DELIVERANCE

One of Opeth's most loved and at the same time hated albums, I thought I was going to hate it, and already with my first listen I wasn't satisfied. But "Deliverance", after it grows on you, is a great album, which was totally unexpected by this reviewer.

The music here is probably the heaviest Opeth has ever done, even though there are many soft moments. The production in this album is really good, with excellent mixing concerning all the instruments. The guitars have never sounded this clean and precise, not even the big classic albums have such an amazing quality. The musicianship is as well excellent; Mikael Akerfeldt's singing is at it's peak, Martin Lopez's drumming is very virtuous and unique as well as the impressive bass playing by Martin Mandez. Basically, the musicianship here is really good.

Fans shouldn't have worried about Opeth changing their sound, because it didn't at all, unlike "Watershed", six years later. We still got the Akerfeldt death growls that accompany the strong, dark, vigorous guitar riffs, which are then developed by constant time changes so that at the end of the song we have this beautiful and perfect collage of pieces and ideas, very effectively put together into one composition. This explains the fact that they are six tracks here, almost all of them ten minutes or so. The softer parts are very much present, and can dominate a good half of a song, even though "Deliverance" is arguably the band's heaviest and most metal influenced record. What makes it original in my opinion is the surprisingly frequent technical moments, something that also never occurs in an Opeth album; the rhythms in particular can be very complex and somewhat spectacular in many parts.

Many songs are worth mentioning, like the long title track, almost thirteen of heavy riffs mixed with some more rockish influences here and there. "A Fair Judgement" is a beautiful, slower song, with a haunting melody an element that Opeth is so good at doing. "Masters Apprentice" is a perfect example of the band's elevation in heaviness. "By The Pain I See In Others" is probably the most complex song of the album, the song with most time changes; sometimes it's not as gripping as you would wish it would be. But I love the obvious increase of experimentation here, thanks to the wider use of keys.

Overall a great album, every metal head in my opinion should take this under consideration. I loved it.