After a three year wait, Roadrunner Records recently released a 2-DVD set of their 25th Anniversary concert. The show was filmed live at the Nokia Theater in December 2005 and it featured a "who's who" lineup of metal act. There were even a few non-Roadrunner acts (Scott Ian [Anthrax] and Tim "Ripper" Owens" [Judas Priest, Iced Earth, etc.] who were part of the lineup.

It is obvious that a lot of thought went into the planning for this show as the lineup and one-off combinations of artists are unlikely to be repeated. The core band for the show was Dino (from Fear Factor and Divine Heresy), Adam (from Killswitch Engage), Roy (from Stone Sour) and Andreas (from Sepultura).

The show starts with Evan and Billy (from Biohazard) playing a straight-forward version of "Punishment". After this, things start to get going with Jamey Jasta taking the vocals on Madball's "Set It Off". From there, Keith Caputo comes out to sing on "March of the S.O.D." and "River Runs Red". I'm not biased because Keith is from Brooklyn but he has to be one of the most underrated vocalists on the metal scene as he really kills it during this concert. In addition to singing the above mentioned songs, he also takes lead vocals for Roadrunner United's "Tired and Lonely" and Stone Sour's "Bother" (accompanied by Corey on acoustic guitar).

It just gets better from here. "Ripper" Owens sings King Diamond's parts on both a Mercyful Fate and a King Diamond cover. Glen Benton sings both an Obituary cover and a Deicide song and he sings the later song in a full suit of armor. This is followed by Jesse Leach reuniting with Killswitch Engage and he and Howard trade off vocals on "My Last Serenade".

Toward the later part of the show, there is a drunken cover of Soulfly's "Eye for An Eye" by Shadows Fall vocalist Brian Farr which is followed by Rob Flynn taking the mic for Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist". Rob keeps the stage and sings on covers of Slipknot's "Surfacing" and Machine Head's "Davidian". The later is kind of cool as it features a reunion with guitarist Logan Mader. Following in this Sepultura/Cavalera family vein, the show wraps up with a cover of Sepultura's "Roots Bloody Roots".

The second disc in the set is more of a retrospective than a documentary. The 75 minute film features interviews with a number of bands that played the show who are seeing the concert DVD for the first time and reflecting back on that night. This disc runs a little long but it is nice to have this one to hear both how the concert came together and memories of the show.

This DVD set raises the bar for concert DVDs that follow. Any metalhead is going to want to have this one in their collection.

Links:
Roadrunner Records