When I first heard of the VIVALDI METAL PROJECT, somewhere back in 2016, I was rather curious by how one may in cooperate the delicate virtues of Classical music with the harsher Metal undertones. I was pleasantly surprised to see the project's incredible line-up and hear the strong outcome, and looked forward to hearing more of this sporadic and ambitious project. "The Four Seasons - Live Concert Premiers 2018" is the name of the project's latest DVD, released under the SiFaRe Publishing trademark, and as always, is conducted and produced by the Italian mastermind Mistheria. The DVD comprises selected cuts of three separate concerts that the project had performed in 2018: Kitee (Finland), Plovdiv, (Bulgaria) and Avezzano (Italy), and unlike in the original studio tracks, features rather anonymous Italian artists alongside Mistheria himself.

As far as the selected tracks go, I'd be frank to say that they were performed alright at best - however, there were quite a few of awkward moments, especially when concerning the chosen singers' performance, which was shady and flat at times. The backing musicians, as well as Mistheria himself played well enough, but I hoped to witness a sharper and more 'lively' performance from them, as appropriate to DVD-quality. I won't go to detail on the whole setlist - as being 22-tracks long, it'd make not much sense. On a different note, the production team, led by Mistheria, created an interesting setting to the three concerts, which was somewhat of a medieval and revolutionary mixture, and was overall pleasant for the eyes. What was slightly weak was that at the first concert cut, the cameras were rather still and overall motionless.

There were a few interesting tracks that caught me off guard, and they are found at the end of the collection. First, "A Lifetime Of Adventure", a contemporary piece composed and written by NIGHTWISH's keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen for his similarly titled debut solo album, which, as common sense predicts, has not much to do with Vivaldi's works. Again, as with the rest of the tracks on the DVD, this one ends up being flat and disengaging. Epilogue track "The Phantom Of The Opera" is yet another timeless piece that has little to do with Vivaldi. Although these two tracks, together with the random solo extravaganzas that are carefully spread around the DVD's length aren't the reasons one might pursue acquiring this particular DVD, I've enjoyed them as the amazing pieces they individually are.

To sum up, I think "The Four Seasons - Live Concert Premiers 2018" is a DVD that while could've been performed, edited and captivated better, is not a bad DVD at all - and quite enjoyable at most parts. The music is incredibly reminiscing, the performing musicians are overall a talented bunch - and Mistheria, the leader of the pack, put out a decent DVD that summarizes his work with the VIVALDI METAL PROJECT. Hopefully, the next DVD will include more of the artists that performed on the original studio album, as well as a better editing crew to compliment the quality of the music we get.