(Roadrunner; 163 mins.)

www.roadrunnerrecords.com

BY MICHAEL TOLAND

It's hard to believe that progressive death metal titan Opeth turned 20 years old this year, but there it is. In celebration, the Swedish quintet booked an anniversary show into the Royal Albert Hall, home to live LPs by Opeth leader Mikael Akerfeldt's faves Deep Purple and Camel, and the result is documented on the double-DVD set In Live Concert At the Royal Albert Hall. (There's also a version that includes three CDs.) Subtitled "Evolution XX - An Opeth Anthology," the set covers all aspects of the band's career, choosing music from each of its nine studio records, performed in chronological order.

To the uninitiated, the band's evolution might be hard to detect, as its essential elements were there from the beginning: melodies that draw from Genesis as much as Iron Maiden, folk interludes, vocals that alternate from feral (but articulate) death metal growls to plangent crooning. But fans will find the set fascinating - there really is a difference between early work like "Advent" and "Forest of October," which tip the balance toward the metal side of the equation, and later cuts like "The Lotus Eater," which sound more like prog laced with extreme sounds. With an average song length of 10 minutes, the show could grow repetitive and tiresome, but due to the band's skill and enthusiasm, it never does.

The only album from which the set does not pick is Opeth's breakthrough Blackwater Park, but that's only because the LP gets its own segment, in which the band plays it in sequence. Though not as precise as the studio version (partly, no doubt, because the current version of the band contains only two members who played on it), the performance still highlights what a masterful piece of work Blackwater Park is, a landmark not only in heavy metal but in ‘aughts music in general.

Since the 20^th anniversary tour was only six shows long, the discs form an excellent souvenir for fans who couldn't attend one of the shows. As with all DVDs, these include bonus features, namely an "Opeth on tour" cinema verité documentary and a segment wherein Akerfeldt candidly answers fans' questions. Neither piece is essential viewing, but make nice extras for fans.

Special Features:

-Interview

-Behind-the-scenes documentary, On Tour with Opeth