Still writing notes about all these funky new Transformers I've bought recently, and learning how to use my brand spanking new Fujifilm camera (with so many options, buttons and knobs and dials, I'm feeling rather lost). Also last month - well, mostly the month before - I was busy with a little project repainting a Gundam kit to enter into a Gundam contest hosted by Hobbylink Japan and Tomopop.com. No, didn't win, but it was a great experience all the same, and the results were absolutely stunning. Will post about it - after my promised article on the first wave of PCC Transformers.
In the interim, I busied myself with a console game. Well, I do that all the time, but this time I picked up a rather entertaining title called Brütal Legend, partly because of some good recommendations and because it was reduced in price. If you've ever played the Lucasarts adventure game known as Full Throttle, you'll really enjoy this as the same chap responsible for Full Throttle has his name on this game. Heaps of well known voices and even heavy metal rockstars contribute their voices in this project. It does have decapitations (of which they are only singificant in the intro and outtro) and foul language (which I am not a fan of, but I don't mind it at all), none of which were present in the more family friendly Full Throttle. They're toggleable too - and I just left them on. A generous dose of humour in it too. Played it from start to end on the hardest available difficulty level right from the word go too - I think this is becoming a bit of a trend that I've adopted since playing the X-COM series.
Of course, this article is not about Brütal Legend - it's about the genre of music known as heavy metal. The game has well over 40+ heavy metal songs in it, in addition to a few of the original instrumentals made for the game. By the games end, by clearing many of the side quests and hunting for various buried relics, and whatnot, you practically end up with a jukebox of actual heavy metal titles that you can play while riding your car, the Deuce. So, in a matter of a few weeks, I've been inundated with more heavy metal music than I have in all 30 years of my life. And it has dispelled as well as confirmed a few misconceptions of my own that I've had of the genre.
One of the things that this experience has taught me is that there are a lot of great metal tunes out there, which are unfortunately ruined once the vocalist opens his mouth. Then there's this very common use of a guttural voice (imagine the Orc voices from Warcraft 1/2) that works against the great tunes. Not all of them are bad, of course.
The themes that are often touched on are incredibly broad as well. A lot of them appear to be fantasy based and a good chunk of them also lean towards the macabre (think: horror films, and Halloween). In fact, I almost felt like they were singing about some sort of Dungeons and Dragons session half the time.
The spikes, dark leather, skulls, chrome, horror props, etc are just a style. That's it. Nothing wrong with it, though I can also see how it would concern the parents! Or, I suppose, the cops.
Finally I never knew there a slow version of KISS's God of Thunder. I've only ever heard the ones that were played or similar to the versions on the Kissology (Vol 1.) Guess you learn something knew every time it seems.
So am I heavy metal convert? Nah, not exactly. I always liked the various sub genres of rock. Now, just so you know where I stand, I enjoy listening to any type of music as long as it's catchy. With such a broad range of music that I enjoy , this has unfortunately left me unfamiliar with many of the singers/bands or types of sub-genres that are available. I don't know my Bach from Led Zepplin from Weird "Al" Yankovic from Hatsune Miku. Well, a bit of exaggeration there, but I just mean I'm not that knowledgeable about music.
On one last note: Just got try Brütal Legend. It's fun. It's available on various platforms like the PS3 and XBOX 360.
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