DELIVERANCE

This does not make it a failure though, as it was a deliberate step back. After pushing the boat ever further out on their previous 5 LPs, I think the band relaxed and made their version of a garage rock records, four guys rocking it out in less produced and laboured way than they had been doing. This has pluses and minuses- on the up side, the production isn't doing the heavy lifting and the performances of the band begin to matter more. Martin Lopez' drumming in particular shines through, really doing a lot to make the first two songs engaging.

The album is not what it is usually advertised as, namely a wall-to-wall heavy, fierce album with Damnation being its quiet gentle counterpart. Deliverance begins like that- Wreath is loud and ferocious and pounds your ear drums though with enough variety and drama to make it work. The title track comes racing out of the stables and though it cools down for some atmospheric clean vocal sections, most of it gets the pulse racing. I especially enjoy the final few minutes where the band repeats the same complicated percussion line over and over. On paper it should be deadly boring but in execution is fun and engaging and I always tap along.

A Fair Judgement is a good song, but really derails the "heavy" concept of Deliverance. It is not heavy at all and could've (even should've) been on Damnation. However it retains the more bare, simple style of the record and would never be confused with more lush and elaborate epics like Hessian Peel and The Drapery Falls, so it is interesting to hear them play a gentle song in a pared down style- Damnation itself sounds a lot more produced.

I have to say, I do not like the beginning of Masters And Apprentices. Akerfeldt delivers a rare cheesy vocal and the guitar riff is simple and repetitive. Fortunately the track develops into something more interesting later on with unusual guitar work and harmonies. Final track By The Pain I See In Others is quite good, another exciting one, and I find myself actually liking the ending where for three minutes Akerfeldt pops in and out of a spooky silence to say something unintelligible with effects laid over his voice.

Deliverance is no disaster but it flirts with a three star rating due to a lack of jaw-droppers and is one of the few Opeth CDs I do not press on people. However, it does make four stars in the end due to be enjoyable and entertaining almost without fail from beginning to end.

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