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Sunday, June 15th 2008
Opeth Achieve Highest Ever Chart Position With Billboard Top 25 Debut
New York, NY: Impressive reviews are pouring in, including 4-stars from
Blender (“Prog was rarely as songful as the brutal beauty here”), raves
from Pitchfork (“Watershed has friction, and friction brings heat. Those
left cold by metal’s po-faced tendencies might well warm up to it”) and
a feature in Billboard (“one of the most unique bands straddling the
line between progressive music and metal”). Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt
currently graces the cover of Decibel. An astounding 19,000 copies were
sold in its first week in stores. Therefore, the verdict is definitely
in. Sweden’s Opeth have set and raised the bar with their latest album,
Watershed.
Watershed debuted at #23 on the Billboard chart, the band’s highest ever
chart position and the biggest first week sales bow in its career. While
the trend in today’s climate finds many career bands having smaller
initial weeks, Opeth, like their music, buck all trends and do their own
thing, continuing to go against the grain, trending upwards and making
progress.
Fresh off the hugely successful Progressive Nation Tour with labelmates
Dream Theater, Opeth will return to US soil this fall for a headline
run, bringing their unique blend of prog, death metal, hard rock and
Swedish folk to the masses and more.