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Slipknot Voliminal: Inside The Nine
R0 - America - Roadrunner records Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (4th February 2007). |
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The Film
 Oh boy where do I start? I wonder if the 9 members of Slipknot asked themselves that question when putting together this DVD? Because from my perspective I don't think they even had a clue. I must confess I love Slipknot, the metal genre is represented in spades on my ipod and their 2004 release "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)" is an exceptional album that displays the bands tenacity and drive to fuse rock harmony with chaos, the result is something special that most metal fans and critics agree is their best work. And as much as I am a fan of this nine piece it pains me to have been subjected to this film "Slipknot Voliminal: Inside The Nine" it was 84 minutes of pure frustration made up of random moments plastered together, often aimless and without much purpose. Judging by the subtitle "Inside The Nine" one would guess that this film would provide fans with an inside look at the band and their touring life, while in some cases this is true (the chaos of it all is certainly captured) the film was simply poorly executed as it did not have any narrative structure, it failed to probe deeper into the band and offer any real insights and it simply looked like an amateur effort. As far as I can tell the film is supposed to take place during a tour spanning 28 months, 34 countries and 233 shows but you wouldn't know that from the content in this film (I got that from the booklet, at least one thing was concise and informative!) the resulting mess is a mish-mash of footage from on-stage performances, meeting fans, backstage antics, unclogging a toilet, watching two girls make out, more performance footage and much more fans. The footage at times looks like it was shot by some kid having an epileptic seizure and the film appears to have been edited by someone with a severe case of attention deficit disorder as the footage cuts from one thing to another sometimes not allowing any moment to play out and cutting off from it too soon. This got annoying to the point of frustration and then that quickly developed into anger. If there was some sort of experiment currently running to see how quickly you can frustrate a viewer with random video imagery then this film should be used for it. I tried to find something good to say about this, but seriously people I'm at a loss, the closest thing I could think of was that this would make an interesting thing to play in the background of a party or doped up on enough amphetamines so that watching this film becomes secondary to your drug induced trip (but I wouldn't recommend that). I don't honestly know how anyone can enjoy this film? And if Slipknot think they're doing their fans a favor by releasing this then they must not think highly of their fan base to begin with otherwise they'd respect us enough to release something worthwhile. "Slipknot Voliminal: Inside The Nine" is quite possibly the world's worst home video and if you must watch it then keep your finger on the 'fast-forward' button on you're remote because you'll be using it a lot.
Video
Presented in a full frame 1.33:1 ratio this video footage is a total mixed bag, it certainly looks like home video quality, shot on miniDV and transferred here, the image is often dark at times, there appears to be a lot of compression noise, distortion, heavy grain, the sharpness jumps from tolerable to soft and fuzzy, there's a lot of color imbalance and contrast issues, the list is endless. I would give it an outright fail if it weren't for the intention of the filmmaker to have this film present this way.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is included and it would appear that this sound was recorded by a deaf person because this soundtrack is absolutely terrible. The audio is occasionally muffled, it peaks and distorts, the concert sound is awash with all kinds of noise, the mixing is simply appalling. Some dialogue is audible but the majority sounds like it was recorded inside a garbage can. There are no optional subtitles available on this DVD.
Extras
First up we have 5 music videos for each of the 5 singles released from the "Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)" album and they include: - "Duality" which runs for 3 minutes 36 seconds. - "Vermilion" which runs for 4 minutes 25 seconds. - "Vermilion, Pt. 2" which runs for 3 minutes 58 seconds. - "Before I Forget" which runs for 4 minutes 12 seconds. - "The Nameless" which runs for 4 minutes 47 seconds. Next up are interviews with all nine members of Slipknot: - Lead Vocalist Corey Taylor which runs for 7 minutes 33 seconds, Corey talks about being in the band, meeting his Dad for the first time and the challenges of a nine piece band among other things. - Drummer Joey Jordison which runs for 5 minutes 29 seconds, Joey talks about what it's like playing in the band, the message they put out and how their fans are the most intense. - Lead Guitarist Mick Thomson which runs for 6 minutes 52 seconds, Mick talks about the mental and physical effects are of being in this band, he addresses the rage and hatred in their lyrics as well as talks about masturbation. - Bass Guitarist Paul Gray runs for 7 minutes 21 seconds, Paul talks about what the band means to him, playing music since he was a kid and how being in the band and getting big hasn't changed him. - Keyboardist Craig "133" Jones runs for 17 seconds and refuses to get interviewed. - Rhythm Guitarist James "Jim" Root runs for 7 minutes 36 seconds, Jim talks about how much goes into this band, the liberating feeling of being able to go away and the difference between Slipknot in 1998 and now among other things. - Percussionist Chris Fehn runs for 7 minutes 24 seconds, Chris discusses why they're still together, on why the fans are great and the unique experiences being in the band provides among other things. - DJ Sid Wilson which runs for 5 minutes 4 seconds, Sid talks about how being in the band controls them and what putting on the masks does to you among other things. - Percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan which runs for 7 minutes 26 seconds, Shawn discusses leaving the tour to take care of his family and the having to make that sacrifice for the first time, he talks about missing important events in his family because of the band and shows off the Grammy they won for "Best Metal Performance" for their song "Before I Forget". Also on the disc are a series of 9 live performance footage that include: - "(sic)" live at Eurockeennes Festival, France 2006 which runs for 3 minutes 16 seconds. - "The Blister Exists" live at WFF 2004 which runs for 5 minutes 21 seconds. - "Eyeless" live at WFF 2004 which runs for 4 minutes 3 seconds. - "Duality" live at Summersonic 2005: Tokyo, Japan which runs for 4 minutes 51 seconds. - "Vermilion" live at the TMF Awards 2004 which runs for 5 minutes 23 seconds. - "The Heretic Anthem" live at Summersonic 2005: Tokyo, Japan which runs for 4 minutes 11 seconds. - "Pulse Of The Maggots" live at Summersonic 2005: Tokyo, Japan which runs for 4 minutes 21 seconds. - "Before I Forget" live at Summersonic 2005: Tokyo, Japan which runs for 4 minutes 22 seconds. - "People = s**t" live at Summersonic 2005: Tokyo, Japan which runs for 3 minutes 50 seconds. Rounding out the extras is a 16-page booklet that features some stylized photographs.
Packaging
This 2-disc set is packaged in a digi-pack case.
Overall
If you absolutely must buy this DVD do it for the second disc alone, as the film on disc one is about as useless as tits on a bull.
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