v/a "Hellfest Vol. III" DVD
[High Roller]
Here's an extensive collection of footage from last year's infamous Hellfest in Syracuse, NY, totaling something like two-and-a-half hours of footage across two discs when all is said and done. All of the material is shot with a fairly good quality of picture and sound, nothing exceptionally awesome, but certainly far better than average, with few fluctuations in overall quality. There are lots of shifts between shots of the band and the crowd and multiple camera angles and all that. Some of the bands definitely have worse sound than others with rough mixes and whatnot, but that's no big deal. A few observations worth mentioning are that some of the worst stagedives in the history of mankind are included on this DVD. Sure, some of these kids are soaring, but a number of 'em sort of do this horrible trot/hop/fall thing that's pretty amusing. Also, apparently every emo band has a singer who cannot fucking sing outside of a studio, because all such bands' vocalist on this thing sound like squealing cats. I'm still not sure if the dudes from Thursday or Further Seems Forever hit one fuckin' proper note on this thing, and I actually like those bands. Some of the better performances worth mentioning across these two discs are as follows: Biohazard with Scoot Vogel from Terror on second vocals kills - sue me, you know "Hold My Own" is a sweet song, you fucks; Anti-Flag provides a nice change of pace; No Warning has tons of energy; Terror gets a killer response and sounds tight; Stretch Armstrong has a strong sound and honed performance; of course The Dillinger Escape Plan's insanity is above all else; while bonus bands Brother's Keeper, First Blood, and With Honor stand above the other add-ons. The AKAs sound fine but seemed to get minimal crowd response, which is a shame; My Chemical Romance stinks and is apparently a highly overrated band who keeps the little kids entertained with sucky emo horseshit; Onelinedrawing is boring; Bleeding Through definitely seems far stronger live than on record; the vocalist of Norma Jean (a band who I like) is an irritating fucker on stage, chicken dancing around like Mick Jagger and doing all the right fucking hipster moves; CKY covers GG Allin, of course; The Bled are way too contrived with their "emotional antics"; and the Daughters are really damn tight for as chaotic as their style is. Most of the second DVD is interview footage, which I find infinitely more entertaining than live footage. The interviews are about a minute each, or less, keeping things quick and to the point. The content can be rather typical, but it's still an interesting addition. I really think the DVD would've been far more fun to watch had the emphasis been on behind the scenes footage with the crowd, the promoters, and the bands, be it interviews, goofing off, etc. - because what little of that exists is just more of a change of pace (see the brief snippets of commentary footage regarding kids dancing and whatnot). Everyone knows what a live band looks like and what to expect, whether you've seen the band or not, and I just hate watching performances that I didn't attend because it feels worthless to me most of the time. It's not that enjoyable and doesn't capture the true atmosphere. This is a solid DVD that's been handled superbly, though. The menus are all simple and clean; the transitions between bands are perfect and I love that they include not only the song titles, but the names of the records and labels they were released on; etc. So, from a technical standpoint and all of that, everything looks great and appears well organized and totally pro, it's just the content that, for me, isn't all too terribly interesting to watch for a little under three hours. If you like watching live recordings and are into this general circle of bands, you should enjoy this, because the intense level of work that went into it does show. (6/10)
Running time - 2:30:00 (approximately), Tracks: 37
[Notable tracks: Biohazard, Anti-Flag, No Warning, Terror, Stretch Armstrong, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Brother's Keeper, First Blood, With Honor]
High Roller Studios - http://www.highrollerstudios.com

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