Music Archive 4

This is the last of it.

Finch - What It Is to Burn


Finch is one of the better hard punk bands I've heard. The vocalist can sing as well as he can shred his throat, and they can play softer stuff as well as hardcore. Just about everything they try on What It Is To Burn succeeds with flying colors.

"New Beginnings" and the single "Letters to You" are a good one-two punch to open the album. They both of moments of beauty and anger and show Finch's ability to write a very good tune. "Perfection Through Silence" is another great one and has one of my favorite vocal parts that gets you caught up if you allow it to. "Without You Here" is probably the best example of the band's hard/soft counterpoint. "Project Mayhem" is a very random song, but I kind of like its craziness. It's a portent of things to come from this band. At this point, the album has a bit of a shift in style.

Most of the previous songs were fairly briskly paced screamo stuff, but the last couple tracks before "What It Is To Burn" are much longer and delve into some weird alternative stuff, although it all stays enjoyable. The aforementioned title track is one of the best songs ever made for the genre, with impressive vocals and an extremely epic chorus. Although Finch appears to have changed their musical direction, this is one of the genre's best offerings.

Finch - Say Hello to Sunshine


This is kind of a tough one. If this was a new band instead of another album by Finch, I would probably rate it a bit higher. Most of the songs are pretty good, I don't have a major problem with any of them. The problem is, I really loved What It Is To Burn, and I can't say I really like the band's new sound on Say Hello to Sunshine. The music is fairly good, it's just disappointing to see a band change its style so completely. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I can accept that this is what Finch is now, I'm just not that happy with it.

It's not so much the change in style that's bothersome, it's just it forces them to no longer play to their strengths, namely, the voice of the singer and their ability to write music that isn't generically tough-sounding. "Insomniatic Meat" is a pretty interesting beginning, and has one of the better choruses. "Brother Bleed Brother" is my favorite song, with a towering vocal part a little reminiscent of "What It Is To Burn". "Fireflies" has another of the better vocal parts. As you may have noticed, the music is all a little to same-y so I must look almost exclusively at vocals to determine the standout tracks. "Reduced to Teeth" has another good chorus and one of the softer verses. "Miro" is another good song with a very enjoyable bridge near the end, and the single "Bitemarks and Bloodstains" is also pretty good, and it's about vampires. Awesome.

All in all, Say Hello to Sunshine can accurately be described as "pretty good". All of it is listenable if you're into the genre, and there are some great moments. It's just that my perception of what the band is led me to expect something very different and probably better than this, so I can't shake the feeling of disappointment. Unfortunately, the band has broken up since releasing this record, so we may never know what could have been.

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots


Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is a strange record. The music is soft and pleasant while the lyrics are about evil robots coming to kill us all. There are bizarre instrumental tracks with electronic beats and the noises of women screaming in the background. The songs can sort of be described as electronic/pop/rock. There's no reason it should work besides the fact that the Flaming Lips are a talented group of guys and know how to keep it more entertaining than silly, and so it does work.

"Fight Test" is an energetic opening that sets the tone for the rest of the album. The first part of the title track is very pleasant, and is more strange goodness. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 2" has a nice groove to it, accompanied by the slightly unnerving shrieking. "Are You A Hypnotist??" is a little more slower paced and is a nice song. "Do You Realize??" is my favorite song with its enjoyable musicianship and high rising vocals. "All We Have Is Now" is one of the more interesting songs lyrically, and the album is closed by another fun instrumental, "Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia)".

I'm not in love with the Flaming Lips, but they've intrigued me enough to check out other albums by them. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is very enjoyably to listen to all the way through, it's just lacking that element that makes me really love it.

Godsmack - Godsmack


Godsmack's self-titled debut shows a bit of promise in terms of nu-metal rocking ability, but the result is less interesting than it could have been. It's not bad and actually starts off pretty strong, it just gets a little boring and drags more than is warranted as it goes on. The vocals sound consistently different from the way they do on Godsmack's next album Awake, they're a little higher on this and a little more obviously Alice in Chains-inspired. The singer's voice just sounds more natural on subsequent releases.

"Moon Baby" is a solid, hard opener, and one of the better songs. "Whatever" was an enjoyable single for its day, but it seems quaint and insipid now. The next three tracks are pretty consistent, solid hard rock. "Someone In London" is an interesting interlude that leads to another decent track. There's nothing horrible about the the next few songs, they just don't seem to have enough ideas to go on for as long as they do, and outstay their welcome. If you're gonna make long songs, make them long for a reason. The single "Voodoo" is a change of pace and sound, and is an enjoyable finale.

Godsmack is a decent album, and I don't hate any part of it. It's just with so many different things you can listen to these days, it doesn't do enough to make me want to play it over anything else in my collection. It's still a pretty good first try for anyone, though.

Godsmack - Awake


Godsmack does right on Awake what they did wrong on their self-titled release. The vocalist sings more naturally, in a deeper voice that sounds a lot better and less derivative of Alice in Chains. If you're gonna imitate, it's best to imitate a band like that, but not when you can sound like yourself and be better. The production values are a little higher and it allows the band to deviate a little more from the formula and come up with some pretty interesting stuff. It's more compact overall, and more enjoyable to listen to.

Although some of the riffs can get repetitive and sort of blend the songs together, the somewhat catchier (seems odd to use that term with a band in this genre) vocals pull it out of that rut, and they mix it up more later on. "Sick of Life" has a rocking intro before jumping into the song proper, with a growling, enjoyable chorus. You've heard "Awake" on Navy commercials and in Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within. They don't fit in there at all, but the song is pretty good. The single "Greed" has another good chorus backing up the chugging guitars. "Mistakes" has another good intro and has is one of the more musically interesting songs. "Vampires" is sort of weird, the only voice is excerpts from one of those television documentaries with celebrity narration, and the main guitar line sounds suspiciously similar to one from the band's previous release.

"The Journey" is a nice little musical interlude before the final song, "Spiral", which like "Voodoo" is atypical sounding for Godsmack, and pretty good. As previously stated, Awake is an improvement over the previous record by Godsmack, although I must admit my interest in the genre has waned somewhat and I probably won't be getting another album by the band. I can still listen to this and enjoy it for what it is, though.

Gorillaz - Demon Days


Some people have trouble listening to entire albums without skipping at least one track. I don't. Even if I don't love every song, if I felt enough like listening to the band to actually start it up, I can usually tolerate the weaker songs while I'm at it. I even tend to grow to like those songs on some level anyway. There are several albums I have where I do at least strongly like every song on them, though. The one thing that's pretty rare is for me to be able to specifically remember what all the songs sound like just by reading the titles. Demon Days is one of those are few.

The fact that Damon Albarn and company are able to mix such a range of genres and artists and keep all the songs unique while also creating a sense of cohesion, on top of making them all so catchy and enjoyable at the same time, is an astonishing achievement. There's rap, there's rock, there's electronica and dub and dance, there's spoken word and choir, and it's all extremely fun to listen to. My collection is almost exclusively rock, but I still find this to be one of my favorite albums to listen to. There's just something about the seamless blending of styles that makes you want to throw all your cares to the wind and just enjoy what you're listening to.

"Last Living Souls" has the most amazingly infectious electronic beat going through it the whole time. It's so good. "O Green World" has a very catchy vocal part and is another fun song. The single "Feel Good Inc" mixes a great base line and rap from De La Soul with the acoustic chorus very well. "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead" has a title that reflects the supposed darker tone of the album in relation to Gorillaz' self-titled debut, and the catchy melody reflects that in an odd way. "November Has Come" has probably the best rapping on the album. The song "All Alone" combines a driving synth part with some strange vocals that I really like. "DARE" is just a blast, with the two vocal parts coming together well to create a fun dance song. "Fire Coming Out Of A Monkey's Head" features the great Dennis Hopper reading a strange, slightly disturbing story, and leads into the last two tracks which blend together to form a very spiritual ending to a great album. Danger Mouse does a great job mixing it all together, and Albarn's vocals keep it connected and entertaining.

Hoobastank - Hoobastank


When I first saw the video for "Crawling in the Dark", the first single from Hoobastank's self-titled first album, I had a few thoughts. First, I enjoyed the song. But I also noticed some similarities to my then undisputed-favorite band, Incubus. The singer sounded a little similar and also tended to not wear a shirt. The music itself shared a few similarities, although it was quicker paced and catchier than the average Incubus song. Incubus has since gone in a completely different direction musically, but Hoobastank continues to do what they've been doing ever since that first song.

Hoobastank doesn't go out of its way to try new things, they just do what they know how to do. They make catchy rock songs that are easy to listen to and tend to be hated by real music fanatics. It doesn't bother me that a lot of people dislike it, it's not like I adore the band, I just like listening to their songs. The first three tracks on Hoobastank are all singles. "Remember Me" is another fast paced, enjoyable song like "Crawling in the Dark", "Running Away" is a bit different in style, with more natural sounding music and a different tone. "Pieces" is another good, fast song, and one of the harder ones on the album.

"Up and Gone" just might be my favorite song by the band. It's the most unique one on the CD, has moments of hardness and softness, and a good chorus. The last part of the album is generally a bit slower and less in your face than the beginning. The lyrics are also generally a little nicer in the back end. The final track goes back to the other style though, and is pretty hard, and a little dumb. Although they do interrupt it before it ends and there's a sound clip of the band making fun of it, and it's actually pretty funny. Hoobastank isn't the best or most innovative band in the world, but as long as you can accept that, they make a pretty darn good pop-rock song.

Hoobastank - The Reason


A lot of people hate the song "The Reason". I'm not sure exactly why, I can understand finding the piano part repetitive or the vocals a little annoying, but I don't think it's worth such universal ire. I'm not in love with the song, but I like it for what it is. It's almost pure pop, but the rest of the album is more rock-oriented, and like the band's previous release, might not be for everyone but is pretty enjoyable all the way through.

The first two tracks are both singles and fit very well into Hoobastank's pattern. Pleasant singing, a bit of shouting thrown in, crisp musicianship, catchy choruses. "What Happened To Us?" has a decent guitar part and is one of the band's more passionate songs. "Escape" is a pretty catchy song, like many of the band's. "Lucky" is another of the band's atypical songs with natural sounding guitar strumming. "From the Heart" is another solid song musically. It's hard to find songs by Hoobastank you can't say that about.

There's a bit of a shift in tone after The Reason's title track. "Unaffected" is one of the best songs, it's slower paced than normal for the band and is easy to get caught up in. "Disappear" is another single, and I'm not a huge fan of it, but it shows the band is trying other things. I'm not sure why many rock fans are so down on Hoobastank, it's a little poppier and more accessible to the mainstream than a lot of bands but they still put together a good rock song. In any case, The Reason is a solid follow-up to Hoobastank's first big release.

Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E.


Incubus has evolved musically over time. Nowadays they sound like an alternative hard rock band with a pretty natural sound, but on their first few full length albums they sound much more like older Red Hot Chili Peppers with a turn table. There are elements of funk, rap and metal, and a much goofier and playful feeling than recent Incubus. I personally favor the older stuff, not so much because of the style, but because it's just more entertaining.

"Redefine" is the quintessential early Incubus song, and sets the tone for the rest of S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. It has the bizarre lyrics and unique delivery, and a strong rock chorus. The next four tracks follow in the same footsteps. They're all unique sounding but are still catchy as hell and fun to listen to. "Magic Medicine" is an instrumental that samples an odd sound clip from the reading of a children's book and shows off the DJ's skill at putting together some of the most interesting interludes I've ever heard, which the band has unfortunately steered away from doing these days.

The single "A Certain Shade of Green" and "Favorite Things" are two back to back strong rock songs with good guitar work that feel similar to what the band would go on to do on their next album. "Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)" is another funky track that shows the band's range. "Nebula" is one of the more alternative, risky songs and succeeds well. "Calgone" is another great hard song that leads into a very long, odd hidden track filled with sound clips of both a humorous and sometimes creepy nature. It's one big ode to the chances the band liked to take back then, and wraps up the album in a very Incubus-like way.

Music Archive 3

And some more.

Coheed and Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade

Coheed and Cambria's first album The Second Stage Turbine Blade is pretty different from their subsequent releases. It contains neither the poppy, mainstream fluff, nor the epic, towering ballads. It's simply ten tracks of solid but sometimes uninteresting (and unending) progressive punk rock. There weren't any real successful singles from this record, which makes sense, all the songs are a little too long and out of the mainstream to be played for the same market that ate up the junk from later releases.

Even this early on in their career, you can tell these guys are talented musicians. The guitar work is very good, and only gets better from here. The first song after the title track intro, "Time Consumer", begins with an extended, pleasant musical opening before it breaks into the song itself. This is the point where some people get put off, because it's the first time they hear the singer's voice. Yes, it's unnecessarily high, but it doesn't affect the quality of the music, so I'm not going to spend significant time discussing it.

There's not really a lot to say about most of the songs on the album. The songwriting and quality is consistently above average throughout, but somewhat unremarkable since they do very little to make themselves unique. "God Send Conspirator" is followed by "IRO-bot", an interesting hidden track that's a simple acoustic piece, much different from the rest of the songs. It's also a first step towards some of the very long prog pieces the band would eventually come up with.

Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

Some people have a false impression of Coheed and Cambria. They think it's just a silly pop band with a singer that sings too high, and if every song on In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 was like the two singles, "A Favor House Atlantic" and "Blood Red Summer", they'd be right. They're both simple pop-punk and not that substantial. But just listening to the lyrics of these songs reveals the other side of this band, the one that writes sweeping, nine minute epics about science fiction stories. It takes a unique vocalist to sing things like "Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops" the same way another person might sing "I will love you forever".

Overall, I'd say this album is more interesting than The Second Stage Turbine Blade. That record had solid progressive punk, but not much of it really stood out. Coheed and Cambria does a much better job on this effort of making the songs unique and memorable. The result has a few pretty disposable songs (namely the singles), but a few really great ones too. The cool introduction "The Ring in Return" reprises the lullaby from the last album before leading in to my favorite song by the band to date, the title track. It's a huge, soaring, monster of a song with great musicianship and great sing-a-long chorus and bridge. Really very enjoyable stuff.

The next couple songs are pretty decent punk, but the next highlight for me is "The Crowing", which begins with the character of Claudio screaming in agony at the news his parents have been killed and jumps into the song proper, which is solid. My favorite part is the bridge, with a very catchy guitar hook, and it leads into one of the band's signature, infectious vocal repetitions. Sandwiched between the two singles are the three "Camper Velourium" tracks, which tell the story of Al the Killer. They're a little more progressive and interesting than standard genre fare, and I particularly like the third one, which features some demonic sounding vocals (a HUGE change for the band) and music and a dark chorus that contrasts with the regular Coheed voice singing it. The last song, "The Light & the Glass" is an enjoyable, slower, fairly long ballad, and it's followed by "2113" another very progressive and interesting hidden track. This whole album is a pretty different style from the band's previous, and I personally think it's a change for the better.

Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

I had high hopes for Good Apollo going in. I thought Coheed and Cambria was on to something with In Keeping Secrets, and wished they would capitalize on the potential with their next record. They just didn't quite pull it off. On this record, they're really starting to get far from where began. The difference between this and The Second Stage Turbine Blade is a little staggering. The difference between some songs on just this album are a little disorienting too. When one band puts songs like "Welcome Home", "The Suffering", and "The Final Cut" all on the same record, you have to wonder if they really know what they want to be doing. Just listen and you'll know what I mean.

After the cool, orchestral introduction that recalls the intros to both of their previous albums, Coheed starts us off with "Always & Never", a well performed acoustic song with some of those signature dark lyrics sung angelically the band is known for. It's decent, but it's just sort of in your way before you get to one of the record's biggest treats, the huge, epic, towering, mammoth of a hard rocking song "Welcome Home". It's the first good single the band's ever had, although it's also unfortunately not indicative of most of the other songs. "Welcome Home" is just one of those songs that makes you want to get up and head butt some bears.

The next few tracks are a string of decent punk songs that don't really grab you that much. They have at least one part worth hearing, but they also all have parts that are less than fantastic. I think Coheed and Cambria spent too much time working on the prog later on and didn't make sure the more standard tracks were really a good use of time. "Wake Up" is another interesting soft song and is followed by "The Suffering", another single that sounds nothing like "Welcome Home", but at least it's got a catchy bridge. Unfortunately, it's pretty much the only such bridge on the whole album. Both of their previous works had at least a few insanely catchy, repeated lines peppered throughout that made you look forward to their arrival, yet they are conspicuously absent here.

The next two songs are the definition of forgettable (i.e., I don't remember what they sound like), but they're followed by the real creative meat of the album, the four "Willing Well" tracks, which provide about a half hour of progressive mayhem. Despite the length, these four songs remain interesting far longer than the pop-punk fluff that precede them, and are all filled with good ideas. They contain some strange lyrics "No one runs faster than you... eat?", but I like them. The last, "The Final Cut" is notably strong and has some impressive guitar work, but it is followed by a disappointingly short (although still enjoyable) hidden track. When the previous albums both had 7+ minutes of hidden goodness, a minute-long instrumental is a bit of a letdown, just like the rest of the album.

Default - The Fallout

Default is not unique. The singer's voice is somewhat unusual in how it sounds is moments of passion, but the music itself is pretty standard alternative rock. That doesn't stop it from being enjoyable. The Fallout is not the kind of album that will impress music snobs, but it's a solid effort that, if taken with a grain of salt, can be a fun listen.

"Sick & Tired" starts off the album with a kick, it's a pretty good rock song. It leads into two of the record's singles, "Deny" and "Wasting My Time", they're both good songs, and I particularly like "Deny"'s bridge. The next few songs are an adequate bridge to the next single, the much softer and better "Live A Lie", a different kind of song for the band and a good one. The only other song that's vivid in my mind is "Faded" with a pretty uplifting message.

Again, not much of the album is that innovative or of real significance. The band isn't too far removed from the sound of Nickelback, and that band's singer even helped write some of these tracks. But just because it doesn't do much new doesn't mean it can't be a simple pleasure to listen to.

Denver Harbor - Scenic

Denver Harbor is one of those bands that are usually pretty standard but they do just enough different to get you to notice them. It's usually normal punk rock, but there are moments where they dip into genres, such as some reggae/ska inspired guitars. It also helps that the standard stuff is pretty good.

Scenic starts off with a bang in "Xenophobia", a fast paced song that might give you a false impression of the rest of the album, which tends to be slower. The next three songs are all high quality punk, with "Outta My Head" featuring some of that different guitar work. "All I Want" is a good, slower tune, and after an interlude it leads into "Ride", another song with ska-type music, and it has a pretty good chorus too.

The rest of the songs aren't quite as strong creatively as the first half, but they're still a good listen. The members of Denver Harbor, originally from either Fenix*TX or F.O.N., know how to write catchy hooks and choruses as well as almost anybody. Fenix*TX may have gotten some help from Blink-182 getting started, but they are much better at mixing it up and writing songs that are memorable long after you've heard them.

Dream Theater - Octavarium

Dream Theater has been making progressive metal albums for years and people are still buying them, so I figured they must be doing something right. I picked up Octavarium without hearing any of the songs first besides the single "I Walk Beside You", and while I wasn't blown away, it's still very good.

One thing you should be aware of is that these songs are long, and I mean LONG. Not wimpy six-minutes long, more like, the final two tracks run over a half hour combined long. Dream Theater takes their time getting where they're going, and they spend significant time milking the better hooks they come up with. If eight songs that are over an hour in length combined don't sound like your thing, then don't get this record.

"Root of All Evil" is a good opening track which shows the band's metal sound, and is followed by "The Answer Lies Within", which doesn't. "These Walls" contains probably my favorite guitar line on the album. The aforementioned "I Walk Beside You" doesn't sound much like the rest of the songs, but it's still enjoyable and has a great pre-chorus. "Sacrificed Sons" is a strong track about 9/11 with perhaps the strongest rock out section on the album. The title track is an absolutely mammoth twenty four minute, five part epic. The first and last few minutes are mostly instrumental, and in between, Dream Theater manages to hold your attention amazingly well with a series of changes in style and tempo. It's a great way to end an album for a band that is primarily defined as progressive.

Dredg - Catch Without Arms

I don't generally listen to what's described as progressive/art rock, but I may have to change that. Dredg's Catch Without Arms is one of the most enjoyable albums I own to listen to. Every single song is good. Some are better than others, but this is one of the few records I know of that I really like every single song on. And they're all good for different reasons. Dredg combines strong music, beautiful singing, and hard riffs all into a formula that's hard for me to resist.

"Ode To the Sun" starts the album well, with high rising vocals and cool instrumentation. It is followed by the single "Bug Eyes", which is another strong alternative rock song. "Not That Simple" is probably my favorite song on Catch Without Arms. It has a great chorus and a tune after the second and third refrains that sucks me in. It ends strangely, with a child singing the chorus of a later song from the album in what sounds like a recording of a telephone conversation. The next song, "Zebraskin", is the most unique. It's not the kind of song I usually like but for some reason it works.

The rest of the album folds out in similar fashion. It's all fairly different sounding, well sung, well performed, quality rock music. It's not the kind of stuff that's for everyone, but I can't really ask for a more enjoyable album. I still have yet to find the perfect artist, but if every record was like this I'd be extremely happy.

Emery - The Weak's End

This was the first album by an artist on the Tooth and Nail label I bought. I saw a commercial for the label which featured Emery, Underoath, and Dead Poetic. I decided to pick this up, and at this point, I own seven Tooth and Nail releases. Some have been great, and others have been kind of bad. This one qualifies as a simple "good."

One of my friends started listening to it and stopped after a couple of songs, which was disappointing. He said so much music was either catchy, original, or well-performed that he could only listen to bands that had a combination. I understand his position. He's not generally a fan of emo or punk and Emery does sort of come off like just an average member of the genre. Although I think they really do branch off into more original and emotionally invested songwriting, it just so happens he didn't listen that far.

"Walls" is a standard screamo punk single, except for some reason, I find that I enjoy every moment of it much more than the average song. It just works for me. "Fractions" is one of the better songs for showing off Emery's penchant for multi-layered vocals between the two singers and non-traditional music. The band is sort of like alternative emo. "The Secret" has grown over time to be one of my favorite slow building, softer punk ballads that crescendos into a heartfelt, affecting, loud climax at the end, and it's an excellent way to end The Weak's End.

The rest of album is more good, well sung, and in my view original emo songs. Emery has separated themselves in sort of the same way as Brand New as a band in the genre that avoids jumping into the same patterns that so many other bands do these days. I seriously recommend a listen.

Emery - The Question

Emery has changed their sound slightly, and although it's a bit at the cost of their originality, I think their music is better for it. As a whole, they've gotten a little poppier (without forsaking their hardcore influences) and a little catchier, and it makes their music more entertaining. I still think The Weak's End was good, but the more mainstream The Question is better. Emery has maintained enough of their originality to stand out while making their music more accessible to draw in more fans.

But just because the songs are more catchy doesn't mean they weren't able to branch out creatively too. This really stands out in the lyrics. The vocals worked for me on the last album, but I thought the words they were singing were a little iffy. The lyrics have improved dramatically on The Question, as they are used to create character and meaning and they tell a story as they make it into sort of a concept album. Besides drawing you in with a storyline, the lyrics are simply enjoyable to listen to and are accentuated by the skillful singing from the two vocalists.

I won't go through all the songs, they're all pretty good, so I'll cover my favorites. "So Cold I Could See My Breath" starts it off with a strong guitar part and a driving chorus. Most of the songs really invite singing along with the band. "Returning the Smile You Had From the Start" contains the most screaming of any song on the record, and has some of the most effective lyrics. I like it a lot. "Studying Politics" is the supposed single, and is very entertaining and also strong lyrically. "Left With Alibis and Lying Eyes" is darn fun to listen to. "In a Win, Win Situation" is the band's second consecutive very good, softer closing song for an album. It's not the kind of thing that caters to the musical elite but it's one of the most finely crafted releases I believe the genre has seen.

Music Archive 2

Here's the next batch.

Blink-182 - Enema of the State


There's not really much to say about Enema of the State that hasn't been said. It's pretty standard pop/punk with pretty standard and unimpressive musicianship and pretty standard attempts at humor. Blink-182 tries to write funny lyrics and put a bunch of jokes in their music videos, and it makes all the people who watch MTV laugh, but we all know it makes for sub-par music.

It's not really bad, the band is pretty competent at writing catchy, accessible tunes. It's just pretty unremarkable. You listen to the album (or, if you're an average fan of this kind of music, two or three songs), enjoy them a little while they're playing, and then you forget about it and move on. Blink-182 doesn't seek to blow you away or build up to any significant payoffs, they just sing about some shallow topic while playing some chords for a few minutes, and then move on to the next topic.

Some of the songs are interesting enough to warrant attention. "Adam's Song", which you've probably heard, is a genuinely affecting somber melody about a suicide, and is unfortunately followed up by "All the Small Things", one of the most irritatingly popular songs of all time. It's not that catchy and actually one of the least funny tracks. "Anthem, Part 1" is, like its title implies, an anthem, one for teenagers who don't like their parents very much. It's not that special on its own, but what's cool is that the next album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, starts out with the second part, which creates an interesting link between the two records.

Enema is fairly decent punk, but it isn't really worth spending your money on at this point. Its cultural significance has passed, and it contributes very little to music as a whole.

Blink-182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket


Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is a little better than the band's previous effort, Enema of the State, but not by much. The music is roughly the same caliber, although they take a few more chances, and the lyrics are a bit more interesting, but not significantly so. The first track, "Anthem, Part 2" is a continuation of the final track from the last record, and has a pretty cool guitar part.

The singles are standard Blink 182. "Rock Show", "First Date", they're catchy, they're accessible, they're forgettable. "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" isn't even a song, it's just swearing and bad jokes. Most of the album is regular pop-punk, although there are a few songs that are a cut above. "Stay Together for the Kids" is a strong ballad about broken homes, and really doesn't sound like this band. It's good. "Story of a Lonely Guy" and some songs near the end are also pretty solid steps away from the band's pattern. It's kind of refreshing, but not enough to elevate the album above an average score.

Blink-182 - Blink-182


This was a pleasant surprise. The first single off this record, "Feeling This", sounds like normal Blink-182 except with less singing. But luckily, the band broke out of their creative rut and delivered a solid, enjoyable album that deviates from their common pattern throughout.

None of the songs are really amazing or stand out that much, but almost all of them have something unique to like. The second single, "I Miss You", is an interesting acoustic song with strange lyrics. "Violence" is catchy and ends with a reading of a love letter from the bassist's grandfather to his wife. "Asthenia" contains a pretty original opening and guitar part. "Easy Target" and "All of This" share a tune, and the latter features Robert Smith of The Cure. "I'm Lost Without You" is over six minutes long, which sounds like it would be an eternity for a Blink-182 song, but it actually goes by pretty quick.

Almost all of the songs that weren't mentioned also have something about them that makes them worth listening to. This may not be your kind of music, but unlike their other albums, it still may be worth a listen or two.

Brand New - Deja Entendu


Before getting a hold of this, I had heard a bit off of Brand New's previous album, Your Favorite Weapon, and wasn't very impressed. It was fairly good punk, but it didn't really grab me. Deja Entendu, on the other hand, gripped me by the shirt collar and slammed me into the ground. It's simply the most listenable album I've ever heard. I could play the whole thing through without getting bored probably every day if I wanted to. The music is catchy. The lyrics are clever and easily sung along with. Top to bottom, it's just plain good.

Deja is a different kind of punk. Brand New were clearly trying to distance themselves from the pack, and the plan worked. A few of the songs are mainly acoustic and a couple don't introduce the chorus until a couple minutes in. It's not just a bunch of simple, repeated chords and typical lyrics, the music is genuinely interesting. "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" is about a kid who is rushed into sex and has a great bass line. The two following tracks, besides having long sentences as titles, have a few other similarities. They combine well written verses with catchy refrains, and are more fun to listen to than the average filler between singles. "The Quite Things That No One Ever knows" is the first Brand New song I ever really liked, and is the main reason I pursued this album. It's still a strong punk song, but really doesn't fit in that much with the rest of the album.

The next couple songs are more solid emo, but the next standout track is "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis", which is a slow buildup with slightly disturbing lyrics which culminates into a great, angry release at the end. "Guernica" is another more mainstream song with a clever chorus, and is followed by "Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have To Do Is Die", which is as satisfyingly long as its title implies and contains a great guitar solo, and "Play Crack the Sky", a big change of pace, an acoustic, quiet tune about a ship lost at sea. If you can give a band with the "emo" label a chance, listen to this, you probably won't be disappointed.

Chevelle - Point #1


Point #1 is Chevelle's first album, and undoubtedly more raw and a little different than later releases, obviously because they got onto a bigger label. I doubt Wonder What's Next will ever be supplanted as my favorite release by Chevelle, but as it stands, this debut is better than the more mainstream and less passionate This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In). This is actually the album of theirs I obtained the most recently, and its impact is probably negatively affected by the strength of the follow-up. I still appreciate what they did here though, as it shares more strengths with Wonder What's Next than This Type of Thinking does.

Chevelle is supposedly a Christian band, but that doesn't really come through in the lyrics at all. Their faith might provide them with a little more emotion in the music, which is good, but it's not really that big of an aspect. The first track is an interesting two minute instrumental intro that leads into the awesome title track, which combines the band's skill at writing very listenable hard rock with the great, soothing vocals the singer provides. The next few songs are above average, adequate rock, but the next great song is the six and a half minute "Dos." It starts off quite, but it builds up over time into an explosive, passionate climax, and has more emotion in it than most songs you hear these days. "Long" is another song that starts off slow before exploding. The band does that a lot. "Peer" is a strong closing track, again, starting off quiet and ending with a burst of high energy power.

This is a good rock album, its only problem is that too few of the songs stand out. The few I mentioned are really good, and the rest are solid too, you just have some trouble remembering them all as their own thing, preventing this from being great.

Chevelle - Wonder What's Next


Let me start by saying I can't really explain why I love Wonder What's Next so much. Looking at it completely objectively and analytically, it's not that different from other music by similar artists in the genre. It follows an obvious pattern of standard hard rock for a few minutes, culminating in a cacophonous climax with screaming vocals. It's kind of hard for me to justify such a high rating, but I can't ignore a simple fact - I love this collection of songs almost as much as any other.

As a band, Chevelle writes more than competent rock music. Most songs contain some riff or melody that makes every song memorable. But that's not why I like them. I like them because of the vocals. The singer, despite being able to destroy his vocal chords pretty well, doesn't use that skill too much like some other bands fall into. The guy can sing as well, and his soft, pleasant voice serves as a great counterpoint to the hard guitar stuff. What I like best about their music is the choruses they write with extended, melodic vocal parts that really show off that counterpoint. It just hits me in a way that's affecting unlike most other music.

I love all of the songs, but some of them are a cut above. The first two tracks, "Family System" and "Comfortable Liar" are very strong and put you in the mood for the rest before being followed by the album's three good singles. "Don't Fake This" has probably my favorite vocals of the whole record, and "An Evening with El Diablo" contains both a great chorus and an extended rock out section. Like I said, it's not really objectively that far above other stuff in the genre, but it's exactly the kind of music that I like.

Chevelle - This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)


At first or second glance, This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) isn't that far off from Wonder What's Next. They're both albums by Chevelle, of course. They both contain solid nu-metal music and follow similar patterns. So why is that I loved Wonder What's Next while I think This Type of Thinking is merely pretty decent? They're basically the same band, the only real difference is they do a lot less of what I like most about Chevelle, the melodic, flowing choruses. It's no coincidence that my favorite songs on this album are the ones that stay the closest to what Chevelle did on their previous effort, while the songs with more standard vocals languish in mediocrity.

The first few songs are decent, and include the two singles. They're competent hard rock, but nothing too special. The first track I really like is "Still Running", with an enjoyable guitar during the verse and a soaring refrain. "Panic Prone" is another good one, a lot calmer than the other songs, and better for it. The next really good song is "To Return", which again, features the vocals that were so prevalent in the last album but all too rare in this. None of the other songs are bad, per se, they're all more than adequate for the genre, they just don't quite do what Chevelle does best.

This is the first album Chevelle has made since getting popular, and you have to wonder if that's reflected in the quality. This record has gone gold, and I'm glad that a band that I like has had some success, but I hope they've learned some things and can get back to what they do best on the next one. This is a solid effort, but not at the level of the genre-topping Wonder What's Next.

Cursive - The Ugly Organ


Cursive's The Ugly Organ is the definition of a grower. The first time I heard it, I thought it was pretty decent, but not the kind of thing I'd usually listen to. I'm not sure why, but over time I started liking the songs more and more, and now the album is one of my favorites.

After the strange intro, the first song is "Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand", a quickly paced rock song which is somewhat atypical for this band. What it does have in common with the other songs is its brief length, despite the final track being over 10 minutes long, the entire album is barely over 40. Although I guess brevity really is the soul of wit, as the short length allows Cursive to cram all of their ideas into a really small space, making each song a pleasure to listen to all the way through. After a few more good songs and a one minute interlude, there's "Driftwood: A Fairy Tale." It's a dark retelling of the Pinocchio story, and has one of the album's better melodies. It is followed by a couple harder songs, the decadent and enjoyable "A Gentleman Caller" and more electronic "Harold Weathervein". The interesting "Sierra", which wraps up the storyline that plays out over the course of this concept album, is followed by the great, extremely long "Staying Alive". The noises at the end go on a little too long, but the song itself is very affecting and still gives me chills.

From the singer's distinctly different voice to the unusual instrumentation, The Ugly Organ is a unique and thoroughly good album that probably anyone can enjoy if they give it a listen or two.

Dead Poetic - New Medicines


I had some high hopes for this record, I really liked the single and the snippets of other songs I heard, and thought this could be, maybe not genius, but a really well done, fun punk album. What I got was something that's a little less than the sum of its parts. It's not bad, it just doesn't do anything to really make you like it. It's competent musically and decent for the genre, it's just lacking that ingredient of greatness.

"Taste the Red Hands" is a little different style from the rest of the songs and a decent opening. That's a word that comes to mind a lot when listening to New Medicines, "decent". The title track is also the single and it's some enjoyable hardcore, but it's lost some of its luster over time. "Glass In the Trees" is the most affecting song on the album, it's not amazing musically but the lyrics are a little touching.

The rest of the songs are more average rock songs. Pretty much every track has at least one enjoyable part, but sometimes you have to wonder if Dead Poetic is really in it for the music when what they do just isn't that original or fun to listen to. It's serviceable, but it's not very good.

Music Archive 1

I was going through my collection alphabetically writing stuff up a while ago, but I stopped and I'm pretty behind.

The All-American Rejects - The All-American Rejects


Don't listen to this expecting anything deeper than the kiddie pool or lyrics worth the manufacturing cost of the cd jacket they're printed on. This is as close to idiotic, pure, care-free pop as you can get while still being called rock.

But it's fun. Every song on the CD sticks in your brain like it was welded there, and as simple as the melodies may be, the members of the All-American Rejects (all two of them) are pretty competent musicians. My favorite tracks are the punkish "One More Sad Song" with it's high-rising guitar riff and "The Last Song" with it's anthem chorus and epic bridge.

As long as you don't think so much of yourself that you can't enjoy a little cheesecake now and then, this debut album is a pretty decent listen. Except for those awful lyrics.

Anberlin - Blueprints for the Black Market


I bought this album because of the opening track, "Readyfuels". I really loved the main guitar hook and the multi-layered chorus. I was hoping the rest of Blueprints For the Black Market could live up to its beginning.

In short, it didn't, but I like it anyway. The immediately following track reminded me lyrically of "Boys & Girls" by Good Charlotte (which is a bad thing), but at least it's more enjoyable to listen to. The rest of the album goes by pretty painlessly. It's all pretty good punk with good musicianship, but nothing that will blow you away or really affect you significantly.

A couple other standout tracks are "Glass to the Arson" with its slightly different, catchy verses and smooth chorus, and a fairly nice cover of The Cure's "Love Song", which takes the main synth hook and does it with a piano.

Anberlin has a good singer and some talented musicians, so if they could settle down and write some music that actually means something, they could be a really good band.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes


I got this album after Worlds Apart, so I kind of knew what to expect. Most critics rate Source Tags & Codes higher than Worlds, and I suppose I understand why. I can see its relative immaturity and lack of focus in comparison to Source Tags. However, I just find the enjoyability of the songs on the new album to be more consistent than on their major-label debut. Don't get me wrong, Source Tags contains 4 of 5 songs that are completely incredible, but there are a few in there that I just find irritating, while there are no tracks I dislike on Worlds Apart.

On their newest album, the singer stays mostly in a higher range of vocals, while in the old one he goes deeper more, and he also shouts more. I have nothing against screaming in music, but the songs in which he does it just seem to be less interesting. It just seems their songwriting is best when they stick to slower paced songs that focus on a melody instead of just a bunch of noise.

My favorite songs on this album are "It Was There That I Saw You", which contains an awesome soaring chorus, "Another Morning Stoner" with good drumming and a great main guitar line, "How Near, How Far", an immensely listenable song with varying moods, "Relative Ways" which is about the only time they get screaming right, and the title track, which is a pleasant way to end a great album.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart


My only experience with ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead prior to this is the faint memory of a commercial for one of their albums a few years ago that I don't recall exciting me very much. For reasons I'm not sure of, I decided to buy Worlds Apart on impulse.

The first thing you notice is the unique medieval tapestry-style cover art, but you quickly forget it as the music begins. The album starts with an epic musical overture which ends with a single female voice stating "And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead..." which announces the next track, "Will You Smile Again?", a near-two minute block of nothing but hard rocking guitars and banging drums followed by several minutes of a lone voice backed by a single drum beat. The song builds back into a wall of noise that ends just before the seven-minute mark, and it's possibly the best on the album. It's followed by the title song, which begins with some humor, expresses a vulgar, politically-charged message, and ends with a chorus of animals.

Two of the album's biggest motifs are that of an unorganized jangle of loud noise and a romantic renaissance theme expressed by the jacket art, animal sounds, and some beautiful violin and piano interludes. These two concepts mesh surprisingly well to create a cohesive sound that belongs solely to this band.

Other highlight songs include "Caterwaul", with nice vocals backed by an infectious melody; "Classic Arts Showcase", a noisy song with an incredible, epic bridge; and "The Best", a song that starts with a screeching guitar riff that turns into a lyrically driven song that seems to evoke Cursive, and ends with the haunting noise of a woman screaming and a distant reprise of the chorus from "Worlds Apart".

The album isn't perfect, none of the songs are bad, but at times the main melodies can seem a bit too repetitive. But if you're in the mood for a unique album that is both thoughtful and hard as hell, you should definitely check out ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead.

Armor for Sleep - What to Do When You Are Dead


A friend of mine recently said that Armor for Sleep was a triumph of style over substance. This may be true, but I couldn't care less when it's such good style.

What to Do When You Are Dead begins with a soft little song stating "I swear to God I'm gonna die tonight" (rewind before the first track!) before jumping into "Car Underwater", the first single from the album, which has a simple but effective guitar part and a nice chorus. It is then followed by some of the most consistently good and catchy emo/punk I've heard in a while. Nearly every song is above average.

Track 6 is another soft, vocally driven interlude that leads into "The More You Think the Less I Hear", the most aggressive song with a killer guitar hook, and is followed up by my favorite song on the disc, "Basement Ghost Singing", which has an electronic-led verse that goes into a powerful chorus. The next couple tracks are somewhat weak but are followed by another good one, "The End of a fraud," that reprises a bridge from "Remember to Feel Real", and makes it into an epic chorus, one that suitably ends a very solid album.

It's not the most original thing you'll ever hear, and perhaps it really is nothing more than style posing as substance, but this is still a very nice piece of work by Armor For Sleep.

Atreyu - Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses


Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses is the first studio album by Atreyu, and already they are showing significant musical ability. The production quality is a little low, but the talent of the guitarists shows through pretty well. The throat-shredding vocals may not suit everybody, but this is a good metalcore album.

God, I hate that word. Metal freaks (and purists of other styles) create a ridiculous heirarchy of genres and subgenres to keep anything they don't like from taking their label, but none of that matters. What matters is the quality of the music, and Atreyu is pretty good music. A few of the tracks don't do anything too special, just provide adequate headbanging material. But there are several standouts on this album. The opener, "A Song For the Optimists", kicks things off very well, and is followed by stuff like "Ain't Love Grand", which features nice punk guitar work and a cool chorus, and "Deanne the Arsonist", with a strong metal intro.

The whole album has a nice dynamic between the the lead screamer screeching out the verses as the drummer sings the choruses, and about every song has at least a couple great guitar hooks. The final track is probably the best on the CD, with a nice mix of melodies, a soft piano interlude, and a great guitar solo as it climaxes.

The whole thing, with 10 tracks and about 37 minutes of music, is a little short, but maybe that's for the best. I could see this sort of thing getting a little irritating if it lasts too long, but as it stands, this is a very enjoyable hardcore album.

Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen


What the members of Avenged Sevenfold have crafted here is an incredibly aggressive, loud, and technically impressive album; one that just fills you with energy and makes you want to punt babies over houses. It's quite long, over an hour, but it never lets up.

It starts out with a cool, slow paced build-up of an intro, which leads to a kick-in-the-pants of a first actual song. The singer screams at the top of his lungs as he is supported by pounding drums and bass and killer guitars, and Waking the Fallen never lets up after that. This album is full of great hardcore sounds, especially on tracks like "Eternal Rest"

But the vocalist can do more than just shout himself hoarse, he can also sing, surprisingly. This comes out the most in "I Won't See You Tonight - Part 1", an incredible song that eschews hardcore antics for a beautiful, epic melody with relatively thoughtful lyrics about suicide. The track clocks in at around 9 minutes and is part of a larger 14 minute, 2 part behemoth of a song. Like I said, it's a long album, and if you like this kind of stuff, it is definitely worth it.

Every song on Waking the Fallen is good, but except for a couple like "I Won't See You Tonight", they all sound pretty similar and you can lose track of where one ends and another begins. But if that's something you can handle, you can't get much better metal today.

Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil


Ok, there's no screaming.

There's been some controversy about this. Avenged Sevenfold were known as much for their constant screaming vocals as much as their metal thrashing, but on this album, there's nary a shout to be heard, besides the opening growl in "Beast and the Harlot". The official explanation is that the singer's throat got seriously injured from all the shrieking he was doing and had to get surgery, and now it's too dangerous for him to continue doing so, so now he sticks to more traditional, sometimes-nasal singing. Some fans have cried conspiracy, saying it's all a lie, and that they stopped screaming because they've sold out now that they're on Warner Brothers. I have two arguments against this. One, there are thousands of witnesses from A7X concerts who can testify the singer was unable to scream properly like he used to without obvious pain, and two, if they're trying to sounds mainstream, why do they continue to make songs that regularly cross the seven-minute mark? It just doesn't make sense.

On to the record, City of Evil. It is a little different style from Waking the Fallen, in addition to no screaming, the music itself has shifted from hard/metalcore to something a little closer to speed or hair metal. It's still very enjoyable and performed admirably by the guitarists, but it's different. Another change is the lyrics. They've started to swear now for some reason, and there are some lyrics that are actually culturally relevant, like in the politically-charged "Blinded in Chains" (which also has a very cool fade-out ending) and the tributes to Hunter S. Thompson and Dimebag Darrell in the single "Bat Country" and "Betrayed," respectively.

Some other good songs are the strong, epic ballad "Seize the Day", the cool "Sidewinder" with an awesome intro, "The Wicked End", which features strong guitars and a bizarre, cheesy, but very enjoyable Lord of the Rings-esque interlude, and "Trashed and Scattered", which everyone else seems to like a little more than me.

What Avenged Sevenfold has released here is another very strong, technically incredible, and enjoyable metal album. My only complaints are that some of the songs drag on a little too long and the singer's voice tends to get a little annoying in spots.

Blindside - Silence


There's nothing too original or innovative about this release from Swedish hardcore punk band Blindside, but originality and innovation aren't what they're going for. They're going for no-holds-barred rocking to the MAX, and they definitely accomplish that here.

The first song, "Caught a Glimpse" starts things off strongly with hard guitars and a haunting chorus, and is followed up by the single "Pitiful", another very loud song about Jesus. You'll find that these guys sing about Jesus a lot. The next few songs all continue the trend set by the previous tracks, but the pattern is broken up by "Thoughts Like Flames," a slower song, which still has a loud chorus.

The next track, "Time Will Change Your Heart" is another good one, matching a fast-paced, screaming verse with a slower and calmer chorus. The following four songs are sort of a dip in the album. None of them are bad, they just don't stand out from each other and you may find yourself losing interest. The final song, "Silence" is another good one, totally breaking from Blindside's norm in a slow, soft, well-sung capper to a solid hard rock album.

Silence will probably not amaze you if you seek truly deep meaning, complex layering and composition, or natural-sounding English lyrics (they ARE from Sweden), but it is a well-played, well-executed album of its type.

Blindside - About a Burning Fire


Blindside's follow up to the solid Silence is just as pleasantly hard rocking, and more consistent throughout. They haven't changed their sound much, still pumping out very enjoyable Christian-themed hard punk, although they do take a few more chances on About a Burning Fire.

The record starts off with a few vintage Blindside tracks, "Eye of the Storm", "Follow You Down", and the single "All of Us". They all contain great hard guitars and enjoyable, catchy refrains. The next song, "Shekina", is a step in a different direction, featuring a beautiful female vocal, nice music, and some lyrics in the band's native Swedish.

The next couple songs are the most forgettable. "Hooray, It's L.A." features Billy Corgan on the guitar, but you wouldn't know if they didn't tell you. "Swallow" has a slightly infectious chorus, but these songs are merely solid, not really good. The next really good track on the album is "After You're Gone", which is a little too short. It's a great song with really haunting lyrics, and it really gets you caught up in its power.

The next couple tracks are a bit of a departure. "Where the Sun Never Dies" starts out fairly standard but ends with an unusual (for this band) techno interlude, and "Roads" is an out-of-nowhere, slow-moving song with a Western flair that's kind of hard to describe. The final song is the title track, which goes back to what Blindside does best, hard guitar riffs accompanied by towering, throat-shredding vocals. It's a good way to end an album for an album that does what they do about as good as anyone.

Game Archive 2

Here's the rest of the game stuff I've written in the last half year.

Role Playing Games


I used to think I didn't like role playing games. Then I realized it was a stupid thing to think. I loved Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I love The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I'm currently DMing a group of Dungeons & Dragons players. I like games that incorporate RPG-style character improvement like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the Ratchet and Clank sequels. I don't dislike role playing games, I dislike Japanese role playing games, or at least the traditional idea of them.


What I like about RPG's is the freedom to create your own story they grant you. Obviously tabletop games take this to the extreme, you can basically do anything the DM can make a ruling on. But video games can get away with a bit less because of the production values and the interesting story they (hopefully) bring. You can customize your character to be good at what you want to be good at and have some choice about what to do next. Sometimes the main story is pretty linear, but that's okay because you at least have some choice about how you go about it.

Japanese RPG's aren't like this. Some have customizable characters, but others only give you superficial ability choices while limiting the cast to whatever basic job they're supposed to have. And of course, you can't expect a non-linear experience, there's probably some side quests, but the main game is a straight line. I don't define role playing games by stat building, I define them by what the name means - you inhabit a role in the game's setting, and it's hard to do that when you're just being strung along whatever story they've cooked up.

I don't want to come off like I hate all Japanese RPG's, I've admittedly had little experience with them, mostly restrained to the 3D Final Fantasy games. I'd like to expand my horizons and give some more games a fair shake, but I'm really just not interested enough to devote all the time it would take with my busy College schedule.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)


It's another Zelda game, and what that has come to mean is some extremely well-designed dungeons, fun bosses, and a grand old time rife with adventure. I do have a few problems though. It definitely beats The Wind Waker in world design, as it's easy to make a countryside with mountains and deserts and all sorts of terrain more interesting than an ocean, but I honestly prefer WW's visual approach. Unlike TP's "realistic" graphics, WW will still look good in ten years, and I think the cartoony look better matches the series' constant goofy breaks from the otherwise serious tone.

The pacing of the story seemed a little off to me, you learn too much too quickly and not a lot happens later on in the game. Also, it's really way to easy. Every single boss was a piece of cake. Combat was designed so enemies defend themselves better, but the only thing in the game that does more than one heart of damage to you is falling into lava. I guess I'm complaining a lot, but it's just because I love Zelda and I think this could have been better.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2)


I wasn't sure about this one for a lot of the time I was playing it. Most of the new gameplay features add depth but detract from the fun, in my opinion. Limited inventory space, having to use camouflage, feed yourself, and mend your wounds and breaks sounds cool and realistic, but it just adds a ton of menu navigation to the normal gameplay experience. I don't think it really enhanced my experience needing to change my uniform when I move from the jungle to the inside of a building or click on a few different items to stop me from bleeding away any more health in a tight spot.

I was also concerned about the story, I was one of many who was fed up by the direction MGS2's story went by the end, but since then I've come to appreciate it more, and MGS3's tale didn't seem as twisty and interesting, perhaps in response to that backlash. MGS3 has more of a focus on character and emotion than political quadruple-crosses, and ends up being the most satisfying and best story in the series, in my opinion. And let's be honest here, thanks to the series' deep but increasingly dated and clumsy gameplay engine, the story is why we play Metal Gear. I don't have to tell you the visuals are amazing, and the sound is quite good too, well acted as always, and with some good music and maybe the best use of a classic theme I've ever seen near the end.

Subsistence also has some great special features, especially the inclusion of the first two games from the MSX (this being the first time MG2 is available legally in the US) and the hilarious Secret Theater.

No One Lives Forever (PC)


I got the first No One Lives Forever game when it came out in late 2000, but thanks to a frustrating series of events, I didn't complete it until six years later. The game ran poorly on my Windows 98 POS computer, and stuttered its way through outdoor environments even at the lowest settings. I didn't advance far before the computer crapped out and I lost my save, and lost my interest for a while. Later we got a new machine, and the game ran perfectly. I got much farther in the game before the hard drive pooped out and I lost my save again. In the Fall of 2005, I got my own computer, which kicked the old one's ass, and checked the game out, but was preoccupied and didn't get around to actually playing through it a year later. Despite this long, painful road to completion, I still saw how good a game it was.

It doesn't have the amazing gameplay and physics engine of Half-Life 2, and some of the cinemas seem awkward, but it's quite a good stealth-based shooter. I say stealth-based, but rarely do you actually have to be stealthy, most of the time you can just cap fools as you please. The game's brilliance mostly comes from the writing, which is both hilarious and intelligent for most video games. It creates a fun and self-referential world that's fun to be a female James Bond in. If you never played it, you should look past the now-dated engine and graphics and give it a go.

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way (PC)


It didn't take me long after beating the first to get right on the second, which continues in the spirit of the first pretty well. The graphics are remarkably better considering the game was released only two years later, although it's mostly cosmetic enhancements to a now-seriously dated engine, especially looking at the gravity and other physics.

The game itself is mostly solid, with fun, stealthy shooting, but there are a few gripes I have. They added respawning enemies that make it annoying when you're scouring the area for every intelligence item and extra objective you can find and they start looking for you upon finding dead bodies. The flashlight is now an inventory item instead of something you can just turn on while still shooting. I'm just not as big a fan of this game's pacing, it starts off very strong but the formula becomes more transparent as you go on and it seems a bit anticlimactic with the boring final level, and the game's apparent refusal to kill off any characters. The first game saw you infiltrating and causing havoc in various heavily defended fortresses, NOLF 2 spends too much time making you run around India and in abandoned stations in the snow. It's still a good game, just a slight disappointment after the first.

Okami (PS2)


If you have a PS2 and don't play Okami, you're a bad person. It's simply a fantastic game. The graphics are stunning - I don't care about the GE Force 8800 or the new current generation of high definition systems, Okami is the best looking game I've seen, thanks to the great art syle and amazing cel-shading technology that makes it look like a living watercolor painting. This is an opinion of course, if you'd rather look at super high-def ruins in Gears of War, that's just fine. The game also has great music, although I can't say all the audio is good. Okami's main flaw is the voice acting - it's text based, and instead of silence or some beeps, you get garbled snippets of voice (like Banjo-Kazooie) that's tolerable at first but gets very annoying after long bouts of extended exposition.

It's not just great because of its aesthetic qualities though, it IS a video game, and a good one. I can say without doubt it is the best Zelda-style action adventure that isn't actually a Zelda game I've played. It's easy, but still fun, thanks to the Celestial Brush, which you use to draw your special attacks and tools instead of having to sort through an inventory. The different brush powers are all easy to learn and remember, and they give Okami a unique flair to the traditional exploring and combat. The dungeons are more focused on using your powers to advance forward, the puzzles are less Zelda-style solving something to open a door and more using your techniques and platforming skills to reach that door. The combat is a little simple, but still cool thanks to slick attacks, a variety of weapons, the use of the brush techniques, and interesting enemy design.

The story should also be mentioned, I wasn't expecting a lot, but it's actually quite good. The character development is great and there are some cool twists and turns, and it's all enriched by the Japanese mythology that surrounds it. Overall, Okami is a cohesive, beautiful work of art and it's a damn shame no one is playing it.

Sam and Max: Culture Shock (PC)


Being the first of six parts of a "season" of new content, and costing only 9 dollars, Culture Shock is allowed to be short. And it is short. Even if you make sure to click on everything and see every last snippet of dialog, it will only take you a couple hours to see all there is to see. The jokes are a bit hit and miss, but they mostly hit. Some of the puzzles are a little annoying or take some cajoling to get working, but it's pretty satisfying when you figure out what you need to do. This isn't some major new release to get sucked into, it's a charming, enjoyable bit of nostalgic adventure gaming. Take a break from whatever hardcore game you're plowing through and have some relaxing fun.

Sam and Max: Situation: Comedy (PC)


Where Valve and Ritual have failed, Telltale Games has succeeded... not in making a good game, but in getting episodic gaming right. Like the first, this chapter of Sam & Max's new adventures is only a couple hours in length, but it hasn't been that long since I played the last one, so the memory is still fairly fresh in my mind, and the desired effect is achieved... a somewhat continuous gaming experience. It's still a little too easy, and some of the celebrity humor is lacking, but it's a mostly funny, enjoyable experience on the cheap.

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)


I am conflicted. The main focus of Shadow of the Colossus is obviously the battle with the Colossi, and the game completely nails this. The fights are amazing. I found about 2 to be more annoying than fun, the rest were a blast to run around, scale, and smite. But what if this was a Zelda-style action-adventure game with puzzle-filled dungeons and towns scattered around the vast countryside with people to interact with (the towns are less necessary), and the Colossus battles were the focus and the main conflict, not the entire game? The Colossi ARE awesome, but that's all there is. The environment is beautiful but really not very interesting to explore. I would truly love this game if it just felt complete. Also, I wasn't a fan of the controls, and how when you take damage from a strong attack, you fall over, and it takes you about ten seconds to stand up, which usually gives the enemy enough time to prepare and hit you again, repeating the process. If you can't tell from my description, this is NOT FUCKING COOL. Although I really dug the connection to ICO.

Game Archive 1

Ok, I'm going to post old stuff I've written about games and music here so I have all my crap in one place.

Beyond Good and Evil (PS2)


It's truly sad that nobody played this game, because it is a gem and available for all 3 current-gen systems. It's a mix of Zelda-style puzzle-focused dungeons and exploration with sci-fi themes and a heavy emphasis on stealth. I think the design succeeds more than the actual execution in some parts. Jade isn't the best-controlling main character ever, but the design IS great, and she's the star of one of the better game stories I've ever experienced... I'm not talking about your crazy RPG plots, I'm saying I actually gave a damn about the characters and felt for them. Truly a game that everyone should play. My only real problem was that completing the story required you to collect a bunch of pearls to repair your vehicle, and that can get tedious.

Bully (PS2)


It's cool to see one of these sandboxy, open world games that has a tighter approach and doesn't have a gangster theme to it. It's actually not that open, it would have been cool to play the different factions against each other, but all you really do is proceed through the storyline missions, gaining the respect of all the groups before the final showdown. Having to go to class and stuff like that could have gotten in the way, but it's fairly easy to skip class if you want to, and once you've passed them all, not only do you not have to go anymore, but you get a lot of new moves and upgrades that help you out with the rest of the game.

It's slightly awkward at times, but the story is entertaining, and this is probably the funniest video game I've ever played. It's stuffed to the brim with funny moments and dialogue from the various school kids. The combat system is fun too, you have plenty of moves to make fist fights enjoyable and there are a lot of clever non-lethal weapons to play with. It's a bit glitchy in spots, but it's definitely a fun experience.

Call of Duty (PC)

Call of Duty's creators, who split off from the original Medal of Honor team, manage to do something that seemed to be missing from that other World War II series - make it intense. You're never too far from dying and the extremely loud, chaotic battles are broken up once in a while with an uneasy silence.

The game has many great set pieces that make you really feel like a war hero, fighting alongside your allies and comrades... parachuting into D-Day, holding a bridge from a large siege, storming into Stalingrad with nothing but a few bullets in your hand. It does get a little silly sometimes, especially in the British campaign, when you clear out and take down a heavily fortified dam singlehandedly, race to an air base, and hold off several bomber planes with a single turret.

It's a very fun, exciting shooter, enhanced by the presentation which is strong even now, although I wish more time was spent fighting alongisde large groups rather than by yourself or with a few others.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (PC)


It's a little hard to rate Dreamfall, but what it hinges on is whether you think a game that clearly ignores gameplay in favor of story is worthy of a good score if that story is good. If you don't you will hate Dreamfall. But I choose to view it as more of an interactive story than a normal game, which is what it was designed to be, and it succeeds well at that.

The gameplay is pretty bad... the normal adventure gameplay is okay, but fairly simple. The main problems come from the stealth elements, which are poorly realized, and the combat, which is completely putrid. It's comically bad. It also makes one of the three characters you play seem completely worthless, as his story is much less fleshed out than that of the other two and all he does is fight a few people.

But what the game focuses on, the writing and story, are excellent. The characters are generally very well developed and sympathetic, and especially in the magical world of Arcadia, often quite funny. Some awkward animations slightly reduce the effectiveness of the dialogue and voice acting which is much more believable than most games. Despite a couple bits like the increasingly cliche creepy little girl and evil mega corporation, the story is a unique and deeply engrossing tale that grabbed me and kept me playing late into the night to find out how it will all end, which unfortunately it really didn't. The game ends on a cliffhanger with many threads left unresolved, and I hope the final game is released somewhat soon so I can see the end. I do know I will definitely be checking out the first game to see what happens there in the meantime.

Gears of War (360)


I still say Okami has the best graphics artistically of any game I've seen, but Gears of War easily takes the cake from a technical perspective. Seriously, it looks amazing. I have the good fortune to have a roommate this quarter who has a widescreen HDTV around 40 inches in size, and the game is really a sight to behold. It sounds pretty good too, with solid voices and sound effects.

It wouldn't be a good game without gameplay of course, and Gears succeeds there as well. I'm really not that big of a shooter fan, but I still had a great time moving tactically through the war-torn environs and ravaging Locust with my trusty assault rifle, with the enjoyable chainsaw at the end. The cover system takes a little getting used to, but it works very well, by the end it was rare for me to end up in a spot I didn't want to be in. My problem is that I wasn't huge on the pacing, there wasn't much of a rise and fall in action. There were quieter moments and slightly bigger scenes, but it seemed to have an intensity level a little too consistent. I might have preferred a few more extended moments of calm to coincide with huge, desperate setpieces. Still, I felt like I could just play the game straight through if I wanted to because it kept pulling me forward with the solid shooting and great graphics.

God of War (PS2)


I can't tell if my opinion was affected by the tons of praise this got. It's definitely a good game. But I really can't see how it deserves PS2 Game of the Year over Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4 and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Or in the case of awards givers who cut off holiday games until the next year, how it's better than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Anyway, God of War is a fun game. The combat is very fluid and rewarding, as you progress and become more powerful as the game goes on. There's fairly good enemy variety, although I wish we could have seen a few more centaurs and sirens instead of an overdose of undead soldiers and harpies, and that the Cerberus were just there instead of starting as annoying little shits that spawn like popcorn.

The combat isn't why I like it though, what I really like are the adventure elements and the story. Although it seemed a bit long, the Temple of Pandora was a brilliantly designed area, and really pulled off the feel of an epic, hazardous dungeon. And the cutscenes were more interesting than I expected, by the end I understood Kratos a bit more and wanted to help him kill Ares. The animation on Kratos' double jump is pathetic, but the platforming is fairly enjoyable for a non-platforming game. What really hurt the game was the design on the whole end of it, starting in Hades. They were just lazy (or short on time) here, instead of making what could have been a really cool area, they just threw a bunch of enemies on steroids and idiotic spinning spike hazards at you, and it really isn't fun or interesting. We're nearing the climax, I'm not supposed to be getting bored. After that you fight Ares, and the whole sequence with him is no good either. After the creativity of the first two boss fights, Ares is just a cheap bastard who blocks all of your attacks and winning the final conflict is more about luck than skill. The only redeeming part about the end is how they tied off the end with the gravedigger. So, overall, a fun game, but it's lacking in ways that make it hard to call truly great.

Guitar Hero (PS2)


I don't usually play games that I perceive as having no point, sports games, racing games, and music games. But I tried Guitar Hero and decided to pick it up, because unlike DDR and its ilk, I find it fun as hell. In most rhythm games, you're just timing button presses (or footsteps) to some music and getting points. I don't find it very compelling. But in Guitar Hero, you're not playing along, you're actually creating the music yourself. If you mess up a part, you don't just lose points and get closer to failing, the guitar part drops out. When you get it right, it's like you're actually playing these famous riffs yourself, and that makes all the difference. The controls take a bit of getting used to, but before long you'll be rocking out harder than you thought you could. In just a week I've gone from bad to capable of doing well on the hard difficulty. The more complex the tune, the more satisfying it is when you execute it perfectly. It's also a ton of fun with friends. Check it out if you like fun.

Guitar Hero II (PS2)


Guitar Hero is still just as addicting as ever, as you find yourself continually saying "just one more song". It's still great fun to rock out and play some good tunes, although the setlist isn't nearly as good as the first game's. I hardly recognized any of the song names when I first read the list, although I still heard the majority of them before and just didn't know the name. The songs are all still fun to play and usually catchy, but it's just harder to get into a song and really feel cool if you don't actually know it well.

A couple definite improvements are the hammer-ons/pull-offs, which actually work this time and are necessary on the harder difficulties, and practice mode, which lets you work on and experience any part of any song without having to actually be good. Other improvements are minor, GHII is probably a better gameplay experience but it's just not as amazing when you've done basically the same thing before.

Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC)


Episode One is the continuation of, in my opinion, the best first person shooter of all time. The gameplay engine remains simply the most enjoyable to just run around and shoot things in, and Valve's level design is impeccable. Everything here is created with the intention of making a good video game combined with a strong narrative experience. I love the way Half-Life presents its story, it's just a much more immersive world than almost anything else.

I miss exploring the wide open countryside around City 17, and the game is a bit short even for only being 1/3 of a game, so it might not have been as good if it weren't for one thing - Alyx, thanks to a combination of great voice acting and the best facial animation I've ever seen in a game, is one of the most endearing and likable game characters ever. I really care what happens to her, and it wouldn't be the same if she wasn't around, watching my back. This is one of the times where graphics actually matter in pushing a game over the edge. I can't wait to battle Hunters out in the wilderness in Episode Two.