There are two ingredients necessary to pull off a live Metal concert and make it an experience for the listener on album. The first is to have the energy and feel so intense and magnified that the listener can visualize the performance vividly. Second, is to create the musical atmosphere as a non-stop, supercharged event of songs that belong on the set list; with each song being more powerful than the previous.
Listening to the concert in its entirety without skipping around songs should be the end result for the listener. Rob Zombie has pulled this off here, with an unbelievably excited audience heard throughout in the background. Hearing the audience involvement in singing along to many of these tracks takes you right there, making you feel intimately involved in the listening experience. Many of Rob Zombie's Horror Metal classics are found here, with "Dragula", "Living Dead Girl", and "American Witch".
Honestly, many of these songs sound better live than the studio versions, that again is due in part to that live energy and enthusiasm that is so key to this album. The intro to "Black Sunshine" is here, and the live version just rips apart at the seams and explodes with Metal abandon. John 5 does get a solo in here, the few minutes it lasts makes you crave for more. It is a relief to see "Thunderkiss '65" performed by Zombie. This is the funky, macabre, Metal song that catapulted Rob Zombie in his early days (1992) with his band White Zombie.
Rob Zombie's vocal prowess does not disappoint here. John 5 on guitar is a Metal shredder, Piggy D on bass is excellent and Tommy Clufetos on drums is always the hardest working drummer in Metal. As a band, this unit is tight and sound like they have been together for years. Let's hope this is not the last time we here a Zombie concert put to album/disc, I want more!
LONG LIVE ROB ZOMBIE.
LONG LIVE METAL.