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MetalBite Review by Adam on 5/27/2001

Mere words cannot describe how pleased I am with this disc. The atmosphere, production, and quality of the music and sound are top notch. Plus its over an hour in length! If there is one thing to love about Opeth, it is the fact that you always get your moneys worth. The band, once again, delivers nothing short of pure musical genious with a flawless production quality along with their own unique style.

In the past Opeth have tried to stick as many different vibes into one song as possible and while they still have very complex and diverse compositions, you can actually hear some refrains and repetitions of riffs in songs which is a nice touch to the overall feel of the record. You have more or less "songs" here, and each of the eight tracks, one being an instrumental, have that same power and determination to either brutalize or soothe or even both in the same track.

With songs like Harvest, which is a completly acoustic track, you see the band going for a normal verse and chorus structure but still keeping their own fresh style intact. For the most part, this is a continuation of where the band was going with Still Life and My Arms Your Hearse where the evil deathlike vocals do a constant balancing act with the more developed clean vocals. The harmonies pulled off on this cd are excellent and the leads which open tracks such as The Drapery Falls are eerily beautiful and atmospheric.

Opeth have outdone themselves yet again. Just when you think they could not think of anything else as powerful as what they had previously done, they set out to prove you wrong with a release like this. This cd is brilliant! What else can I say? If you are an Opeth fan, you should already have this, but for all you skeptics out there this is a great way to discover, firsthand, their complete and utter brilliance!

Bottom Line: In one word, Blackwater Park is Epic. It is everything a cd should be. I highly recommend any metal fan or fan of music period to pick up this cd!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Submitted by Dan on 7/25/2001

WOW what an amazing album...... the leper affinity is definately one of the best songs... well fuck man... they aall are.... the leper affinity has the KILLER piano outro... and bleak is amazing... the way they play the acoustics right over the distortion guitars the WHOLE SONG.... its awesome... and the clean vocal part where steve wilson does guest vocals.. pure amazingness...perfect progressiveness..... harvest is definately the best soft song ..... ever.... by anyone.... its just fucking AHH!.... nobody plays better acoustic guitar then opeth...... drapery falls... possibly one of opeths best songs at this point.... first half is all clean vocals... then all of a sudden you get a kick in the face... and then at the end the sick clean vocal part is goddam amazing.... then dirge for november starts out with the awesome acoustic shit and clean vocals and fucking slams you in the face and then all of a sudden goes into this repetative entrancing guitar section.... then fucking the funeral portrait has to be one of the COOLEST songs ever... that intro rocks and the rest of the song is just so wierd and cool.....the patterns in the ivy. what a beautiful instrumental... i think the best one ever done by ... ANYONE HAHA.... then blackwater park... wow this is just sick as fuck... especially the part where they do the acoustic guitars and mikaels vocals are fading in and outl.. very spooky and eerie it rules.... oh yea!!!

Submitted by Pommerdepom on 6/1/2003

When I heard all the songs on this album I quikly ran to the cd-shop and started listening all the other Opeth-albums. I realized (being a black/death-fan then) that there is also other beautiful music. And thats when I fel in love with Opeth. They can come hard in your face or like a tiny feather making the best acoustic melodies. Espesially on this album the balance between melody and agressivness is perfect. I think this is Opeth's best album. The only comment on this album is the piano in the end of 'The Leper Affinity'. But......all hail to Opeth and let's hope that their style keeps Opethian.

Submitted by Tim Deneen on 8/20/2003

Saw this album with reviews on the Amazon website so I checked it out..several weeks later I remain convinced that this is one of the best albums ever put out in any genre, let alone metal. Melodic, heavy, excellent energy level, Killer. Better than 'Deliverance', which is a great record as well, but 'Blackwater' stands alone amongst the competition.