Fear Factory - Digital Connectivity DVD

I will always remember being a senior in high school and buying Fear Factory';s debut ';Soul of a New Machine'; on cassette. That record made such an impression on me that I practically wore the tape out from playing it non-stop the remainder of the school year. When ';Demanufacture'; was released, it was the only thing that ever got played in my first car. Now that Fear Factory has released their first home video/DVD, I have a feeling that this disc is going to sit in the DVD player for quite some time. The DVD contains bootleg live footage from all four releases, as well as all of their videos. In between the music, you get the obligatory band commentary and history as well as the horseplay that goes on while on tour. All though I dig the ';fan cam'; type of Cliff ';em all footage, Fear Factory';s music is all about precision and it really needs that type of sound you can only get from a professionally shot concert. Its also lacking the onstage kind of shots that put you on the stage with the band. A few of the songs suffer from such a muddy sound that it renders their trademark staccato riffing a blur. Than again, this DVD maybe the closest I';ll get to seeing them play live here in Hawaii! One thing of interest was watching the development of the band. As mentioned before, ';Soul-'; will forever rank up their as one of the most important records in metal to me, but the live footage of that era shows a band still developing their style. Vocalist Burton C. Bell in particular sounds a bit unsure when the clean notes are sung (like the intro to Scum Grief or Martyr). He nails the growls, but goes way off tune (and I really mean way off tune) on the clean stuff. As the band progresses, you can hear his voice become more powerful live. Raymond Herrera';s double bass footwork is so unbelievably precise, like a jackhammer nailing every rhythm, every beat. He's not the flashiest drummer out there (you could name the total amount of drum rolls he';s done on all four LP';s on one lepers hand-zero), but he has definitely got to be one of the fastest. Than there';s Dino of course, who is the epitome of simplified metal guitar playing. Although their latest release ';Digimortal'; is garnering the least amount of spins from their catalog in my player and ';Digital Connectivity'; isn';t changing that opinion any time soon, it did give me a newfound interest in ';Obsolete';. In any event, ';Digital Connectivity'; will be sure to please their existing fans while we wait for LP number five.