Peace Through Superior Firepower

Wow... There's are lot to cover here, so I'll start out with the main feature, the concert in Paris.

CoF have always been known for their outrageous stage shows, but after watching this DVD, I was left asking, "What was so outrageous about that?"
The band's stage wear is standard fare, as it's just about the same thing you see them wearing in the promo pictures; slight touches of white and black face paint, leather shirts and pants, etc. It seems that the band aren't as nearly keen on the make-up live as they are in promo pics, and probably with good reason. Dani is the only one in full face paint, and even his choice of paint is far from what you would expect. Aside from the appearance, there's nothing shocking or theatrical except for a few things; there's a really cool backdrop, a few torches scattered here and there... but that's to be expected. The only things that will catch the viewer's attention are the large robot that comes out on stage on "The Promise of Fever" and "Mother of Abominations," as well as the few models that appear on stage for seemingly random things in sections of songs. (Ex: The lady that comes out on stage during "The Black Goddess Rises" and does some rope-climbing stints, the people dressed in gargoyle suits on "Nemesis.") Those looking for a shocking stage show, turn away. You won't find it here.

Musically, the band is on top of things for the majority of the set. Adrian's drumming is incredibly tight, but he has some pretty noticable fuck-ups on "Gilded Cunt." (Listen to the double bass at the beginning of the song, and you'll hear it too.) Paul and James are superb on their aspects of the show, especially on "A Gothic Romance" and "Tortured Soul Asylum." You can only hear the bass on a few select parts, so I won't even bother with that; you just need to know that it's there. Martin's keyboards take a backseat to rest of the band's live show, but his performance is flawless through the show's duration. Dani's vocals are... eh. Let's leave it at that. This DVD is living proof that age is taking its toll on his voice. He barely manages to squeeze out the higher shrieks on older songs, and he tends to fall behind the tempo on a few parts. Another thing that bothered me was that goddamn "clean voice" that he uses in between songs; oh yes, he actually uses it here. Not only is it annoying, but sometimes totally off-key from the music.

As you would expect from a band's last show on an especially long tour, there's not much stage presence. Dani prances to and fro like a troll as expected, but even his vigor is clearly diminished. Paul and James are fairly active through the show, moving from one side of the stage to the next and jumping around at will. Charles doesn't do much of anything; to be truthful, I don't think he moves from his designated spot more the 3 times during the whole show. Martin seems to have the most energy out of anyone, which is ironic since he's stuck in the background for the entire show.

The quality of the show, as far as sound and video go, is remarkably below par from what you would expect from CoF. The video quality in no way matches up to "Heavy Left-Handed and Candid." It's rather grainy, but is compensated for with more variety in camera shots of the band. Audio quality also is sub-par. It can best be described as slightly muddy, especially in the drum department.

Extra features: There are a lot of them. 6 music videos, which make for an interesting watch if you've missed the videos from "Her Ghost in the Fog" onwards; a 60-minute documentary detailing the recording processes of DaaD and Nymphetamine and tours following each release; (Let it be known that this documentary shows the prankster, oddball side of the band. There is some funny stuff, and some things in there that seem totally random and out place.) a photo gallery which features some of the artwork from previous albums; and also a video of an in-store signing in a Virgin Records store, which is totally pointless.

This DVD is definitely worth picking up if you're a CoF fan, but those who have already seen their previous live DVD won't be impressed.

Depending on whether or not you own Heavy Left-Handed and Candid, this DVD will either be only just as good or a complete waste of money.

It's like this:

Pro: The DVD layout (menus, etc.) look much better.
Con: There's these really annoying 2 second clips every time you go to a different part of the menu and there is no way to skip them.

Pro: They perform better songs than they did on Heavy Left Handed and Candid.
Con: The ones that aren't from Nymphetamine are performed really bad.

Pro: They perform more songs than they did on Heavy Left-Handed and Candid.
Con: It's now twice as boring because of this. I swear through 70% of the show, they're just fucking standing there. No energy.

Pro: More camera angles focusing on the whole band, instead of just Dani and the guitarists.
Con: Noticably WORSE video quality.

Pro: The music is very clear, all instruments are clearly defined, guitars don't have nearly as much distortion as they did on the last DVD.
Con: Too bad half of the talented people in Cradle of Filth aren't on this DVD, leaving only the second-rate musicians and Dani.

Pro: There are six music videos.
Con: They are all unbelieveably stupid and boring. You've probably seen them somewhere before anyway.

Pro: Another documentary.
Con: Another documentary. (I'll just say this... The documentary is really just a two-hour mock episode of Jackass starring Cradle of Filth. It gracefully opens with Bam Margera and some guy's penis. Enough said.)

The only thing about this DVD that is even remotely redeemable is that they played "Tortured Soul Asylum", which is probably the best performance on here, despite the many vocal errors.

One thing that will surprise you is that even Sarah Jezebel Deva seems so fucking bored and disinterested in performing that even she does a really shitty job.

Rent it off of Netflix and decide for yourself. Only for die-hard fans. Everyone else will writhe in disappointment.