Opeth's Watershed: Prog Metal Gets Freaky!

Swedish progressive metal band Opeth has released their ninth full-length album, Watershed, which boldly embraces intentional musical discontinuity. Unlike earlier raw recordings made out of necessity, Watershed features the band willfully introducing surprising juxtapositions.

An acoustic introduction with vocal harmonies can abruptly shift into barreling death metal. Tracks like "Hessian Peel" incorporate a wandering piano, while "Burden" features a jarringly detuned acoustic outro. The new members, guitarist Fredrik Åkesson and drummer Martin Axenrot, contribute significantly to this reintroduction of musical friction and verve.

"The Lotus Eater" is particularly noted for its abrupt shifts, including quiet humming followed by death metal, sunny vocal harmonies, dissonant guitar lines, and even a funky clavinet vamp. Despite these experimental elements, the album retains Opeth's signature sinuous riffs, 70s-inspired keyboards, and Mikael Åkerfeldt's distinctive vocal duality.

Watershed aims to reintroduce "friction" and heat to a genre often perceived as overly precise or po-faced. While unlikely to convert all fans of Mastodon, the album offers a refreshing and audaciously unpredictable experience for listeners seeking more dynamic and surprising elements within progressive metal.