JUSTIN’S METAL REVIEWS W/C 26/5/08

 

OPETH / WATERSHED

 

Opeth’s last album “Ghost Reveries” was a total masterpiece and rightly made my best album of 2005, so this new one has a lot to live up to and I’m glad to say its just as good.

 

The thing about Opeth is the dynamics of their songs and all the influences that they somehow meld into a coherent single structure, the extremes are poles apart, haunting neo-classical one minute and crushing, aggressive Death Metal the next but they somehow managed to get them to work together, from the beautiful, acoustic concise simplicity of “Coil” to the powerful, majestic complexity of the 11 minutes epic “Hessian Peel” Opeth are the masters of Progressive Melodic Death Metal.  There aren’t enough synonyms that do justice to how good “Lotus Eater”, “Porcelain Heart” or “Heir Apparent” sound, you really have to listen to hear how astounding they are.  

 

There is no point in me going on about this CD, apart from to say you have to hear it, this is without doubt going to become another classic, there is not a single song on the album that doesn’t deserve your full attention, album of the year?, who knows but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit but what I can tell you is you will Opeth on my HFM every week, TOTALLY ESSENTIAL PURCHASE.

 

WEBSITE      http://www.opeth.com/ & http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/

 

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 55 + 7 HEAVENLY TRACKS  

 

ABORTED / STRYCHNINE 213

 

Apart from chocolate and beer, Aborted have the be Belgium’s biggest export, their brand of brutal, aggressive Death Metal with its melodic, twin guitar attack is second only to the mighty Cannibal Corpse.

 

The band have been together for 13 years now and this album is just as good as last years excellent “Slaughter & Apparatus”, the CD starts off with a short, atmospheric instrumental called “Carrion” before unleashing the full Death onslaught of “Ophiolatry”, “Pestiferous Subterfuge” is a slower, more deliberate paced song but just as good and the twin melodic guitar riffs are put to good use and the drums are as tight as they can get.  If you’re looking for something more dynamic then “Enterrement Of An Idol” is the track to check out, it starts off at quite a pace and breaks down into a slow grind just over half way through.

 

If your looking for a really good Death Metal CD this is the one to go for and no self respecting Death Metal fan can be without it, this is just about as good as it gets and along with the Cannabis Corpse CD is a really good listen, a well deserved album of the week on my HFM show.

 

WEBSITE      http://www.goremageddon.be/ & http://www.centurymedia.com/

 

DOWNLOAD            “135” & “Pestiferous Subterfuge”

 

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 37 mins + 10 BRUTAL TRACK