Another Opeth album, and again the pillars of progressive metal must inevitably quake in terrified awe. Luckily, most will remain safe since Opeth basically remains a niche within a niche. For the esurient progressive music fan not queasy with a hellish vocal, however, it is obvious that they are one of progressive metal's leading bands.

Opeth's latest album continues to their brutal heavy passages with gorgeous acoustic interludes and a protean expanse of other flavors ranging from Scandinavian folk to jazz to 70s prog. Even though this is their sixth album, Mikael Åkerfeldt's bohemian preoccupation with creating progressive music remains as poignant as ever. While _Deliverance_ does call upon familiar elements from past albums, it likewise adds new assets to the Opethian palette -- especially the final song, "By the Pain I See in Others". After all, Opeth is nothing if not surprising.

Right now, I'm not sure how I would rate this relative to other Opeth works. Certain things are clear, however. For one thing, it the most complex musically. This makes it difficult to take in quickly, but Opeth was never musical fast-food anyway. With only six songs, all ten minutes or longer (not including a short instrumental), it is quite overwhelming to take in at first. The astonishing drumming, heaviness, and seemingly impenetrable song structures necessitate a lot of listening. Lyrically, Åkerfeldt has mined a very personal side which makes this the most emotional of Opeth's albums. The lyrics are gorgeous, haunting, darkly evocative. Ex. "Pacing further down | Familiar children's laughter | Dissonant and out of time | And their eyes are dead | Watching myself in a pool of water | Wearing the mask of a ghost | Smeared all across my skin | Rotten earth and insects." Creepy!

"Wreath" opens with a tempestuous fury unlike any previous Opeth song. An inferno of guitars pours on the attack, a gale of drums besieges the mix, and Åkerfeldt's chthonic growl waste no time getting into things. The towering sonic architecture of Opeth's compositions stands out for all 11 minutes of this fierce track, a menagerie of dark, crushing rhythms.

As this song demonstrates, the band is so surreally powerful due to the sheer density of their heavy assault, especially here, because this is their heaviest album by a fair margin. This disc is a big onslaught of sound. Opeth's thick wall-of-sound arrangements are not just distorted blobs of noise, however -- the instrumental interplay is elaborately constructed, rife with nuance and intricacy. Guitars are often used in a keyboard like way, creating waves of ambience over top a scorched-earth battlefield of guitars and drums and the hellfire vocals of Åkerfeldt.

"By the Pain I See in Others" is one of the most experimental Opeth song to date. Early on, the gelid growls washing over the acoustic guitar is an absolutely spellbinding and somewhat unnerving effect. Later, an eerie section evoking carnival music forms a haunting atmosphere. Awesome riffs are everywhere. And when it goes quiet at the end, keep listening...one of the most mysteriously beautiful Opeth moments brings the album to its end.

And in between, you have four other amazing songs: "Deliverance" is sure to be an Opethian classic, with awesome riffs from the outset, stirring ambiance, and beautiful soft sections; "A Fair Judgment", a pseudo-ballad with soaring guitars lines, melting pianos, ghostly bursts of atmosphere, gorgeous vocal harmonies (you can hear Steven Wilson's vocal influence big time); "For Absent Friends", a brief halcyon instrumental with a touch of jazz; and "Master's Apprentices", opening with an evil groove and proceeding through a terrain of rhythmic power and gorgeous soft passages typical of Opeth.

_Deliverance_ demonstrates clearly that Åkerfeldt is turning into a fine singer. While he summons forth his demonic growl from some nether realm, his singing voice must be called from the heavens. He is also a classic aesthete, with an ear for arrangement and chord selections that would humble the best.

_Deliverance_ showcases a band that continues to astonish and grow. _Deliverance_ makes previous albums -- while beautiful and amazing -- seem underdeveloped, in a way. In March 2003, Opeth will release the _Deliverance_'s "mellow" follow-up called _Damnation_. Until then, we can revel in what we have here -- yet another astonishing release from one of the most powerful forces in progressive metal. Opeth is a truly mythic experience, and _Deliverance_ is your salvation from traditional prog metal. Enjoy.

"Deliverance" is yet another example of Opeth's brilliance. This album came out in 2002, only a year after the release of "Blackwater Park" (because they had good success with that album), and it might be this Swedish band's heaviest album. All of their albums are heavy, so calling this one their heaviest is really saying something. These songs are fairly consistently heavy and show quite a bit of death metal influence.

Part of why "Deliverance," Opeth's sixth full length, is so smart is they figured out a way to make it clock in at 62 minutes flat. But this album's songwriting is also great. The key to their success is recognizing the value of contrast (balancing and blending things which are very different). "Deliverance" is just so many things all at once. It is pretty and ugly, progressive and heavy, fast and slow, bold and subtle, punishing and satisfying. Some other metal bands (not mentioning any names, here) are afraid of adding melody, because they think it risks being called a sell-out, while others add melody just to break up their C.D.'s monotony. Opeth, however, do it just because they're so darn good at it! In addition to this album being full of soft breakdowns, singer Mikael Akerfeldt displays a very impressive vocal range by seamlessly switching from bellowing (like Deicide's Glenn Benton and Immortal's Olve Eikemo) to imitating a voice (which could be Justin Timberlake). The end result is an album full of great friction (between the beauty and brutality).

"Wreath" begins with a fast drum intro before rocketing into a guitar assault, with some death metal roars. The drumming (by Martin Lopez) is very fast and talented throughout this song, and some melody is included, but it's thrown in late in the song (when the soft hand percussion makes an appearance).

The title track is also driven by fast, thumping drumming, but there's an acoustic breakdown around one minute and twenty seconds in, where the drums slow way down and Mikael sings properly. The lurching, crunchy riffs and blinding double bass drums re-enter and take over the track again, but, even when the music is heavy, Mikael sings melodically about half the time.

"A Fair Judgement" is a very atmospheric and depressing track. It begins with a piano (and some feedback from the piano keys), then the drums tap lightly, and the song stays soft until the electric guitars kick in (and even then, the beat isn't super heavy).

"For Absent Friends" is a beautiful acoustic instrumental which is slow and melancholy.

"Master's Apprentices" returns to form, with booming riffs, amazingly fast drumming (which sort of sounds like a drum machine) and more death metal barks.

"By the Pain I See in Others" has more surging, sometimes machine gun riffs and a sprinting drum beat. To end the song (and the album), however, there's about a minute of silence, then Mikael comes on and sings a capella, with a dreary voice.

In addition to being their heaviest, this album could be Opeth's best. It matches past greats like "Blackwater Park" and my personal favorite, "My Arms, Your Hearse." So, if you own those albums, definitely get this one, too. And if you're new to this band, and you're wondering if this album is any good, my answer would be: of course it's good, it's Opeth!

I've been a huge fan of the band Opeth ever since I read a review of their album Orchid in an underground metal mag. I finally found myself a copy,and I've been hooked on them since. As a long time fan,I can honestly say this album is one that took the longest to grow on me. I was kind of disappointed at first,maybe I was setting the bar too high. After many subsequent listenings,the album started to reveal itself,and I was finding the songs and textures much deeper then I orginally thought. I would recommend this album to anyone. One of Opeths finest. The song Deliverance is one of the cds high points. This is absolute classic Opeth. One of the best things on this album is Martin Lopez. Good god,this is some serious drumming. Anyone into metal dummers would do themselves a favor by picking up this CD. He is incredible. The musicianship as a whole is excellent as usual,and the production by Porcupine Trees Steve Wilson,is amazing. As I said earlier in the review,this album didnt hit me straight in the head like some of the earlier Opeth albums,but it had a huge payoff once I got it. Give it a try,and give it a chance to sink into you brain. So many people do not let things sink in,and rush to judgement,then miss out on the big picture. Enjoy.

Ok, I know what you're thinking. I just got this new Opeth cd, its called Deliverence. "Wow this is really heavy!" No. Duh. They announced they were releasing a heavy album and a mellow album. At first listen, you think they are totally death metal now. You're wrong. They don't even have a genre. They are Opeth, a genre that elludes and personifies what everyone wants out of music. Intense riffage interspersed with God-like melodies and clean vocals. "Wreath" has just ended, and you don't know what to think after hearing brutal drums at first and then bongos half way through. Then the title track emerges out of your speakers. You warm up to it, because it warms up to you. It continues and you're hoping it doesn't end. Then, it gets to the closing riff. You are in a trance now, intoxicated by music. You've never heard anything like this. Holy... poo. It ends, you catch your breath to the next track "A Fair Judgement." Beautiful. Pure magnificence. The song came out of nowhere and you don't want it to leave. But sadly it is only 10 and a half minutes long. Then comes an interlude instrumental by the name of "For Absent Friends." If you don't appreciate music, you won't like this song. If you can sit in a seat for more than 30 seconds without wanting to eat a rabbit, you will love this short piece. Then, out of Nowhere, Alaska comes "Master's Apprentices." It's heavier than your fat Aunt Helga, but somehow you love it just like you love her. Give it time and let it sink in. The cd is not over, even though you've invested about 50 minutes of your near worthless existence. There is still a 13 minute charm named "By the Pain I See in Others." It starts, you like. It continues, he adds vocal effect, you don't know what to think, yet you're still intrigued. Then it goes into some sort of circus riff. You remember calling this death metal, ... and Opeth are their own genre. You now like this song. In fact, you liked this whole cd, just like every other song that Opeth ever released. If you don't buy this, stop listening to music. Peace.

What can I say? This is typical Opeth style. Brutal Riffs, amazing vocals, fantastic instumental work, jaw dropping melodies, the list goes on... Opeth have all you could want from a death metal band. This particular album is an absolute joy to listen too. Each and every song has been carefully crafted to create one of the finest Opeth releases to date. All previous releases are also amazing, but this particular CD stands out from the rest. It may be the fact that this CD is considered the heaviest they have produced so far. If you haven't heard Opeth before, and you are looking to buy one of their albums, then the best one to start off with would be 'My Arms Your Hearse'. To really appreciate what Opeth are about requires a few listens. Many newcomers to Opeth are put off by their style, by saying the songs are too long etc.

Upon many listens, these assumptions quickly fade and you start to really apreciate their music.

If you are an Opeth fan like myself, then this CD is a must have in your collection. I am lucky enough to have every album they have released, a total of 7. I have been looking for the first two CD's 'Orchid' and 'Morningrise' for a very long time, and I finally have them...