Opeth "Blackwater Park (2012 Reissue, CD + DVD, Music for Nations, Digibook, Legacy Edition)"

Blackwater Park is the fifth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. It was released on March 12, 2001 in Europe and a day later in North America through Music for Nations and Koch Records. The album marks the first collaboration between Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson and the band, as Wilson had been brought in to produce the album. This contributed to a shift in Opeth's musical style. The songs "The Drapery Falls" and "Still Day Beneath the Sun" were released as singles.

Although Blackwater Park did not chart in North America or the United Kingdom, it was a commercial breakthrough for the band and is often considered their magnum opus. The album was highly acclaimed among critics, with Eduardo Rivadavia 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.” In 2020, Loudwire listed Blackwater Park as the number one progressive metal album of all time. Rolling Stone ranked the album as 55th on their list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.'

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 develop ideas for the new album. 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.

This album featured heavy input from Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson, whose relationship with Opeth had begun in the past when an interviewer, who was a friend of Åkerfeldt's and knew the latter was a fan of Wilson's work, gave Wilson a copy of Opeth's then-latest release Still Life, which Wilson ended up liking so much that he contacted Åkerfeldt about it. A few months after the making of the demos, Åkerfeldt was having dinner with Wilson in which the two discussed the idea of Wilson producing the next Opeth album. After Åkerfeldt sent Wilson the demos he had recorded, Wilson agreed to produce the album.

Opeth entered Studio Fredman to begin work on Blackwater Park on August 10, 2000. The band had no previous lyrics written and had only rehearsed three times before entering the studio. The band's engineer Fredrik Nordström had arranged for the group to stay in a small room in the studio that had four beds. Opeth stayed there for around two weeks and then later rented out Dark Tranquillity member Mikael Stanne's flat. 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".

Åkerfeldt described the recording of the album as "rather smooth". Soilwork was recording in the studio at the same time as Opeth. 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."

Blackwater Park was originally released on March 12, 2001 in Europe and a day later in North America. 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. It has been released on compact disc and vinyl record formats. A special edition of Blackwater Park was issued in 2002 with a bonus second disc that included "Still Day Beneath the Sun" and "Patterns in the Ivy II". 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. The bonus track "Still Day Beneath the Sun" was later released as a vinyl only single.

Blackwater Park did not chart in the United States or United Kingdom. As of May 2008, Blackwater Park has sold over 93,000 copies in the United States.

On March 29, 2010, Opeth re-released a Legacy Edition of Blackwater Park which included a live version of "The Leper Affinity" and then a second DVD which is the entire album in 5.0 Surround Sound and a making of documentary. This version was released in North America in April 2012 by The End Records.

Tracklist:

Disc 1 (CD)

1. The Leper Affinity 10:23   
2. Bleak 09:16   
3. Harvest 06:01   
4. The Drapery Falls 10:54  
5. Dirge for November 07:54  
6. The Funeral Portrait 08:44   
7. Patterns in the Ivy 01:53
8. Blackwater Park 12:08
9. The Leper Affinity (live) 09:27   

Time:  01:16:40  

Disc 2 (DVD)

1. 5.0 audio mix of the original CD 01:07:13  
2. Documentary: The Making of Blackwater Park 35:00  

Time:   01:42:13  

The DVD features the remixed and remastered version of the original CD with a live version of 'The Leper Affinity', a bonus DVD with a 30 minute 'making of' documentary and the record in 5.0 audio and liner notes plus lyrics in its booklet.

Recording information:

Recorded at Fredman Studio, August-October 2000.

Mastered at Mastering Room.

The live track was recorded during a European tour.