POSTHUMOUS SILENCE - THE SHOW

Per my review of IQ's Subterranea Live a week ago, there's something so special about a concept album performed in it's entirety. When I discovered that Sylvan were going to release a live DVD of their highly acclaimed album Posthumous Silence, I was extremely excited. It's the first Sylvan disc that I ever bought and it remains my favorite...and among the most emotional and heart wrenching concept albums that I've ever heard...especially from the viewpoint of a father.

Intense is the best way to describe this performance. Very unassuming when the show starts off with images being flashed against a mesh screen draped in front of the stage, and with keyboardist Volker Sohl, vocalist Marco Gluhmann and a lone cello player occupy the stage. When the drapery falls then it's time to prepare yourself for Posthumous Silence. Enough has been said about the music from this album, and the band performs it flawlessly. Initially, I was a bit distracted with the lyrics appearing at the bottom of the screen, but found it useful to follow along and better understand the story.

Gone is original guitarist, Kay Sohl, but in his place is Jan Petersen and extra guitarist Guido Bungenstock--both gentlemen perform their tasks brilliantly. The rest slices through Posthumous Silence with fire and grace. Marco, especially, is captivating and really gives 110% as he just pours out his emotions while bouncing back and forth between the dialogue of the father character and the deceased daughter. This carries over to the highly enthusiastic crowd as women are literally in tears towards the sets finale of A Kind Of Eden and the title track.

Bonus features include a performance of the epic Artificial Paradise, plus behind the scenes footage of the recording of both Posthumous Silence and Presets. The latter is interesting to watch, but does warrant my only complaint, and that is it's not dubbed for non-German speaking viewers. You get the overall idea, but miss out on some important bits and pieces. There are interviews with the band and those have subtitles...which is VERY helpful in an interview format.

That aside, it's not enough to go any lower than 5 stars. It's a performance so stirring that I literally had goosebumps. Additionally, it shows me just how skilled they are as musicians. Bassist Sebastian Harnack and drummer Matthias Harder were very impressive working as the rhythm unit (with Harder sounding a bit like Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree at times). I haven't purchased a live prog DVD that comes close to it so far in 2008. Completely brilliant!