LAMENTATIONS: LIVE AT SHEPHERD'S BUSH

Opeth have a thing with classic UK venues. Lamentations was their first DVD and it was shot at Shepherd's Bush. The Roundhouse and Royal Albert Hall would follow suit. Lamentations captures the band on the Damnation/Deliverance tour and mainly concentrates on the material from those two albums. The only other album featured is Blackwater Park, making this set into a sort of Wilson-years retrospective.

Especially Damnation features in all glory and is played in its entity during the delightful first half of the show. The band goes fluently through the material and Akerfeldt delivers his clean vocals just perfectly. It's a shame that this quiet material didn't really seem to connect well with the young and mainly meteul! audience. Prog fans would have greatly enjoyed this delicate mix of early Camel and Floyd with Nick Drake. The performances evoke a mood very similar to Swedish prog acts such as Landberk and Paatos.

New man in the band is Per Wiberg who adds great backing vocals (mixed a bit too much to the background though) and of course excellent keyboards, often changing the arrangements slightly in comparison to the studio originals. The most outstanding part of the set would be Closure, where the bands explores the psychedelic closing section more thoroughly and more intensely then on Damnation. The second part of the set features heavier material and is more likely to please the metal fans. These songs deviate less from the studio versions but they sound a bit rougher and harsher, which suits them fine.

The audio on this release is superb, the DTS version blasts from the speakers and especially during the quieter songs, it brings out a lot of details. The drums and bass are nicely upfront and have a lot of oomph, with a deep kick and a very warm and round sound. The photography could have been better though, unless you're a fan of extreme close-ups and think it's fun to be able to count Akerfeldt's nasal hairs.

Overall a superb release that should primarily please the more prog-oriented part of Opeth's fanbase. DVD's are always fans-only territory, but it would seem a bit iffy to rate this 2 stars just for that reason. So, for fans only, but excellent it is.