Watershed (Opeth album)

Watershed (Opeth album)
Watershed
Studio album by Opeth
Released 19 May 2008
(see release history)
Recorded Winter 2006/2007 – 10 January 2008
(Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden)[1]
Genre Progressive death metal, progressive rock
Length 54:58
Label Roadrunner
Producer Mikael Åkerfeldt[2] and Jens Bogren[3]
Opeth chronology
The Roundhouse Tapes
(2007)		 Watershed
(2008)		 The Candlelight Years
(2008)
Alternative cover
Special edition
Singles from Watershed
  1. "Porcelain Heart"
    Released: April 19, 2008
  2. "Mellotron Heart"
    Released: June 3, 2008
  3. "Burden"
    Released: December 9, 2008

Watershed is the ninth full-length studio album by the Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. Published by Roadrunner Records, the album's special edition was released first (rather than the standard edition) as a music download on the Italian iTunes Stores on May 19, 2008.[4]

Watershed is the first studio album by Opeth to feature drummer Martin Axenrot and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, as well as the first not to feature longtime guitarist Peter Lindgren. The artwork for the album was made by Travis Smith (who has created the artwork for eight previous Opeth releases) in collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt.[5]

It was released in standard, 180 gram vinyl, and special edition versions. The special edition version includes three bonus tracks, a bonus DVD with a 5.1 surround sound mix of the entire album (not including bonus tracks), video content featuring rehearsals, and studio footage, as well as expanded artwork. The vinyl release comes in gatefold packaging, and contains the album on two LPs, as well as a CD copy of the album (both including the bonus track "Derelict Herds") and a poster.

Contents

History

The first song to be heard by the public was "Heir Apparent", which was performed in concert and recorded on video by fans who uploaded the low-quality videos onto YouTube. Later many of the tracks were leaked onto YouTube several weeks prior to the album's launch.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Mikael Åkerfeldt, all music composed by Åkerfeldt, except where noted.

No. Title Length
1. "Coil"   3:10
2. "Heir Apparent"   8:50
3. "The Lotus Eater"   8:50
4. "Burden"   7:41
5. "Porcelain Heart" (Åkerfeldt, Fredrik Åkesson) 8:00
6. "Hessian Peel"   11:25
7. "Hex Omega"   7:02
8. "Derelict Herds" (special edition bonus track; Åkerfeldt, Per Wiberg) 6:28
9. "Bridge of Sighs" (special edition bonus track; Robin Trower cover) 5:55
10. "Den ständiga resan" (special edition bonus track; Marie Fredriksson cover) 4:09

Mellotron Heart

A track entitled "Mellotron Heart" (5:14) was included on a separate promotional CD with a limited number of copies of the album. "Mellotron Heart" is an alternate recording of the song "Porcelain Heart" performed on mellotron and mini-Moog synthesizers. The cover for the CD is the standard album artwork with the figure and writing desk replaced by a mellotron. The track is also available as a free digital download exclusively for those who pre-ordered the album from The End Records and to people who insert the CD into their computer via Opendisc.[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[7]
Artistdirect 5/5 stars[8]
Blender 4/5 stars[9]
Blabbermouth.net 9.5/10 stars[10]
IGN 8/10 stars[11]
The New York Times (favorable)[12]
Pitchfork Media (7.5/10)[13]
PopMatters 9/10 stars[14]
Sea of Tranquility (4.5/5)[15]
Sputnikmusic 4/5 stars[16]
Wiki letter w.svg This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

On Metal Hammer's Critic's Choice Top 50, Watershed was named as the second-best album of 2008 (behind only Metallica's Death Magnetic).[17] In the January/February 2009 issue of Metal Edge, Watershed was voted the #1 album of 2008.

Chart positions

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Swedish Albums Chart[18] 7
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[19] 7
Austrian Albums Chart[20] 53
Canadian Albums Chart[21] 17
Danish Albums Chart[22] 84
Dutch Albums Chart[23] 14
French Albums Chart[24] 47
Finnish Albums Chart[25] 1
German Albums Chart[26] 23
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[22] 15
New Zealand Albums Chart[27] 26
Norwegian Albums Chart[28] 7
Swiss Albums Chart[29] 24
UK Albums Chart[22] 34
US Billboard 200[21] 23

Personnel

Opeth

Additional Musicians

  • Nathalie Lorichs – guest vocals on "Coil"[3]
  • Lisa Almberg – English horn, oboe
  • Christoffer Wadensten – flute
  • Karin Svensson – violin
  • Andreas Tengberg – cello

Production

  • Production – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Jens Bogren
  • Engineering – Jens Bogren, David Castillo
  • Mixing – Jens Bogren
  • Mastering – Jens Bogren

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog
Continental Europe May 30, 2008[30] Roadrunner Physical Release CD RR 7962-2
United Kingdom June 2, 2008[31] Roadrunner CD RR 7962-2
North America June 3, 2008[32] Roadrunner Enhanced R 1384409
Australia June 3, 2008 Roadrunner Records (Australia) Enhanced RR 7962-8

References

  1. ^ "Opeth: Mainman Ready to Rock the Boat". Blabbermouth.net. 2008-01-10. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=88203. Retrieved 2008-01-12. 
  2. ^ "Opeth: Frontman Says New Songs are 'A Bit More Energetic'". Blabbermouth.net. 2007-12-21. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=87140. Retrieved 2008-01-12. 
  3. ^ a b "Opeth – New Album Title, Track Listing Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. 2008-02-05. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=89981. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
  4. ^ iTunes Store: Opeth – Watershed (opens iTunes)
  5. ^ "Watershed Artwork Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=93914. Retrieved 2008-03-31. 
  6. ^ "Mellotron Heart: Exclusive Digital Delivery for Opeth Pre-Order". RoadrunnerRecords.com. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/getopeth/. Retrieved 2008-06-03. 
  7. ^ True, Christopher M. Watershed review allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2009-10-13.
  8. ^ Florino, Rick. Watershed review artistdirect.com. Retrieved on 2009-10-13.
  9. ^ Watershed review blender.com. Rertrieved on 2009-10-13.
  10. ^ Retrieved on 2010-5-18.
  11. ^ Ramirez, Carlos. Watershed review music.ign.com. Retrieved on 2009-10-13.
  12. ^ Ratliff, Ben. Playlist nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2009-10-13.
  13. ^ Lee, Cosmo. Watershed review 2008-06-04. Retrieved on 2009-10-13.
  14. ^ Begrand, Adrien Watershed review 2008-06-05. Retrieved on 2009-10-13.
  15. ^ Batmaz, Murat. Watershed review Retrieved on 2011-09-17.
  16. ^ Stagno, Mike. Watershed review Retrieved on 2009-10-13.
  17. ^ Metal Hammer critics’ top 50 albums of 2008: 3-1 metalhammer.co.uk. 2008-12-23. Retrieved on 2009-11-29.
  18. ^ "Watershed in Swedish Charts" (in Swedish). swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  19. ^ "Watershed in Australian Charts". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  20. ^ "Watershed in Der Österreichischen Hitparade" (in German). austriancharts.at. http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  21. ^ a b "Watershed > Charts & Awards". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1384409/charts-awards/billboard-album. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  22. ^ a b c "Opeth's Watershed Tops Finnish Album Chart". blabbermouth.net. 2008-06-11. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=98838. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  23. ^ "Watershed in Dutch Charts" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  24. ^ "Watershed dans Les Charts Français" (in French). lescharts.com. http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  25. ^ "Watershed in Finnish Charts" (in Finnish). finnishcharts.com. http://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  26. ^ "Chartverfolgung - Opeth - Watershed" (in German). Musicline.de. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/title/Opeth/Watershed/longplay. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  27. ^ "Watershed in New Zealand Charts". charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  28. ^ "Watershed in Norwegian Charts" (in Norwegian). norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  29. ^ "Watershed in Der Schweizer Hitparade" (in German). hitparade.ch. http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Opeth&titel=Watershed&cat=a. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  30. ^ Amazon.de: Opeth – Watershed
  31. ^ Amazon.co.uk: Opeth – Watershed
  32. ^ "Opeth – Roadrunner Records". Roadrunnerrecords.com. 2008-02-05. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/Opeth/. Retrieved 2008-03-26. 
v · d · eOpeth
Studio albums
Live albums
Lamentations (Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire 2003) · The Roundhouse Tapes · In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Compilations
Related articles
Wikipedia book Book:Opeth · Category Category:Opeth  · Portal Portal:Heavy metal · Commons-logo.svg Commons:Opeth

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Heritage (Opeth album) — Heritage Studio album by Opeth Released 14 September 2011 …   Wikipedia

  • Deliverance (Opeth album) — Deliverance Studio album by Opeth Released November 12, 2002 …   Wikipedia

  • Watershed — NOTOC Watershed may refer to: * Watershed, drainage divide (non American usage) * Watershed, drainage basin (North American usage) * Watershed (algorithm), an algorithm used in image processing * Watershed area (medical), an area with overlapping …   Wikipedia

  • Opeth — in 2009 at the Bijou Theater, Knoxville, TN. Left to right: Per Wiberg, Fredrik Åkesson, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Martin Mendez, and Martin Axe Axenrot Background inf …   Wikipedia

  • Opeth discography — Opeth discography Opeth live at Ruisrock 2008 in Turku, Finland Releases ↙Studio albums 10 …   Wikipedia

  • Watershed (Album) — Watershed Studioalbum von Opeth Veröffentlichung 19. Mai 2008 Label Roadrunner Records Format …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Watershed (album) — Watershed Album par Opeth Sortie 2 juin 2008 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Opeth — en performance au festival de Tuska en juillet 2006 Pays d’origine …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Watershed — Álbum de Opeth Publicación 2 de junio de 2008 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Opeth — en vivo en la Sala Apolo en 2008 …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”