VARIOUS ARTISTS – Best Of Bang Your Head!!! Festival

The DVD is entitled Best Of Bang Your Head!!! Festival, and that is in fact just what it is. The highlights are many on this release.

From 2005

Motörhead starts the show, playing “Dr. Rock.” This is a cool song with a lot of energy and Lemmy seems to have a blast on stage. Doro play “All We Are,” originally recorded by her previous band Warlock in 1987. This is, in fact, a really boring song that doesn’t vary at all, and you can’t wait for it to end. They manage to make it a little more interesting by including the audience, but it doesn’t help much. Krokus give fans a lot of Rock with their “Long Stick Goes Boom.” It’s amazing how similar the vocal is to AC/DC’s Bon Scott, but Krokus is no copy, it is way cooler than that! Twisted Sister’s guitarist Jay Jay French holds a long speech about why the 80’s bands are so much better than the newer bands, before they play their sing-along “The Price.”

From 2004

Death Angel starts off like they’re insecure and you wonder where this is going, but when the whole band joins the guitar, they almost blow your head clean off. Loads of raw energy and really heavy and cool riffs along with Mark Osegueda’s Thrashy vocal, gives fans a cool performance from the San Francisco five-piece Thrash Metal Band. Magnum provides some cool AOR, in the same style as Journey, with their “Kingdom Of Madness.” It’s always cool to see Sebastian Bach on stage, but on this version of his old band Skid Row’s “Youth Gone Wild,” he doesn’t impress much. He seems to have big problems hitting those high notes on the chorus, and it’s kind of embarrassing to watch.

From 2003

Annihilator performs “Allison Hell.” This is a Thrashy little piece and it’s got cool riffs with some non-traditional elements to it. Brainstorm starts “Shiva’s Tears” with female dancers in Indian outfits, supposedly worshiping the Indian god Shiva. They give a good performance and give the audience some good German Heavy Metal. The only negative thing about it is that the vocals are too low. This is a problem that you notice on many songs. You can never go wrong with Dio. “Rainbow In The Dark” in front of the whole Bang Your Head!!! Festival at night is just awesome. Ronnie James Dio never puts on a bad show. It’s also cool to see Twisted Sister performing “I Wanna Rock” at night. There’s not one single person in the audience that doesn’t scream “I WANNA ROCK” when Dee gets in their face! The crowd goes crazy with their fists in the air.

Pink Cream 69 plays some cool Melodic Heavy Metal and seems very tight on “Keep Your Eye On The Twisted.” Then Sodom gives some urban assault with “The Saw Is The Law.” They even have people dressed as soldiers on stage.

Next, you get some Bluesy Rock from Y&T. “Dirty Girl” is a cool tune that covers the Melodic Blues part of the release, and also helps to vary the musical spectrum on the DVD. U.D.O. is a big hit at the Bang Your Head!!! Festival. He sounds great as always on “Man & Machine” and his unique voice doesn’t disappoint this time as well.

From 2002

Candelmass is energetic and raw on stage. They play Hard and Heavy Metal and really give it all on “Samarithan.” Bonfire sounds cool on “Under Blue Skies,” but the sound is nothing but horrible. The bass drowns in the vocals, and the crappy drum sound. Hopefully, for the crowd’s sake, it was better for them, than it is for whomever watchs this DVD!

Saxon kicks ass from the very beginning of “Killing Ground.” Pyroshow and heavy guitar riffs are always a winner. Unfortunately, the sound is also bad for the co-founders of New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The vocals drown, and the words are difficult to hear. Really a great shame when you have a band like Saxon on stage.

From 2001

Six Feet Under is the hardest and most vicious band on the DVD. With deep growling vocals combined with both slow and quick paced music, and in-your-face guitar riffs, “Feasting on the Blood of the Insane” sounds cool and destructive. Uriah Heep is, of course, added with “Bird Of Prey.” This is a classic you never get tired of hearing, so it’s a must for the release. Finally, there is Dee Snider from Twisted Sister playing “S.M.F.” This guy knows how to get the crowd to go nuts. It doesn’t rain during his performance, it pours down on the crowd. But, no one seems to mind and Dee gets the people to sing “Fuck The Rain” with him.

There are backstage films with German audio commentary for all the years. It’s a pity, though, that they didn’t make any subtitles in English. Seems like they forgot that the Metal Gods are worshiped outside the German border as well. Even though, it’s cool to see another side of the festival. You get a feel of what it’s like to be among the audience at the Bang Your Head!!! Festival.

Some of the songs have bad sound. This is caused by problems onstage (some feedback on Motörhead, some low vocals on other songs), but also by some problems with the recording. The picture is not really impressive. Sometimes you can even see the pixels on the screen.

All in all, though, this is a cool release, even though it’s not perfect. If you want to see what kind of festival Bang Your Head!!! is, or you just want to see some big names on stage, then go ahead and buy it.

DVD 1

1. Motörhead – Dr. Rock (2005)
2. Doro – All We Are (2005)
3. Krokus – Long Stick Goes Boom (2005)
4. Mike Tramp’s White Lion – Wait (2005)
5. Axel Rudi Pell – Fool Fool (2005)
6. Twisted Sister – The Price (2005)
7. Death Angel – Kill As One (2004)
8. Magnum – Kingdom Of Madness (2004)
9. Sebastian Bach – Youth Gone Wild (2004)
10. Annihilator – Alison Hell (2003)
11. Axxis – Brother Moon (2003)
12. Bitch – Live For The Whip (2003)
13. Brainstorm – Shiva’s Tears (2003)
14. Dokken – Breaking The Chains (2003)
15. Dio – Rainbow In The Dark (2003)

DVD 2

1. Twisted Sister – I Wanna Rock (2003)
2. Overkill – Necroshine (2003)
3. Hirax – Bombs Of Death (2003)
4. Pink Cream 69 – Keep Your Eye On The Twisted (2003)
5. Sodom – The Saw Is The Law (2003)
6. Y&T – Dirty Girl (2003)
7. U.D.O. – Man & Machine (2003)
8. Candlemass – Samarithan (2002)
9. Bonfire – Under Blue Skies (2002)
10. Saxon – Killing Ground (2002)
11. Vicious Rumours – On The Edge (2001)
12. Armored Saint – Can U Deliver (2001)
13. Six Feet Under – Feasting On The Blood Of The Insane (2001)
14. Uriah Heep – Bird Of Prey (2001)
15. Dee Snider – S.M.F. (2001)