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In the spirit of shock rock pioneers such as Alice Cooper and Kiss, the Swedish veteran drummer Snowy Shaw (Dream Evil, King Diamond, Memento Mori) has presented his own modern take on the artform known as horror. In Notre Dame he has fused extreme metal with more traditional heavy metal riffs, a strong touch of drama and an atmosphere reminding the listener of gothic horror tales. Theatrical vocals further emphasizes the peculiar nature of the music but I have always appreciated what Snowy has done with Notre Dame. He has wanted to build his own vehicle, putting his own personal design and colours on the exterior and he has succeeded to a certain point. After seven years of hard work Snowy made a decision to close the coffin to Notre Dame for the final time with a Halloween show in his hometown of Gothenburg on November 6th, 2004. Even though their releases have always had their own personal charm I think he did what he had to do. There was very little progress musically speaking between the albums and in my opinion the songs were not strong enough to stand completely on their own. Notre Dame did build an image for themselves but I believe they would have had to put more focus on their live shows than the music itself in order to make it further and if they would have wanted to take their live act one step further they would have found it troublesome playing in front of young people.
Nonetheless, as a farewell gift to all the fans, Notre Dame recorded their final live performance and are now releasing it as a live album through Snowy's own label White Trash Records. As I've loosely mentioned before I have found Notre Dame's music quite entertaining at its best but I fail to see the point of this album. A DVD would have been vastly more interesting for all those fans who have not been able to catch one of their live shows. Now all they will get is a weak sounding live uptake to fill the void in their lives. Unless you are a hardcore fan leave this one alone and go pick up "Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You" or one of their other releases which will prove to be a much more rewarding adventure.
| Tracklist |
| 1. The Bells Of Notre Dame |
| 2. Vlad The Impaler |
| 3. Sabbat |
| 4. A Misconception Of The French Kiss |
| 5. Bouffoon, Bloody Bouffoon |
| 6. Son Of A Bitch |
| 7. Black Birthday (Hip Hip Hooray) |
| 8. Le Nostradamus De Notre Epoque |
| 9. Dusk |
| 10. Shock Opera |
| 11. Ebony |
| 12. Le Theatre Du Vampire |
| 13. Daughters Of Darkness |
: 67.23
| Buy other Notre Dame albums |
