Listening to Opeth: Blackwater Park, Side 1

The overall winner for Album Of The Month in April is Opeth's Blackwater Park, beating ELP's Brain Salad Surgery convincingly in the last week of voting. It is an extraordinary record. By turns heavy, quiet, brutal, delicate, beautiful.
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[@lawrencefine5020]

I'm 60 and this is the greatest piece of music (let alone Metal) I've ever heard. I requested the song Blackwater Park to played at my funeral. And dammit they better play it. Or I will haunt them till their dying day. This isn't music, this is Art.

[@tanis7050]

I love the part of the song Bleak where Steven Wilson sings a duet with Mikael Åkerfeldt

[@nathanaelcole8466]

Opeth wouldn't be Opeth without the harsh vocals, but when Mikael hits the clean sections it just blows my mind!

[@richy_B]

One of the greatest albums of any genre EVER! Masterpiece

[@daffyrwt]

Thank you for doing this Jim... well I probably should thank those who voted for it. I've been curious about Opeth for awhile now and didn't know how exactly to acquaint myself to them and then BAM you uploaded this video. They sound amazing.

[@jordanbottom9921]

They are so finely tuned in to a unique sound that is poetic, challenging and intricate. It's a beautiful tapestry. Definitely check out Still Life and Ghost Reveries if this is blowing your mind, it's their holy trinity IMO bit they've always been head and shoulders above other prog death acts I've heard even by 2024.

[@daffyrwt]

@@jordanbottom9921 thanks for the recommendations

[@ASNnKC913]

​@@jordanbottom9921 Absolutely the holy trinity. So great in fact that they often overshadow the two (or one depending on how you look at it) albums in between, Deliverance and Damnation. Two albums that are a 9/10 on their absolute worst day, overshadowed.

[@TheKneezee]

Álbum is simply a Masterpiece. The first 2 songs are absolutely mind blowing

[@riddhimanmedhi99]

Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, Watershed, Deliverance+Damnation is arguably the greatest album runs in the history of extreme metal. And what a hidden gem Bleak is!

[@tomtomthebear]

For me top three in the most important albums of my life, I cannot begin to express what this album means to me 🖤

[@DoneAsSociety]

Such a phenomenal album. The melodies are unusual but seem timeless at the same time -- I think Jim you used 'haunting.' Akerfeldt's vocals at the top of his game, the bass playing, the production. So, so good. Only bad thing is given the song length, each side is probably only two songs long. :)

[@Mateusz.dedmecz]

Masterpiece. Bleak is my favourite one. When I listen to it I feel like his voice is blowing my mind away. I think this is their best record, and one of the best albums in metal music genre. Steven Wilson (a very close friend of Akerfeldt btw) did a masterful job with producing this album. Great progression in every song, talented musicians and powerful voice of Akerdfeldt. A year after production of this album In Absentia was released. An album where you can hear a change in PT music towards heavier and darker sounds definetly inspired by this project that Steven was involved in.

[@threestringsomg]

The Opeth album that joins Dirt by AIC as one of the top 10 most important to me albums is..... Watershed 🎉❤ Loving the heavy music lovin Jim!🎉❤ Mikaels growl on Bleak is simply stunning.

[@DavidSGrop]

I remember the day I first heard Blackwater Park like it was yesterday: Friday 6 October 2006, a beautiful sunny autumn afternoon. I went for a walk in the woods with this album in my headphones and it was the closest thing to a religious experience I've ever had.

[@GalegHelross]

Enjoyed that. You mentioned Ihshan towards the end there. Have you listened to his album Artkis from 2016? It is so good!

[@blamhof]

Simply an awesome piece of work, musicianship of the highest order.

[@timfarrow1545]

Well thats my wake n bake sorted this morning cheers jim its been a while since ive been on your channel

[@MaraxisArcanist]

Deliverance is probably my favorite Opeth, but this is close behind. Great album.

[@giacomojamesPunkRockHeadReact]

Nice one !.. still waiting for the Whole Opeth Pale Communion reaction . Sure it will be a stunning experience . 🎉and now ready i am for watching

[@KnightlyTruth]

This is peak Harsh Vocal Opeth. IMO Ghost Reveries is the peak of prog opeth. We need a Candle Mass “Ancient Dreams” reaction, because amazing operatic doom lol

[@moonman9j9]

It's the greatest album ever written. Not a note out of place. If God himself came to Earth with a definitive list of the top 100 riffs of all time...like 7 or 8 would be from this album. Add to that all of the tastefully haunting melody interspersed. Everything where it should be. Brutal and beautiful.

[@ironpingu6306]

Definitely in my top 20 albums, great atmosphere throughout which has a uneasy feeling imo. His extreme vocals are so good you can hear the words clearly that he growls out! Has to be my favourite line-up of Opeth they just clicked and were so tight as a unit! 🔥 Ghost Reveries / Damnation to me is their standout releases at the moment ✨

[@theanunnaki334]

Opeth a band I can put on random on Spotify and not skip a single song. Other bands I can do that to are Death and Igorrr. Great rection Jim. :)

[@mikewest1542]

Been an ELP for as long as I can remember, Opeth is an acquired taste , music isn't too bad , the voice , well what can I say !

[@timfarrow1545]

Goin to see opeth first time in August at bloodstock open air cant frickin wait.

[@tallgrayandgruesome]

I could not lose no matter which album got chosen!!!!!!

[@xlerb_again_to_music7908]

Horray! 3rd or so time listening - initially could not cope, but now I'm enjoying! On to Side 2... :)

[@webbc99]

I just skipped ahead to side 4 first because the title track is one of my favs, but going through this now I forgot just how good these other tracks are, Bleak is amazing.

[@glennthompson1173]

ELP any day of the week

[@alanwaine4186]

Plinky plonky keyboard versus savage beauty...hmmmm ?? 😂

[@floridabelle]

🔥🔥❤Opeth❤🔥🔥

[@Zitronenparty]

🔥🔥❤Floridabelle ❤🔥🔥

[@floridabelle]

@@Zitronenparty Lol, you're awesome!

[@juliangrenon-grekin5954]

Jim, waiting for you to bust out that wavering radiant album from isis.

[@alanwaine4186]

Great album that

[@lithTech1]

What do meant about album of the month? It's album of all time

[@thecentralscrutinizer5730]

Yo Jim react to The Reticent: the oubliette. Very interesting concept album about Alzheimer's Disease. Trust me it's awesome! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@Kalavinka623]

Good choice -- I've tried listening to ELP and Brain Salad Surgery a few times and it sounds so incredibly bad to my ears. Kinda surprising since I love all types of Prog Music -- King Crimson, Zappa, Rush, Opeth, Tool, The Mars Volta etc.

[@nemil238]

please listen to Pagan I or Pagan II by vitalism or if you dont do single songs their whole album is causa (only 17 mins long)

[@jirikrajnak9047]

wasn't this album a hit with the easy listening charts?

[@JimNewstead]

Haha

[@kenl2091]

Oops. Forgot to go to the community page each week to ensure that BSS won. I can't in all conscience use my veto (what? No-one else has a veto?) so Blackwater Park it is. Nothing wrong with that.

[@KnightlyTruth]

The normal vocal opeth is stellar, this great but I much prefer his cleans on later material 😊

[@jeffschielka7845]

Hey Jim! Hope you are well? Just my opinion, but this voting takes way too long! A month? Have one vote and be done with it. That's just me. So much music, so little time!👍😎

[@rudolfbecker4313]

I had already commented in the voting section, that Blackwater Park is NOT my favourite Opeth album. I prefer Deliverance and Ghost Reveries. The music is really great, but for me it doesn't have the right balance between growling and clean vocals

[@juliangrenon-grekin5954]

I'm a "my arms..." or " still life" man but cant go wrong with blackwater park

[@Meowmeow0506]

I absolutely adore MAYH that's my favorite of theirs. Part of me however wonders what it'd sound like with Mendez on bass

[@tdog5035]

Good. Not my fav opeth album but, I find ELP unlistenable (although recognising why they are loved), so the right one won for me.

[@tomtomthebear]

Genuine question, what is your favorite..??

[@scifimonkey3]

Don’t upset the audience play both………

[@WooBino.]

I'll just chalk it up that alot of old ELP fans are dead.....🙄😮🙂

[@tdog5035]

Sad but probably true.

[@shyshift]

I’m not dead. I’m 71. Can’t stand early Opeth and not really a fan of current Opeth. ELP is in my top 5 favorite bands of all time.

[@WooBino.]

@@shyshift I'm not dead either. Seen ELP in 77 @ MSG.

[@evengaarder6233]

I'm not dead! I think I'll go for a walk... (Monty Python)

[@evengaarder6233]

I wasn't able to vote after the initial round. Couldn't find the poll for the life of me😢

[@palantir135]

Hi Jim, You warned me for this album that I certainly wouldn’t like it. And you were right. I hate it. No problem with albums like Sorceress or In cauda venenum. These are great albums but this album is pure hell for me.

[@ronjm945]

ELP Brain Salad Surgery is the album of my choice. Even my granddaughter can growl, sad 😔

[@daneng3641]

I need to find a playlist of the Opeth songs without growls. When there's just music or when he's actually singing they sound like something I could get into, but the growling takes me right out of the music and I just want to stop listening.

[@derekd.4156]

There’s a playlist on Spotify called “Opeth no growling”. It’s 6 hours long. Their last 4 albums are actually more prog rock, 0 growling

[@daneng3641]

@@derekd.4156 Fantastic! Thanks. I couldn't find that exact playlist, but I did find one call "Opeth Clean Vocals". Only 3 hours though. Appreciate the details of the last 4 albums. I'll check those out too.

[@badmotorbreath5206]

So, I don’t mind one or two consecutive songs with really harsh/coarse vocals but after that, it’s like, mate, get yourself some strepsils (strepfen)! 😊 Shame because the instrumental sections are incredible. In any case, I prefer Joe Duplantier’s (Gojira) growling style, it’s less harsh and more legible.

[@PiranaOutdoors]

Opeth is far above ELP.

[@GeoffTrowbridge]

Musically, this is absolutely brilliant. Vocally... Ugh. I just don't get it. There's no melody, it's horribly unpleasant to the senses (yeah, I get that it's probably the point) and it just detracts from the entire experience. Once we get past the 15-minute mark, it's much more listenable.

[@jr34v3r]

Absolute disagree. The vocals act like an instrument in metal, augmenting the feeling the music creates. Mikael also uses clean vs gutteral voices as 'chacters' within the songs. And Mikael probably has the best growls in metal. This stuff is top-level art