INSIDE SEVENTH STORY

Earlier this year, this band from Uzbekistan released their second studio album, appropriately titled "Seventh Story" (because it has seven songs on it, silly!) and this DVD captures the band performing the album in it's entirety.

The quality of the sound and video is quite good, as you would expect with any modern video. The band is also very talented - before the second track, Parallels, is over, there are no doubts in your mind that the band is full of talented individuals on each instrument, although the cameras do tend to focus primarily on the guitarist, bassist, and drummer.

The songs are of course long but very enjoyable, often lead by great guitar riffs. They are performed very well, in fact so close to the original at points that it wasn't until partway through the second song I was sure that this performance wasn't used on the album.

There are a few odd things with the video, that remove the feeling of live-ness by a small amount. There are some moments where the video will go into slow motion while the music marches onward, giving an odd sense of disconnect, and there are a few parts where what you see on screen doesn't seem to quite match what you're hearing - it's either that the video is off by a fraction of a second, or that they did overdubs, I'm not sure which.

Fortunately, the performances are still electrifying, and the band proves that they know how to have a good time. For instance, there is a section in Desert Circle where Vitaly plays with the sound on his fretless guitar, picking up one that sounds like a computer voice going "bah", and the band starts jamming around his playing on that. This is definitely a departure from the album and injects some fun into an already fun DVD. There is also the part where Vitaly sings into a microphone that is modifying his voice and plays around with that a bit.

And of course there are still some surprises here and there, Bell of the Earth especially stands out on this DVD because suddenly, instead of the electric guitar, bass, drums fare that has dominated to that point, suddenly Vitaly is sitting listening while the rest of the band plays tubular bells, cello, xylophone and piano to play this beautiful piece. (He gets the spotlight on most of the DVD, it's nice to see the rest of the band shine for a while).

Definitely a great performance, there are some nitpicks but it is ultimately great fun, the band have amazing chemistry, and they are able to play this complex and fun music and make it seem easy.