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S.O.D. Speak English or Die Live
Warner Music // Unrated // September 25, 2001
List Price: $19.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
Not all joke-sideprojects have a shelf-life of almost two decades. In 1985, bored with recording the latest Anthrax album, guitarist Scott Ian created a skullish cartoon character, Sargent D, who soon became a spoof of fascist military ideology. Soon joined by Anthrax's drummer Charlie Benante and then-bass player Dan Lilker as well as Billy Milano from M.O.D., Ian had formed S.O.D., or Stormtroopers of Death, whose lightning fast 22 song debut album Speak English or Die was basically a joke on politics as well as on speed metal and hard-core. Throughout the years they've resurrected the band for mini-tours (like destructive locust swarms, they seem to appear every seven years) and have somehow gained a wide base of fans. S.O.D. Speak English or Die Live collects a bunch of odds and ends from S.O.D.'s history into one comprehensive, if somewhat scattershot, release. The primary feature here is the ridiculously titled Live at Budokan, a 1992 concert taped at The Ritz in New York. The band tears through their entire album in record speed and pads the set out with covers (including an unlikely and extremely sloppy rendition of Nirvana's rave-up "Territorial Pissings", complete with Billy reading the lyrics off a cheat sheet) as well as on-stage clowning. Live at Budokan also features interview footage with the band members discussing the origins of the music and each other. Even though they come of as oafish mooks, they are not stupid. They know what they're talking about and can be pretty damn funny. As for the music, mostly it's straight-ahead rivet-driving speed-core, with the occasional Black Sab heavy riff and a sense of humor. They can switch gears from the jokey "Ballad of Jimi Hendrix" (a 5 second song feature one lyric: "You're dead!") to an anti-suicide song like "Kill Yourself" or their pro-Israel-Egypt peace treaty song "Fuck the Middle East" without missing a mosh. With tongue in cheek lyrics and ironic anti-statement statements it's not tough to see how these songs can be misinterpreted but primarily the band is about playing out and having fun and it shows. With all the instrument switching, stage diving, and mugging for the camera there's obviously a whole lot of humor going on. I should mention one thing about the video quality of Live at Budokan upfront. The show is shot with multiple cameras of varying degrees of quality. For a while I wasn't sure what the cause of the discrepancy was, until Scott Ian revealed on the commentary track that the band only used one professional grade camera for the show. The other angles were cobbled together from bootlegs collected from fans and vendors after the show was over. Obviously there are technical limitations to this sort of method but the effect it has is unmistakably positive. The look of the concert definitely matches the patchwork spontaneity of the music. S.O.D. Speak English or Die Live also features a second concert, Live in Germany, taped at a huge outdoor festival in 1999. This show is only presented from one bootleg-quality angle and consists of much of the same material. Still, spontaneity rules and fans of S.O.D. will be thrilled to have this second look at the band. VIDEO:
I discussed the unique nature of the Live at Budokan image quality. None of it look particularly good from a video standpoint, but it gets the message across and looks as good as it should. Live in Germany also looks pretty bad, a grainy dub of a videotape. But, once again, it suits the material just fine. AUDIO:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is surprisingly vivid. The recordings may not be technically accomplished but there is energy and noise to spare. EXTRAS:
Or, "EXTRA'S" as the menu calls them. Aside from the two complete concerts there are a number of extras that should be of interest to fans. A commentary track for the Ritz show from guitarist Scott Ian is entertaining and informative. Always a wise-guy, Ian continually expresses disgust at his hair and sunglasses in some of the older footage. He laments not having a time machine to go back and snip off his hideous ponytail. Also, near the end, several unidentified women break into the room where Ian is recording his commentary and join in. Overall it's a lively and funny discussion. Also included are segments showing each band member's recording process, including singer Billy's hilarious (and endless) William Shatner impression. A roundtable discussion on the band's history and record contracts is also included, although loudmouth Megaforce exec John Z dominates these bits. A few other little odds and ends are included. FINAL THOUGHTS:
S.O.D. is a strange band with a slow-burning career and a loyal batch of fans, most of whom will probably gobble this DVD up sight-unseen. Luckily for them it's pretty damn good. Other fans of hard music should also check it out. With personality and a sense of humor these guys have created something uniquely entertaining. E-mail Gil at [email protected]
Not all joke-sideprojects have a shelf-life of almost two decades. In 1985, bored with recording the latest Anthrax album, guitarist Scott Ian created a skullish cartoon character, Sargent D, who soon became a spoof of fascist military ideology. Soon joined by Anthrax's drummer Charlie Benante and then-bass player Dan Lilker as well as Billy Milano from M.O.D., Ian had formed S.O.D., or Stormtroopers of Death, whose lightning fast 22 song debut album Speak English or Die was basically a joke on politics as well as on speed metal and hard-core. Throughout the years they've resurrected the band for mini-tours (like destructive locust swarms, they seem to appear every seven years) and have somehow gained a wide base of fans. S.O.D. Speak English or Die Live collects a bunch of odds and ends from S.O.D.'s history into one comprehensive, if somewhat scattershot, release. The primary feature here is the ridiculously titled Live at Budokan, a 1992 concert taped at The Ritz in New York. The band tears through their entire album in record speed and pads the set out with covers (including an unlikely and extremely sloppy rendition of Nirvana's rave-up "Territorial Pissings", complete with Billy reading the lyrics off a cheat sheet) as well as on-stage clowning. Live at Budokan also features interview footage with the band members discussing the origins of the music and each other. Even though they come of as oafish mooks, they are not stupid. They know what they're talking about and can be pretty damn funny. As for the music, mostly it's straight-ahead rivet-driving speed-core, with the occasional Black Sab heavy riff and a sense of humor. They can switch gears from the jokey "Ballad of Jimi Hendrix" (a 5 second song feature one lyric: "You're dead!") to an anti-suicide song like "Kill Yourself" or their pro-Israel-Egypt peace treaty song "Fuck the Middle East" without missing a mosh. With tongue in cheek lyrics and ironic anti-statement statements it's not tough to see how these songs can be misinterpreted but primarily the band is about playing out and having fun and it shows. With all the instrument switching, stage diving, and mugging for the camera there's obviously a whole lot of humor going on. I should mention one thing about the video quality of Live at Budokan upfront. The show is shot with multiple cameras of varying degrees of quality. For a while I wasn't sure what the cause of the discrepancy was, until Scott Ian revealed on the commentary track that the band only used one professional grade camera for the show. The other angles were cobbled together from bootlegs collected from fans and vendors after the show was over. Obviously there are technical limitations to this sort of method but the effect it has is unmistakably positive. The look of the concert definitely matches the patchwork spontaneity of the music. S.O.D. Speak English or Die Live also features a second concert, Live in Germany, taped at a huge outdoor festival in 1999. This show is only presented from one bootleg-quality angle and consists of much of the same material. Still, spontaneity rules and fans of S.O.D. will be thrilled to have this second look at the band. VIDEO:
I discussed the unique nature of the Live at Budokan image quality. None of it look particularly good from a video standpoint, but it gets the message across and looks as good as it should. Live in Germany also looks pretty bad, a grainy dub of a videotape. But, once again, it suits the material just fine. AUDIO:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is surprisingly vivid. The recordings may not be technically accomplished but there is energy and noise to spare. EXTRAS:
Or, "EXTRA'S" as the menu calls them. Aside from the two complete concerts there are a number of extras that should be of interest to fans. A commentary track for the Ritz show from guitarist Scott Ian is entertaining and informative. Always a wise-guy, Ian continually expresses disgust at his hair and sunglasses in some of the older footage. He laments not having a time machine to go back and snip off his hideous ponytail. Also, near the end, several unidentified women break into the room where Ian is recording his commentary and join in. Overall it's a lively and funny discussion. Also included are segments showing each band member's recording process, including singer Billy's hilarious (and endless) William Shatner impression. A roundtable discussion on the band's history and record contracts is also included, although loudmouth Megaforce exec John Z dominates these bits. A few other little odds and ends are included. FINAL THOUGHTS:
S.O.D. is a strange band with a slow-burning career and a loyal batch of fans, most of whom will probably gobble this DVD up sight-unseen. Luckily for them it's pretty damn good. Other fans of hard music should also check it out. With personality and a sense of humor these guys have created something uniquely entertaining. E-mail Gil at [email protected]
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