Updated Rank (Top 20) + Brütal Legend DLC

First off, a bit of news:

Harmonix unblocked my access to the RockBand.com Leaderboards last week (after about a month), so I was able to finish the update for the cycle that started in mid-September. We moved up to rank 20 in the "All Songs" Leaderboards, with a total of 667.5M points (close to 100M points more than before). We'll see a more accurate rank in the next update (above 700M points), when all scores are from after the blockage.

Harmonix's API will make score retrieval much faster once it is ready, but one bit of good news is that normal score retrieval seems to be faster than before, especially for scores with higher ranks. I currently have the full range of scores (top 100,000), and the last time I started a cycle with that range it was going to take about 10 days. I'm hoping the current cycle will take about the same time or less.

Tonight we will play 24-32 unranked songs, including some new DLC from last week. The only pack last week was the Brütal Legend 3-pack, which included some classics from Motörhead and Tenacious D, plus a newer Testament track. A great addition or replacement for the Brütal Legend pack would have been Dimmu Borgir's epic "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" (also from the soundtrack). There were also some very interesting single tracks last week. Here is my top 3 DLC from that selection:

3. "Kansas - Icarus - Borne on the Wings of Steel (Live)": It had been a while since we heard a good progressive rock track in Rock Band (hoping for more Dream Theater or some Opeth eventually). The track stays interesting as it changes quite often, with the highlight being the last guitar solo. It will also make you wonder if you're playing Violin Hero... :)

2. "Testament - More Than Meets the Eye": Testament was the first metal group I ever got into. They are very heavy, but still quite melodic at times with the resilient Chuck Billy as frontman and the amazing Alex Skolnick on guitar. I'm so glad that Alex is back with the group, his solos are always legendary. This time the solo is again very interesting and technical, but not as melodic as usual.

1. "Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien": If you've never heard Joe Satriani's guitar virtuosity before, prepare to be amazed. With Yngwie Malmsteem, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, and John Petrucci, he is one of the best guitarists on the planet. "Satch Boogie" might be more intense (now the hardest guitar song in the game, hard to believe "Caprici di Diablo" could be topped), but I find that "Surfing with the Alien" is a better song overall. It still has some crazy technical sections, but it also has a great vibe with its dreamy main riff. I used to play some instrumental songs on my high school radio show, and this one was on regular rotation.

Honorable mention. "Tenacious D - The Metal": It's just a fun short song on all instruments. The main guitar riff was a treat to play in Guitar Hero 3 and it still is. I also like how the vocal track in the bridge section is clearer than in Guitar Hero 3, even though it masks that amazing acoustic guitar part a bit.