First things first, I like that they still have their long hair (except Gus). It makes me feel like I'm back in the heyday of metal when you better have long hair or you might as well not learn to play the guitar. I know the hair doesn't make the band and I've gotten used to Matt Barlow's haircut so I can probably get used to anything, but I like feeling like I'm 20 years younger just by the look of the band. Of course, I guess that dates me, but true metal is timeless and it's not the hair or the clothes or the look that matter. It's the music that matters the most.
I love metal, but I have to be able to understand what they're saying for me to really, truly enjoy the music. I mean, why write lyrics if no one can understand them anyway? Unfortunately, even with the lyrics in front of me, I couldn't understand the words to quite a few of the songs. But part of that is the hazard of a live show - it is more difficult to understand sometimes. So I'm just going to leave the vocals at that. If you want to know what the majority of the songs are about, then you'll have to look up the lyrics. The vocals are only part of the songs though. The rest is the rhythm, the drums, the guitars and the rest of what makes us enjoy music. I enjoy the sound, the rhythm, and the feeling of Malevolent Creation.
Since this is a live DVD, you might want to know about the actual show. As I said before, it is one whole concert recorded live and played in the original live order. There are 13 songs total. Each song is a chapter break so if you want to skip one, just skip to the next chapter or if you want to play one again, just skip backwards. It does make it nice to navigate that way. First break is about 1/3 of the way through, but there's still a very gothic sounding song running through so you're not bored. Of course if you are, just hit fast forward for a minute or so cause it's a really short break! These guys really give it their all. Unlike a lot of the concert videos I've seen, this one focuses almost solely on the band. The only glimpse of the audience you see are of the people in the very front and the few that are stage diving at one point. They don't waste time panning the audience, but instead focus on the band that you want to see. I also like that the band covered a wide range of their albums. Malevolent Creation has 11 studio albums, so that's a lot of music to choose from and everyone wants to hear their favorite songs. Granted, without knowing the band well, I don't know what the most popular songs are, but they cover a wide range of albums so hopefully they'll have your favorite on there as well.
Even though the back doesn't say it, there are special features available on the DVD as well. "On the Road" is a behind the scenes look at their trip to the concert and some performance as well. There is also an interview with the band, which I found interesting. There is also a video called "Bootlegged in Melbourne" and some stills. So there's a lot of bonus content that you don't even know about until you launch the DVD.
I can't say that I had even listened to Malevolent Creation before I got this DVD in, but it's a pretty good concert. A DVD will never replace the feeling of being at a live show, but if you turn it up really loud and block out anything but the TV, you can get a feeling of being there live. If you're a death metal fan, you'll probably enjoy Malevolent Creation: Death From Down Under.
