DEATH - Vivus!

GENRE: Death metal
COUNTRY: USA
FORMAT: CD
LABEL: Relapse Records
YEAR: February 28th, 2012

RATING: 5/10
REVIEWED BY: PSL
PROVIDED BY: Relapse Records

Vivus! is made up of two full concerts. The first is from Dynamo Open Air in Eindhoven, Holland in 1998 and the other is from Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angels, USA in December 1998. Both concerts have already been released by Nuclear Blast in 2001 so Vivus! does most of all seem like a cash-in effort. I do consider myself a hardcore Death fan, but honestly I have a hard time finding the interesting in this release.

The sound on the Dynamo Open Air concert isn't all that great. It's almost bootleg quality, and that is not meant as a complement. Sure it does provide the music with an honest feel, but it's also what makes Vivus! dreary. Another thing I don't like about the concert is that you can hear things have been edited out between the songs. That doesn't provide a nice flow in the concert.

Next is the concert from The Whisky A Go-Go. It's the same gig that was put on DVD. The sound is a little better at that concert, but still not all that good. It's a shame as it doesn't justify the greatness of Death's music.

Just like the Dynamo concert the setlist focus on the later material. And the fact that the two setlists are almost identical doesn't exactly make Vivus any more interesting. The good thing about the Whisky concert is that it doesn't seem to have been edited or tampered with as opposite to the Dynamo concert.

Vivus! is more of a collectors item that a CD for the common Death fan. I've been a fan of Death for more than 22 years and there's no way I'm can deny the impact that Chuck's music has had on me, but that doesn't change the fact that Vivus! isn't a very interesting effort.