Blackwater Park

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!

I honestly think this album stands alongside Tool at the very top of progressive metal. It’s both brutal and beautiful in equal measure, shifting effortlessly between the two. For that reason, I have to give it 5 stars, it’s a masterpiece of its genre. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I’ve always had a soft spot for heavier music, and this absolutely delivers.

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.

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.

I often wonder why someone would pick a particular album for inclusion on this list. Typically this happens when it’s in a genre I am not super familiar with. Metal is one of those genres. I listen to some metal but I haven’t gone deep into it. I’ve seen Slayer, Anthrax, Jinjer live but don’t known all their songs. So when this metal album landed I was curious. So I asked ChatGPT- why would someone pick this to add to a 1001 must listen list. I actually think it nailed it. Here is the comment it made. I will say I agree with it. Someone would suggest Blackwater Park for a user-generated 1001 Albums list because it is widely seen as a landmark album: a record that takes death metal and makes it expansive, atmospheric, melodic, and genuinely album-shaped rather than just heavy song after heavy song. It has the kind of ambition those lists reward, with long, dynamic compositions, a very distinctive dark mood, and a blend of brutality and beauty that helped define progressive metal in the 2000s. Even people who would never call it an all-time universal favorite might still argue it belongs because it represents an important musical world at an exceptionally high level.

Always a 5 star album in my book. Flawless.

Hell yeah!

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.

I just recently discovered Opeth and have been really getting into their music. I definitely will revisit this album. Very cool

Yeah Opeth does indeed bang quite a bit. Not as difficult of a listen as you might expect from the album cover - actually beautiful at times even. Always down for some death metal, very cool suggestion. Also cool to finally see one of these have a user score above a 3.

The opening track was a tough one to get into. But the longer, more melodic song, I liked a lot

Opeth is iffy for me. The two albums preceding this one I think are excellent, the ones after are more hit and miss. Returning to this one now there is a lot of strong material, although I don't always agree with the songwriting choices and I'm still not huge on the title track. The album has grown on me enough that I can give it 4 stars. The power of riffs

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.

Better than I thought.

Killer

Progressive death metal, progressive rock. Ni fu ni fa.

There's a reputation for this album in the black metal world. I'll take it on that and the diversity that this is a quality representation of the genre, but this wasn't for me

Rating: 5/10

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