Iced Earth - Gettysburg (1863)
	Rating: 45/100 Reviewed by: Kenn Jensen, April '05 Label: Steamhammer/SPV Style: Power Metal Format: 2 DVD DVD 1: Format: DVD 9 Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Metal Mix & Orchestral Mix) & Dolby Digital 2.0 Screen: 4:3 Running time: 132 minutes DVD 2: Format: DVD 5 Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Runing time: 63 minutes

It's not like I don't like Iced Earth, I have actually been a huge fan of theirs ever since I bought their demo tape "Enter The Realm" directly from the band. So it was with a great anticipation, that I pressed "play" on my DVD player, when I received this, the very first DVD from Iced Earth ever!

DVD 1 starts off with the video of, in my humble opinion, the best Iced Earth song ever: ” Gettysburg (1863)". First off this song is more that 32 minutes long and even to make a video for such an epic song is in my book very impressive. But how do you make a video about a battle that took place some 142 years ago? Jon & co. have chosen the historical angle - lots of old pictures of soldiers, places and stuff from the battle, and they have combined it with some computer graphics. But I loose interest very, very fast and the images just float together ...
Next up we get a grand tour of the actual battle field, where Jon, in a military jacket, after a short introduction the tour starts and Jon walks it along with Ted Gajewski, one of the official Gettysburg tourist guides, who explains the different stages of the battle. Jon breaks in at different stages of the story and tells us how different persons and incidents fit with the song: Gettysburg (1863)".
In a very short interview we get an idea of what Jon's other big interest "Spirit Of '76 Collectibles" - his store, which he has just opened in Columbus, Indiana, means to him. The store carries arts, miniatures, models and relics of historical things and events. The tour takes us from site to site from monument to monument, some of the monuments can be seen in the Photo Gallery included on this DVD and to conclude disc 1 is a very short Trailer fro this release.

DVD 2 includes the video version of the songs: "When The Eagles Cries" and "The Reckoning (Don't Tread On Me)" - both your typical performance videos with small clips to spice things up. The main part of the second DVD is a very good interview, in which Jon talks about the addition of Tim "Ripper" Owens, he explains the background for some of songs on "The Glorious Burden" album, and he explains how a Iced Earth song is created. He talks a bit about the hard times living in Florida and getting Iced Earth started and how tough life was back then. A lot of different topics are touched like 9.11., Demons & Wizards, personnel changes, the American market vs. the European, and just how important the American marked is to Iced Earth and to Jon. And we return to the battle of Gettysburg , and Jon talks about what different places and persons means to him. Overall a very good interview and my favorite part of the DVD set.

I must admit, that this double DVD set has given me an insight into this very special event in the American Civil War, but I had expectations for a lot more ... this DVD set is really only for American fans and die-hard European Iced Earth fans. I wouldn't recommend this DVD set to Mr. Normal Metal Fan, because it's so specific about just one thing ... the interview section is very good however. But that alone doesn't justify the full price for this 2 DVD set! Sad, but true ...