OPETH
Blackwater Park MUSIC FOR NATIONS
Swedish visionaries’ prog metal milestone turns 20.
Prior to the release of Blackwater Park in 2001, Opeth had already proven themselves to be among the more adventurous stalwarts of death metal. They explored long-form compositions on their debut, 1995’s Orchid, and Black Rose Immortal, from 1996’s Morningrise, showed their ability to switch gears between savage onslaughts and melodic passages. But it was Opeth’s first collaboration with Steven Wilson as producer on Blackwater Park where they began to explore the alchemical possibilities of mixing progressive rock with death metal.