Hypocrisy – Hell Over Sofia: 20 Years of Chaos And Confusion

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After releasing a compilation album for their tenth anniversary, and now twelve years after their only other official live album, Peter Tägtgren’s death metal outfit Hypocrisy recorded this career spanning set at the Blue Box Club in Sofia, Bulgaria for their 20th anniversary. Every one of their eleven studio albums is represented with at least one track except for the universally lambasted Catch 22 from 2002, with latest album A Taste of Extreme Divinity having the most tracks included. The set included many of the tracks ever-present in their recent shows, plus extra songs culled from older albums, some merged into medleys and although split up into separate tracks on the disc, Pleasure of Molestation, Osculum Obscenum and Penetralia are actually only partially played and segued together in a medley, similarly Apocalypse and The Fourth Dimension. The sound quality of the recording is excellent, with just a tiny amount of hollowness or echo, but most importantly the vocals and guitars coming across as razor sharp and the crowd at no point overpower the music. Playing songs from their whole career, where they have changed their approach from album to album, also gives them a uniformity of style. Similar to most well-recorded career-spanning live albums, this will serve as a must-buy for fans, and a perfect introduction for newcomers. The show is also available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Death Metal, Live Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Hypocrisy