01	Wreath						11:10
	02	Deliverance						13:37
	03	A Fair Judgement						10:23
	04	For Absent Friends						02:17
	05	Master's Apprentices						10:32
	06	By The Pain I See In Others						13:50

Mikael Akerfeldt-Guitars, Vocals Peter Lindgren-Guitars Martin Lopez-Drums Martin Mendez-Bass

Opeth - Deliverance Country of Origin: Sweden
Format: CD
Record Label: Music For Nations
Catalogue #: DOC-CD-8437
Year of Release: 2002
Time: 61:50
Info: Opeth
Samples: Click here



Tracklist: Wreath (11:10), Deliverance (13:36), A Fair Judgement (10:20), For Absent Friends (2:17), Master’s Apprentices (10:29), By the Pain I See in Others (13:50)

Opeth’s Deliverance is one of the best heavy-metal albums ever made. It’s also one of the best progressive-metal, “atmospheric” metal, and art-rock albums ever made.

I thought I might as well be clear up front: this won’t be a terribly balanced review. Although in almost every album I review, no matter how fine it is in general, I find flaws to point out, I won’t be able to do so in this case. I mean, I could object that Deliverance lacks a clear Rolling Stones influence, or that vocalist Mikael Akerfeldt doesn’t sound like either Robert Plant or David Byron. It does, and he doesn’t. But that’s as much of an adverse criticism as I can muster for this masterwork of ambitious, heavy music. If we take the album on its own terms, it could hardly be better.

Well, what are those terms? Most fans of this kind of music know that Opeth decided to indulge their two “sides” in 2002 and 2003 by releasing two separate CDs, each showcasing one of the band’s two main strengths. Even naming those strengths begins to make my point about the band’s excellence: they play slow, quiet, dreamy, doomy music very well, and they play fast, heavy, difficult, loud music very well, too. On their previous few albums – the superb Blackwater Park; My Arms, Your Hearse; and Still Life – Opeth did everything on the same album. Thunderous progressive metal would alternate with lilting, light-but-dark jazzy, folky ballads. On these two CDs, though, which together would have made a two-disc set easily the equal of Therion’s great recent Lemuria/Sirius B album, Opeth mostly disciplined themselves so as to demonstrate their fast and heavy side on 2002's Deliverance and their slow and contemplative side on the following year’s Damnation. Have a look at Tom de Val’s spot-on review of the latter for an assessment of their success at the slow side; it’s my privilege to assess their heavy side.

I should say that, although there’s nothing heavy or fast on Damnation, Deliverance is actually more like a “traditional” Opeth album. Most of the (long, very long) tracks are indeed devoted to crushing, propulsive progressive metal, but the lovely instrumental For Absent Friends, which appears fourth out of six tracks, could almost have been lifted from an early Pat Metheny album. However, it ends soon, and we’re thrown back to the wolves – at least, to Akerfeldt’s wolflike growl. And this might be the place to warn you: I know many people are put off by death-metal-style singing, and that’s pretty much what you get throughout this album. Akerfeldt also has a pleasing “clean” voice, and we get to hear it, too, but it’s used merely as counterpoint to the growling. This is heavy stuff, and it will require some attention for those unaccustomed to this kind of singing. I promise you, though, the attention will be worth your while.

Why? Because these are four excellent, even inspired musicians, all of them working in the service of Akerfeldt’s unique vision. Opeth began as a kind of black-metal band, but, occasional extreme touches aside (drummer Martin Lopez’s superb double-bass work, the sometimes scary speed), this album is as far from, say, Emperor or Dimmu Borgir as you can get and still be working in roughly the same genre. I refer you again to de Val’s review of Damnation for an exact description of Opeth’s achievement: they have become, de Val says, “masters of a genre all their own, one that fuses dark, gothic, sometimes extreme metal with pastoral, mellow folk-tinged progressive rock.” If that description appeals to you, Deliverance will appeal to you too.

The album opens with an extreme-metal flourish: a flurry of drum rolls over which Akerfeldt lets loose an exuberant growled “AAAARGH!” And things don’t let up, as he and second guitarist Peter Lindgren match churning riffs, winding hooks, melodic leads, and chugging power chords throughout the song and throughout the album (For Absent Friends, as I’ve said, being the only exception). Holding it all together is the superb Martin Mendez on bass. Never overplaying but always sitting deep in the pocket, underlining the guitar lines and embellishing tastefully, Mendez is a wonder, and fully appreciating his fine playing is yet another reward for the careful attention I suggested this album deserves.

Standout tracks? Naah. For Absent Friends certainly “stands out” just by virtue of being the album’s sole slow, quiet track, but it’s neither superior nor inferior to the five other superb songs on this album. If you’re a horror-movie fan, shut off the DVD and crank up By the Pain I See in Others: “Rise to submission / I’m still beneath the soil / Discard your clothes / Let loose your hair / We’re intertwined forever and have always been.” If you like grunge dynamics (slow intro, crushing subsequent passages) – especially as they were practiced years before grunge by Black Sabbath, as in “Children of the Sea” – check out the slow, piano-led A Fair Judgement, which begins “Losing sleep, in too deep / Fading sun, what have I done,” before the gorgeous guitars and excellent percussion drive us into the frightening guts of the song. In fact, this track alone is almost a microcosm of Opeth’s sound, offering the scary slow sound, the scary heavy sound, and the tasteful merging of the two that Opeth have perfected by this point in their career.

Yes, this is an excellent album. Perfect? Nothing’s perfect. But there’s little better in any of the sub-genres that Opeth effortlessly dabbles in and combines than these two companion discs, and I happily give this album the highest rating. I hope all fans of good music will get it.

Conclusion: 9.5 out of 10

GERALD WANDIO



Deliverance
Release Date - Nov 12, 2002

Recording Date - Jul 22, 2002-Sep 4, 2002


Review by Ed Rivadavia
Following up a nearly ubiquitous critical smash such as 2000's Blackwater Park might seem like a daunting proposition for most bands, but Sweden's Opeth has made a career out of proving it is not just any other band, wowing observers with its boundless creativity and seemingly effortless brilliance. With producer (and Porcupine Tree leader) Steve Wilson once again on hand to assist in Opeth's quest to remain true to its origins while progressing ever forward, the band's sixth volume, Deliverance offers no great departure by established standards, but rather continues exploring the possibilities of this very fruitful relationship. And sure enough, for all of its continued aggression and overall compliance with death metal's key elements — blastbeat drumming runs, Mikael Akerfeldt's frequently croaked vocals and eternally bleak lyrics — Deliverance is altogether more subtle than any of its predecessors, approaching listeners with haunting nuances and masterful dynamics rather than overwhelming them with sheer mass and complexity. Dominated as always by imposing ten-plus minute musical movements, this is creative evolution driven to perfection. Both opener "Wreath" and the ensuing title track eschew traditionally crushing death metal riffs for no less pummeling, hammered staccatos delivered with near-industrial precision. Besides providing a magnificent showcase for drummer Martin Lopez, these performances are so astoundingly fluid that some listeners may find themselves crying for the wild mood swings and harsh time changes of works past — never realizing that they are all still here, only the transitions are so well orchestrated, one does not initially recognize them. The culmination of this quest for fluidity, third movement "A Fair Judgement" is not only the album's most accessible number, it's arguably also the best. Clearly the evolutionary successor to previous dam-bursting experiments such as Still Life's "Face of Melinda" and Blackwater Park's "The Drapery Falls," its striking harmonies are borne out with a stately, elegant grace punctuated by what is sure to be one of the year's most beautiful guitar solos. A two-minute acoustic interlude called "For Absent Friends" allows for a short break prior to the album's two equally challenging but rewarding final epics, the incredibly multifaceted "Master's Apprentices" and the especially violent "By the Pain I See in Others." All in all, some naysayers could very well label Deliverance as something of a Blackwater Park redux, but this would be a shortsighted reaction given the album's remarkable individual achievement. The fact remains that Opeth is still quite without peer in its contribution to advancing the cause of heavy metal in the new millennium, and in that light, Deliverance stands as yet another work of towering vision from this incredible band. [Deliverance does leave a few unanswered questions, however, seeing as it originally comprised only half of a proposed double-disc set, the second of which was eventually rescheduled for separate release at a later date.]