Review - Brutal Legend

Hello everyone. I apologize for my long absence from the blogging. Between being laid off, and having to relocate, and find a new job with pending bills, etc. etc, I was distracted. Now I have returned, and I got some stuff to talk about.

For now though I will leave you with a review:

Brutal Legend – Epic. Brutal. Game.

Brutal Legend comes from Double Fine Productions, and was released by Electronic Arts early October. It was one of the titles Activision dropped after it’s merge with Vinvedi. It stars Jack Black as Eddie Riggs, a roadie who longs for the old days of Metal music and style. He’s killed during concert and through some mystical artifact he’s sent to a world that lives, breaths, and whose very existence thrives on the Metal world. The landscape, the characters, the story, and of course the music is all inspired by this epic style of music. But how does it fair as a video game? Let’s get ready to dive into the mosh pit!

Overall Style – The game design is one for the ages. It is inspired by the world created by heavy metal music and their album covers. Everything from the worlds lore, to the land design, to the characters, weapons, and magical music. It’s Epic. The enemies and allies are epic. Hell, it’s just crazy how involved the design is in this game. It’s one of the reason it’s one of my favorites. Did I forget to say that it’s Epic?

Game Design – Although overall the game works, sadly there are glitches here and there that could have been ironed out before release. Some of these are character model facial expressions snapping from one expression to another. The repetitiveness of some animations. The camera breaking through the ground while you drive. I want to forgive this, but it was a constant issue that, although didn’t detract from the big picture, just seemed a little sloppy on the developers part to not fix these issues, which take away from the total quality to the game.

Game play – One thing this game goes for is trying to infuse several genres’ of game into one – driving, hack n slash, RPG, and RTS (Real Time Strategy). A fun as each section is, they are all very simplified versions of what you’d normally see. Considering the type of game this is, This simplification was not necessarily a bad thing. It might pose a problem to those who weren’t expecting such elements to come into the mix, but It makes for an interesting experience, to say the least. But unfortunately it is one of its weakest points.

Voice Acting – From the likes of Jack Black to Ozzie Osbourne to Tim Curry, the cast is an assembly of metal and acting icons that fit perfectly with the atmosphere that has been created for Brutal Legend. Surprisingly they pull it off very well for most not being voice actors and really give an added layer of believability to the whole piece.

Characters – Some likenesses are use and/or inspired by the actors portraying them (see Ozzy for one). All are very much in tune to the world around them, and are believable given where the story takes place. Even the NPC generic solder types are interesting and believable.

Story – Basically you’ve got a couple quests going on throughout the overarching story. Eddie is trying to find out why he got sent to this place, while trying to build up an army against Doviculus (our main villain) who’s oppressing the people of the land. There’s a love story too, and you are having to recruit different people to join in the pending war. The side quests don’t do too much except for maintenance to your borders, which all in all don’t really matter, as their only real purpose is to help explore the area and get experience (in this case, honorable flames of metal) to get more upgrades for your gear. There are portals of information in the form of winged gargoyles that give you bits of the lands history, and eventually help reveal Eddies true lineage. My only issue overall was at times Eddie just accepted the world, or would know about a piece of the world he shouldn’t. This might be an oversight to the writers, or to the development crew. I’m a stickler details, but overall the delivery was solid.

Game replay ability: Overall once you play through the game and get all the hidden stuff, history bits, songs, etc, you’re probably not going to want to play again The story is very linear and there’s no other way to really go about playing it. There is online multiplayer for the stage battles, but that’s about it’s only real replayable factor.

Final Verdict: This game is worth playing because of its unique design and how in incorporates such diverse game play styles and has a truly unique world and story, but it has some rocky mesh of battle controls, the game lasting only about 11 hrs or so, and has a pretty linear story. If you're a real fan of metal this would probably be a keeper, but if your just around for the ride, I would rent this one.

Metallica....maybe smarter than you think

As you may or may not know, I am a fan of the band Metallica. I think that they are the last important metal band after Sabbath, Maiden and Priest in the formation of 80's thrash. And they ruled the metal world in the 80's and 90's until the whole Napster thing. Now history has, unfortunately, proven them right and they have gotten softer on the whole leaked album thing culminating with Lars, the evil face of Napster's destruction, illegally downloading the latest Metallica album, Death Magnetic.

But Metallica was Public Enemy #1 over the Napster and they were pretty hated at that time. That was in 2000. In 2003, after much turmoil and a near break-up(as in Some Kind of Monster, unseen by me but I want to) they released the horrible St. Anger album. That album had lazy lyrics, bad arrangements, a horrible drum sound and all the songs there all sound the same which was never the case before. Now people hated that album and it deserves to be hated, a lesser band would never survive that.

So now you're thinking what's the connection I have with Napster and St. Anger. I have just thought of something that may make St. Anger make sense in this or maybe I'm just crazy. What if Metallica decided to make a crappy album to get the heat off Napster? I mean, St. Anger is so un-Metallica that them thinking that this was going to be a good album is just a huge Wallbanger. That has to be the only reason for this, so people could hate something from them that wasn't Napster. And it worked! If someone wants anger up Metallica fans there's a better chance of success with St. Anger than with Napster. If I'm right, which I doubt since I'm me, that is a brilliant strategy.

Iron Maiden and why I never cared that much for them

You think of the extremely important bands in the world of heavy metal and what are you bound to come up with? I'm sure you're thinking of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metallica and yes, the topic of this rambling, Iron Maiden. Now the magnitude of their impact cannot be denied for they were the front runners of The New Wave of British Heavy Metal which not only defeated metal heads in it being unable to shorten and but it combined the heaviness of metal with the speed of punk. But what I can debate is if Iron Maiden actually deserved to be as beloved as they are. And just to make it clear, I am talking about the Bruce Dickinson Iron Maiden. I don't have that much knowledge of Paul Di'Anno and nobody gives a crap about the Blaze Bayley years.

My main problem with them is them emphasizing how smart and literate they are instead of how much they rock. Don't get me wrong, telling a story and showcasing how smart you are is not a bad thing. Look at Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime album, it told a pretty smart story and it rocked your face off with fist-pumping rock. Now Maiden has songs such as "Run to the Hills", "Number of the Beast", "The Trooper" and "Flight of Icarus" which were history lessons or myth recaps, which are fine but it doesn't make me rock. My fist barely gets to eye-level which is border-line pathetic. But before I get too down on them they do have songs that do rock but they don't tell a real story like the above songs like "Wasted Years", despite it being on thematic concept album, "Can I Play with Madness", despite it being on a real concept album, and "Fear of the Dark", despite it...well just being a song about being afraid of the dark. However, I will concede that "Aces High" combines the rock and the history to make it extremely awesome.

Another thing I never got with them is that I think that their musicianship was overrated. I'm not talking about Dickinson cause he is awesome, especially his live performances now. And shocking, I'm not talking about Steve Harris, the bassist. You can actually here the bass lines in the songs(try naming some Judas Priest songs that have them and no "Breaking the Law", "Diamonds and Rust" and "Revolution" don't count) and they're good bass lines. But since Harris is the ringleader and the creative force of Maiden, I'm not sure what part of the audible bass is ego and which part is talent. But I am talking about the guitars and drums. There was never any growth, any change they all just sounded the same on almost all the records, just the same drumbeat and techniques & the same watery sounds the guitar solos had. The only real growth in any part of their songs were just the lyrics. And if they were as always as good as people said they were...why did they need Eddie so much? I know it's their gimmick and it was extremely important for the first couple albums to establish their identity but to bring them out

But I think there is something to admire about Maiden is their audacity. They never bowed down to trends and always were Iron Maiden. Even when "Can I Play With Madness" came out and they almost became commercially accessible, the feel of an Iron Maiden song is still there. If you watch that Iron Maiden: Flight 666 movie that just came out on DVD, CD and Blu-Ray there's even more moments of their audacity. I mean going to 21 cities in 5 continents over 45 days in their own personal Boeing 757 with Bruce Dickenson flying the damn thing is kinda awesome! Then Dickinson wears a sombrero while singing "Can I Play with Madness"! That's kinda awesome but, alas, he wasn't audacious enough to wear it in a goofy fashion.

So yeah, that's kinda my ramblings about Maiden in general and how I never can warm up to them no matter how hard I try. Oh, just so you know, I didn't mention their album covers cause everybody knows that they're awesome. Why should I just repeat that fact?

The Essential Judas Priest Part II

Now here are reviews of Track 6 through 10 from Disc 1 of The Essential Judas Priest.


6. Love Bites (***/****) - There are four songs here that are from the Defenders of the Faith album and three of them suffer from beginning strong but faltering at the end. This is one of those songs. It has one hell of a bass riff that sounds like a doom march and it builds and builds until the vocals hit, each line followed by a guitar riff. Then the second verse even explodes with awesome back-up vocals by Glenn Tipton. I mean, watch the 1986 Love Bites performance to see why, especially the way Tipton runs to the mic. Then, there's a decent bridge and it all goes to hell. There's a long solo and it's not even a good solo. It's a waste of notes, time and talent to have a solo that weak. Then the song tries to recover with the last of vocals but by then it's too late. It's a good song with great energy but it just can't get past the solo.

7. Heading out to the Highway (**1/2/****) - This is quite an odd song for Priest now but back when it's released...it's was really odd. The line of logic for this and the rest of the Point of Entry album made sense. British Steel was a success thanks to the pop-hooks of Breaking the Law, United and the like so they wanted to chase that pop success to lesser returns. It's not that Heading out to the Highway is a bad song for it has a good groove, a sing-a-long sensibility and a very good solo but it just feels so much like pandering to the mainstream. But it's decent pandering and I almost feel bad for giving it such a low score but gut feelings are gut feelings.

8. Ram it Down (**/****) - This song absolutely is a waste of potential! It begins with a great metal scream, has an excellent speed-metal groove and a chorus you can crash your car to. So what happened? Why must I damned this to a mediocre song with extreme prejucide? Easy, once again a long solo but not just any long solo....a really frustrating long solo. Barely two minutes into Ram it Down the solo begins...and continues...and continues and it continues just in time for the song to have one last chorus before ending. So out of almost 5 minutes of song, there's barely over two minutes of vocals. I find this unacceptable with the potential awesomeness this could have had.

9. Beyond the Realms of Death (*1/2/****) - People like to think that Les Binks was the peak of drummers of Judas Priest. Me, I considered him a blight on the band. But I'm not going to be attacking his drumming here for the drumwork is controlled and competent for once, besides I have to save up on that front for Delivering the Goods. No, he co-write this including the riff. A song that tries to combine hard and soft music but fails miserably. This song does make no musical sense and I skip this track at all times. I tried to listen to this again for the purpose of this review but I just couldn't get past it. So skip it, not good.

10. You Got Another Thing Coming (**/****) - What is wrong with you people?! This song is not a classic, this song should never been the only charting song Priest had in America, this song should never been released as a single period! The band even admitted that this song was filler on the Screaming for Vengance album, filler! This does only the bare minimum to get by: a generic intro, an unmemorable solo and a weak performance from all involved. It's just there and that's what gets me. Out of all the songs that should've charted like Take on the World, Breaking the Law, United, Turbo Lover or Before the Dawn...the fact that this charted and not those songs makes me even more dissapointed in this.

Next batch coming soon.

The Essential Judas Priest Part I

Behold my first review project on R & R and it's The Essential Judas Priest, a compilation album for the Metal Gods Judas Priest. Now Judas Priest is one of my favorite bands and this is what sealed the deal for me. This has 34 tracks of various types of metal, from the blistering-fast to the wussy-slow. So now I will do a song-by-song review of the album and rate them and whatnot so here goes...a bit at a time, I'm not doing all 34 tracks at once, that's suicide. I think around 5 would be sufficient for now.



1. Judas Rising(***/****) - In 1993, Judas Priest took the hardest blow it would ever take. The Metal God himself, Rob Halford, decided to quit the band. Without his awesome singing, Priest laid low until the found a new singer and released two albums that are even more hated that the Motley Crue album without Vince Niel. But thankfully, Halford rejoined the band in 2005 and released an album with Judas Rising as a leadoff track. But what would it sound like for Halford dabbled in Industrial Metal for a bit and Priest was using all types of metal with that other guy but once this song kicked off, only two words would do...FUCKING AWESOME!!!! It's a song that says "We're back to Break The Law another day!"

Also, it has one hell of an intro that starts off soft and builds into an explosion of drums, guitars and the ever-present Halford metal scream. But for all this, the song is once again tilling the same ground as thier other messiah songs like Painkiller, The Sentinel, Exciter and the like. Don't get me wrong, this messiah is a decent one but you do wish that Priest would do something else. Also, that intro-riff...there's a very distinct similarity to the Victim of Changes riff. It's not a total rip-off but if you're not paying attention you may get confused between the two for a second. However, this is still a good song and it's a good kick off for this album but it's a bit too familar to be a great song.

2. Breaking the Law(****/****) - This is the signature track of Priest, Breaking the Law. So well-known in fact that there's a youtube video of a Halford show(Halford was the last solo act Rob Halford did before he rejoined Priest) where the crowd sings the entire song. The entire song! That's pretty awesome when you have a song that well-known that a crowd can sing it. But why is this so? First, that riff that immediately lets you know that this song is called Breaking the Law and it's going to be awesome! Also, the song knows when to stop by being a brief two-and-a-half minutes and not wasting a second on puny solos...even though this now has a solo on live shows since 1986, bah. But this song will reign supreme as one of the best Priest songs ever in it's fist-pumping, anthemy chorus of "Breaking the Law!".

3. Hell Bent for Leather(**1/2/****) - This song is a classic case of the parts being greater than the whole. It opens strong with a reved-up Harley & drum cymbals and the solo has an aura of class with its neo-classical sound even though it makes no musical sense within the context of the song. However, as good as this may be musically and all its nostalgic value in the annals of Priest, the ultimate failing of the song is the forgettable vocals. Yes, while I do worship the ground Rob Halford walks on I am not blind to his failings. The problem here is that Halford just isn't giving it his all, I mean he's giving a lot but it's like 80% making the song just not as awesome as it could and should have been. Sure it has the history but for this, it's not enough for me to actually say "Listen to this song, it's good!"

4. Diamonds and Rust(***1/2/****) - Priest covering a folk-classic from Joan Baez and turning it something like a disco song but not full-on disco like Kiss's "I Was Made For Loving You"! Gasp, how will it ever work? The answer was who cares it did and it's awesome. Granted, the fact Joan Baez's lyrics are accessible to everyone, including Metal Gods helps a lot. Also, the Priest version is remarkably faithful to the song besides amping it up and deleting a verse, but the bridge is almost the same in both versions. But I think the reason I like the song so much is that the chorus has awesome back-up vocals, I'm pretty sure from Glenn Tipton but I could be wrong on this one. But whoever does back-up vocals compliments Halford perfectly.

5. Victim of Changes (***/****) - Know this and know it now, this song has my recommendation only by the skin of its teeth. It begins and ends strong with two very different but equally awesome passages of music. However, it's the middle that bores the hell out of me for it's all solo and it's not a very good one either. Especially live when they make a big show of that one solo and then a bigger show when everybody but Glenn Tipton leaves the stage and he's soloing one note for minutes upon minutes. ONE NOTE!!!! You ever see that, it's so boring you can feel your brain starting to melt. But like I said, this is worth it for the first and last third but one more second spent on the solo and I would not be able to recommend it to casual Priest fans.


More coming soon....