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July 20, 2008 |
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Disc 1 - Hell On Earth Part II
01. This Is Heavy Metal
02. Blood Of The Kings
03. France
04. Voulez Vous
05. Belgium
06. Bridge Of Death
07. Switzerland
08. Guyana (Cult Of The Damned)
09. Germany Part I
10. Hatred
11. Germany Part II
12. March For Revenge (By The Soldiers Of Death)
13. Germany Part III
14. The Gods Made Heavy Metal
15. Czech Republic
16. Army Of The Immortals
17. Austria
18. Hungary
19. Master Of The Wind
20. Portugal
21. Dark Avenger
22. Spain
23. Battle Hymn
24. The Crown And The Ring (Lament Of The Kings)
Bonus
- Thor (The Powerhead) - Murcia, Spain
- French Version Of "Courage"
- Cutting Room Floor
- Band Members
- DVD Connector
Disc 2 - Blood In Brazil
01. Intro
02. Manowar
03. Metal Daze
04. Blood Of My Enemies
05. Kill With Power
06. Sign Of The Hammer
07. Gates Of Valhalla
08. Sting Of The Bumblebee
09. The Gods Made Heavy Metal
10. Metal Warriors
11. Kings Of Metal
12. The Power
13. Hail And Kill
14. Black Wind, Fire And Steel
15. The Crown And The Ring (Lament Of The Kings)
Bonus
- Sign Of The Hammer - alternate version
- Interview with Jeff Hair and John "Dawk" Stillwell
- Interview with Vincent Cecolini
- Warriors Of The World United - Live at the Ringfest August 17, 2002
- House Of Death - Live at the Ringfest August 17, 2002
- Monsters Of Rock - Concert Review
- Band Members
- DVD Connector
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Just as the double live album "Hell On Stage" in every way conceivable destroys the band's first double live album, "Hell On Wheels", MANOWAR's second DVD is an improvement over their first, in all aspects. Where "Hell On Earth Part I" teased fans with tons of live snippets, while offering few complete songs, there is enough live material on "Fire And Blood" to satisfy the hungriest ManOwarrioR.
Disc 2 - Blood In Brazil
Because most people were waiting for a full MANOWAR concert on DVD, I'll start with Disc 2, which contains the band's 1998 performance at the "Monsters Of Rock" festival in Brazil. The intro-documentary prepares you for the greatest MANOWAR spectacle of all time. Is it? Not quite. If you subtract the bass solo and taped outro, you're left with only twelve songs. The setlist consists mostly of the band's "hits": the shorter, punchier, singalong-chorus numbers like "Kings Of Metal", "Kill With Power" and "Metal Warriors". The band's performance is mostly on target, although vocalist Eric Adams sounds much better on the studio versions of these songs. Adams is at his best on the mellow parts, of which there was only one: the intro to "Gates Of Valhalla". For some unfathomable reason, the band skips the beginning of "Hail And Kill", which contains one of my favorite MANOWAR lines of all time: "May your sword stay wet, like a young girl in her prime." This band has always put the cheese in Machismo.
As for a stage show, don't expect any. MANOWAR are about bare-bones heavy metal with no artificial coloring or flavoring. Their backdrop consists of speakers and only speakers. What makes the show entertaining is the band itself: check out Karl Logan and Joey DeMaio's synchronized torso-twisting in "Blood Of My Enemies". Although the MANOWAR image is a few sizes too big for thin axeman Karl Logan, he handles the old material with ease, his spaghetti hair whirling like a hurricane. Scott Columbus proves that it's not the size of your drum kit that matters, but how hard you beat it.
Joey DeMaio's bass has a neck longer than an adult giraffe's, and he plays it with excellent posture, his back often straight, and his movements sparse and controlled. Equally powerful is the stage presence of Eric "Pecs" Adams. Whether he's pounding the air with his fists, pointing evilly at the camera, or swinging an imaginary hammer, Adams proves that a skilled frontman doesn't have to run up and down a stage to control it.
If "Hell On Earth Part I”" made you think that every MANOWAR show has women coming onstage and removing their tops, you won't find any of that on "Blood In Brazil". For the most part, the show rips along with few interruptions. The big break occurs midway through the set, with the indulgent bass solo "Sting Of The Bumblebee". You'll find yourself wishing that the track would just buzz off. Does DeMaio have too much DeEgo to realize that MANOWAR fans would much rather hear songs like "Mountains" or "Each Dawn I Die" than screechy bass wankery? After the solo, DeMaio delivers another one of his trademark "Warriors Of The World United" speeches. He talks about how the band has fulfilled its promise to return to Brazil: "Tonight is the night that the MANOWAR fans have waited for [for] two years." Two years? I almost wanted to stop the DVD right there and put on some violin music, so I too could feel the unmitigated sorrow of the Brazilian fans.
Among the bonus features is an interview with "Front of house soundman" Jeff Hair, and John "Dawk" Stillwell, who describes himself as "the mad scientist behind all the gear". The interview has everything fans want to know about the massive sound requirements of MANOWAR and what it takes to make a show work. Call me cruel, but I'm not too interested in the work that goes on behind the scenes; I only care about it when there's a problem. There is also an interview with Metal Maniacs scribe and "music journalist" Vincent Cecolini. Despite the title, Cecolini's commentary is closer to gushing fanboyism than objective journalism.
The bonus gems are the live versions of "Warriors Of The World United" and "House Of Death", two tracks from MANOWAR's most recent and worst album, "Warriors Of The World". The songs were culled from the band's 2002 performance at Germany's "Ringfest", which you can find in its entirety on "Hell On Earth Part III". Eric's vocal performance on these bonus tracks is amazing. Not only does it destroy his singing on the disc's main feature, it also gives the studio versions of these songs a run for their money.
Overall, despite being a full concert, "Blood In Brazil" is not what I'd call "The Definitive Live MANOWAR Experience". Alone the disc deserves a 7/10.
Disc 1 - Hell On Earth Part II
In a word: Perfection.
In 583 words:
Instead of a continuous show, here you'll find the highlights of the "Hell On Stage" tour. Many of the performances are the same as those found on the double-live CD "Hell On Stage". In contrast to the songs featured on "Blood In Brazil", "Hell On Earth Part II" is an epic showcase. In the early days of MANOWAR, Joey DeMaio stood alongside Steve Harris as the best epic-writer in metal. Imagine if IRON MAIDEN released a DVD that featured "Phantom Of The Opera", "Hallowed Be Thy Name", "To Tame A Land", "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner", AND "Alexander The Great"... all live. Well, the Kings of Metal have done the equivalent. All of my favorite MANOWAR epics are featured, and most of them sound on par, on birdie or on eagle with their studio counterparts.
With the exception of "Battle Hymn", Eric Adams does the studio versions justice and then some. His live vocals add more of that old MANOWAR feeling to "Blood Of The Kings", which is why I enjoy this version much more than the one on "Kings Of Metal". "Guyana (Cult Of The Damned)" sounds a hundred times better with crowd participation and without "Sign Of The Hammer"'s terrible production. The live version of "Master Of The Wind" actually has some music to go along with the vocals. The filming is extremely tasteful. On "Bridge Of Death", for example, there are no gratuitous camera angle switches, and the movements of the camera serve only to bolster the mood. Parts of the songs are even presented in black and white, something that's rarely done these days.
The DVD is not an exhaustive parade of epic after epic after epic; instead, the songs are separated by commentary, and miscellaneous footage from stops all across the "Hell On Stage" tour. On "Hell On Earth Part II", MANOWAR seem more like the macho-metal caricatures we've grown to love. We learn that Joey DeMaio would "rather be dead than have 100 speakers onstage and only 99 working". Elsewhere on the disc, you'll find the band reminiscing about the countries they have visited: "Stunning women in Belgium"..."Switzerland's got a lot of beautiful girls too"..."Austria: Beautiful country, beautiful women." In France, the band cover "Lady Marmalade", because "it's a song about f*cking", yet they play it harder and faster, because the brothers of metal "f*ck hard and fast." The DVD would get a 10 for these moments alone.
Although women are also objectified on this DVD, it's to a less graphic and more hilarious extent. And while "Hell On Earth Part I" proved that MANOWAR has a lot of fans, "Part II" proves that the band actually cares about them. When Joey stops "Master Of The Wind" right in the middle, because a fan has passed out on the floor, the act is more moving than the ballad itself. During "Army Of Immortals", the band shows photos and footage of the most diehard and tattooed ManOwarrioRs, while "The Gods Made Heavy Metal" showcases the fans who were invited onstage to jam with the band. I would feel honored to be in the same room as Karl Logan's guitar, let alone play it.
Any DVD that puts "Dark Avenger", "Battle Hymn", "March For Revenge", "Hatred", "Bridge Of Death", and "Guyana" onto one disc doesn't need bonus features, but nonetheless you can find a live version of "Thor", the recording session for the French version of "Courage", and various other outtakes in the Bonus Menu. 13/10.
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