OPETH: In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall

Released: October 2010
There was a point about halfway through the first disc of this immense DVD when I suddenly realised that the flag draped over the barrier at the front of the stage wasn't the Swedish flag but the Norwegian one. Either some Norwegian wanted to show the world he was there or some well-meaning British fan had brought the wrong flag to the gig. It's only a minor thing really, but rather distracting. And it may be a telling point about this near-three hour long live performance from one of the world's best bands that I could get distracted from it so easily. Because unlike groups like Tool and Pink Floyd who adorn their shows with visuals, lightshows and other effects to draw attention away from the fact that the band itself is pretty much just standing there, Opeth use only a big screen with some static images on it.

As magnificent a band Opeth is, and as flawless as this live version of Blackwater Park is also, the fact is that if you removed the visual part of this DVD you would miss nothing. Mikael Åkerfeldt doesn't speak a word to the sold-out Albert Hall crowd for the entire 71 minutes of the first disc, and barely acknowledges them at all. As a live act, Opeth really isn't the most dynamically interactive band. On the flipside, they are, as mentioned, brilliant and more capable of allowing the music to speak for itself than almost any other.

This special 20th anniversary performance was filmed and recorded at London's iconic Royal Albert Hall and features not only a meticulous live recreation of the Blackwater Park album but a second, even longer set that includes a song from each of their other albums, presented in chronological order. Unsurprisingly, every single track is spot-on, perfectly recreated in the live forum as it would be in the studio, so in essence this is virtually a best-of collection. Åkerfeldt becomes rather gregarious on this second disc, talking the crowd through the history of the band and even the genesis of some of the tracks, and Frederik Akesson finally gets some screen time, unlike on the first disc where the camera cuts away from him every time he starts soloing. As a visual spectacle however, it's no different from the first, and at an hour and three quarters it is probably a bit of a long haul even for the most rabid Opeth nut.

If anything though, In Live Concert... is the supreme example of how great Opeth is and how they got to be that way. The playing time above doesn't include the 40 minute interview and 45 minute tour documentary, only the actual concert itself. It might be tough to sit through all in one sitting, but it's certainly something that needs to be seen.

Disc One:

1. The Leper Affinity
2.Bleak
3.Harvest
4.The Drapery Falls
5.Dirge for November
6.The Funeral Portrait
7.Patterns in the Ivy
8.Blackwater Park
9.Interview with Mikael Åkerfeldt

Disc Two:

1.Forest of October

2.Advent

3.April Ethereal

4.The Moor

5.Wreath

6.Hope Leaves

7.Harlequin Forest

8.The Lotus Eater

9.Documentary: On tour with Opeth

 
Rating: 95%

ARCH ENEMY: Tyrants of the Rising Sun - Live in Japan

Directed by Paul B. Smith

Released: November 2008

I really like Arch Enemy. For mine they're one of the best metal bands to have emerged in the last fifteen years. Obviously their success has brought them their fair share of knockers, who like to point out that they can be inconsistent, a little repetitive on occasion and have made a least one rather patchy album, but the same thing can be said for Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and almost anyone else. Angela Gossow usually cops the lion's share of hate for this group, but really most of that is from people who -- despite what they might tell you -- prefer their metal chicks as keyboard players or sopranos in Goth bands. Arch Enemy is a kick ass band, and Tyrants of the Rising Sun shows them doing what they do best: tearing a bunch of Japanese people some new arseholes as they rip through almost two hours of fearsome metal.

Filmed in High Definition with audio in both digital 5.1 and 2.0 and mixed by the inimitable Andy Sneap, this is a veritable feast of modern metal mayhem from start to finish. Featuring songs from their entire career and from every album (except Stigmata), one could hardly ask for a better set. Japan is like a second home for this band and perhaps because of this they pull out all stops, with a virtually flawless show. Gossow sounds awesome and the Amott brothers guitar team is simply breathtaking. Both Christopher and Michael get solo spots, but Daniel Erlandsson's drum solo is actually one of the clear highlights, though perhaps that could be because he ends with a segue into the beginning of Rainbow's "Stargazer" before the band then takes a right turn into "Burning Angel" to kick off the second half of the set.

Japanese crowds can be notoriously polite and low-key, but for Arch Enemy they go totally insane: circle moshes, barrier-surging and singing along with not only the lyrics but the melody lines. Seriously, in "Nemesis" the crowd is almost louder than the band. This helps to make Tyrants of the Rising Sun one of the very best live performance DVDs I've watched in a long, long time. This has excellent sound and perfectly directed visuals, with quite an interesting tour doco as an added bonus and a couple of promo clips (including two versions of "Revolution Begins" which doesn't actually feature in the set), making an all-round killer package no metal fan should be without.

1. Intro/Blood On Your Hands
2. Ravenous
3. Taking Back My Soul
4. Dead Eyes See No Future
5. Dark Insanity
6. The Day You Died
7. Christopher Solo
8. Silverwing
9. Night Falls Fast
10. Daniel Solo
11. Burning Angel
12. Michael Solo (including Intermezzo Liberte)
13. Dead Bury Their Dead
14. Vultures
15. Enemy Within
16. Snowbound
17. Shadows and Dust
18. Nemesis
19. We Will Rise
20. Fields of Desolation/Outro

Extras:

1. The Road to Japan
2. Revolution Begins (original)
3. Revolution Begins (live version)
4. I Will Live Again (promo)

Rating: 95%

LACUNA COIL: Visual Karma (Body, Mind and Soul)

Released: November 2008

I have been a Lacuna Coil fan for a decade, which is probably about twice as long as many of the people who appear on and contribute to this massive DVD release. Originally announced over a year ago with the band asking for video clips and tributes from fans on their own YouTube channel, this is an immaculately produced double volume that shows the public and intimate sides of what is now arguably the world's biggest Goth metal band.

The first disc showcases the band in the live arena. Specifically, their entire set from Wacken 2007 and half a set from Japan's LoudPark festival. While it's true that about 80% of their songs sound pretty much alike, both performances show Lacuna Coil to be an engaging and remarkably heavy live band. Cristina Scabbia may be perfectly happy to share the spotlight both with Andrea Ferro and other members of the band, but the truth is that she is completely mesmerising and impossible to look away from to the point where you just want Ferro to disappear every time he's on screen and the other guys might just as well be standing behind screens or playing their instruments remotely from space. The sound of both shows is less than perfect, with lots of wowing and clipping during the latter half of the Wacken set, although Scabbia's vocals at least sound overdubbed here and there. The LoudPark show is rawer in quality and I actually enjoyed it more, even though Scabbia's sexy little dance during the intro of "Enjoy the Silence" at the Wacken show was the highlight of the whole disc.

Consisting of band member profiles, tour diaries and fan-made tributes, disc two is for the truly dedicated Lacuna Coil nut. The first part is comprised of six home movies from each of the members, of varying quality. Ferro's personal tour of Milan is poorly produced and just not very interesting. Bass player Marco Coti Zelati's self-portrait of himself getting hammered is somewhat amusing, but Marco Biazza's romance with his own guitar is just bizarre. Once again Scabbia proves why she is the real star of this band, with a genuinely warm piece about a benefit she organised that funded a new well in a Kenyan village. Most of the rest of the disc is prime filler material, unless you happened to be one of the ten people who's video clips made the cut and are included or you were interested enough in watching the winning entries. Personally, I wasn't so I didn't even bother with most of it. Anything with Cristina being totally candid is a joy to watch, and not just because she's gorgeous. The woman is a true star.

Visual Karma is a bit of an epic, especially if you try to watch the whole thing all at once. The live footage and Karma Code clips would be more than enough for the average fan; the rest of it is really for Coilophiles only.

DVD 1:

Wacken 2007

1. Intro

2. To The Edge

3. Fragments Of Faith

4. Swamped

5. In Visible Light

6. Fragile

7. Closer

8. Senzafine

9. What I See

10. Enjoy The Silence

11. Heavens A Lie

12. Our Truth

Loudpark 2007:

1. Intro/To The Edge

2. Swamped

3. Closer

4. Within Me

5. Daylight Dancer

6. Our Truth

Videos:

1. Our Truth

2. Closer

3. Enjoy the Silence

4. Within Me

DVD 2

1. Simple As Water (Cristina)

2. Inside Milan (Andrea)

3. The Leaning Journey Of Pizza (Marco B)

4. 7-Seven... Strings Life (Maus)

5. The Real Thing (Marco C Z)

6. Enter The Drummer (Christiano)

Behind The Scenes:

Australian Tour 2007

First Time In Japan

Making Of The Our Truth Video

Making Of The Closer Video

Fan Submissions:

Lacuna Coil's introductory clip

Empty Spiral Interview

To The Edge Remix Contest

Inside The Spiral

Links

Rating: 75%

ICED EARTH: Alive in Athens: The DVD

Released: 2006

Iced Earth's 1999 double-live album Alive in Athens is this generation's Live After Death, one of the best live heavy metal albums of all time. The accompanying DVD statement, finally issued seven years after the triple CD and multi-LP box set, is a disappointingly flat and amateurish concert film. I'm pretty sure it's not what Jon Schaffer would have wanted to give to his fans, which is probably why Century Media waited until the band had moved to another label before they released it. And considering how much effort Schaffer puts into everything his band releases, it's pretty obvious that he had no say in Alive in Athens: The DVD. The booklet is just a reprise of the one from the CD and the footage is decidedly ordinary.

On the plus side, the audio is excellent, but if you've already got the CD or quintuple-vinyl version of this you'd already know that. As such, the DVD doesn't add much to the experience. If anything, it probably detracts from it, because when you watch a concert as long as this on TV, you really want something more than static camera angles, poor framing and unimaginative editing. Many criticised Iron Maiden's Rock in Rio DVD because of the myriad of quick edits, and while it's true that at times it was a bit of a headspin, their two and a half hour set never got boring.

By halfway through Alive in Athens, you'd swear you were watching the single most boring live band in history. Sure, 80% of Iced Earth's songs are based around the same riff, but I've never been bored by their albums. So either they are incredibly tedious live, or this DVD makes them out to be that way through amateurish production. Maybe it's a bit of both, as I've never been to an Iced Earth gig, but snappier editing would have made this far more enjoyable regardless.

I stuck with this for about two-thirds of the way, because I wanted to write a decent review, because I like Iced Earth and because I wanted this to get better. But it never did. By the end of "Dante's Inferno" I was considerably underwhelmed and by the end of "My Own Savior" I was stifling yawns. Live DVD albums aren't supposed to put people to sleep.

Alive in Athens: The DVD is doomed almost right from the start. The static camera angles cut off part of the stage so that even in the long shots, you rarely see Larry Tarnowski. The close-ups focus on Matt Barlow and Schaffer even when Tarnowski is soloing his tits off, as if whoever was directing didn't know which guy was the lead guitarist and the whole production is presented with virtually no inspiration whatsoever. When a band like Dungeon can make a lively and entertaining live concert DVD with virtually no budget at all, it's staggering to think how awful Alive in Athens turned out considering the budget a the band like Iced Earth probably had to work with. Even if you are a rabid fan (and IE has plenty of those), you should avoid this.

1. Intro
2. Burning Times
3. Vengeance is Mine
4. Dark Saga
5. Last Laugh
6. Cast in Stone
7. Last December
8. Pure Evil
9. Desert Rain
10. Dante's Inferno
11. The Hunter
12. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
13. Angel's Holocaust
14. Stormrider
15. The Path I Choose
16. Watching Over Me
17. Diary
18. Blessed Are You
19. When the Night Falls
20. My Own Savior
21. Travel in Stygian
22. Violate
23. Stand Alone
24. Brainwashed
25. Disciples of the Lie
26. I Died For You
27. Prophecy
28. Birth of the Wicked
29. The Coming Curse
30. Epilog

Rating: 54%