The fest had sooo many bands playing it would be impossible to show all of them but I'm curious about WHY some of the bands picked for the dvd made the cut. Nora?
Eighteen Visions? Bleeding Through? how did they make it over Suffocation and Strapping Young Lad? I guess actually being on Trustkill Records might help out a bit. The dvd is filled with some great performances but its a little too much Hardcore and not enough Metal.
After seeing the roster of bands on the disc, Shadows Fall and Lamb Of God were the main reasons I went out and bought this. Killswitch Engage, Unearth, Lacuna Coil and Opeth were all added bonuses. Needless to say all those bands gave excellent performances. LoG's wall of death, Lacuna Coil and their synchronized headbanging, Unearth's guitarist doing the solo behind his back while Killswitch Engage's destroys his guitar with an axe. All of those are classic moments. Most Precious Blood and Atreyu surprised me with how good their songs are. Those are the two hardcore bands I liked on this dvd besides the mighty Converge. Those bastards are just insane to watch live.
The Haunted played great also despite having such a horrible frontman and old Meshugah just doesnt do anything for me and their performance failed to change my mind. As disappointing as they were, thats nothing compared to the 2nd stage bands in the extras section of the dvd. They all pretty much suck. Darkest Hour ruled and Blood Has Been Shed was ok but the rest of bands, run of the mill hardcore, just blow. Pig Destroyer, Cephalic Carnage and Kataklysm
were left out for these clowns?
Despite all my bitching I still really like this dvd. Thats mainly because Im a big fan of all the "good" bands on here. If you arent, and cant stomach watching anything envolving the Hardcore scene then my advice is to stay away.
Standout Performances:
Shadows Fall- Crushing Belial
Lacuna Coil- Tight Rope
Killswitch Engage- Fixation on the Darkness
Unearth- One Step Away
Lamb of God- Black Label
Converge- Fault and Fracture