Manowar are back with the third part in their DVD series Hell on Earth, this time chronicling the years 1998 and 1999 as well as several leaps both backwards and forward in time. Again this is a double DVD release filled with material. After Part II (Fire and Blood) completely blew me away with it's high quality I had very high expectations for this one. So, have they been met? YES they have! The amount of cool things on this DVD is quite staggering and bound to satisfy even the hungriest Manowar fan (For a while at least).
The main part of Disc One is the Hell on Earth Part III documentary, opening where Fire and Blood left us last time, In Brazil at The Monsters of Rock festival in 1998 where we get to revisit the opening song from that show (Yes, you know which one). For an hour and a half the journey continues through the European summer festivals, the Monsters of the Millenium tour with Motorhead and Dio, to the band's first visit to Russia. Along with full performances of songs from selected concerts we also get many clips and funny stories from the road.
The following songs are performed live in full versions during the documentary:
- Manowar - Monsters of Rock in Brazil
- Fighting the World - Dynamo Festival
- Heart of Steel - Alive 99, Lisbon -Portugal
- Sting of the bumblebee - Alive 99, Lisbon - Portugal
- Kings of Metal - Gods of Metal, Italy 1999
- Hail and Kill - Gods of Metal, Italy 1999
- Nessun Dorma - Gods of Metal, Italy 1999
- Return of the Warlord - Gods of Metal, Italy 1999
- Gates of Valhalla - Norkoping?, Sweden on the Monsters of the Millenium tour
Absolute highlights include a magical version of
Heart of Steel where the audience sings along for the entire song and Eric is clearly moved by this in the beginning. Karl is sitting there by the drum kit with an injured leg (From a bike accident), still playing the guitar like nothing is wrong with him. That's the spirit.
Sting of the bumblebee is more entertaining than usual with Joey doing some crazy bass moves and generally playing a wild version of this one.
I have a pretty bad bootleg copy of The Gods of Metal show from 1999 so seeing that several songs from this really fantastic show are included made me very happy.
Kings of Metal is powerful as always.
Duel of the titans is a cool guitar and bass based intro to a glorious version of
Hail and Kill. From the beautiful way Eric sings the soft intro, including holding the final note for a full 25 seconds, through to the explosive last part of the song, it is performed with maximum power. This show was also where
Nessun Dorma was performed live for the first time. And what a performance. Watching Eric sing this song is a chilling and magical experience. I have no words to describe this performance other than Perfect! Ending the Gods of Metal segment we get a great version of
Return of the Warlord, complete with Harleys on stage.
Moving on to the
Monsters of the Millenium tour, my personal highlight comes with the show in Denmark where I make a short appearance! Notice the guy in the white shirt jumping madly with a hand in the air in the lower left side of the screen during the last seconds of the Denmark segment... Yes, that is yours truly...
Through the documentary there are many great moments besides the actual live performances. The funniest moment comes at an amusing on-stage wedding ceremony with Joey acting as both priest
and marriage counselor. "I pronounce you heavy metal man and wife!" What a guy.
The Penthouse segment is also very funny. But way too short!
The last part of the documentary is titled "Brothers of Metal & Sisters of steel" and this is a celebration of the guys and girls who come on stage during the shows. A lot of eye candy is in this section, and it is a fitting end to this third part of a very thorough and entertaining documentary.
The only problem with the documentary is that I wanted more... More of the Penthouse shoot, more footage of life on the road, more commentary from the band. But I guess that would have cut back on the live performance of the songs, which would not have been preferable either...
One thing I did tire of was the amount of computer animation when the band enters a new country. Watching the same kind of 10 second animation over and over got a little too much after the first couple of times.
Talking about wanting more, we do get more in the extensive bonus section. 11 bonus segments are included spanning from live songs to stories behind the songs, to historic footage from around the world, the bonus section is high on entertainment value and gives a glimpse of what life in Manowar is like.
Black Wind Fire and Steel live in Moscow,
Herz aus Stahl live in Germany,
March for Revenge from the Gods of Metal festival and
Hell on Wheels live in Sweden are all great additions.
The other segments are all very enjoyable and have some great stories, including Scott giving the definitive lecture in the Russian language.
Nessun Dorma; the story in particular is a highlight for me because I really love the Manowar version of this song. It's great to get the background information of how the song came to be and it shows that nothing but perfection will work for this band.
Many of these bonus clips might have been incorporated into the Hell on Earth documentary with sucess but it was probably done this way because otherwise the documentary would have just been too damn long.
Ok, all of the above is to be found on Disc 1. Now onto Disc 2!!!
Opening the second disc is the full 50 minute performance from Ringfest, Cologne 2002. The show is understandably a little short, but finds time to include the obligatory bass solo (Sting of the bumblebee) and speeches from Joey and Eric, the highlight being Joey defining Top of the Pops. What really blew me away was the sound. It is incredibly clear and powerful and deserves to be heard at maximum volume. Especially Karl's guitar has a powerful crunchy sound. I want to hear this on a surround system now!
Manowar deliver an energized and powerful performance that is professionally captured by many cameras. There are also many shots of the crazy audience and this is one show where I really wanted to be there. Watch out for the guy trying to do the world's fastest headbang during
Kill with power and what looks like a headbanging mutated cow trying to swallow the camera during
House of Death.
The concert is very entertaining, with Eric putting on a completely energized and powerful performance. He gets the audience going and it's not every day you get to hear 27.000 people screaming "Manowar kill", "Die die!", "Warriors of the world" or singing the entire "Herz aus stahl". Truly a night to remember.
My personal highlight is Eric nailing the final verse of
Black Wind Fire and Steel in a perfect way. His powerful voice never ceases to amaze me.
If you have any breath left after this show you can dig into the past and discover Manowar's entire Music video collection. Everything is here, from the classic
Gloves of Metal up till the latest
I believe
What is really special is that with each video you also get a "making of" feature which explains and shows a lot of cool background detail about the particular video. Really really cool stuff.
Have some patience on the bonus menu and you will be rewarded with a hilarious Historical commentary on the
Gloves of Metal video. Filled with self-irony this is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. A brilliant gem.
Another speciality is an animated version of
The warriors prayer that a Manowar fan made. Very impressive! I will be looking forward to part II of this if it is ever created.
Included is also a good 22 minute documentary on the Ringfest show and last but not least we get the classic 15 minute Secrets of Steel documentary which is part of the Secrets of Steel boxset, originally released around 1994 if my memory serves me well. Great to be able to put my worn vhs tape in the closet and watch the documentary in great quality again.
Overall the presentation could not be much better, with clearly explained animated menus, good chapter splits and overall a great layout. Certainly an improvement from Fire and Blood in the computer effects department though they are a little overused at times.
So to sum up, what we have here is yet another slice of heaven for every Manowar fan out there. The Hell on Earth series has set a very high standard for DVD releases in terms of both quality and quantity and I have yet to see any other release match this one.
Rating: 9/10Written by
Steen Thursday, December 11, 2003
