''Watershed'' is the ninth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...

. Released by

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. History The label was launched in 1980 in t ...

, ''Watershed'' is the first studio album by Opeth to feature guitarist

Fredrik Åkesson Karl Fredrik Henrik Åkesson is a Swedish heavy metal guitarist. He is a current member of Opeth and is also active in Krux, Monsters of Metal, and Talisman. Biography Åkesson has been playing guitar since the age of 12. His early musical inf ...

and drummer

Martin Axenrot Erik Martin "Axe" Axenrot (born 5 March 1979 in Linköping, Sweden) is a Swedish death metal drummer, best known as the former drummer for progressive death metal band Opeth from 2006 to 2021. Since 2004, he is the drummer for Bloodbath. Known f ...

, who replaced longtime guitarist Peter Lindgren and drummer

Martin Lopez Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austra ...

. 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. It was the band's last studio album to contain death growls or any

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

elements until 2024's '' The Last Will and Testament''.

Overview

On opening track "Coil", Mikael Åkerfeldt duets with Nathalie Lorichs, who was dating drummer

at the time. The band has revealed that they were initially going to start the album with what eventually became the second track, "Heir Apparent"; however, they preferred "Coil" as an introductory track for its contrast to "Heir Apparent". Åkerfeldt was inspired to write the single "Burden" while listening to the Scorpions song "Living And Dying" during a stay in Turkey.

Reception

The album was met with universal acclaim according to Metacritic, receiving a metascore of 82/100 based on 10 critics. 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'').Metal Hammer critics’ top 50 albums of 2008: 3-1
metalhammer.co.uk. 23 December 2008. Retrieved on 29 November 2009. In the January/February 2009 issue of '' Metal Edge'', ''Watershed'' was voted the number 1 album of 2008. In a fan club interview dated to November 2008, a few months after the album's release, former guitarist Peter Lindgren praised the album, noting that "it was a weird feeling to get a new Opeth CD...that he hadn't been a part of", and that he "had trouble following the new songs at first", but called it "damn good".

Release history

''Watershed'' was released as a standard edition, a 180 gram vinyl edition, and a special edition. The special edition 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. "Mellotron Heart" was included on a separate disc with a limited number of copies of the album. It is an alternate recording of the song "Porcelain Heart", performed on

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

and mini-Moog synthesizers by Åkerfeldt himself. 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.

Track listing

Personnel

Opeth

* Mikael Åkerfeldt – vocals, guitar *

– guitar *

Per Wiberg Per Jonas Wiberg (born 8 June 1968) is the former keyboardist of Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth, and a member of Michael Amott's stoner metal band Spiritual Beggars. Wiberg was born in Borlänge. He toured with Opeth from the 200 ...

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Martín Méndez Martín Méndez (born April 6, 1978, in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan Swedish bassist of progressive death metal band Opeth and second longest serving member of the band, behind lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt ...

– bass guitar *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Additional musicians

* Nathalie Lorichs – female vocals * Lisa Almberg –

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

, oboe * Christoffer Wadensten –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

* Karin Svensson – violin * Andreas Tengberg – cello

Production and design

* Mikael Åkerfeldt – production, artwork * Jens Bogren – production, recording, mixing, mastering * Mikhail Korge – recording (additional) * David Castillo – engineering (additional) * Johan Örnborg – engineering (additional) * Travis Smith – artwork

Usage in media

*The song "Heir Apparent" was featured as a downloadable content in the video game '' Rock Band 4''. *The song "The Lotus Eater" was featured in the 2011 video game '' Saints Row: The Third''.

Chart positions

Weekly

Monthly

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Albums produced by Jens Bogren Albums with cover art by Travis Smith (artist) Opeth albums Roadrunner Records albums