WATERSHED

Really, just not that great.

As the site's most avid Opeth fan, I must say, this record severely disappoints on many levels. While it may be their most progressive effort, it is also one of their worst. Oh sure, there are times when the band shines and shows why it continues to be one of the best modern bands around today, but there are so many parts on this album that just leave me befuddled and ultimately uninterested. After the shock of first hearing it is gone, there are a few things to note.

Take Coil, which sounds like a track that couldn't make the final cut on Damnation. It's just insipid and boring. Porcelain Heart is a why? track. As in, why the hell is it on the record, it's the kind of songwriting I'd expect from a mallcore band, not Mikael Akerfeldt. Anyways, the good parts are Hessian Peel, Burden, and Heir Apparent. More or less, these songs hit the right spot and show why this band has accumulated the following that it has. Really outstanding songwriting during the last half of Hessian Peel, it's probably the best song they've done since all of Still Life. Unfortunate the rest of the album couldn't be this good.

While this album fails on many levels, I must point out that Per Wiberg has quickly become the 2nd most indispensable member of the band. His effort here on many levels keeps this album afloat and from being what I would consider a complete disaster (see Deliverance). One can only hope that the most important member (Mikael) has not run out of ideas.