Blackwater Park is the fifth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. It was released on 12 March 2001, in Europe and a day later in North America through Music for Nations and Koch Records. The album marks the first collaboration between Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson and the band, as Wilson had been brought in to produce the album. This contributed to a shift in Opeth's musical style. The songs "The Drapery Falls" and "Still Day Beneath the Sun" were released as singles.
Although Blackwater Park did not chart in North America or the United Kingdom, it was a commercial breakthrough for the band. Often considered their magnum opus, the album was highly acclaimed among critics, with Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic stating that the record is "surely the band's coming-of-age album, and therefore, an ideal introduction to its remarkable body of work". In 2020, Loudwire listed Blackwater Park as the number one progressive metal album of all time. Rolling Stone ranked the album as 55th on their list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.'
In the progressive death metal genre swedish band Opeth has been one of the top acts for several decennia. Blackwater Park is their fifth and one of their best. I can understand that not everyone is into this kind of music, but if you're open to it, there is a lot to enjoy. The album has a lot of variation in style and tempo. Even the grunting vocals are alternated by clean vocals often in slower (passages of) songs.
Let’s get one thing straight: death metal isn’t something I’m likely to seek out. This project has, however, forced me into this genre. And to my surprise there is a significant number of death metal albums that have appealed to me. And 100% of the Swedish death metal albums I have listened to I really love: Edge of Sanity’s Crimson and now this.
Am I getting the cream of the crop or is all Swedish death metal good?
This one has really impressive performances… if death metal could shimmer I think this album does and it has a real progressive feel - I guess I’m in the progressive Swedish death metal genre now?
Great suggestion. Well worth my time!
Appreciate some intense, technical metal for a change. While I've never been a fan of this genre's vocal style, I've always loved how intricately woven and multifaceted the guitar and bass parts feel. Definitely biased as a guitar player here, just enjoy a challenging album with some heavier instrumentals. Good add, the list has gone for lighter fare so it's nice to get something dense and technical.
Not really as growly black metal as it might first appear. There's quite a bit of twiddly noodling, sometimes crooning, sometimes power metal - it's got a bit of variety to it. Not to my taste, but what they're doing, they're doing well.
It is so bleak and so crushing. Heaviness can be uplifting; here even the gorgeous acoustic guitar sections feel like a complete downfall.
I fucking love it.
So, more Scandinavian metal. As usual I am not a fan of the croak-screeching style of vocals, though they were more of an accent than the dominant theme in much of this. Aside from that it was solidly played, pretty conventional in its genre. Not so much my taste.
I had a thought in my head to check how much longer was left on this and I was on track 3. So I'm all set. 'Sweden's Opeth redefined what death metal can be' okey-dokey
Read more on Wikipedia