Watershed (Opeth album)

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Watershed
Studio album by Opeth
Released	May 30, 2008
Recorded	Between November 1, 2007 until January 10, 2008 at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden[1]
Genre	Progressive death metal Progressive rock
Length	55:00
Label	Roadrunner
Producer	Mikael Åkerfeldt[2] and Jens Bogren[3]
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Aquarian Weekly (A+) link Artistdirect link Billboard (favorable) link Blender link IGN link The New York Times (favorable) link Pitchfork Media (7.5/10) link PopMatters link Q Magazine link
Opeth chronology
The Roundhouse Tapes (2007) Watershed (2008) The Candlelight Years (2008)
Alternate cover
Special edition
Singles from Watershed
"Porcelain Heart" Released: April 19, 2008 "Mellotron Heart" Released: June 3, 2008 "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 was first released digitally on the European iTunes Stores on May 19, 2008,^[4] and released physically on May 30, 2008 in continental Europe,^[5] June 2, 2008 in the United Kingdom,^[6] and June 3, 2008 in North America^[7] to universal acclaim. The album was recorded at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden between November 1, 2007 and December 13, 2007.^[3] Watershed is the first studio album by Opeth to feature drummer Martin Axenrot and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson. The artwork for the album was made by Travis Smith (who has done the artwork for eight previous Opeth releases) in collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt and has been publicly available as of March 30.^[8]

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 came in cardboard gatefold packaging and contained the album on two vinyl discs as well as a CD copy of the album (both included the bonus track "Derelict Herds") and a poster.

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).^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 History 2 Track listing 2.1 Special edition 2.2 Mellotron Heart 2.3 B-Side 3 Chart positions 4 Personnel 5 Release history 6 Trivia 7 References

[edit] 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.

A cover of the Alice in Chains song "Would?" was recorded for the album. According to their MySpace, "Would?" has been released on the single for "Burden" on December 9, 2008.

The first single is "Porcelain Heart," which contains the tracks "Porcelain Heart" and "The Lotus Eater". The single was officially released to the public on April 19, 2008. The music video directed by Lasse Hoile (famous for his work for bands such as Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater and more recently The Pineapple Thief) that was shot for the track "Porcelain Heart" was made available from Roadrunner Records on April 24, 2008. As of May 26, 2008, the tracks 'The Lotus Eater' and 'Porcelain Heart' were made available to the public on Opeth's official MySpace page.^[9]

The second single to be released off of Watershed was "Burden." A video for the song was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at the famous Vogue Theater. This was announced during Opeth's October 3rd show at the Commodore Ballroom in the same city. Directed again by Lasse Hoile, the music video was released on November 4, 2008 to owners of the CD via Opendisc.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Mikael Åkerfeldt except where noted.

1. "Coil" – 3:10
2. "Heir Apparent" – 8:50
3. "The Lotus Eater" – 8:50
4. "Burden" – 7:41
5. "Porcelain Heart" (Åkerfeldt, Åkesson) – 8:00
6. "Hessian Peel" – 11:25
7. "Hex Omega" – 7:02

All Songs Published by Imagem Music.

[edit] Special edition

The special edition of the album includes a bonus DVD featuring a rehearsal session 'making of' documentary, a 5.1 mix of the album, and three bonus tracks:

8. "Derelict Herds" (Åkerfeldt, Wiberg) – 6:28
9. "Bridge of Sighs" (Robin Trower cover) – 5:55
10. "Den ständiga resan" (Marie Fredriksson cover) – 4:09

These bonus tracks are mixed in stereo, not 5.1.

[edit] 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 album track and single "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 the computer via Opendisc.^[10]

[edit] B-Side

A cover of the Alice in Chains song "Would?" was recorded for the album, but was not originally released. ^[11] The song was released on the Burden single.

[edit] Chart positions

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Swedish Albums Chart[12]	7
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[13]	7
Austrian Albums Chart[14]	53
Canadian Albums Chart[15]	17
Danish Albums Chart[16]	84
Dutch Albums Chart[17]	14
French Albums Chart[18]	47
Finnish Albums Chart[19]	1
German Albums Chart[20]	23
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[16]	15
New Zealand Albums Chart[21]	26
Norwegian Albums Chart[22]	7
Swiss Albums Chart[23]	24
UK Albums Chart[16]	34
US Billboard 200[15]	23

[edit] Personnel

• Mikael Åkerfeldt: vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, production
• Fredrik Åkesson: guitar
• Martin Mendez: bass
• Martin Axenrot: drums, percussion
• Per Wiberg: keyboards
• Nathalie Lorichs: guest vocals on “Coil”^[3]
• Lisa Almberg: English horn, oboe
• Christoffer Wadensten: flute
• Karin Svensson: violin
• Andreas Tengberg: cello
• Produced by Mikael Åkerfeldt & Jens Bogren
• Engineered by Jens Bogren & David Castillo
• Mixed & Mastered by Jens Bogren

[edit] Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Continental Europe	May 30, 2008	Roadrunner	CD	RR 7962-2
United Kingdom	June 2, 2008	Roadrunner	CD	RR 7962-2
United States	June 3, 2008	Roadrunner	Enhanced	R 1384409
Australia	3 Jun 2008	Roadrunner Records (Australia)	Enhanced	RR 7962-8

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2008)

• The song "Hessian Peel" contains a backwards recorded verse - "Out on the courtyard, Come back tonight. My sweet Satan, I see you" can be heard as well as "They lock all your reason why" halfway through the song.^[24] This might be a reference to a well-known example of backmasking featured in Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, which purportedly contained the phrase "Here's to my sweet Satan".

• On the back cover of the regular edition and first disc of the special edition, "The Lotus Eater" is misspelled as "The Louts Eater."

• The back cover, featuring the face of the man in the picture frame is actually a puzzle photo. When examined closely, one can see it is actually a photoshopped image of all members of the band using their different facial features to create one separate face.

• Terrorizer Magazine's 'Fear Candy 55' compilation CD features an edited version of 'The Lotus Eater'.

• In the first page of the booklet, there is a cipher which was revealed to be a series of lyrics from the songs. The booklet lacks the full lyrics.

• The song "Porcelain Heart" was included in Roadrunner Records' Annual Assault; this could be downloaded from Roadrunners website for free.

[edit] References

v • d • e Opeth Mikael Åkerfeldt · Fredrik Åkesson · Martin Mendez · Martin Axenrot · Per Wiberg David Isberg · Andreas Dimeo · Kim Pettersson · Johan DeFarfalla · Stefan Guteklint · Mattias Ander · Nick Döring · Anders Nordin · Martin Lopez · Peter Lindgren Studio albums Orchid · Morningrise · My Arms, Your Hearse · Still Life · Blackwater Park · Deliverance · Damnation · Ghost Reveries · Watershed Live albums Lamentations · The Roundhouse Tapes Compilations Opeth Box Set · The Candlelight Years Singles "The Drapery Falls" · "Still Day Beneath the Sun" · "The Grand Conjuration" · "Porcelain Heart" · "Mellotron Heart" · "Burden" Related articles Discography · List of Opeth band members · Bloodbath · Porcupine Tree