OPETH - "DELIVERANCE" (MUSIC FOR NATIONS)
OPETH - "DELIVERANCE" (MUSIC FOR NATIONS)
As you will probably have read earlier, Opeth have recently released "Deliverance" and will release their next album in a few months. "Deliverance" would contain the more aggressive tracks, and the follow-up the more laid-back material.
If you listen to the album's opener, you will indeed think that they have nudged the overdrive settings into, um, well, overdrive. "Wreath" consists of fast drumming and a repetitive, simple riff. It is not a very good first impression, and in fact your appreciation of the further tracks will be lessened if you think this is what Opeth have become. In fact it's best to skip track 1 altogether, because it will allow the others tracks to better grow and blossom in your mind...
The second track, "Deliverance", is more back to Opeth's previous two albums, though the complexity of either previous album is not reached. The rest of the album is filled with good tracks, though only in "Master's Apprentices" did I hear their trademark complex riffing.
I doubt whether the tracks on "Deliverance" will grow as much as those present on "Still Life" or "Blackwater Park" did. They are good songs, they nudge their way into the bit of your brain that causes humming, but to me the grandeur of their earlier work was not reached.
...And when will bands learn that it's stupid to add two minutes of silence at the end, followed by 2 minutes of silliness?
Click here to buy or check out this CD
RK
Written November 2002