If you are a fan of Type O Negative you are definitely going to want to get your hands on "Symphony For The Devil"; with that being said, if you've never seen them live this is a good chance to get a feel of what they are capable of but you might be a little disappointed by their sound. Even though I am a huge fan of the group I can admit that in concert … well, the music is there but the vocals aren't. Yes, that pains me to say it but it is the truth. Before I get any further into this I have to say thanks to the folks at Hastings for listing this at such an incredible price .. so low that I was expecting to get something with scratches all over it but when I say that this looks brand new, I am not exaggerating. Until this was released all fans had to pick from were some pretty horrid versions of the infamous 'red tapes' and the video release of After Dark. Now if it weren't enough that you get the DVD with concert footage, pranks and other assorted oddities you also get a CD with some very interesting tracks. And for those curious, Mr. Steele does elaborate [although briefly] about his stint at Rikers Island but if you don't know the details of why he was there.. it's better off to not get on the subject with him.

About the only thing negative that I can say about this DVD is Slitzy. This guy isn't the least bit funny and why they keep him around is beyond me. You know, I will never, ever be mistaken for a mature person but even I can't find a stitch of humor in the things that he does. Sure "The Incredible Jew" was a little funny – a take on The Incredible Hulk but I can see this really offending people. I'm only hoping that he will find a nice mossy rock somewhere, climb under it and not contaminate the gene pool. The DVD case is really nice, not that cheap paper and plastic crap … no this is so cool, so cool that I have no idea what it's called [thanks Mike for telling me that it's called a 'super jewel case']. There is a thick paper sleeve that it's packaged in and I'm not all that sure of how I like how the CD and DVD are mounted. Instead of separate sections for them, they are stacked on top of each other. This threw me off when I opened it because – for a split second – I though there were two DVD's and I almost passed out. I'm not sure if this is some special version of the DVD or if they are all packaged like this but it is a hell of a lot nicer than the slim line cases or the cardboard ones.

DVD Selections

In The flesh
Cinnamon Girl
Waste Of Life Intro
Too Late: Frozen
In Praise Of Bacchus
Kill All The White People
Cornucopia
Wolf Moon [Zoanthropic Paranoia]
Everything Dies
My Girlfriend's Girlfriend
Are You Afraid?
Gravity
Black Sabbath Intro
Christian Women
Love You To Death
Black No. 1

The concert video footage was shot in 1999 at the Bizarre Festival in Kleve, Germany. Normally I'm not a huge fan of events that are held in an open-air environment but I do have to admit that the sound and video quality of this is extremely impressive. Bizarre used to be held every year but now it's every five year with the next one slated for the summer of 2007 so if you are in the area, make sure you look for it. If I've said it once I will say it a million times, Type O Negative live is an incredible thing but Peter's vocals are never as gripping as what you get on the studio cuts. For the most part he does a great job in the older tracks like "Christian Woman" and "Bacchus" but if you are expecting to hear the same stuff that appears on CD's, you are going to be disappointed. Hearing "Wolf Moon" live is always a thrill but the one from this show wasn't up to par with others that have surfaced on bootlegs. In between the songs are cut ins of backstage antics, stuff the guys recorded and the usual Type O stuff. I really can't stress this enough, the audio and video recording is excellent so if you have been disappointed with other live DVD's from groups, rest assured you won't be with this one.

I started doing these 'lists' when I got all the CKY movies so I figured I might as well keep with the format and include some here. This doesn’t have a parental advisory warning on it [at least my copy didn't] but suffice it to say that this isn’t something that you would want kids to watch.

Breasts: None [blurred out]
Testicals: Four pair
Penis Shots: Seven
The "F" Bomb: 20+
Fecal Expulsion: 3
Men In Kilts: 1
Men In Towels: 5
Televisions Destroyed: 0


The Interview

Fans of the cable television station Fuse will know who the interviewer is .. none other than that tiny tart Juliya. The interview is pretty straight forward and contains a lot of vulgarities but at the same time, you get to hear some of the stories, pranks and misgivings that the members have collectively shared as a group. Intertwined with the main interview are snippets from other run ins between Juliya and the group. I was really hoping that there would be some footage of the interview she did with Peter in 2001 but alas, this was lacking it. The interview runs about thirty minutes and when you are watching it, time really does seem to fly. This is just one of the many perks to the DVD and something that true fans of the group will watch over and over … hearing Johnny laughing when Kenny is talking about Hitler to Josh is something that really needs to be made into a sound byte.

Bonus Audio CD

Evil Ways
Oye Como Va
Black Magic Woman

I'm not sure if all the versions of this release will have this bonus CD or not, moreover, I'm not sure if they will be packaged the same way mine is. The three song medley of Santana songs is a really nice perk for fans that are clamoring for something new from the group and as usual, they have managed to take classic songs and put their own dark twist on them. They did it with Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl and Seals & Crofts' Summer Breeze [as well as songs from Nirvana, Britney Spears and Black Sabbath]. If you are expecting three songs you'll be sitting there for a while hitting buttons on your CD player, there's only one track but it is pretty impressive. I'm not a huge fan of Santana but I knew all the original songs and hearing them all compiled into one song is something that you have to hear to understand how they managed to accomplish it without making it seem hokey.

Other Perks

Navigating your way through the DVD menu isn't hard and thankfully the people that put this together had the sense to break the live songs down into chapters. This was one of the major downfalls of Pantera's 3: Watch It Go; when you went to skip through a portion of the DVD it took you to the next home movie. There is a really nice photo montage of the group starting out with pictures from when they were kids; I am sure that everyone will get a laugh seeing them in those funky clothes from the 70's as well as the groups that they were in before Type O. The biography sections aren't as chocked full of information as I thought but it's still a nice perk for those who are new to the group.

The Bottom Line

When I heard that Type O was putting out a "live" DVD I was really excited about it but I didn’t let myself get too worked up … when a group puts out something like this you never know what the quality is going to be until you view it for yourself. Even though I am a huge fan of the group I can remain neutral and give the good and the bad about their releases, as far as this one is concerned, it's 90% awesome and 10% filler [thanks to Slitzy]. So far I have only seen this available in the DVD format so you VHS lovers might have to upgrade … you certainly do get more when you get the DVD versions. There are some sexual situations and nudity … and of course a felonious use and abuse of almost every swear word known to man but come on, it's Type O – do you really expect them to have halos and be dressed up like nuns [obvious satirical reference to the cover].


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369


Singles
Black No. 1, Summer Breeze, Love You To Death, Christian Woman, My Girlfriend's Girlfriend, Everything Dies, Cinnamon Girl

CD's
October Rust, Bloody Kisses, Life Is Killing Me, World Coming Down, Slow, Deep And Hard, The Least Worst of Type O Negative, Life Is Killing Me – Import Version

Video
Type O Negative: After Dark
Symphony For The Devil

Editorial
Blood. Sex. Fire. Lust & Immortality
The Best of Type O: Peter Steele Naked



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age