The new Opeth album ‘Watershed’ arrives after the remarkably successful ‘Ghost Reveries’, therefore any one shall be compelled to compare the current with the previous one and rest of the discography.

A change in line-up- Martin Axenrot and Friederik Akesson fill in for Martin Lopez and Peter Lindgren.
Opeth begin with an acoustic ‘Coil’ that finds Mikael (vocals) in his finest touch, when his bleak and miser vocals touch the mic with a single pull plucking in the background. It offers hallucination of narration that is about to flow
And to complement this you have lyrics like ‘When I get out of here, when I leave you behind, find that the years passed us by’. Boy! Watershed just started.

Next song is ‘Heir Apparent’ that brings doom to dawn with its opening riff, the tubewell ouflow of the base drums and restored Opeth riffs cast a devilous spell. The interjection point comes after 4 minutes where they all break loose, the crush is steamed out by an exit lead that spells dark and the band manages to keep it all together during the final minutes by a unique time synergy. This track is one of my picks.

‘The lotus eater’ spins for 8 and half minutes, which moulds from being a chaotic thrash metal neck breaker to-melodic craft of death metal. But it sounds over done and over produced and repetitive. Nevertheless there’s a fragrance of unique vibe grabbing me from scratch to finish. The hero here is the never-ending chorus.

Midway ‘Burden’ takes over, undoubtedly reminiscent of the Opeth we know from ‘Damnation’ album. Keyboard shores in, moving to the marshy synth territory, the stepping of vocals provides solidarity, and once guitars join in you are in the wastelands, finding space for yourself. Drum beat arrangement is very martnish (therefore no missing Martin). A wholesome psychedelia is exuded by the lead alternation and vocals that are deep, melancholic and far spread. Gentle acoustic plucking with off signatures is a never before from the band, undoubtedly a very smart outro.

‘Porcelain Heart’s another mid-tempo song that slides from the acoustics to gloomy and wicked riffs and back to acoustics. Although this shuffling doesn’t appeal your ears at first go, especially because of the drumming that looks synthetic, pressurized and forcibly squeezed. It gets addressed during the full beating after first stanza. Altough the looping between the background tone and the outflow of acoustics could have been a little well managed in timing and programming department. Meaty one nonetheless (And I liked the video too).

‘Hessian peel’ is a 10 minuter, such a length was long awaited; sadly this one also starts from a slow low acoustic note (I guess the band hasn’t planned all this intentionally). Synth playing on this one is very rural and orchestrish in approach, (which I admire). The opening section gives it a very country feel, where you can imagine opeth sitting in a remote Swedish village playing for the ones around. Struming is soft, violins are swingsters and vocals are like honey flow-thick, awaiting, inviting and sweet. Board the jet on the 6th minute, where they up the pace and swing it in heavy territory. Stormy double base, crushing riffs take over. Hold it for a minute, and back to the mid-tempo ground with acoustics, its so nerve wrecking to observe a band changing lanes so fast and with such perfection. My Favorite among the lot.

‘Hex Omega’ is the last tombstone; again an intermediately paced opening, catch Mikael in utter grief wrapped in a velvet wrap-arounds provided by rest of the band. Very moist and tantalizing ending.
Overall-Few elements are missing? For me- pace, edge, kill, and trapping strength. Therefore it’s meant for the dedicated Opeth fans. Time to get surrounded by the poisonous water, when thirst is making you kill.Try it once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!