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The Principles And Practices Of The BerzerkerExecutive Producer: Luke Kenny Rating: E Running Time: 240 mins (approx) Distributor: Earache As much as I was looking forward to this DVD, I have quite mixed feelings about it now that I've seen it. On the one hand, four hours of footage certainly provides value for money, but at twice as long as DVDs of bands twice their stature there seems to be a bit of overkill: with extras like extended sections on the creation of the CD artwork and the members' masks, the DVD is padded out with a lot of filler. Hence my resultant ambivalence: while it has every appearance of being a professional production, 'Principles And Practices' comes off as oddly amateurish. Does it matter how the masks were made? Does anyone care that the artist's computer wasn't fast enough to support the animations required of the 'Dissimulate' artwork? Either this DVD is symptomatic of The Berzerker's first flush of excitement about finally being a 'real' band of international stature or 'Principles And Practices' embodies more ego than can be comfortably endured. Produced by Berzerker mainman Luke Kenny, 'Principles And Practices' starts off with 60 minutes of live footage, the majority of it from a high quality recording of a performance in Nottingham in 2002. Most of the rest of the live songs are either compilation clips (comprising shaky, grainy footage interspersed with more polished shots recorded throughout their career) or home video 'fan cam' type efforts. Plus there's also a song recorded during band rehearsal (with the masks firmly in place, of course) and the official video clip for No One Wins (which sees the band perform in masks amongst sand dunes in a vaguely amusing combination). The remainder of the DVD is mostly half hour band interviews, a 100 minute doco on the making of the self-titled album and a 25 minute doco about the making of 'Dissimulate'. While the blurb of the DVD boasts that the interviews are "in depth", the questions primarily revolve around such topics as "Can The Berzerker get any more extreme?" or "What's it like to play in masks?" Instead, it's the two docos that are the real highlights of this production. Although extraordinarily long, the making of the self-titled album was particularly enjoyable; an insightful and sometimes amusing look at the ups and down of the recording process. From the ill-fated collaboration with the Strapping Young Lad guys in Canada to the more productive experiences in Australia, the doco tracks the gruelling, year-long effort to create the first album. In numerous unguarded moments, Kenny's meglomaniacal obsession with the project becomes abundantly clear - and you start to get the feeling that the only reason the recording went more smoothly in Australia was because the guys involved here were more compliant than those he was working with overseas. This is partly what I mean about the DVD being too ego-driven: you cannot help but respect Kenny for his dedication and conviction, but what is particularly revealing in this section is the absolute devotion of the other participating musicians in their willingness to go to any length for the project. While their commitment is sometimes comic - like Jason and Ed's team guitar effort where, in order to play the guitar parts as fast as required, Jason handled the fret board while Ed frantically strummed beside him - the viewer is nonetheless left with the sense that these guys will not get their due acknowledgement so long as the entire Berzerker project is subsumed under the banner of '"Luke's vision." All in all, this DVD reveals both more and less than the band probably intended.  |
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