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September 3, 2010 |
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Reign In Blood Live
01. Angel Of Death
02. Piece By Piece
03. Necrophobic
04. Altar Of Sacrifice
05. Jesus Saves
06. Criminally Insane
07. Reborn
08. Epidemic
09. Postmortem
10. Raining Blood
Bonus Material
01. War Ensemble
02. Hallowed Point
03. Necrophiliac
04. Mandatory Suicide
05. Spill The Blood
06. South Of Heaven
- Slayer In Their Own Words
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Almost 20 years since its release, SLAYER's "Reign In Blood" still stands as one of metal's finest moments. I'll skip any preliminary ramble about or into SLAYER because if you don't know who SLAYER are, perhaps a swift backhand with Kerry King's spiked wristband is in order! Recently, American Recordings released Slayer's second DVD in less than a year, "Still Reigning". This concert was filmed on July 11, 2004 at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, Maine.
The DVD consists of three parts - the performance of the entire "Reign In Blood" album (31+ minutes), 6 bonus tracks (27+ minutes), and a piece entitled "SLAYER - In Their Own Words" (20+ minutes). The whole premise for the DVD is to allow everybody who cannot make it to the live SLAYER shows to see the "Reign In Blood" performance that the band is doing on current treks around the world. As an added bonus, a special "raining" effect is used during the always-classic "Reigning Blood"...more on that later.
Video (7/10)
This DVD provides plenty of camera angles and gives the viewer a real feel for all the on-stage happenings. However, the video switches from camera to camera on an average of every 3 seconds, in addition to switching between color and black-and-white quite often. These camera angle changes may cause annoyance to some viewers almost immediately, as it did to yours truly. I found that your eyes just get focused on the current angle and *bang*, it changes again (grrrr!)
Musically, SLAYER are still a very tight band in the live setting. Tom Araya can still belt out the blood-curdling screams, although his pitch seems to have dropped some. The dual axe-attack of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King powers through every song, as they swap solos back-and-forth just like they've done for so many years. The legend, Dave Lombardo, keeps the pace frantic with his drumwork (see Additional Comments for more on Dave's performance).
As previously mentioned, SLAYER tears through "Reign In Blood" in its entirety, with no inter-song banter until just before "Postmortem"...it's like listening to the actual album, except it's live! Prior to "Reigning Blood", the stage goes black and the band is covered in "blood" from above. Once the song starts and the lights go up, the band is playing covered in blood, much like the video for "Bloodline". Late in the song the chaos starts, as blood starts raining down from above onto the stage, the band, and their instruments for the remainder of the song/show. The band recognizes the audience and Tom states "Thank you very fuckin' much. We’ll see you in hell" before exiting the stage to audience appreciation.
Audio (9/10)
The DVD offers Stereo and 5.1 Surround options, both of which seem nearly flawless as far as sound production and clarity go. The audio engineer has done an excellent job. However, not much crowd noise makes the two audio tracks seem fairly similar. Unfortunately, the surround is not done so well that you could close your eyes and imagine being in the crowd, like I feel a true surround concert should sound.
Extras (7.5/10)
The six bonus songs include about half the songs SLAYER is playing other than "Reign In Blood" on the current tour. A few more would have been appreciated.
"In Their Own Words" is approximately 20 minutes of some vintage SLAYER footage and pictures, members discussing the early years, SLAYER fans, the "raining blood" concept, Dave's return etc. It's a short intro to all things SLAYER - Interesting, but the viewer is left wanting more, about another half hour would've made me happy.
Additional Comments
I've seen SLAYER live and feel this DVD falls short in demonstrating the aggressiveness of the live show. From the stage presence of these four metal legends to the crowd and huge pits that always form as soon as that first note hits, I was left feeling unfulfilled, even after multiple viewings. There are some quick flashes of the crowd thrown in here and there, but even just a few shots of the turmoil on the floor would add to the understanding and enjoyment of the SLAYER experience without actually being there.
Alternately, maybe what we see and hear is as loud and wild as the Augusta fans get. If that's the case, might I suggest that SLAYER film their next live DVD in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN as thousands of die-hard SLAYER fans always turn out on a mission to show their support.
Jeff Hanneman must have "missed his mark" while the band was originally dumped blood upon while the lights were down before "Reigning Blood" as until the rain comes falling down late in the song, Jeff is fairly clean compared to the rest of the band.
Dave Lombardo seemed uninspired and very mellow behind the skins this night. By comparison, Paul Bostaph's performance on the "War At The Warfield" DVD is superior, both in apparent effort and pure entertainment value. Even though this comment may send me straight to hell, I feel it needed to be said. I was surprised to say the least, but the viewers can make that decision for themselves.
This DVD is economically priced, and is a worthy addition to every metalhead's collection. However, if this is your first introduction to SLAYER, I would recommend picking up "War At The Warfield" first, as it is a better representation of the overall SLAYER experience.
See you in hell...
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