Editing, Interviews Save Snider’s New Live Recording

Courtesy: Napalm Records

Dee Snider is scheduled to release his new live recording For The Love of Metal Live Friday through Napalm Records.  This new recording is an intriguing presentation from the veteran rocker, who largely is known as the front man of the 80s metal band Twisted Sister.  While not a perfect presentation, it is a presentation that is worth experiencing at least once.  That is due in part to its editing.  This item will be discussed shortly.  While the editing does much to make the recording worth the watch, its general presentation detracts somewhat from its presentation.  This will be addressed a little later.  It can be said that while the general presentation of Snider’s new live recording detracts from its presentation to a point, one element of the general presentation – the interview segments – works with the editing to make the recording’s appeal.  When this is considered along with the issue of the general presentation, all three elements join to make For The Love of Metal a presentation that while imperfect, is still a work that will appeal to Snider’s most devoted fan base.

Dee Snider’s forthcoming live recording For The Love of Metal Live is a presentation that will appeal largely to his most devoted fan base.  That is due in large part to its editing.  Editing is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when one analyzes a live recording, but in this case it is the recording’s foundation.  That is because of the way in which the recording is presented in its DVD/BD combo pack platform.  Rather than being one sole performance, the recording presents Snider and his fellow musicians performing the recording’s set list across a variety of venues.  The primary venue is clearly a recently Bloodstock performance.  Those responsible for the editing manage to seamlessly edit together footage from so many performances while using the Bloodstock audio as the central point for each potion of the recording.  The ability to combine so much footage so expertly is to be highly commended.  On another level, the editing is also to be commended in looking at the fluidity of the live and interview segments.  Each flows from one to the next just as seamlessly as the live segments from one to the next.  That in itself ensures just as much, viewers’ engagement from start to end of the early two-hour presentation.

The editing that went into For The Love of Metal Live does its own share to make this presentation worth watching.  For all that it does to help the recording, the actual presentation itself detracts from the recording’s general effect.  As has already been noted, the recording is not just from one of Dee Snider’s recent shows.  It features Snider and company at a variety of venues.  The problem is that those shows and venues are not separated out.  Rather, they are just thrown together.  The result is a presentation that just comes across as one long “live” music video.  It would have made more sense to separate the songs and performances within the bigger picture and make them their own separate performances.  Had that been done here, it would have really made the overall presentation so much more engaging and entertaining.  Sadly, that was not the path taken.  The result, again, is a presentation that feels like something that was just tossed together for the sake of calling it a live recording. It leaves the general effect as being very lacking in real substance.  What can be said at least here is that despite all of this is that Snider proves he can still hold his own against any of today’s much younger front men throughout the whole of all of this.  Getting back on topic, the issues raised by the recording’s general effect are not such that they make the program unwatchable.  Making up for the impact that the main presentation has on this recording is the matter of its companion interview segments.

The interview segments are much calmer moments.  They show Snider in a much more personal fashion.  Audiences learn much through the interview segments.  Snider reveals his thoughts on the emotional impact of his work/life balance in the lead interview segment, and how that played into the creation of one of the songs featured in his new studio recording For The Love of Metal.  Later in another segment, he reveals that the album itself came as a friendly challenge from Hatebreed front man Jamey Jasta.  That very revelation, that Jasta has such respect for Snider (as do so many other of today’s major rock and metal figures) is sure to continue cementing Snider’ reputation and his place in the rock and metal community, as if it wasn’t already cemented.  In yet another interview, Snider shares an entertaining anecdote about how he was cast for the stage presentation of “Rock of Ages.”  The story will leave any viewer laughing as Snider talks about his own reaction and that of his wife, especially considering the circumstances surrounding the call that informed Snider that he had received a role in the musical.  It’s just one more way in which the interview segments, which again are well edited with the concert footage, prove their own value to the overall presentation of For The Love of Metal Live.  When this is considered along with the recording’s noted editing, the two elements together make up for the problems caused by the live footage and in turn make the recording in whole worth watching at least once.

Dee Snider’s forthcoming live recording For The Love of Metal is an intriguing new offering from the veteran rocker.  That is because while it has its positives, it comes up just short of expectations.  Its editing works to its advantage, as do the interview segments that are interwoven into the overall presentation.  The problem is that the concert footage feels more like one long live music video than an actual live recording because of how everything was assembled.  Had the footage of the band’s various performances been presented separately from one song to the next, that would have been one thing.  That wasn’t what was done here, though.  Instead, those behind the recording’s presentation just tossed them all together, which detracts from the general effect. The end result is that this presentation is something that Snider’s most devoted fans will like but definitely not love.  For The Love of Metal Live is scheduled for release Friday on a variety of platforms.

More information on For The Love of Metal is available along with all of Dee Snider’s latest news at:

 

Website: http://deesnider.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/facedeesnider

Twitter: http://twitter.com/deesnider

 

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