humming leads into a blast beat drum line (the first I've heard from Opeth). Michael is again breaking the paradigm of Heavy vocals over heavy riffs by singing a lot of this song. Thats not to say he doesn't roar in this song, he definatly does. The guitar melodies under the heavy chords define everything I love about this band. And the way they perfectly switch from heavy to soft in the blink of an eye, I have never heard another band do it in the same way. It's currently building to some sort of climax with the guitars over keyboards, with bass entering. I can feel something is coming... Drums in... Keyboard solo? Sort of haunted Carnival feeling. I'm loving it even if it sounds somewhat out of place. Martin Mendez's tone can clearly be heard, its got some serious growl. Okay the solo is over and another heavy section has entered, again with singing over a heavy riff a la Ghost Reveries. If i where to compare this album to another so far, it would be closest to Deliverance, with shades of Blackwater Park. The outro is freaky too, lots of hushed talking, I can't tell what they are saying though, I guess thats the feel they're going for...
Burden:
Nice intro. Almost sad sounding, heavy on the keyboard effects beneath a Piano line. Wow, very Damnation with Michaels vocal performance one to truely be revered. You know what it reminds me of? The War of the World musical done by the blokes from the Moody Blues. A bit like Forever Autumn. This song is increadible, the Keyboard player is really giving a phenomenal performance on this album along with Michaels vocals! It's really hard to focus on one instrument here because they are all so in the pocket. The guitar solo's are up now, with heavy melody and not much guitar wankery to be seen at all. I'm loving this song too even if it does feel a bit 'sound-track-ish'. The outro is a sort of Spanish guitar meets Opeth and it's really incredible... wait... the guitar is being detuned while he's playing... thats just creepy and ugly sounding... I like it. CREEPY LAUGH!
Porcelian Heart:
Heard this already, so skippy skipperton.
Hessian Peel:
Intro bass note reminds me of Orion. Bluesy steel string guitar line beneath the bass which leads into a sweet sounding guitar riff over a deep, powerful bass line by Martin. Haunting lyrics about a mother dying. Lord of the Rings style keyboard line here. Not sure about that. Reversed vocals? Cool. The tempo picks up slightly with the drum intro, and I don't mean it seems to, it really does. For some reason, this song makes me want to play Diablo II... Building up now, again shades of A Fair Judgement, with the same feel in the guitars. Another Anti-climax that Opeth do so well... creepy piano line entering. WOW! The next riff just made me **** myself! Reminds me of When again, it just jumps out at you! Man, Opeth really are kings of sudden dynamic shifts. I'm feeling a bit Wreath-ish with this bit of the song. Again, everything you love about Opeth is in this song*. So far this song has been very very epic, Black Rose Immortal style! More roaring, only problem is... with no lyric booklet I can't really roar along. I hope they release some official lyrics soon.
*Side note: At this point I'm thinking like they've taken idea's from all their favourite bits of older Opeth songs and crammed them all into each song on Watershed. Not sure if I like that, it can be a bit sensory-overloading at times.
Hex Omega:
Begins powerfully, only three songs on this album have been in your face right from the get go: Heir Apparent, Porcelain Heart and this Hex Omega. Again, heavy keyboard involvement. I'm feeling that where they previously would have done something crazy with the guitars, they're now putting keyboard effects. It's very different, but then I suppose that if they kept doing the same thing every album I would get board, so I like it. Again, haunting chord progressions with interesting dissonance in the guitar lines. Only problem with this song is they use very generic climax building: A held vocal note and quaver snare and floor tom beats. A bit to generic for me.
Overall impression, there are only two songs in the album you can really rock out to hardcore and they are Heir Apparent and Lotus Eater. Everything else has dynamic shifts that hinder headbanging. Not that its a bad thing, if I wanted headbanging I wouldn't be listening to Opeth, I'd put lamb of god on. However when I listen to Opeth all I want is pure progressive cream, and thats what this album is. Not as good as Blackwater Park or Ghost Reveries but still a ****ing fantastic album. Anyone else have any thoughts?
Coil: Beautiful song. Akerfeldts haunting vocals and still as crisp as ever, this song takes all the best aspects of Damnation. The added effect of a female singer (Axe's girlfriend?) really brings a whole new level to an Opeth song. But just when shades of a damnation style album grip you, Heir Apparent slaps you in the face!
Heir Apparent: Powerful intro to say the least which leads into a scary sounding piano line. If this song is setting the mood for the rest of the album I can't wait to hear it! Opeth seem to still be exploring and pushing the limits of dissonance in their chord progressions in the best was possible. Michaels roars bring back memories of songs like Wreath and are nowhere near as clean/produced sounding as Ghost Reveries, they are raw in the best way possible. Although Peter brought some key elements to previous albums, his replacement is filling his shoes seamlessly. The acoustic guitar line that comes in at about 3:30 is perfect and leads into one of double kicked heavy annihilation riff changes that jump at you that Opeth are known for, a la When. This song is kicking my *** totally. It really does a great job of perfectly blending haunting acoustic lines with in your face heaviness. This song really is Opeth at it's best. Upon first listening I would classify it as Wreath meets Blackwater Park. Martin Axenrot is also playing beautifully so far. The outro just started and it's very melodic with a Fair Judgement outro feel. This song has really blown me away. As for Martin Mendez, he is blowing me away also, playing those basslines that are complex but fit so well in the song and are so in the pocket you would barely notice them, in a good way of course!
The Lotus Eater:
Now, to see what all the fuss is about, I've only heard snippets of this song. From what I can tell this a very aggressive song, the intro of Michaels humming leads into a blast beat drum line (the first I've heard from Opeth). Michael is again breaking the paradigm of Heavy vocals over heavy riffs by singing a lot of this song. Thats not to say he doesn't roar in this song, he definatly does. The guitar melodies under the heavy chords define everything I love about this band. And the way they perfectly switch from heavy to soft in the blink of an eye, I have never heard another band do it in the same way. It's currently building to some sort of climax with the guitars over keyboards, with bass entering. I can feel something is coming... Drums in... Keyboard solo? Sort of haunted Carnival feeling. I'm loving it even if it sounds somewhat out of place. Martin Mendez's tone can clearly be heard, its got some serious growl. Okay the solo is over and another heavy section has entered, again with singing over a heavy riff a la Ghost Reveries. If i where to compare this album to another so far, it would be closest to Deliverance, with shades of Blackwater Park. The outro is freaky too, lots of hushed talking, I can't tell what they are saying though, I guess thats the feel they're going for...
Burden:
Nice intro. Almost sad sounding, heavy on the keyboard effects beneath a Piano line. Wow, very Damnation with Michaels vocal performance one to truely be revered. You know what it reminds me of? The War of the World musical done by the blokes from the Moody Blues. A bit like Forever Autumn. This song is increadible, the Keyboard player is really giving a phenomenal performance on this album along with Michaels vocals! It's really hard to focus on one instrument here because they are all so in the pocket. The guitar solo's are up now, with heavy melody and not much guitar wankery to be seen at all. I'm loving this song too even if it does feel a bit 'sound-track-ish'. The outro is a sort of Spanish guitar meets Opeth and it's really incredible... wait... the guitar is being detuned while he's playing... thats just creepy and ugly sounding... I like it. CREEPY LAUGH!
Porcelian Heart:
Heard this already, so skippy skipperton.
Hessian Peel:
Intro bass note reminds me of Orion. Bluesy steel string guitar line beneath the bass which leads into a sweet sounding guitar riff over a deep, powerful bass line by Martin. Haunting lyrics about a mother dying. Lord of the Rings style keyboard line here. Not sure about that. Reversed vocals? Cool. The tempo picks up slightly with the drum intro, and I don't mean it seems to, it really does. For some reason, this song makes me want to play Diablo II... Building up now, again shades of A Fair Judgement, with the same feel in the guitars. Another Anti-climax that Opeth do so well... creepy piano line entering. WOW! The next riff just made me **** myself! Reminds me of When again, it just jumps out at you! Man, Opeth really are kings of sudden dynamic shifts. I'm feeling a bit Wreath-ish with this bit of the song. Again, everything you love about Opeth is in this song*. So far this song has been very very epic, Black Rose Immortal style! More roaring, only problem is... with no lyric booklet I can't really roar along. I hope they release some official lyrics soon.
*Side note: At this point I'm thinking like they've taken idea's from all their favourite bits of older Opeth songs and crammed them all into each song on Watershed. Not sure if I like that, it can be a bit sensory-overloading at times.
Hex Omega:
Begins powerfully, only three songs on this album have been in your face right from the get go: Heir Apparent, Porcelain Heart and this Hex Omega. Again, heavy keyboard involvement. I'm feeling that where they previously would have done something crazy with the guitars, they're now putting keyboard effects. It's very different, but then I suppose that if they kept doing the same thing every album I would get board, so I like it. Again, haunting chord progressions with interesting dissonance in the guitar lines. Only problem with this song is they use very generic climax building: A held vocal note and quaver snare and floor tom beats. A bit to generic for me.
Overall impression, there are only two songs in the album you can really rock out to hardcore and they are Heir Apparent and Lotus Eater. Everything else has dynamic shifts that hinder headbanging. Not that its a bad thing, if I wanted headbanging I wouldn't be listening to Opeth, I'd put lamb of god on. However when I listen to Opeth all I want is pure progressive cream, and thats what this album is. Not as good as Blackwater Park or Ghost Reveries but still a ****ing fantastic album. Anyone else have any thoughts?
:scowl:
