DELIVERANCE

I should probably begin by saying that this album was my introduction to Opeth, so I probably have a bit of a soft spot for it. With that said, this album is both a forward and a backward step for the band from this album's predecessor, Blackwater Park. It is a step forward in the sense that Mikael's vocals continually improve from album to album without exception, so while Blackwater Park ushered in a new sound for Opeth, Deliverance improves on the sound. On the other hand, as has been alluded to by several other reviewers, Deliverance doesn't show the same brilliance exhibited on Blackwater Park.

Ultimately, in my opinion, Deliverance suffers from one major problem: Master's Apprentices. This issue is not a typical problem; rather, the song is so good that it overshadows the rest of the tracks on the album, which is a shame, since most of the album's tracks are pretty good.

Wreath: The album's intro track is its worst, hands down. For about the first half of the track, it resembles a typical pounding death metal song, only developing somewhat at past the midpoint. 2/5

Deliverance: Unlike many, I like this tune. It opens with a nasty, harshly dissonant intro before smoothing out. The acoustic work here is pleasant, which is harshly contrasted by intermittent gouts of distortion, making the listener appreciate the acoustics more when they resume. After a time, the track resumes the driving main riff for another verse of a sort, which leads into a tasty little solo, then back to more driven riffing. Eventually, this all leads to Mikael's clean vocals being used in conjunction with the band's more metal sound for a brief period, which is one of the more inspired sounding moments of this song, which is fairly mired in nature. A few more minutes of metal, another solo, and a brief acoustic passage later, this song enters the ending phase, which is where many find so much to dislike about it. It is true that the last 3 minutes or so are occupied by the same two riffs; however, after 4 years and countless listens, this still hasn't gotten old to me. The pair of riffs is so unlike any I've heard previously that it just stays novel. 4/5

A Fair Judgment: To be honest, I disliked this song somewhat initially. Despite being a metal song and undoubtedly so, it is completely devoid of growling, and when I picked this album up, I was very much into the whole Gothenburg melodic death metal scene, so the absence of death growl was a turn off. Then I saw the band perform it on the Lamentations DVD, but that is irrelevant in this case. The song starts off with a smooth piano intro, just general chording, before the music comes in sharply. While the entering verse is still decidedly mellow, the transition into it is extremely disjointed and harsh; I can never figure out if this is intentional or not. Anyway, the mellow verse leads into a laid back distorted instrumental figure. Get used to this combination because, while there are several other sections to this song, you'll be hearing this several times. At about 4:40, the instrumental figures are interrupted by a sudden transition into a new and different mellow verse, which is followed by an absolutely gorgeous solo. This leads into (surprise) a distorted instrumental portion and the song's second (this time distorted) solo. I much prefer the earlier one, as this one, while nice, is pretty much a typical metal solo. The instrumental work continues for awhile before going back into the original verse figure one last time to transition into the harsh ending. 4/5

For Absent Friends: A nice little interlude between A Fair Judgment and Master's Apprentices. Since AFJ ended on a harsh note, and Master's Apprentices definitely begins on a harsh note, this little 2 minute breath of air is quite welcome. It consists of an instrumental line about a minute long, which is repeated twice.

Master's Apprentices: As I said before, this track overshadows the rest. Put simply, this is Opeth at their best. It is definitely one of their heavier pieces, featuring probably the heaviest moment the band has ever created. This particular moment comes immediately after one of the lightest they've ever done. Put simply, this track is reason enough to buy this album by itself. 5/5

By the Pain I See in Others: It took me awhile to get to where I liked this song, as it had the bad luck to follow Master's Apprentices, and no song can stand up to that kind of scrutiny. Ultimately, however, this is a very tasty song. There is a nice whisper-growl early on and an eventual seamless transition from 4/4 to 6/8 back to 4/4 again. Ultimately, this is also a very worthy track. I would recommend it. One downer about the song is that it doesn't mix well into playlists. There's about 3 minutes of silence after the track, which leads to some weird vocal stuff right at the end. So if you're mixing random playlists with this in it, make sure this song lands last. 4.5/5

Overall, this album falls somewhere in that delightful region between 3 and 4 stars; however, when comparing it to other Opeth albums, I'm going to err on the low side, so 3 stars it is.