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PopMatters

It’s their most crucial album since 1999’s stunning "Still Life," and its title could not be more appropriate.

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Hartford Courant

If anything, the group's latest is another musical masterpiece from a band known for putting out musical masterpieces.

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All Music Guide

Watershed marks a new chapter for Opeth, one that promises infinitely more than its predecessors.

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Blender

Prog was rarely as songful as the brutal beauty here.

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Billboard

A substantial addition to the band's catalog.

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The New York Times

Watershed, the new Opeth album, broad enough to encompass death-metal pummeling as well as cello and English horn, is typically engrossing--symphonic, and in a way organic.

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Q Magazine

Patience, persistence and a good set of headphones will uncover fragile melodies here amid the maelstrom, though the guitar noodling can veer dangerously close to Mark Knopfler territory. [July 2008, p.101]

Pitchfork

Watershed has friction, and friction brings heat. Those left cold by metal's po-faced tendencies might well warm up to it.

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Alternative Press

What Opeth do best is flat-out shred, and at its finest moments, Watershed howls like the unholy union of Queensryche, Yngwie Malmsteen and Morbid Angel. [Aug 2008, p.166]

Uncut

Growls and blast-beats come decorated with guitar work that explores scale after scale of diabolical pleasures. [Aug 2008, p.101]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

kyle b gave it a10:
Breathtaking album.

Chris S. gave it a10:
Brilliant album, the best metal album from the decade since Blood Mointain from Mastodon. Brutal and beauty, the album's centerpiece is the furious "Heir Apparent", one of the best metal songs from the decade.

Mike C gave it a9:
Not the groups best by a long shot. The first 4 songs are absolutly killer, the next 3 could have been shortened by about minutes. And what's with every song having a gimmicky ending? Burden? Heir Apparent?! anyways, it's Opeth, the greatest, most creative and beautiful heavy metal band around now, and this is a great album with some great flaws that keep it from really being essential like Still Life, Ghost Reveries and Morningrise. Hessian Peel is a masterpeice, no question about that.

David gave it a4:
Further proof Akerfeldt & Co. are incapable of interesting, fresh music. At least Ghost Reveries had some great songs. This one barely has any good ones; boring prog-lite at its worst.

Kraxx gave it a7:
Good & solid, but not awesome like Ghost Reveries was. This is more a subtle shift. Perhaps the personnel changes made things a little uneven. Hopefully it suggests a more creative and coherent shift next time.

Alex D gave it a10:
Simply breathtaking, an album that starts up like Deliverance does, enging up like Damnation / Blackwater Park, but with more memorable riffs. Definitely a must get for Opeth fans!

Jack O. gave it a10:
Almost as good as Blackwater Park, Watershed is a great album! Opeth has never lost that amazing song-writing talent that they possess.

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Watershed

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