The Pixel Pit

The Gods Detest All

2010-12-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

Alright so it's been awhile since I've posted to this meager blog. I have no real excuse so let's just continue on with the concert review. Ancient Egyptian influenced brutal death metal band Nile is on tour again with Ex Deo, Psycroptic and Keep of Kalessin to bring forth the brutality across the States.

It's been about eight years or so since I've seen Nile. That was back on the Blackest of Black (the first one?) that Danzig organized and headlined. At the time my taste in metal was still in a precocious state, absorbing all the new shit that I could find. I was still fairly new to death metal at the time being familiar to Death, Vader, Dying Fetus and Nile. This was also the same year that I discovered Opeth, so imagine my excitement when I found out they were going to be sharing the same bill.

Since it was essentially a festival style bill, each band only got about 20 minutes of set time. So that meant that Opeth played two songs and Nile maybe four. But they didn't get a chance to as their equipment shorted out and led me to exclaim "Fuck you" at the inanimate amplifier causing the headache.

More after the jump...

Flash forward to last night's show, along with one of my co-workers who was equally excited to see Nile. We arrived to the venue, a small capacity club that I've been to several times in the past. Kind of run down but it has a good atmosphere and decent sound. On our way to get tickets I see Karl Sanders with a lady friend. I was pretty eager to take a picture with him then, but decided to leave him with his friend, especially as they left just after I bought the tickets. Oh well.

Turns out we missed the very first act but caught a song and a half of Malnurture. The name sounded pretty familiar, and looking them up afterward confirms that I have indeed seen them before. I believe they opened for Children of Bodom long ago or something. Either way, they're a competent melodic death metal band that I wouldn't mind hearing more of in the future.

During the set break we took ourselves to the merch table to see what was for sale. I picked up a white Psycroptic shirt with a pretty sick design on the front. Yeah I know, a white metal shirt. One of the reasons why I picked up it up and apparently a top seller.

I could swear that when the next band took the stage I was instantly transported to late 1999 when nu-metal bands ruled. The appropriately named, North of Nowhere, sounded like they would've been most comfortable sandwiched between head(p.e.) and Kottonmouth Kings. The only enthused fans were their girlfriends, possibly related to them in some way and half drunk. Barely stomaching a single song from them, I decided that stuffing my gullet with cheap beef tacos were a better route to take. And if the band were tacos, I'd have nuclear diarrhea from them. Pass.

After the delicious Mexican food, we arrived just in time to see the Nowhere dickheads tearing down their set. Keep of Kalessin were up next. I've only heard a few songs from them before and they didn't blow me away. Their set did nothing to change my mind. Competent musicians but pretty standard fare metal. My co-worker remarked that bassist Robin Isaksen looked like Skwisgaar from Dethklok. I'm inclined to concur.

We hit up the bar next door for a drink and upon arrival, Psycroptic had already begun a song or two. The sharing of a drum kit really decreases set up time. They put on a very solid show. Afterward I got to meet the temporary singer, Zdeněk Šimeček, who is filling in for Jason Peppiatt. Strangely, he gave me his business card. Perhaps when I start a tech-death metal band I can give him a ring.

The next band was Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm's side project, Ex Deo. The brand of death metal they played reminded me of Amon Amarth. Unfortunately I found it really tedious and boring. What I did enjoy from them was their stage set up. The entire band was dressed in Roman period leather armor. This gave the band a great theatrical quality and really set them apart, visually, from the rest of the band. I wouldn't mind seeing more theatrics in death metal, especially when the bands focus on concept albums.

Finally, Nile took to the stage. They opened up with Kafir and proceeded through their entire discography including songs like Lashed to the Slave Stick, Sarcophagus, and Black Seeds of Vengeance. The entire crowd went nuts, including one girl who dominated the pit. My neck was sore from the headbanging I did and honestly cannot wait for them to come back to Phoenix again.

All Hallow's Eve Black Metal Children's Costume

2010-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hails and pixels it's been a long time metalheads and gamers! The holiday celebrating ghouls, goblins and ghosts is among us and what better way than to capitalize on an entire genre? Black metal may not be the most popular metal genre out there, but it definitely has strong aesthetics that make it ideal to be exploited for costume form. Follow the jump to see what I'm talking about.


From the depths of hell arises a 12 year old demon!

It looks like a cross of Immortal, Cradle of Filth and Kiss. Hilarious.

And Vinyly...24 or so Minutes of the End...

2010-09-24T00:13:00.000-07:00

Some people believe that there is an afterlife - a continuation of one's soul after the physical shell has passed on. This has been with humanity ever since we evolved the ability to think in abstract thought. As we grew and learned more about the material world, some of us realized that there was no need to believe in such nonsense. I'm one of the many who feel, nay, know that there is a definite end to one's life. The only way to live on is to leave behind a legacy. And what better way to do that than with pressing one's ashes into vinyl?

I was made aware of the website And Vinyly and decided to look into it. Honestly, I think the whole business surrounding death is just a sham and designed to take as much money as possible from the survivors. If I truly had my way I'd just want my body dumped in the remote reaches of a forest for the wolves and death eaters. But since I have to abide by society's will (for the most part) then I will opt for cremation.

So what to do with the ashes? Well I would like some shot up into space. I'm a huge fan of science fiction and have always dreamed of exploring the deep reaches of space. Since that is a complete pipe dream with today's technology, might as well go with the next best thing and have my ashes hitch a ride with a rocket into space. The rest of ashes I would like now to be pressed into vinyl.

According to the site's standard rates, starting at £3000, I could put anything I want on there...up to 24 minutes. Anything extra is more money for the survivors. I did a search of my playlist trying to come up with songs that would represent death and significance for me. I have a mix of metal and video game songs. However I ended up with just over 26 minutes of music, so it looks like my significant other with have to fork over some more dough for my death.

1. A Celebration for the Death of Man... - Agalloch
This is the first song I have ever heard from Agalloch. On a whim I went on to someone's FTP (which was chock full of metal) on the Gamingforce forums and decided to start in the As and work my way through. At the time I was still exploring all the dark alleyways of metal, just barely discovering folk metal when I came across this brilliant Oregon band. While a short instrumental track (it segues beautifully into In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion) it has what I feel are two meanings to the title.

The first is a misanthropic interpretation; celebrating the literal death of mankind. The second is celebrating not the death but rather the life the person has lived. The first interpretation is probably more correct than the second, but considering it's an instrumental track it's kind of hard to determine without actually consulting John Haughm.

2. Insignificant - Nevermore
As one of my favorite power/thrash metal bands, it made it kind of difficult to pick between their expansive and impressive discography. I originally narrowed it down to Dead Heart in a Dead World, as that is my current favorite album of theirs. Then I narrowed it down to two tracks: Believe in Nothing and this track. The significance (no real pun intended) of the title and the chorus line, "Just a speck in the spectrum" clenched it for me. This song is about how, despite everything we believe, we are in reality just completely inconsequential to the 'will' of the vast universe.

3. Thorns on My Grave - Emperor
Quite a few black metal purists will cry foul for choosing the brilliant Prometheus over In the Nightside Eclipse. Well they can go fuck themselves as I find Emperor's swansong album to be their best and most brilliant effort. Composed largely by Ihsahn, it is by far their most technical and beautiful written. So why Thorns?

Whilst not my favorite track, that goes to Tongue of Fire, the meaning of the song holds deeper to the purpose of this blog post. It's about being buried and left well alone. This song was written as a way to dismiss the idea of any sort of reunion album. They wanted to end on a high note and leave it well alone, knowing that nothing they do after will satisfy and ultimately tarnish their high esteemed position.

4. Perpetual Black Second - Meshuggah
Meshuggah lyrics have always been hit or miss for me. Normally I don't listen to music for the lyrics, but for the musical backbone. Again for the purpose of this song I decided to take a slightly closer look at the lyrics. And that failed when trying to make sense of Perpetual Black Second. It just seems like an incoherent rant about being filled with hate. I really do like the song and the title grabbed me enough to include it because death is essentially a perpetual black second. If the song is really about death, then they either did a really clever job of hiding the meaning or just failing at writing lyrics. Sorry Tomas Haake or Jens Kidman.

5. The One Who is Torn Apart - Yasunori Mitsuda
I hold Xenogears in a very high esteem. A game about the death of a man-made mechanical god and the struggles of the protagonists to know what it means to be human, it is supported by the brilliant and powerful soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda. He stands as one of my favorite video game composers, also composing Chrono Trigger and Cross. The entire soundtrack of Xenogears has some excellent songs but this one in particular gets me like none other. I believe it is first featured after the destruction of Nortune, the capital of Kislev. I feel that is morose piece would fit well at a funeral.

6. Ending Credits - Opeth
It's pretty hard to single out a song to put on the vinyl intended to be pressed with my ashes and played, hopefully, at my funeral or something. First I had to eliminate all songs that were over 10 minutes, so that basically left Damnation as my only option. I could have gone with Closure, Death Whispered a Lullaby or any of the others, but Ending Credits stood out for me. Again, the title holds more meaning than what most lyrics can do. This is the end. Let us credit those who participated in the life of this person. Plus it's just a brilliant piece of music that almost sounds like it would've fit better to a 70's prog band.

Ten Stale Ideas Holding Back Gaming...But Not Really (Part 2)

2010-09-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

See? I told you I'd be back for part two! I went over the first two points of IGN's article, 10 Stale Ideas Holding Back Gaming. Now for the remaining points that I will rant all over and probably uses some other bodily function!

Hit the jump to keep reading.

3. Motion Control = Gameplay

"Simply adding motion control to a traditional gaming experience doesn't constitute satisfying gameplay..."

Ah a point where we can actually sort of agree. I'd like to see better use of motion controls, not just shaking the controller up and down to make a complicated action. Of course the problem is how difficult it is to program something like that to read gestures. If the developers don't get help from the first parties, then they will be poking around in the dark making sub-par motion controls. Currently I do not own a Wii, but I have played a few games for it and I have yet to be impressed with the motion controls.

Regardless, I view motion controls as just a stop gap to virtual reality. It was very early technology back in the early 90's but now it's definitely maturing with 3D technology that will prime the audience. Once a non-invasive treadmill type device can be made to simulate motion at an affordable price, then virtual reality will really take off. Microsoft also doesn't have the right idea with Kinect. Not having tactile feedback is a bad thing. Maybe if there were some Minority Report type gloves to go with the device it could be more useful. But we'll see how it turns out.

4. The A.I. Question

"...it's all too easy to pick out how to exploit the AI in a game..."

Artificial intelligence is a very complicated subject that is getting some attention in the gaming world. I'm sort of on the fence about this topic. Most successful games today have a multiplayer aspect which negates the need for AI in the first place. Most single player games rarely touch the AI in regards to changing difficulty; they just make the enemies take less damage and deal more damage.

Why haven't we seen vast improvements in AI? Well actually we have. Developers now make the AI duck, cover, try to flank and for friendly AI they try to make the best decisions according to what is going on. It is by no means perfect and to get it to that level would require a lot of computational power and some very talented AI dedicated programmers.

Another aspect holding back AI is that we are human. Because we continue to be human 24 hours a day from when we're born to the day we day, we know how humans act and behave. We are too nuanced in our actions to really replicate that in AI or in a similar situation on a CG human character. Once we get to that point, then I suppose gaming will no longer be held back by AI. Barring budgetary and time constraints.

5. Downloadable Content Goes Awry

"...this kind of in-built revenue stream seems like a cynical cash-grab that denies players legitimate content that should be in the game at launch."

I definitely agree with the statement in that the game should be as complete as possible with truly exceptional DLC available at a later date. Sorry, no rambling rant to this piece.

6. Music Games

"...it's not enough to simply repackage essentially the same content every year and call it a new experience."

Hey you know what else does that? Sports games. Do we really need a new Madden every 12 months that has marginally updated graphics, maybe some gameplay tweaks and an updated roster that could be easily have been done through the use of a patch? Of course not.

This the case where the author missed the point and just decided to have a narrow focus. The problem isn't music or sports or racing or action or any other kind of games. It's the constant annual and sometimes bi-annual iterations of games. Activision is particularly guilty of running franchises into the ground. One only needs to look at the Tony Hawks, the Call of Duties and the Guitar Heroes to figure that one at. The games were all hailed for various reasons in their first couple of iterations then quickly derided for being mere cash-ins and failing to do anything really different.

It's not just music games that we have plenty of and guilty of unnecessary updates, but games of all genres.

7. Every Game Needs to be Epically-Epic-in-Every-Single-Epic-Way-Epic-Epic

"Not every title needs to strive to build off the back of a formula that already exists..."

I think the author is a bit confused on this topic, I know I am. The title suggests that not every game should have an epic scope, yet the body suggests that you shouldn't do things when others have already done so. Don't remake Halo because we already have one? Well, someone should've told Bungie not to make that game because we already had Goldeneye and before that Doom and before that Wolfenstein 3D. So please stop improving on already established games.

Oh and Mr. Actor who starred in a successful movie being made into a game? We don't need you any further. Despite you knowing the character more than anyone else and able to bring that character life, you've already done it. Stop. And you're not invited to the sequel either.

Seriously his point of not making games of the backs of others is complete garbage. There are plenty of games that took the original formula and tweaked it enough to become its own successful new game. I am curious to know some of the author's favorite games. I'm sure most of them are just being build off of the backs of other games.

8. Everything is a Franchise

"Not every game needs a sequel."

I definitely agree with that sentiment. Some games don't need sequels. Honestly I felt that BioShock didn't need a sequel, and the second one certainly missed the point of the first game.

One thing I don't agree with on the author is that developers should not design with a franchise in mind. Why not? Just because it could possibly tank? For every Too Human out there is a Mass Effect. It's basically a risk. If anything, I think that developers should create the first game with fairly tied up story and not such a blatant cliffhanger, like Too Human.

9. Every Game Needs Multiplayer

"Sometimes a perfectly constructed single player experience can please just as many players as one that is tailored towards multiplayer."

What in Odin's name? Another point on which I agree with the author? What is this mortal world coming to!? I certainly agree with that, but if anything I wish that more games would allow co-operative play during the regular gameplay, not just strictly in a side mode. Besides some games that we wouldn't think should have multiplayer actually pulled it off well and very creatively such as Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. Perhaps as long as another studio is involved in the multiplayer aspect, like in BioShock 2, then it could come out for the better.

10. "Casual" Means "Minigames"

"the dirge of minigames... ...has somehow become synonymous with 'casual gaming'."

I basically agree with this statement, yet again! A hat trick in this list! Maybe I should just give up on being bitter. But wait, what's this? Limbo equated to a casual game? Ah now we're getting somewhere. It's gameplay is relatively simple yes, but it's puzzles and gloomy, dark atmosphere are really not one for casual gamers.

A casual game is just something that is easy to play for a few minutes then put down with no worries. In reality, the very first games would be defined as casual games today. Games like Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Galaga and more all had simple gameplay that was easy to pick up. Dammit weren't they fun though?

What Limbo is is an independent game. It was funded without publisher funding. It's not really accessible insomuch as Mega Man is accessible. The controls on both games are simple but the difficulty can sometimes be unforgiving. And really in Limbo, I sometimes had problems with where to go next or the clues weren't clear enough as to what I was supposed to be doing. Something I wouldn't shoehorn casual gaming with.

Ten Stale Ideas Holding Back Gaming...But Not Really (Part 1)

2010-09-17T21:38:00.003-07:00

I'm not a frequenter of IGN. Sure, I have a profile set up with them but that's only because they have a way for me to keep track of my immense game collection and I've been too lazy to set it up elsewhere. This article has been brought to my attention and it's flawed for several reasons. First of all, its criticisms are far too narrow. The root cause of the problem, which is supposedly stagnating the game industry never comes to fruition. Secondly, he fails to cite any of his claims, which borderline on extraordinary. Third, he confuses some definitions of games, namely casual and independent. I'll just go ahead and break down each point because I have nothing better to do (not true I have Red Dead Redemption and Rock Band 2 waiting for me).

Continue reading by clicking on the jump!

1. Regenerative Health Systems

"Regenerative health systems – be it an infinite shield that gradually recharges or a health bar that slowly refills – now dominate the whole shooter category..."

That particular type of health system certainly dominates the action genre. But it's stagnating because you can just sit back for a handful of seconds to catch your breath during a pretty intense firefight? I kind of like that idea better than hoping that after a particularly brutal fight that the developers were mercyful (sic) enough to supply me with a Medkit or even a measly Stimpak.

I will agree that is a tired system just like one hit kills dominated for the greater part of the early video game industry. Then health packs dominated the middle fourth generation (16-bits and early 32-bit systems) era to around the middle sixth generation (Dreamcast and Playstation 2 era consoles) era. Now, regenerative health dominates the scene. I think it's ripe for a change, but what will it be? A comeback to the health packs? Makes sense seeing all the nostalgia going on in video games and everywhere else in pop culture.

Or perhaps the health system will go away once developers start branching from more than just kill and shoot?

2. Used' is the New 'New'

"Retailers are ordering less stock to try and strong-arm consumers into paying for 'used' copies of returned games." "...and it also encourages piracy."

The used game debate has gained a lot of steam in recent years with consumers and developers forming deeply divided camps. Several developers hold used game sales in disdain claiming loss of profit. There have been ways to combat this such as offering incentives to buy new by forcing a consumer who purchases a copy of a game used to pay for the online components if they want to play online.

Personally I'm all for used games for a variety of reasons and I strongly hope that developers do not try to alienate the consumers with strong-arm tactics. DRM has already backfired on some companies such as EA and Ubisoft, we don't need repeats of this.

On topic, the idea of retailers purposefully ordering less copies in order to strong arm consumers into the second hand market is news to me. I tend to stay up to date with the industry by following GamesIndustry, Gamasutra, GamePolitics, Kotaku, Joystiq and other gaming sites and I've never heard of such a thing. It would be nice to get a figure or a statement or something to verify this claim.

It doesn't seem to make much sense to me to employ this sort of tactic. Wouldn't retailers make more money buying more copies of the game, selling out of it, then accepting the returned copies and then reselling those copies? I certainly haven't heard of any of the big blockbuster games having problems with being stocked by retailers. Niche games are completely different manner.

Now the topic of used games lead to piracy. That's a load of bullshit. That's the same illogical asinine bullshit that the MPAA employs saying that pirating their movie means you support terrorism. A slight hyperbole but you need one to counter. The author never expands how this is made possible.

Used games are probably just a gateway. First you buy Halo: Reach used because you were young and just wanted to see how it was because all your friends bought it used and they seemed to turn out fine. But you wanted more. You couldn't just stop at one used game. No. You needed more. You need Red Dead Redemption at 20% of its cost, missing the instruction manual and the original cover completely. Since you don't care about that, why not just go to your favorite torrent site and download Modern Warfare 2? All your friends are doing it now having gotten enough of the light buzz and wanting to graduate to a harder high. It's all good though, just one or two downloads won't hurt anyone.

Thirty terabytes later and you've amassed the entire Xbox 360 and PS3 library! But you certainly don't have an addiction you tell yourself. You can quit anytime. In fact, you're going to grab your $60 from your wallet. Oh wait, you stopped carrying cash a long time ago. That's OK. You have your debit card. But that means you have to get up from your comfy couch, grab the car keys, hope the car starts then drive about three miles with a few stop lights along the way to slow you down. It's probably best to stay home anyway, you're more likely to get into a car accident then have your door torn down by the video game piracy police.

But you're not done yet. Thirty terabytes is simply not enough. Maybe you should pirate automobiles. Or take over business establishments by force. Now you're on a boat motha fucka sailing the alestorm high seas as a swashbuckling pirate because you do as you please! All because you decided to buy a single game used. Kids, don't do drugs. Or bestiality. That's just wrong. And I guess don't buy used games either.

Part Two Soon...

Dead State

2010-09-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

About a year ago there was a small news announcement of a new independent video game company forming from the former writers of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir. The company was called Doublebear Productions (inspired by Doublefine Productions?) and they made a small blurb that they're working on a zombie survival horror RPG. And that was it.

Flash forward to a few days ago and they officially announce the name of the game, Dead State and release some more information about it. Now I've been fairly excited for this game even though I haven't kept up with it too much. I like zombies, however they have completely saturated the market now and every game tends to feel cookie cutter, rarely adding anything new to the mix. I've always felt that a RPG centered around the zombie apocalypse, maybe in the vein of Walking Dead, would make for a great video game. And here comes Doublebear Productions with what I hope will be a great game.

The gameplay bullet point seem promising with open ended gameplay, engaging storyline, innovative noise and resource management. They have a few screenshots posted that look like the game would fit better in 1998 than 2010. That's not a bad thing mind you as long as the gameplay holds up. I'm also not too thrilled with the concept art at this point, but again it's still in the early stages and they haven't even announced a release date.

I'll at the very least try the demo for this game when they decide to release it and I hope it turns out well for them.

http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/

American Carnage

2010-08-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

What's this!? Two posts in one day!? Has the Jolly Metalhead gone mad!? It is quite possible as seeing the combined awesome of Testament, Megadeth and Slayer would have that effect on a person.

The show was held at the Dodge Theater, a place I normally associate with slightly upper class events and for Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd shows. Basically it's not a venue with metal's best interests in mind. The sound is actually really good. In fact I normally wear ear plugs to shows, but everything except for the double kick bass drums were drowned out. And you can't possibly block any sound of Megadeth or Slayer. I believe that's illegal in 47 states.

The main issue with the venue is the lack of proper standing space. Sure they quartered off a 3x3 space in the front but everything else is occupied by seating. Even though I'm not a moshing sort of guy; I prefer headbanging wildly and admiring the musicianship, there are plenty of people who want to mosh. And if it's at a Slayer show it's mandatory, much like suicide.

During the approximate one hour wait for Testament, the theater slowly filled up. War cries of Slayer were heard and echoed. I do feel that most metalheads are fairly intelligent and Slayer does have some poignant lyrical subject matters, it's just that at a show with Slayer tends to bring the level of intelligence down to pre-civilization levels. I'm really not disappointed by it, rather amused. Where else would you hear someone yell out the band of night and have it called back to them? It would never happen at a Britney Spears concert. Nor a Dave Mathews Band show. Not even an AC/DC show. Most metal shows will have the headliner's name chanted just before they take stage. With Slayer, it's heard constantly. From the moment you pull up to the venue. To the time you depart. It's a war cry. A rallying cry.

Testament put on a great show. This was my first time seeing them and admittedly I'm not totally familiar with their discography. Having only the Legacy and Souls of Black, great classic thrash albums in their own right, I didn't recognize most of their set. Regardless, they were tight and it definitely pushed me to get more of their albums rather than slack off on it. Even my girlfriend really got into them and she's determined now to get them.

Megadeth opened full force with Holy Wars and continued on with the Rust in Peace album. It's really, in my opinion, the best thrash metal album out there. Hell, it's easily in my top 5 of all time favorites for music in general. The odd thing about that album is the style was never really hinted at before and never fully replicated afterward. It was an extremely creative time in Mustaine's drug addled pissed off world. Hearing it live was quite spectacular. The only gripe I had with it was Dave's voice just didn't seem up to the task any longer. That could be attributed growing older or the history of drug and alcohol abuse or even having an off night. Other than that slight blemish, the rest of the set was phenomenal if not predictable.

The line up is Megadeth's strongest since the quintessential Rust line up. Christ Broderick is a fantastic fit for lead guitar and I really hope he stays on for more than one or two albums and brings out the creative juices that Friedman originally did on Rust. He easily nails all the songs and I know he can come up with some creative and brilliant material.

After Megadeth ended their set with a call back to Holy Wars, Slayer opened up with a couple of their new songs, World Painted Blood and Hate Worldwide. The crushed intro of War Ensemble kicked off their Seasons in Abyss full album set.

What was interesting about their set was their minimal stage. Testament had a cool high rise with a gothic haunted mansion backdrop. And Megadeth went from a Rust in Peace back drop to an Endgame after the Rust set. Slayer's was just a wall of Marshalls. With some lights. They've always kept it simple and I think that's one of the reasons why they've endured for so long even if they have been musically conservative.

Musically the band is as tight as ever and Tom really didn't seem to have a problem singing, but then again other than the fast delivery, Slayer songs are hardly demanding. Other than the lack of a ear splitting scream in Angel of Death, he hit everything flawlessly. And speaking of Angel of Death, I don't believe it's ever been out of their set list since they debuted back in '86. And honestly, I don't think it could be a Slayer show without Angel of Death.

Overall it was a great, albeit, predictable show. But then again when you have three heavyweight long lived thrash titans in the midst and two of them are playing on of their classics in its entirety, you know you're going to be in for a great time.

Autobiographies Sell...but Who's Buying?

2010-08-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today is the night of the American Carnage tour, Megadeth, Slayer and Testament, for Phoenix. It was originally slated for January, but Tom Araya had to get back surgery performed. Thankfully he's made a full recovery and I'm sure they will literally slay at the show tonight.

Also today Dave Mustaine appeared for a book signed at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe. I had gotten there around 8:15am, after a stop at Starbuck's to wake up dead and get a little bit of sustenance. The line was only a handful of people at the time. Most were wearing the obligatory Megadeth shirts. Some had added to the ensemble by donning Megadeth tattoos. Everyone was friendly. Conversations were generally about what Megadeth shows we've been to prior. How awesome Megadeth is. The history of Metallica and Megadeth. And just general discussion about metal.

Mustaine wasn't slated to arrive until 10am, so there was some time to kill. I had brought along Boneshaker by Cherie Priest to pass the time. I got through a couple of chapters but ended up talking with some fellow metalheads.

We were eventually corralled into orderly lines determined by what letter we had which is based on what position the book was purchased prior. I was assigned letter G. I'm not sure how far down the alphabet they went, but the line moved smoothly. This was aided by the fact he was only signing the book and no posing photos were to be taken. At first it was no photography at all, but they loosened up and allowed photos to be taken up to meeting Mustaine and after. Just no poses. That part is a bit unfortunate as I would've liked to taken a picture with him, alas it is not to be.


A disheveled musician wishing he could just relax instead of pretending to enjoy the fans.

I got to meet the man who helped give birth to the thrash metal sub-genre. I had a few words with him, and shared with him an inside joke that I have with my girlfriend. He seemed like a nice enough guy and he has done a lot for metal, despite some of his rivalries and his downfall into drugs and alcoholism. Here's to one of the greatest guitarists and songwriters in all of music. \m/


I met Dave Mustaine. I'm more metal than you!

Into the Infinity of Thoughts

2010-08-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big MMO player. In fact the only online multiplayer RPGs that I've played were Diablo, Phantasy Star Online (on the Dreamcast) and Too Human. Not exactly massively. I've been curious about EVE online since I love science fiction and that game seems to have a pretty good story and some gameplay mechanics but the huge time investment shied me away from it. Not to mention the monthly fees. Well I can probably just read the novel based on the game.

Unless an MMO based on Fallout comes out, I doubt I'll pick any of them up. However, this game, Infinity, looks particularly interesting. A space faring and terrain landing MMO that's supposed to feature a procedural universe and complete seamlessness between space and planet side. In addition to real time combat, unique storyline missions (no instances here!) and open ended gameplay, the small team of developers have a lot on their plate.

Even with their ambitious goals, they seem to have a lot going on. Hopefully they'll be able to keep the game going and release it at some point. The early videos they have so far are pretty amazing.

It's Been a Long Time to Slaughter

2010-07-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hails and pixels metalheads! It’s been quite a while since I last updated this exciting blog. A ton of shit has gone down, both in my personal life, out in the metal world and in the video game world. I moved into a new place, so that is one reason, outside of laziness, why the blog has not been updated. I’m also without a reliable internet connection so that will impede matters a bit.

E3 has come and gone with some pretty exciting news. Kinect actually looks like a lot of fun, especially Kinectimals. I can only hope that the game will include a tiger mauling simulation. The dance game from Harmonix looks like fun; hopefully they’ll introduce Air Rock Band to make people look more retarded.

A lot of new metal albums have come out, or are coming out. I picked up Nevermore’s new album, the Obsidian Conspiracy, and it is a solid slab of progressive thrash metal that is expected of the band. Decrepit Birth recently dropped a new album and the Summer Slaughter just recently came through my area, which I attended. So to break up the dry spell, I’ll go ahead and recap my experience at the tour.

Summer Slaughter Tour

The Blackened Skies

I arrived at the venue at around 3:20pm. Not too many people around, whom I expected since it’s the middle of the day and I’m sure a lot of people, are still at work. I just wandered around the venue checking out merch stands of the bands and ended up picking up a few items. The first band to come on was a local band by the name of the Blackened Skies. OK, generic metal title, but things could look up. I’m expecting maybe a symphonic influenced band with a tinge of black metal. Nope. Mediocre metalcore. Perhaps if the band came out 10 years ago they might’ve been good. But at this point, they are not doing anything special to go anywhere. Sure the musicians are competent but they are basically doing metal by numbers.

The singer sounds like Phil Labonte, which is not a bad thing, just has really shitty growls. Well let’s hear the next band!

Vital Remains

Vital Remains is next and they open up with their classic, Dechristianize. Personally I love this song for its sheer brutality and epic-virtuosic-melodic solos and melodies. Unfortunately the mixing was poorly done that all I could hear were the incessant double-kick drums and low end guitars. If I strained my ears enough, I could hear the solos. They also played Devoured Elysium and Hammer Down the Nails from Icons of Evil. Performance wise they commanded the stage well, even though singer Scott Willy looked a little ridiculous with his spiked gauntlets and stiff actions. Despite the sound problems they put on a great show and I even picked up a shirt of theirs.

Animals As Leaders

And then I thought that Carlton Banks started up a band, because that’s exactly who lead guitarist Tosin Abasi looked like. The only things missing were a sweater draped over his shoulders and him performing the Carlton dance, which would’ve been awesome! I was thoroughly impressed by this instrumental band. Abasi conquered the 8-string neck while the rest of the band provided a strong music backbone. Animals as Leaders are sort of the odd man out on a bill dominated by death metal and deathcore, but they won over plenty of people and I would love to see them again.

Carnifex

So far the show is shaping up very nicely. Let’s see how the next band is. Fuck. Carnifex? OK first of all, that’s a terrible name. Secondly, you fucking suck. Extremely generic, uninspired, tough-guy deathcore. I’m sitting this one out.

Decrepit Birth

Ah, now some real good metal is on next. Decrepit Birth opened up with Living Doorway which is a great song with the right amount of brutality and virtuosity. The rest of their set consisted of songs spanning their three albums from …And Time Begins through their newest, Polarity. The sound was perfect and the performance was spot on. I can’t wait to see them again when they tour with Suffocation.

Cephalic Carnage

After that brutality, it’s time to mellow out with a more pot influenced band. Well, Decrepit Birth did make some marijuana references in between songs; Cephalic Carnage has entire songs dedicated to the plant. And they are pretty brutal mixing in grindcore with death metal. I think the band is alright personally. I only have Lucid Interval, and they thankfully played the title track as a closer. Even hearing songs spanning their discography, including upcoming new material, I felt that entire song is their best at how well written and varied it is. Beyond that they were pretty entertaining.

Veil of Maya, the Red Chord, All Shall Perish

The next three bands were just three long moments of suck. Veil of Maya was up next. Despite taking their name from a great Cynic song, they manage to be a cookie cutter metalcore band and play it worse than others. The Red Chord was the next band and I’ve seen them before with Cannibal Corpse. Actually, seen them is incorrect. I sat outside the venue in order to avoid them, which I did to them as well. Typical tough-guy deathcore. The last band of the suck was a band that I was into a bit. Sure, they’re deathcore, but the few songs I downloaded had some great moments of death metal. Seeing them live erased all love I had of them. The sound was terrible, but that didn’t detract my enjoyment of Vital Remains too much, unfortunately the music could not hold up at all. Typical breakdowns, with pinch harmonics and tough-guy vocals. Blech.

The Faceless

In order to make up for the entire suck, the Faceless slaughtered the audience. The vast majority of their set contained songs from Planetary Duality with a handful of Akeldema-era songs. OK, I’ve made a point of my distaste of deathcore before, but these guys incorporate enough technical death metal to make me enjoy them. Plus the moments of –core that they have are well done. Rather than riding the low open string at alternating slow and triplet picked rhythms, they use different chord progressions and really just slow it down as opposed to making room for mosh fighting bullshit.

Michael Keene’s fretwork really impressed me and took in a greater appreciation for the complicated songwriting of the band. There is never a dull moment with the songs weaving through the musical landscape only to draw the listener back into the pits of Hell.

Decapitated

With the Faceless, I fully expected Decapitated to dominate the show. They opened with A Poem about an Old Prison Man from Organic Hallucinosis. The rest of the handful of songs were from that album as well, with one from their first album, the title track Winds of Creation. I’ve never been a fan of their newer album, especially when they replaced vocalist Sauron with Covan. They went from some of the best death metal vocals to just typical deathcore shouts. Unfortunately for the band the sound was horribly muddled with weird phase shifting effects happening when everyone was playing fast in unison.

Combined with my fatigue and hunger, I had to leave early especially since they weren’t playing songs from Negation and before as often as I liked. It is a shame what happened to Decapitated, and they’re still one of my favorite death metal bands. I unfortunately felt that they fell flat performance wise. Hopefully they’ll tour again on their own in the near future.

Most Metal Video Games (Part 3)

2010-05-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hails and pixels metalheads! I know it's been quite a while since the previous installment of Most Metal Video Games, just stuff in real life and sheer laziness. I make no promises to keep a better schedule other than try for a weekly installment until I run out of potential candidates. Of course the past day has been pretty bleak for metal with the loss of the almighty Ronnie James Dio. We shouldn't mourn his loss but celebrate his contributions to metal as a whole. \m/

This week's most metal video game is the Guilty Gear series.

The moderately popular Japanese fighting game is loaded with various metal references in the characters and the music. Daisuke Ishiwatari is a bit of a renaissance man by designing the characters, penning the story, providing voice work and composing the music of the Guilty Gear series. He makes no shame of his love of metal and hard rock by naming characters after bands such as Venom, Slayer, Testament and musicians such as Zappa, Axl Rose (Axl Low), and Cliff Burton (Kliff Undersn).

Backed up by the metal/hard rock influenced characters is the hard hitting soundtrack. Instrumetal goodness filled with solid headbanging riffs and searing leads make this one to be occupied in one's iPod for some time. However between the various incarnations of the game, it can get a bit tiresome as the songs start to recycle motifs and while this is a common practice in order to save time and money, it makes it a chore to listen to in the long run.

Guilty Gear has a very diverse cast of characters and some very unique character designs; some of the best I've seen in recent fighting games. You have a guitar wielding witch. A tall shape shifting man with a bag over his head. And a man who can conjure up cue balls to shoot at you with his cue stick.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of fighting games and have little patience for their nuances but I certainly respect the good ones and this one is one of them. While the game has not reached the popularity of Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter, it is still heavily played by those looking for a great fighting game experience. The uniqueness, wackiness, and numerous of references to metal this game makes it a very metal video game.

Lost In Shadow

2010-05-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm always on the look out for games that do something fairly unique. This game looks like it's going to be an interesting take on platformers; the play of light and shadow and how that directly influences your position on the level. Looks like a good one to keep an eye on.

Video Games | Lost in Shadow | Gameplay Teaser HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

RNC Less Metal Than You!

2010-05-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well it's not every day that you hear about death metal on a fairly popular news show, unless it's about how a couple of idiot teenagers allegedly raped and murdered a girl whilst listening to Slayer or Judas Priest. Of course those bands are hardly death metal, but what do they know? Rather than sensationalize death metal in the typical way, Ms. Maddow seems to think that the presence of the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida will stir up some controversy. I doubt it. I haven't heard much of metal musicians, much less from death metal, participating much in politics. Sure some the lyrics of the mentioned bands in the clip, Cannibal Corpse, Death, Obituary, Six Feet Under and Deicide, might feature some political awareness, but they tend to lay within the blasphemous or the tongue-in-cheek gore-horror-movie shtick.

Maybe if Schuldiner was still alive he might make some comments about it. However I wouldn't be surprised if Glen Benton of Deicide would say something about this. He seems crazy enough and out spoken enough to say something about this. C'mon, this guy burned a cross upside down on his forehead. It's scarred there for life. You'd have to be a crazy mother fucker to do something like.

Oh well. I doubt anything will come out of this. I do wish she mentioned Morbid Angel and some of the other influential Floridian death metal bands.

Brian Posehn - More Metal Than You!

2010-05-09T10:44:00.001-07:00

I really haven't followed Posehn's career but I do know of him from the Metal By Numbers video he did and some of his bits on Mr. Show and the Sarah Silverman Program. When the new video single, More Metal Than You, came out and I found out that he was coming to the Valley, I was stoked! The video is pretty awesome of course:

I saw him live and he is fucking hilarious! He did not do a whole lot in the way of metal references but he had fantastic delivery and just all around great jokes. I'll have to pick up his albums soon.

Finntroll, Moonsorrow, Swallow the Sun Concert

2010-05-09T10:34:00.001-07:00

Hails and pixels metalheads! Sorry about the delay in between posts, just got a bit lazy and some shit going down in real life that I might go into later. Anyway here is a catch up post for the concert involving Finntroll and Moonsorrow.

The concert was over at a restaurant/bar in Mesa called UB's. I've never been there before but it's a decent sized venue; about 100 capacity. The opening band was a local one called Adavant whom I've seen prior when I saw Eluveitie. Not a bad folk metal band, though a bit odd considering they originate from the Valley of the Sun and not the fjords of Scandinavia. Their songs are typical singing about drinking, celebration and the glory of battle. And of course they have a female singer, who I saw while they were taking down their set and complimented her band on a great job and how I saw them previously. Apparently that was a different female singer and she was the new one. My bad.

The second band was a thrash metal band from California called Bonded By Blood. Really great riffs that reminded me of early Exodus, Overkill and a bit of old school Kreator. Every single riff was mosh and headbang worthy. The only negative I had with the band was the singer. He wasn't lacking energy or anything it's just that his vocal styling didn't seem suited for the brand of thrash metal they were playing. I think a more shout style like Tom Araya or psuedo-growling of Miland Petrozza would fit better. There was little between song banter and what bit was there was commenting on the stupid anti-immigration law that Arizona passed and they joked that they might get deported. This band I'll keep an eye on.

I took a personal intermission to refuel my metal gut with some Whataburger. I came back in time to catch a handful of songs of Swallow the Sun. They're not a bad live band, though I think I enjoy them more on the record than live.

After them was Moonsorrow. Tons of energy and the audience enjoyed them immensely. Unfortunately sleep started to overtake my body and I had leave half way through their set. Perhaps next time I'll down some coffee or energy drinks to compensate. By the way, I left with a pretty awesome Moonsorrow tour shirt.

New CD Purchases

2010-04-24T12:03:00.001-07:00

Hails and pixels metalhead gamers! I recently stopped by the great local metal store in Phoenix; Metal Devastation. To anyone in the greater Phoenix area or about to visit, please visit that store. It is filled with metal goodness from pretty obscure black and death to the more mainstream acts. The T-Shirt selection is fantastic as well. Anyway, here is what I picked up:

Swallow the Sun - Hope

No, this isn't a concept album about Barack Obama, in fact this album came out in 2007. This is the third album from Finnish doom/melodic death metal band Swallow the Sun. I have only heard a handful of songs before but I loved what I heard. Since I plan on attending their show this Monday, I felt I had to know at least some songs from them. The album has a great presence and reminds me a lot of Opeth if they went in a more slower progression style. Vocalist Mikko Kotamaki sounds quite a bit like Mikael Akerfeldt when he growls.

The music isn't too complicated however I feel that the producer could have pushed the vocals up in the mix a bit more. While I don't care too much for the vocals, these are quality enough that I want to hear them.

Moonsorrow - V: Havitetty

I have heard Moonsorrow before from their first album, Suden Uni and enjoyed it immensely. It's a wonderful blend of black and folk metal though the band leans more toward the folk side. This album explores more of that and begins to show a more progressive side with epic song length; two songs on the album clocking in at about 30 minutes each.

I wanted another album from Moonsorrow as I'm seeing them on Monday as the headliners with Swallow the Sun. I hope the show goes great and I can't wait to see them.

If Jason Becker Covered Video Game Music...

2010-04-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

He'd probably sound like this guy:

YouTube suggested this guy to me after viewing and/or favoriting various video game guitar covers and they gave me a great suggestion. BKMJMBOX has a lot of other great Final Fantasy covers and medleys. I'll post some more awesome video game cover guitarists in the near future as the scene is just filled with some amazing bedroom virtuosos.

Most Metal Video Games (Part 2)

2010-04-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hails and pixels metalhead gamers! It's been awhile but here's another installment of the Most Metal Video Games series! Last week I debuted the series with Too Human, a futuristic-cacophony-Norse-Mythology-Diablo style game.. This week's most metal video game is none other than:

DOOM

The granddaddy of all first person shooters; Wolfenstein 3D and others might have come before it, but no other game revolutionized gaming quite on the level as DOOM. Why this game is metal is pretty much a no-brainer. You are a lone-ass-kicking-soldier against the infinite denizens of Hell with some bad ass space-age and not so quite space-age weaponry like the shotgun and in the sequel, the almighty double barreled shotgun. With it's creative creature designs and fantastic labyrinth levels, it's no surprise why this game helped kick start shareware and make the mod community what it is today. Of course this game also has a great soundtrack even if it is pretty much ripped off.

Bobby Prince, who was originally a lawyer; what he practiced is beyond me as it's not stated on his Wikipedia page, composed the soundtrack. It's been said that due to his law background he was able to get away with much of the copyright infringement because he knew how much constituted substantial similarities to the source material. Personally, even though I'm not a high-priced-city-slicker-fancy lawyer I can definitely hear the similarities between the original songs and DOOM's versions.

Granted most of DOOM's songs play the main riff for a few bars then move that same riff up a few steps to create repetition; at least he took from some great source material. Slayer. Metallica. Pantera. Alice In Chains. Despite the seemingly infringement going on, I have never heard a lawsuit peep from any of the bands. This is particularly surprising as Metallica is involved and we all know how protective Lars Ulrich is about his music. Regardless, the music fits the intensity of the game and it has withstood time by being continuously covered and rearranged by musicians the world over. To close out this post, I'd like to share my favorite medley of DOOM music performed by Finnish symphonic metal band: Epiclore.

Currently Listening To: Black Sabbath - The Mob Rules

Most Metal Video Games (Part 1)

2010-04-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hails! Now we begin an ongoing, indefinite length of time to determine some of the most metal video games out there. What makes a video game 'metal'? Well for my arbitrary definition it has to encompass the metal genre. The game has to be aggressive, uncompromising, evil, over-the-top, controversial, cheesy, a breaker of barriers and be fucking cool. Or whatever I decide is a metal video game.

Too Human

What Makes It Metal?

It's Norse mythology with robots! The Norse mythology alone would qualify it as being a metal video game since enough bands dip into the mythos, especially Amon Amarth. Speaking of which, I have no idea why that band was not asked to compose music for Too Human. With song titles like In Pursuit of Vikings, Valkyries Ride, Guardians of Asgaard, With Oden On Our Side and more they were basically a shoe-in for the game!

Instead we get generic metal riffage from 3volution Productions, started by former Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera no less. Sure there was some epic music in there but when it comes to action music, Amon Amarth would've fit right in.

Another reason the game is metal is because it's fucking hard. Especially when you're in the Ice Forest and surrounded by Cripplers, Stalkers, Spiders, Skullhammers and other mechanical machinations. However the Valkyrie that takes you to Valhalla is not metal. Well it is, but not when it takes 30 minutes to complete the sequence before you can continue again only to suffer at the lengthy sequence again. And again. And again.

Either way, I did enjoy the flawed game, especially in Co-Op. I was ultimately let down as I was excited for this game ever since I saw a preview for it in an old EGM years ago for the Playstation One. I'd still love to play that rendition of the game.

Into the Pixel Pit

2010-04-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hails and welcome metalheads and gamers! This blog is for people who are passionate about metal music and video games. On trying to find sites that mesh my two passions, I decided to create my own blog site. On topic will be all things metal. All things video games. And any random bullshit that I decide to post.

I shall put together lists; because that is what the series of tubes demands, reviews of bands and video games, showcase local metal acts and help create the most metal playlists for various types of games.

Be forewarned, while I try to keep an open mind on just about everything, I am extremely biased in what I like about metal and video games. So don't expect to find topics about Slipknot, Static-X, Mudvayne or any other bands that are trying to be passed off as metal. Unless of course they are to be mocked, in which case you will expect to find that as well. Only real metal here and real good video games.