I just finished watching it, all 2 hours and 10 minutes. Roughly 90 minutes was dedicated to the performance, while the remaining 40 minutes showed them practicing, along with a bonus video. There were merely glimpses of Cellthym and Ante, and they performed before the actual concert. (It was cool to see the same opera singers come back from the VOICES concert.)

I have nothing bad to say. If you haven't bought it yet, then you must. (It's in 16 x 9 widescreen and the audio is stereo.)

Although a little bit cheesy, I liked the theatrical "opera scene." They could have used a larger stage to act on though, felt a bit too cramped. Too bad they didn't show the 1st two opening acts Cellthym and Ante. Here's hoping for a 4th album and a 4th concert.

Apparently there was an error on the first batches of DVDs they printed up, as Dog Ear Records issued a statement about the sound being mixed only in MONO on the first pressings. 

http://www.dogearrecords.com/tbmdvd.html

Of course they quickly re-authored the DVD and shipped replacements to the retailers, and I guess that's what the Blue Sticker vs Black Sticker on the bottom right corner represents.

"Of course they quickly re-authored the DVD and shipped replacements to the retailers, and I guess that's what the Blue Sticker vs Black Sticker on the bottom right corner represents."

Which one is the re-authored version?

Hmmm, CDJapan delayed my shipment about a week, maybe that was why. I got a blue sticker so hopefully thats the stereo remaster.

Says on the site that the blue one is the corrected version, so you should be okay.

As a side note, I loved the first two Black Mages, but hated the third one.

I don't know, I probably like the first one the most - I've never heard No.3. Still, over time I there are really only a handful of tracks from the first two I consider staples. I will say the second Black Mages takes some tracks (Zemerous) and just bogs them down to the point where I have to wonder if anyone is going to make a decent rendition of it every again. Nanako bungled it so badly on on FFIV DS.

Yeah, that good-for-nothing Nanako lad bungles everything he touches! Actually, there's a very nice rendition of Zemerous on preludio -For All of You FF Lovers-.

The third Black Mages album is a disgrace.  I've been meaning to say so in a review but find it hard to force myself to listen to it enough to write one.

I suppose they might be running out of suitable themes to arrange and that Sekito's lessened involvement had something to do with the drop in quality, but it still amazes me how awful that album is.

I'm probably one of the only few who actually enjoy that album. Since I'm curious, what's everyone's gripe with it?

Can't speak for everyone, but here's my write-up I did at the time.  The same topic thread appears to hold the majority of everyone else's opinions as well:

http://www.soundtrackcentral.com/forums … 561#p33561

The long and short of it, at least for me, is TBM III's over-reliance on synths and the dully-straightforward arrangements.  Selecting suitable themes, as Adam has said, may be part of it..... but the thing is, the FF series is so absurdly rich with material that AREN'T battle themes, that if they'd only stray away from the proposed formula a bit, I think they could come up with something amazing.  I mean, just look at Matoya's Cavern as an example.

I'm still disappointed that my concept for a light and dark side didn't come into fruition with Darkness and Starlight.

Surely, it didn't have as much overreliance on synth than the first album. That one is way more synthy, I think. I think this album, at least, struck a better balance, in that regard. And most of the arrangements on that one were pretty straightforward as well...

To me, the synths felt a lot less intrusive in the first album - and I do think a far better balance was struck as well.  The likes of Force Your Way and Clash On The Big Bridge were executed far better when compared to Premonition and The Extreme, where the synths served as healthy accompaniments to the lead/backing guitars, rather than being dominant and detrimental.  The jazz organ, too.  It has its place in Force Your Way and Those Who Fight Further; not so much in Grand Cross and Darkness and Starlight.

I see where you are coming from with that angle as well. I don't know. I just think the first hasn't really aged well with time, particularly with Battle Scene and Battle, Scene II. I think those were some of the worst offenders, as well as Jenova, when it comes to synth and arrangement. I think the synth based originals in the third album were far better representations than those listed above. But then again, I also enjoy those originals in BM3 much more so the ones listed above from Black Mages 1.

The ones you listed from the first album, however, were strong arrangements in terms of instrumentation to begin with, albeit straightforward.

Interesting, Battle Scene has only gotten better with age IMO. I like how relaxed it is and how it expands on the original.

Maybe my tastes have just changed over the years. Nowadays, I guess I want a bit more rockin' when it comes to Final Fantasy arrangements. The originals are good, but I rarely listen to FF anymore as it is. Also, just for the record, I have no qualms with Zeromus from Black Mages II. I don't necessarily need every arrangement to be extremely energetic.

I found the original Black Mages to be very hit or miss.  I never liked its arrangements of Battle Scene, Battle Scene II, or Jenova that much from the start, and that underachieving re-synth version of Dancing Mad doesn't belong on the album at all, but the arrangements that work (Those Who Fight Further, Decisive Battle, Big Bridge, Force Your Way) are so hard-rockingly excellent they compensate.

Black Mages III is all misses.  I found a few scattered moments that I thought were cool but not one single track impressed me on the whole.  The over-reliance on under-developed synth certainly plays a large part in it, but aside from that the album just has a very amateur sound to me.  It'd be passable as a fan arranged album perhaps but as an official studio BM album absolutely not.

The second album is by far the most consistent, even if it doesn't have quite as many "wow" tracks as the first.

Lest we forget FFVI's Battle Theme?  It's slower-paced, but just as high on the rockin' meter.

It's almost the opposite for me.  I prefer the synth work and thought the first album was kinda cheesy.  Guess it's a matter of preference. Looking forward to checking out the DVD.

Although I prefer the first Mages' disc out of the three - due to nostalgia, classic track choices or both - I agree with what Adam said right here. Even if the first album (or second) isn't up your alley, there's no denying that they both have their own sound: BM was more synthy and not as loud whereas I found BMII to be louder and more guitar-driven. But after a few listens through BMIII my loud, initial excitement dwindled down to a muffled fart; from the first fist-pump and the following "YEAH!" when I heard "KURAYAMINOKUMO" (and later realized it was already released) to the subdued "thhbbpfffft" when I tried to make it through "Darkness and Starlight" several times without, admittedly, ever hearing it in its entirety, despite the opera scene being one of my favorite thematic segments of the FFVI OSV.

Where I'm going with this is what I bolded in Adam's post. It's amateur at best; unenjoyable and expendable at worst (which is why i sold my copy about a week after I bought it). The aforementioned "KURAYAMINOKUMO" is the best technical sounding song, which is ironic seeing as it was already released on the FFIII DS OST, yet another unnecessary SE "arrangement" album; some songs sound as if they were recorded in a basement with an old Tascam four-track. And then there are the too-typical arrangements that don't do much of anything over the course of their playtime ("Opening ~ Bombing Mission" ... is that really necessary?). While there are a good number of other straightforward arrangements on BM and BMII, at least those sounded like they were recorded for an official album, not a low budget demo where the levels are off and everything sounds unmixed/mastered.

Let's be fair here: Nakano didn't bungle it. The combination of (presumably) Square-Enix's request to keep the arrangements faithful to the original while also being noticeably different plus using the DS sound source and having a different sound programmer (unless Akao also worked on this release) is to blame. I think Nakano has proven himself to be worthwhile despite the stuff he had to arrange for FFIV OST (and SD4).