Search - Royal Hunt :: 2006-Live

As close to perfection as you will get.

Michael Thomas Pazera | 03/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My first Royal Hunt cd that I bought was Double Live in Japan (on Magna Carta). I can't understand how it took me so long to realize what a great band and cd this was. I did'nt "get it" until after a few listens. Disc one being a compilation of songs from the live cd 1996(the best songs I might add!) and disc two is the entire Paradox cd performed live (also entitled "closing the chapter" - sometimes grouped with the Paradox cd). Later I bought the 1996 live cd, but it was a bit of a let down because all the better songs were on the Magna Carta release. And Paradox is their crowning achievement, hence Live in Japan ranks with Loudness' Live, Loud, Alive cd as one of the best live cds ever! The band plays tight and DC Cooper is the only perfect vocalist. So, how does their new live cd compare? With their latest 2006 Live, Royal Hunt demonstrate what a fantastic band they are to this day. The band are totally on top of their game. The soloing of new guitarist Marcus Jidell is a perfect match for Andre Anderson's keyboard playing: fast and well structured for the music. And John West has such a great voice that the only thing you can fault him for is not being DC Cooper (there can only be one of him!). West sounds like a more metallic version of Joe Lynn Turner.They still have one female backup singer, not two as before. Who would ever think that this would work for heavy metal? But it does, and gives them a very unique sound.(speaking of which, has anybody heard the female backing vocals on the opening song of Frank Marino's live cd "the answer"? - nice touch) They play a good selection of older and newer songs ("Lies" and "The Mission" being the most welcome) and anything not here is on the other live cd("1348", "Tearing down the world"),so there really is'nt much to complain about (although I would have liked to hear more from their Eyewitness cd in the place of "Follow me" and "Cold city nights". Also "World wide war" would have been cool to include). Even with those things that I can't change, I have to give this the highest rating possible. And as much as I like Kamelot's new live cd(also five stars), Royal Hunt does such a great job here that I have to say that Royal Hunt has the better of the two. And of course the dvd is worth getting as well."