Black Label Society-The European Invasion: Doom Troopin' (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation & Audio Music Video-Suicide Messiah; In This River; Fire It Up Featurette-Making Of-Suicide Messiah Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Backstage Pass Additional Footage-London Chapter (4 Songs) Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	114:11 (Case: 148)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (70:44) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Eric Zimmerman Nik Jamgocyan
Studio Distributor	Rajon Music Group Sony Music	Starring	Zakk Wylde Nick Catanese James Lomenzo Craig Nunenmacher
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$29.95	Music	Zakk Wylde Black Sabbath

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    For those who haven't heard of this band before, Black Label Society is fronted by Lead Vocalist and Guitarist extraordinaire Zakk Wylde. Zakk was catapulted to stardom in 1987 when he was hired at the tender age of 19 as the guitarist in Ozzy Osbourne's band. In addition to his duties as Ozzy's right hand man, in the last seven years Zakk has released eight Black Label Society albums and also a brilliant solo album titled Book Of Shadows. While touring with the annual Ozzfest he pulls double duties, performing each night with Black Label Society in addition to headlining the festival with Ozzy himself. He's certainly a supremely talented and very busy chap.

    The live show on this DVD was recorded on the European tour for Black Label Society's Mafia album in 2005. The band have since recorded a new album, titled Shot To Hell and they recently toured Australia. This show was recorded at the Elysee Montmartre in Paris, a relatively small venue with great atmosphere. The musicians performing on this tour include:

• Zakk Wylde (Lead Guitar & Lead Vocal)
• Nick Catanese (Guitar & Backing Vocals)
• James Lomenzo (Bass & Backing Vocals)
• Craig Nunenmacher (Drums)

    Black Label Society have a sound that blends southern rock and metal, in a similar vein to bands such as Corrosion Of Conformity. Zakk's vocal style ranges from soulful and melodic to coarse and searing. In fact, it seems the older he gets, the more he resembles Ozzy! I first became familiar with Zakk through his Book Of Shadows album, and it remains a personal favourite, however none of that material is performed here. Book Of Shadows was a very mellow outing for Zakk in comparison to his Black Label Society material - the only song that comes close is Spoke In The Wheel. The setlist also includes In This River, a song he composed for his late friend Darrell 'Dimebag' Abbott.

    As far as live concert DVDs go, this is a very good production. The show has been filmed in HD with many cameras and includes a lot of fast editing. Visually, the show is entertaining to watch and a few digital effects have been used to alter the look of the video from one song to the next. Both casual listeners and hardcore fans are certain to enjoy this package.

Video

    As I already mentioned, the show was shot in HD and is presented on DVD in widescreen 1.78:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement.

    The image is sharp and clear throughout and looks especially great on a big screen. If I had to make one complaint, I'd say the video bitrate could be stronger. There are a few areas where the MPEG compression struggles, usually when there is smoke on stage or if there is a fade in the video. Otherwise, the concert looks great and the bright stage lighting is carried flawlessly.

    There are no subtitle streams included.

    This disc is dual layered, with the layer break placed between tracks 12 and 13 at 70:44. The pause is ideally placed in a quiet moment after the Acoustic Jam and only interrupts audience applause.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are three soundtracks to choose from. The default soundtrack is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (192Kb/s). Surround soundtracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) and dts (768Kb/s) can be selected manually or on the fly.

    The vocals are distinct in the mix and always easy to make out among the other instruments. I didn't notice any audio sync issues at all.

    The surround channels are used to replicate the acoustics of the venue, with subtle echoes and spill from the front channels. The rears also carry crowd noise and cheering between songs. The main vocals are spread right across the front soundstage, occupying the front left, right and centre speakers.

    Of the three soundtracks, the dts was the most crisp and considerably louder. It's a shame the weakest of the three audio options is the default. The stereo soundtrack is thin and not nearly as immersive in comparison to the surround mixes.

    The subwoofer accentuates the bass guitar and kick drum nicely.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Bonus Songs- London Chapter (33:32)

    These four bonus songs were recorded live at the Astoria in London. There are fadeouts between songs and the show has a different feel to the Paris show, possibly due to the Astoria being a bigger venue, making it much less intimate. These are presented with 16x9 enhancement and the same audio options as the Paris show.

• Been A Long Time
• Suicide Messiah
• Stillborn Jam
• Genocide Junkies

Disc Two

Featurette- Backstage Pass (51:04)

    This piece offers a pretty decent snapshot of the Black Label Society touring lifestyle. The cameras give us a fly-on-the-wall perspective of some of the backstage dramas that can and often do occur on a big tour. The most valuable footage for fans of Zakk's playing is several unedited views of Zakk's warm-up exercises as he prepares to go on stage. One thing that can be said for this band is that they certainly seem to thrive on camaraderie and take pride in their family-like atmosphere. This featurette is presented with 16x9 enhancement and the same audio options as the feature.

Music Videos (3)

    Three of the band's videos are provided with a feature I have not encountered before. On the music videos menu, the viewer can select their preferred screen size for each video; 4x3 or 16x9. In This River is Zakk's moving tribute to his late friend, Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott.

• Suicide Messiah (3:48)
• In This River (3:51)
• Fire It Up (4:07)

Featurette- The Making Of Suicide Messiah (5:47)

    Laid bare for all to see, here are the shenanigans that go on during a video shoot. It's a wonder how they get any work done! A short piece plays automatically at the end, titled After The Shoot (1:31), with more drunken cavorting in a nearby diner.

Booklet

    A two-panel colour insert is included with photos, credits and track listing.

    The transfer is excellent.

    The extras are especially good for a music title.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall