BLACKWATER PARK

Have you ever thought what would be like the soundtrack of despair, and sadness? If your answer is affirmative then you must buy this cd imediately. But I have to warn you progressive rock fans: this is not only progressive metal but also extreme metal, with some truly demonic music, growling included. And this growling aspect will be the starting point of my review of this masterpiece. I'm sure everyone has, at least once, heard some growling in a song. And I'm also sure that most progressive rock fans dislike it, so I think you should know that frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt, has a unice growling and probably one of the best in the whole spectrum of extreme music. It's very agressive but it's done with such a technice that it's truly clear, you can really understand most things he says without looking for the lyrics, fitting in the most perfect way the music. Besides he also sings in a wonderful way, very mellow very sad. The instrumental also changes between agressive with hard riffing very melodic death metal style, some death/doom parts, and marvellous acoustic tapestries, that really suit the vocal changes. Vocal and instrumental combined they make a mixture that's truly original and progressive, the songs never get boring, and it really blows your mind with rythmic changes, atonal passages and dilecerating screams in the middle of extremely calm parts. The album is so damn perfect that it's hard to point higlights, but still my personal favorites would be the agressive "The Leper Affinity", the almost folk "Harvest", the rollercoaster ride that's "The Drapery Falls" and the extremely brutal "Blackwater Park". And finally a curiosity: the name of this album is a tribute to a underground progressive rock band of the seventies.