Sheer Terror "Beaten By the Fists of God" DVD
[Thorp]
I was really looking forward to checking out this DVD, and as expected it delivers. I was never a huge Sheer Terror fan for whatever reason, but I picked up a couple of their records over the years and always loved getting the chance to catch 'em live. The first 55 minutes of the DVD is basically a documentary that outlines the history of the band, starting in the mid-80's and going up through their initial breakup around a decade later. Included are interviews with most of the band's members covering various lineup changes, with a pretty even split between former band members and Sheer Terror vocalist and visionary: The man, the myth, the legend... Paul fucking Bearer. For those unfamiliar with the band, they basically wrote the book on bitter, hateful, pissed off hardcore, with a heavy sound that's neither metal nor traditional hardcore at all. Bearer's gruff vocals easily transition from barked shouts/yells to effectively gruff crooning, and the songwriting tends to revolve around midpaced crunchiness with hints of melody here and there. But you've gotta hear 'em for yourself to understand, nothing they ever did sounds particularly groundbreaking, but at the same time there's only one Sheer Terror. And Paul Bearer's sarcastic, antagonistic sense of humor was often taken the wrong way, but for those who are less uptight should absolutely appreciate and admire his extremely entertaining, one-of-a-kind persona. And the best thing about the DVD, in my opinion, is not only Bearer's vitriolic sense of humor, but that you get to see more of his human side as well - the dude is just the real fuckin' deal, you know? The documentary opens with commentary on the band coming from members of the North Side Kings (hilarious), the Dropkick Murphys, and Blood for Blood (brilliantly blunt, as always), leading straight into the interview footage. Throughout all of the interviews they splice in band members from Sick of it All, Life of Agony, and even the Ramones either reflecting on Sheer Terror or telling stories about various encounters with the band's madness over the years (including a large number of contributions from Blackout! Records owner Bill Wilson, who had a close relationship with the band for many years). Also cut in is live footage from various live performances over the years, most of which specifically pertains to stories being relayed by the band members during the interviews. All of this goes through a breakdown of the band's various recordings, tours, etc., eventually leading to their two-show reunion in October of 2004 at CBGB's. Despite the fact that the band had a shitload of different members over the years, it's pretty damn impressive that so many of the former members were agreeable to participate in this DVD, not to mention that they scored their entire core lineup for the reunion shows as well - all of which definitely speaks to the band's history, as well as making the DVD a little more comprehensive than it would've been otherwise. Hell, it even includes the video they shot for "Broken", which you're never gonna see anywhere else at this point. And man, it's hard to believe that Sheer Terror was, in fact, on a fuckin' major label for a short time near their initial end! The live set runs about 65 minutes of full-color footage with solid sound and picture, spanning the band's entire career with a whopping 18 tracks recorded at their final show on October 10, 2004. There's a surprisingly low level of stage banter or audience taunting in between songs, but there is one hilarious jab at Victory Records as well as a few touching moments of heartfelt gratitude that definitely carry some weight. Included as a bonus is a live CD of the same set, but for some reason the audio CD is shorter than the set on the DVD. There are only 15 tracks, and it's definitely the same performance, but I can't figure out what the discrepancy is between the two, but whatever the case the audio CD is only 45 minutes long, so... unless I'm fucking something up I think there are about 20 minutes missing from the DVD's representation of the set. That's cool, though. The DVD is what really matters here, and it's been damn well handled. I'm not a particular fan of live recordings, so the documentary is where it's at for me. I wish that portion had somehow been a little longer, or that they had included bonus interview footage (the back cover says, "See inside for a special password to access bonus footage." but I'm not sure what that's all about), but fuck it. This is definitely worth the $15 pricetag, and Sheer Terror will of course be missed. (7/10)
Running time - 2:00:00 (approximately), Tracks: N/A
[Notable tracks: N/A]
Thorp Records - http://www.thorprecords.com

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