Orchid and Morningrise are much more dynamic than Deliverance. Deliverance songs tend to use the following formula:
A-B-A-C-D-C-D-E(tc.)
A) The beginning of Master's Apprentices is ripped from a Morbid Angel song. It lacks that special 'Opeth' quality, and feels like it could have been written by any band.
B) The mixing makes the album sound cold and distant
C) It lacks cohesion. The first 3 songs go together pretty well, but instead of having a single color like the other albums, every song is a different color. For example, BWP feels blue and Damnation feels greenish-white, but the songs on Deliverance go Green-Orange-Maroon-Orange-Green. That makes for a less cohesive album. It's still good, though. It just feels rushed, and it's really not much of a progression from BWP.
D) How much anger and depression can you take in one sitting? I think this is what it comes down to in the end.
E) As long as everyone loves the band together, who cares if people don't like the album that's your favorite? Shouldn't you liking it be enough?
