Grim and Frostbitten DVD

Immortal- Live at Wacken 2007 (The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh). That’s a mouth full. So Immortal’s DVD /CD combo just hit stores here in the states yesterday and like a good little consumer I went and fetched myself a copy. Why did I shell out perfectly good money for this when there’s plenty of ripped footage of this DVD on youtube/internetz.

Well I’ll start by stating that I saw Immortal on their 07’ reunion tour and the band was on fucking fire. They only played like two shows here in America (NYC and LA FTW!) but their West Coast gig was insane. Abbath was running around like a madman saying the weirdest shit in between songs. The venue was beyond packed, saturated with the smell of sweat, hair and Norwegian fog machines. Some of the girls in the audience (and there was a lot) looked like Horgh was blasting their G-spots and not the drums. Yeah, the show was fucking EPIC.

So it’s 2010 now. I saw Immortal again on their last “mini tour” but was disappointed. The band’s energy seemed cut in half while their respective waist lines almost doubled. The setlist featured lots of newer material off 2009’s All Shall Fall. I’m not hating on that record (it’s pretty good…no Sons of Northern Darkness though) but the unfamiliarity of the tunes left the crowd slightly puzzled and killed the vibe that made their 07’ tour the onslaught that it was.

So purchasing this DVD is like halfassed time travel for me. A way to relieve the awesomeness of Immortal’s 2007 reunion. Only instead of playing to a thousand or assholes in some theater in Hollywood, its at fucking WACKEN OPEN AIR. The overall quality of the footage is kind of “eh,” like someone filmed the concert on VHS and threw it on a DVD. The title/menus are lacking and the overall packaging of the box is rather drab as well. At The Gate’s Wacken DVD shits all over this in those regards but again, the main draw here is the setlist and the band’s awesome performance. Three out of shape dudes dressed like KISS commanding the shit out of the entire festival.