Catching up

This week we'll have a shortened session, but we'll still try to catch up on some unplayed DLC. We have the 26 songs we planned to play last week, plus the 8 new ones from this week (3 old school Ministry songs + 5 RBN).

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

3. "Sturm & Drang", by KMFDM:

I didn't expect industrial metal pioneers KMFDM to be back so soon, as they recently had a RBN song released to the PS3 ("Juke Joint Jezebel"). It's nice to see that are now part of the bands with "offical" Harmonix released DLC. This newer song has great flow and a neat drum beat. I liked the part in the quieter section that has a rolling beat with missing notes. The highlight of the song is the bassline as it is quite dynamic. It might seem like a marathon song on bass due to the constant movement and strumming, but for the main riff it is much easier if you hold your index down and tap the rest of the notes. For guitar, I liked the synth section after the solo. Now if only they could release a Rammstein DLC pack (see last post)...

2. "Saturday Morning", by Eels:

I knew nothing of this group so this rockin' song was a nice surprise. It has a great sound and lots of energy. The beat sounds simple but the drum chart has amazing variety. It would be a great song to practice different pad patterns while doing constant pedal (ex: like some common "The Who" beats but slower). The guitar chart is quite simple, but it has enough variation to stay interesting, especially in the last solo.

1. "Crushed Beyond Dust", by Skeletonwitch:

Unfortunately we missed this group at Heavy MTL last month while walking towards the festival grounds (we missed only 2 of the 28 festival bands from the 2 main stages). What makes them unique is that they play a really unique genre called blackened thrash metal. You can often associate black metal with death metal (ex: Behemoth) or symphonic metal (ex: Dimmu Borgir), but I've rarely heard it incorporated into thrash metal. This band blends these styles really well (ex: section in middle of song). What is also neat is that the singer's voice blends really well with the music. The drums on Hard difficulty were lots of fun due to the nice flow (too crazy on Expert). The bass chart was also really fun due to the variety of non-stop riffs. If you play guitar, prepare for some crazy fast strumming on Expert, plus a really insane chord pattern at the end.

Honorable mention. "Elements", by Texas in July:

Last week's charts had lots of great moments, including the fun double hit patterns on drums in the 2nd half of "Heads or Tails? Real or Not", the fast pattern that happens twice on guitar in the 1st half of "Bulletproof", the rolling beat at the end of "The Perfect Crime #2", the surprising chords on bass in "I Only Want You", the interesting sounds of "Rapture" and the fun bass pedal pattern during "Jesus Freak", but the guitar chart of "Elements" takes the cake for being one of the most dynamic ever. It is really hard to keep up with its frenetic pace, but it is really fun to try. The bass chart was also fun due its variety. As for the song itself, I'd say it is above average for metalcore, but the neat charting more than makes up for it.