DELIVERANCE

Deliverance is yet another standard Opeth album, full of despair, death, bleakness and solitude. The band mixes aggressive passages with acoustic ones, moving from brutal to melodic to soft atmospheric moments in just about every song. For the most part, the album contains better clean vocals and better harsh growls as well, with the lows even lower than on previous offerings.

Akerfeldt's vocals have improved over the years, understandably so. As a fan of Blackwater Park and Still Life, I guess you can say I wasn't expecting such an aggressive offering at all. Some of the most obvious new developments on Deliverance was the presence of more guitar solos than usual and to a certain extent there's more varied and technical drum-work throughout the album.

Although there are only 6 songs on Deliverance, everything I love about the band is here; aggressiveness, slow calming moments, atmospheric passages and a very good mix of vocals overall. The album beams with confidence, style and intensity. Just what the doctor ordered...Melodic Progressive Death Metal for the soul. (haha) Despite the fact that the songs are lengthy, they never drag on aimlessly nor become ever redundant.

Deliverance opens with "Wreath," one of Opeth's most candid songs up until this album. The band uses a repetitive riff that creates a somnolent march-like sequence. Many spins later and the magic between the lines is exposed. The lyrics, composition, song structure and execution...all done with precision and expertise!

The title track is a 13 minute massive undertaking with some of the very fine composition handiwork that we've come to expect from the band. The song includes a 3 minute instrumental-feast, highlighting the band at it's absolute progressive best.

"A fair judgement" slips effortlessly from one brilliant moment to the next and "For absent friends" is for all intents and purposes, a 2 minute acoustic instrumental break. Enjoy it 'cause what comes next is "Masters apprentices," which begins a deadly stride with its' inherent Death Metal attitude only to move into what I would call a cool spring morning mid-way through the song.

And finally the album closes with "By the pain I see in others." This song instills a sense of true discomfort as Akerfeldt gives one of his most chilling vocal performance.

Hidden behind "By the pain I see in others" is a haunting passage, just one chilling voice with a message, an appropriate surprise ending to a great album. I often wondered how Opeth manages time and time again to put down 60 plus minutes of music and make them feel like 30?

For those who are not easily impressed, Deliverance is not immediate music, you don't always get it on the first spin, though it does pack a punch and has a long affecting impact on you, the music is for extreme progressive metal enthusiasts only.