Exousia - Exousia Alive DVD

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With the emergence of DVD's, we are starting to see more and more bands put out live DVD's.  Exousia has now jumped on the bandwagon (which is a good bandwagon to be on), and has released a 60 minute video of live material and interviews.  This is great for us who don't get to go down to Mexico to see concerts, and a great chance to experience this talented, up and coming band.
 
First off...this is an underground style recording, so don't expect superior quality.  There are many decent camera shots on these different live shows, but most of them seem to be recorded with camcorders, so the picture quality and sound is not always perfect.  We often see the picture going out of focus, or nothing but blackness when the stage lights go on and off.  One great thing the band did is that all the lyrics sung on the songs and all the words from the interviews are all rolled across the bottom of the screen in English.
 
The TV interview is pretty cool.  The band seems to be on a show that has a guy that knows metal, but nothing about Christian metal, and they do their best to educate him.  They get to explain the basis for Christian music and two of the guys get to give their testimony on this show.  One thing that I thought was cool, was that the band kept referring to their mission as "offering a new proposal" to those who are sick of the current metal scene and all the filth that is portrayed in the lyrics and lifestyles.  Guitarist, Miguel Martinez, does most of the talking and actually even makes it hard for the guy doing the show to get a word in edge-wise.
 
As far as the life songs go, the song listing is as follows:
 
"Serpent of Bronze" - July 2001 (Brazil)
"Break the Silence" - Nov. 2001 (Brazil)
"Master of Masters" - Nov. 2001 (Brazil) Only played part of this song.
"I Believe in God" - Nov. 2001 (Brazil) They rip to shreds a banner displaying a satanic pentegram and 666 logo, much to the delight of the crowd.
"Eternal Dimension" - Nov. 2001 (Brazil)
"Salvation" - Nov. 2002 (Brazil) Only played part of this song.
"Extreme Love" - Feb. 2002 (Mexico City)
"Welcome to the Kingdom of Light" - Aug. 2000 (Mexico City)
"Blood" - Aug. 2000 (Mexico City)
 
Regarding the above songs, the first four were filmed out in the crowd.  The next three were filmed from the side of the stage and the quality gets worse being this close, although the shots of the band are better.  The sound from the stage sounds pretty muffled at times.  "Eternal Dimension" is really cool though as the song is very intense with blasting, strobe lights, wild guitar solos, and lots of death growling and black shreiking.  The last two songs look like they were filmed in a basement.  The "stage" is EXTREMELY small and the guys have barely any room to move.  The crowd is in a small hallway of sorts that couldn't be more than 15 feet wide.  The band was tearing it up though, and the drummer was headbanging like a fool while playing and beating the crap out of the drums.
 
Probably the coolest moment of the whole DVD was when they did some very bold preaching during one show and did an altar call.  Many people came forward right then during the concert and prayed to accept Christ.  That gave me chills watching it.
 
Overall, this is not super high quality, but it's been absolutely fun for me to watch.  I may never get to see Exousia play live in person, so this is as close as I'll get.  People who are not familar with the band might want to start with the band's CD's and not this, but I would say this is a must for all current Exousia fans.  (Review by Matt)    

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