Disturbed-M.O.L. (2001) (NTSC)

    For all those out there who thought metal was dead, think again. It's almost a passé term, metal. Sort of like disco, but with moused and teased hair, spandex and the silly pouting lips. But all these stereotypes aside, the one thing that defined 'Metal' was a hard driving sound that was heavy, loud, energetic and hopefully most of all fun. You can bag 'Heavy Metal' and its 'Metalhead' devotees, but the genre still survives and continues to evolve, as the band Disturbed demonstrates.

    The band originated in Chicago, a city that has seen the start of some popular bands over the years (Smashing Pumpkins for one), but it was the inception of Disturbed that would put a very hard edge on the musical history of the city. As the band started to take form, it was the fortuitous signing of vocalist David Draiman that would see the band really take off and start to gain attention. Draiman was able to add an interesting, original yet totally integrated element to the band. Draiman's voice is full of soul and passion, and it lends itself to the energetic and downright funky sound of the band. That said, the funk and soul that the band demonstrates is far from the all-too-easy blues influence formula rock that we get from time to time. Instead of borrowing from the past stylistically, Disturbed has done something very different in making a very new and fresh sound that takes Metal to the 21st Century. There are other bands out there such as System of a Down that spring to mind in the Nu-Metal stakes, but Disturbed in my opinion have been able to do a fantastic job in making something that doesn't sound like everything else out there, and more importantly, make it work.

    This DVD features music and behind the scenes footage from Disturbed's 2001 tour across America. Here we have the highs and more highs of life on the road, including footage from one concert just after the terror attacks of September 11 where the siege of a nation became a rally cry to rock in the face and in spite of whatever was to come. We have heaps of behind the scenes footage, rehearsal footage, recording sessions, groupie antics and all that a fan of this exciting band could hope for. Also available are excerpts from the band in concert and several video clips. If you love the band and their infectious style of hard rockin' music then look no further than here. This is one title that has really grown on me while I have been reviewing it. Music with a harder edge always will find an audience, and this should be a welcome addition to any collection of anyone of like mind.

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Track Listing

1. Want (Video) 2. Conflict (Live) 3. Stupify (Video) 4. Fear (Live) 5. Voices (Video)

6. Droppin' Plates (Live) 7. Shout 2000 (Live) 8. Down with the Sickness (Video) 9. The Game (Live)

Transfer Quality

Video

    We get a reasonable video transfer here, but there is the occasional flaw and artefact visible from time to time. The bitrate here is very reactive, from lows of 2.87 Mbps to peaks of 9.52 Mbps with an average in the 5.68 Mbps range.

    The disc's content is presented full frame, although some of the material is matted or filmed in various widescreen aspect ratios, usually 2.35:1. There is no 16x9 enhancement at any time. Also bear in mind that this disc is formatted in the NTSC format, so it's wise to ensure that your equipment is capable of playing back this video format.

    The video sharpness varies from segment to segment throughout the programme. Most of the content here is video based, so we have the usual expected artefacts to deal with. Because of the nature of the programme material, though, this isn't a huge problem. Some of the footage has been filmed in fairly ordinary circumstances and on probably less than ideal equipment, so we can't be too picky about what we do get. The sharpness is okay overall, but some noisy grain and fine pixelization (seen at 7:25 during the M.O.L. portion of the program) can hamper the clarity of the image. I did get the impression that this heavily artefacted image was at times intended by the producers. Shadow detail can be a bit ordinary here as much of the footage is shot in poor lighting conditions, so the image can suffer at time. 9:20 is a prime example of this sometime lack of shadow detail. Low level noise as a rule didn't seem to be a problem, but the myriad of other artefacts could have made this one hard to pick.

    This program features a wide range of colour use, from the fairly natural (quite rare, actually) to the exaggerated look of the live concert footage. Some of the behind the scenes footage is quite washed out and lacking in any dynamic colour, but this looked to be intended by the program's producers. Colour's commitment and portrayal on this disc looked reasonable and accurate.

    MPEG artefacts crop up from time to time here, such as the aforementioned and perhaps intended noisy grain and pixelization seen at 7:25. Perennial pest edge enhancement bangs his head against the screen several times throughout this program with a example to be seen at 7:12 around the hair of Dan. There is a slightly noticeable analogue tracking error visible at 9:22 (M.O.L. portion of the disc), but this is an isolated case and not a real problem. There is some chroma noise visible on the solid blue backgrounds (at 4:09) and the red (at 77:25) during some of the concert footage in the main program.

    There are 7 subtitle options on this disc and I found the English stream to be very good and quite accurate throughout much of the disc's content, including the concert footage which is often ignored on concert and music discs. No such problem here. Missed a lyric or always wanted to know what's being said? Throw up the subtitles and have a look. A very good use of the feature and one that other music DVDs would do well to emulate.

    This disc is formatted RSDL, but I could not detect any layer change which leads me to think that the change is located between the various features on the disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio we get is quite good and offers some choices of what audio format you get depending on the feature selected.

    There are 3 audio tracks in total on this disc. For the M.O.L. portion of the disc, as well as the extras content, English Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps is the order of the day. However, for the concert section you have the options of either English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 Kbps), English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 Kbps) and a dts track at the full bitrate of 1536 Kbps. I listened to all available audio tracks. While a full bitrate dts track is usually a very good thing to have, I found in this case not much to differentiate the Dolby Digital track and the dts track. There might have been the slightest bit of extra 'weight' in the dts track, but not the extra dimension that I expected.

    The dialogue quality is pretty good throughout the programme. As is the case with some of the video content being a bit 'rough & ready' because of the equipment used to film it, so it is with portions of the audio. This doesn't lead to any major issues in terms of intelligibility during the program, so it would be a bit rough to give too much negative comment and for the majority of the time the spoken word is completely understandable. There is some audio crackle (perhaps overmike) heard at 9:19 during the M.O.L. segment, but this was not a recurring problem. The sung lyrics are for the most part remarkably clear, mostly because of David Draiman's great enunciation and clear singing voice. I had no major problems with audio sync where it counted. It was the slightest bit out during some of the extras material, but not enough to cause any real problems.

    The music is, of course, from the band Disturbed and is primarily taken from their 2000 album The Sickness, although there is some music here from the newer album from 2002 Believe.

    The surrounds are put to good use during the concert segment with a very good live feel on offer.

    The LFE channel contributed much to the overall feel of the concert with the driving drums and bass riffs well represented and integrated into the overall sound.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Extras

    This disc is one big collection of extras, so we get a good deal in terms of content here.

Menu

    After the standard distributor's logos, we are taken to the disc's Main Menu which offers us the following:

• Play M.O.L.
• Scene Selection (static menu with chapter titles)
• Track Selection (static menu with song titles)
• Special Features
• Concert & Audio Set Up (select Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 or dts)
• Subtitles (English, Portuguese, French, Japanese, German, Spanish, Italian)
• Web Links
• Credits

    All of the menus, as is the case with all the content here, are devoid of 16x9 enhancement. Audio for the menus (when heard) is in Dolby Digital 2.0.

 Track Selection

    This is a list of the selectable tracks, both in produced video and live concert form that are available. They can be played one after another or are selectable individually.

• Want (Live)
• Conflict (Live)
• Stupify (Video)
• Fear (Live)
• Voices (Video)
• Droppin' Plates (Live)
• Shout 2000 (Live)
• Down with the Sickness (Video)
• The Game (Live)

    Selecting the Special Features icon offers up the following segments which are presented full frame or at times matted into various widescreen aspect ratios.

Photo Shoot   -   1:06

    The band pose for various photos to be used in publicity.

Perfect Insanity   -   4:19

    A amateur video produced by the band and directed by Erika Muller. Very rough around the edges, but gives a glimpse of the genius that the band would later exhibit.

Band Origin (Extended)   -   4:27

    The group talk more about how they got together.

Worst Venue   -   :31

    The group talk about the worst venue they've worked in while shooting a music video.

In the Studio Part 1   -   2:07

    This footage was filmed while the band was in the studio at the end of 1999 recording what would become the album The Sickness. While everyone was enjoying the Thanksgiving holidays, out boys were hard at work. No rest for the wicked.

In the Studio Part 2   -   2:22

    More of the guys hard at work in the recording studio during the first album sessions.

A Welcome Burden   -   4:09

    The band in the studio in 1999 (?) recording a song that until the disc came out was unreleased. The audio is a bit raw, but it's interesting nonetheless.

In the Studio Part 3   -   4:09

    More of the band recording.

Fuzz   -   :50

    Fuzz, the band's bassist, works on A Welcome Burden.

Mike   -   4:42

    Drummer Mike shows what he's made of while doing the drum work for the track Shout 2000.

Dan   -   1:53

    Guitarist Dan working on the track Numb.

Concert & Audio Set Up   -   20:57

    This is a short excerpt of the band in concert. While it might have been nice to have a full concert here on the disc, we do get quite a bit of music content with both live and pre-recorded studio performances by the band. This feature has the band playing various songs primarily from The Sickness. Great fun and worth a look if you have become a fan of the band from their studio work. The songs on offer are:

• Fear
• Droppin' Plates
• Shout 2000
• Conflict
• The Game

    As is the case with the first Track Selection option, these songs are selectable individually or playable one after another. There are 3 audio options here:  Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo), Dolby Digital 5.1 or dts. Normally I would be able to pick some major differences between the Dolby Digital and dts tracks, but here there was very little difference and not the expected benefit that a full bitrate dts might normally provide.

Web Links

    Links to both the band's web site as well as the Warner Bros. Records site as well as the band's official site:

• www.wbr.com
• www.disturbed1.com

Easter Egg   -   Multi Angle Feature

    This feature is selectable from the Track Selection feature while playing the song Down with the Sickness. Using the Angle feature, you can toggle back and forth between the normal video and video footage of a small boy jammin' on his guitar to the song. A strange feature, but have a look.

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This title was released in Region 1 in April of 2002 and is almost identical to the disc we have here. The only discernible difference looks to be the extra subtitle options as the Region 1 disc features only English subtitles while our disc (coded for Regions 3 and 6 as well as 4) features 6 additional subtitle streams. Otherwise, we get the same package as Region 1, right down to the NTSC video format.

Summary