Newpeth Leaks in Full.

Sensitive or tooting?

So the new Opeth album leaked and I should probably get it out of the way now: if you came here looking for a link, then you’re probably out of luck. You can trust me when I say, however, that locating and downloading leaked albums isn’t exactly rocket science. Now onto the good stuff.

First and foremost, Mikael Akerfeldt has never sang better. His control, vibrato is top-notch and his soothing voice finally has some power to it. That being said, his growls leave a lot to be desired on this release. I’m not sure if it’s a result of post-production or a change in technique, but the growls sound very hollow and processed.

Musically, the album fluctuates in typical Opeth fashion between clean electric, heavy metal and mellow-proggy acousti-clean. To start, the mellower parts on the album seem to have picked up where Damnation left off. The acoustic work (barring the out of tune chunk at the end of “Burden”, which I guess is supposed to be funny or something) is organic and powerful, and Mikael’s voice carries the emotion well. Per, Opeth’s resident black sheep, has also found his niche, vying no longer to rely simply on an extremely loud mellotron. Throughout Watershed, Per makes surprisingly tasteful use of keys, and he’s at his best when piano takes precedence alongside acoustics. In fact, Per only threatens to become intolerable on album-closer “Hex Omega”.

The new members in the band, Axenrot on drums and Akesson on guitar, both make their presence known with a startling amount of adequacy, which is to say you know they’re new but you don’t exactly notice it. There are some stylistic difference between Lindgren/Akesson and Axe/Lopez, but there’s no noticeable drop-off based off my early impression and that’s more than I could ask for.

Prog Isn’t Pretty

Perhaps the most startling and refreshing aspect of Watershed is the runtime. Clocking in at a “mere” 54 minutes, Watershed is the third shortest thing the band has released. Paired with some unique twists (female vocals in “Coil”, blastbeats in “The Lotus Eater”), Watershed is perhaps the easiest Opeth album to digest on a first listen.

In short, it seems really solid. Opeth is clearly at their best when they’re not struggling to remain relevant in an extreme metal setting. When the band chooses to explore their 80s prog-influences they come off as excitable and refreshing. Luckily the ‘extreme’ parts seem few and far between and come with enough twists to pardon their sometimes less than fervent approach. Still, there is a true sense of ‘evil’ present in much of the heavier portions of the album, so the somewhat predictable structure of the ‘extreme’ segments is easier to overlook.

If there’s anything holding this album back it’s that the heavier moments border on an all-encompassing metaphor for the album’s somewhat underwhelming presence.

Rundown:

1. Coil (makes excellent use of female vocals. Does a great job at fading the album into action)
2. Heir Apparent (classic Still Life/Blackwater Park Opeth. Very evil sounding and features and abundant use of the tritone)
3. The Lotus Eater (introduces blastbeats to Opeth’s sound and features a uniquely quirky Yes-inspired bridge)
4. Burden (Typical but solid Opeth ballad. Starts to drag midway through and finally falters totally at the end with a lame and totally unfunny out-of-tune acoustic passage)
5. Porcelain Heart (Snore. A 4 minute song at best stretched into 8. Mostly uninspired; clear single material because at least 50% of it can be chopped down without making it seem like anything is missing).
6. Hessian Peel (Perhaps the strongest song on the album. Highly effective if a little deranged tune. Mostly acoustic, features excellent vocals)
7. Hex Omega (Goes by before you notice it exists. Kind of a lacklustre closer but a solid song nonetheless).

Expected rating: 3.5/5