TESTAMENT ‘Seen Between The Lines’ DVD
Escapi Music(2005)
OK, those of you who know Testament, please raise your right hand - well, if I was to make that question to a group of Metalheads at the beginning of the 90’s, I can guarantee you that I would have seen more hands in the air than I could possibly count – and believe me, I am quite good at mathematics! During that era, everything looked quite promising for Metal music, and especially for one of the most important genres of the extreme sound - Thrash.
Having already acquired plenty of experience by recording three studio albums up to that point, and being amongst the most important representatives of the San Francisco’s Bay Area scene, Testament went to release their fifth studio effort “Souls of Black”. The album came out in 1990 through Atlantic Records and was embraced by both fans and music press. The band immediately embarked on a world tour for the promotion of “Souls of Black” – parts of which were recorded on video, and were released in a VHS format the following year, with the title “Seen Between the Lines”.
Yes, but that happened almost fifteen years ago, and I’m pretty sure that the most loyal fans of the band did manage to get their hands on it. What about all those people who have only recently discovered this phenomenal band and would love to add this video to their collection? Well, do I have some good news for you people…Escapi music has decided to release a re-mastered version of this historical video in DVD format, so that the old fans could stop worrying about ruining their precious video copy, and the young ones would see the classic Testament line-up conquering large arenas during the most successful (commercially speaking) period of their career!
Well, I guess that now it is time to see what this DVD has to offer. On the main menu, you will find a documentary which features six live tracks (“Eeris Inhabitants”, “Face in the Sky”, “Greenhouse Effects”, “Souls of Black”, “Sins of Omission” and “Disciples of the Watch”), short interviews with the members of the band, on the road and backstage footage, as well as four promotional videos from the Atlantic records archives (“Nobody’s Fault”, “Practice what you Preach”, “Souls of Black” and “The Legacy”. One very interesting thing that I found out is that, by visiting the set up menu, you have the option of choosing the original audio sound which will give you the feeling of the original recordings. Finally, on the “extras” menu, you have access to the band’s most recent biography & discography, an image gallery with some very “interesting” pictures, and two short documentaries – “Dinner with Testament” and “Testament in Tokyo”. Now, all these goodies will manage to keep you company for a good one hour and twenty minutes – not bad I must say!
Overall, I believe that the release of this DVD was an excellent idea, and I really hope that many more bands, especially from the same period and genre (Sabbat, Coroner, Kreator, etc) will follow Testament’s example. The truth is that the sound on the live tracks is not as good compared with today’s standards, but remember – this release first saw the light of day fourteen years ago! Also, the most important thing that this DVD will do is to give you an idea of how Testament sound on stage which I, having seen them quite recently, can only describe as a unique experience! My only objection concerning this release is that it doesn’t contain the promo videos for “Over the Wall” and “Trial by Fire” (one of the best Thrash Metal videos ever), and I wish that one day someone will bother to explain tome the reason why! If you are a Testament fan, you don’t need me to tell you why you should go and buy this DVD. If you are young and you just recently decided to start listening to Thrash Metal, then trust me – this is a great band to invest in!
****½
Review by John Stefanis
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