There’s a lot to hear and see in the gothic scene. One of the must-sees is BlutEngel, romantic dark music with a theatrical stage show. Plans for a live DVD have been around for years, and now finally ‘Live Lines’ came out. ‘Live Lines’ features a full show from the ‘Demon Kiss’ tour held last year, video clips, a photo gallery and exclusive behind the scenes material. Early adapters could also get their hands on a limited edition, with a bonus live audio album.

Live Concert
BlutEngel wouldn’t be BlutEngel without a lot of acting and drama on the stage. From a whole wedding tragedy (‘Black Wedding’ – which sounds absolutely amazing in this live version!), a resurrection (how surprising ‘Resurrection’), ladies in their underwear covered in blood (‘Bloody Pleasures’) and Chris singing from a throne decorated with a devil skull (‘Kingdom’, ‘Ice Angel’) everything is worked out well. The show is so fascinating to see, that you almost forget what it’s about: the music.

The show could easily be called a ‘Greatest Hits’-show. Every album is well presented, from the debut ‘Child of Glass’ (‘Weg zu Mir’, Beauty of Suffering), the amazing second ‘Seelenschmerz’ (‘Die with you’, ‘Bloody Pleasures’, ‘Children of the Night’) ‘till the dark ‘Angel Dust’ (‘Angel of the Night’, ‘Vampire Romance Part I’). Also their latest album ‘Demon Kiss’ is well presented, hits as ‘Forever’, ‘Go to Hell?’ and ‘Navigator’ are all well done live.

The sound quality of the live footage is really good. Not a surprise since recording the background music couldn’t be that hard, none of it is actually played live. The only live elements are the vocals. The songs from ‘Angel Dust’ and ‘Demon Kiss’ work out fine, since they are written for the present ladies, and Chris uses his voice without distortion. The older tracks don’t sound that good though, hearing tracks as ‘Beauty of Suffering’ sung with clean vocals just doesn’t sound right. The ladies aren’t always singing in tune, especially in the older songs.

Extras
‘Live Lines’ is filled with extras. The DVD contains five music videos. ‘No Eternity’, and ‘Angels of the Dark’ aren’t really special, short clips from the live show follow each other, and ‘Angels of the Dark’ also features some clips from the forthcoming movie ‘Kinder der Nacht – Am Ende der Ewigkeit’ in which Chris and Constance have a part. More interesting are the four instrumental tracks from ‘Seelenschmerz’, which have been visualised by German artist Tina Cassati. ‘Schmerz 1 – Liebe’, ‘Schmerz 2 – Lust’ and ‘Schmerz 3 & 4 – Einsamkeit & Tod’ are three short movies with her interpretation of those tracks. We see new footage from Chris and Constance, mixed with other visuals and band pictures. Very nice!

The Gallery is also worth mentioning. Tina Cassati made a series of band portraits, in the typical BlutEngel way. Blood, pretty ladies, vampires and a romantic touch say enough.

Last extra is a ‘Behind the Scenes’ feature. Are BlutEngel also vampires in daylight? We get a tour through the venue by Constance; she also introduces us to the people who worked on the tour. Later on Chris joins her for showing the bus, and some more venue material. Sadly it’s only in German, and there isn’t a subtitle option, so I can’t figure all their sayings out. Some parts were understandable, and look nice. It’s nice to take a glimpse behind the scenes, and see what it takes to put down such a show.

Audio
The audio cd only comes with the limited edition. On the album there are twelve tracks, selected from the show. As with the DVD, the sound quality is very good. Nice extra!

Conclusion
Chris, his ladies and his crew work really hard to create a stage experiment that is unique. This DVD is a good registration of what you can expect from BlutEngel on stage. The release is packed with extras, and all that in a well designed package. ‘Live Lines’ is one of the best gothic DVD’s, and a must see for every dark music lover.