365 Albums In One Year

Collin said:
Hopefully Between the Hammer and the Anvil... :innocent:
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I don't think any song will be below a 7 for me at this point. It's a pretty strong album, though I still maintain that it's not quite as amazing as many would say (except for the first three songs).
 
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So I've been busy doing Metallica's discography in the Metallica thread, and I wanted to update this with their stuff once I'd finished the first three albums. Hence why this post is album 29 instead of 26, because I've heard three other albums between this one and Ghost. Anyway... this is just gonna be a single listen album. Let's see how it goes!

OPETH - BLACKWATER PARK
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Album 29/365

Tracks:
  1. "The Leper Affinity" - Ominous intro before we smash right into heaviness. I'm liking it. There are a lot of different shades to this song, some heavy as fuck bits, some more melodic bits, and an acoustic piece which is quite nice. Akerfeldt is a pretty great vocalist, whether he's ripping out pieces of your flesh or taking a clean approach to singing. It's great. The piano piece near the end is quite nice as well. There's nothing wrong with this song, but I don't think it's my favorite ever, so let's say a strong 9/10.
  2. "Bleak" - Ooh, I'm loving this opening! It's pretty tranquil for death metal and I like the way it feels like you're on a ship in the middle of the ocean trying to look for land. Actually on that note, it's kinda like a faster Ahab song, and I like it. The piece with the clean singing overtop the heavy guitars is kinda weird but I don't dislike it, just feels like something you'd hear more from a metalcore band or something. That ending is really great too, but everything in between is rather suspect. I thought this was gonna be a great song but it seemed to peter out a bit in the middle and only got back on its feet by the end. Not that anything's bad, but it's a little disappointing. Bumping up the grade for the good bits. 8/10
  3. "Harvest" - I think I like Opeth best when they keep all the death metal stuff and all the quieter stuff separate. The mix of the two in "Bleak" is what I think I liked least. On that note, having an entirely acoustic-based song is a cool idea and they succeed with it. There's nothing bad about this song whatsoever and I even think it's better than "The Leper Affinity". Was kinda debating on what to give it, but I really like what Opeth set out to do with this song and they pulled it off, so I think I can give it top marks. Great song. 10/10
  4. "The Drapery Falls" - And so we return to heaviness with a nearly eleven minute song and the opening is really good. It goes mild though and the acoustic stuff here is pretty strong. The way they mix the clean vocals with the heavy stuff this time works much better than in "Bleak". Once it gets going with the growls it really takes no prisoners. The best parts in this song are the best so far, but I don't think it's as strong as "The Leper Affinity" as a whole, but definitely better than "Bleak". I'll go midway for an 8.5/10.
  5. "Dirge for November" - Interesting but not mindblowing opening here, but it gets better when the heaviness breaks in. Holy shit, it just hits with a force of concrete and leaves you bruised and bloodied on the ground. That quiet ending is great too. I gotta round this one up, because the bulk of it is fucking awesome. 10/10
  6. "The Funeral Portrait" - This one feels like it takes a page out of southern rock and then beefs it the fuck up. Those high screams are awesome. Kinda reminds me of some of Ahab's stuff (the less standard stuff, that is). The only part here I don't really care for is the bit near the end where the clean vocals come in, but the rest of this is consistently great, so I'll round it up. 10/10
  7. "Patterns in the Ivy" - Pretty great little interlude that leads us to the true spectacle of the album. This is quite nice. 9/10
  8. "Blackwater Park" - God, I love the way this song opens. I've heard it quite a lot and it's always been one of my favorite epics from the metal genre. The opening just slays, the guitar sound is awesome, and there's a little acoustic break before we just slam right in with an "UH!" before we really get some of Akerfeldt's best growls. Then the whole thing just kinda stops to do a really nice quiet interlude type of piece. This song really is like the album cover in musical form and I love it. It sticks for a while before we get this grave-digging fucking hell shit riff that rises back up and Mikael's growling he's goddamn Cerberus. There's some great stuff before we get to the solo and it's awesome. Doesn't last too long because there's other great shit to behold here. Fuck, talk about a perfect death metal song, this one is it. Beefy as fuck, heavy as fuck, with a lot of melody at the same time, and enough change-ups to warrant a 12 minute runtime. Most bands can't even keep up attention in three minutes, but these Swedes fucking can. And then we exit the album with a cool, calm acoustic piece. Brilliant. Maybe it's because I've heard it before, but god I love this fucking song. It's just perfect in every way. This one goes to 11/10, buddies.
Bit of an inconsistent first half, but it totally made up for itself with the second half. Lots of great moments on this album, even in the weaker songs. I'm definitely gonna be coming back to it and Opeth in general in the future. Good shit.

Rating: 94%
 
Number 6 said:
Thanks for the review. Been meaning to check out Blackwater Park for a while now.
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Friend of mine heard it today and I decided to check it out because of him. He actually thought the first four songs + the title track were awesome, and the rest were a bit more of a mixed bag, but it was a good album overall. Will be interesting to see what you think!

BTW, did you check out that Acid Bath album yet?
 
Blackwater Park is so fucking good! The Drapery Falls will grow on you and become a 10/10 for sure.

Have you listened to Still Life yet?
 
Diesel 11 said:
BTW, did you check out that Acid Bath album yet?
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Not yet because I've spent most of this month doing some reading (which I hadn't done in a loooooong while), but I'll go back to hearing new music soon. I'll post my thoughts on both albums here when I listen to them.
 
Blackwater Park is one of my all-time favorites. Might be #1, actually.

I don't have an actual ranking but my all-time Top 10 would probably feature three or four Opeth albums.
 
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