Chronicling the massive touring that Opeth has undertaken in the last year, this DVD is a wonderful and welcome addition to any collection of metal videos. It was recorded during the Damnation leg of the tour last year in London at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire theater. The band treated lucky fans to two sets in one night. One almost exclusively from the Damnation album while the second focused on Deliverance and Blackwater Park. The song selection is a good representation of what they choose to play live. The only difference between the acoustic set from when they played in New York was the absence of “To Bid You Farewell” and “Benighted.” Instead, they played “Harvest” which is an awesome song but I would have much preferred some of the older material. The same goes for the hard set. While the five songs they chose are pretty killer, their classic closer “Demon of the Fall” is remarkably absent. The crowd even chants for them to play the song and are disappointed when they don’t. Don’t fret though. This disc is awesome.

The video quality is spectacular unlike some of the other DVD’s recently reviewed here. It is shot on DV however it appears as though it were shot on film. There are no compression artifacts or dropped frames. One can tell that a lot of money and care went into this recording. There was only one tiny imperfection at one point and if you blink, you’ll miss it. I have never seen DV of this high quality before. Most of the time the white balance is totally off and the video is grainier than a silo but in this case, it comes through perfectly clear and pristine. Since this is the greatest video ever, you’d be hard pressed to find a more pristine soundtrack either. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is all right but crank up the DTS and you’ll be blown away. From the lowest of the lows on the bass to the gravely pitch of Mikael’s growls, the sound is unbelievable. The screams and jeers of the British audience are mixed heavily on the rear channels while the music is mixed towards the front. There is a slight delay between the front and rear channels which almost perfectly emulates the acoustics of a concert hall such as this one. It is a very impressive effect.

While Opeth may not be much to watch on stage since they basically stand around and play their instruments, I did not find myself becoming bored thanks to inventive camera work and the wonderful sound. You do get to see Martin “Antonio Banderas” Lopez kicking the crap out of his drum kit and Martin “Cousin It” Mendez thrashing his head from side to side as well as Mikael with is mouth constantly gaping open. Peter Lindgren moves the least out of all of them, just content with standing around and looking all cool while he belts out another solo. Mikael’s between song banter is interesting. He speaks slowly and deliberately and while he isn’t the most articulate person in the world, get comically gets his point across. The British audience cheers and jeers at the band much as a Shakespearean audience would have done so back in the olden days. Not much has changed at live performances in Britain. The disc also has a one hour documentary about the making of Deliverance and Damnation. It’s quite insightful and has interviews with all the band members. They over came many hardships to get these two albums recorded and it is worth watching. Lamentations is a killer addition to any Opeth fans’ collection.