A band that have that little bit of something extra that makes them and their music standout from the multitude.
This issue* has been a little strange for me as a reviewer. Lots of live albums/DVD's have found their way to me, and as I'm not usually a fan of the modern live releases that seem to come out on an ad-nauseam basis, I have been surprised by how many actually came my way this time. With that being said, I have actually been very lucky with the live releases I have been given to review because I'm a huge fan of all the artist's music, none more so than Italy's incomparable Progressive Metal act DGM.
On this 2CD/DVD set, we see/hear the band filmed at the inaugural Frontiers Metal Festival in Milan (30th Oct 2016) and the ProgPower Festival in Atlanta (11th Sept 2014). What you get to witness is two shows and a couple of hours of superb music, and with the combined talents of Simone Mularoni, Mark Basile, Emanuele Casali, Andrea Arcangeli and Fabio Costantino, this band don't put a foot wrong. This is especially true of guitarist Mularoni who, it has to be said, is on stunningly good form throughout the two performances. However, before I come to the music, a word to whoever was in charge of the lighting at these shows; please, please buy some more spotlights to highlight the musicians onstage because, at times, depending on where they are stood, they disappear into the stage gloom.
With the visual aspect rant over, what about fantastic music played by these very talented musicians. The Frontiers performance kicks off with two tracks from the latest album 'The Passage' – namely 'The Secret, Part I' and '...Secret Part II' – which are jaw-dropping good with Mularoni and keyboard player Casali duelling it out for top-dog position. DGM follow this excellent opening by piling on wonderful song after wonderful song. The likes of 'The Passage', 'Animal', 'Fallen' and 'Daydreamer' are all on show to be enjoyed, as is the incredible 'Ghosts Of Insanity' where Mularoni shows that he's not a bad singer himself when he takes over the vocal parts by Tom S. Englund from the aforementioned recent studio album.
The fun doesn't end there either because as one live performance finishes in Italy, the other one begins in the USA. This 2014 ProgPower set is no less exciting than the more recent show from Italy, and the nice thing about this package is that due to the time gap between the two performances, we get two totally different set-lists. The Atlanta performance features twelve more DGM Prog Metal gems to devour with 'Void', 'No Looking Back', 'In A Movie', 'Heartache', 'Chaos' and more all here for the listener/viewer to revel in. As with the first show, the sheer musical complexity and dexterity of this band's music is, once again, something to marvel at.
So, for your money, with this three disc release you get a double live album plus a DVD (or Blu-Ray), and for the most part I cannot fault these twenty-two songs in any way. Each of them is played by a band that have that little bit of something extra that makes them and their music standout from the multitude. of them is played by a band that have that little bit of something extra that makes them and their music standout from the multitude.
Ian Johnson
(* this review is from Fireworks Magazine #79)
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