Not everything needs to be about the guitar

For the past couple of weeks or so, I have been making some music with my roommate Rob. He generally listens to EDM music and dubstep, but occasionally listens to rock and funk rock. Through making music with him, a person who's musical tastes are completely different than mine for the most part, I learned that not everything needs to have guitars in them. It sounds like such a dumb thing to say when you really think about. "Of course not EVERYTHING needs to have guitar." But when I hear music today and music from various time periods, I hear the guitar, whether it be the electric six string, or the bass guitar with four strings. He has musical knowledge in the respect that he has played piano for quite a while, but knows very little music theory, just like me. What he CAN do though, is hear a melody in his head, and keep it there long enough to write it out in the Digital Audio Workstation known as FL Studio via synths, claves' and other instruments.

Rob showed me a piece of music he had been working on for I'd say a week or two. He would always add new parts to it, ask my opinion on them, and re levels parts of the songs as he saw fit. Eventually, he came to a standstill, and had no more musical thoughts concerning this song. I looked at the most recent melody he had made, and I added on to it by transposing the piano melody onto my guitar, finding the key, and then writing a continuation to the piece. Adding on to that song showed me that everything isn't centered around the guitar, and that the guitar can still be used for writing, although it may not make an appearance in the song or piece itself.

What amazes me more is that when I played back the song, I was stunned that I had actually written that part, and that it got added into the song. It is as if a piece of myself is actually in that song and it represents just how far I have come as a musician. Writing a small part of that song showed me more about music and melody that I thought possible.  

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Band of the Week #7- Bullet For My Valentine

History:
Bullet for my Valentine formed in 2005 after changing their name from Jeff Killed John, a name the used from 1998 to 2005. They signed to Sony BMG records after declining an offer from Roadrunner Records. They released a self titled EP in the UK in 2004, and then their EP Hand Of Blood in the United States in 2005. Later in 2005, BFMV released their debut album The Poison within the UK. The U.S. saw the release of this album in 2006 on Valentine's Day. The debut album had tracks such as 4 Words (To Choke Upon), Hand of Blood, Tears Don't Fall, and Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow. Bullet toured the album extensively, gaining fans, and playing larger shows like Vans Warped Tour, Download Festival and other large tours. They're second album Scream Aim Fire, released early in January of 2008, and it was characterized as a much more aggressive album. Tracks such as Last to Know, Waking the Demon, and Take it Out On Me exemplify this concept. They toured for a while on this album, playing with bigger bands like Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold on the Taste of Chaos tour. Their third album Fever was released in April of 2010 and the band stated that the sound would be similar to debut album, as opposed to SAF.  The album stands out in comparison to both their other records. It has a more hard rock feel, and there is considerably less amount of screaming and more guitar harmonies. Their follow up album Temper, Temper sounded a lot similar to Fever, but also has a specific uniqueness to it.

My Thoughts:
This hard rock/ metal band has been one the very few bands that have been able to change their sound on every album, minus Temper Temper, and still sound good. The sound change from their debut and SAF, and then SAF to Fever was so drastic, but they make their songs sound so good and intense. The lyrical content varies, but it mainly talks about relationships, a pretty common topic within music. The band does have a ballad or two, but most of their songs are hard rock songs that pump you up. The first song I heard by them was Hand of Blood, and the second was Waking the Demon. Both tracks have amazing guitar riffs that hook the listener, and the drum and vocal work are superb. They are a fantastic band, and they never seem to disappoint!

Waking the Demon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2I0ulTZWXA

Hand of Blood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0SrxSMHDmE

Dignity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Var0o6AUvF8

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Street Fighter Documentary: I Am Street Fighter

I am a huge fan of documentaries that discuss bands or video games, and through the power of Reddit, I stumbled across the gem. This documentary about Street Fighter takes a look at one of the most pinnacle fighting games of all time, and views it from various angles. It talks about how the game was practically the grandfather of all fighting games, and how people would flock to arcades to play this game and compete against others in the local arcade scene. Since I was born in 1994, I never got to experience the arcade scene and all of its beauty and community. It shows how people would use their lunch money to play these stellar arcade games as opposed to buying food for themselves, how kids would wait in line to battle the current champion, and how everyone was just blown away by the game. People who are interviewed explain how Street Fighter changed fighting games forever, with basic concepts such as a two way health bar, 90 second matches, and a linear storyline; things that sound so simple and basic, yet so revolutionary. Whilst watching this documentary, I was consistently thinking of the Dragonball Z Series and how the games that would spawn out of it, Budokai and Tenkaichi, use all of the concepts that spawned from Street Fighter

Credits go to alvinlee on DeviantArt

The documentary then shows the community as a whole, and how far people would travel to play the best Street Fighter. Justin Wong would travel from NY to NJ to play and view tournaments, and then travel to California, across the whole country, to play an arcade game. Needless to say, the game changed his, and thousands of others' lives. People wanted to play the next Street Fighter, learn new combinations and interact with people in person. Unlike modern day, where we can sit in the comfort of our homes and La-z Boy recliner chairs, they preferred meeting in person and interacting with one another. They would become family practically, the arcade store becoming their second home. The documentary as a whole was fantastic, and is well worth the one hour twelve minute watch. It opened my eyes to the gaming scene prior to consoles and flat screen T.Vs, and quad core computers and 32inch monitor displays. It was well put together, and it was truly a beautiful sight to see all of these people coming together under one roof to see and enjoy something, similar to how fans would see a band or artist. I fully recommend this documentary, it's opens your eyes to a different kind of community, and the game that changed it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2gZBITO5GwI

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Nintendo's new hand held console- The Nintendo 2DS

Earlier today, Nintendo dropped news about their latest hand held console, the Nintendo 2DS. This is Nintendo's cheaper 3DS alternative, and I personally say it's a great idea. The 2DS is chunkier than the 3DS and the 3DS XL The 2DS doesn't fold like its predecessors do so it gives it an old school retro feel to it. The red and white color scheme also gives a retro feel as well. The main part about the 2DS is that it doesn't have the switch that can turn on the 3D function of the console. This might be viewed as a setback for some, but I have asked many 3DS users and they say they barely use the 3D function after the first couple of weeks. The 2DS can also play 3DS games, and is backwards compatible with DS games. This is great for me as well as millions of others since that means I can still play the old DS games like Pokemon Platinum, Eragon, the downside is that they didn't bring back the GBA slot, so I guess I'll have to use my old DS for that function, or an SP.

The 2DS looks large in images, but in the Youtube video below, it looks pretty small-ish when the boy is holding it so I guess it's about the size of the 3DS, just without the folding screen. The target of this product though is for little kids who's parents don't want them to strain their eye sight with the 3D function of the 3DS and 3DS XL. I personally thought this was a great idea for Nintendo to release this because it's basically a budget 3DS. When E3 happened, and Nintendo released news about all of the fantastic 3DS games that were going to release, the 3DS's price increased slowly but surely. This is basically Nintendo's way of saying, "Here, we also want the people who may not have as much money for a 3DS to still enjoy our games." I think it's old school look, and cheaper price tag will garner it many purchases, and although it may not stack up to 3DS in every aspect, it is still a great way for people who are strapped for cash to still enjoy what Nintendo has to offer. Nintendo has also stated that the 2DS is going to release on October 12, 2013, the same day as Pokemon X and Y.

Here is the video for the Nintendo 2DS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sAExBTWIp3M

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Band of the Week #6- Rage Against The Machine

History:
The band was originally formed in 1991 when Tom Morello was in a club, and heard Zack De La Roche freestyle rapping on stage. Morello asked him after his set if he wanted to be in a band, and Zack agreed. They drafted Brad Wilk to play drums, a drummer who had auditioned for Tom Morello's previous band Lock Up, and Zack asked his childhood friend Tim Commerford to play bass. They recorded a rough demo of their album and put it in a 12 track cassette tape and passed it around to record labels. After playing a couple of shows, various labels took interest in the band, but they agreed to sign to Epic Records since the label would give the band creative freedom and wouldn't restrict them. They went to Sound City and recorded their debut self titled album that would eventually go Triple Platinum. It was because of this album that RATM could perform at Lollapalooza in 1993. The album had fantastic tracks such as "Killing in the Name of" "Take The Power Back", "Know Your Enemy", and "Freedom". They toured extensively with this album, and later in 1996, they would record their second album; Evil Empire

 

RATM in the early days!

Evil Empire featured great tracks like "Bulls on Parade", "Tire Me", and "Down Rodeo". The album got them to the number one spot at the Billboard 200 and garnered them more fame. They were able to tour more with better acts such as Limp Bizkit, Wu Tang Clan, and more. They would later go on to release two more records, "The Battle of Los Angeles" in 1999, and their cover album "Renegades" in 2000. Both of these albums had great tracks, but they did not meet with as much success as their predecessors did.

My Thoughts:
It should be noted that Rage Against the Machine is my favorite band of all time, and that their self titled debut is my favorite album of all time, plus it's the album that influences me the most as a musician. I feel it has really powerful tracks and loud ones at that. Loud in the sense that there is only one guitarist, one bassist, one drummer, one vocalist, and a tad bit of guitar overdubs. Otherwise, the album is very raw and hard hitting. Although I was never a huge fan of rap or rap lyrics in general, Zack De La Roche fits the band amazingly and raps on important social topics, as well as political ones. Their later works such as "Evil Empire", and "Battle of Los Angeles" are great records as well. What draws me to the band the most is the groove that the bassist incorporates into the tracks. It keeps the songs moving and he fits in great with Brad Wilk, the drummer of the band. Tom Morello's crazy guitar effects, and heavy riffs never cease to amaze me, and I simply cannot wait to hear more of his solo work or work with Street Sweeper Social Club. It should also be noted that although "Battle of Los Angeles" did not get as much attention as their self titled debut, the album still has one of my favorite Rage tracks of all time, "War Within a Breath". The band overall is a strong act, and although they might not be everyone's cup of tea, no one can deny that they are a powerful band and stood out in the 90's for their heavy, but groovy riffs, tight rhythm section, and its controversial vocals.

Take The Power Back- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-l01lOKj3k

Killing in the Name Of- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxk3c_SbWMg

War Within a Breath- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY5vTcLBnNk

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Ibanez GSR 200 Review

I picked up this bass guitar two years ago as my first bass. I attended a music school at the time and they needed a bass player for a couple of songs so I bought a bass and learned the songs. It should be noted that I only use the bass for practicing and recording. I don't play shows so it wouldn't know how it cuts through the live mix or anything of that nature. The bass is as heavy as my Charvette by Charvel so I would say around five to six pounds. It's not the heaviest bass I've played and since it weighs about the same as my Charvel, my shoulders don't hurt after and hour or two of playing. The bass has a cherry red finish which I like a lot and is quite striking. The neck is a maple with a rosewood fretboard and it's remarkably thinner than other bass necks. At the point in time when I bought bass I had been playing guitar for three years, mainly on my Charvel and my Epiphone SG 400. The transition was effortless in that respect. It felt like I was playing one of my guitars, just with thicker strings and a slightly longer neck width wise. I believe it's the curve of the neck that's smaller, making it easier to play that a chunkier neck that could be found on a Fender Jazz bass.

This bass is also my first instrument that required a 9 Volt battery. I tried to stay away from using instruments that required batteries at the time because I just felt they were another hassle or hindrance for me, but having an active bass provided to be useful when I needed to use its "bass booster" feature and onboard EQ. It has the master volume, bass booster, treble, and bass knobs for the EQ so it is easy to adjust your tone on the go. Since I was new to onboard EQ's, this blew my damn mind when I really started tinkering with it. The split coil and single pickup sounds alright. Seeing as how it's a budget bass, I wasn't expecting a lot in terms of the pickups. The way the pickups are placed, it lets you rest your thumb at the neck and bridge pickup. Since I believe they are ceramic pickups, the tone isn't great... but I hope at $200 you weren't expecting a Geddy Lee tone. I've plugged this into my Digitech RP255 guitar pedal and put it on a clean setting so I could record straight into my laptop for backing tracks. It sounds decently good, but nothing stellar.

The bass as a whole is a pretty good and it is fantastic like beginners so that they can test the waters and see if they really want to stick with it. The neck is smaller than most basses so it isn't a hassle, the pickups could be better, but are good for the price, the EQ is fun to mess around with to get a few different tones, the finish is stunning. I'd rate the bass a 7/10. If the pickups were a little bit better, I'd personally deem it a fantastic instrument. Regardless, I use this bass a lot and it has never caused me any issues in the two full years I have owned it. 

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The brand of your instrument does NOT matter

Price of your instrument

Recently today, I found a post on Reddit under r/Guitar (http://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/1l2d2z/im_sick_of_being_judged_for_the_name_on_my/), and thought I'd share my thoughts on it.

First and foremost, I understand that each musician likes different types of instrument brands, body shapes, wood type and more. For example, my friend Fil loves the look and feel of a Jackson Warrior guitar while I am not terribly fond of it. My drummer friend cannot stand the sight of my Neon Orange Charvette by Charvel, but I personally love it. The type of instrument a musician uses should not categorize them or diminish their value as a musician. Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave uses guitars he buys from pawnshops in his recordings. If I'm not mistaken, David Grohl from the Foo Fighters uses a cheap version of the Gibson ES-335 for the studio recordings of the Foo Fighters albums, while on tour he uses an actual Gibson DG-335, his signature model.

I understand that more expensive instruments TENDS to mean quality hardware and woods used, but that isn't everything. Companies like Squier and Sterling are increasing the quality of their products, thus making them extremely good instruments for their price range. The Sterling by Music Man S.U.B. Ray4  Bass Guitar sounded stunning when I played it a couple of weeks ago through a small Fender practice amp with the bass and treble knobs turned to neutral on the pedal. The Squire Vintage Modified Jazz Bass also sounded great to the tune of $299.99. I would certainly not be ashamed to walk the stage with those instruments at my disposal, and I don't think anyone else should either.

With all of that being said, it shouldn't matter what other people say about your instrument or the brand you use; it should be whether you like how like it. Do you like the tone you get out of it? Do you like the feel of the neck, the color of the body, the type of pickups in the guitar (or bass)? If so, then who the hell cares whether it's a Squier, Sterling, Fender, or Gibson? In my opinion, the ones who judge what instrument brand you use are the ones that are insecure about their own instrument and playing. Sure you could buy the Alex Lifeson Gibson model for $3000 dollars, and run it through a Marshall JCM 800 whilst using a Boss Distortion medal, a MXR Carbon Copy Delay and a MXR Phase 90 pedal, it doesn't mean you'll sound good. It just means you money to blow. It doesn't show that you have any real talent, other than picking out decent musical gear. You can spend ten thousand dollars on musical gear, but it doesn't mean you know how to play the instrument.

What should REALLY matter is if you can play the instrument to its fullest . Can you play your band's full setlist in one take without making any mistakes? Can you play a variation of it if your guitar string (or bass string) breaks on stage? Do you know what key to solo in if you are improvising? That's the stuff that truly matters, your musical prowess and technical ability. And most importantly, are you having fun playing your instrument. If so, then don't worry about what anyone else says, they don't know you, your instrument, or your musical tastes as well as you do. Play whatever brand of instrument you want to play, because at the end of the day, you make the final call on whether you like it or not, not anyone else. 

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Avenged Sevenfold- Hail To The King Album Review

A couple of months ago, Avenged Sevenfold released news that they were releasing a new album. It would be the first full album without the late drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. Many fans were distraught upon hearing the news about Jimmy's passing and they thought the band was going to break up. They eventually found Arin Illejay and the band was able to continue onwards. In various interviews, they said that this album was going to be completely different from all of their other records (What band DOESN'T say that?). They said they were trying to get a Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin feel for this album in various interviews. This was surprising considering they always seemed more influenced by heavier acts like Iron Maiden and Guns N Roses, but Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin WERE pretty heavy music acts, so I thought they were going to release a really good album. On Tuesday August 21st, the band decided to stream their full album on iTunes, and the following will be a track by track review of the album, followed by an overview.

1.      Shepherd of Fire- This is the opener to the album! It has a very good intro in my opinion and it Arin creates a nice buildup. It has a very old school metal feel to it I will admit that. I'm not a huge fan of the lyrics though. They seem really cheesy to me, but to each their own I suppose. The rhythm section in this song is superb and the song is overall not bad. The solo is very shreddy though, and has no real melody and is just mindless shredding to me. I felt the band could have opened up with a better track in my opinion. The track overall is a 5.5/10

2.      Hail To The King- The first single released for this album, as well as the album's self titled track. When I first heard this song, I really didn't like it. The drums completely sucked, and they were so basic, and the lyrics felt like they were bad Iron Maiden lyrics. After listening to the album as a whole a bit more, I've decided it fits the album, but it doesn't hide the fact that the drums aren't as technical as I first expected them to be. I wasn't a fan of the lead part that Synyster played under the rhythm, which was a very legato like riff. I felt it didn't fit the song during the verses, but it sounded good in the intro and in the buildups to the chorus. This is song is definitely going to be an Avenged Sevenfold staple. It has such a big chorus and it's pretty dynamic overall. I'd give it a 5/10.

3.      Doing Time- The first time I heard this song I thought I was listening to Revelation Theory. The intro for this song is a dead ringer for Rev Theory's single "Hell Yeah". I'll supply the link below with "Hell Yeah" as well as a timestamp as to where the similarities are. With that being said, this track is pretty solid. I really like, the drums fit the track really well and the song overall is really cool. The solo wasn't has mindless as other have been, and the little overdubs Syn does fit the song so well. 7.5/10. 

4.      This Means War- This is another stripped down track, similar to Hail to the King. Arin gets a LITTLE bit fancy on the rhythm, but otherwise this sounds like a very old school metal track from the 80's. Syn went crazy on the whammy bar, and Zacky and Johnny, the rhythm guitar player and bassist respectively, keep a great groove together. The track is a 6.5/10 for me. It was bolder and sounded better to me than Hail to the King.

5.      Requiem- This song, in my opinion, should have been the opener to the album. This is yet another heavy chunky track. Syn changes it up in the solo with a wah pedal, something I don't hear him using too much in his playing. The track opens up with chant in Latin, followed by a track that I feel could belong on City of Evil. It's really good in my opinion and it's starting to grow on me. I wish they filled out the high end with keys or some sort of orchestration because that would make it ten times better! 6.75/10

6.      Crimson Day- Unlike the other tracks, this one starts off with a single guitar with reverb on a clean tone as well as a bass. The track eases into a very soft rock feel, but it builds up as the tracks goes on. There are keys placed in this tracks so it fills out the high end of the song, making it feel much fuller and louder overall. I really liked the fact that the clean riff was played in the chorus as well because it sounds really good there and even the solo had a good melody going for it. This solo reminds me of the stuff that'd appear on the band's self titled album, and that's a good thing! The bass can actually be heard for once, as opposed to being overshadowed by the guitars, and Johnny takes advantage of this by play a smooth bass line that shows he just doesn't follow the root notes. 8.5/10

7.      Heretic- The drums get better on this track. Arin starts to discretely add 16th note triplets on the bass. I'm happy this track retained a little bit of the harmonies that I've come to expect from Avenged Sevenfold over the years. The bass is large and thumpy on this track, more so than on previous tracks, and the melody riff is a bit edgy, which is good for this song I think. About half way through the song, it goes into a "Seize the Day" kind of groove. It's pretty cool, but some would think that it was kind of sporadic and doesn't fit the song. The clean guitar that uses reverb sounds out of place on this track, but it quickly goes back into the main groove of this track with another Syn solo. Lyrically, this song was kind of odd to me, but then again, most of the lyrics of this album have thrown me off. I will say this though; the ending to this song is really cool for no clear reason to me. 7/10

8.      Coming Home- If I could only download one song off this album this would be the song. This the song I think everyone has been expecting from Avenged Sevenfold. It is so loud and is immensely reminiscent of something that belongs on City of Evil. The drums have finally kicked in and Arin can show what he can do on the kit. It's a hard rock track for sure, but Arin doesn't go all out as I expected him to. On an even brighter note, Syn's crazy solos finally have a place where they don't sound like they were randomly thrown in. The track is really consistent and is my favorite track off of the album. For all of you guitar nuts that love to hear Syn solo, Syn has a minute and fifteen seconds of a solo. Lyrically, this song is fantastic, and I was even able to catch a little bit of Johnny Christ's bass fills and interludes in the song which give it great depth. They stand out in the chorus and sound amazing. This track is a 9/10. If it had harmonies with Synyster or Zacky, or keys section that could buildup to Synyster's solo it'd be a perfect track in my opinion as far as this album is concerned.

9.      Planets- Matt sounds very gritty on this track, and they return to their heavy metal feel. Arin does have a double bass section within the song, right before the choruses that give it an old school Avenged Sevenfold to it. Out of all of the "old school metal tracks" on this album, this is probably my favorite. I like the drums, they sound better and much more natural. It sounded like Arin really felt the groove of this track and got into it. I can definitely see this track becoming popular with Avenged fans. There are interestingly placed horns in this track, which I am all for, make the track sound louder and in your face. But, I personally can't see myself listening to the track on repeat. It felt very repetitive at some points. 6.5/10

10.  Acid Rain- This is their ballad rock song, and it's how I seen Avenged close their albums (Fiction closed Nightmare and Dear God closed the self titled).It picks up and drops at certain point, but it is overall a decent track. I didn't quite follow the track too well, but I really like the keys and piano that were placed into the song. Syn also solos beautifully and soulfully in this track, thus making the song come together since an out of place solo can ruin a song. It was an overall great way to end the album.6.75/10

The Album Overall:
This album is completely different from anything Avenged Sevenfold has done. They've done hard rock records, metalcore records, but never an album that had an old school metal feel. For I'd say fifty percent of album, Avenged Sevenfold stuck to their word about the album and how it would have a heavy metal feel to it, as well an old school metal feel. It felt as so, mainly because of the drums and how it guided the songs. I tried to place a lot of emphasis on Arin in this review since he is the most recent member of the band, and he has to take the place of The Rev on the drums.

Like everyone, I expected more out of Arin on this album, but I fully understand why he played as he did on the album. The album wasn't meant to show off the drums and the fact they had a new drummer, but the fact that they were back and that they were able to recover from the passing of their former drummer to a certain extent. The drums, and the album as a whole got considerably better as each song passed. I wasn't a big fan of songs like "Shepherd of Fire" or "This Means War", but things really picked up in the second half of the album with "Planets" and "Coming Home". I sincerely wish Zacky and Syn retained their job as backing vocalists because they accented Matt's voice amazingly well, and there were some parts of the record where I thought their backing vocals would be perfect. I also feel some keyboard playing, or rather, the addition of keys would make the songs sound fuller and much more dynamic. Lastly, I do wish Syn didn't play as many 'mindless' shreddy solos that have no real purpose other than to say "Hey I can play fast and sweep!". He is a great guitarist, and has shown that he knows his way around the fretboard album after album, but I wish they had more substance and fit the song more, but that's just my 2 cents. Overall, this record to me is a 6.75/10. The tracks kind of started to blend together after a while. There are stand out tracks like "Doing Time", "Crimson Day", "Coming Home" and even "Acid Rain", but past that, they sounded kind of bland.

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Band of the Week #5- System of a Down

History:
System of a Down got together after singer Serj Tankian and guitar player/ backing vocalist Daron Malakian formed a band called Soil, which was later revamped to create System of a Down. Shavo Odadjian, the band's bass player, was originally the band's rhythm guitar player up until he switched. The band also went through a drummer or two until they found John Dolmayan. The name itself was originally "Victim of a Down", but Shavo thought that changing their Victim to System would be better for fans to find their music since they'd be closer to their musical idols such as Slayer.

The band released a few demo tapes that got popularity as the internet age went on. They played shows in popular clubs and bars, which eventually garnered them the attention of Rick Rubin and with him; they were able to record their debut self titled album, as well as getting signed to American Records. They had decent success, but their second album "Toxicity" gained insane amounts of success, getting them to #1 on the Billboards. Songs that stood out were Deer Dance and Toxicity, as well as Chop Suey, due to its release around 9/11. Despite all of this, they still received massive airplay on MTV and VH1. Their third album "Steal This Album!", was actually leaked on the internet prior to its release. Unfinished versions of the songs were leaked, and the band released a statement, saying that they weren't the final versions of the songs. They subsequently released the album once all the tracks were finished. Their fourth album and fifth albums were double albums that were released six months apart from each other. They were "Mesmerize" and "Hypnotize" respectively, and they released in the year 2004. Mesmerize yielded tracks like "BYOB" and "Cigaro", while Hypnotize yielded "Lonely Day" and "Vicinity  of Obscenity". Both of these albums were great in their own right, and they put themselves up there with the Beatles and Guns N Roses for releasing two albums within the same year. After extensive touring for each one of their albums, they announced a hiatus which they have yet to completely come off of.

My Thoughts:

System of a Down is a pretty controversial band. They're lyrics discuss political issues like America, the Armenian Genocide, and what politicians are doing, as well as sexual topics, drugs, and a lot of other controversial matters. With that being said, they are great musicians and I love their musicianship. Serj has a one of a kind voice, Daron does great guitar playing and has a distinctive voice for backing vocals, Shavo is monster bass player and I love his playing style, and John hits really damn hard while maintaining great grooves. I know of a lot of people that don't necessarily like SOAD for things that they've done and sang about, but to me it's not as controversial. I really like SOAD for what they sing about and how the music is made, it's really simple at times, and really in your face at other moments. Songs like "Deer Dance", "Lonely Day", and "Chop Suey" exemplify that, as well as some of their older material like "Sugar", and "Shimmy"

Fun Fact: Serj, Daron, and Shavo all went to school together at Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School, but since they were all different ages, they never all met until later on life.

Sugar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vBGOrI6yBk

Deer Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkkOQjK71Ss

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Bastion

Background:
Bastion was my first casualty of the Steam Summer Sale. I picked it up for $3.75 I believe, purely for the same reason I picked up Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams a couple months back, it looked visually stunning and seemed like a great RPG. After various laptop issues and driver problems, I finally got around to playing this gem, and after finishing the game, I can honestly say it is one of the best isometric RPG Games I have played so far.

Features:

One of the coolest features about this game is that you have a narrator. He doesn't just narrate the storyline and the overall plot. He narrates what you do like evading enemies, smashing Windbags, and falling to your doom. The voice actor, Logan Cunningham does a fantastic job with the narration and very addicting voice that makes you want to listen to him more. He is also quite humorous and modern, making him a bright and lively narrator. I recall I was smashing a lot of boxes with the Cael Hammer (which is totally badass by the way) and he said "The Kid is raging". 

Another stunning feature to the game is that the level grows as you progress through it. What I mean by that is that as you walk, pieces of the level start to appear and form pathways for you to walk on. It reminded me of the LEGO® games like Indiana Jones and Star Wars when I first saw it. I find this idea pretty cool and it's unique as well. The developers over at Supergiant Games were able to make even the most basic concept of presenting a level and make it look stunning and intuitive. 

The game opens up with you, a voiceless character simply named "The Kid", waking up and attempting to get to the Bastion, what I presume to be a safe haven. You make it there and meet an old man who identifies himself as the narrator. He explains that some catastrophic event known as 'The Calamity' has occurred that has wiped everything out and it's your job to fix it. That is basically the premise of the game without giving too much away. The game itself is visually stunning. Everything was hand painted and it has a very Borderlands look to it because of that. Nothing looks out of place and it amazes me that the whole Bastion universe was built in two years. 

Bastion's menu is also customized to two groups of people. The first is the normal campaign mode; you have two lives, simply dubbed "Story Mode". The second mode is "No Sweat Mode" which is a much more relaxed mode. You are given an infinite amount of lives and the purpose of this is so that you can enjoy the campaign aspect of the game without worrying about surviving. This was a pleasant feature, but I feel that surviving through the levels themselves is part of the RPG itself, and casting it aside and giving the player infinite lives kind of takes away from that. Upon beating the game, you are given two more modes, New Game Plus, and Score Attack mode. New Game Plus unlocks all the buildings you earned from the previous run through of the game, and it gives you all the weapons and XP earned from the previous run through as well. I loved this feature because upon beating the game, I instantly had the urge to play it again. Score Attack mode unlocks everything and makes you go through the whole campaign while giving you a score as you progress.

Look at all of these options! GAH!

Gameplay:

The gameplay itself is fluid and I had no issues with terrible button placement or any lag for that matter. It is gamepad compatible so just plug in your Xbox 360 controller and you're set. The enemies each look different, memorable even, and the game increases the difficulty slowly so you aren't overwhelmed by tough enemies too soon. The Safe Haven known as "The Bastion" surprisingly has a lot to offer. For starters, you can build six buildings that can be upgraded over time (a very common RPG feature), and it also has flashbacks, referred to as "Who Knows Where", where you learn about the story of another character via narration. You fight off waves of enemies to hear the next part of the story, and once you defeat all 20 waves of enemies, you are provided with the background story to a new character. I felt the was this feature was presented was really cool and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This game took me by surprise when it comes to its weaponry. You are at first given the Cael Hammer and then the Fang Repeater, an eight shot machine gun. As you progress through the campaign, you are provided with new weapons like a carbine, a bow and arrow, a mortar strike, and my personal favorite, dual pistols. They each work in different manners and useful to various degrees. For example, in a forest area, you're better off with the flamethrower or Cael hammer than a machete. You are allowed to carry two weapons at a time, but you can easily switch between the two by pressing "X" or "B".

Plot:

Now for the most important part of this review.... the storyline, a part I purposely left for last because it adds suspense! I will admit at first the storyline is a little bit confusing, but the developers and story writers over at SuperGiant make sure to tie up all of their plotlines, making sure no story is untold and there are no unfinished parts of the plot. The plot itself isn't the greatest plot in the world I will say that. It was a good storyline, and I personally really liked it a lot because it felt a little post apocalyptic without all the zombies and horror (Not a big fan horror fan). I do feel that they could have done more with the storyline, but I guess it was better to cut it off before they added more things to it that could have potentially ruined the story. I overall really like this game and I'd give it a 7/10. The features and the look of the game were amazing, but the storyline could have been a bit better and longer. 

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