Opeth Album: “Blackwater Park [Limited]”

Opeth's fifth album shoots for the stratosphere, not only of metal, but of rock music in general. Most bands that attempt something so lofty are doomed to failure, but Opeth has been working up to this moment over four increasingly great albums. With the addition of ambient special effects by producer Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree and No-Man fame), Opeth's complex arrangements occupy even more sonic space, an element that imbues the already stunning music with an extra emotional push. Misery has never sounded so good.

With an average track length of over 8 minutes, Blackwater Park demands a longer attention span than some listeners may be bothered to devote. It's not that the album is slow; after a menacing 30-second fade-in, The Leper Affinity's first blast of distorted guitar and punishing drums delivers a wave of extreme metal fury. Yet after a few satisfying minutes of thunderous force, the mood abruptly shifts from anger to gothic, poetic sadness. Acoustic guitars take over and Akerfeldt's voice changes from a throaty roar to a warm and mellow near-croon. Shifts like these can be jarring and off-putting, but Opeth executes them with such grace and sensitivity that they seem inevitable. Both the heavy and light halves are possessed of the same dark mood, and together they make for a far more complex and interesting whole than they would otherwise. As The Leper Affinity glides to an elegant piano outro, listeners have already been to more places than most albums will ever take them - and there's far more beauty to come.

The rest of the album follows a similar template. Bleak's exotic lead riffs duel all the way into a warm chorus and fade out with frightening lo-fi guitar sounds courtesy of Wilson. Harvest is an all-acoustic piece, but again the mood is similar, with understated but effective guitar work. The Drapery Falls is perhaps the highlight of the record as it makes the most extreme shifts, going completely progressive toward the midsection and carrying a memorable melody through its entire run. Dirge for November begins with the most fragile, beautiful guitar fill of the album thus far before going into the thunderous body of the song, and ends the same way. The Funeral Portrait is a more rhythmic, propulsive, furious piece of riffery than anything since the beginning of the album, but toward the end its elegance comes out once again in some richly orchestrated vocal harmonies. Patterns in the Ivy is a stunning little interlude, with all the intimate power of Pink Moon-era Nick Drake, and engineered so expertly that the squeak of Akerfeldt's guitar strings become a part of the music. Finally, we come to the eponymous, epic closer, which crushes with a superlative groove, frightens with a horror-movie midsection, returns to extreme metal force, and finally ends the album with an understated, lovely acoustic guitar bit. The serenity of the conclusion is magnificent, wrapping up all the force of the previous hour with grace.

Blackwater Park is almost certainly the best metal album of this decade to date, but it's more than that. Stacked up with the best Led Zeppelin records, Blackwater Park holds its own. It's seriously that good. If you listen to it with headphones on, extra nuances pop out and you just might swear you've never heard a better record. Any fan of rock music should not be without this. Highlight tracks (nearly arbitrary choices when all the material is this strong): The Leper Affinity, The Drapery Falls, Patterns in the Ivy.

Caused me to buy three others, despite my hesitance to buy. I was introduced by a friend online about this time last year just after I got out of the shower in my dorm room. I remember him saying that he was checking out Opeth online and wanted to know what I thought. At first, when I heard it, I thought, "are you kidding me, music with growling?" I'm not really into death metal, Pantera was the heaviest stuff I'd normally listen to and usually only when I was pissed off. I'm not all that into heavy stuff. I just let it keep playing though and layed down on my bed in the sweet spot in between my speakers, where I do most of my intent listening, I became mesmerized enough that by the end of the first song, I downloaded the whole thing. By Harvest I was in a such a trance like state that I could have easily mistaken myself for being aleep. I was in such sheer bliss that I just let the sound take me where It wanted to. I had never experienced something like this from music before. It invoked some of the most beautiful feelings I had felt in a while, I was not on anything either. I love losing myself in music, I have only experienced this from classical music, which I love to listen to to become relaxed. Blackwater Park can relax me to the point where other, softer music fails to, perhaps because the complex melody and immaculate production of this album engages my mind at the deepest possible level. Open your mind to this stuff no matter which side of it you come down on, be it too heavy or too soft, and you will not be disappointed.

Opeth blew me away in 1998 after I heard the opening track from Orchid on NC State's friday night radio metal show. I was intrigued by the switching from great epic melodic death and classical guitars (things I was very into but never had heard together.) After picking up all the Opeth CD's (Ill never complain about spending twenty something bucks for Still Life and only to have it now available for half that ... Months after I bought BWP I heard they were rereleasing it. The day I bought it was a dark rainy day. My now exgirlfriend had left for New York, and I was in the mood for something mellonchollie. So I popped in disc 2, the one with the 2 new tracks. I was instantly in love. Still Day and Patterns in the Ivy are terrific songs. They are VERY influenced by the work of the late Nick Drake (someone Akerfeldt is very influenced by, and if you like the softer Opeth stuff you might like his things.) Still Day is very bleak sounding but it softens up a bit when there is vocal harmonies. Patterns in the Ivy 2 is my favorite of the 2. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!... Buy this Cd while you can. It's a limited edition ... The 2nd Cd is universal. The first, well us Opeth fans are a special breed of people. I don't need to say anything about BWP other than if you don't have it, buy it NOW!

As a lover of many different types of music from rock to classical to reggae to hip hop and everything in between, I must say that this album is a masterpiece. It is a true work of art. It sucks you in and takes you away to another place, it is truly hypnotizing. It gets better with age and repeated listens. At times it is angry and aggressive, other times it is beautiful and peaceful. One of the greatest albums of any genre, ever. Only true music fans will apreciate this though, this isnt for the casual FM radio listener. The only thing better is the new Ashley Simpson record...yeah right!!!

I'm new to Opeth, this is the first cd of theirs that i've picked up, and i'm extremely impressed. Opeth has demonstrated the perfect balance between heavy, dirty riffs, and a soft, clean arpeggio styled riffs. As well, they've found an amazing middle ground between death metal screaming and actual singing. It's tough to explain, but this album was 100% not what I expected, but also 100% great. The songs are LONG, which is refreshing and appreciated considering too many songs now average less than 3 and half minutes. You get your moneys worth with this album if not more. It bridges the gap between excrutiatingly heavy and clean all too well, in guitars and vocals without the songs blending into eachother. A must have.