Pneumatic Detach – [e.vis.cer.ate]

2DVD-R, Hive Records, 2005
www.pneumaticdetach.com

“E.vis.cer.ate”, the companion DVD release to “Vis.cer.a”, the latest offering from Pneumatic Detach comes packing two DVDs, consisting of eight videos and four live performances. Unfortunately, it’s not only features that “E.vis.cer.ate” is packed with, but more on that later.
The studio disc features eight tracks from both “Pa.re.ses” and “Vis.cer.a”, spanning approximately one hour. While some of the videos from “Vis.cer.a” are almost too extravagant in their graphical display of gory imagery, it fits almost perfectly with the album’s theme and feel, adding a new dynamic and edge to the already hard-hitting tracks. I know a couple of VJs that would maim for this material, but it seems that with “E.vis.cer.ate”, someone else took care of the task for them. Violent and gritty, the images fit the bill just fine, coupling impressively with the music to provide a complete and immersive spectacle, at least for those that can stomach it, adding an extra weapon for those pesky younger siblings and parents that just won’t leave the room/TV (careful with the queasiness potential though).
In the second disc, we find four live performances from Pneumatic Detach, two of which coming from Noisefest festivals. While doing well in capturing the project’s energetic live performance (especially the Noisefest performances), the live disc somewhat fails to convey the experience. Of course, this is a very hard task by itself since a live DVD cannot possibly offer the same as physically attending a great gig, but the permanent focus of the camera on the band does little to display the energy passed along to the audience, and gets somewhat boring quite fast. Also, while I’m sure that 6 minutes of spoken word may be great as a break during a hectic set and help with the whole vibe of the show, they really don’t work very well here, especially when taking up one tenth of the duration of the DVD.
Finally, one major issue I had with the discs was that of compatibility. This was the first DVD in ages that failed to play properly in my PC, regardless of which player/codec I used, and it’s not like it was the first NTSC DVD tested here. The tracks are played in an incorrect order, the menus didn’t work most of the time, and generally, the discs were a bitch to try to make work. Surprisingly enough, that didn’t apply to my parents’ 30$ bargain DVD-Player, where the disc played just fine.
Anyway, for the compatibility issues mentioned above, and the somewhat rushed feel that the live disc gave me, I’m giving “E.vis.cer.ate” only 8/10, for a release that was just greatly done, instead of amazingly as it could be.
Now deleted from the Hive store, get your mitts on one of the other 149 copies if you can, it’s so good, it’s worth getting yourself that bargain DVD-player for this alone.

[8/10]

— George Mouratidis