Length 54:48 Artist Opeth | Label Roadrunner Release date 28 May 2008 | |
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Released May 30, 2008 (2008-05-30) Recorded February 2007 – January 10, 2008 at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden Watershed
(2008) The Candlelight Years
(2008) Genres Progressive rock, Death metal, Progressive metal, Technical death metal Producers Mikael Åkerfeldt, Jens Bogren Nominations Grammis Award for Hard Rock/Metal of the Year Similar Ghost Reveries, Deliverance, Heritage, Damnation, Still Life | ||
Opeth watershed full album
Watershed is the ninth full-length studio album by the Swedish heavy metal band Opeth. Released by Roadrunner Records, Watershed is the first studio album by Opeth to feature guitarist Fredrik Åkesson and drummer Martin Axenrot, who replaced longtime guitarist Peter Lindgren and drummer Martin Lopez. 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. The album is, as of 2016, the band's last studio album to contain death growls or any death metal elements. The song "The Lotus Eater" was featured in the video game Saints Row: The Third. As of December 8th, 2015, the song "Heir Apparent" is available for download in the video game Rock Band 4.
Contents
Opeth watershed 2008
Overview
On opening track "Coil", Mikael Åkerfeldt duets with Nathalie Lorichs, who was dating drummer Martin Axenrot 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".
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). In the January/February 2009 issue of Metal Edge, Watershed was voted the number 1 album of 2008.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Mikael Åkerfeldt; all music composed by Åkerfeldt except where noted.
Opeth
Additional musicians
Production
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 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.
Songs
1Coil3:11
2Heir Apparent8:51
3The Lotus Eater8:51