Country is back!

This week we'll catch up on last week's DLC (Disturbed, etc...), plus play the new Country pack. That's right, country is back with a vengeance with an all-new 9-pack (called pack #4, although #2 and #3 were released as one "Track Pack" last summer). The country songs in RB are usually a lot of fun on guitar and sometimes have complex vocals, so they will be fun to sightread on voxtar.

Here is my top 3 DLC from last week (after playing them on all solo instruments):

3. "Bury Me Alive", by We Are The Fallen:

This gothic metal band with ex-members of Evanescence is quite melodic. Their singer has a deeper voice than Amy Lee and has a good range. I liked the orchestration in the background near the end, but the outro is overly long. The drum chart has a nice steady beat with a good amount of variety, especially in the buildup and the outro. The guitar and bass charts are fairly simple, but the song is fun to listen to so it's not really an issue. I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm hoping we eventually get some Tarja-era Nightwish (ex: "Ghost Love Score"). I think of this every time I hear this genre in RB.

2. "The Great Plains", by Scale the Summit:

This song is an awesome prog instrumental from some very talented musicians. It has a neat flowing beat with great variety and a nice use of triplets. The guitar and bass charts are also quite diverse. I especially like the hammer-ons throughout on guitar (especially in the 2nd solo). The song is not overly difficult but it is always fun and interesting. We definitely need more from this genre, and the RBN is a great platform for it. I hope the Guitar Hero 2 instrumental classic "Gemini" is eventually added.

1. "The Animal", by Disturbed:

This song is my favorite of the week due to its really amazing drum chart. It has a great flow with 3-4 rolling patterns. It doesn't have a crazy constant pedal section like the other 2 new Disturbed songs. The song itself has a neat groove and some nice melodies with a good vocal range. There is a great bass section after the interesting but slightly off-tune guitar solo. As usual for Disturbed, the song has some triple chords on guitar, but it is fairly easy. I wonder why these new songs are classified as metal instead of nu-metal (all previous Disturbed songs), even though they are very similar to their older material. Nu-metal has a negative connotation as a genre due to its commercialization and simplification of metal in the late 90s and early 2000s so that might be the reason.

Honorable mention. "Buster Voodoo", by Rodrigo y Gabriela:

This is another great instrumental RBN song, this time omitting drums as well. The Spanish-style guitar strumming is quite a challenge, alternating between sections with 3, 4, 8 notes, etc... I like how they charted the rhythm guitar as the bass (reminds me of Guitar Hero 2 co-op). The song is quite unique and it has some really tough guitar solos.