Martin Axenrot's Drum Setup on Opeth's Watershed (2008) | MetalForge

Frequently Asked Questions

What drum kit did Martin Axenrot use to record Watershed in 2008?

Martin Axenrot recorded Opeth's Watershed in 2008 using a Sonor Designer / SQ2 kit with twin 22"x18" bass drums, 10" and 12" rack toms, and 14" and 16" floor toms. The twin-kick configuration was the most visible signal that the Opeth drum chair had changed hands from Martin Lopez — Lopez had used a single 22" bass drum throughout his Opeth tenure, while Axenrot's twin-kick setup reflected his more extreme metal background in Bloodbath, Witchery, and Nifelheim. He paired the Sonor kit with Meinl Byzance cymbals (hand-hammered Turkish-style line, continuing the dark complex cymbal philosophy Lopez had established with Sabian HH) and Sonor Giant Step direct-drive twin pedals. The full setup was tracked at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, with Jens Bogren producing.

How did Martin Axenrot honor Martin Lopez's drum vocabulary on Watershed?

Martin Axenrot studied Lopez's Opeth catalog before tracking Watershed, and his performance preserves the core elements of Lopez's vocabulary while adding his own voice. He kept the same four-tom layout (10/12 rack, 14/16 floor) that Lopez used throughout his Opeth tenure. He continued the dark, hand-hammered cymbal philosophy (switching from Sabian HH to Meinl Byzance, but maintaining the same sonic vocabulary). He preserved Lopez's ghost note approach — listen to the verses of "Burden" and the quiet sections of "Hex Omega" for the soft-note groove architecture Lopez had established. And he kept the ride cymbal as a lead voice rather than just a time-keeper, with the Meinl Byzance 22" ride carrying melodic passages the same way Lopez's Sabian HH 20" ride had. What Axenrot added was a heavier, more aggressive attack — twin-kick double bass on "Heir Apparent," more frequent China cymbal accents, harder snare backbeats — reflecting his extreme metal background while staying within the Opeth framework.

What cymbals did Martin Axenrot use on Watershed?

Martin Axenrot used Meinl Byzance series cymbals on Watershed: 14" Traditional Medium Hi-Hats, 16" Traditional Thin Crash, 18" Traditional Medium Thin Crash, 19" Dark Crash, 22" Traditional Medium Ride, and 18" Traditional China. The Meinl Byzance series is a hand-hammered Turkish-style line that delivers dark, complex tones — the same sonic philosophy Lopez had established with Sabian HH cymbals, but under a different brand (Axenrot was a longtime Meinl endorser). The three-crash vocabulary on Watershed (16" Thin + 18" Medium Thin + 19" Dark) is more extensive than Lopez's two-crash approach on his Opeth records, reflecting Axenrot's preference for differentiated cymbal voices. The 18" China appears more frequently than Lopez's lone Sabian AAX 16" Chinese ever did — appropriate for Watershed's more extreme metal sections, particularly "Heir Apparent."

How does Watershed's drum production differ from Ghost Reveries?

Ghost Reveries (2005) was Opeth's last album with Steven Wilson as producer — a production approach defined by wide dynamic range, dry close-miked clarity, and the kind of ghost-note nuance Wilson had pioneered across Blackwater Park, Deliverance, and Damnation. Watershed (2008) was the first Opeth album produced by Jens Bogren at his Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden — a warmer, denser, more modern production approach. The kick drums sit deeper in the Watershed mix (helped by sub-kick reinforcement using an NS-10 woofer), the snare carries more low-mid body, the cymbals sustain longer, and the room ambience (captured by Blumlein-configured AKG C414s) adds warmth across the kit. The Bogren approach was the right production for an album already starting to lean toward the prog-rock textures Opeth would fully embrace on Heritage (2011), and it bridges the Wilson-era past with the post-death-metal future of the Heritage / Pale Communion / Sorceress trilogy.

Why was Watershed important to Opeth's evolution?

Watershed sits at the literal watershed of Opeth's career — the album closes the Martin Lopez drum era and opens the path to the Heritage prog-rock turn. It was Martin Axenrot's studio debut after replacing Lopez in mid-2006, the band's first record with Jens Bogren producing instead of Steven Wilson, the first Opeth album on Roadrunner Records (after years with Music for Nations and Peaceville), and the band's highest US chart performance to that point — debuting at #23 on the Billboard 200. Musically, Watershed still contained death metal vocals and aggressive passages, but was already leaning toward the prog-rock textures that would define Heritage (2011), Pale Communion (2014), Sorceress (2016), and the subsequent records. Without Watershed's transitional positioning — both in production approach and in drum vocabulary — Heritage's prog-rock shift would have felt jarring rather than evolutionary. For Lopez's development arc that preceded Watershed, see the [Still Life drum setup](/articles/still-life-drum-setup) and [Deliverance drum setup](/articles/deliverance-drum-setup).