Released by: Frontiers Records
Release Date: Out Now!!!
Genre: Neo Classical Hard Rock/Metal
Links: http://www.royalhunt.com/news.php
Tracklist:
DISC 1 – Live in Japan 1996
1. Flight
2. 1348
3. Wasted Time
4. Stay Down
5. On the Run
6. Stranded
7. Keyboard Solo
8. Martial Arts
9. Far Away
10. Last Goodbye
11. Land of Broken Hearts
12. Makin’ a Mess
13. Clown in the Mirror
14. Guitar Solo
15. Step by Step
16. Drums and Bass Solo
17. Running Wild
18. Epilogue
19. Age Gone Wild
20. Ten to Life
21. Legion of the Damned
22. Kingdom Dark
23. Time
DISC 2 – Paradox – Closing the Chapter – Live in Japan 1998
1. Ava Maria Guirani (Ennio Morricone Cover)
2. The Awakening
3. River of Pain
4. Tearing Down the World
5. Message to God
6. Long Way Home
7. Time Will Tell
8. Silent Scream
9. It’s Over
A few weeks back we reviewed the new Royal Hunt album “Show Me How Live”, which marked the return of D.C Cooper the bands most celebrated vocalist. Throughout the years of listening to music and specifically trying to discover bands that sound different, that are enjoyable to listen to time and time again, one of those bands that I always came back to was the Danish based Royal Hunt founded by the band’s keyboardist Andre Andersen. Of course the band early years started with their original vocalist Henrik Brockman which himself was a formidable frontman, but it wasn’t until the American born D.C Cooper came along on albums “Moving Target” and “Paradox” the band’s most popular albums that it clearly left a mark on me personally.
Paradox was well received and amongst progressive rock connoisseurs it has been considered one of the best concept albums around, but the positive feedback was not without some controversy when it came down to the religion themes in it’s plot. Regardless of the feedback one thing was clear and that was Royal Hunt was here to stay and their trademark style mixing progressive metal and neo-classical roots was a treat to one’s ears.
All good things must come to and end and after D. C was booted from the band I lost a bit of an interest in the group, even though the music remain at a high level with the solid vocals of John West. Cooper went on to join the bands Silent Force a power metal outfit and in between several projects he kept busy, ohh can’t forget his solo album which was great and I’m still waiting on the sophomore solo stuff okay DC?
Alright now on to this 2 disc DVD package the real reason you’re reading this right?. First and foremost I’m not going to sugarcoat anything despite my bias towards this band. The video quality on this package is not so great in fact is kinda sucky and the actual concert is from 1996 only released in Japan back in the day. The first DVD is entitled “1996” and was recorded live in Japan just after the release of the band’s “Moving Target” album. The second disc is the complete live performance of the band’s “Paradox” album in it’s entirety. The performance itself is great, Cooper sounds great and alongside the tight niche of musicians and the great backup chorus you have quite a enjoyable rate live show. Once more the video is the big deal here and it seems like whoever remastered the package didn’t good a very good job of it if any at all. There are some dark spots that can be seen in the transition from each song and some small audio skips in between takes. I’m pretty sure the package is just a VHS rip but who knows. I was a little disappointing in this especially after a great performance by the band, the video should of have been a little better to give the stage and the setting justice.
The songs are all perform in all it’s glory and the 1st disc has some real treats from the early Hunt days, songs like “Stay Down” and “Far Away” are shown with new light. I always enjoyed the sharp guitar melodies of Jacob Kjaer and the thumping bass of Steen Morgensen as you can witness in these rare live settings from the band. The trademark backbone of the band are in its leader keyboard player Andre Andersen which injects his own classically trained keys into each song for a dramatic flavor. Listen to “River of Pain” or my own favorite “Message to Your God” and you’ll know what I mean.
The bulk of the matter here falls in the quality of the video not in the music because that by itself makes it a good purchase for loyal fans of the band. Similar to the Whitesnake Live at Donington 1990 DVD earlier this year that was a very popular bootleg from the 80’s by devoted fans, I’m sure the band had good intentions in it being a piece of footage that should of been widely released back in the day, the fact is that in this day in age with our advances in sound and video technology I expected more from this release. As a longtime fan of the band myself I would buy it just to own a piece of history from a band that probably should of been a hell of a lot more popular then they became and to have their most respectable vocalist back in the band now I would expect a new live concert sometime in the near future displaying the new material with the old.
Written by Denys
Ratings   Denys   7/10
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