I usually like DVDs that combine a full live show of a certain band with a documentary about their history. But unfortunately a lot of them have proven to be a big disappointment in the past, due to various different reasons. Luckily "A Desasterous Meeting", the first full length video from Germany’s blackened Thrashers DESASTER, is an exception to that rule. And not only that. It is in fact one of the coolest releases in that genre ever! Starting with the great looking (Axel Hermann) cover artwork, the overall packaging (a fold out digipak that comes in an additional slipcase) and most important of all, of course: the impressive footage that is featured on the 2 included discs. The live show on disc 1 was professionally filmed in Bamberg, Germany on November 23, 2013, where the band was celebrating one helluva great event, with lots of guests on stage. So, what you’re about to see is not only a typical, high energy DESASTER show, but also a trip back in time, with former band members Carsten "Creator Cassie" Dötsch (vocals / bass) and Alexander Arz (drums), who join DESASTER founder / guitarist Markus ‘Infernal’ Kuschke for some very (!!!) old stuff like ‘God Is Dead’ or ‘Evil Arschloch’, while Tobias "Thorim" Mölich performs drums on ‘Fields Of Triumph’. The most special part of the show probably starts when some candles were set on fire, the lighting was changed to bloody red and original vocalist Oliver "Okkulto" Martin appears on stage (in typical corpsepaint) to perform the more Black Metal influenced DESASTER classics ‘Hellfire’s Dominion’, ‘Call On The Beast’, ‘Teutonic Steel’, ‘As The Deadworld Calls’, ‘Tyrants Of The Netherworld’ and ‘Metalized Blood’. Other guests that appear on stage throughout the entire show are longtime DESASTER friends Samme Johansson (from Sweden’s ORCIVIUS) and Wannes Gubbels (from PENTACLE), who both join in on vocals, while WITCHBURNER’s Simon Seegel plays the second guitar on ‘In A Winter Battle’. The whole set is almost two hours long (and also available as the double audio CD "Live In Bamberg"), but never really gets boring since the band is full of energy and totally on fire from the beginning to the very end… and in that respect their killer version of SLAYER’s ‘Black Magic’ definitely also deserves a mention! The Bamberg show alone would already be reason enough to spend some money on this DVD, but "A Desasterous Meeting" is more than just that… way more(!!!). The live DVD gets completed by 12 additional live songs in the bonus section (Berlin 1995, Under The Black Sun 1998, Fuck The Commerce 2001, Party.San Open Air 2003, Brazilian Blitzkrieg 2004, Headbangers Open Air 2004, Rock Hard Festival 2013, Way Of Darkness 2008 and Party.San Open Air 2013) and then there’s still disc 2, which features the 25 year history of DESASTER in a very entertaining way, with highly interesting comments from all band members (past and present), friends, labels, producers etc., as well as a lot of old video footage and video messages from other bands. The bonus section comes up with some additional info parts about certain things, a "gag reel" (which collects parts of the DVD that had to be re-recorded) and the ‘Phantom Funeral’ promo video. So, all in all you’re about to get approximately 5 1/2 hours (!!!) of total DESASTER here, which really is value for money! I gotta confess that I lost track with the band at some point, but this DVD definitely refueled my enthusiasm for them in a big way, so make sure to check this out if you have the chance to. More band information at www.total-desaster.com or www.facebook.com/666desaster666, the DVD can be pre-ordered here (the release date is June 26, 2014).