Search - Slayer - War at the Warfield on DVD

An Hour And Thirty Minutes Of Pure Hell (and I mean that in

One of many | somewhere in the blur | 03/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What's the only thing better than Slayer? Live Slayer! Not too long after the release of God Hates Us All, Slayer set out to make a concert DVD that would bring their trademark speed, aggression, and choas into the homes of millions of Slayer fans. War At The Warfield does just that. With the perfect mix of old and new material, this iconic thrash metal band delivered a bone-crushing, blood-pumping, head-banging show that brings the songs to a new life with an intensity only Slayer could provide.

The concert itself is superb and needs no explaining. The only negative thing about it is what you've probably already heard from other reviews: the inclusion of excerpts from the "Fans Rule" extra feature. The "Fans Rule" documentary (if one could call it that) is basically a collection of drunken (or just plain stupid) Slayer fans ranting and raving about their love for the band. There are a few pieces of interviews with the band members, but for the most part it's a bunch of morons. I think it's very obvious that this documentary was meant to be more comedic than a serious representation of Slayer fans, but it's still a bit irritating to sit through. This special feature, of course, doesn't have to be viewed since it's a separate option on the menu. But bits and pieces from it are stuck into the concert footage in between songs here and there. I was worried this would be terribly distracting and ruin the show. Luckily, it's breif enough that it didn't matter to me all that much. And, after you view the whole concert, you can skip directly to any song through the track list. That helps out a bit for those that find the excerpts annoying. Also included in the special features are photo stills and the music video for the song Bloodline (which is indeed a dark delight). As for the sound and image quality, it's pretty impressive stuff. Regardless of the darkened setting of the stage, the band is still visible and comes through crystal clear. The audio, on the other hand, has one stinky aspect: it's only in stereo. You have an option of 5.1 Surround or standard Stereo, but for people with mono televisions (I know there aren't many, but I happen to be one of them) the intstruments are split. Both sides pick up the drums, microphone, and Araya's bass (although it's a bit drowned out) fine. But in the left side, Hanneman's guitar dominates over King's guitar, and in the right side King's guitar dominates over Hanneman's guitar. Either way, everything can be heard, but with mono audio you just have to decide which guitarist you want to be louder. Of course, if you've have stereo speakers or better, this is nothing to worry about.

Regardless of any imperfections -- really, the only two would be the mandatory stereo and the crappy "Fans Rule" section -- War At The Warfield makes it all worth purchasing because of the concert alone. Nothing could convince me that this show isn't worth the buy. If you like Slayer, you'll love to see it all happen live. It's loud, heavy music the way it was meant to be. I definitely recommend this DVD for anyone who's a fan.

For those curious, here's a listing of the tracks and the albums they're from:

1. Disciple (God Hates Us All)
2. War Ensemble (Seasons In The Abyss)
3. Stain of Mind (Diabolus In Musica)
4. New Faith (God Hates Us All)
5. Postmortem (Reign In Blood)
6. Raining Blood (Reign In Blood)
7. Hell Awaits (Hell Awaits)
8. Here Comes the Pain (God Hates Us All)
9. Die by the Sword (Show No Mercy)
10. Dittohead (Divine Intervention)
11. Bloodline (God Hates Us All)
12. God Send Death (God Hates Us All)
13. Dead Skin Mask (Seasons In The Abyss)
14. Seasons in the Abyss (Seasons In The Abyss)
15. Captor of Sin (Haunting The Chapel)
16. Mandatory Suicide (South Of Heaven)
17. Chemical Warfare (Haunting The Chapel)
18. South of Heaven (South Of Heaven)
19. Angel of Death (Reign In Blood)
"