I think they've been getting progressively worse in their writting abilities since Still Life. Black Water park was good and had a lot of great parts on it, but it was only the start of the decline. Then deliverance came out, when I first heard it I loved it and the same with damnation. Now though, most of the riffs on Deliverance sounds very simple, repetative, and boring. Theres still some really good parts like the very last solo in deliverance and the way it flows into the clean riff with the vocals "Deliverance...thrown back at me..etc.." That part is just genius. But for the most part Deliverance sounds like crap to me. In fact Ive kind of been burnt out on Opeth for awhile. Just hasnt really been my thing lately. Ive been listening to more death metal, stuff that has heavier, faster, more complex metal riffs. But, I still think Opeth is one of the greatest metal bands of all time, its just that on the last few albums they havent been writting music that is as good as they are capable of writting. But thats just my opinion.
