Releasing a DVD along with a remastered version of Halford’s 90s project Fight is not a bad idea at all, although some of you might think that this is at least a decade too late.

But, unlike the useless Metal God Essentials (?!) release, this one makes sense – if nothing else, then for the sheer quality of the songs from the band’s debut disc, ‘War of Words’.

What was so cool about ‘War of Words’ when it was released in 1993 was the fact that it combined the voice of one of the best and most influential heavy metal bands on the planet with the then still fairly new sound of Pantera’s power groove. The album was a blast, no more, no less. The evil tongues that would have that Halford was trying to capitalise on the trendiness of the power groove might have been right, but some of us didn’t give a shit: the music worked and that was what counted!

The present release is worth the money spent. It has a very nice packaging and an interesting selection of material on the DVD, including 13 tracks recorded in front of a live audience, four songs from MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball (including an acoustic version of Just A Little Crazy), three of the band’s promotional videos as well as the background documentary.

One thing I was never too keen on is when musicians get too lofty about what they do, and I always thought Halford had a tendency to do that, but, as you know, tempers and tastes vary, and that’s just his style – as much as he claims to be down with the boys and just a dude like the rest.

There is one thing that does annoy me, though, and that is when we’re finally allowed into Fight's rehearsal room, we don’t get to hear what the band sounded like when they started working on their material. We can see that they play, and that they probably play the songs we hear – but the songs are dubbed with studio recordings. Buuuh! Hearing the original rehearsal sound bites would have been SO much more interesting.

That said, the film is still interesting enough and worth your time.

The remastered and remixed ‘War of Words’ is a pleasant revisit indeed. The sound has been beefed up a bit, but I wouldn’t say that it’s been revolutionised. The songs still hold up 100 % and send me flying back to the beginning of the 90s. Nailed to the Gun, Immortal Sin, Into the Pit, Life in Black, Kill It - they all come swarming back like a horde of Spitfires. 

You can always question the real value of remastered versions of classics, and you could in this case as well – if it hadn’t been for the fact that it is part of a packaged deal with the DVD. So all in all a justifiable move and, as I said, a very, very pleasant revisit to yonder years.