BLACKWATER PARK

The Opeth threesome in an hour time ends with an album that is actually quite famous in the Netherlands. I remember Metalmagazine Aardschok over here declared it album of the month back then and it also came very high in the internal poll for the whole year 2003. So expectations run high after such facts but After a few listens I'm not entirely convinced. That will without a doubt have something to do with the fact that the main style of this band is not my thing and probably never will be. But that of course a subjective matter and objectively I think also I have to admit this is a very good band in their department.

It's not even a problem for me they do grunts because I can stand those although I don't really love the kind of voice-using. On the other hand I don't have very much with vocals in general and neither with lyrics so this can never be the only reason why I don't really love Opeth. It's also a matter of how they make music and how they compose their songs. If I compare them to their fellow countrymen from Sweden Evergrey who are also a popular and famous progressive metal band then I believe that Evergrey does a better job in the melodic job. Because where Evergrey show their skills in that department constantly, Opeth does that just occasionally. Having said that I now realize that this statement doesn't go for Damnation which was in fact a pretty melodic album. But that was not a real metal album, Evergrey can be melodic and rough at the same time and I don't think Opeth shows that too often. And maybe it's not a fair comparison because Opeth is technical/extreme metal and Evergrey is true prog metal.

Last few words about this album: there are two great songs for my personal liking: the ballad-like Harvest and The Funeral Portrait a track with both grunts and great melody so they prove they can do it ! The other tracks are maybe great for other people but not for me. And in fact these last statements sums it all up. Opeth is no doubt a great band in the more extreme progressive metal department but my personal taste reaches out for the normal progressive metal and so on all three albums there are nice songs, on Damnation quite a lot even but those were all ballads. I think Blackwater Park has it all. It's a variegated album and shows that Opeth is a versatile band that deserves credit and respect. But I think I heard enough with three albums and can come to this album to the same verdict as the othe two: 3 stars.