Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

This release captures Ozzfest in 2005 on its 10th anniversary tour. Unfortunately, it consists almost entirely of one-song highlights from each band's set interspersed with interview segments by Sharon, Ozzy, and Jack Osbourne as well as most of the other acts on the tour discussing their impressions of and respect for Ozzfest. The end result is a concert disc with a disjointed feel; the moment one begins to get into the music or a particular band it is interrupted. The disc does offer the option to play the performances only, but that option still includes some brief interview segments and is still limited to one-song highlights. Warner could have expanded this out to a 2-Disc set and included more performances, particularly by some of the better known artists such as Anthrax, Velvet Revolver, Rob Zombie and Black Sabbath.

With that complaint aside, the disc does offer some moments of driving, hard-hitting Metal that any true fan of the genre is sure to love, such as the opening number "Caught in a Mosh" by the reunited Among the Living era line-up of Anthrax, Swedish Metal band Soilwork's "Blind Eye Halo," and three songs from the reunited classic Black Sabbath lineup: "War Pigs," Iron Man," and "Paranoid," the highlights of the entire disc.

Although the interview segments feel rather disruptive when interspersed throughout the musical performances, they do offer good insight into the history and inner workings of Ozzfest. It was interesting to find out, for instance, that Ozzfest was started by Sharon Osbourne as a reaction to Ozzy Osbourne not being able to get onto the Lollapalooza tour in 1995. Still, overall, I wished they had focused more on the music for this release. This should have been a reference for Metal releases on Blu-ray Disc, but its lack of focus causes it to fall short of that mark.


The Picture

Originally shot in high definition, Ozzfest 10th Anniversary appears on Blu-ray Disc in a 1080i VC-1 encoding with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio.  The picture has nice deep blacks throughout, but suffers from other inconsistencies. Sometimes flesh tones are natural, other times there is quite a bit of red push. Some darker scenes also display heavy video noise while other scenes are clean and pristine in appearance.

Though the overall picture does appear sharp, there is evidence of slight DNR having been applied, since there is a lack of the absolute finest details such as pores on skin and texture of clothing coming through.  Otherwise, contrast is fine and the color palette - consisting of the Ozzfest set's dark, mainly black stage set and the predominantly black clothing of the bands - is well presented.


The Sound

This Blu-ray Disc release offers only Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 options for playback. For a title that is obviously so heavily reliant on its audio it is an inexcusable oversight to leave off any form of lossless or uncompressed mix. Listening to the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix for the purposes of this review, it lacked any sort of clarity or detail in the midrange, the high frequencies were harsh and the lower frequencies were too subtle and indistinct. Instrumental separation was abysmal and vocals were often lost in the muddy mix. Guitars lacked the attack and power worthy of true Metal sound.

The mix itself is from the audience perspective with ample ambience in the surround channels and crowd noise present there as well, but never overwhelming. With most instrumentation and vocals being mixed across the front three channels, the sound did seem just a bit squeezed. The soundstage could have been spread out a bit for a more open, airy sound, with some bottom being added for more weight.

Heavy Metal is often not regarded as much of an "audiophile" genre of music, but it surely can sound far better than this, as anyone who has ever heard the DVD-A of Metallica's "Black" album can attest to. I must reiterate that it is a travesty that Warner Music Group decided to leave off any sort of high-resolution audio format from this Blu-ray Disc release, and instead offer only lossy Dolby Digital that sounds worse than many DVD releases.


The Extras

The extras provided on this disc are not many. There are five interview segments (1.78:1/standard definition) featuring Sharon, Jack, and Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, Zak Wylde, and the Jada Pinkett Smith-fronted band Wicked Wisdom, all discussing Ozzfest in some manner. None of these interview segments offer very much insight beyond the interview segments that appear throughout the main feature and offer very little replay value.

Also provided are three bonus musical performances (1.78:1/standard definition) by artists that are a little less Metal than typical for Ozzfest:

• Alter Bridge - "The End is Here"
• Mad Capsule Markets - "Pulse"
• Bowling for Soup - "1985"

Final Thoughts

Ozzfest 10th Anniversary offers hope to all fans of Heavy Metal that more releases of this sort are forthcoming in high definition. There are moments of pure Metal ecstasy to be found on this Blu-ray Disc release, but unfortunately the lackluster sound and "highlights" format hinder total enjoyment.  Let's hope that in the future, Warner improve the sound and focus on the music with a more robust package.

Where to Buy:

• Ozzfest 10th Anniversary on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Various Artists
• Format: Color, Compilation, HiFi Sound
• Audio/Language: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0
• Region: ABC (All Regions)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Not Rated
• Studio: Concert Hot Spot
• DVD Release Date: May 13, 2008
• Run Time: 150 minutes
• List Price: $29.98
• Extras:
  • Exclusive interviews with Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Osbourne, Slash, Zak Wylde, Wiked Wisdom
  • Concert Performances By:
    • Alterbridge - "The End is Here"
    • The Mad Capsule Markets - "Pulse"
    • Bowling for Soup - "1985"