As a follow-up to the hugely successful Blackwater Park, Opeth had planned a double album split into two distinct halves. Deliverance focused on the Swedes’ death metal elements and contained some of their heaviest songs, while sister-piece Damnation experimented with a much mellower progressive rock sound. In the end they were released as two separate albums six months apart. The title-track to Deliverance straddled the two styles, providing a 13-minute-plus slice of genius that remains a fan-favourite today. Here, Opeth mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt tells us about the song’s painful birth, including how it was inspired by a real-life hostage situation… “I had a lot of courage after Blackwater Park. We’d had a lot of success with that album and people were excited about us, but what ...
