Watershed took me by surprise the first time I listened to it and has grown immenesly on me over repeated listens.  I like all types of music, from the countriest country to the heaviest of metal, but there needs to be some sort of sense of accessibility for me to really dig it.  Be it a really great melodic sound, well written and clever lyrics or just a certain je ne sais quoi (oh yeah, I just did that).  But Watershed has it whatever it is.

"Coil" starts off the album with an easy entry as Akerfeldt is joined by Nathalie Lorichs for a soft acoustic number which gives Watershed quite a haunting start.  While I'm sure this put the fear of god into a lot of Opeth fans, "Heir Apparent" quickly delivers the heavyness and the brand of progressive metal that Opeth have championed and continue to deliver really well on.  Watershed contains a great amount of diversity in the music with the band mixing up heavy passages with a lot of acoustic interludes.

"The Lotus Eater" stands out as one of my favourite tracks on the album, with a great mix of growling and clean vocals and great musical movement from aggression to softness and back again.  It's this sort of flawless transition that Opeth are able to deliver which really makes this track and whole album really shine.

I think Opeth polarised a lot of fans when they released Deliverance, and album made up of much softer songs than the follow up Damnation, which the track "Burden" takes me back to.  I think it's a credit to Akerfedlt and the band's songwriting ability that they can write tracks like this as well as songs that are super heavy.  It's one thing to write with aggression and anger, but to take a complete step away from that sort of thing and write softly and delicately with purpose I think is admirable.  I also really love the retro keyboard sounds that have been used on this track and others on the album.  "Burden" has a fantastic keyboard solo that sounds like it's being played on a dirty old organ that was found at the back of a jazz club that was closed down in the 70s.  Coated thick in gunk from a decade of cigarette smoke and spilled alcohol.  It's fantastic. And the latin sounding outro on a slowly detuning guitar with the echoed laughter is one of the creepiest things I've heard on an album in a long time.

"Porcelain Heart" comes along and picks up the pace a bit with another track mixing heavy and soft sections really well with Akerfeldt's clean vocals weaving in and out of the softer moments between long and heavy instrumental parts.  I will even say that there are some chord progressions and parts of this track that remind me a lot of System of a Down.  I don't think that's a bad thing.

The longest track on the album, "Hessian Peel" sees the return of Akerfeldt mixing up his heavy and soft vocals as well as the inclusion of some backwards vocal lines.  Most likely urging teens to suicide, but who am I to judge?  I'm kidding by the way, it's clearly about the glory of Satan.  What?  Whatever it's about it sounds great and gives quite a sinister feeling of eeriness to the track.  The second to last verse and lead into the outro has a bass groove that just picks you up and carries you along towards the end of the track which is fantastic.  I love the feeling of descent that this track gives towards the end.

"Hex Omega" closes out the album in great Opeth style with some huge sounding keyboard parts and their well played brand of heavy and soft music complimenting itself in a way that not a lot of bands can copy.  This track also features more old awesome organ sounds that really add to the coolness and overall vibe of Watershed.  It's like Moog central has come to Sweden and is crashing on Mikael's couch.

I don't really subscribe to the "I like your old stuff better than your new stuff" school of thought.  If I really like a band I can generally appreciate their whole career.  I love the newer Dream Theater albums and think Load and Reload are great albums to listen to.  But a lot of people don't and a lot of people don't like bands to change or grow.  Personally I find that I like pretty much everything Opeth release and can find things I dig in it all. 

I think bands who can grow and change with the times, well...not the times, but the changing listening habits and tastes of the music consuming public and reflect it in their music without sounding like they're trying to play what they think people want to hear, they will do well.  I think Opeth have managed to successfully write a very accessible album in Watershed that will hold a lot of their old fans, but also gain them a whole load more.