WATERSHED

Since the release of Damnation, Opeth has gradually turned into a 'retro rock' act. The addition of keyboard player Per Wiberg on Ghost Reveries and his full integration in the Opeth sound on Watershed have made their seventies leanings very explicit. A song like Burden could almost have been on Deep Purple's Burn. (Maybe it's even a pun!).

Now there's nothing wrong with that. On the timeless Still Life and Blackwater Park you can also hear plenty of seventies references but then they were tightly integrated with crushing and merciless metal outbursts. Here, I am not really thrilled by the (sparse) metal growls. They don't seem to serve any other purpose then just being there, as if they're pasted in for good measure, simply because they should be on an Opeth album. There's no need for them, none of the songs come to a level of intensity that makes them indispensable. Which brings me to the heart of my disappointment with this release: I find no sparkling creativity in it, no urge or enthusiasm. Hessian Peel is exemplary in this: it's the typical mix of mellow prog and death metal but there's not one inspired melody in sight during the whole tedious 12 minutes of it. It's easily one of Opeth's weakest songs. Only The Lotus Eater really delivers the goods

The days when Opeth used to crush you down with a wall of sound, with vintage riffs and deep and pure emotionality seem to be gone. Are they gone for ever? I'm sure the next album will prove me wrong!