“The Roundhouse Tapes” might be one of my favorite live CDs. Due to the way it leaves mostly all of the in-between song interaction and its quality production, it leaves the listener feeling like they really attended the concert. And now a year later, “The Roundhouse Tapes” DVD is finally being released to my high expectations set by the CD release.
Unfortunately the DVD is a bit of a letdown, though the actual concert itself is superb. The band is tight the whole night, and plays through the set list practically flawlessly. The set itself is also very good, featuring fan favorites like “Demon of the Fall”, “Windowpane”, “The Night and the Silent Water” and “When”. And as with the CD, frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt can be quite hilarious between songs.
While the band had a great night, and that’s certainly reflected here, it seems that everything went wrong on the production side. The most distracting and annoying problem is noticeable from the start, and that would be that the shots are just too damn fast! The camera rarely ever focuses on one band mate long enough to see what they’re actually playing. In the genre of progressive metal, just watching the musicians play their passages is exhilarating enough. We don’t need a close up of all five band mates in a span of ten seconds. The camera never stays on one band member long enough to appreciate what they’re playing, and ends up being just plain distracting.
Another problem I had was the numerous shots of the crowd. I have no problem with having a few shots of the crowd to raise the excitement, but I don’t need to see them every other shot. It felt like the mosh pit was shown more often the drummer (who unfortunately is rarely shown). The one other glaring problem I had, which seemed to occur more often in the beginning of the show then the end, are the effects that were used during the softer parts. During the clean sections of the songs, effects were used on the video to give it an “aged film” look, which ends up being both corny and annoying at the same time.
This is one of the rare cases where I recommend the CD more than the DVD. The show itself is fantastic and the CD very accurately portrays that. On the other hand, the DVD suffers from many production mistakes that end up distracting from the incredible performance Opeth gives. Hopefully their next DVD turns out better, but until then, I only recommend this to fans who already have the CD and really want to watch the performance.
Rating: 3/5
Track Listing:1. When [10:28]
2. Ghost of Perdition [10:57]
3. Under the Weeping Moon [10:28]
4. Bleak [8:39]
5. Face of Melinda [9:58]
6. The Night and the Silent Water [10:29]
7. Windowpane [8:01]
8. Blackwater Park [18:59]
9. Demon of the Fall [8:13]
