Rock S'Cool DVD

Recently SPV records has put out releases by some major names including Motorhead, Sepultura and Judas Priest and these bring name value to this DVD release. Yet the problem with big names on smaller labels is that it’s often not their best work on display. That could be said for this release and with disappointing efforts on display from Priest, Sepultura, Helloween and Sepultura it is left to the lesser known bands to carry the can.

Iced Earth and Demons and Wizards (a side project of Iced Earth and Blind Guardian) both chip in with fine efforts that have surprisingly well made videos. Thrash titans Kreator make two contributions including the title track of their latest album Violent Revolution showing they can still make thrash like they used to, classic Kreator that wouldn’t be out of place on Pleasure to Kill.

The excellent Sellout from Biohazard along with Enemy by Fozzy keep proceedings interesting for me, however the problem with compilation DVDs is that it’s very unlikely everyone will like everything on it and that parts of it will drag. That’s the nature of the beast but with 31 tracks there should be enough to keep most metal fans amused.

Part of the charm of any compilation is to find new bands and although I had heard of every band on the DVD I was still pleasantly surprised by the Tristania track Libre as they were a band I had previously been dismissive of.

The main worry about buying a DVD sampler is that it’s incompatible with the modern idea of music on the move, when the majority of people are listening to music mostly through their ipod why would they want a DVD that they can only watch at home? Luckily SPV have realised this limitation of the DVD format and included on the DVD every video in MP4 format allowing them to be copied onto and played on a video ipod.

An interesting move that gives Rock S’Cool an edge over other DVD video collections but ultimately it comes down to the quality of the bands and this leads to questions on whether SPV really have a deep enough roster to put out a sampler DVD. There’s good stuff here, but possibly not enough to keep the interest for the full 2 hour duration.

Released 7th of August