Industrial dream act Collide have been coming forward in leaps and bounds in the past year and this Live DVD is evidence of the hard work they put in. It only seemed like yesterday (and it hasn’t been long at all) since they put together a live act to support the two prime members of the band (kaRIN and Static) and then hit the road. And for a band still fairly unknown in most parts of the world – it certainly helps the band’s image to not only support their work with Remix albums, but now the live album too.
The DVD itself comes with plenty of extra features including acoustic performances and three videos shot for their songs ‘Preacher Man’, ‘Razor Sharp’ and ‘Euphoria.’ This is also complemented with a gallery from their photo-shoot collection and there is also a 15-minute behind the scenes/interview with kaRIN (vocals/ words) and Static (Noise).
The performance itself has the added bonus of having been presented with two different edits of the camera work – So if you enjoy the performance, you can watch it again and switch to the second edit to enjoy it from a different perspective.
Collide have selected 15 songs to perform here taken from all three albums in their back catalogue as well as from their previous remix album ‘Vortex’ which also included cover tracks.
The sound quality is good and although the visual aspect can look a bit grainy on some shots – it’s certainly shot well enough to give off some atmosphere – this of course is helped by the production visual aspect of the background screen effects. KaRIN thankful keeps here voice heard, as there is a tendency for some vocalists to be drowned out by heavy noise. What is also avoided is the tendency for live acts to rush through songs so quickly it kills pleasure of hearing them. All songs sound good making it hard to highlight any moment – but fans will no doubt love their favourite tunes being played. What could have been employed, and Static gets the brunt of this one, is an effort to mix things up slightly giving a different sound, or extended feel to some of the material. The most obvious point of reference for this is the Cure who always extend and mix up ‘A forest’ (usually towards the end of a performance). This is merely a hint for future reference. It makes a live audience appreciate the performance all the more to have a long lead into a song, or an extended epilogue out of one whilst retaining the core soul of what the song is about. Here though it is the songs played well and nothing more. And there should not really be any heavy criticism for a first effort if the material is put forward well enough.
A decent first DVD release then, comprising all they have to offer via media so far. If anything though, it could have done with a better (longer) interview piece. The documentary (and at times joke laden) feel of the 15 featurette here is good, but die-hard fans will no doubt want better questions about the band and not just about there beginnings which most fans will know all about by now anyway. But as it’s a first – this featurette does help introduce them to new audiences. Static and kaRIN’s comic relationship on camera certainly deflates any sense of them taking themselves too seriously.
This release also comes in the form of CD which includes the whole of the performance and the Radio-Edit of ‘Euphoria’.
