Album Review

Slayer – Live Intrusion – DVD

• 3rd Sep 2010

A pure slice of heavy metal nostalgia has finally made its way onto DVD release after 15 years since its original release on VHS in 1995. Slayer’s Live Intrusion, is part live show, part home video, which came out shortly after the band released their Divine Intervention album – in my eyes, Slayer’s last great death metal album.

This DVD has everything in it you’d expect to see in a rockumentary: lots of kids going nuts (watch out for the crazy fan who gets the Slayer logo carved into his forearm!), Slayer playing a blinder of a set and the obligatory home videos of the band messing about in practise rooms and on planes, etc. Some cool cameos make an appearance too. (How does Sebastian Bach get into every rock/metal band’s rockumentaries?). Many bands around the time ‘Intrusion’ was released were bringing out long-form videos in this manner and most of them were really good. Intrusion ranks up there with the stuff that Sepultura and Metallica were bringing out at the time.

Long time Slayer fans should remember the original video coming out and may even still have a copy of it covered in dust in the arse end of their music collections. The DVD release is identical to the previous release in every way; no other frills have been added apart from a rudimentary menu screen and unless there are any easter eggs that I haven’t been told about, there are no extras either which is a slight disappointment and gives the impression this is just cashing in on old stock. I’m especially disappointed by the fact that the print hasn’t even been modified to fit 16×9 televisions, so you’re left watching the whole thing in 4×3 perspective which in this day in age only serves to suggest that the developers haven’t spent much time on this release at all.

Still, if you’re an old fan who wants a bit of nostalgia, even if you did originally own the VHS version, this will certainly bring back good memories of a band at the very top of their game. I found myself remembering all the little cut scenes and could almost reel off all the banter which I had laughed heartily to in earlier years. This will also appeal to younger fans also and this DVD will give a good education as to how Slayer were when they were actually good!