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Opeth - Blackwater Park CD (album) cover

BLACKWATER PARK

Opeth

 

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

4.28 | 1902 ratings

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evenless
Prog Reviewer
4 stars BWP is a very good Opeth album, together with STILL LIFE, DAMNATION and GHOST REVERIES their finest!

Not being a black nor death metal fan I got to know Opeth through the DAMNATION album, which is a very mellow and wonderful Opeth album that Porcupine Tree or Riverside fans could easily relate to. After DAMNATION I got curious after this band and BWP was my 2nd Opeth album.

As I normally don't like death nor black metal I was a bit hesitant to get this album. My fear of not liking the album because of the growls and grunts was not founded. I must admit I still don't really like the "demonic vocals", but on BWP everything just seems to be in harmony and Mikael changes his demonic vocals enough with his clean vocals to keep things interesting. Furthermore Opeth's music itself is never boring and very sophisticated with many tempo changes.

Bleak is probably one of the best tracks of BWP. It stars as quite a heavy song for the first 3 minutes or so. Then we get some great melodic guitar play combined with Steven Wilson and Mikael singing my favourite part of the song:

Devious movements in your eyes Moved me from relief Breath comes out white clouds with your lies And filters through me You're close to the final word You're staring right past me in dismay A liquid seeps from your chest And drains me away Mist ripples round your thin white neck And draws me a line Cold fingers mark this dying wreck This moment is mine

I really love that part man! At this time you can really notice Steven Wilson's interference. Not only the production of BWP by SW is great, he also plays some guitar and piano on it. Bleak is definitely one of the highlights of this album!

Harvest is a nice mellow track that might as well could have been on the DAMNATION album. The same goes for Patterns in the Ivy even though this is a very short instrumental track. If you would want to obtain this album I would advise you to get the double disc version of it as it contains the wonderful acoustic track Still Day Beneath the Sun and the wonderful Patterns in the Ivy II

There's quite a few songs on the album I didn't discuss, because the one I mentioned are my personal favourites. All tracks are quite enjoyable though. For sure a 4 star album!

evenless | 4/5 |

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