Various Artists
Metal Meltdown (Video)
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
This Keith Miles' sponsored festival/concert in L.A. last year has been captured with three or four cameras on video tape. Lots of cool editing tricks like slow-motion, freeze-frame, and paint-splashing dress up these exciting acts: Apostasy Denied, Ransom, Bride, Seventh Seal, Deliverance, Eternal Ryte, and Final Axe. Ransom's song "Fool That I Am" gives us a good glimpse at this melodic band live, although the sound wasn't that happenin', nor was the song as well polished or structured as it is on the album. The three bands that benefit the most from this visual representation are: Bride, Seventh Seal, and Final Axe, simply because they're the most visual bands of the bunch. You can witness the flair of Dale Thompson, all the theatrics of Final Axe, and the well-trained antics of Seventh Seal, who can win over an audience with one note. Seventh Seal appears with three cuts, the thrash/rap tune "He's The Man", "Never Loved Like This Before", and "Fire". Deliverance is shown going nuts with "Victory", "Weapons Of Our Warfare", and "Deliverance". With the Eternal Ryte footage ("No More Lies", "King Of Kings", and "Tightrope Dancer") we get to see Bobby Smith's blazing guitar action. Wow! The guy shreds! Watching him blaze is worth the price of the video alone. The audio lacks, and what happened live is what you get, which is unfortunate, because this video is in stereo hi-fi. It sounds like we're getting the board mix for the audio track. The biggest flaw to this package is the lack of bright lighting. Two more spotlights would've helped immensely. While not the quality of the pro videos we're seeing released this month, this is still a package most Christian metalheads will want to have.