The Metalmaster's Review of DELIVERANCE

Slynt

Lord and Liar
May 31, 2001
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Yes, I have a corny name but who the fuck cares.

A little background story:
I am a sinner, so I downloaded two of the songs from 'Deliverance' a few weeks ago to give myself a sneak preview of the upcoming disc of death. The tracks in question were "Wreath" and "Master's Apprentices".
Both songs dissapointed me; I found "Wreath" to be too repetitive, and "Master's Apprentices" was too similar to Morbid Angel (until I discovered the last half, at least).

So when I finally got the disc spinning earlier today, I was pleasantly surprised by the remaining songs, which have more interesting ideas and Opethian progressive structures. "Deliverance" in particular stands out as a finely crafted song which occassionally reminds me of 'Still Life' and 'Morningrise', somehow. While I skip "Wreath", the rest of the album has been playing and playing and playing today, and that never happened with 'Blackwater Park' which I still haven't listened to in one sit. A good sign, a good sign.

"By the Pain I See in Others" is perhaps the "new" song I still don't like very much, while "Master's Apprentices" has grown a lot and I can now appreciate the Morbid riffing as well. The 'carnival' part in the song reminded me of Mike Patton/FNM/Mr Bungle, the vocals in particular. Cool part. The "secret" ending is nice.

*pauses to go and press play on the disc again - not skipping "Wreath" - great opening on the album, sad that the track slows down*

I like the production on the album, it fits most of the songs well, although it gets a little thin sometimes.

Finally, I have already fallen in love with "A Fair Judgement", this song is on par with their best stuff, even though it's a little slow overall.

I really didn't believe 'Deliverance' could deliver after the two songs I downloaded but here I am, once again realizing why this is the best band in the world; I feared that the band had lost their way, but the middle part of the album, the songs between the first and the last, make it all up. Wonderful.

There are two elements I'm not as pleased with: The death growls are predictable, they are all growled in the same ryhtms, I know when he will add a howling variant, when it goes back to deep growls etc.; he growls like a grizzly, though. The second thing are the lyrics which seem a little less inspired than previous efforts.

The cover design is great, I think this is their best cover yet. I also wish I could have that Gibson guitar, signed by the band :D

It's good to have a new OPETH album in the house! I'm not sure whether it will surpass the first four albums yet, though, but some parts of it are equally good, some are not.

Sorry for the rant, had to get it out of my heart.
 
Thing with this album is that as you said, some songs by themself are not that brilliant.. but when played together with the rest, it stands out in true beauty. And that takes a couple of listens to fully grasp :)
 
I liked Wreath from the start. The whole end is really good, and the song in general puts nice images in my head that I can't explain. And you have to like that 80's metal solo that just suddenly jumps out.
 
yeah give it time man, it seems like your on your way to liking it a lot...this cd is defnitely one to listen to at once, not a bunch of singles on there.. wreath and masters will grow and grow on you. as will the rest..
 
Listened to it again, and had to bring it to work. The darkness of the cover design really helps me appreciate the music, because it helps color the music in the right shades, if you know what I mean. Great album, still, and now "Wreath" is in my head all the time!!!