Superjoint Ritual-Live in Dallas, TX 2002 (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Music Video-The Alcoholik Music Video-F**k Your Enemy Gallery-Photo-random band pics
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	52:28 (Case: 60)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Thomas Mignone
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Phil Anselmo Jimmy Bower
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Superjoint Ritual

    Superjoint Ritual's sound differs from Anselmo's other projects - he appears to be covering all bases in the metal field, apart from 'new metal' - Pantera is power metal, Down borders on stoner rock and Viking Crown is plain death metal, but Superjoint has a definite post-punk feel similar to early Black Flag or Bad Brains. The songs are short, fast and punchy. Even the appearance of the band doesn't compare to any of his other projects, with two members sporting long dreadlocks!

    This show was filmed in Dallas, Texas in 2002. The venue is small and the vibe of the gig is very intimate.

    Sadly, the flow of the live performance is disrupted by pre-recorded interview segments between songs, and personally I don't really care to hear what Phil Anselmo has to say at the best of times. (Anybody who saw Pantera on their last tour would know exactly what I mean.) These would have been more appropriate as an extra rather than in the feature itself.

    Superjoint Ritual's new album A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred is to be released in July 2003 and I'm actually looking forward to hearing more from this band.

Video

    One problem with this video transfer is that it can't decide what to be. The feature is clearly 16x9 enhanced but it isn't flagged as such, so the displayed picture is a vertically stretched full frame. I corrected it manually by switching my display to 16x9 and was satisfied with this until the first interview segment was displayed as 1.78:1 full frame (non-16x9 enhanced). This disc is obviously intended to be viewed in 1.33:1 full frame at all times, but the vertically stretched picture irritated me no end. I would suggest owners of widescreen displays manually switch to 16x9 for this DVD.

    There is some really terrible grain throughout the transfer (pick any scene) resulting in a complete lack of sharpness. Horrid interlacing appears from beginning to end (probably due to its NTSC origin), also moire effects (47:30) and some text book examples of macro blocking (20:40, 46:23). The only redeeming feature of this transfer is its lack of film artefacts.

    There are no subtitles available on this disc.

    I should also point out that the case lists this title as being All Region coded, but the disc is in fact only Region 4 coded.

    For a DVD that was so recently produced my expectations were much higher. And then there's the audio............

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    I never thought so early in my reviewing career that I would be forced to give thumbs down to a dts track. Prepare yourselves, this could get messy.

    There are three audio tracks to choose from on this DVD. The default is Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), the others being Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s) and dts 5.1 (1536Kb/s). I listened to all three in their entirety.

    The dialogue was clear at all times, although I'd be lying if I said I could understand every lyric. If you listen to any popular music nowadays you'll know what I mean. There were no apparent audio sync issues.

    Disappointingly, the Dolby 5.1 and dts tracks showed almost no rear activity. Apart from some rare echo effects, these soundtracks were totally frontal. Also frustratingly, the dts track has been mastered at least 8 dB quieter than the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Even more baffling, the Dolby Digital 2.0 track is by far the loudest of the three, being 5 dB louder than the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. When cranked to equal volume, the dts track still didn't cut the mustard, having none of the depth, brightness or presence of either of the Dolby Digital soundtracks, particularly the Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

    There is also a loud, distracting click at 33:18. It is evident on all three audio tracks.

    The subwoofer was very active, especially during the Dolby Digital 5.1 track, accentuating the kick drum and bass guitar quite well.

     The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is my pick of the three tracks on this occasion. Commiserations to my fellow dts lovers.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu is silent and static, and is not 16x9 enhanced.

Music Videos

Photo Gallery

    The video quality is very bad to say the least.

    The audio mix is almost totally frontal and the varying tracks suffer from noticeable mastering inconsistencies, including one of the most lame dts tracks I've ever heard.

    The extras are standard fare, but nice all the same.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall