Deliverance
In the late 80's Deliverance started out in southern California as a speed metal band. Their introduction to the world was on the infamous "California Metal" compilation. By the mid 90's Deliverance's two main men, Jimmy Brown and George Ochoa, were fighting over what direction the band should take. The decision made was for George to leave, thus leaving Jimmy to take the band into more of a progressive, melodic, almost gothic metal direction. George Ochoa, who was also the former guitarist for Recon, produced for, and toured with Vengeance Rising for a while as well as played guitar and produced Mortification's "Primitive Rhythm Machine" before disappearing into obscurity. Deliverance continued on with a revolving line-up that at one time or another would include members of Recon and Betrayal. The band broke up for a while then reformed in 2001 and released "Assimilation".

Deliverance Deliverance-Deliverance (Intense) 1989

1. "Victory" (3:44)
2. "No Time" (4:28)
3. "Deliverance" (3:03)
4. "If You Will" (3:03)
5. "The Call" (3:40)
6. "No Love" (3:30)
7. "Blood of the Covenant" (4:50)
8. "Jehovah Jireh" (3:35)
9. "Temporary Insanity" (5:25)
10. "Awake" (6:03)

One of the BEST speed metal albums ever! Bought it as a new release in 89' and it still frequents my cd player. The original is out of print but recently KMG reissued this disc along with "Weapons of Our Warfare" on a single disc. The re-issue sucks, however, as it deletes two songs from this classic album. Buy the original if you can find one.

Weapons of our Warfare Deliverance-Weapons of Our Warfare (Intense) 1990

1. "Supplication" (1:48)
2. "This Present Darkness" (2:47)
3. "Weapons of Our Warfare" (4:25)
4. "Solitude" (6:03)
5. "Flesh and Blood" (7:27)
6. "Bought by Blood" (3:17)
7. "23" (5:49)
8. "Slay the Wicked" (4:03)
9. "Greetings of Death" (2:49)
10. "If We Faint Not" (4:25)

The big D were at their best here. Another speed metal classic! Former Recon guitarist George Ochoa is added to the bill and adds a bit of flavor to this disc. This disc showed a sample of the changes to come as the song "23" was a melodic power metal ballad. Favorite songs are "This Present Darkness," "Flesh & Blood," and "Greetings of Death," which is a song that was re-recorded from their first demo. A spiritual warfare theme runs throughout this disc. Cool cover! Bought this as a new release. The original is a bit hard to find now.

What A Joke Deliverance-What A Joke (Intense) 1991

1. "Intro" (:18)
2. "Prophet of Idiocy" (3:25)
3. "Psuedo Intellectual" (7:15)
4. "Cheesburger Maker Du" (:07)
5. "What A Joke" (6:20)
6. "Chipped Beef" (2:02)
7. "After Forever" (5:25)
8. "It's The Beat" (1:56)
9. "A Product of Society" (4:42)
10. "Happy Star" (:03)
11. "J.P.D." (:18)
12. "Pray" (:38)
13. "Silent Night" (4:57)
14. "J.I.G" (2:09)
15. "Purgatory Sandwich with Mustard" (2:58)
16. "Attack" (3:38)

Hmm, "What A Joke" was a bit of a joke - lots of joke songs, filler crap, short second long "songs?" and even a recipe set to a crunchy thrash riff. Mixed in with all this crap was a few choice jems. The re-recorded version of "J.I.G," that originally appeared on their first demo tape and "Attack" that appeared on the "California Metal" compilation. The title cut features a monster riff and is the discs best. Cool Sabbath cover-"After Forever." Roger Martinez of Vengeance Rising does some vocal work on the short thrash tune "It's the Beat." Great lyrics defending metal against over-zealous, religious, anti-rock types, done from a Christian, Biblical perspective. "Silent Night" is a moshing version of the Christmas carol. Once again, bought this one as a new release but I don't listen to it as much as the first two. Now out of print, so good luck finding a copy. My copy is autographed by all four members of the band.

Stay of Execution Deliverance-Stay of Execution (Intense) 1992

1. "Stay of Execution" (4:34)
2. "Window of the Soul" (4:58)
3. "Words to the..." (4:23)
4. "From Once Was" (3:58)
5. "Self-Monger" (3:29)
6. "Horrendous Disc" (5:27)
7. "Lord of Dreams" (5:04)
8. "Ramming Speed" (5:48)
9. "Entombed" (3:46)
10. "Weapons of Out Warfare" (remix) (3:39)

A return to form in my opinion. Less silly and less fillers than on "What A Joke." A bit more technical and melodic than any of their past discs, but man, some killer riffs given life by a beefy Mesa Boogie guitar tone. This disc features Jimmy Brown's new "David Bowie" vocal style. Many hated it, I thought it worked. Great disc! "Ramming Speed" is a killer SLOW and plodding song! Ironic title, huh? "Entombed" is a full on speed metal onslaught. "Stay of Execution" is still one of my favorite Deliverance songs. The remix of "Weapons" was sort of unneccesary but was an attempt by the record company to keep the video alive that was receiving some MTV airplay around this time. The original version on the album by the same name was better. This cd is now out of print but there are still some copies floating around. KMG re-issued this one along with "What a Joke" but once again in a very cheap package.

Deliverance-Intense Live Series Vol. 1 (Intense) 1993

1. "in studio" (:53)
2. "Surrender" (5:01)
3. "No Love" (3:20)
4. "in studio" (:15)
5. "This Present Darkness" (2:40)
6. "in studio" (:56)
7. "Stay of Execution" (4:20)
8. "in studio" (:23)
9. "The Call" (4:57)
10. "in studio" (:11)
11. "Mike Phillips guitar solo/No Time" (5:17)

Cool little live series that also featured Tourniquet, Mortal, Die Happy, and Rose. I still wish Vengeance Rising and Mortification would have done one of these. D's contribution shows their sense of humor a bit as well and features some studio mistakes that were intentionally left in. As with all the discs in this series, each band did a cover tune. Deliverance chose "Surrender" by Stryper and pulled it off rather well. "The Call" features an extended guitar solo by Mike Phillips.

Learn Deliverance-Learn (Intense) 1992

1. "Time" (6:19)
2. "1990" (7:01)
3. "Learn" (5:29)
4. "Who Am I" (4:44)
5. "Renew" (3:44)
6. "The Rain" (5:14)
7. "Reflection" (1:43)
8. "In the Will" (4:53)
9. "Desperate Cries" (3:49)
10. "Sanctuary" (7:01)

The Terry Taylor cover "Sanctuary" is one of my all time favorite songs! The music is slower than all Deliverance's previous discs, with some obvious influences-David Bowie, Queensryche, Black Sabbath and producer Terry Taylor. Poor cover art! Paid full price for this one when it came out. Loved it then, not a frequent player now, however. "Sanctuary" is an awesome cover of Terry Taylor song.

River Disturance Deliverance-River Disturbance (Brainstorm) 1994

1. "Belltown" (4:39)
2. "After I Fell" (4:22)
3. "River Disturbance" (6:36)
4. "Now & Then" (4:33)
5. "Speed of Light" (4:54)
6. "A Little Sleep" (3:44)
7. "Map" (4:52)
8. "You Still Smile" (7:07)
9. "Breathing" (8:02)

Still THE most underrated big D album! Melodic and a tad alternative in parts, far from the speed metal of the past, but a good disc none-the-less. "Belltown" is a monster song with a killer Mesa Boogie crunch! "A Little Sleep" features Christian rappers 12th Tribe. "You Still Smile" is a ballad that will appeal to old married folk like myself. The band's look on this one was...well, think of Kiss on "Dressed to Kill," only Deliverance were serious about it. (Ooo Gees? HA! What A Joke!) Bought this as a new release, now it's a bit hard to find.

Well apparently I was wrong about the band being serious about thier look on this disc. Jimmy P Brown III contacted me directly and had this to say:

Hallo there, I am writing in regards to . . . your website on "D". I thought it was, well, interesting and honest . . . we weren't "serious" about our look for "River Disturbance." It was a twist on the Metal scene. For years the Christian metal bands said, that they were ministers disguised as musicians, I twisted it and stated that we were musicians disguised as ministers. I guess you never read that one. As far as the Ooo Gee thing, that was the slogan of the store where we had purchased our clothing at since I didn't want us wearing run of the mill suits.

Thanks again, Jimmy P. Brown

Deliverance-A Decade of Deliverance (Intense) 1995

1. "Victory" (3:46)
2. "No Time" (4:31)
3. "The Call" (4:10)
4. "Flesh & Blood" (7:27)
5. "This Present Darkness" (2:47)
6. "Rescue" (4:40)
7. "After Forever" (5:34)
8. "Prophet of Idiocy" (3:25)
9. "Words to the. . ." (4:23)
10. Ramming Speed" (5:46)
11. "Stay of Execution" -live (5:16)
12. "Learn" (5:28)
13. "Desperate Cries" (3:48)
14. "Sanctuary" (6:59)

A "best of" compilation from the first five Deliverance releases. What's nice about the package is that it is in chronological order, features song by song liner notes by Jimmy Brown, has cool photos, included a discography, and features a lot of early material. It also includes an unreleased track from the "Weapons" sessions called "Rescue," which is a semi-melodic speed metal number. The bad things about this cd are: they left off "What a Joke," and they goofed up the discography. Other than that, this is a good compilation.

Camelot in Smithereens Deliverance-Camelot in Smithereens (Intense) 1995

1. "Somber Theme (Where Are You)" (5:54)
2. "Lindsey" (4:51)
3. "Not Too Good 4 Me" (5:09)
4. "Anymore" (4:15)
5. "Book Ends" (6:59)
6. "Beauty & the Beast" (3:26)
7. "Make My Bed in Hell" (4:51)
8. "The Red Roof" (5:20)
9. "In U" (4:30)

This disc flopped big time! Too band 'cause it's a good melodic metal disc. Bought it new but now it's pretty easy to find in the cut out bins. Deliverance disappeared after this one. Rumors have been spreading ever since of a return with original members. Hasn't happened yet. "Beauty & the Beast" is a David Bowie cover.

Back in the Day Deliverance-Back in the Day: the First Four Years (Magdalene/M8) 2000

1. Narration (4:30)
2. "Who Will Save the Children" (4:02)
3. "Stand Up and Fight" (4:44)
4. Narration (3:03)
5. "No Time" -live (4:12)
6. Narration (3:14)
7. Talk From the Stage -live (2:19
8. "Fortress" -live (5:26)
9. "Deliverance" -live (3:24)
10. Narration (4:01)
11. "Attack" (3:53)
12. "A Space Called You" (3:59)
13. Narration (4:25)
14. "Hold On Tightly" (3:39)
15. "J.I.G." (2:01)
16. "Temporary Insanity" (5:26)

Tthere are two possible ways to look at this cd. If you are a VERY dedicated Deliverance fan and have to own everything they ever did, then I suppose that this disc could be considered a treasure as there is a large amount of unreleased material. The other way to look at it is, this is just a way to milk money out of fans using the Deliverance name. This is a documentary of sorts, with Jimmy Brown narrating through the first four "unsigned" years of Deliverance. The sound quality is so poor at times that it is unlistenable in my opinion. Some of the material is just boom box recordings. The demo material is very rough. The live material is even worse. What I was expecting when I purchased this disc was songs from the excellent "Greetings of Death" demo and some other early material, perhaps even the obscure material off the "California Metal" compilation. I'm not sure why but Jimmy Brown decided it was better to put on rough mixes of these obscure songs ("Attack" and "A Space Called You,") instead of the final mix versions that appeared on the compilation. The chorus to "Hold On Tightly" sounds a lot like "Surrender" by Stryper. I guess this is more of a collector's disc than anything else, either that or it's just a disc for suckers. Hmmm, well, I suppose that would make me the sucker.

Deliverance-Greetings of Death, Etc. (M8) 2001

1. "Victory" (3:45)
2. "Greetings of Death" (3:01)
3. "No Time" (4:29)
4. "J.I.G. (Jesus is God)" (:50)
5. "Speckled Bird" (1:20)
6. "Awake" (5:05)
7. "Attack" (3:54)
8. "A Space Called You" (3:59)
9. "Weapons of Our Warfare" (4:36)
10. "This Present Darkness" (2:51)
11. "Greetings of Death" (2:43)
12. "Resume" -instumental (4:17)
13. "Stay the Wicked" -instumental version (3:38)
14. "Solitude" -instumental version (5:32)
15. "23" -instumental version (1:23)
16. 1992 Jimmy Brown radio interview (4:55)

Now, this is a nice addition to my Deliverance collection, unlike the "Back in the Day" cd. I owned a copy of the 1996 Greetings of Death demo tape for years. I played it so much that it started squeeling. So, it's nice to finally have these songs on cd. Add to that the two California Metal tracks, some "Weapons" pre-production demos and an interview and you have one fine collectors disc. Only thing missing is the original demo cover art. Too bad they didn't decide to use it, or at least include it in the cover somewhere. The liner notes includes some thoughts from Jimmy Brown on each demo. I should also mention that the song "Speckled Bird" is a goofy (on purpose) country song.

Assimilation Deliverance-Assimilation (Indie Dreams) 2001

1. "The Limitless Light" (3:24)
2. "From the Beginning" (3:05)
3. "Assimilation" (5:20)
4. "The Circle" (4:27)
5. "Sell Your Soul" (4:33)
6. "The Search" (4:02)
7. "The Learned Man" (4:14)
8. "Between 2 Worlds" (3:35)
9. "Impressions" (3:21)
10. "Save Me From..." (4:09)

Well, after several years of rumors of a reformation, in 2001 we finally get a new disc from Jimmy Brown, Manny Morales, and a host of new members. Being a "D" fan since their early demo days, I bought this the day it became available. Right off the bat I noted that the cover art was very cool, perhaps one of their best since "Weapons of Our Warfare." The illustration of the old Deliverance "iron cross" breaking away and giving way to a shiny new Deliverance cross is a tell tale story of what to expect in the music. The sticker on the front of the disc (put on by the store) stated that this was "heavy progressive metal with industrial influences." Upon first listen I would agree with the label, but would be lying if I did not admit I was more than disappointed. There is no more speed, no more aggression, no more killer riffs, no shredding guitar solos, no double bass. Argh! Picture a mixture of mid-paced "River of Disturbance" and "Camelot in Smithereens" with some electronica elements thrown in. What I was really hoping for was the Deliverance of old. Perhaps this was due to the rumors that Deliverance were "returning to their roots." I should have known that this rumor is usually never true. After getting over my initial disappointment however, I gave the discs several listens over the weeks in hopes of the music growing on me. I must say that it did a bit; it must have since I continued to play it. It's hard for a longtime fan to not compare the music to the discs that he cherishes, but if you can seperate the band from their past then this disc can be an enjoyable listen. Believe me when I say though that this is a very different Deliverance. I think I'll go pop on some "Weapons of Our Warfare" and relive the glory days of Deliverance.

Live at Cornerstone 2001 Deliverance-Live at Cornerstone 2001 (M8) 2001

1. "Weapons Intro" (2:18)
2. "Stay of Execution" (4:15)
3. introductions (2:56)
4. "No Time" (4:37)
5. "Learn" (4:55)
6. "What A Joke" (5:13)
7. "Belltown" (4:10)
8. "Psalm 23" (5:19)
9. "Weapons of our Warfare" (4:29)
10. thanks (3:39)
11. "Victory" (3:53)
12. "Words To The..." (4:06)
13. "Sanctuary" (7:53)

Man this band has more 'collectors discs' that have come out in the past couple of years. This is like the third from M8 plus the band released their new disc 'Assimilation' only a few months before the release of this disc. Anyhow, this live release is a nice addition to the collection. Deliverance perform a variety of tracks from all their albums, with a noticable exception to the new cd. Hmmm...I had heard they performed a few new songs at this show, so I am not sure if this is the entire set or not. The performance itself is tight and the band sounds alive and refreshed. Jimmy Brown's vocals are strong and sound as good as ever. Overall, an excellent live disc from Jimmy and Co. The only complaint I have is that this disc, as with the other Cornerstone 2001 releases in this series, has seriously cheap packaging with very little in the way of photos.

I was sent this email about the concert that gives some insight into this recording:
I was at Cornerstone...they played a cd release concert July 4th around 11 pm which was recorded, and yes they played a couple new songs, "Limitless Light" and "From The Beginning". Deliverance was scheduled to play 80's metal retro night on the 5th (when all other recordings were made), but were bumped off the bill due to time restraints (bummer). I guess they were chosen because they had already played and been recorded. Anyway, I assume these songs were excluded because the (new) disc had just been released. They played extra long that night as they were the last band. Guardian was late arriving on the 5th and Deliverance almost got to play (apparently they were queued up) but Guardian showed at the last minute. Just thought I'd clear that up for you.
- Brian Jobe

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