Name: Blackwater Park (20th Anniversary Edition)
Brand: Opeth

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

MOVLP084

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

180 gram audiophile vinyl,bonus track: "The Leper Affinity" (Live), 8-page booklet with new artwork and liner notes 

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2010-04-22

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Little Amber Fish

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0886976943110

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Total Cap

2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

19439876321

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White

Pure White

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "Pure White"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Double Heavyweight with Gatefold Sleeve with Printed Inner Bags,

1000

2021-07-16

Sony

194398763217

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "194398763217"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / white

19439876312

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "19439876312"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Hardcover Book with 24 Page Booklet.

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "Hardcover Book with 24 Page Booklet."}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

194398763125

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "194398763125"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Opeth

Genre GB

Metal

Label GB

Music for Nations

Music for Nations is a UK metal label that was founded in February 1983 by Martin Hooker, former boss of Heavy Metal Records. Known for their iconic beige label with a small red Music For Nations flag logo, the label quickly became a prominent force in the metal music scene. They relocated to Carnaby Street in London in November 1985 and continued to release new music and re-issues with their distinctive red and yellow label from 1986 onwards.

Their address changed to "102 Belsize Lane" until early 1994, after which it moved to "333 Latimer Road," both located in London. This information helps identify correct CD releases/reissues/represses for the MFN catalogue. In February 1994, they released CDMFN 157 (Belsize Lane) followed by CDMFN 158 (Latimer Road). It's important to note that products showing the latest address cannot be pressed before 1994.

In 2004, Music for Nations officially closed its doors and its catalog was folded into Zomba, which was owned by Sony BMG. However, the label made a triumphant return in 2015, bringing back their passion for metal music and continuing to support talented artists within the genre. With an authoritative history and an unwavering commitment to metal music, Music for Nations remains a beloved name among fans worldwide.

Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band formed in Stockholm in 1990. Led by singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt, Opeth has consistently incorporated diverse influences into their music, including progressive rock, folk, blues, classical, jazz, black metal and death metal. Their compositions often feature acoustic guitar passages and dynamic shifts between death growls and clean vocals. Since their first world tour in 2001, Opeth has become known for their captivating live performances.

In 2011, Opeth released "Heritage," which marked a significant change in style with a focus on progressive rock sound and clean singing. According to Åkerfeldt himself: "It would be impossible for us to play just death metal; that is our roots but we are now a mishmash of everything." Opeth's willingness to experiment and explore different musical styles keeps them constantly evolving.

Opeth's eleventh studio album "Pale Communion" was released in 2014. The band expressed an interest in creating a heavy album but with a fresh approach. They strive to move forward rather than looking back at their past achievements. In 2016, Opeth established their own label called Moderbolaget Records and released their twelfth studio album "Sorceress."

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In many ways, Opeth’s Blackwater Park can be considered as their answer to The Beatles’ Revolver, both uncompromising and experimental, but equally commercially viable and unfuckwithable masterpieces. Twenty years on, Blackwater Park remains a breath-taking piece of work, dense with extraordinary melodic moments, spine-tingling atmospherics and agile but crushing heaviness. It is also arguably still the most cherished album in the Swedish metallers illustrious catalogue as a rising progressive influence kicked open prog’s ornate doors, fed death metal through the cosmic kaleidoscope and introduced a generation of music nerds to a world of limitless musical possibilities. After four albums of imaginative and immersive heavy music, the band were primed and ready to make a career-defining statement. At the time, the metal world was flailing in a state of post-grunge confusion, meanwhile, Opeth were forging an entirely unique and fearlessly creative path.

Back in 2001, prog was steadily being rehabilitated in the eyes of the mainstream, but there was still something audacious about Opeth’s rise to prominence. With several songs passing the ten-minute mark, Blackwater Park was no kind of commercial compromise. Instead, its popularity and acclaim proved a couple of valuable points: that music fans (and metalheads, in particular) are often vastly more open-minded than they are given credit for, and that depth, subtlety, sophistication and imagination were all credible selling points. Already amassing a steadily building reputation, the record was received overwhelmingly positive from fans and critics alike. Owing to new production techniques, a lengthy recording time, and new personnel the record made its peers seem narrow, small and colourless in comparison.

From the towering grandeur of The Leper Affinity to the psychedelic ebb and flow of the closing title track, Blackwater Park bulged with exhilarating dynamics and genre-mashing ingenuity, but it was also blessed with tunes: huge, life-affirming melodies and soaring choruses, instantly memorable lead guitar hooks and, through the gentler likes of Harvest and the instrumental Patterns In The Ivy, flashes of exquisite, fragile restraint. Blackwater Park didn’t turn Opeth into millionaires, but it did introduce the band to a much larger audience, broadening their appeal from the somewhat restrictive confines of the metal underground to both the wider metal scene and, as only seemed right, the progressive rock world. Meanwhile, Opeth have spent the subsequent two decades forging ahead in a perpetual state of evolution, releasing many more ground-breaking and mind-expanding masterworks. They have grown from tentative beginnings to become one of the most consistently extraordinary live bands on the planet; and their music has continued to be a vital beacon in the heavy and alternative world.