Boring is an understatement for this one

Excellent album, one of the best of Opeth

This album is so insanely boring, how it is in top 200? Ahh... it's Opeth.

I can't come up with a single reason to listen to this album, it is not their heaviest, it doesn't have any interesting ideas, the only song I come back to is "For Absent Friends", a 2 minute instrumental (but a very sweet one). This unironically might be their worst album, Heritage at least has more than one track that I come back to. Sometimes I think if I should rate it lower than 5, but it has some good (even if unengaging) musicianship.

Written by Scintil on 29.01.2021 at 09:15

This album is so insanely boring, how it is in top 200? Ahh... it's Opeth.

I can't come up with a single reason to listen to this album, it is not their heaviest, it doesn't have any interesting ideas, the only song I come back to is "For Absent Friends", a 2 minute instrumental (but a very sweet one). This unironically might be their worst album, Heritage at least has more than one track that I come back to. Sometimes I think if I should rate it lower than 5, but it has some good (even if unengaging) musicianship.

Boring?
If you want to see the experience of boring, go listen to Ghost Reveries.

And if Deliverance isn't their heaviest album, which is?

Written by JavierPaper on 08.02.2021 at 21:59

And if Deliverance isn't their heaviest album, which is?

Orchid, MAYH and Blackwater Park rape this. Some folks above also say Morningrise, but I disagree. I always saw Morningrise as dark and romantic album, not necessarily heavy.

Written by JavierPaper on 08.02.2021 at 21:59

If you want to see the experience of boring, go listen to Ghost Reveries.

Never been the biggest fan of Ghost Reveries, but it has more depth to it, and more scales, while Deliverance is played on one note. The only exception is, as I mentioned before, 2 minute long instrumental.

Written by Scintil on 08.02.2021 at 00:35

Orchid, MAYH and Blackwater Park rape this. Some folks above also say Morningrise, but I disagree. I always saw Morningrise as dark and romantic album, not necessarily heavy.

All three albums are aggressive, the issue is that their progressive parts are less dark and aggressive than Deliverance.

You're right about Morningrise, it's not that aggressive.

Written by Scintil on 08.02.2021 at 00:35

Never been the biggest fan of Ghost Reveries, but it has more depth to it, and more scales, while Deliverance is played on one note. The only exception is, as I mentioned before, 2 minute long instrumental.

In my opinion Deliverance is more technical than Ghost Reveries.

With songs like Deliverance that the intro is played in 7/8

This was the de facto watershed for Opeth, not the eponymous album. By the time Watershed came out, Akerfeldt already chose. It feels as though Opeth wants to slowly shed their metal roots with the release of the two albums.

This one is well produced but composition-wise, an average album from an era of Opeth gradually giving their identity up to cater to more prog-oriented audiences.
Can't blame them - world-wide commercial success is hard to come by for another metal band.

Not much saves this album from oblivion. Perhaps the mesmerising, trance like drum part from Deliverance.

I am not an Opeth fan in the slightest, but the first two tracks alone save this album from oblivion.

Written by nikarg on 16.03.2021 at 11:36

I am not an Opeth fan in the slightest, but the first two tracks alone save this album from oblivion.

I'd use much warmer language towards it, but I agree that this album's strengths reside primarily in the first two songs, both of which would make my top 5 tracks by the band

I can see why people like the second song, but the first one is pretty much everything I dislike about this album. It has some good riffs but it feels overly long and repetitive.

Written by musclassia on 16.03.2021 at 11:43

Written by nikarg on 16.03.2021 at 11:36

I am not an Opeth fan in the slightest, but the first two tracks alone save this album from oblivion.

I'd use much warmer language towards it, but I agree that this album's strengths reside primarily in the first two songs, both of which would make my top 5 tracks by the band

In an effort to rescind earlier impressions:
Wreath begins and ends with a terrible, uninspired riff (sounding a bit like Daemon of the Fall) but then moves onto a nice, spooky sounding motif at 1:48, which develops steadily throughout the song. It reminds me of Blackwater Park and MAYH, it's not bad but we've heard it all before. The prog part with the backing solo is rather generic, a bit redundant. The drums are rather nice to listen to throughout the song.
Deliverance, a very thoughtfully structured track, built around a death metal motif. Very heavy use of double bass and the only solid track on this record.
A Fair Judgement sounds like an amalgam of heavy and soft stuff. Some of the riffs are nice but those sounds unconnected, poorly structured.
For Absent Friends, what's the point to having a soft album down the road and including this? It doesn't make sense.
Master's Apprentices, having a black metal feel to it, in the vein of Ghost Reveries, contains excellent growls but the clean ones sound out of place on it. Guitar parts towards the end of the song remind me of generic prog rock. B-side from Blackwater Park?
By the Pain I See in Others, built around themes that were successful on Morningrise and MAYH, solid but not revealing in any way.
On the positive side, Lopez's drum parts are a joy to listen to on this album. Some may be annoyed by the constant use of double bass, his excellent command over hi-hats can be heard. Keyboards do not have much of forced presence yet on this record, which is a good thing. Bass-wise, it's an Opeth record.
For an album clocking in at over 1 hour, Deliverence wouldn't lose too much if it were half the length. Some patterns recur much too often without being catchy enough. Solos sound a bit forced on this record. An average record for a band with a bar set quite high.

Written by Roman Doez on 26.11.2020 at 17:10

Boring is an understatement for this one

I second that statement, but I endeavour to understand what makes it boring. For me the critique around mid-era Opeth may be due to the band simply maturing with their sound. Whilst maturity may usher in a more sophisticated sound, foreign influences, youthful creativity is often lost as experience is gained. That does not apply to Opeth exclusively, I know other bands that have lost their edge as they matured or as their honest, spontaneous output became a trade.

The more I listen to it, the least I like it

More than a year later this is still the texbook definition of boring

Written by Roman Doez on 19.06.2022 at 22:20

More than a year later this is still the texbook definition of boring

You though seem to return to it quite often.
Still some hope left for the album?

Written by Redel on 19.06.2022 at 22:37

You though seem to return to it quite often.
Still some hope left for the album?

It took me a while to get into some Opeth albums, so I'm still trying this one out every once in a while.
I'm also cleaning up my ratings of 5 and lower so I'm making sure the albums I put there really deserved it, and I can guarantee this one will stay there for a while.

Written by Roman Doez on 19.06.2022 at 22:43

Written by Redel on 19.06.2022 at 22:37

You though seem to return to it quite often.
Still some hope left for the album?

I'm still trying this one out every once in a while.

For me it is a mid-level Opeth album, like Watershed. Generally speaking I prefer their earlier ones to this one, but it is still much better than their later stuff.
I somehow like all songs on this album. The title track stands out by a mile though, the only excellent song. Then comes A Fair Judgement and then Master's Apprentices.

Written by Redel on 20.06.2022 at 08:32

For me it is a mid-level Opeth album, like Watershed. Generally speaking I prefer their earlier ones to this one, but it is still much better than their later stuff.
I somehow like all songs on this album. The title track stands out by a mile though, the only excellent song. Then comes A Fair Judgement and then Master's Apprentices.

I do enjoy some bits of each track, and the title track definitely has several really good ideas. My problem is that each idea gets stretched out to its limit and repeated until I cannot bear it anymore. For example, the last motif of the title track is repeated for 4 minutes straight, which is way, way too much. And so the album feels overly long and repetitive, which makes it actively irritating in addition to being boring.
I haven't listened to the post-Watershed albums in a while so this is my least favorite Opeth album, followed somewhat closely by its twin, Damnation.