I am not very keen on live albums. They are usually just a "best
of", routine-like and overproduced. Rarely do they capture
the actual feel of the concert. I can think of a few exceptions,
however, and this record is the best of them all!
The title is highly appropriate: this is Death at their rawest,
and the live feeling is maintained to the fullest. Unpolished
and almost flawlessly executed, their performance is truly awesome.
Drummer Richard Christy deserves extra credit -- filling the shoes
of both Gene Hoglan and Sean Reinert as well as he does here is
quite the feat.
The live album contains thirteen songs, taken from every Death
album except "Spiritual Healing". The emphasis is on
the last two albums, with a combined total of seven songs. Of
course there are other songs I wish were on it, but it is hard
fitting seven albums worth of solid material in a live album.
Buy this album ASAP and help out Chuck at the same time -- that's
a win-win situation if I ever saw one.
10 out of 10
|