Review of Mushroomhead - Volume 2 (DVD)

Reviewing a DVD is a little bit different from reviewing a CD. With a CD, you can pick apart the tracks, compare one song to the next, talk about changes from the previous album, etc. That’s because the point of a CD is to sell music. Obviously, then, the point of a DVD is to sell visual content: behind the scenes and backstage footage, live performances, interviews, videos, etc. In addition, they are specifically designed for fans of the band, because no one is going to buy the DVD of a band they don’t like, right? It is with this mindset that I set forth to watch and review Mushroomhead’s second DVD release, the not-so-inventively titled Volume II. I’ve never seen Volume I, but judging from this site’s own review of said disc, it sounds like the content is very similar in nature. Based on that, I don’t think I’ll be seeing it any time soon, and I don’t think that anyone but the hardest die-hards need bother to pick this one up.

In its defense, Volume I had the distinction of being most peoples’ first chance to see and hear the band with then-new vocalist Waylon – heck, that was the main reason I ever wanted to see it. Plus, they could have included content from their entire history (although I don’t believe that they did) and it still would have been relevant as part of their first DVD release. Here, the band is forced to rely on music from a tour in support of the lackluster Savior Sorrow, and the results are disappointing even for me as a fan.

The “feature” of this disc is an approximately 90 minute tour chronicle of the band’s Jagermeister-sponsored trek with Dope and consists primarily of the aforementioned backstage/tour bus footage along with the band goofing off in their spare time. Although I did somewhat enjoy the scenes of the band shooting stuff with high-powered rifles, the dick jokes got old really quick, and there are enough dick jokes here to make even the Farrelly Brothers cry ‘uncle’. I honestly don’t remember the content in great detail because after awhile it all looked the same to me, all the way down to the gratuitous tit shots. I do recall a chapter (at least I think it was a chapter) dedicated to the band’s infighting, including several moments where Waylon was yelling at his mates not to touch him; there was a lot of pranking going on and apparently he couldn’t handle it. I don’t know. One of the more memorable parts was a documentary-like segment showing off the band’s backstage area at one of their shows, then moving over to the “rock star” area that was Dope’s dressing room, which was revealed to be the bathroom. The classics never die.

Live footage is sporadically inserted throughout, none of it pro-shot, which may be a testament to the band’s DIY attitude, but the sound quality is crap and the video quality isn’t much better. Also injected are all of the videos the band made from the aforementioned Savior Sorrow album. While these are quality videos (at least in terms of production values), they alone are not worth the cost of a DVD, and certainly should not be the highlight of a DVD from a band capable of so much more.

Release Details

Mushroomhead

Volume 2 (DVD)

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