I haven’t been keeping you up to date on the great new music I’ve been listening and I know you’re reaaaallllly anxious to hear about it. First thing you should do is check out my 2008 list that I update every once in a while. The rankings aren’t meant to be exact, but the top stuff is generally better than the bottom stuff.

We have, of course, the new Opeth album. If for some reason you haven’t downloaded it yet, one of the more silly ways to get it would be going here first.

thanks to Bertovo for this \\m/

You probably know that I’m a big sucker for Opeth, so it was pretty obvious that I’d love Watershed. For me, it’s definitely a step forward from 2005’s highly acclaimed Ghost Reveries: Per has really found his niche in the band and the keys play an essential role in the songs. Bass is great as always, although his parts aren’t as prominent as on GR. Mike is sexier than ever. And the new kids are up to par.

Every Opeth album requires dozens of listens before you can start worshipping it, and Watershed was no exception. After playing it non-stop for a few days (something everyone should do) I can say it’s brilliant but not flawless. Here are some observations, good and bad:

  • Heir Apparent is possibly the best song on the album, and one of Opeth’s crushingliest ever.
  • Burden feels like the prog song Mikael always wished he could make. And the outro is just perfect, fuck da hataz.
  • Most of the songs (HA, B, Lotus Eater, Hessian Peel at least) tend to destroy more towards the end.
  • Porcelain Heart starts promisingly after Burden, but is pretty disappointing overall - feels like a bunch of stock Opeth bits stuck together.
  • I kinda agree with the review I linked to earlier, in that I wish they’d explored more some of the new influences they’ve incorporated. Like for instance, the kickass electronic droney part in Hessian Peel, I wish they’d kept it going a bit longer, spicing it up to keep it interesting. Also the Scott Walker ‘Cossacks Are’ guitar riff in Lotus Eater doesn’t have a ~disturbing~ effect similar to its counterpart on The Drift, cos they only play it like twice and then do a solo over it - still kicks ass, but the weirdness effect is pretty much gone.
  • From what I’d read in Mike interviews, I was hoping his vocals would go more into the Walker direction instead of the Coverdale one - but I’m really nitpicking here, his clean vox are spectacular for the most part.

As far as I’m concerned, Opeth have yet to release something that isn’t great. Although as an Opeth album it doesn’t quite reach the top 3, it’s pretty unlikely I’ll rate anything higher than it Watershed this year.

Other than that, these days I’ve been playing Treny by Jacaszek, a Polish electronic experimental artist - really sweet album. Also one half of the new Esoteric leaked today, gave it a listen and it seems good. Now that the Opeth effect has started to wear off, my interest for new albums has returned: can’t wait for the new Cult of Luna, Enslaved, Black Bonzo and Amplifier’s double treat.