Opeth - Lamentations

Sweden’s Opeth plays brutal death metal with a melodic progressive edge and “Lamentations” is no exception. Singer/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth’s driving force through the years and does not disappoint on this DVD. The first time I saw this band live was on the Progressive Nation Tour 08 where they were on the same bill as Dream Theater and they blew my mind. It was hardly surprising why DT took these guys on the road with them as they kicked the audience’s ass all the way to Stockholm that night with a performance to match the headliners. Lamentations is Opeth’s first live DVD (released in 2004) and tries to capture the intensity of this band live, and it does!

After the Blackwater Park tour, Opeth began writing music for two separate albums—one heavy and one soft, which finally emerged as the Deliverance and Damnation albums. Deliverance and Damnation were originally intended to be released as a double album, but were eventually released separately. The albums broke the band into the US charts and the band commenced touring extensively for the albums.

This DVD was recorded during Opeth’s Damnation tour in 2003 at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire concert venue located in West London. The line up on this DVD (no longer the current Opeth lineup) consists of Mikael Åkerfeldt (Vocals, Guitar), Peter Lindgren (Guitar), Per Wiberg (Keyboard, Backing Vocals), Martin Mendez (Bass) and Martin Lopez (Drums). The selection of songs include all the tracks on Damnation and a few tracks from 2001’s Blackwater Park and Deliverance. There is also a documentary on the DVD which focuses on the recording process for Damnation and Deliverance. The first half of the DVD is pretty mellow with the band performing Damnation and the second half assaults the fans with some brutal songs off Deliverance. The DVD opens up with the mellow “Windowpane” and some of the other killer tracks are “A Fair Judgment” “Hope Leaves,” and “Masters Apprentices”. Mikael plays a lot of the solos with some precision backing by the Mendez-Lopez unit. Lopez’s kick drum alone is worth cranking up this DVD. Per Wilberg’s haunting keyboards add an ethereal soundscape to the songs like “In My Time of Need” and “Windowpane”.

The documentary kinda meandered on as it labored on about the bands extensive problems recording the 2 albums (while their label wanted just one out of them) and the band’s history. The interesting part about the documentary is the footage of acclaimed producer Steven Wilson [Porcupine Tree] as he works with the band. The sound on the DVD is awesome with standard stereo, 5.1 surround, and DTS options. The lighting is brilliant and Akerfeldt’s charisma and laconic onstage banter comes through with the crowd going berserk for every song.

There are no tracks from the previous albums (Still Life, Orchid, My Arms Your Hearse, Morningrise) but that doesn’t take anything away from this setlist at all. Brilliant!

1. “Introduction” – 1:25
2. “Windowpane” – 9:15
3. “In My Time of Need” – 6:37
4. “Death Whispered a Lullaby” – 7:11
5. “Closure” – 9:45
6. “Hope Leaves” – 6:11
7. “To Rid the Disease” – 7:11
8. “Ending Credits” – 4:22
9. “Harvest” – 6:15
10. “Weakness” – 6:05
11. “Master’s Apprentices” – 10:34
12. “The Drapery Falls” – 10:56
13. “Deliverance” – 12:38
14. “The Leper Affinity” – 11:01
15. “A Fair Judgement” – 13:51