Archive for August, 2009

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Brutal Legend Track List Released

Monday, August 10th, 2009

The track listing for Brutal Legend has been released. You can read the entire list at Metal News.

It appears to be an interesting mix of music, including a decent selection of Ozzy’s work, both with and without the rest of Black Sabbath. There’s also a fair amount of Judas Priest included in the list. The number of Priest and Sabbath songs is pretty much what I expected, when you consider the sizable roles that both Ozzy and Rob Halford play in the game. It’s not surprising that they would both allow their music to be used in the game, since they’re already so involved.

Lita Ford got a song included as well. However, like Ozzy and Halford, she was already involved with providing voice talent for the game. So including Lita’s work isn’t a surprise either.

What’s more surprising is the number of hair metal songs on the list. There’s a fairly large number of Motley Crue songs, as well as songs by Whitesnake, Quiet Riot, Ratt and Skid Row, all of which could be considered hair metal. (Skid Row and Motley Crue probably get a pass on being hair metal for this game, since most of their work tends to be quite heavy by regular hair metal standards.)

And of course, Tenacious D’s The Metal is included. I would have been highly disappointed if this song had been excluded. Not only is it Jack Black’s group, it was pretty much a readily made theme song for the game.

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Random Song: Judgement Day

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Artist: Whitesnake
Album: Slip of the Tongue

For some reason the intro to this song has always reminded me of the dungeon music from Super Mario Brothers, just with electric guitars. Once you get past that though, the meandering vocals lead into a long climb into the full bombast of the chorus. And the rest of the guitar work on this song just begs for air guitar while singing along. I find that the chorus especially lends itself to full-out belting and shameless air guitar.

This song has always stood out to me as having perfect pacing–every part of the song slowly builds to the chorus. The lyrics can be interpreted as either a bluesy love song with a hard edge, or (more likely) as a metaphor for sex. It’s the pacing of the song itself that makes it clear that the second interpretation is the correct one.

This song also showcases the flexibility of Coverdale’s voice. He handles everything from the soft, melodic vocals at the very beginning to the intense, full-throttle bellow of the chorus. And he covers it all without sounding strained or slipping even once. In the hands of a less-skilled vocalist, some of the lyrics could have come off a bit silly. However, in Coverdale’s hands, not only do I feel the lyrics, I am irresistably tempted to sing along whenever I’m by myself. This song illustrates perfectly the skill that Coverdale brings to his performances. It is these vocal skills that enabled Whitesnake to be more than just ‘another hair metal band’.

(That being said, back in the 80′s, Coverdale did have some of the best hair. Second to Jon Bon Jovi’s of course, but pretty good, all the same. Actually, the last time I saw him on TV, he still had better hair than I do.)

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Brutal Legend sponsoring Dethklok and Mastodon Tour

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Brutal Legend will be sponsoring Dethklok and Mastodon’s upcoming tour, according to WorthPlaying.

They even plan on having game stations at the concerts so that the fans can try out the game right at the show. In some ways, this may not help expand the reach of the game very much. Most of the metal fans (at least the ones I know) usually tend to be gamers already. They’re all stoked for the release of Brutal Legend already.

However, the deal does come with advertising spots on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, thanks to the Dethklok/Metalocalypse connection. Adult Swim reaches a large audience of gamers, some of whom might not have been introduced to Brutal Legend otherwise. If they at least check it out, they might find out (like those of us who have been watching the trailers and demos) that there is more to this game than metal, and that will help the game do well.

I haven’t heard anything to indicate this, but maybe this partnership will mean that some Dethklok content will make it into Brutal Legend. It would be awesome if they gave out codes for an in-game Dethklok goodie at the concerts, kind of like the Tenacious D guitar that you get for pre-ordering.

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Should Bon Jovi play all of Slippery When Wet in concert?

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Lately there has been a trend among a lot of rock bands to play complete albums in concert, especially on the anniversary of the original release. Judas Priest recently performed British Steel in its entirety in concert, and I have a live recording of Dio’s Holy Diver.

The 25th anniversary of Slippery When Wet is coming up soon, and it occurred to me that that would be the perfect time for Bon Jovi to join this trend. The 25th is a big anniversary, and Slippery When Wet is the album that made the band famous.

The problem is that Slippery When Wet is mostly known for containing three separate, very famous songs. It isn’t quite the same as British Steel, where the album as a whole is the iconic entity. While everybody knows Prayer, Wanted and Bad Name, the rest of the songs on the album aren’t anywhere near as well known.

Obviously, serious Bon Jovi fans know that the rest of the album is excellent, not just the three iconic songs that it contains. However, songs like Let It Rock and Never Say Goodbye are pretty much unknown to more casual fans. While a performance of the entire album would be a gift to the hardcore fans, everybody else would probably be sitting around scratching their heads and wondering what happened to It’s My Life.

Also, I would prefer hearing all of New Jersey performed live instead, and I suspect most of the hardcore fans would have the same preference. (That, or These Days, which would be really offputting for casual fans!) It doesn’t have the name recognition that Slippery When Wet does, and we’d have to wait a few more years for its 25th, but it does have more of the band’s hits on it, even if they aren’t as famous as the Big Three. I suspect New Jersey would work better as a whole-album performance.

Either way, I don’t see Bon Jovi doing it. Their current concert lineup works well for them, even if it does get tiresome for the fans that attend a lot of concerts. Doing all of Slippery When Wet would shake things up a bit too much.

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