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The last two years
the God of Doom was in favor of Solitue
Aeturnus. After many years in lethargic
state the band was awaken, released
"Alone", which is by far
the best album since "Through
the Darkest Hour" (and competes
it hardly as well), put their foots
on European ground and delivered some
awesome live performances and some
of them participated in projects that
nobody could imagine in his wildest
dreams. So, what next? Metal Mind
Production offered them the chance
to capture a live performance in DVD,
something that makes it the second
time that the Texan doom-masters provide
visual forms of their music since
the "Days of Doom" VHS tape
in mid ‘90s. The show was filmed
in Stodola Club at Warsaw, Poland
and to be frank I was quite interest
in this release, since I wanted to
confirm their good performance during
the last two years.
"Hour of Despair"
is consisted by tracks that come mainly
from the albums that followed "Beyond
the Crimson Horizon". Only one
track, "Destiny Falls to Ruin",
comes from the first two albums (which
by the way were recently re-released
by the same label in limited numbered
edition). But don't be afraid since
the rest tracklist is carefully selected
and performed in all their excellence.
The gig starts with some doom monoliths,
such as "Scent of Death",
"Haunting the Obscure" and
"Mental Pictures", while
the middle part is consisted by mid-tempo
tracks. Songs like "Sightless",
"9th Day: Awakening", "Phantoms"
(John Perez prologued this as coming
from their worst album) and "Is
There" give the mark of robust,
riff-based, headbanging doom metal.
The final part give the familiar slow
and heavy anthems of Solitude Aeturnus,
such as "Pawns of Anger",
"Waiting for the Light"
and "Days of Prayer". There
you will see John Perez showing the
same maniac behaviour he showed on
stage in last year's Greek appearances
before the Sabbathic "Falling"
and probably you will wonder if he's
out of his mind. During the whole
show you will enjoy a theatric appearance
by Robert Lowe, who is by far the
best singer and frontman in doom metal
these days. He takes as many forms
as the track requires. He can be enchanted,
he can be obscene, and he can be vicious
and depressed at the same time. I
may have some arguments on the static
appearance of the rest band members,
but this is not something that worried
me at all.
The bonus part is
quite good. Though the quality is
very low, the two supplemental gig
parts reward the old fans, as they
will listen to a few of the greatest
doom metal tunes ever. The first bonus
gig (Live at Joe's Garage, 1987) features
Kristoff Gabehart, the first Solitude
Aeturnus singer, while the second
gig (Live at On the Rocks, 1992) is
a documentary of the glorious days
of early ‘90s, where the band
put their mark on doom metal. The
interview is pretty typical and sometimes
boring, since both John Perez and
Robert Lowe seem out-of-context, while
as far as the rest DVD gifts, such
as photos, biography, discography
and wallpapers are usual features
of the MMP releases.
Let's see some production
issues. First of all I wasn't satisfied
with the lighting show, especially
in the couple first tracks. This infra-blue
light was quite annoying in their
attempt to create a psychedelic atmosphere.
Secondly the shooting could be better.
I understand that the setting is not
as convenient as in previous MMP releases
(for example in Wyspianski Theater
at Katowice where Galahad, Arena and
many other DVDs were filmed), but
the shooting is quite typical and
sometimes uninspired. Finally I would
like to see the Polish fans to be
more expressive, as they seem to know
the tracks, but they aren't responsive
at all.
"Hour of Despair"
is a DVD that all fans of doom metal
will enjoy. As I have stated elsewhere
this is the class speaking. The band
is in magnificent form and I hope
they'll continue this way. Their performance
is here to stay and to remind us these
prolific figures of doom metal. |
