CROWBAR Live:With Full Force

By: Anne Marie Groves

From Kirk's Mom's garage to the With Full Force Festival 2004, Crowbar have been and remain a power house of New Orleans metal. This Crowbar's first DVD has been much anticipated over the past year. The ball blasting set from the world renowned open air festival interspersed with candid interview chat with Kirk, Jimmy Bower, Steve, Pat Bruders, Tommy Buckley and Jamey Jasta (of Hatebreed), along with the back stage antics certainly entertains the viewer.

Mini myths are dispelled, like the sumptuous and debauched life style back stage at the gigs. The truth about the line up changes down the years. You'll hear of the influences behind their writing. Discover the reason why these fine group of musicians do what they do to bring the music we love to a venue near us.

If you are someone who has never yet seen Crowbar live, watching this will give you a sense of the energy and presence these guys exude, be it at a full-on open air venue or your local club's backroom. If you are one of the fortunate who has seen them live, it will remind you of the might, muscle and quality of Crowbar's performance. Either way, it will make you want to see Crowbar at the next available opportunity.

But it doesn't stop there. As bonus material we get to see the video's produced to accompany six of our favourite tracks, from 1991's Subversion from the Obedience Through Suffering album to 2005's Dead Sun and previously unreleased Slave No More from their highly successful current album Lifesblood For The Downtrodden.

This DVD is a definitely one worth owning because you will watch it many times.

Here's what some of the fans had to say.

Drained - Just wanted to thank Kirk and Crowbar for the killer dvd I love it. Its great to be able to see them jam whenever I want. Stay heavy guys.

Matt the great slayer - The new DVD is the SHIT. Y'all oughtta be real proud of it. Truly a treat for the longtime fans to see Jimmy & Kirk talk about the origins of the band as well as what's up nowadays.

C.DeFaria - The video production isn't slick, but Crowbar needs none of that. Between live footage from the German performance of "with full force," interviews with the band talking about the beginning, and music videos, this is a must have for anyone who wants to kick back and chill to some of the heaviest riffs on the planet.

"Live: with full force" goes back and forth from the live performance to interviews - kind of like how someone may actually view a Crowbar show! The only drawback on the DVD would be the lack of a few favorite tunes like "Slave no more" off the latest disc, Lifesblood for the downtrodden." Still....great DVD that's basic, but awesome - just like the mighty Crowbar!

Jonah Carden - This dvd is pretty smoking. I would rather seen them put out a show at a club or a smaller venue though. There's alot of cool interviews on here, all the music videos are on here. including a super old old where kirk looks like hes still in high school or something. it's pretty funny. todd strange is so huge too. it's funny as hell watching his faces.

Below, what the critics think

SeaOfTranquility.org Crowbar's "rockumentary" Live: With Full Force is part live concert (filmed at the German open-air festival of the same name in 2005), and part documentary, chocked with interviews, backstage mania, and music videos. This New Orleans band has been around for over a decade, and have perfected their brand of "stoner/doom metal", also sometimes known as "sludge metal.core" which owes plenty to bands like Black Sabbath, Pantera, The Melvins, CoC, Cathedral, and St. Vitus. In full support of their release Lifesblood For the Downtrodden, the live footage from With Full Force features basically one song from all of the band's albums, delivered in crushing fashion by the boys in Crowbar. Favourites like "Burn Your World", "Planets Collide", "The Lasting Dose", 'Self Inflicted", and the excellent new track "New Dawn" pummel with all the doomy powerhouse of vintage Black Sabbath or modern day Down. All of the footage from the festival is interwoven with interview clips with the band and backstage footage, which shows the band as just a bunch of regular guys, as they talk about how much they love their career despite the fact that being in a band is not all it is cracked up to be. Be prepared to laugh quite a bit at some of this candid footage, as the band don't hesitate to poke fun at each other every chance they get.

Smother.net Crowbar has often been one of those crucial metallic-edged bands that you simply must see live to fully enjoy. Well now you can do just that from the comfort of your own home. Filmed during the group’s tour to support “Lifesblood for the Downtrodden”, these live performances fully capture the Crowbar experience. Sludgy metal, down-tempo hard rock, and heavy metal anthems are all present and show why this is one band that has lasted the test of time.

Kerrang.com