My favorite Opeth album is Damnation. Let me make that the first sentence of my review so all the hardcore Opeth fans can strip me of any credibility and walk away now. I wouldn’t want to waste their time. I know that Damnation wasn’t ‘metal’ enough, and by admitting that it’s my favorite of Opeth’s many albums, I’m admitting to being a spineless pussy or something. Whatever. It’s a beautiful album, and everyone I’ve burned a copy for have come back raving about it. This mainstream appeal that put a Swedish death metal band’s album on the Billboard Top 200 surely makes the loyalists puke, but everyone else should definitely check it out.

With all of that said, I own all of Opeth’s other albums, and their heavier shit represents some of the best the genre has to offer. So when I saw their new album, Watershed, available on iTunes, I snatched it up and fired it up. Full Article »