Music – Page 3

Enter BABYMETAL

It began snowing yesterday morning, and hasn’t stopped since then. My world is white and slushy and simultaneously pretty and gross. Trees are bending and breaking thanks to all the wet snow clinging to the leaves they never lost when we went directly from summer to winter.

But the incoming cold season is going to be tempered by some HOT NEW JAMS that dropped today: Metal Galaxy, the new album from BABYMETAL.

If you haven’t heard of BABYMETAL (do you even internet?), they’re a Japanese pop idol duo who are backed by face-melting death metal instrumentation. It’s a mash-up of complete opposites, and I couldn’t be more obsessed with them. At least, the closest to literal obsession I’ve ever been. Since I first learned of them, I listen to BABYMETAL nearly every day. I’m sure the fascination will fade eventually -they always do- but it’s been going strong for months now.

Metal Galaxy is maybe the only album I’ve had any pre-release excitement for in 2019. Mostly because I don’t keep up with music very well in general, but also because I’ve been desperate for more BABYMETAL. Listening to their previous album, Metal Resistance, over and over forever is fine, but eventually a boy aches for something new. I do put on their first album, Baby Metal, every once in a while, but the truth is that I’m not really into that one all that much. It leans a little too hard into J-Pop for my liking. But it laid the groundwork for an act that was refined and perfected in Metal Resistance, so I can’t be too down on it. Plus it has “Gimme Chocolate!!” and you’d have to be a soulless monster to dislike that song.

Back to Metal Galaxy, though. Where do you go after you create a perfect album? BABYMETAL’s approach was to go all over the place. From techno to raga to hip-hop to dance, there’s a wide variety of different sounds in this album, each with that mix of idol pop and metal at the centre. While not every song hits the mark, they’re all very distinct. “Oh! MAJINAI” has a weird Irish thing going on, and features vocals from Sabaton’s Joakim Broden. The first half of “IN THE NAME OF” sounds something from Keiichi Okabe, until it mutates into death metal with no actual singing, just metal growls. I appreciate the diversification despite the fact that it makes the album seem a little unfocused. I think it’s a good thing when you couldn’t possibly mistake one of the tracks on an album for another.

We all know that I’m not very good at talking about music, so I’ll wrap this up quick. Metal Galaxy is a very good album. After listening to it only three times, I think I still like Metal Resistance better as a whole, but that could easily change with time and as I get to know the songs more deeply. What I can say for sure is that Metal Galaxy definitely has some of my favourite individual BABYMETAL tracks. “Elevator Girl” is my jam, and I fell hard and fast for “Da Da Dance” which features a solo by Tak Matsumoto, one of my all-time favourite guitarists. “Arkadia” is a suitably epic final song that doesn’t go light on the shredding. And you know how I feel about gratuitous shredding.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: June 2019

~ Game Over ~

Castle of Heart (Switch) – I wrote a full review of this one.

Refunct (Switch) – I liked the screenshots, and decided why not spend the $2.50? Well, it’s… an incredibly simple game. Jump across the platforms to the beacon. Watch more platforms rise out of the water, and then jump to the new beacon. Repeat a couple dozen times until complete. It took me about half an hour to 100%, but it was a nice, relaxing game. I’d happily buy a sequel with a stronger focus on puzzles.

Mutant Mudds Super Challenge (Switch) – It’s Mutant Mudds again, but this time it’s hard as nails. More spikes than you can shake a stick at, and way more situations that require pixel-perfect movement and/or timing. Also, bosses that actually get easier as you go. And a fancy new death counter. I died just under 250 times before completing the game. Though I didn’t manage to find even one hidden character. *shrug*

A Hole New World (Switch) – An alright game that I bought because it looks (visually) a lot like Shovel Knight. It plays kind of like a linear Mega Man, where you get a new power from each boss, but you are forced on a track from Stage 1 to Stage 7. Levels are huge and ripe for exploring, but all of your attacks (until the last stage) have weird trajectories, which makes dealing with monsters more cumbersome than it needs to be. Also the final boss has so much life and you have so little life that it feels really unfair, and I could not defeat him. In the end, I’m glad I got this for like 75% off, as I really didn’t like it as much as I was hoping to.

Final Fantasy Adventure (Switch) – I rented this once, waaaaaay back in grade 7, and I think I got to somewhere around Medusa? All I remember about it was walking an infinity symbol around two trees in the desert to make a cave open. It’s a somewhat obtuse game that doesn’t always direct you all that well, and having to constantly switch weapons was annoying, but I would say that I actually quite enjoyed my time with it. It’s a very ambitious Game Boy game, and certainly a lot longer than I expected.

Final Fantasy IX (PS1) – I really like this game, but am honestly a little disappointed by how linear it is. You don’t get even a boat until halfway through disc three! Glad I got around to replaying it, as I’ve never gone back after my first run. I like the chocobo treasure hunting mini-game, but the chocobo hot-and-cold minigame is so tedious if you don’t cheat. The final boss track is so good but I would very much like a version with the weird moaning removed please.

Dragon Quest Builders (PS4) – This is more or less the game that convinced me to buy a PS4, so it makes me sad that I took nearly three years to really dig in and finish it. I played the first two chapters at launch, and then it got lost in the shuffle somewhere. But now I’ve gotten to the end, and what a spectacular ride it was. In fact, I liked it so much that I kept playing for all the trophies, which meant completely replaying three of the game’s four chapters. The in-game speedrun challenges for each chapter are surprisingly fun, and I’m thinking that if I were to try doing a for-real speedrun, this would be my game. But I lack the motivation, equipment, and free time for that kind of thing, so.

~ Progress Notes ~

Pixel Puzzle Collection (iOS) – 45.0% complete

Dauntless (PS4) – My guy is level 22, however much that matters.

Secret of Mana (Switch) – Working through Elinee’s castle

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Switch) – Apparently I’ve barely played G-rank

Detroit: Become Human (PS4) – On chapter “The Stratford Tower” (about ? of the way)

Picross S3 (Switch) – A little more than halfway through Mega Picross mode

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Switch) – 22% map completion.

Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) – Made one stage and played through 50 on infinite mode.

Rocksmith (PS4) – Back on the guitar now that school’s out for the summer.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: January 2019

~Game Over~

Mega Man X (SNES) – I play this game at least once a year. Usually I like to have it as the very first and/or very last game that I play in a year, just so I can have one nice, consistent bookend. In 2019, it would be the first, just like in 2018. I was also trying to finish it in under an hour, and I was on pace to be very close! But then I whiffed in the Wolf Sigma fight, got killed, and ended up taking about 1:10 instead. Boo.

Bomb Chicken (Switch) – I was pretty excited about this when it was first revealed, but opted to wait for a time when it was more financially feasible. For example, during the eShop holiday sale while I was swimming in eShop gift cards. As for the game itself, the best way I can describe it is “sideways Bomberman”. That’s not exactly right, but I feel like it gets the idea across: solve platforming puzzles and collect gems as a chicken whose only verb is to poop out bombs. It’s tight, challenging, pretty, and exactly the right length. Aside from the somewhat frustrating final boss, it was a very good way to start the new year.

Remembering the Cottage: Part 2

Happy Canada Day! To celebrate, let’s go way back and take a look at something that was an integral part of Canada Day for me for many years. Yes, that’s right, it’s finally time for the long-awaited Remembering the Cottage: Part Two

I have been slowly writing this article since 2007, which is not the longest that I’ve ever procrastinated on writing something, but it is a concept so close to my heart, so important to the foundation of who I am, that I feel terrible for not having finished writing it at some point in the last eleven years. During that time, many details have certainly been forgotten and memories jumbled up, so this is definitely not going to be as historically accurate as it should be.

To help illustrate, in the time since I posted Part One: two generations of Nintendo consoles passed; Obama’s tenure as US President began and ended; smartphones replaced flip-phones and human-to-human contact; I purchased two homes; I met a girl who I dated, married and divorced; and I bumbled my way into a job that eventually led to what darn well better be my career at this point.

I don’t know how long this article is going to go on for, but if the previous part is anything to go by, it’ll be a whopper. You all know the story anyway, and if you don’t, maybe go check out Part One and then come back. So let’s just skip the formalities and head right in, yes?

Continue reading Remembering the Cottage: Part 2

Wherein there is music-based rambling

I have purchased three new albums this year so far. Which is kind of a lot, I guess. I don’t really buy a ton of music anymore. And I don’t pirate any music anymore. So what are our three albums of honour? We have:

Story of the Year – Wolves
Tonight Alive – Underworld
Sons of Butcher – Cover Stains

So in January, I got the new albums from two of my favourite bands of all time, but those aren’t the ones that I feel the urge to type words about. No, today, for the first time in many, many years, I want to type some words about Sons of Butcher.

To catch you up: Sons of Butcher was a 2005 Canadian animated show that lasted for two seasons, and since the main characters were in a band, they also released two studio albums. I don’t know if either show or music were successful, as the market for comedic rock is very limited, but it took me a while to warm up to both. Once I did, though, I was all in. Bought both seasons on DVD and both albums. Listened to them all the time. They’re one of the few bands that I could not get the ex-wife into. And honestly, I don’t blame her. This is stuff for a very specific niche.

Moving closer to the present, I Googled Sons of Butcher randomly the other week, and through a series of clicks I discovered that they have a Bandcamp page and way more than two albums. While my instinct was to immediately download them all, I opted instead to pledge $5 for their live cover album. The track list was a strong list of classic rocks songs that I love with a number of SOB originals. Seemed like a good idea.

Results? Mixed. Mostly because it is a live album and lacks a certain polish. Normally that’s fine. I actually like the rawness of a good live album. But none of these guys are particularly good singers, which poses a problem when you don’t have any means to sand up the rough edges. Also, since there’s presumably no mixing going on, all the guitar solos are muted and only come out of the right side, which is not optimal. I mean, the solos are really good. It’s a darn shame they don’t get to shine a little more.

Aside from those gripes, I like the album. It’s not a straight cover album by any means. Like I noted before, there are a number of Sons of Butcher songs in there, and a number of the covers are tweaked a bit, usually for the sake of making them “funnier.” I really love “Tasty Meats (Done Dirt Cheap)” but the changes to “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” aren’t especially hilarious, just excessively dirty. Thankfully that song gets cut off a little early.

That actually reminds me of something else weird; there are clearly supposed to be skits in between some of the songs, but they’ve all been excised. Why? I couldn’t even fathom a guess, but the cuts are poor and it’s more than a little distressing. A couple songs cut out very abruptly, and there are a number of instances where tracks cut out just as soon as the band starts talking. I can see how this may have been necessary for a physical album release, but when you’re using a digital marketplace, why not just keep it all in. Maybe it’s a simple as none of it was funny.

Like so many things that I like, I feel as though I’d never recommend this to anyone. It’s just for such a specific crowd, and I am very sure that nobody I know has the required sense of humour, or a taste for very unrefined live music. But that’s why I have this blog! So I have “someone” to “talk to” about all the weird things I like and not get scoffed at like I’m some kind of idiot.

The longest week ever

It’s finally here! Today marks the day of Super Mario Odyssey‘s release! Wa-hoo!

Making it to Friday has been a bit of a trial, however. First and foremost, I have been having some severe issues with sleeping this week, so I am crazy overtired. Having to spend three hours in a statistics class last night did not help the situation.

Actually, the whole lack of sleep thing is really about the only thing that’s really causing me problems. It started snowing yesterday and now the world is coated in a thin and very slippery sheet of ice, but that’s minimal. I don’t go outside all that often anyway, and I’m good about dressing warmly to deal with the sub-zero temperatures.

Of note is that I also had a mid-term exam in the aforementioned statistics class on Tuesday. Which was a great source of anxiety in the days prior, and probably contributed some to my restlessness on the Sunday night. Monday night I would have slept like a baby if not for the jerkhole what lives below me that has seen fit to start very loud phone/Skype conversations every night at midnight this week. And he won’t stop or talk more quietly no matter how much I stomp on my floor. T_T

I am not completely innocent in my sleep deprivation, either. While I have been kept awake by outside sources (namely that loud-talking downstairs neighbour) for the other nights this week, I went with my brother to the midnight Mario launch at a local retailer last night, which may have not been the wisest course of action. On the plus side, they opened at 11 instead of 12, so with a quick transaction and a short drive, I was home in time to get to bed about the same time as usual. Except for I couldn’t resist cracking open the game case right away and playing a little bit, so my tiredness today is entirely my own fault.

Was it worth it? Meh. The opening scenes and tutorial stage aren’t terribly exciting, so it’s not like I got a whole lot out of that first ten minutes. But at least it’s out of the way and when I start playing in earnest after work, it’s going to be amaaaaaaazing.

Though in reality, I’m probably going to just pass out five minutes in.

(Also important: Ninja Sex Party’s Under The Covers: Volume 2 is out today, and season 2 of Stranger Things is up on Netflix. I really should have taken the day off!)

Here’s… a thing

I don’t really post enough random, rad stuff that I find all that often any more. Too many long rants about games or movies or whatever. I can’t help it. I feel so empty and incomplete when words aren’t spilling out of me and onto a webpage.

So here’s a classic: RichaadEB’s cover of “Megalovania” from Undertale. It’s one of my favourite video game tunes of all time, and I didn’t think that a cover could ever do it justice. Alas!

Happy Galaktikon II Day!

Brendon Small’s Galaktikon II: Become the Storm is out today! Hurrah!

Being one of my most anticipated albums ever, I was almost in tears when it became available at 11PM last night but I had to do the responsible thing and go to bed instead of staying up another hour to listen to it.

I did get a chance to give it a listen on the bus ride to work this morning, and first impressions are very good! I’ve already written about “My Name is Murder” and “Nightmare” to some extent, and I think that so far the frontrunners for favourite tracks are “Become the Storm” and “The Ocean Galaktik.” But I’ll definitely have to give it a few more listens before I make any solid declarations.

As advertised, Galaktikon II is very much a new Dethklok album in spirit, but has enough DNA from the original Galaktikon to keep things exciting. Most of the vocals are in the growly Nathan Explosion-style, which is great, but admittedly does make it harder to figure out the lyrics and the story. There is a lot more “regular” singing peppered in than you’d get from actual Dethklok, though, and there’s a heck of a lot of vocal harmonizing going on, which I obviously adore.

I don’t know if this will replace Galaktikon as one of my go-to albums, but it is a stellar sequel. The metalhead in me is incredibly satisfied. I am greatly looking forward to listening to it at least a dozen more times over the weekend. Hopefully by then someone will have started transcribing the lyrics online somewhere.

I wanted to end this post by embedding a video of the final, instrumental track, “Rebuilding a Planet” but alas, the YouTubers are a little slower at getting these tracks up than expected. The album has already been available for a whole 12 hours at this point. Come on, people!

Put those colours on, girl

I finally got my copy of Kesha’s new album, Rainbow, last Friday. I spent the whole weekend listening to it over and over, and I still have one song or another constantly stuck in my head.

Suffice it to say, I am very pleased with my purchase.

I know I say it every time I write about music, but I have no idea how to properly explain my feelings about music or how to talk about it technically like a smart person who really understands it. So I’ll keep this short. What about sweet? YMMV.

Rainbow is so unlike any other Kesha album. It’s so much more honest and heartfelt. The over-produced, auto-tuned, club-pop is gone. It’s not about drinking and partying. It’s about feeling good, overcoming pain and hardships, and living your life to the fullest. Rainbow a hearty melange of pop, rock, folk, country, and alternative styles. It’s literally a beautiful musical rainbow. Some songs will have you busting out sweet rock kicks, while others may cause you to shed a tear or two. You might even find yourself doing some deep thinking about life.

Of course, while Rainbow is several degrees more serious in its themes than one might expect from Kesha, it’s still got her trademark sense of humour. As that’s what drew me to Kesha’s music in the first place, I’m very glad that it hasn’t gone anywhere.

“But Ryan, you hate country music!” you’re probably shouting at your screen. Yes, I do. But the “country” tracks on this album are more county-flavoured than actually country. There’s no mention of pickup trucks or dirt roads or tractors. No godawful southern drawl. Not a single yee-haw and none of the songs are about having a cookout down at the ol’ swimmin’ hole. So all the stupid has been excised and replaced with sentiments that a non-hillbilly could actually relate to. “Hunt You Down” is just a really great track and made me laugh out loud.

Heck, even the cover of “Old Flames” that features Dolly friggin’ Parton has carved itself a little place in my heart. Might be that country music from the 80’s was just better than the miserable trash that is modern country. Might be that I’m just a cranky old man.

Anyway, if you need some proof to mix into your pudding, here’s “Let ’em Talk,” which is currently my favourite track. Though this morning it was “Boogie Feet” and “Learn To Let Go” was my fave for the better part of Sunday.

Tomorrow it’ll probably be “Godzilla.” It’s just so sweet and I love it. You know what, forget tomorrow. It’s my favourite now. Likely forever.

Category: Music