review by: Roberto Martinelli

This DVD is broken up into three main sections: a live concert, some music videos, and so-called "bonus" material.

The bulk of the DVD is made up of course by the live show. In terms of video and sound quality, Live Eschaton is excellent. The camera work is nice and allows you to see what the members of the band are doing. This is cool for people like me who are drummers and are often disappointed in these kinds of videos in which the singer gets almost all the attention and you can't watch the drummer's technique.

Watching Nergal, the leader of the band, can either be absurdly entertaining or a turn-off. Clad in a Bathory shirt with shiny letters, Nergal kind of looks like a cosmic, extreme metal samurai with a guitar. He acts like it, too. My personal favorite moment on the DVD is during the intro to the song "Lam" in which Nergal seems to suddenly be possessed by Kabuki demons as he over-exaggerates the song title in an effort to seem more metal.

But there's something fishy about this concert. It seems totally staged. First off, Behemoth is playing on this stage that seems so out of place for metal. For one, it's very deep. The band is on some sort of plastic grid with lights underneath. It looks like you could have a sort of fashion show or beauty pageant on the stage. But it's cool, because the lighting is good. What's really odd is the audience. Generally, when people go to see a show, there are a bunch of fans up front. Not for this concert. And it's not because there are terrific mosh areas that people want to give lots of room to. There are no moshers, and only about two or three people who are really getting into it. Come to think of it, it doesn't seem that there are a whole lot of spectators at all.

You get a strong feeling that this whole concert in this Hollywood-like set is staged, and that the spectators were all asked to be there. You can tell something weird is going on after songs when the camera lets you see the audience. The applause is very clear, but you don't see very many people actually clapping. It's a little hard to believe that anyone but those uninterested in Behemoth wouldn't have liked this show, because the band plays really well.

Nergal just tries too hard and come off being really dorky. Just like during the concert, this is also the case in the ridiculous music video of one of the songs. It's a rather amateur video that almost entirely is made up of shots of Nergal, painted up and wearing the get up he's got on for Satanica, looking into the camera while crouching and making unintentionally hilarious faces. There is no need for music videos in extreme metal to begin with, and certainly no need for these slipshod, embarrassing productions where the words don't even match Nergal's mouth.

The interview, which is in Polish, is reasonably interesting, and the subtitles are very well written. However, what's truly interesting is to see the real life Nergal on the live interview. He seems like a very well-spoken and calm individual, and a little uncomfortable at times in front of the camera. Some of the angles chosen for the interview are curious, like the one looking up at Nergal while he leans against the corner of a brick wall. The shot makes him look vulnerable and soft, which is exactly the opposite of what he's going for in his Behemoth persona.

Overall, this is a very good quality DVD release. Some of the touted selling points aren't really all that great, like the animated menu, which is pretty goofy. Still, it's well put together, and the concert is clear both visually and aurally.