Pain: Live is Overrated (DVD)

Peter Tagtgren remains a busy man. Not only does he juggle his successful producer's role with his popular death metal band Hypocrisy, but he also fronts the gothic/industrial/techno metal band Pain. Live is Overrated is the first DVD from Pain, and is especially timely now that the band has a few albums under their belt and are starting to make a name for themselves on the live circuit over in Europe. There's roughly two hours of goodies on this DVD, the main portion is a live performance from the Metalmania Festival in Poland back in March of 2005. In front of a rabid audience, the band plays eight songs that span their recorded discography. Tunes like "End of the Line", "Same Old Song", "Supersonic Bitch" and the anthem "Shut Your Mouth" sound just as powerful live as they do on CD. Peter has the gorgeous and gothic Andrea Odendahl and Alla Fedynitch on guitar and bass for the live show, as well as drummer David Wallin, while Tagtgren himself handles lead vocals and guitar. While it's readlily obvious that the massive amount of keyboards that the band uses in their music is provided by a computer backing track for live dates (surprising that they don't bring a keyboard player), there is so much multi-tracked vocals during this show that I'm a little suspicious that either this show was really touched up in post-production or that Pain has a vocal track that plays behind the band as well when they tour. Considering how rich and dense Pain's music is on CD, it might be hard to recreate live given that there are only 4 musicians on stage. Regardless, it's still a great set.

Another show from Poland on the same tour is presented, this one at a jam packed TV studio. The set list here is completely different, as the band plays the rampaging "Suicide Machine", the melodic electronic rocker "Nothing", and a great cover of the Beatles "Eleanor Rigby". Plus, they also do an energetic version of the catchy "On and On", one of the bands many appealing songs. Bootleg footage of two songs from a club in Finland are also includes, as well as a lengthy interview with Tagtgren where he talks about both Pain and Hypocrisy, but mainly the new Pain album Dancing with the Dead. For most Pain fans, the fun part here will be the inclusion of 7 Pain videos, all of which are very cool.

This is about as essential a DVD for Pain or Peter Tagtgren fans as you can get.

Track Listing
Metalmania 2005-Katowice, Poland, March 12th 2005
1) Supersonic Bitch
2) End of the Line
3) On Your Knees
4) Dancing with the Dead
5) It's Only Them
6) Just Hate Me
7) Same Old Song
8) Shut Your Mouth
Krzemionki TV Studio-Cracow, Poland, January 13th 2005
1) Greed
2) Breathing In, Breathing Out
3) Suicide Machine
4) Nothing
5) Eleanor Rigby
6) On and On
Tavastia Club Bootleg-Helsinki, Finland, March 29th 2005
1) Supersonic Bitch
2) End of the Line
Bonus Videoclips
1) End of the Line
2) Suicide Machine
3) On and On
4) Shut Your Mouth
5) Just Hate Me
6) Same Old Song
7) Bye/Die
Additional Bonus Features
Interview with Peter Tagtgren
Biography
Discography
Photo Gallery
Desktop Images
Weblinks
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Added: February 20th 2006
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Pain Website
Hits: 7018
Language: english

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