Roxx Productions has certainly done its fair
share to bring back some interest in Christian
metal over the past few years. The company spearheaded
the Stryper Expos a while back, released the well-done
Holy Soldier DVD last year, worked with Once Dead
(featuring former members of the legendary Vengeance
Rising), and they’ve coordinated the Up
From The Ashes festival two years running. All
of this is exciting news for those of us who grew
up following this heavy metal subgenre in the
80’s and early 90’s.
This DVD combines footage from both years of
the aforementioned festival. Vocalist Scott Waters
of Ultimatum puts in his final performance with
Once Dead, and Deliverance makes a rare live appearance
following a reunion of sorts. For some odd reason,
the sound quality is pretty good throughout with
the exception of Deliverance, arguably the best
band on here. “Learn” and “Not
Too Good 4 Me” display a great showing for
the band, but a better mix on the DVD would have
made their performance stand out even more. Stricken
(featuring members of Tower of 100) is a pretty
good hardcore-looking metal band. Ultimatum seems
to be a much better band than I once gave them
credit for. In one of my first writing assignments
ever, I wrote a scathing review of the band’s
Puppet Of Destruction for HM Magazine in 1998.
I garnered the wrath and ire of not only frontman
Waters, but also of label head Steve Rowe (Mortification).
I’m sure this positive nod won’t mend
any bridges, but suffice it to say Ultimatum sounds
great on this DVD.
The second year of the festival had a reunited
Saint headlining. I never got into the band back
in the day, and I can’t say that I missed
much. Right down to some of vocalist Josh Kramer’s
Rob Halford like moves, they come off as a Christian
version of Judas Priest. It was bands like this
that gave the religious alternatives to mainstream
metal a bad name in the 80’s. I’m
not normally this cruel, but his performance comes
off as funny rather than commanding. And anyone
who’s seen Priest live knows how Halford
rules the stage. I’ll end the negativity
with this: the one thing nearly as bad as tight
fitting leather pants is loose fitting leather
pants! In his defense, Kramer sounds good vocally,
as does the rest of the band.
The bonus footage is fun, especially the trivia
portion. Throughout a series of questions pertaining
to the bands as well as the festival itself, it
took me about an hour to get through it correctly.
But I was rewarded with Ultimatum’s live
rendition of the Vengeance Rising classic “Burn”
and the always excellent “Weapons Of Our
Warfare” by Deliverance.
Reviewed by Chad Olson
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