Opeth - Blackwater Park review
| Band: | Opeth |
| Album: | Blackwater Park |
| Style: | Extreme progressive metal |
| Release date: | March 2001 |
01. The Leper Affinity
02. Bleak [feat. Steven Wilson]
03. Harvest
04. The Drapery Falls
05. Dirge For November
06. The Funeral Portrait
07. Patterns In The Ivy
08. Blackwater Park
09. The Leper Affinity [live] [Legacy edition bonus]
[Limited edition bonus CD]
01. Still Day Beneath The Sun
02. Patterns In The Ivy II
[Legacy Edition bonus DVD]
+ 5.0 Audio Mix Of The Original Album
+ The Making Of Blackwater Park
Passion. That's what Blackwater Park is all about. Pure, unadulterated passion. Forget that Opeth display musical ability and know-how that is rivaled by few. Forget that the ending to The Leper Affinity goes from what can only be described as one of the greatest jam sessions ever, to a beautiful, yet melancholic pianistic epilogue. Forget that Harvest is one of the greatest acoustic songs ever written. Forget that Blackwater Park contains the perfect metal riff. Forget that Mikael Akerfeld quite possibly has the best voice in all of music. Forget that every moment of this album will make you stand in awe of what you're hearing. Why should you forget all that? Because none of it matters.
What matters is that Opeth's music connects with the listener on a level that no other band has ever obtained. Just what that level is can's be defined. It can only be felt. And the only way to feel it is to listen. And I do mean LISTEN. You shouldn's do so much as twiddle your thumbs during the play of this, or any other of their albums. You would only be hurting yourself. Their only rivals in this department would be the immortal classical composers, such as Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. But Opeth still beats them out.
I can's tell you how difficult it is for me to rate this at all. By doing so, I'm implying that Blackwater Park, and indeed all of Opeth's works, can be somehow compared with any other album by any other band. That is simply not true. I have given perfect 10's to bands that don's even register on the scale when compared to Opeth. The very fact that I'm pretending to be worthy enough to even discuss Opeth's music is an unforgivable sin. No amount of words in this, or any other, language can begin to describe the tapestry of emotions on this, or any of their albums. Opeth's creations transcend not only metal, but art itself. This is the language of the soul.
Written by Account deleted | 18.09.2003
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
9.9
9.9
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Rating: 9.9 |
There are few bands that dare to continuously expand their musical sphere with each release, expecting their fans to accept the changes - even fewer succeed. Mikael Åkerfeldt, song writer and front man of Opeth, has pushed Opeth to do so since the band's inception and perhaps it's this constant change, not giving the audience a chance to adjust to one particular niche, which keeps them from ending up like so many metal bands before them: repetitive and uninspired. 2001 was the year Opeth opened the floodgates of creativity and released what many believe to be their magnum opus, an album so hyped you might doubt its brilliance. I'm here to tell you not to doubt. This is Blackwater Park. Read more ›› |
Rating:
2.0
2.0
|
Rating: 2.0 |
This charade has gone on long enough. It's time someone gave this crappy album an honest assessment. Read more ›› |
Comments page 5 / 6
Comments: 162
Visited by: 1085 users
| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by FrozenJoy on 19.03.2011 at 06:04 I'm no Opeth encyclopedia or even a casual fan, but in my experience a lot of earlier Opeth releases seemed to be very...experimental. Not in an avant-garde genre-bending way, but in an odd song structure kind of way. They usually throw you for a loop, where you expect a chorus or a repeated riff or something, they change it up by repeating something ELSE or just simply starting off in a completely different direction. I found this album to follow that trend as well. I did not find that with Watershed. I gave it one listen*, and that was more than enough. It felt bland; I mean, I've always found them a little sleep-inducing, but Watershed just felt unimaginative and uninspired (overused and overly assuming word, I know). * for those who are wondering, I don't need to listen to it again to appreciate it
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino staff Posts: 18274  |
Written by Guest on 20.03.2011 at 05:36 Meh, I don't know... Watershed and Ghost Reveries are pretty much on the same level for me as my least favorite of their discography. Which one I preffer more tends to change from time to time. The best Opeth for me has always been all the albums before Blackwater Park. I do enjoy Blackwater Park a lot though, but that album that is claimed for almost everyone as their best is far from albums like Still Life or Morningrise.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Kwis Posts: 133  |
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| Parasomnia Posts: 50  |
GREAT review man!!  That's exactly what I think of this album. So atmospheric, crazy crazy dark, but not straight forward brutal as most death metal bands are
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Parasomnia on 28.04.2011 at 23:24 Not even slightly brutal...they're more prog than death.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Parasomnia Posts: 50 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 28.04.2011 at 23:28 They get plenty brutal sometimes, but as a tool and not in a "we are soooo badass" (insert scene-esque lisp) kind of way. Like Serenity Painted Death. The sound is BRUTAL as HELL haha, but thats just because the song is talking about the guy going on a murdering rampage after the people that murdered Melinda. Very very good use of aggression right there
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| Bloodshotmage Posts: 18 |
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Daniell _爱情_ elite Posts: 6061  |
What a terrible pile of pompous, pretentious hogwash. I wonder if the author is actually capable of listening to this album as opposed to praying to it on his knees.
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by Daniell on 28.01.2012 at 12:11 Kind of an irrelevant comment for what is a 9 year old review don't you think? 
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| R'Vannith ghedengi elite Posts: 3099  |
Written by Guest on 28.01.2012 at 12:40 Agreed, and back to the discussion of tits and bacon.. Anyway, as I can gather from the review in order to truly experience this album in all it's transcendental glory you have to suffer an acute case of memory loss. The review is telling me to forget this forget that forget the music this is the one true GOD! 
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| Oaken Hipster Posts: 1322  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 16.12.2008 at 20:03 Of course, but the thing is that Opeth has WAY TOO MANY fanboys, maybe the most since Metallica and those big names.
---- In that case, man is only air as well.
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| Timmeh Dudeman Posts: 344  |
Most subjective review on this site? Glad it's here though, hilarious.
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 8982  |
Written by Guest on 30.07.2012 at 07:31 QFT
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10084  |
I like to think of this review as I do of Holocaust memorials: it represents something ugly which should never be allowed to happen again. I'm not talking about the album (in fact, I don't think I've ever listened to it).
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| FatherOfBodom Posts: 7 |
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| Daniell _爱情_ elite Posts: 6061 |
Next to ponderer's Enslaved review, this review is my favourite on MS. The most pompous and pretentious piece of shitty writing on this site  I always read it when it pops up as random album.
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1458  |
Written by Daniell on 22.10.2013 at 09:29 Yeah, just read the review and it's a load of drivel.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Daniell _爱情_ elite Posts: 6061 |
Written by deadone on 16.12.2013 at 03:08 That means you only heard Heritage and Damnation. Written by deadone on 16.12.2013 at 03:08 Opeth is one of those few bands that rarely use the typical song structures. And repetition is basically absent in their music. Are you sure you actually heard any Opeth?
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589  |
Honestly some of the best Opeth moments are when they stick on riffs and are repetitive. The problem with this album which was later solved is there's way too much twiddly diddly pointless riffs or little acoustic licks that just lead to another boring part afterwards and it kills the momentum of the best moments. When they have their riff game going top notch, which is admittedly less than 5 times on this album, the energy is something else. And then the remaining 8 minutes of whatever song are spent fiddling around. Admittedly I have a low attention span but I can listen to Sunn O))) and not be bored yet be very bored by this.
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| Darkside Momo Retired elite Posts: 9087  |
Ahhh, this fantastic review.... Written by Guest on 28.01.2012 at 06:56 There's this too
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino staff Posts: 18274 |
Written by Darkside Momo on 29.12.2013 at 20:15 I highly doubt there are many bands that are better than that... If any at all. D:
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Karlabos Meat and Potatos Posts: 5658  |
Written by Guest on 01.01.2014 at 12:38
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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