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EVIL COMES...ALIVE
OK…where do I begin? Well, for starters I can tell you that this is pretty much the standard live concert DVD, with all the standard live concert DVD extras: Clips from other concerts, studio footage, interviews, image gallery, and biography. The first good thing I learned when popping this baby into my DVD player was that there was no growling. I had a feeling I was going to need my Barbarian To English Dictionary when watching this, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The band has solid rhythm, and awesome guitar solos but there is still something lacking. For one thing, there is nothing overly catchy about the music, and by overly catchy, I mean impressive. Another thing that makes it kind of a dull experience is that the band has no stage presence. I know it’s only a DVD and that it’s probably nothing like the live experience but I’ve watched my share of live concert DVDs and you can tell when a band has some energy to give back to the crowd, these guys just kind of stand there for the most part, playing their instruments in a very "matter of fact" fashion. One other thing I didn’t like very much was the lighting and overall filming of the show. The lighting was very dull and when you add in all the smoke from the smoke machines, the picture comes out not so perfect. Don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously professionally filmed, but maybe the camera guys needed special lenses…I don’t know, I’m far from being a professional photographer and for all I know it could have been the equivalent of a DaVinci masterpiece. Oh, and does Hank Shermann (guitar) NEED to wear those damn sunglasses on a dark stage, in a dark club? Does he think he’s Ray Charles or something? Coz uh…last I checked, good old Ray isn’t doing so good.
These guys try their best to play the part of being evil, but I noticed the singer smiling too much, and any devout metalhead knows that evil people don’t smile. Maybe he was just in a good mood that day, but if you’re gonna play the part…play the part damnit. The bass player had a sticker on his bass that said "Fuck me, I’m Italian." Now I don’t know if this has ever worked for him, but I’m thinking he has that on there because he’s ugly, which would also explain why you never see his face through his long dark locks of hair the entire time.
The packaging is cool, I really liked the fact that the booklet insert actually had something relevant in it rather than the crap we usually get shoved into a DVD. Aside from having pictures of the band members, it actually told you about their rigs, which was an awesome idea. A lot of times I see a band or watch a live DVD and wonder what they were using to get certain sounds, and with this DVD, I know their secrets!
Overall this was not a totally painful experience, as the band did show some talent. The only thing that irritated me (other than the tiny little gripes I’ve already mentioned) was that they covered MERCYFUL FATE's "Curse of the Pharaohs" and "Evil." The band pulled off these songs with amazing talent, almost effortlessly, but the singer is BY NO MEANS KING DIAMOND and I honestly think that he came very close to ruining those classic songs.
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