Courtesy: UDR Music
The Wacken Open Air Festival is one of the most renowned hard rock concert festivals if the music industry. The festival started 26 years ago in the city after which it is named. Late this summer UDR Music celebrated the festivals 25th anniversary – marked in 2015 – with the release of the festival’s 25th anniversary recording. Considering that the recording presents the show lineup from the festival’s 25th anniversary, its title is a little bit misleading. That aside, it is still an enjoyable experience for any purist member of the metal nation worldwide. That is due in no small part to the lineup presented in the recording. This will be discussed shortly. The bands’ performances are just as important to note in the recording’s presentation as is the recording’s presented lineup. That will be discussed later. The platforms on which the recording has been made available rounds out the most important of the recording’s elements. Each element is clearly important in its own right to the recording’s presentation. All things considered, Live at Wacken 2015 – 26 Years Louder Than Hell is one of this year’s top new overall live recordings.
Live at Wacken 2015 – 26 Years Louder Than Hell is one of 2016’s top new overall live recordings. It is hardly the first live recording that the festival’s organizers have ever released. Even with that in mind, it is still an enjoyable recording for the festival’s fans and for the purist metal legions around the world. That is due in no small part to the recording’s featured performer list. A total of 107 bands performed on Wacken 2015 between the Bullhead City Circus, Party Stage and double main stage. It goes without saying that considering that mass of metal, there’s no way that UDR or the fesitval’s organizers could have possibly featured every one of those bands. Regardless, the featured performer list included in this recording is still impressive in its own right. That list includes the likes of Judas Priest, Danko Jones, Uli Jon Roth, In Flames, Annihilator and so many others. Simply put, the perfomer list featured in this recording pulls from a number of metal’s sub genres and from so many eras of metal’s history. It goes to show the respect that the festival’s organizers and fans have for metal, its history and culture. Sure, it would have been nice to have Dream Theater included in the featured performer list, or maybe Hellyeah, or even Prong (yes, even Prong performed at Wacken 2015). But the performer list included in this recording is still impressive in its own right in the end. Considering this, it should be clear why it is such an important piece of the recording’s presentation. It is just one of the important elements to note. The featured acts’ stage presence in their performances is just as important to note here as the acts themselves.
The acts that are featured in UDR Music’s new Wacken Open Air Festival recording are important in their own right to the recording’s overall presentation. That is because while hardly every one of the bands that performed at the festival, they represent a wide swatch of the metal community and its history. That means the recording will reach just as wide of an audience. While the recording’s featured performer list is clearly an important piece of the recording’s presentation, it is hardly the recording’s only important element. The bands’ stage presence in their performances plays an important part in the recording’s presentation, too. Rob Halford and company prove the importance of the bands’ performances right from the recording’s outset. They take the stage and own it with ease. Halford is at the top of his game both in terms of his vocal talent and his very presence. Glenn Tipton is just as enjoyable to take in as he works his way through the band’s performance of ‘Painkiller. On another note, the members of Running Wild are just as impressive as they work through the high-octane ‘Under The Jolly Roger.’ Skindred’s performance of ‘Proceed With Caution’ will have home audiences on their feet just as easily as it did the audience in attendance of the festival. That is because of the fire and energy exuded by the band throughout its performance. It is just one more example of the importance of the bands’ performance to the festival recording’s presentation. One could just as easily cite the performances from My Dying Bride, In Flames, and Death Angel as proof of that importance, too. All things considered, it is safe to say that every single performance featured in this recording will keep home audiences just as entertained and engaged as the audiences that got to enjoy the festival in person. Even with all of this in mind, the bands’ performances still are not the last element to note in examining this recording. The platforms on which the recording has been made available are just as important to note as the previously discussed elements.
The bands that were featured in Live at Wacken 2015 – 26 Years Louder Than Hell and their performances are both key elements in examining the festival’s recording. The featured performer list presents the past, present and future of metal while also presenting a solid cross-section proving what has made the festival so respected for now 26 years. The featured bands’ performances are so important to note because they will keep home audiences just as entertained and engaged as the audiences who had the honor of experiencing the festival in person. While both elements are clearly important both alone and collectively to the recording’s presentation, they are not its only important elements. The platforms on which the recording has been made available are just as important to note as the previously noted elements. Audiences will be happy to know that the recording has been made available on separate 2 DVD/2 CD and 2 BD/2 CD combo pack. The DVD set averages approximately $22 and the BD set $23. Considering that, the various platforms and their prices are relatively affordable for audiences. The only downside to the sets is that their set lists don’t exactly match. Not every song featured in the recording’s DVD and BD presentation is included in the recording’s CD platform. To that end, it is the recording’s only major negative, which is actually a good thing. That means that the recording’s varied platforms and other discussed elements more than make up for that one negative, as unavoidable as it is to note. All things considered, Live at Wacken 2015 – 26 Years Louder Than Hell proves in the bigger picture to be one of 2016’s top new live recordings as well as one of the year’s top new live DVD/BDs and CDs. It is available now in stores and online.
Live at Wacken 2015 – 26 Years Louder Than Hell is one of 2016’s top new live recordings. That is the case even considering that it does have at least one unavoidable negative. The recording’s featured performer list and the featured acts’ performances partner with the varied platforms on which the recording has been made available to make the recording an enjoyable experience for any purist member of the metal nation worldwide. It is available now in stores and online. More information on this and other titles from UDR Music is available online now at:
Website: http://www.udr-music.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UDRMusic
Twitter: http://twitter.com/udrmusic
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