By Andrew Bansal
September 15th 2014, Downtown Independent, Los Angeles CA: Over the last three years, New York thrash giants Anthrax have redeemed themselves in a manner not even their most die-hard fans could have expected or imagined, coming out with their tenth studio album ‘Worship Music’ which matched and arguably surpassed any and all of their previous studio efforts, followed by a multi-leg world tour which saw them perform hundreds of shows, presenting the new and old material and winning their fans all over again, establishing themselves as the strongest of the so-called ‘Big Four’ of thrash in terms of the quality of new material and as a live band. It was only fitting of them to document this tour somewhere along the way, and they did so at the Teatro Caupolican in Santiago, Chile on May 10 2013, which is releasing in stores today September 16th 2014 on DVD and Blu-Ray as Anthrax’ ‘Chile On Hell’. Last night, on the eve of the release, Anthrax held theatrical premieres in New York and Los Angeles, the LA event (open to fans who pre-ordered the DVD/Blu-Ray through Amoeba Music) taking place at the Downtown Independent in the presence of guitarist Scott Ian and producer Jay Ruston who also indulged in a highly entertaining 45-minute Q&A session with this small audience after the end of the screening, gladly answering any and every question thrown at them, Chile On Hell-related and otherwise.
The screening began at 9:05 and for the 100-minute duration of the movie, I found myself immersed in the concert that was being presented as its subject. Hard rock and heavy metal bands filming concert DVDs in South American countries has been a popular trend in recent years (Iron Maiden, Megadeth, AC/DC and several others) and rightly so, as a mere few minutes of seeing and hearing the incredibly passionate response Anthrax was getting from the Santiago crowd in this movie is spine-chilling in itself. The band certainly pulled out all the stops and left no stone unturned when it came to the set list for this show, hitting the crowd hard with an avalanche of old-school classics and then easing into the ‘Worship Music’ material and also giving a taste of the ‘Anthems’ covers EP with a rendition of AC/DC’s ‘T.N.T’. which garnered the most fantastic reaction from the 30,000-strong San Bernardino crowd I was a part of almost exactly a year ago and induced a similar atmosphere inside the Teatro Caupolican.
But more than the band’s performance and the crowd, the excellent video editing and audio mix makes this a great product, successfully capturing the Anthrax live experience and giving the viewer a front row as well as bird’s eye perspective through the usage of nine different camera angles, including GoPro cameras installed on Scott Ian’s guitar and at a few other spots on stage. The style of video production is an ideal blend of professional and D.I.Y. traits, utilizing modern-day techniques but at the same time giving the feel of an old-school VHS tape. The video editing is perhaps the most standout aspect of this DVD, as the shift from one camera angle to the next is smooth and nearly seamless, and this is thankfully not one of those DVDs wherein the viewer suffers from wildly flickering sequences of angles switching every half a second. Besides, the audio presents Anthrax’ live sound absolutely perfectly, Charlie Benante’s drum sound in particular coming through with great pop, and no edits or overdubs have been done to the audio of this concert.
The movie steps away from the Santiago concert for brief moments and cuts into behind-the-scenes footage and images of the band and fans from other parts of the world, played to the soundtrack of the Worship Music tunes that weren’t part of the Santiago set list. The cut-ins come at opportune moments and do not disrupt the flow, but instead help in maintaining the viewer’s interest for the next part of the concert, and this comes across as a better way of combining live and bonus footage as opposed to the whole concert played out from start to finish.
As Scott Ian rightly said during the Q&A session, everyone should try to see their favorite band live in concert in a South American country because there’s nothing quite like it, as is proven emphatically by this DVD. Ian addressed a wide variety of questions about set lists, countries, venues, future plans, S.O.D. favorite concert DVDs and other topics, but the most important utterance from him was the clarification that guitarist Jon Donais’ minimal appearance in the video footage wasn’t the band’s decision and was purely a a result of the local film crew’s negligence towards the new member. Ruston also chimed in with topics related to the editing and mixing, and this event was overall a great endorsement for the movie, held fittingly at the Downtown Independent, a genuine supporter of indie cinema. The event ended at close to midnight with Ruston and Ian staying to take photos with attendees.
Providing a thoroughly enjoyable experience of a metal band at the absolute peak of its powers, Anthrax’ ‘Chile On Hell’ delivers on all counts and is a must-have for metalheads.
Rating: 9.5/10
Anthrax ‘Chile On Hell’ trailer:
Set List:
01. Among The Living
02. Caught In A Mosh
03. I Am The Law
04. Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)
05. A Skeleton In The Closet
06. March Of The S.O.D.
07. In The End
08. Deathrider *
09. T.N.T. (AC/DC cover)
10. I’m Alive
11. Indians
12. Medusa
13. In My World
14. Got The Time *
15. Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t
16. I’m The Man
17. Madhouse
18. Antisocial
* = not included on DVD due to technical issues