Reviewed by Christian Cunningham

The California band's 1994 album finds itself remastered and featuring new artwork, with four bonus tracks added. Taking the prog-metal aspects to new heights, Jimmy Brown's experimentation on this album garnered much critical acclaim back in the day, but other fans turned their back on this in droves. Nowadays, it actually sounds rather contemporary, with the current resurgence of prog-rock sound in the mainstream of metal. Featuring some of their very best tracks ever recorded, "Belltower" is still the standout tune. The remixed version of "Belltower" is also surprisingly enjoyable in an industrial, Deathstars manner. The songs, after remastering, sound excellent, allowing more of Jimmy's fanatical experimentation to be audible, as evidenced on the weird and wonderful "Map" and the bombast of "After I Fell". This experimentation is something he covers on what is undoubtedly an excellent addition to this re-release: a spoken track of his thoughts and memories of recording this landmark Deliverance album. This re-release is one for the fans for sure, and if you never heard the original, check out this new version.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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