THE MURDEROUS METAL ROADSHOW LIVE spotlights front man Lizzy Borden’s air-raid vocals and the duel guitar attack of Alex Nelson and Gene Allan. The concert showcases scorching versions of LIZZY BORDEN’s lighting fast compositions including their hits Give Em the Ax, Psychopath, Redrum, Love You to Pieces, American Metal, and Rod of Iron, along with their secondary songs Council for the Cauldron, Flesheater, Warfare, No Time to Lose, Save Me, and Godiva. The band throws in their killer rendition of the Paul McCartney classic, Live and Let Die, for a blistering total of fourteen songs. The frenetic LIZZY BORDEN originals only last about three minutes each making for a fast paced and exciting show that leaves the audience wanting more. The famous THE MURDEROUS METAL ROADSHOW LIVE performance is marred only by the dated semi-poserish clothing and Lizzy’s laughingly orange afro. Mr. Borden has always been influenced by shock rock kings ALICE COOPER, KISS, and THE TUBES, and this explains the bands infatuation with brightly colored clothing, sleazy women, and savage theatrics. Speaking of the stage show, during Love You to Pieces, Lizzy brandishes an ax and chases around a hot chick in lingerie. He swings the ax, missing the slut until she takes refuge inside a casket. Lizzy then beheads the woman (unseen) sending blood spurting everywhere. Then the lanky frontman licks the blood off the walls. Yes LIZZY BORDEN studied Vincent Furnier well, and THE MURDEROUS METAL ROADSHOW LIVE is ALICE COOPER taken to the Nth level.

THE MURDEROUS METAL ROADSHOW LIVE is one of Brian Slagel’s (owner of Metal Blade Records) first long-form home video concert releases put out by his label. Despite the analog limitations of the time period, THE MURDEROUS METAL ROADSHOW LIVE is professionally filmed on video, and the camera work perfectly captures the kinetic energy of LIZZY BORDEN. For the DVD release, Metal Blade simply included the video master for the new digital transfer, without any enhancements. That being said, the image is quite clear and detailed--barring the occasional softness to the picture. The colors are really good, revealing the garishness of the patented mid-eighties outfits worn by Lizzy and company. The image is so clear that it’s easy to spot the fake blood and bodyparts employed for the stageshow. The soundtrack is Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 which is very clear and allows the precise fretwork to take center stage. The guitars, drums, and shrieking vocals are tightly integrated in the mix. Distortion levels are low. My only complaint with the audio portion of this disc is that it is mixed too low, (at least by current digital standards) and lacks any power. The soundtrack is tight and clear, but does not posses better fidelity than a regular CD; and a DVD soundtrack should be superior to it’s CD counterpart.

Metal Blade’s DVD includes a number of extras guaranteed to make LIZZY BORDEN fans happy. There is an animated Discography that features glimpses of the record covers (accompanied by their music) in the band’s catalog. You can view the Photo Gallery menu that contains stills of Lizzy & crew hamming it up for photo shoots and several on-stage pictures as well. There is also a Web Link menu with links to the Web sites of LIZZY BORDEN and Metal Blade Records. The thing that will make LIZZY BORDEN fans happy the most is the revealing interview with the man himself, conducted by fellow metal legend John Bush, vocalist of the immortal ARMORED SAINT and ANTHRAX. The interview was conducted after LIZZY BORDEN’s reunion (2000) and it’s interesting to see how the man has changed. Gone is the big orange afro and he appears to have put on some weight. One thing that hasn’t changed though, is the man’s attitude, heart, and dedication towards hard rock and heavy metal. John Bush and Lizzy discuss some of his controversial career highlights, including:

LIZZY BORDEN as a band is a rather unique concept. Mr. Borden came up with the idea of combining power metal with shock rock antics (and threw in a dash of cock rock to boot). The resulting sound and imagery is like nothing ever witnessed or heard before in the annals of rock music. Therefore, THE MURDERESS METAL ROADSHOW is highly recommended--not just for LIZZY BORDEN fans, but anyone who considers themselves a student of the art form known as Rock. Metal Blade’s DVD delivers the goods quite well, but there is one area that could use improvement. Since many of Metal Blade’s DVD sound mixes lack power and true stereo imaging for home theater systems, we would like to strongly suggest that they incorporate a Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 sound mix for the highest quality sound experience that would truly simulate a front row seat. Metal Blade Records has a lot of bands on their roster who are certainly visual-oriented (like MERCYFUL FATE, GWAR, LIZZY BORDEN, ARMORED SAINT, etc.) and the majority of these bands will put out DVD product in the future. Metal Blade must keep up with their competition and improve their audio processes for these potential releases.