WATERSHED

I would really love to give this album 4 stars. Even 3. But I can't. I JUST can't. It's really not believebale what these men can do with any given instrument. I love Still Life and Ghost Reveries to death(cannot and will not choose the ''better'' between the 2) and while every Opethian ''observation'' are near masterpieces, these two albums are just the meaniest heavyweight out there. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have a new contender, it seems, in fact, that there will be blood. Watershed has come to rise and shine like the golden dawn (get it? morningrise....). There's many suprises in this 55 minutes long opus and none will be left untouched. I guess that this CD is a gonna be a love/hate affair and I must say that I fell for it. It's easy to read some reviews on the gentle guitar and vocals on ''Coil'', the EFFING brutal riffs of ''Heir Apparent'' (not to mention mindblowing lyrics), the odd but excellent ''Locus Eater'', the emotional ''Burden'', the very gothic ''Porcelain Heart'', the haunting and epic ''Hessian Peel'' and the tasty final ''Hex Omega''. Every song has a very distinctive personnality and that's something I've rarely seen (even in an Opeth album). But even then, it's not about the songs, it's about the journey thorugh the ever growing Opeth forest this album represents. Every second of it will seem like a walk through seasons. The Opeth melancholic riffs have never been this touching, the soloing is somewhat and somehow better but not overplayed (Fredrik is indeed the fit needed),the ''slowhand'' solos of Åkerfeldt should settle him as one of the greatest songwriter ever. The keys are suprisingly have an important presence that really accentuates the guitar work. I never had problems with Axe's work on ''The Rounhouse Tapes'' and I must say that this album gave me the righteous right to slap a couple o' Opeth fans on the backof the head. Mendez is his usual groovy self. A very reliable bassmen with a very good bass sound. The only slightly remotely thing close to a weakness is the short length time. But afterall I'm just a whiny bitch. In the end we have a product polished to perfection with a great packaging form (special edition) containing more mysteries. I also must say that Travis Smith, the designer, is probably a modern genius. My ''Watershed'' enveloppe is not only a musical adventure it's also a time journey. The only thing that remains to be understand is the somewhat broken storyline behind ''Watershed'' and ''Ghost Reveries''. I think that there is many reccurent themes that links a story to one troubled main character. Although I tend to overanalyse any lyrics (why no thanks to you Peter,Ian and Maynard) the images and the photos similarities and reallt deconcerting. In the end, this will come to be a long admired work by truely great musicians. ''Watershed'' isn't a work of five men, it's a work of humanity.