Review:

on 2013-02-04 CharlesMartel Said:

The best thing about this album is the beautiful cover photograph (or is it a painting?) An autumn sylvan scene, mist rising in the early morning with silhouettes of figures walking towards (or away) from you, and shot (or painted) in a kind of monochrome which spills out colour. From that description you could be forgiven from thinking that you are in for a listen to something like Sigur Ros, or maybe even something along the lines of the more thoughtful passages of Smetana.

Instead, what you get is a sugar-puff-less Honey Monster snarling at you over what is, for the most part, emotionally-deprived virtuosity wrapped up in dense sludge. What I fail to understand is how a band which has such obvious talent can come up with something so devoid of any charm. I dont know whether this a concept album dressed up as a pseudo-operatic pretension or what, but for a band which clearly has a firmer grip on musical theory than many, they have come up with something which to me sounds awfully trite.

As with a lot of metal, what I hear may not be what is intended, but my mind is attuned to providing emotional responses to what I hear, so maybe I place meaning and symmetry, imagery and empathy on something where it doesn't exist, but there is more than the slightest hint that this is cleverer than it ought to be. And Opeth certainly try to be clever.

Putting aside the lyrics and concentrating on the musical imagery, what I hear is this:

The mundane piano fugue of "The Leper Affinity" sets the scene, a world which is pleasant but lacks beauty; is ordered but has no imagination. After this overly long introduction, in comes the bad guy, the Honey Monster, who starts growling at everything and proceeds to mess everything up. Rather like a wasp entering a bees hive, the drones run round in circles wondering, wailing what the fuck are we going to do. The aptly named "Bleak" then seems to provide a metaphor for what has just happened  bleakness followed by sadness (which Opeth seem to interpret as - let's play some blues riffs) followed by a snapping, cracking or shattering sound for an ending which seems to signify that the ordinary little world created in the first track had come to an end.

In comes "Harvest" whose acoustic melange introduces some previously overlooked little peasant boy, out in the fields who, unbeknownst to him, possesses special powers. The subsequent track is a mess. "The Drapery Falls" seems to portray the battle between our peasant boy with the special powers and the Honey-Monster wasp who is stealing all the honey in the hive. The next two tracks are just duplications. To have an epic (even a crappy one) the hero has to die. We now have two tracks where our presumably victorious, but by now quite dead, hero is lamented by all concerned  first a dirge, then a funeral. "Patterns in the Ivy" points to the lament of the peasant boys bereaved loved one (who has sprung from nowhere as if to show that he wasn't as generally overlooked as we thought he was), before we finally trundle into "Blackwater Park" to end it all. Exactly what this song has to do with it, I do not know. But it is almost as if the good, ordinary citizens of our little world, our drones if you will, have got together and decided to commemorate the peasant boy's part in the downfall of the Honey-Monster wasp and the restoration of pleasantness or ordinariness (but not beauty or imagination, which were never there in the first place) by dedicating a memorial to him:

"We hereby dedicate this park to the late Mr. Blackwater"

Or something equally banal.

If this sounds like a comedic parody of every cliched epic which has sprung from the dull mind of any twelve year old who has ever read "The Lord of the Rings" then you have just about got it. But like the imaginary world, there is no beauty in the music. Technically clever but without feeling, it is as relevant as intellectual brilliance without practical application - cold and detached. This may well get good ratings, but it just slips back into the worst of prog rock everywhere, pretentious and dull, but with the added problem of being presented in an aggressive and confrontational style.

I suppose some people like it.
Rating: 3/10

Review:

on 2007-08-09 SolitaryMan Said:

While frivolous, whenever I discuss the merits of this album I have to mention it's ranking in my top 10 personal favorite metal albums. There really haven't been many metal bands, let alone death metal groups, that can capture an audience and gather fans of all kinds like Opeth has been able to. Unique, experimental and still with a familiar sound and style. You know Opeth when you hear them, and yet you can find something new everytime you do. "Blackwater Park" was their peak, the absolute highest moment in the band's career without a doubt. Not a bad song to be found, and most of them are truly perfect pieces of melodic death-metal. They strike such a balance as to not alienate fans of death metal, while still appealing to those looking for melodic acoustic rock. "Harvest" is a perfect example, but they are fond of inserting such passages in all of their songs. That balance, coupled with the virtuosity of vocalist/lead guitarist Mikael Akerfeldt and his undeniable songwriting prowess, has made almost every Opeth release something to write home about. But, despite all of that, something more seemed to be fueling "Blackwater Park", perhaps the idea that they were poised for superstardom (relatively speaking...they ARE a death metal band) and had to make their biggest push. Everything before and after only comes so close.
Rating: 10/10