Blackwater Park

Blackwater Park
Studio album by Opeth
Released	February 27, 2001[1]
Recorded	August-October, 2000, Fredman Studio, Göteborg, Sweden[1][2]
Genre	Progressive death metal
Length	67:13
Label	Music for Nations
Producer	Mikael Åkerfeldt, Steven Wilson[2]
Professional reviews
Allmusic [1] College Music Journal (favorable)[3] Exclaim! (favorable)[4] Sputnikmusic [5] Village Voice (favorable)[6]
Opeth chronology
Still Life (1999) Blackwater Park (2001) Deliverance (2002)

Blackwater Park is the fifth studio album by Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. The album was released in February 27, 2001 on Music for Nations and Koch Records. The album marks the first collaboration between Porcupine Tree guitarist Steven Wilson and the band, as Wilson had been brought in to produce the album, which led to a considerable shift in Opeth's musical style.

Blackwater Park did not chart in North America or the United Kingdom and had two singles released from it: "The Drapery Falls" and "Still Day Beneath The Sun". Blackwater Park was highly acclaimed on its initial release and has been praised by critics, with Eduardo Riviera of Allmusic stating that the album is "surely the band's coming-of-age album, and therefore, an ideal introduction to its remarkable body of work."^[1]

Production

Following a few live dates in Europe, Opeth's guitarist and vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt went to an old friend's house in Stockholm, Sweden to record some demos and just relax and wait for some inspiration to hit.^[7] The album is named after the German progressive rock band of the same name and was the first album for which the group had a title before they started recording.^[1][8] A few months later when Åkerfeldt was having dinner with Porcupine Tree guitarist Steven Wilson, Åkerfeldt discussed the idea of Wilson producing the next Opeth album.^[7] After Åkerfeldt sent Wilson the demos he had recorded, Wilson agreed to produce the album.^[7]

Opeth entered to Studio Fredman to begin work on Blackwater Park on August 10, 2000.^[7] The band had no previous lyrics written and had only rehearsed three times before entering the studio.^[7] The band's engineer Fredrik Nordström had arranged for the group to stay in a small room in the Studio that had four beds.^[8] Opeth stayed there for around two weeks and then later rented out Dark Tranquillity member Mikael Stanne's flat.^[8] After recording the basic drums, rhythms, bass and acoustic guitars, Wilson arrived to produce the clean vocals and add some guitar leads. Åkerfeldt wrote that Wilson had an "immense impact on the recording" and after working with him the group entered "a new phase".^[8]

Åkerfeldt described the recording of the album as "rather smooth".^[8] The Swedish metal band Soilwork was recording in the studio at the same time as Opeth.^[9] Åkerfeldt wrote that Opeth felt like "a bunch of amateurs in comparison. They were working all the time. When they came into the kitchen for a break, we're still there, on the same break we took 3 hours ago. We don't want this to become a "job", or something you do because you have to. We wanna have a good time, and thus we only work when it feels right."^[9]

Release

Blackwater Park was originally released on February 27, 2001.^[1] This was the first Opeth album to be released in North America at the same time as it was in the rest of the world.^[4] It has been released on compact disc and vinyl record formats.^[1][2] A special edition of Blackwater Park was issued in 2002 with a second disc that included "Still Day Beneath the Sun" and "Patterns in the Ivy II" as bonus tracks.^[10] Those two bonus tracks were released together as a vinyl-only 7" EP by Robotic Empire Records in February, 2003. The limited edition EP sold out in less than 24 hours and continues to be one of Opeth's most sought-after releases to date. Two singles were also released to promote Blackwater Park. A shortened radio edit version of "The Drapery Falls" was released as a promo single.^[11] The bonus track "Still Day Beneath the Sun" was later released as a vinyl only single.^[11]

Blackwater Park did not chart in the United States or United Kingdom.^[1][12] As of May 2008, Blackwater Park has sold over 93,000 copies in the United States.^[13]

Reception

Blackwater Park received positive reception on its initial release having them often compared to critically acclaimed groups from previous eras. The Village Voice wrote in their review of the album, that "Opeth paint on an epic canvas, sounding at times like... metal's answer to '70s King Crimson".^[6] CMJ also wrote a very positive review calling the album "Godlike....A metal fusion of Pink Floyd and the Beatles".^[3] The Canadian music magazine Exclaim! wrote that the album "...might be the best metal record this year, and it is worth every bit of energy the band has put into the creating of it".^[4] Allmusic wrote that the album was "A work of breathtaking creative breadth" and noted the album's critical praise stating that "Not since the release of Tiamat's groundbreaking masterpiece Wildhoney in 1994 had the extreme metal scene witnessed such an overwhelming show of fan enthusiasm and uniform critical praise as that bestowed upon Blackwater Park".^[1] A more mixed review came from Alex Silveri of Sputnikmusic, who praised several of the album's songs but wrote negatively about "The Drapery Falls", "Dirge for November" and "The Funeral Portrait" which Silveri referred to as "boring to the point of tears".^[5] The album was ranked at number eighteen on IGN's list of the "top metal albums", issued in January 2007.^[14]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Opeth^[1]. 

Personnel

• Mikael Åkerfeldt – vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar
• Peter Lindgren – guitar
• Martin Mendez – bass
• Martin Lopez – drums
• Steven Wilson – clean vocals on "Bleak" & "The Drapery Falls", keyboards, mellotron, additional guitar
• Travis Smith − cover design, design

Production

• Steven Wilson – producer, audio engineer, mixing
• Mikael Åkerfeldt – producer
• Fredrik Nordström - engineer, mixing
• Göran Finnberg – mastering
• Harry Välimäki – photography

Notes

References

• Warwick, Neil; Jon Kutner, & Tony Brown (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1844490580. http://books.google.ca/books?id=ib4MyAIpe3MC. 

External links

• Blackwater Park at Opeth.com
• Blackwater Park at Rate Your Music