Black Symphony

This concert footage dates from the earlier days of Within Temptation and their early albums. Great sound and visuals, Sharon is such an amazing performer and puts on a great show. Also nice to see the hubby on stage performing with the band, so sad that he's not part of their road performances any longer.

In two words: absolutely fantastic!This Blue Ray certainly puts Within Temptation in the high leagues. It is top shelf in my 500 music DVD collection, probably among the top 5.The Review:- Sharon -Sharon is perfect in this concert. Her ability to flawlessly switch from her pop to mezzo soprano voice, with such easiness, is a total treat to the ears. Her voice, unbelievably, sounds just like in the studio even while running through the stage, in which she shows, by the way, to be totally comfortable in. I read recently that she designs her own clothes, and that is another positive point here. Her wardrobe adds to the magic of the presentation. The energy she displays in the stage is great and certainly spreads through the crowd and band. She definetely is the heart and soul of this band.- Dutch Metropolitan OrchestraWhat a treat! I guess all fans of gothic/symphonic metal have always thought how great would be to hear these bands live with a professional orchestra. Well, Within Temptation delivers it here!!! The orchestra and the choir add that really special touch to several songs. How great is to hear real violins and choir instead of an eletronic keyboard!!!!!!- Within Temptation (band)Great delivery guys! The song selection, the quality of the sound, all executed perfectly. One could say that maybe the rest of the band could participate more in the performatic display, but I guess the whole point is to leave that to Sharon, giving the limelight all to her. So, 5 stars out of 5 here too.- Stage/Visuals/EditingThe editing is one of the top features of this DVD/Blue Ray. I don't know how many cameras they used, but at times seems more than 20. The camera "flying" in the cable gives some fantastic shots, panning, twisting, and moving to give the impression of flying with an outstanding result. The quick switch between shots in key moments of the songs, sometimes with added special effects to resemble trembling or rocking increases the delivery of the sound greatly adding to the overall experience. The pyro effects give the extra push, and the goose bumps keep piling up. The stage has good size and allow Sharon to perform and run with liberty, the 3 huge monitors above it deliver some very pretty shots, sometimes combining scenes of the music clip and the song being performed live, and that highlights another feature of this concert: Within Temptation's ability to stay true to the studio version, maintaing the tempo and rythm to perfection.- System - Region encodingThis is the only issue with the DVD/Blue Ray. The extra DVD is encoded in PAL. So, even though it is region zero (all regions) it will not play in most US DVD players. Thankfully Blue Ray does not suffer the same problem and runs PAL or NTSC in any player.- OverallOne of the best experiences you can put into a 5" plastic disk. In two words: ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!

Something that is disappointing is that the video is interlaced. This is not a 1080p master, but 1080i. As such the quality is lacking compared to what I was expecting to see.I also found that the chapter markers were not placed very well, sometimes chapters start shortly after, or at the tail end of the previous song. So if you are jumping around to listen to your favorite songs, you might have to rewind a bit. I fixed the chapter markers with MKVToolNix which let me edit them till I was happy. I also took the opportunity to name the chapters so the Song Names show up in the chapter lists.When it comes to the content though Within Temptation is at at their best. The performances are top notch and the sound quality is perfect. The multi-channel mix makes excellent use of the surround channels and really gives an amazing stage presence. The opening symphonic intro is an amazing beginning to an amazing concert.If you love Within Temptation this is a must own.

I layed out the funds to buy this on Blu-ray because I wanted the best sound and video. I don't regret the purchase because the concert is very good. The audio and video is also very good. There are a couple things worth mentioning to those in the U.S. First off I noticed this import came with two discs, I assumed the second disc to be the CD as the U.S. version comes with movie and CD, NOT the case. This imports second disc is a DVD of extra features which you think well that isn't so bad but the DVD is a PAL format for Europe and won't play in most DVD players sold in the U.S. because we use NTSC. Some players like certain LG's play PAL, and I believe maybe an Oppo player. So the second disc is a bit of a waste for us. Also, the concert is mostly in English but the bonus material is not. So what I'm saying for us in the U.S. the money on the Blu-ray is spent pretty much just for the concert footage. I don't know why the U.S. would offer Black Symphony on DVD and not Blu-ray. If you can live with the resolution of DVD you might find that combo with the CD a better way to go. With that being said, if you have Blu-ray the audio and picture is a significant improvement over the DVD.I found Sharon Den Adel just captivating. She has a lovely voice and went through a few costume changes during the show. The concert keeps you wishing you were there. The orchestra and choir, the band, some special effects, all blend to make Black Symphony a sensational experience.

Odd how I just stumbled across the group Within Temptation but glad I did. The blu ray plays just fine and shows just how good this group really is. Performance is 4 star. Highly recommended on this end. This is Very Important to those who live in the states. Only the blu ray will play. You will not be able to watch the DVD. It's pal region 0. I missed that part, but the concert on blu ray is worth it. If you can find the concert Elements on blu ray buy it as well. One of the best sounding bands in a long time.

Uno de sus mejores shows en vivo, sin duda es una compra obligatoria para los fans de la banda, independiente si es la versión DVD o blue Ray, además, considerando que a estas alturas es un poco complicado conseguirlo.

ハードさはあまりないけど圧倒的に豪華なステージで、時間が経つのが早く感じてしまった。やはりシャロンはライブでもいつも完璧な歌唱力を発揮し、他のアーティストによくあるような調子の違いや失敗がない人だと思う。しかし、シャロンは何度も衣装替えをしますが、最後の衣装だけはどうかと思いました。内容としてはオーケストラとの共演のせいか、ややクラシック寄りになっていて、あまりメタルな音楽ではないような雰囲気でした。個人的にはbonus DVDの方が満足感があった。いずれも、やれることは全部やるといった内容になっていて、コンサートというよりはショーのようであり、フルコースで楽しませるような感じ。

Within temptation is a fast growing band in Europe, and anybody watching this video will understand why. They are very [extremely] detail oriented, and they handled every single aspect of the concert with care. Musically, it is impeccable. You will notice that not only the orchestra musicians are executing their parts very professionally (including the big choir), but also Within Temptation's musicians precise to their parts.It is impressive the way they built the stage, distributing the orchestra across the stage, mixing with the WT musicians. The huge screen showing the videos help us being deeper involved in the subjects.It looks like that they worked a lot on this concert, and I can tell you that they set the bar very high for the next video concerts that they will be producing.I've got the box with 1 Blu-ray and 1 DVD. Extremely happy with the content. I recommend.

Producto perfecto Bluray + DVD todo se reproduce muy bien en Dolby y DTS pensé que el DVD no se podría reproducir por que es PAL pero sin ningún problema WITHIN TEMPTATION es increible

ブルーレイの臨場感すばらし。DVDのほうはインポートものということで、方式を選びます。ビデオクリップもはいっててお得感半端なし。Within Temptationファンなら、家宝にしなさい。