Despite the title, the DVD comes from their headlining Wacken gig, although the complete Inferno festival performance (Oslo) is one of the two CDs. This is one package I’m lucky enough to relive, having been in attendance at both these reunion shows: the titular Inferno fest and the crowning Wacken headlining slot (on both CD and DVD). A dozen tracks from their homeland and 15 from Germany. The first six are in exactly the same running order. Wacken then inserts ‘With Strength I Burn’. Inferno’s concluding pair of ‘I Am The Black Wizard’ and ‘Inno A Satana’ are flip-flopped on the other disc and then augmented by ‘Ye Entranceemperium’ and ‘Opus A Satana’. Visually, both shows are filled with explosions, sparklers and onstage fireworks (even though there’s just bootleg quality snippets of Inferno on the 65 minute DVD documentary, particularly the audio portions, gig).

However, those are not the ONLY representations of the reunited, influential Norwegians, as there’s more than an hour’s worth of bootleg quality (side of stage or single, mounted camera) images and sounds throughout the global dates (signing sessions, interviews and in NYC, instructional tutorial sessions with Ihsahn and Samoth for a guitar mag video). Throughout the doc, we get lots of opening or concluding live clips, as that’s where the pyrotechnics reside.

London got to hear ‘In The Wordless Chamber’ (edited here) off Prometheus. Quite the light show in Chicago (’07), but it plays havoc with auto-focus camcorder. NYC and LA are also briefly visible. The flames struggle against the rainy downpour at Hellfest ’07. Not much in the way of difference, in terms of track listing, from Emperial Live Ceremony, but since this was a resurrection, features predominately “the hits”, but this time with the vast arsenal of Wacken’s professional technology at their disposal: a cooperating, eerie dusk skyline (actually well into the northern German summer night), slo-mo, black n white, close-ups and sweeping pans over the massive crowd. For the final two numbers Ihsahn dons the epaulets of spikes. After 65 minutes, the spot lit crowd answering to ‘Inno A Satana’ is not only impressive, but spellbinding. Must have been cool from the stage too.