Lyric discussion by bnm_lord 

Cover art for Blackwater Park lyrics by Opeth

I think 6th_sadistic_sniper could be right about the meaning. It makes perfect sense. The whole village/epidemy stuff could very well be a metaphore on society's plague. It is an awesome song, the ending is monumental.

...And Opeth is death metal... definetely. The growling, the guitar and drum technics... this is death metal. Death metal doesn't necessarily means «random heaviness at 290 bpm with omnipresent growling all the time». There are various brand of death metal one of which is called progressive death metal and that's exactly what Opeth do. And they're far from being the only band doing that kind of music and really far from being the most original or «the best» (if there is any), they are a very overrated band. That being said, it's a fantastic band that has a sound of their own and I can't help but love their music.