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Destruction > Live Discharge: 20 Years of Total Destruction > Reviews
Destruction - Live Discharge: 20 Years of Total Destruction

A very complete package. - 90%

Shred1921, November 10th, 2004

This DVD is an example of how a music DVD should be made. Destruction's return to the forefront of the thrash scene is made complete with this release.

The live footage, which spans the band's entire career with Schmier (as if anything else was worthwhile anyway), is culled from three different shows. All the songs are mixed together, and interspersed with backstage cuts and footage of the band dicking around. A neat feature includes a small bar that pops up at the bottom of the screen, indicating the name of the song and which show it is taken from, which would be a great inclusion for people just getting into the band.

The production on the songs themselves is great. Everything sounds as it should, and the camera work is solid. It truely captures the energy and frantic atmosphere of a metal show. The fans, at the Wacken festival in particular, are going completely nuts for Destruction.

The songs chosen are all great, mixing material from the three newest albums with stuff from way back in the beginning of the band's career. Classics such as "Curse The Gods" and "Eternal Ban" are here in all their glory. The new stuff thrashes so hard, and the freshness of the tracks really shines through. It's also nice to have half-decently produced versions of the old stuff as well.

But the true gems of this DVD are located away from the concerts themselves. One of the main advantages of the DVD medium is the ability to include "bonus" materials and interactive menus. Live Discharge is one of the few metal DVDs that actually uses these things to their full ability. The menus are totally animated, and all feature cool industrial style backgrounds and graphics. The extra features here are immense. Firstly, there is a fully-navigable discography which features all the albums with Schmier. Seems lame on it's own, but there's short clips of every song on every album! There are also extra videos from other tours, music videos for "The Ravenous Beast" and "Desecrators Of The New Age," along with a long interview with Schmier, Mike and Marc. They talk about Destruction's entire career, and reminisce about old tours from the 80's and whatnot. Very interesting.

I own a fair share of metal DVDs, and my copy of Live Discharge definitely feels like the most worthwhile purchase. I recommend it to metal fans in general, as it is a very good value for your money; and seeing "Nailed To The Cross" live will blow you away.