GARDEN OF THE TITANS: LIVE AT RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE

Garden of the Titans captures a live set from Opeth which, coming after the release of Sorceress, follows a string of albums (beginning with Heritage) where they had more or less abandoned metal entirely. The set list mixes their gentler progressive rock material with more progressive metal-oriented pieces in a setlist which seamlessly blends both sides of their sound, and so the album stands as evidence that if Opeth have stopped making metal albums, it's not because they are no longer able or willing to play metal - they're just working on a different aspect of their portfolio for the time being.

Several of the songs here are Opeth live standards - indeed, if you have The Roundhouse Tapes you have renditions of several of these from about a decade earlier - but there's enough tracks which haven't seen the light of day on an official Opeth live release to ensure it doesn't feel redundant. And if you've convinced yourself that Opeth can't do justice to their metal side any more, just listen to the furious version of Deliverance that rounds out this exceptional set.