BLACKWATER PARK

Before going through the reviews of each song, it is important to consider that this album is a journey. Unlike a lot of death metal acts, this album is quite melodic and progressive. This album is highly recommended to be listened from beginning to end. With Steven Wilson as the producer, this is a must listen for even non-metal enthusiast. This is probably your best introduction into progressive death metal.

The album opens with Leper Affinity, a great opener. One of the heaviest song of the album. The outro on the other hand is quite something, it ends with a wonderful melodic heavy riff to top off with a classical piano solo. The song overall is consistently enjoyable if you don't mind the heaviness of it. 8/10

The second track of the album is Bleak. The beginning of the song gets heavy quickly and it's not the best intro Opeth has ever done. Although it might not be very promising from the start, at around 3:10, the song drifts off to a smooth and much more soft sound. To me, that's where the song really is enjoyable. The transitioning between the two segments is brilliant and makes the second part of the song shine. The addition of Steven Wilson's clean vocals is also a nice touch. The 5:20 point is by far my favorite section of the song where it takes off into an interesting acoustic Jazz jam session. 9/10

The third song Harvest, only clean vocals, is a really interesting almost ballad like. You can clearly hear Steven Wilson's production in this one. Although not very progressive from time to time with the recurrent chorus, there is a lot of details to keep the listener busy. 8/10

The Drapery Falls is where the journey in the park get very dark and atmospheric. This song has a lot of transitioning from acoustic melancholic clean segments to aggressive heavy growls. That being said, the transitions are well executed. Micheal Åkerfeldt's vocals are nicely done in the song especially the middle section around 4:10. Even if there is a lot of transitioning, this song is consistently good.7.5/10

Dirige of November is another excellent track within this amazing album. This is a great example of how Opeth can be really melodic in a death metal song. Not my favorite song from the album, nonetheless a great song. 7/10

The Funeral Portrait is my least favorite song from Blackwater Park. Some riffs are not as creative in comparison to all the other riffs in the album. It has some old school death metal sound from time to time which is not as progressive. 7/10

The only instrumental song of the album Patterns in the Ivy is a short song, but serves as a nice intro for the best song of the album. 9/10

Blackwater Park. What an absolute monster of a song. The start of the song kicks off with a nice riff that seems repetitive at first. Although this is the best song of the album, it requires a lot of listens. The song is really divided into 4 segments. The first one is the nice starting riff finishing with an intriguing acoustic melody to transition into the second segment of the song. This is my favorite part of the song. The riff in this section is beyond amazing: my favorite guitar riff. Melodic and intelligent, this riff is the climax of the album for me. The third segment is a slow dreamy passage. The song ends with brutal growls and heavy riffs, but it just works considering the journey you were on before entering this passage. 10/10

Overral rating: 8/10 + 9/10 + 8/10 + 7/10 + 7.5/10 + 7/10 + 9/10 + 10/10 = 6.55 (6.55/8)*100 = 81.88%