Description

Still sealed double dvd in digipack cover

Wacken Festival has been quite good at documenting their festival and releasing their Armageddon Over Wacken dvds (they didnt made any in 2001). However one of the best in the series is probably the one from 2003. This film was made by Roax Films and directed, I think, by Ronald Matthes. The dvd is a staggering in its scope. It has two discs and 35 performances spread across two dvds, totalling 3 hours 48 minutes of time, but the main “movie” on the first disc is 2 1/2 hours long–the length of a long, but watchable-in-one-sitting, movie. All performances were, of course, shot and recorded live at Wacken in 2003. They are not chronological, and there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to the order of bands shown on the dvd, but Freedom Call opens the disc, and numerous bands follow, including Running Wild, The Crown, Testament, Vader, Nile, In Flames, Metalium, Primal Fear, Rage, Sinner, Gamma Ray and Twisted Sister. Special emphasis is put on Testament (3 tracks—“Over the Wall,” “Burnt Offerings” and “Alone in the Dark”), Nile (“Black Seeds of Vengeance,” “Blessed Dead”), Gamma Ray (“One With The World” and “Last Before the Storm”), and Twisted Sister (“Like A Knife In The Back” and “I Am, I’m Me”). There are also performances by Victory, Saxon, Evidence One, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Subway to Sally, Holy Moses, Seventh One, Dark Age, Lordi, Onkel Tom, Dew-Scented, Kataklysm, Carpathian Forest, Diamond Head, and Sentenced. Like Wacken itself, the dvd showcases numerous bands cutting across all styles of metal. The sets are filmed beautifully. Every frame of this movie explodes with colour, the sound is almost always perfect, and the direction and editing are timely and straightforward. In addition to the bands playing onstage, there’s the requisite audience shots, showing pretty realistically the endurance test (heat, sun, dust) that Wacken fans go through, and their gleeful abandon when their favourite bands come on. Also the beginnings and endings of tracks are liberally strewn with funny encounters with Wacken fans, shots from the camp sites and backstage areas, and many other tidbits that really show you what the Wacken festival is like as a true experience. In my opinion it’s these items that truly bring Armageddon Over Wacken into the realm of something transcendental. There are some quiet, almost exasperated dedication of the Twisted Sister guys as they prepare backstage for their set as headliners. But one track really stands out here, and I was shocked at which one—the very last track on the first disc, Onkel Tom’s “Bon Scott Hab Ich Noch Live Gesehen.” This track finishes the self-contained 2 1/2 hour “movie” that comprises the first disc. It’s a hugely energetic set, but it’s meaningless without another, seemingly irrelevant bit of filler earlier in the film, where Onkel Tom attends a drinking contest in one of the side tents earlier in the day. Several drunken German fellows win the contest and the chance to come out and join Onkel Tom onstage that night. In the final track on the disc, they do. It was one of the very last sets of Wacken and there’s a sense of farewell, last-call, get-your-party-on-before-it’s-gone melancholy beneath the music and merriment. It’s really hard to describe here–you just have to see it. If you love metal–even if you haven’t been to Wacken–you owe it to yourself to see this awesome film!

Track list:
1. Freedom Call -The Quest
2. Victory -Temples Of Gold
3. Saxon -Princess Of The Night
4. Running Wild -Welcome To Hell
5. Evidence One -In The Beginning There Was Fire
6. The Crown -Under The Whip
7. Die Apokalyptischen Reiter -Instinct
8. Testament -Over The Wall
9. Vader -Reign Forever World
10. Nile -Black Seeds Of Vengeance
11. In Flames -Watch Them Feed
12. In Flames -Only For The Weak
13. Subway To Sally -Falscher Heiland
14. Holy Moses -World Chaos
15. Seventh One -Crimson Sky
16. Metalium -Pain Crawls In The Night
17. Dark Age -Suicide Crew
18. Primal Fear -Angel In Black
19. Rage -Higher Than The Sky
20. Sinner -Born To Rock
21. Gamma Ray -One With The World
22. Lordi -Would You Love A Monsterman
23. Twisted Sister -Like A Knife In The Back
24. Twisted Sister -I Am, I’m Me
25. Onkel Tom -Bon Scott Hab Ich Noch Live Gesehen
26. Holy Moses -Nothing For My Mum
27. Dew-Scented -Cities Of The Dead
28. Kataklysm -Where The Enemy Sleeps
29. Carpathian Forest -Mask Of The Slave
30. Diamond Head feat. Jess Cox -Am I Evil
31. Testament -Burnt Offerings
32. Testament -Alone In The Dark
33. Sentenced -Nepenthe
34. Gamma Ray -Last Before The Storm
35. Nile -Blessed Dead