Detailed Reviews [Love De Vice - 2012 - "Silesian Night 11.11.11"]

Prolusion. The Polish band LOVE DE VICE, formerly known as Playfinger, was formed by Andrzej Archanowicz in 2007 and took shape with the addition of vocalist Pawel Granecki around the time when they recorded their first album. Initially more of a classic hard rock oriented band on their debut album, their style has increasingly oriented towards an art rock expression. With two albums under their belt and preparing material for their third, the band opted to record and release a live DVD through Polish label Metal Mind Productions as the next step in their career.

Analysis. This live DVD will most likely be a somewhat frustrating experience for existing fans of Love De Vice. Here's a band with a growing level of attention following two albums that get the opportunity to record a live DVD, and then aren't overly concerned in recording live versions of their existing material – which is, I guess, a novel approach to take when releasing a production of this kind. It is a good sales pitch for the DVD however, as the majority of the contents are made up by compositions that aren’t released yet. Still, I'd guess a few fans might want to hear more of the past and not quite as much from the possible future when they get the chance to buy a concert DVD from a band they truly like. The footage itself is of the usual quality those familiar with the Metal Minds series of live DVDs have come to expect: plenty of cameras in action ensuring a great variety of footage of a high quality throughout. Colors are well defined all across the spectrum, the images are as sharp and crisp as you can expect from an operation of this kind. The audio footage is of an equal or perhaps even better quality, every instrument is well defined and clearly audible throughout. As for Love De Vice itself, it comes across as a vibrant band, filled with drive and energy. It's always a pleasure to see musicians that appear to have a truly good time on stage, and if this production is a testimony to have this band normally has it then it must be a true joy to be a member of this ensemble, at least from an artistic point of view. The main reason for me not to praise the accolades of this DVD any higher than I do comes from some choices done in the editing department for this production. A matter which comes down to personal taste first and foremost, but which was a detrimental feature, at least to me. Black and white images used for effect and variety were utilized a tad too frivolous to my taste, and for me this became a minor distraction. A far more pressing concern for me was the high frequency of superimposed images. A part of Love De Vice's stage show, as is customary these days I guess, was the use of images and movie clips running on a monitor setup at the back of the stage. Many fine and intriguing instances of both I would have liked to see more of actually, but as they were and not superimposed with images of the band or individual band members performing. Alongside the use of black and white impact scenes it does give this DVD a modern feel admittedly, but personally I found this to be a distraction and detrimental to my experience overall.

Conclusion. Fans of Polish band Love De Vice will most likely have grabbed this DVD already. It is their first ever use of this medium after all, and as such a production of interest in itself due to that alone. For others this is a fine live document of a band that strives to look ahead and not back in time, with a large proportion of the material performed from a forthcoming CD. It is also a nice documentation on the development cycles of a band that started out as more of a classic rock band that has taken a left turn to seek out more sophisticated waters, as best documented in the contrast between the bonus video clip Foggy Future and the compositions performed on stage. A worthwhile purchase, but with some reservations to the image effects applied in the editing.

OMB=Olav M Bjornsen: April 6, 2012
The Rating Room