Dead End Drive-In: Now Showing – Assassin
Written by Ross Welford
Sunday, 23 June 2013 04:30
Assassin – ‘Chaos And Live Shots’ DVD (SPV/Steamhammer)
What could have been a cheap and nasty horror in waiting actually turns out to be quite an entertaining and (especially if you speak German) fulfilling DVD.
Thrash veterans Assassin are here with a virtual fly on the wall docu-live instalment of their great performance from Osaka’s True Thrash Fest and if it’s honest, close-up footage of a band going at full speed that you need in your life……….then you can’t really go wrong with this package.
Interspersed between songs are snippets and interviews with not only the band but management, band lawyers, fans from all over the world, ex band members and ex management and, to top it all off, some great footage from back-in-the-day (making you realise just how long these Germans have been around – since ’83 fact fans – and don’t be confusing them with the San Diego band of the same name and era).
Any band that’s been around that long will have stories to tell and the band and all those around them seem to offer up plenty worth listening too – I happily sat through it not understanding a word of German but you can tell that they’re a band that love what they do and it has become their life.
The footage is clear, the sound is immense and the product as a whole – clocking in at 3 hours – is a pretty impressive package. Whilst we’ve all seen the crispness of Maiden or Metallica in DVD products, the off-kilter, almost non-control of the band is a refreshing sight.
Maybe with Assassin not being the household names that they are, they haven’t got the airs, graces and need to polish it up – and in that lies its charm. Julius Krenz is producer and director and maybe it’s his day job of working at WDR TV that helps this DVD roll along so perfectly – it is almost TV-like in its appearance rather than a mass money making product placement that unfortunately we seem to get rolled out for us ‘fans’. The fact that he’s a big fan shines through.
Highlights include the band getting phone calls from management to get the band together (a hint or nod in the direction of Motley’s ‘Home Sweet Home’ video? Believe me, that’s where it ends!), the Japanese announcer struggling to say “Ass sas…….sin” and the blatant language barrier of a German singer explaining in English that the next song is about skateboarding to Japanese bewilderment.
And who doesn’t need a top thrash song called ‘I Like Cola’ in their life?
Sunday mornings were made for this………….
To pick up your copy of ‘Assassin – Chaos And Live Shots’ – CLICK HERE
