Iced Earth Alive in Athens DVD

Is it me or the DVD is stale compared with the cd, The songs on the DVD sound like identical to the studio recordings the mix is bad and you cant hear the crowd noise at all. I recently got the cd and it sounds so much better.

If I remember correctly, the DVD was released by Century Media when Iced Earth were no longer part of the label and so the band didn't really have much input. Schaffer put out a few statements about it at the time. I'm pretty sure for the sound, they just used the tracks off the record and put them to the footage - which doesn't work in all cases, as the album was from two nights and the footage from one, so there are a few moments where it doesn't quite sync up.

Additionally, the footage was only filmed on a few cameras and was only intended for European TV, never for DVD. It's not a bad DVD, but it's more of a neat collector's thing rather than a definitive live release.

I do recall Jon Schaffer being pretty vocal about telling IE fans NOT to buy this release. He had no involvement with the production.

The cd kicks all kinds of ass though. And I'm not a big fan of live albums in general.

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I do recall Jon Schaffer being pretty vocal about telling IE fans NOT to buy this release. He had no involvement with the production.

Yep, I remember reading that on Blabbermouth. "Iced Earth had nothing to do with this DVD, it was not authorized by us, we're no longer signed to that label, it's nothing but a cheap cash in, blah blah blah."

...of course, Iced Earth is back on Century Media all these years later so I guess they smooched 'n' made up.

I borrowed the DVD from a friend back when it was a new release, it was OK from what little I remember of it.

I bought it.....kinda/sorta my first overview of what the band was all about. I wasn't impressed and gave it to a band member (at the time) who dug em alot.