DVD Review: Know Rollerblading - 08/01/28

I guess most people have already seen or heard of Denial’s first DVD called Underestimated. When it came out Denial was in everybody’s mouth because of his unbeatable team. Due to this epic release the standards for another Denial DVD are incredibly high. I was really excited when I heard that there would be another Denial DVD coming out. Seeing what the new Denial team and the new Denial owner are capable of is something that made me want to watch Know Rollerblading!

The Intro of the DVD is a strong statement about the capability of the new Denial team – at least skating wise! There is a bunch of crazy, impressive hammers as well as technical tricks. Unfortunately the hip-hop track that was used did not create the same excitement as the Rage AgainstThe Machine song in the intro of Underestimated did. I know this is an unfair comparison but I somehow can’t help comparing these two DVD’s. Jon Jon Bolino is the star of the opening section. I expected another hip-hop song but was surprised by a really cool rock song. This guy has got such a big trick vocabulary and can spin in and out of everything. I also dig the way he grabs his tricks… his AO Rocket Fishys are the shit! Jon Jon reminds me of the Kelso’s in earlier days… His skating is unbelievable but sometimes you can see that he hasn’t got ten years of experience under his belt yet. But I bet that his style will mature pretty fast and that we will become one of Denials legends!

John Schmidt is amazing. His style has progressed sooo much since Choose Your Genre. He now combines style and sick tricks. I think Fullcab AO Topsouls on stair-ledges should answer any questions about his skill level. After this there comes a montage section. The song is a really nice and flowing hip-hop track. Trevor Johnson is a switch-up machine. Bobby Reichel BS Royals a really funny rail I bet nobody has ever done before. The last guy is George Veasy whom you should already know from Evol. He closes this section with an incredible disaster 450 BS Royal and a really huge gap! Willie Trebach is up next. Every single trick he does is executed perfectly. There are no sketchy tricks in his section. But this doesn’t mean the tricks he does are easy. Every trick he does looks so solid no matter how hard it is. Would it be cheeky to compare his style to Aragon’s!?

If you want to see some hammers check out Ross Anthony’s section. His section is packed with solid tricks and dope stunts. You also get to see the clip of Be-mag’s last cover. This is a nice section with a catchy rock song. If you want to get juiced before a skating session this is what you should watch! Mark Wojda is one of the most impressive skaters of all times. I don’t want to say anything about this section because no description could do his skating justice. The next section is a Mike Koliner and Avichai Wechsler split section. I was really impressed by Mike’s reckless skating because I never heard much of him before. The Nirvana song totally matches his rough style! Avichai’s part of the section is really technical. This dude can do any trick he wants to do. If you have seen his trick-list edits you know what I’m talking about! The only thing you could bitch about is that his style and the song don’t match at all.


Ross Anthony - AO Fishy

The second montage section features everybody form Murda to our messageboard stars Rickayyy and Alf! Jeremy Spira’s section is pretty much what I expected to see. Fast, solid and stylish skating are the main ingredients of his section. Jeremy has become one of my favourite skaters during the last year! After this you get so see Chris Shaw’s profile. He is a beast… crashing into walls after tricks and True Top Soul to Inspin Soul on a stair ledge are just two examples. Unfortunately the song gets a bit boring after watching the DVD for the fifth time! Eric Schrijn is a living legend. Because of his experiences with Esco Media Eric decided to edit his section himself. This is the section I enjoyed most because it is edited very well. Even though Eric has been skating for well over 10 years he has not fallen off. Due to an accident his profile is not too long but he still managed to put out a very strong section.


Ross Anthony

Montre Livingston has got the final section. He is the perfect choice to leave a great final impression. He is the black Chris Haffey! After this section every question about why Nimh picked him as their first amateur rider should be answered. As a final conclusion it can be said that this DVD is worth the money it costs. Perhaps it would have been good to condense some of the sections a bit. Because of the big Denial team the DVD is a bit too long for my taste. This is a great DVD but only time will show if it is able to produce the same hype as Underestimated did!