You
can be rest assured that a band that's developed as devoted a
cult following as Opeth has, hardly needs to worry about their
latest being received as anything less than monumental. It's not
even out yet and bloggers have already begun to lob it excessively
ecstatic praise. I'm just hoping that Opeth doesn't listen to
their listeners, because after the irrational fandom that we all
have for Opeth settles, the bottom line is that they're really
gonna need to focus in order to bounce back from the disappointment
that is Watershed.
Essentially,
Watershed retreads the balance between brutality and beauty that
Ghost Reveries achieved, except with half the inspiration. "Heir
Apparent" and "The Lotus Eater" form the meat of
the first half and they're depressingly typical for Opeth, filled
with all the expected death metal chops and progressive structures
but none of the heart. If a song is gonna waste 9 minutes of your
life, it should at least be sincere and coherent, but these songs
never come together as much more than demonstrations of dexterity.
It's volume and misplaced intensity without any memorable dynamics
or soul. The slow-paced "Burden" is much more basic,
but probably even worse. Opeth have always hinted at their dreams
of being featured on Monster Ballads, but they've usually had
the sense to reign in their hair metal urges by balancing them
with a sense of the arcane and attention to composition. "Burden"
throws this rule completely out the window for an extremely predictable
and cheesy power ballad. The solos are admittedly, accomplished,
but hardly are enjoyable thanks to how easy it is to imagine Steve
Vai jamming along.
It's
after the dissonant Spanish guitar noodling that separates the
two halves, that the possibilities of Watershed become apparent.
"Porcelain Heart" is the first song on the album that
stops messing around and takes Opeth's legacy seriously, with
consistent quiet-loud dynamics that are continually breathtaking
for the full 8 minutes. The hair trigger riffage of "Hex
Omega" and beautiful landscapes of "Hessian Peel"
are even more exciting and both rank among Opeth's finest. But
since the album is only 7 tracks, it picks up the pace a little
too late to save itself from mediocrity.
Many
critics will probably cop out and blame the drop in quality on
the departure of guitarist, Peter Lindgren, but that's just laziness.
Mikael Akerfeldt is the main songwriter and he shows he hasn't
lost anything on the album's second half. Maybe the near-perfection
of Ghost Reveries set a standard that was too intimidating. Or
perhaps writing songs between the nearly 200 performances of the
tour are what resulted in the rushed feel of the album's first
half. Critical analysis aside, Watershed is quite simply an album
with half good tracks and half bad tracks. It's a listening experience
that frustrates as much as it thrills, made all the more infuriating
by the fact that it's come from one of the best death metal bands
of the decade. (Aron Fischer)
For fans of: Tiamat, Metallica,
Emperor, King Diamond, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Morbid Angel,
Steve Vai (I wasn’t joking)
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