S&M Live, 1999

"I don't know where to start about this album..It's absolutely unique..Never has a symbiosis between a symphony orchestra and a Metal band been created that really worked, but here it does! Thanks to the genious of Michael Kamen, the director of the San Francisco Philharmonic, who did a titan's job writing all the arrangements for band and orchestra, this is the first example of successfully combining Metal and Symphony Orchestra. Forget Deep Purple and the London Philharmonic, where the band and the orchestra just play different tracks. Forget other attempts where the orchestra just acts as "sweetener" for the music. Here the band and orchestra play an equal part, filling eachother with beautiful contrapoint, and layer upon layer of magnificent music. One of my all-time favorite albums!"