Iced Earth - Alive In Athens

Customer Reviews:

Shaffer was exaggerating.......2008-03-10

Most Iced Earth fans have probably heard the warning promulgated from the IE camp about how poor this DVD was supposed to be. Although I was obviously a little sceptical about the label politics behind the announcement, I valued Shaffer's honesty and took heed of the advice. When I saw it available for a great price I thought that I cant go wrong, so I bought the thing!

Everybody knows about the incredible quality of AIA in audio cd format and it remains one of my favourite live gigs in metal. As such I will focus on the DVD itself.

Firstly, it is a really nice dvd visually. The artwork is classic Iced Earth and the manufacture quality is excellent. My slight gripe is that it is not in a standard size: it's a little short, wider and thinner than most DVDs which always looks a bit off when stacked in your collection. This is a minor gripe of course! The booklet and everything are neat but nothing spectacular (Kamelot eg. do spectacular booklets).

The video quality is questionable. It's not quite as bad as watching stuff on YouTube, but I would say that it is comparable with most scene DVD rips in its quality. Obviously its not a rip, but it does indicate that the equipment used to record the video wasnt the greatest. At times it looks very amateur, yet strangely, I feel that this almost added to the atmosphere. It felt like the old days of Iced Earth, and I found that quite pleasing!

The audio quality is in some areas better than the audio cd release (eg. Dante's Inferno end keyboard parts are more audible), but in others, the mastering is rather poor (I experienced the same problem as on of the other reviewers). The audio however is still of a sufficient quality.

All in all, this DVD is well worth the small amount of money to buy it here from Amazon. It's a nice looking package and it was fantastic to finally SEE this legendary concert. I took off one star because the DVD itself could be executed better and the video quality is substandard. It maintains the 4 star rating because of the musical quality and the fact that for the price, this is a purchase with which I'm sure any IE fan would be happy.

Simply breath-taking!.......2007-03-13

For all those Hardcore I.E fans...this is a must...if you've unforunatley never seen them live like me...until this year of course (Wacken) will want to own this DVD.

Ok so John Schaffer wasn't kidding when he said the quality wasn't that good of the filming. But it isnt that bad...its just looks like fan made DVD but with a very decent camera! However the sound recording on the DVD of the music is 100% top notch! It is the same quality as the live 3cd boxset which when played on a good tv is fanastic!! Also you get to see alot of the guitar playing closer up and its very good for an insight into how john does his triplets etc.

It has plently of songs on all the classics basically same athens set! Its class DVD a must have for all I.E fans!

I can't believe schaffer said dont get it!

Alive In Athens - DVD.......2006-12-18

This concert DVD was released by Iced Earths old record label and is therefore not necessarily a band sanctioned product. As a fan I was going to buy it regardless. The concert venue is relatively small however with a few thousand fans crammed in it does make for a good atmosphere. The stage show is basic with an Iced Earth logo backdrop, dry ice and stage lights. The camera shots are somewhat limited but the edit is actually very good (it seems to make good with the 3 cameras that were used). I've seem some bigger budget concert DVDs with a huge production that fall flat due to bad editing. So the relatively low budget production on this release is not necessarily a bad thing. Could it be better?...perhaps, but it is extremely entertaining as it is. Some of the camera angles should have spent a lot more time showing the guitarists playing techniques and the lack of this at times was frustrating. As mentioned in the other review the DTS soundtrack does have problems but I always find a good stereo soundtrack played through a decent hi-fi system is usually better anyway for listening to concerts. The stereo soundtrack here is excellent by the way so the DTS problems are no bad thing in my opinion.

At last its available!!!.......2006-11-17

Well,Its been a long time coming.But its finally here.The content of this Dvd is phenominal and deserves 5 stars,28 songs for yours and my pleasure.I am very happy,being a huge Iced Earth fan.The one thing i am very disappointed with is the DTS soundtrack.It went Mono twice within the first 5 minutes and after the dual layer kicks in,the vocals are out of sync.I think this is probably a mastering problem.Not happy at all! Luckily the 2.0 Dolby Digital is intact and doesn,t go out of sync.I am going to keep this purely because i have wanted it for so long.If you aren,t bothered about DTS then buy it! I am going to email the record label directly to find out if anyone else has reported this problem.If you like the alive in Athens cds you will not be disappointed.Fabulous!! Just waiting now for the new album and live Dvd that will be recorded on the following tour with Tim"ripper"Owens on the vocal duties.Cant wait!!!

Average customer rating:

Iced Earth: Alive in Athens [2006]
Iced Earth
Manufacturer: Century Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All Music DVDs | Music DVDs | Categories | DVD | Video

DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000I0QL9G
Release Date: 2006-10-31

DVD Review:

DVD Review List

DVD Review