SCORE: 20TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR LIVE WITH THE OCTAVARIUM ORCHESTRA

This is a success in many respects. The concept of this live album - to divide in two parts. First, to give a retrospective of the entire band's career, not just a greatest hits, but resurrecting some rarities, at least one of them, the rocking Another Won (from 1985 demos), is given such a definite treatment that it becomes an instant classic in my book. Second, play with a huge orchestra, but only for the second half, with some of your longest and most symphonic compositions. You can already replace the 41-minute Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence opus with this live version on your I-Pod, because you don't have to listen to the silly 6-minute artificial strings introduction of the studio version anymore.

The clearly live atmosphere of the album (hiccups count!), not over-edited or a faithful studio replication, so it makes you feel you actually are watching a live transmission of the concert, not a film about the concert. I guess the only letdown would a tired encore serving of Metropolis Part 1, but everybody was probably tired at that 3-hour-past point. I probably wouldn't also show this to a serious music collector to prove a point that "metal can be serious too!", because, lets face it, this is not Stravinskiy. The orchestra, wisely not overbearing, may sound simplistic and imbalanced at certain points, but in all my heart I couldn't detract more than a quarter ratings point for it.