Review Summary: Opeth's ninth studio album is more of the same as what we've gotten over the past years (with a few added perks), but that's never a bad thing.
It's no secret that Opeth's music is somewhat formulaic: terrifying and inhuman death growls, beautiful clean singing, lush acoustic passages, oments of extreme brutality, progressive trip-outs, etc. The only album to deviate from this was
Damnation, which was one of their more pop efforts. But then again, if this formula has worked so well over the years, is there ever really any need to change it? Sadly, Chad Kroeger, the members of Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed would love to tell you the answer with a straight face, but when we consider a band whose attention has been limited to the people who discover music in ways that don't count the mainstream, sometimes formula is a wonderful thing, even when you add new things to it. Case in point, my favourite band, Iron Maiden, who try new things with every album but still manage to sound like Iron Maiden.
Which is sort of what Opeth does, and it's what they've done with this album too. It still has the Opeth formula, but in a more mature form. While it isn't radically different,
Watershed does move the band forth in quite a few ways. One thing you notice is that only 2 of the 7 tracks have Akerfeldt's signature death growl, and are as traditionally heavy as you'd expect. The ballads, on the other hand, sound just like you'd expect an Opeth ballad to sound. And there's increased use of the mellotron, which is indeed quite disorienting, but it adds a beautiful touch to the songs.
While it's a far cry from being their heaviest album, "Heir Apparent" is the band's heaviest and most brutal song to date. It is the first song by Opeth not to have any clean vocals whatsoever, only death growling, and the song is incredibly heavy and intense, with one impressively heavy bit where after a mellotron and acoustic drenched middle section, drums kick in and we get a section that sounds like it wouldn't be out of place on
Deliverance. While the song is great, at the same time it isn't really necessary and feels like it was just included to add some brutality to the album for people who need the obligatory heaviness to their Opeth. There's also "The Lotus Eater", which is an insanely catchy and fun tune, with elements of death metal, 70s prog (seriously the middle section sounds like it was written for Yes), even a Castlevania-sounding interlude in there. For sure this song is bound to be one of the best songs Opeth have done.
As for the rest of the album, there's only one really weak tune, "Hessian Peel". It doesn't really do anything for me, and does kind of falter in comparison to the rest. But songs like "Porcelain Heart", "Hex Omega" and "Burden" are more than enough to make up for or, and all three seem to be about the death about one of Akerfeldt's ex girlfriends. "Porcelain Heart" is an absolutely beautiful 70s prog-trip out, with some of Akerfeldt's best vocals to date, and great lyrics. "Hex Omega" is the album's closing tune and is very mellotron-heavy. It's very slow tempo, but it fits the song's lyrics, and wouldn't be out of place on "Damnation". And "Burden" might be in my top 5 Opeth songs of all time, with its very 70s power ballad feel and truly depressing lyrics, but the best part comes at the end, where a lovely acoustic melody is played, but as it goes on, someone manually detunes the guitar so it sounds horrible and ugly... then it cuts off to a reverb-laden evil laugh, which sure will make everyone listening jump out of their seat.
As I've said above, Opeth haven't changed dramatically over the course of their career, but their brilliant sound and ability to please the fans while still not pandering has kept us satisfied, so there's really no complaining. Is
Watershed exactly fresh? Admittedly, no, but it does prove that Opeth still has what it takes to deliver the goods, and they know what their fans want.
