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Confessor- Live in Norway (Seasons of Mist)
In a deserving follow-up to 2005’s ‘Unravelled’, doom flag bearers, Confessor, has released a live DVD. This offering is, in part, a participant of Season of Mist’s Sonic Solstice Festival with the involvements of Tsjuder & Arcturus, among others. Despite the music’s crawl pace, Confessor’s live act is about seeing the technical execution of the music; particular beneficiaries would be drum enthusiasts because seeing Steve Shelton (drummer) in action is education per se.
There are 9 performance tracks on offer plus bonuses which include a music video (Wigstand) & behind the scene footages of the making of Wigstand & studio recordings of Unravelled. The real surprise here would be 2 drum ‘workshops’ conducted by Mr. Shelton himself. The performance tracks as a whole were vintage Confessor; note-for-note replication of the studio recordings of past & present indulgences. Scott Jeffreys’ (vaocalist) agitation on stage were, at times, un-metal in nature but his soaring, commanding wails very much made up for this short-coming. In contrast to their European peers, Confessor’s stage presence lack the extremity offered by the corpse paint riddled faces of black metal outfits. If you were expecting certain stage antiques, you’d be bored stiff.
As mentioned, the value of this DVD lies in the drumming instructions presented by Steve Shelton. From the clips presented, it is clear that Confessor, as a unit, consists of thinking members who took time to weave & sift through their ideas as oppossed to churning out tunes for commercial fodder. Steve’s constant references to the other members’ idea contribution toward song construction implies just that.
Rating: 7/10
In memory of Ivan Colon (guitarist): 1970-2002. RIP.
