Customer Reviews

Shovel Headed Tour Machine: Live At Wacken & Other Assorted Atrocities

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Fans of Exodus (even fans that have followed the band since the 80's) can expect a great live release when they see this three-disc set. Disc 1 & 2 feature their fine performance from the 2008 Wacken Open Air Festival, both featuring some of the best live audio mixed by master metal producer Andy Sneap (Machine Head, Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Opeth). At 11 tracks, it's a little shorter than you'd expect from live release of this caliber, but once you realize that's nearly an hour long, you'll find that it's worth it. Especially with Disc 3, which features a documentary with footage pretty much covering the last five years of the band going back as far as showing the band recording Shovel Headed Kill Machine. It's an entertaining look at the band at some of their best moments, including a club they played in which they are now banned from playing when they incited some chaos after a fan was kicked out for stage diving even after the promoter supposedly said he'd allow stage diving. Extras also include deleted scenes from the documentary (must-see), music videos for Now Thy Death Day Come and Riot Act, a photo gallery, rare live footage, and a rare audio interview from the 80's. For under $30, this is a great buy.

This dvd will rip your throat out and shove it up your.... The audio/video quality is stunning. Exodus is on top of their game here. To me, they're newer albums are brutal and untouchable! Check out "Deathamphetamine" video for this show on youtube. This is a must have!

DVD 1 -- Live at Wacken. 11 song/68 min set also at Germany's premier Wacken Festival. A small note of Deutsch fests: not always the best of lineups at these things. Usually spread out over the span of a 3 day weekend, so by the time the headliner goes on, folks tend to be a little spent. If not just tired in general, tired of waiting through all the nonsense to get through to who they came to see. So when lead growler, Rob Dukes, constantly berates the crowd, you'll understand why. Although a farely good set focusing more on the new albums as well as earlier material (as many Euro fests prefer) is presented here. The latest Exodus lineup is as strong as ever though, if you haven't caught them yet, brutal only touches on what they're able to accomplish. The accompanying CD is the audio from this show.

DVD 2 - Assorted Atrocites. More or less a documentary on the last 5 years of the band with a brief pre-history by axeman Gary Holt. Somewhere around the 2 hour mark plus extras/videos, this disc is packed with all kinds of stuff. Plenty of footage of the band on and off the stage, trying to party like it's '85 all over again even as they all near age fifty. Lots of comical scenes ala Pantera/Jackass but smarter, with my personal favorite "non-metal" moments thrown in for a laugh. Rythm guitarist Lee Altus, unknown to me, is of Russian origin. So, when you first hear him speak, you might think the dude is a raging alcoholic. Even if the band is known to have a drink or two, this might sound like a strange correlation, but I found it pretty funny to finally understand. That and other details of the individual members personal ticks are also explored in this disc. All in all though, lots of entertaining info and intracasies that go into a classic thrash band in the modern day. These guys work their asses off and still manage to destroy all of their imitators, this DVD really showcases where Exodus came from and why they continue to dominate today.

this is a great live performance by these legendary thrash lords! great live show in front of 85,000 and a cool , fun documentary! worth every penny!

Shovel Headed Tour Machine is an absolute `must own product,' for any Exodus fan, even those who are unsure how they feel about the band's current line up, or those who are only interested in the band's 1980s material.

The boxset is the definition of Value For Money, featuring a CD and two very in-depth DVDs inside a gigantic silver digi-pack with a lot of care and effort put into its design.

The main live section of the DVD, which is here on both CD and DVD is a brilliant hour long concert, from the Waken Open Air Festival 2008 filmed on a bright summers day.

The sound quality is absolutely perfect, a brilliant job has been done with the mixing and an if anything, even better job has been done on the actual sound which is of the highest quality, with a gigantic guitar sound, really punchy kick drum sound and very clear snare drum sound, nothing is brash or unpleasant but everything is hugely heavy.

The band's performance is energetic and tight, they make songs from Bonded By Blood sound modern and ferocious with their modern production and fire through almost album-perfect renditions of their newer material.

The track listing is `Bonded By Blood,' `Iconoclasm,' `Funeral Hymn,' `A Lesson In Violence,' `Children of a Worthless God,' `Piranha,' `Deathamphetamine,' `Blacklist,' `War is My Shepherd,' `Strike of the Beast,' and `Shovel Headed Kill Machine.'

It may seem like the band are ignoring albums from Pleasures of the Flesh until their Tempo of the Damned comeback. In the bonus material section however, there are additional live videos recorded across several dates in Japan, Taiwan, Florida, California of varying quality.

Some videos feature a multi camera shoot, some are just one stationary camera and all feature bootleg quality sound, but are a very welcome extra nonetheless.

The track listing is : `Toxic Waltz,' `No Love,' `Brain Dead,' `I am Abomination,' `Fabulous Disaster,' `Seeds of Hate,' `Scar Spangled Banner,' `Raze,' `Altered Boy' and a track called `Guitar War,' which is Lee Atlus and Garry Holt playing guitar solos competitively for a few minutes.

As if all this wasn't enough already, the set also includes the documentary `Assorted Atrocities,' which is as good as, if not better than many band documentaries which are sold separately as the main feature.

The pace, editing, actual stories included and mixture of humour and serious moments, as well as the candid nature of discussions about ex band members make this one of the best music documentaries on the market today.

The bonus features include about twenty minutes of deleted scenes from the main documentary in addition to the previously mentioned bonus live material.

The disc also contains the music videos for: Riot Act, Problems and Now Thy Death Come. Plus some photo galleries and a vintage interview with the band in the early eighties to round it all off.

Shovel Headed Tour Machine is honestly one of the best music related products I have ever encountered and I cannot recommend it highly enough, if you like even one Exodus song you should give serious consideration to buying this.

If you are an existing Exodus fan or a fan of metal documentaries in general then this is an even more essential purchase.

Although Exodus and Gary Holt are one of the preeminent thrash bands and the Video is great, songs are great, stage presence is great....

The sound is STEREO, why would a band/management/label not cut a Dolby/DTS track is beyond me. After all this is AUDIO experience. I purchased the DVD and I'm a long-term fan of Exodus, didn't check the audio format (assumed they got it). Played the DVD in my Polk 7:1 system and it sounded like crap.

Now I plan to run it through sim-surround.

To add insult to injury, the LABEL INTRO is in DTS. Which of course makes the band sound even worse. I do hear the foundation there.

Message to NUCLEAR ASSAULT - MARKET YOUR BAND-DO NOT CUT CORNERS-THIS IS EMBARRASSING!!!

I have met Gary and partied with him on the Kreator Tour. They are playing in Florida on 9/5 and I plan to ask him about this - can't wait for the blank expression.

How dare you screw up this effort by Exodus!!!!!