Artist: Opeth
Label: Koch Records
Release Date: 3/13/01
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Title: Blackwater Park Artist: Opeth Label: Koch Records Release Date: 3/13/01 |
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Abyss's Review:
Opeth’s latest opus (god, I love putting those words in the same sentence), like all of the previous works, is best taken as a straight listen from start to finish. There aren’t really any huge surprises on this album. It’s what we all expect from Opeth. Grand, epic metal compositions that combine beauty and darkness. Splashes of grays, whites, and reds on a black canvass. And it, like the others, is a masterpiece. While many have copied Opeth’s style in the last six years or so, no one has come close to matching their mastery of composition, that is with the exception of themselves.
"The music spreads out of the speakers like long, porcelain white fingers, but rather than the well manicured nails one expects at the ends, the flesh tapers into unkempt claws." These guys have yet to come out with a disappointing album, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that they continually raise the bar so fucking high. Many a time a band comes out with an impressive piece of work that, unfortunately, pales in comparison to their previous achievements. This is not the case with these masters. Each album has been a sonic rhapsody, digital brilliance. And this new work is no exception. Resisting the urge, as many other bands have, to go too soft, to over-utilize clean vocals, to place melody over brutality- Opeth have crafted a perfectly balanced album, the music spreads out of the speakers like long, porcelain white fingers, but rather than the well manicured nails one expects at the ends, the flesh tapers into unkempt claws. While the music may soar and elate, it also rends and tears.
The songs all meld into one, so pointing out any individual track is troubling. “Bleak” hits me the hardest right now, the death metal growls that accompany a rather folk-y guitar riff reminds me a little of latter day Amorphis, but this comes across as altogether darker, even when the clean vocals take over. While one would expect the cleaner vocals to brighten the mood, the atmosphere remains dusky and the only emotions that come forth are sorrow and fear. And emotions are what this band are all about, perhaps it’s what makes them so successful. The influences seem to abound on this one, Amorphis, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Death, but somehow it’s all Opeth in the end. These guys never cease to amaze me, which is surprising and scary considering my bleak outlook on life.
"While the music may soar and elate, it also rends and tears."
Death's Review:
It seems everyone I know right now is listening to Blackwater Park. "Brilliant," is the standard analysis. In many ways, I’m sure I can do no better than that simple one word description with this review, no matter how many words I ultimately employ. Let's try four: This album fucking smokes. Blackwater Park more than delivers on the promise of past albums and the new found understanding I now have of the true depth of Opeth’s brilliance after seeing them live in Milwaukee last July. It is a classic heavy metal album for the ages. A true artistic masterpiece.
Part of the beauty of Blackwater Park is that Opeth so expertly display such varied influences to such a profound dynamic effect that the end result is uniformly and uniquely Opeth. The fantastic production on Blackwater Park reminds me at times of Flotsam and Jetsam’s Drift - clean, crisp, understated in a way that allows the natural sound of the instruments to take over. This enables us to most fully appreciate everything that is happening within each song.
"A classic heavy metal album for the ages. A true artistic masterpiece." And believe me, there’s a lot happening. For example, the most powerful (and my favorite -although the title track that closes the record is pretty killer, too) track, "Bleak," delivers the best vocal fury of Chuck Shuldiner, almost-Queensryche-esque whispers and silence, a powerful riff and vocal not unlike "Greed" by Amorphis to introduce the song, a Disconnected -style Fates Warning type of progressiveness, and an-early Floydian dreaminess together with a jazz-like, free- flowing acoustic groove section, all of which culminates in double-bass fury and ultimately pure chaos by the end of the track. The 9-minute plus musical journey which sustains your attention the entire way. What’s more the lyrics are amazing as well:
"Moving
I am moving closer to your side
Luring
You are luring me into the night
Crying
Who is crying for you here
Dying
I am dying fast inside your tears."
With the proper label support, I’d expect that Opeth will get substantially more popular here in the U.S. as a result of this album. The genius of past efforts notwithstanding, everything about Opeth this time around screams of professionalism and artistry, nothing more. No matter how mellow and spacey or evil and death- inspired the music may be at its extremes, there must be an audience out there in the U.S. for this music. It is simply too good to be ignored, if people could only figure out where to look. Pink Floyd fans, Dream Theater fans: you all may not know it yet, but Opeth is your favorite underground death metal band. Sure, there’s a lot of mellow parts. But the trick is that they are good mellow parts. Opeth are the good kind of folk metal: drugged out, spacey hippies strumming acoustic guitars between crushing death and doom riffs, and not weird little traveling troll minstrels playing lutes like Skyclad (cheap shot at Skyclad, I know).
"You should all buy this album now. Mandatory listening." I love the music, I love the lyrics, I love the band. Opeth rule. Can’t wait to see them at Metal Meltdown 3. You should all buy this album now. Mandatory listening.
Hel's Review:
Each week, we review one or two new albums - usually two. So it has become a rare event to get a new cd I'm actually excited for. When I got this one, I felt like it was my birthday and Christmas all rolled up into one shiny plastic disc. Yes, friends, I was actually psyched, so psyched, that if I were not already sitting, I may have fallen to my knees.
"If you were to randomly walk up to me and ask me what I think of Opeth's Blackwater Park I would tell you this: love it, love it, love it!" Now, we've discussed often and at length about expectations and disappointment, and I'm here to tell you I was not at all disappointed with this album. Sure, the naysayer will note that there is some very beautiful, decidedly non-metal music on this album, but you have to understand, it's not in a bad way. There are no long monotonous stretches, this is a metal album with melody and mood used to affect.
If you liked Amorphis' Tuonela, be prepared to be entranced. If you didn't, let me tell you that while it has a similar mood and some other similarities, Opeth goes right where you probably think Amorphis went wrong. At just the right point, there are intense death metal vocals, or a shredding guitar part. There are also a lot of acoustic-style passages, but it's amazing, trust me.
The musicianship is exactly what you would expect from Opeth: superbly executed. The songs are brilliantly written. There is a mood that is carried throughout the album, but I found each song to be an epic journey unto itself. The occasional use of clean vocals is a new kick I'm on, and I think it adds depth and dimension here, particularly when done in harmony as on "Harvest".
If you were to randomly walk up to me and ask me what I think of Opeth's Blackwater Park I would tell you this: love it, love it, love it! Seek it out, buy it, sit with it, absorb it, love it. Trust me.
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