Since its inception in 2005, Gigantour (a six week metal music festival founded by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine) has been delivering metal that fits outside of the mainstream to the masses. While Megadeth may be a household name in some regards, most of the other acts on the yearly bill aren't quite as well known and this festival gives them a chance to get out and play in front of a larger audience than they might be able to draw on their own. Whether it be an up and coming act like Into Eternity or a band like underappreciated New York City thrash legends Overkill, Gigantour delivers.

The performances on the Gigantour 2 DVD were all shot on the second festival which took place in 2006 and featured Megadeth, Lamb Of God, Opeth and Arch Enemy on the main stage with Overkill headlining the second stage accompanied by Into Eternity, Sanctity and The Smashup. While nowhere on the DVD does it say where the material was shot (there were twenty-five stops on the tour), at one point Bobby Blitz addresses the audience as Florida so it would stand to reason that Overkill's material at least was shot at one of the three stops in the sunshine state.

The performances contained in the feature section of this release are as follows:

The Smashup - Effigy
Sanctity - Beneath The Machine
Into Eternity - Severe Emotional Distress
Overkill - Necroshine
Overkill - Rotten To The Core
Arch Enemy - We Will Rise
Arch Enemy - Nemesis
Opeth - The Lepar Affinity
Lamb Of God - Vigil
Lamb Of God - Now You've Got Something To Die For
Megadeth - Take No Prisoners
Megadeth - The Scorpion
Megadeth - Washington Is Next

What differentiates this tour DVD from a lot of other similar tour DVDs is that the feature contains only performances - there are no back stage clips here or interviews in between songs, that material is wisely included in the supplements instead. While it would have been nice to see a few more tracks included here (the feature is brief at only sixty-six minutes), at least the quality is solid. Each of the eight bands who appear here bring their 'A game' and there's not a bad performance in the bunch. Whether or not this is indicative of the entire tour or not is unknown, it's possible that because they bands new they were being filmed that they opted to give 110%, but regardless, it makes for a strong DVD.

Video:

Gigantour 2 hits DVD in a nice 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. While this transfer isn't as good as other concert DVDs out there, it's certainly not a bad looking disc. The stage lighting can sometimes blur things a little bit and some mild compression artifacts show up in the darker moments here and there but for a metal show shot under less than ideal conditions on DV, things look alright even if they could have looked better - sadly the image is not flagged for progressive scan and when the strobe lights kick in, it's artifact city...