While working hard for their upcoming 5^th album, the Cologne-based Hard n' Heavy outlaws GUN BARREL offer a big present to their fan base but also to every in-your-face rockin' Metal fan looking for powerful pure music from the heart. The "Gunniversary" DVD coincides with the band's 10^th anniversary and - whether you know/like this outfit or not - we should really hope GUN BARREL will stick around for many many years more since they do stand for unpolluted Rock/Metal music and confirm there's lots of will to do things with a band if your heart says so.

GUN BARREL owes a lot to the spirit of bands like MOTORHEAD, THIN LIZZY, TANK, AC/DC and ROSE TATTOO. Their style is a chameleon; they jump from distorting classic Metal to some filthy Rock 'n' Roll suitable for bikers and booze outlaws, while if you can read behind the lines their music is quite emotional unveiling some neat spirit and the profile of rockers/metalheads paying homage to their beloved music. I've followed them from their very first steps ten years ago and have confirmed with relief these Germans eat and breathe a Rock 'n' Metal life all the way. Having a series of singers throughout their so far career - their previous vocalist, Xaver Drexler, sadly passed away some moths ago... - GUN BARREL seem to have found the epitome of chemistry in the voice of Silver. This you can also find out if willing to spend some (much, to be more accurate) time with the rich content of the "Gunniversary" DVD.

The main dish in this video disc is the gig GUN BARREL gave for this anniversary in late 2009 (a separate audio CD release is also available). The club is fully packed, the spirit is good and the band seems to be in fine shape. Nearly an hour of live material is what the gig consists of with songs from the act's whole discography parading. The new singer, Silver, is quite confident in his foreground position and delivers the good most of the times (I found him trying a little bit harder in some weird songparts/bridges but this is possibly a matter of exercising to the band material). The rest of the crew is thumbs up: axeman Rolf Tanzius is a striking force, he's so simple in his playing but equally impressive in sending hardrockin' lightning to the strike of one simple chord and his general onstage attitude validates his neat Rock profile. The same goes to the rhythm section, whose stable ability utilizes enough of GUN BARREL's horsepower. I'd like the crowd to be as fanatic, on the other hand...

The bonus goodies sum it up to some 3 hours of extra material! There's a complete band history available here, with all the band's members plus quite many other associates or Music Industry members chatting for GUN BARREL's early and present days. Also, a separate introduction for each member is on the spot, enough live or behind the scenes footage is present to the fan's delight and - last but not least - the couple of promo video GUN BARREL has so far shot, "On The Road Again" and "Straight Down To Hell", stand on top of this bulging compilation.

While working hard for their upcoming 5^th album, the Cologne-based Hard n' Heavy outlaws GUN BARREL offer a big present to their fan base but also to every in-your-face rockin' Metal fan looking for powerful pure music from the heart. I know, that's exactly this review's intro sentence: GUN BARREL is a pure example of a sincere band working hard to honor the music they/we love while the work done for the collection of material for this DVD surely took a a helluva time; giant bands have not presented such extravagant material in a DVD disc. "Gunniversary" is the best choice for those who'd like to get to know this German band's music but also is a perfect present for GUN BARREL's loyal fans. In any case, the benefit is on you.