Whitecross
Metal Mission: Hard Rock on the High Road (Video)
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
Christian metal fans rejoice! More Christian bands than ever before gathered on one pro video for our viewing and listening pleasure--"Metal Mission: Hard Rock On The High Road." Whitecross starts off this 45-minute "on-the-road documentary" with "We Know What's Right", filmed on the HUGE stage of the Brady Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma. All the lights, room, and fog a band would ever want are supplied here for the "Wow" effect. Bride's haunting "Everybody Knows My Name" shows up next, which provides an excellent visual compliment to this great tune. Judging by stage antics, this video would be the highlight of the package. Dale and Troy Thompson have a good stage awareness and presence. Troy stands out with his hollow-body electric guitar. "I figured the other guitarists would be using these real nice Charvel guitars, so I wanted to be different," explains Troy. Novella's "Give Me Love" and "Do We Just Surrender" appear, giving us real faces behind this melodic music. Xalt performs their socks off for "Standing", a rocker from its new album--"History." One highlight is the mean lead break Jim Erdmann handles one-handed. Interviews and hilarious cut-ups give the video a personal balance that keeps the whole package from coming across as a "Rock Star's weekend" type vibe. The honest and humorous quotes from these musicians show their hearts and prove that they are indeed on a mission. We not only see where the musicians are coming from, but the audience as well. Several metalheads and even a mom express what Christian metal means to them. This, coupled with the "ministry time" filmed, makes this video a good tool to help convince a skeptic that all this stuff is legit. The quality of footage and editing is professional. This could easily air on an MTV special (I wish it would!). No cheesy stuff here. The only drag about the video is that every song but "Everybody Knows..." and "In The Kingdom" are interrupted during a solo section for further interview footage. The editing carries a thought or theme well with the song, but I'd rather watch the whole song and then hear the talking afterwards. Not perfect, but a must-have for metalheads. You won't be embarrassed to show this to anybody. In fact, you'll probably be very pleased.