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Blackwater Park

Opeth - Blackwater Park Audio CD

A fair review of the Opeth "Blackwater Park" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Opeth reviews here, or go back to the Opeth tabs.

Band: Opeth
Title: Blackwater Park
Rating:

Release Date: 2007-08-13
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Leper Affinity 2: Bleak 3: Harvest 4: Drapery Falls 5: Dirge for November 6: Funeral Portrait 7: Patterns in the Ivy 8: Blackwater Park

An Outstanding Album
I had read plenty of very positive reviews on this album and I REALLY wanted to like it. I got this album about 2 years ago, and at first I hated it because of the death metal vocals. But it just wasn't do anything for me. I let it collect dust on the shelf for a while, and the only song I would half listen to and like was The Drapery Falls. This is one of their more popular songs. They usually close their live set with this song.

Fast forward a couple of months and all of a sudden my opinion on the album drastically changed. And this forever changed my taste in music. All of a sudden I started digging their sound. I finally "got" what they were trying to do. Their style is pretty varied from time to time, and I started listening to it over and over again and soon I had to buy more of their albums. I even introduced my best friend to the album and he started loving it too.

This is an album that comes along once in a blue moon. A "classic" in its own right, not a lot of bands will ever achieve what Opeth did on this album. Usually known as their "breakthrough" album, it combines great msuicianship with a great (very dark) theme. I love how it opens with The Leper Affinity. It is the perfect opening song and you can tell that they're just getting started. The song ends with a great little piano piece that surprised me at first when I heard it because I didn't expect something that beautiful to be on such a "brutal" album. But my favorite moment on the album is when it's coming to a close. The song Blackwater Park ends the album nearly perfectly with the lyrics "Sick liasons raised this monumental mark, the sun sets forever over blackwater park. " You can really tell that everything is coming to a close. Just listen to the almost unrelentless double bass that epically ends the album.

This album has made Opeth my favorite band now and has opened my eyes to so much more in the music world. I have since bought all of Opeth's albums and have been to three of their concerts. They are also extraordinary live. If you like this album, I suggest you check out every single one of their other ones because they are all very polished and very worthy of many listens.

Notable Tracks:

Bleak
The Drapery Falls
Blackwater Park
.

Green Andy Reviews: Opeth - Blackwater Park
Like the rest of their work, Blackwater Park is an absolutely amazing moment in Swedish death metal history. It's a rare day that anyone has any serious criticism for Opeth, and I'm certainly not going to try here. It might not be their very best album (that award goes, at present, to 2005's GHOST REVERIES), but it was certainly their best album at the time it was released, and in fact can be considered the first album made by the group in the midst of their popular hype. Thankfully, Opeth lived up to it.

Normally I spend the middle of these reviews mentioning specific songs on a record, the very best or very worst points on the album, etc. That's a tough thing to do with this album, because the songs (described as "movements" by the band) really do play as one continuous piece. Not in the sense that the album is one-dimensional or monotonous, because it's the exact opposite: each song is filled with so many different changes and sections that it takes a careful listener to discern the running theme (either lyrical or melodic) to each one, and picking out a favorite might be difficult. Regardless, there are lots of attractive passages, like the pretty Middle Eastern melody that runs through most of "Bleak", and the slow crawl from gently-strummed acoustic guitar up to stately death metal and back down to acoustics in "The Drapery Falls". Every song has a multitude of twists and turns that keep the piece interesting without sounding overly busy, a testament to the compositional skills of Mikael �kerfeldt, no doubt aided by the guidance of first-time Opeth producer Steve Wilson (from Porcupine Tree).

The band overall plays incredibly fluidly, moving from passage to passage, from fierce Swedish death metal tones to hushed folk melodies, delicately picked acoustics, washes of noise, and back with confidence and drama. Truly if anyone outside the death metal world needs evidence of the genre's artistic possibilities, Opeth is the band to turn to, and Blackwater Park is one of their finest examples. Highly recommended.

Death metal meets melody and variety
Opeth has taken this genre and welded it together with classic rock, jazz, acoustic segments and alternating soft and harmonizing vocals to offset the grunting. Grunt vocals are a very divisive issue now with death metal outfits - many fans of the thundering riffs are sick of the cookie-monster-with-gas shtick, while others are huge fans.
Granted, Mikael Akerfeldt does his share of grunting, but he also supplies plenty of real singing, making the growling more of an atmospheric touch than a cornerstone. Which is essential, because Akerfeldt is an incredible songwriter and musician, who seemlessly delivers heavy riffs and ultra cool jazz soloing, swooping guitar tonalities that recall some of Jimmy Page's string bending wizardry from "Dazed and Confused" without being derivative or a blatant ripoff.
Some reviewers view Opeth as a highly experimental band, but actually, "Blackwater Park" is a wonderful voyage of many musical realms, and the fact that it retains its cohesiveness is indicative of the genius Akerfeldt possesses.
Never boring, even though the cuts are pretty lengthy, "Blackwater Park" and Opeth are truly a heavy band that loves many kinds of music, and it's exciting and refreshing to know they're out there. This band, in a perfect world, would be bigger than Metallica used to be, but alas, the world has to make room for Amy Winehouse and any number of horrible pop acts that clutter up the music scene and relegate heavy music to cult status, where it's ignored by all the big trade mags except those that specifically cover metal and guitar oriented music. It's sad, but ditzy fans of the crap on Top 40 radio wouldn't get Opeth, anyway.

Another heavy yet beautiful release
Like most of their albums or "observations" as they call them, you're going to get tons of changes in riffs, tempos, vocal styles and varying degrees of length. For most, "Blackwater Park" is considered Opeth's best release though it's probably the one that got them the biggest attention. Though there's nothing inherently new about each record, its the refinement and better songwriting that's more noteworthy and with this record, the band still likes to have lots of sections and long songs but they're done with more care that you don't even notice that it's taking so long for the song to end and it's a good thing.

The Leper Affinity: Naturally the track has a quiet fade-in before blasting out of the speakers with a massive riff and goes through a number of riffs from syncopated breakdowns to Mikael Akerfeldt's underrated vocals to a gorgeous piano outro. 8/10

Bleak: A lot of people said this was their favorite off the record and have to admit it took awhile before it caught me. Beginning with a big sense of dissonance, then comes in a great catchy riff before its off-kilter verses. Not only is it well executed but it's even structured accessibility with its own "chorus". 9/10

Harvest: If you were a fan of "Benighted" from the last album or the entire Damnation cd, this'll be up your alley. Tons of acoustic chording all over the place and it's catchy to a certain degree though strangely I kind of find it. . . boring. Blasphemous I know but aside from the vocals, the track never really pulled me in though I'm sure lot of people will love it. 8/10

The Drapery Falls: Depressing chording and E-bow riff (the heavy part goes on a bit too long for me) but Mikael uses his vocals to great effect in the clean parts and its "chorus" but the heavy sections didn't really interest me and there was only a couple riffs that I loved and the outro is basically another intro taking up 2 whole minutes of one section. Poo. 7. 5/10

Dirge for November: I don't really care for this one but the intro with its acoustic guitar and blues-y solo is gorgeous only that goes away and the heavyness kicks in again with more E-bow (they loved that thing on this record). It's simple enough and not really long but it's just not that interesting 6/10

The Funeral Portrait: Awesome groove the main riff creates during the intro and the song is practically chockful of awesome riffs and solos that it's easily a highlight on the album. I'd very much recommend listening to this one. 9/10

Patterns in the Ivy: More of a prelude to the closer with just an acoustic guitar doing folkish arpeggios before a piano comes in and offers chord accompaniment and then some more higher key melodies. It's lovely and fun to play though probably not iPod worthy. 8. 5/10

Blackwater Park: Probably one of the coolest chord progression the band has with our trusty E-bow again before going into more heavier riffs with one having a great groove to it before going into a long clean part that's nice to hear in its strange lovelyness (even if it's slightly too long for me) and the ending riffs are awesome but strangely it's that middle section I'm not a big fan of. Odd I know. 8. 5/10

Blackwater Park could be considered a great starting record if you want to get into the band. All the songs are not over 10 minutes like Morningrise, complex like Still Life or slightly meandering like Ghost Reveries. It's a solid release from a band that knows how to balance the quiet with the supremely loud.

Best album to date; holds a place as near to my heart as my pillow.
It may be the last I let go of. Having heard other Opeth tracks at the time, this was the first album I actually purchased. The songs on this track opened my ears and filled my head directly with some of the most amazing metal ever. Bleak, the second track, contains some of the most perfect vocals by Mikael that I have heard. From start to finish, this album is damn good.

You can see a complete list of all Opeth discography, or go back to the Opeth tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.