Review of Helloween: High Live

Introduction

Another metal DVD hits the market, and it`s another DVD that I`ve had to endure. If you`re not a fan of this band then you might not even have heard of them. They are German and have in fact been around for a long while. They have also gone through the obligatory changes in line up. They were once vaunted as successors to Iron Maiden, so that might give you a clue as to what to expect here.

Video

A 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen NTSC transfer. Yes, that`s right, NTSC. In a curious move, this disc will only be playable by those of you who have a TV that supports NTSC (or a DVD player that converts it). Perhaps they realised that the market for the disc is small, so why spend more money on a PAL transfer? Not a practice I agree with, but it might be easy to justify on more specialist titles like this one. What you do get is perfectly watchable concert footage, nothing too exciting.

Audio

Given that the band are brash and "in your face", you`d expect the sound on the DVD to match. But it doesn`t, and it`s quite a disappointing DD5.1 soundtrack, definitely lacking in bass and unable to immerse you in the soundfield. Not a problem for me as I didn`t enjoy the music, but if you`re a fan you`d want better sound.

Features

A "review" of the band, which might be of interest if you`ve never heard of them. It`s rather short, and not very in-depth. There`s also an optional "commentary", which features brief voice-overs on some songs from DJ Malcome Dome. An interesting idea, but not well executed, since he pops up, tells you the name of the song and some brief other stuff and goes away again.

Conclusion

Apparently this DVD features "live, devil-worshipping frolics". That might have been interesting to watch. This certainly isn`t unless you are a fan.

You might want to pick this up if you are a fan of the band, but it`s unlikely that you`ll go anywhere near it otherwise. The sound isn`t very good though, so even if I were a fan I would probably steer clear. The score for content is based on my personal opinion of the content only.