Description

Triple vinyl edition including new stereo mixes of Damnation and Deliverance

Deliverance
Following up a nearly ubiquitous critical smash such as 2000’s Blackwater Park might seem like a daunting proposition for most bands, but Sweden’s Opeth has made a career out of proving it is not just any other band, wowing observers with its boundless creativity and seemingly effortless brilliance. With producer (and Porcupine Tree leader) Steve Wilson once again on hand to assist in Opeth’s quest to remain true to its origins while progressing ever forward, the band’s sixth volume, Deliverance offers no great departure by established standards, but rather continues exploring the possibilities of this very fruitful relationship. And sure enough, for all of its continued aggression and overall compliance with death metal’s key elements — blastbeat drumming runs, Mikael Akerfeldt’s frequently croaked vocals and eternally bleak lyrics — Deliverance is altogether more subtle than any of its predecessors, approaching listeners with haunting nuances and masterful dynamics rather than overwhelming them with sheer mass and complexity. Dominated as always by imposing ten-plus minute musical movements, this is creative evolution driven to perfection. Both opener “Wreath” and the ensuing title track eschew traditionally crushing death metal riffs for no less pummeling, hammered staccatos delivered with near-industrial precision. Besides providing a magnificent showcase for drummer Martin Lopez, these performances are so astoundingly fluid that some listeners may find themselves crying for the wild mood swings and harsh time changes of works past — never realizing that they are all still here, only the transitions are so well orchestrated, one does not initially recognize them. The culmination of this quest for fluidity, third movement “A Fair Judgement” is not only the album’s most accessible number, it’s arguably also the best. Clearly the evolutionary successor to previous dam-bursting experiments such as Still Life’s “Face of Melinda” and Blackwater Park’s “The Drapery Falls,” its striking harmonies are borne out with a stately, elegant grace punctuated by what is sure to be one of the year’s most beautiful guitar solos. A two-minute acoustic interlude called “For Absent Friends” allows for a short break prior to the album’s two equally challenging but rewarding final epics, the incredibly multifaceted “Master’s Apprentices” and the especially violent “By the Pain I See in Others.” All in all, some naysayers could very well label Deliverance as something of a Blackwater Park redux, but this would be a shortsighted reaction given the album’s remarkable individual achievement. The fact remains that Opeth is still quite without peer in its contribution to advancing the cause of heavy metal in the new millennium, and in that light, Deliverance stands as yet another work of towering vision from this incredible band.

Damnation
Released in 2003, Damnation is easily the most radical departure of Opeth’s career. The companion piece to the previous year’s Deliverance set, to which it was originally inextricably married (before record company marketing men got their dirty little hands on them), the album is the first to explore the group’s non-heavy metal-based songwriting both at length and exclusively. Since all of Opeth’s previous outings were specifically conceived for the express purpose of contrasting heavy and light, violent and delicate, black and white, such a uniform presentation would already be surprising enough, but perhaps even more astounding is the realization that Damnation can’t even be termed a heavy metal album. This is because, except for very brief moments in the excellent “Closure,” not a distorted power guitar chord, not a pounding bass drum, not a growled death vocal is to be found here — only mellow, melancholy, deeply reflective numbers boasting melodic electric and acoustic guitars, the odd bit of piano and Mellotron (performed by the producer, Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson), and background string arrangements. Rather, alluringly mournful tracks like “Windowpane,” “Death Whispered a Lullaby,” “Hope Leaves,” and “Ending Credits” are at once complex and supple. Relatively of short length by Opeth standards, they often resemble the short musical interludes separating the band’s prevalent explosions of black metal fury and progressive rock excursions. Laid out in unnaturally fluid sequence here, these songs obviously fail to provide the striking, surprise-filled experience that longtime Opeth fans have grown accustomed to, but once the novelty sinks in, those fans will easily come to enjoy and recognize Damnation for the finely executed if unique chapter it represents. In fact, even traditional rock fans with no interest in heavy metal whatsoever are likely to appreciate Damnation for its beautifully assembled, reliably high-caliber songwriting — it’s that good. As for devout metalheads seeking their first taste of Opeth’s usual, furiously metallic onslaught, they should start with the aforementioned Deliverance or perhaps 2000’s Blackwater Park in order to get a more accurate glimpse of the Opeth they’ve been reading about. Ideally, however, open-minded listeners will sample both Deliverance and Damnation in the manner intended in the first place: together, as dissimilar halves comprising an astoundingly inspired whole.

Track listing:
1. Wreath
2. Deliverance
3. A Fair Judgement
4. For Absent Friends
5. Master’s Apprentices
6. By The Pain I See In Others
7. Windowpane
8. In My Time Of Need
9. Death Whispered A Lullaby
10. Closure
11. Hope Leaves
12. To Rid The Disease
13. Ending Credits
14. Weakness