Blackwater Park

Untitled

Blackwater Park is the fifth full-length studio album from the Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. It was originally released on February 27, 2001 under Music For Nations and Koch Records. The album is a further continuation of the styles explored on Still Life, incorporating and further expanding on the band's signature sound, which features the merger of death metal, progressive metal and folk music elements.

Blackwater Park was the first Opeth album to be produced by Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, who also provided backing vocals in some of the album's songs. The album was a critical and commercial success for the band, introducing them to a new range of fans. Many Opeth fans and critics alike consider Blackwater Park to be Opeth's magnum opus.

A special edition was later issued in 2002 with a second disc consisting of two bonus tracks (which were also released separately on the limited edition Still Day Beneath the Sun vinyl record single) and a music video for the song "Harvest". The release was limited to only 2000 copies.

A radio edit of "The Drapery Falls" was also released as a single to promote the album.

Track listing

1. "The Leper Affinity" – 10:23
2. "Bleak" – 9:16
3. "Harvest" – 6:01
4. "The Drapery Falls" – 10:54
5. "Dirge for November" – 7:54
6. "The Funeral Portrait" – 8:44
7. "Patterns in the Ivy" – 1:53
8. "Blackwater Park" – 12:08

• There is a special 2-CD edition of Blackwater Park which contains the regular album (as above) as well as an extra CD with two bonus tracks and a video clip of "Harvest".

1. "Still Day Beneath the Sun" – 4:34
2. "Patterns in the Ivy II" – 4:12
3. "Harvest" (Video Clip) − A video clip of Opeth in the studio.

Notes

• As is typical to Opeth albums, Blackwater Park contrasts both death metal and soft progressive rock styles, often within one song. Typical examples include the opener "The Leper Affinity" and, perhaps most famously, "The Drapery Falls". Both "Harvest" and "Patterns in the Ivy" focus on Opeth's mellow side exclusively, while "The Funeral Portrait" and the title track more or less present the heavy death metal elements.
• Several of the songs in this album feature "telephone vocals", an equalization effect which is common in Steven Wilson's music (Porcupine Tree).
• The album is named after an obscure German heavy progressive rock band called Blackwater Park.
• According to the official Opeth website, "Dirge for November" is bassist Martin Mendez's least favorite Opeth song.

Credits

• Mikael Åkerfeldt – Vocals, Guitar
• Peter Lindgren – Guitar
• Martin Mendez – Bass
• Martin Lopez – Drums
• Steven Wilson – Backing Vocals (in "Bleak"), Keyboard, Guitar
• Travis Smith − Album Artwork

External links

• Opeth home page