Variety week + Heavy MTL recap

This week we're back for a double dose of DLC, including the amazing variety of new songs from the last 2 weeks (Juanes, Avenged Sevenfold, The Stooges, Bad Religion, plus all the great RBN tracks).

Phoenix and I are back from an amazing time at Heavy MTL 2010. The festival was back in force after its 2009 sabbatical with a great line-up of 34 bands. Dates are already announced for 2011 (July 23rd and 24th), so it was a definite commercial success (40,000+ fans).

Highlights include the amazing stage theatrics of Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper, the 1st post-The Rev show with Mike Portnoy for Avenged Sevenfold, the technical wizardry of Megadeth, the chaos of Slayer, the high-flying stunt of Airbourne, the contagious enthusiasm of Anvil, plus the impressive crowd interaction of Five Finger Death Punch (see video).

We were also witness to a live rendition of 2 classic metal albums, as Megadeth played "Rust in Peace" (2010 RB DLC) and Slayer played "Seasons in the Abyss" in full. I was always impressed with Dave Lombardo's drumming on "Seasons" and it was great to see him live. As for Megadeth, their amazing new guitarist Chris Broderick played each difficult solo note for note to perfection.

Here is my top 3 DLC from last week (after playing them on drums, guitar and bass):

3. "50,000 Unstoppable Watts", by Clutch: This week was once again very impressive for RBN releases on the PS3 (top 3 all RBN). This rockin' song with a "Rage Against the Machine"-like chorus has some good riffs and some fun guitar and bass charts. The drum chart is also great as it has an awesome flowin' drum beat with frequent triplets. The sound quality of this 2009 song is much improved over their 2004 RBN song ("The Mob Goes Wild").

2. "Approach the Podium", by Winds of Plague: This group had lots of energy at Heavy MTL, opening with their great song "Chest and Horns". It was refreshing to see a metalcore band that mixes in other metal genres, in this case one of my favorite (symphonic black). "Approach the Podium" has some great riffs in the 1st half, plus some neat keyboard sections in the 2nd half. The sound is quite epic at times, with a great black metal feel at the end that sounds a bit like "Dimmu Borgir". Dimmu should definitely be in Rock Band one day, especially tracks like "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" and "Blessings upon the Throne of Tyranny". The amazing drumming of Nicholas Barker and the well-integrated keyboard sections would be lots of fun with Pro instruments in Rock Band 3.

1. "Indigo Friends", by Reverend Horton Heat: This song marks the return of psychobilly virtuoso group "Reverend Horton Heat" to music games. They had a really fun and difficult song in Guitar Hero 2 called "Psychobilly Freakout". "Indigo Friends" has a really unique jazz swing beat with lots of variety. The double pad hits and fast strumming are tough to hit at first, but when you get the hang of it it's amazingly fun. As for their GH2 song, "Reverend Horton Heat"'s music is chaotically beautiful, the riffs and solos coming in a flurry from all directions. As an added bonus the song has a neat walking bass during the guitar solos, a good "stay away from drugs" message, plus a surprise Big Rock Ending in a RBN song (I didn't know it was allowed)!

Honorable mention. "New Dark Ages", by Bad Religion: If the RBN tracks aren't your cup of tea, the regular DLC also had some interesting offerings. "The Stooges" are a classic rock band with a neat distorted sound ("No Fun" is the best of the pack). There is also a couple of songs by punk pioneers "Bad Religion". If you've played their songs before (ex: "Sorrow"), you know you can expect some fast paced drumming with lots of pedal, plus some complex strumming patterns. These 2 songs were no exception, with my favorite being "New Dark Ages". It has amazingly fun fills and a beat so fast it's hard to keep up with the deluge of alternating bass pedal patterns. The song sounds great, with many interesting vocal sections. It is probably one of the funnest recent songs on guitar and bass if you like intense strum patterns.