Rob Halford's Fight was definitely one of the heaviest groups ever to slap the jaw of the growing "Seattle Sound" movement of the time when they jumped into the fray and began delivering some truly intense Metal. Halford's decision to leave Judas Priest left many of the bands fans catatonic because the information was truly something that no one ever thought possible and yet it did happen. He would assemble the players Russ Parrish (guitar), Brian Tilse (guitar), Jay Jay (bass) and bring along Priest drummer Scott Travis and present to his loyal followers Metal that was much heavier than Judas Priest and worked well along the lines of aggressive bands like Pantera. War Of Words – The Film, brings to light the goings on behind the bands formation and offers up a lot of live concert footage in a beautiful package. The documentary that we are led to believe will be rather enlightening is a bit of a letdown when one compares it to other films of its type but again it is still nice to have around as opposed to not having it. I am guilty of expecting too much from the documentary and looked forward to Halford going into super deep detail on his Priest departure but sadly the commentary is nothing eye-opening or ground breaking in terms of its disclosure. They didn't seem to clean up the footage all that much either and it's left to look rather dated and dim. The live footage is again nice to have but a little bit of a deception about being a solid live show from Fight as it is instead a number of live bits all put together to make a single concert piece. This is not superb professional footage but more like fan bootlegs or video shot from side stage or the sound board. It does show how intense Fight was live but if you are looking for incredible filming with angles and dramatic shots this is not going to appeal to you. If you are one of those fans of the bootleg then it is right up your alley. The footage was all filmed in 1993 from five shows that were done in the USA as well as Germany and France. Additional live footage from Sony Studios is included as well as the bands three promotional videos ("Nailed To The Gun", Little Crazy", "Immortal Sin").
CD: "War Of Words" (remixed/remastered): Into The Pit, Nailed To The Gun, Life In Black, Immortal Sin, War Of Words, Laid To Rest, For All Eternity, Little Crazy, Contortion, Kill It, Vicious, Reality – A New Beginning.
*** You might not have found anything wrong with the original production of the Fight debut "War Of Words" and actually enjoyed it the way it was. However, if you felt that there was something lacking, then Halford and Metal God Entertainment set out to do you right by remixing and remastering the album and including with this DVD film. On the remaster there is a little more clarity than before and Halford himself seems a bit more upfront in the mix while some of the other instrumentation has been lowered and even removed in some instances. It didn't strike me as one of those remasters that finds me looking to pass along the original to someone else and I need to give it a few more turns in direct comparison to see if I prefer it reworked or just how it sounded back in the day.
Packaged in a highly decorated package they include a booklet that is loaded with photos of the band during these years and lyrics for the War Of Words album. The liner notes are brief otherwise and explain the release a little bit but I had expected some new notes from The Metal God himself as he gets to look back on this release some fifteen years after it all had happened. Overall this is a nice package and serves the need for all of Halford's fans should they be they studies of Fight or Judas Priest alone. The creation of Metal God Entertainment does at least offer a means for the Metal community to finally own a number of video and audio releases that would have never easily seen the light of day otherwise.
Track Listing
1. The Documentary
2. Into The Pit – live
3. War Of Words – live
4. Life In Black – live
5. Kill It – live
6. Immortal Sin – live
7. Laid To Rest – live
8. Contortion – live
9. For All Eternity – live
10. Nailed To The Gun – live
11. Vicious – live
12. Light Comes Out Of Black – live
13. Little Crazy – live
14. Reality – A New Beginning - live
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