review by: Roberto Martinelli

Like the Behemoth DVD reviewed in this issue, More Visions and the Voice is released by Metal Mind, and the similarities are many. For one, the Vader set was recorded at the exact same place as the Behemoth one, Studio Leg in Kraków, Poland, although in Vader's case it looks a whole lot more like a real metal gig: a full house of rabid fans who jump around and headbang (sometimes even when the music is no longer playing) and less than excellent lighting. (Look for one shot of a fan who sees that the camera has noticed him and takes off his glasses to headbang.)

The show is pretty old (it's from 1998), but More Visions and the Voice had been previously released as Visions and Voice on VHS four years ago. The DVD release features that show (whose material only goes up to Black to the Blind) plus some eight bootleg video songs, biographies, a photo gallery, three music videos and an interview with Vader's frontman, Peter. All this material is much newer compared with the concert footage.

The sound of the concert is excellent. Everything that is in place on the CD albums is present here. The camera work leaves something to be desired, however. Peter and then Doc (drums) get the lion's share of the camera's attention. The camera angle for the drums is not very good as you generally only get to see Doc from the front and miss out on what he is doing technically. There is only one shot of his footwork, and that one time happens to be during a very quiet bass drum part. So that's wasted. It doesn't help that the lighting makes it hard to see.

The bootleg videos are really bad and basically unwatchable. The same goes for the music videos. One ("Kingdom") is merely footage from the show on the DVD. "Cold Demons" is a tacky collage of old, black and white footage of tanks driving around and shooting, and black and white footage of Peter dressed up as a tank commander mouthing the intro words to the song. Naturally, his lips don't match the words.

The bios and photo gallery (with a picture of Vader at Wacken Open Air 2000 featuring yours truly in it) are cool, and so is the interview. In it, Peter talks about the bands origins and a lot of other stuff pretty common to interviews. It turns out that the name Vader IS inspired from Star Wars, and that Vader's demo Morbid Reich is the #1 selling death metal demo tape of all time. Peter provides some amusing stories and insight to the band that makes the interview worth watching for fans.

And so basically that's what More Visions and the Voice is: a great acquisition for Vader fans. Although it's a quality release those who have a casual interest in this group won't get that much out of it.