Opeth - Deliverance [25th Anniversary]

Opeth wrote Deliverance and Damnation as two sides of the same coin, then released them separately, and Deliverance is the heavy half. It is the band at its most brutal and most intricate at the same time, released at a pivotal moment in their rise from the Swedish underground.

The album runs over an hour across just six songs, and it rewards patience. The title track is one of the most celebrated pieces in Opeth's catalog, with its lurching riffs and long, hypnotic coda, while "Wreath," "Master's Apprentices" and "By the Pain I See in Others" shift between death metal growls and Mikael Åkerfeldt's clean, melancholic voice. "A Fair Judgement" and the brief "For Absent Friends" provide moments of calm in the storm.

Co-produced with Steven Wilson, it captures a band refusing to stand still, and its blend of extremity and beauty remains as striking today as when it first arrived.

This anniversary reissue is pressed on crystal clear 140-gram vinyl as a double LP.