Opeth
After touring in support of Blackwater Park, Opeth returned home and began writing for the next album, but Åkerfeldt had trouble coming up with new material: "I wanted to write something heavier than we'd ever done, still I had all these great mellow parts and arrangements which I didn't want to go to waste." Jonas Renkse of Katatonia, a long-time friend of Åkerfeldt, suggested writing music for two separate albums—one heavy and one soft. Excited about the idea, Åkerfeldt agreed without asking his bandmates or record label. While his bandmates liked the idea of recording two separate albums, Åkerfeldt had to convince the label: "I had to lie somewhat... saying that we could do this recording very soon, it won't cost more than a regular single album". With most of the material written, the band rehearsed just once before entering the studio, again with producer Steven Wilson in Studio Fredman. Under pressure to complete both albums at the same time, Åkerfeldt said the recording process was "the toughest test of our history." After recording basic tracks, the band moved production to England to mix the heavy album, Deliverance, with Andy Sneap at Backstage Studios. "Deliverance was so badly recorded, without any organisation whatsoever," Åkerfeldt claimed, that Sneap "is credited as a 'saviour' in the sleeve, as he surely saved much of the recording."