Decided on a high “7”. This might be the most ambitious live 5.1 mix I've heard to date. Bruce Soord deserves a lot of credit for trying to make the surround experience as adventurous and engaging as possible, but I feel like many of these songs just don’t have enough moving parts to justify such extensive use of the rear speakers.
Take for instance, “Thin Air”. There’s only three musicians on stage: Daniel Kavanaugh with his guitar loops and some harmony vocals, Vincent Kavanaugh on lead vocals, and Lee Douglas on backing vocals. The 5.1 mix has Vincent’s voice in the center speaker, Lee’s voice in right rear, Daniel’s voice in reft rear, and the different guitar loops divided between front & back. It's preferable to having just reverb in the back, but can sound kind of unbalanced on my system.
The 'listener on stage surrounded by musicians' approach works best when the entire band is playing, such as on “Anathema” or "A Natural Disaster" - John Douglas’ drum kit provides a good forward counterbalance to all the rear activity, but the front channels are basically left empty once he leaves the stage.
Another aspect of the 5.1 mix I found a bit odd is that - with the exception of “Ariel”, where Lee’s voice is upfront - the position of each vocalist in the surround field is consistent throughout the entire album, regardless of who's singing lead. “Dreaming Light” sounds great with Vincent starting things off in the center and Lee answering from the rears, but I would have reversed their positions for “A Natural Disaster”. It’s kind of strange to have Lee singing on her own from directly behind the sweet spot for so long.
As for sound quality, this disc is loud! I’m not sure why an acoustic live album needed to be louder than Deep Purple’s Machine Head, but it does sound pretty good once you bring down the volume considerably. The tonal balance is pleasing (no shrillness in the high-end or booming bass) and the dynamic contrast between quiet and loud passages is still perceptible, though I suspect it was compressed to some degree. The acoustic guitars in particular sound great.
