Christian Metal: Oxymoronic?

Just like the seasons, my music tastes tend to go in cycles. During the spring and the fall I like to jam out to a little classic rock via Led Zeppelin, and during the summer I like to jam to a little Kanye West and some hip-hop, but it is during the winter months I love to listen to metal.

Recently released album, Dreamer, by Christian Metalcore band Haste the Day has got my attention for this winter, and the gettin' is good. Most people don't look at Christianity and immediately think Metallica or the ironically named metal group Lamb of God, but a majority of bands are breaking into this genre of "Christian Metal."

Haste the Day, Norma Jean and As I Lay Dying are just a few of the many bands in this genre. These bands are reaching out to a niche of people that was previously left untapped by the metal market, and kudos to them.

But back to just the metal aspect. Dreamer, by Haste the Day, is a good album, I'm not going to say it is the pinnacle of metal or anything, but it has been keeping my attention for the past week, (It was released a week ago). My favorite track from this album is "Invoke Reform."

So now that I am back in the groove of metal, I had to find more albums, and in my search I did find an excellent metal album that I recommend everyone should check out, and just a disclaimer, this is not a Christian album.

All That Remains' Overcome was released over a month ago, so I know I'm pretty late getting to it, but better late than ever. This album has a great mesh of heavy and light metal that I crave. Being a former piano player, I was taught that the differences between sound volumes in a song allow people to tell the really good parts from the ones that are just leading up to those parts, and this album features that heavily.

The album has great guitar solos and melodic rhythms that have other commuters on the highway wondering why my head is jerking in such a weird manner. The best track on this album, to me, is "A Song for the Hopeless," and is worth a download for any yearning metal fan out there.

VG1: Fallout 3

The last major game released by Bethesda Softworks was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and that game, released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, went on to win several game of the year awards in 2004.

Four years later Bethesda is being talked about again as their highly anticipated action role-playing game Fallout 3 will hit shelves on the 28th. Its preview at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, as most people know it, garnered several awards that mostly consisted of "Best of Show". The game took home both Gamespot and IGN's "Best Of" awards.

Fallout 3 takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States in the year 2277. Your character will be assembled from the ground up through the use of several different in game mechanics (ie. as a child you will receive a "You're Special Book" that will let you determine your skill set). After creating your character, you are put into the story of the game.

The story goes as follows: Your (characters) father, voiced by Liam Neeson, wanders out of Vault 101, which is a nuclear fallout shelter that serves Washington D.C., into the vass wasteland that was previously the US. Your job as this character, is to find your father, and meet several different organizations and other interesting characters throughout the course of the game.

This game, which will be released for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, is the first game in the Fallout game in the series NOT to be released exclusively for a PC. I am not going to say check this one out or anything like that, because any game I talk about in this list is worth checking out and from this point on, will just be implied! Make sure you check out the feature video I included below (acquired from YouTube).

(Next up....... PS3 exclusive, Little Big Planet)

Fall Video Game Lineup Special

Continuing on with the "Year of the Video Game" theme, I will be releasing a feature about an upcoming or recently released video game every other day for the next two weeks or so, (Other features will be included, but this is one you can count on). No video game will be featured today, because I need time to gather information, but starting tomorrow, with Fallout 3, the features will keep-a-flowing. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this as much as I will enjoy doing the information, so be ready tomorrow, when the first feature hits.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Movie

Recently Spider-Man film director Sam Raimi has expressed interest in transforming the World of Warcraft video game into a big screen production. Sam Raimi, who is signed on to simultaneously direct the 4th and 5th Spider-Man movies, was quoted with the following.

"In the world of video games, it's usually more of an environment or a scenario, not character-based ... but they certainly could [be better]. There's 'World of Warcraft' -- what an awesome video game! It has such great, adventurous characters in it and such fantastic landscapes and rules. ... You could make a brilliant 'World of Warcraft' movie -- as fine as any of the best superhero movies -- if you had the right writers and directors."

Nothing has been confirmed about the movie, this is all just hype coming from the quote of Sam Raimi. So for those of you who think a WoW movie is on the horizon,

Year of the Video Game

Recently my blog focus has been primarily on video games, but unfortunately, or fortunately I should be saying, this week is no different.

12:01 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2008, marked the release of a long awaited title for nerds like me, Fable II. This action role-playing game places you in the foots of a character I have come to know as Sparrow, and in this game you control everything he does.

Fable II gives you the ability to make life decisions, be they good or evil, and on my first play through of this game, I am going to be the evil person, and will give one example of a "life changing decision". After clearing the road of Thag the Bandit, you receive a key to free two people who have been taken captive by Thag. You have the decision to either fight off another bandit and free the slaves, or hand over the key to the bandit and take your first steps towards evildom.

I'm sure in the coming week this game will take up much of my time, and for any of you XBox 360( sorry PS3 owners) this is one you should pick up.

Shocktober, The End

I just completed Dead Space, and man was it a game. It only took about 12 hours to complete, so renting it may be the better option for some people. Great story, great combat, great "atmosphere". It's just a good game. So if you own a PS3 or Xbox 360, playing this game is a must!

Shocktober, The Beginning.

I am not a fan of the survival/horror genre, I'm a scardie pants. So call it a miracle or something that I have been so intrigued by latest survival/horror game, Dead Space.

Dead Space places you in the shoes of Isaac, a engineer for a futuristic society that is a sent on mission to discover what happened to the non-communicative, "planet cracking" space ship, the Ishimura. Whooo, that was a mouthful. Now, a little backstory.

In this futuristic society, earth has exhausted all of its resources, so it has turned to the stars by cracking apart planets and harvesting the non-renewable resources waiting inside. Well, on this routine mission, all communications are stopped with the most successful of these planet cracking space ships. So there you go, you've got the back story.

Now, for the story itself. Apparently, there is an alien race buried deep within the earth that is using some kind of "marker" to alter peoples minds and make them go crazy and kill each other. Then they take over their dead bodies, and are turned into what Isaac knows as, the Necromorphs. The Necromorphs are the primary antagonist throughout the game.

Well, this game is good at being scary. Isaac is on a dark powered down ship in the middle of space with horribly mutated dead bodies waiting around every corner, fun fun. And that isn't sarcasm, this game is loaded with fun. Isaac isn't a soldier, so he doesn't use guns, instead he uses engineering equipment to plow his way through any unlucky necromorph, but that isn't as easy as it sounds.

The Necromorphs are impervious to shots in the head and torso, so you've got to use what Electronic Arts (the developer of the game) are calling "strategic dismemberment". So you have to shoot off these aliens appendages, limb by limb, until they lay at your feet in a bloody heap.

I have played through the first three chapters of the game, and the story is great, I'm not going to give away in a big spoilers, but I will update in Shocktober: The End, after I finish this game. The game is available on PS3 and Xbox 360 and is rated M for mature, please also note, this game might make you soil yourself. Depends are handy. AND MAKE SURE YOU CHECK OUT THE TRAILER I HAVE POSTED BELOW!

Scary Movie...

Cloverfield was the last scary movie that I went to the theater, and ironically, it was shot in the same manner as the scary movie I saw this weekend, Quarantine. In this "camera is a part of the action" thriller, an unidentified disease is plaguing an apartment complex in Los Angeles. The movie starts out as a news team consisting of a reporter and cameraman shadow two firefighters at the local firestation.

Eventually the alarm goes off in the firestation, and not wanting to miss the action, the news team follows. After arriving at the apartment complex late at night to find the tenants downstairs worried about a woman upstairs who let out a blood curdling scream, the horror soon ensues.

There are some really cool effects in the movie, one of my favorite being the cameraman beating one of the "infected" victims to death with the camera, you are able to repeatedly see the camera smash against their face, and it's oh so cool.

This movie is definitely worth going to see, and it will shock your pants off. If you have $8 to spare, and want to be scared, go and see this one.

DiCaprio is Back

Leonardo DiCaprio has not been seen on screen in two years, the last film he starred in was masterpiece "The Departed." On Friday this long drought will end as new film, Body of Lies, places DiCaprio in the lead role.

DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a CIA operative who uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan (Rotten Tomatoes, 2008). While working in Jordan, Ferris comes into contact with CIA head of Jordanian intelligence Ed Hoffman, a man whom Ferris must gain the trust of to continue his expedition in Jordan.

This, along with "Appaloosa," are some of the movies I've been waiting on for the fall film season. If DiCaprio's last film is (The Departed) is any indication of how this and his future work will be, then I expect that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the acting community. Not just a guest star on Growing Pains, but a top-notch actor.

If you look at some of his more recent films- The Departed, Blood Diamond, the Aviator, Gangs of New York- it's easy to say that DiCaprio already is top-notch, and at his young age, will continue to be.
(Image obtained from The New Yorker website)

Politics Schmolotics

If you haven't watched an episode of Saturday Night Live this semester, then you may want to check out NBC's website so that you can get a little update. If you haven't seen SNL alum's Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin, then you are missing some comedy gold. Her highly satirized version of Palin is so hilarious because she uses actual quotes of Palin, and shows the American public how odd the things are that Palin says in debates, interviews, etc.

The most recent skit (image above), was a parody of the Vice Presidential debate, and Fey nailed all of Palin's little quirks, mannerisms, and pronunciation perfectly. The first line by Fey, "Can I call you Joe? Because I've practiced a couple of zingers where I call you Joe," sets the tone for the rest of the skit.

Instead of answering the questions directly in the skit, she avoided them similarly to the way Palin would, but more outright. The moderator would ask for her rebuttal, by saying, "Would you like to respond?" and Palin would respond by saying, "No Thanks."

I'm sure that every episode this season will feature some skit about Palin, and if McCain is elected, I'm sure that she will be parodied for years to come.....almost makes me wish I was republican.

Paper Trail is worth the paper.

In today's age of illegally downloaded music, iTunes, and even Wal-Mart's single track purchasing service, there really isn't much use for buying albums. Gone are the days of the 12" and 7" vinyl albums, having been replaced by compact disc and MP3's. In today's commercial society, people don't listen to albums, they listen to singles, and download those singles accordingly.

Maybe the artist notice this trend as well. Even though artist still produce full albums, there are those few set tracks that they really worked hard on so that they will get radio play, and maybe end up selling a half-ass album based on the popularity of that single song.

This week I have listened to an album and in doing so, was fascinated to find out that this one is actually worth purchasing.

T.I.'s Paper Trail is a major step up from his previous works, it is probably exponentially better than either T.I. vs T.I.P and King, and is quite a bit better than his previous "best" album, Urban Legend.

Featuring guest such as Rihanna, Ludacris, Usher, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Jay Z, T.I. has really put together quite an album. Don't think that T.I. has overused guest stars though, because the majority of his songs, he is performing alone.

The popular hit single "Whatever You Like" is one of the catchiest on the CD, I know that it is commercial and that it is branded just to be popular, but that is what makes the song good, if a song sounds good, and it makes you want to dance, it must be good.

My favorite song, and probably the best on the CD, is the song directly after "Whatever You Like." The song "No Matter What" has a very good sound to it and also has great lyrics. One of my favorite lines from the song is "You let the blogsites and the magazines tell it" and I'm telling it like it is.

The last three songs of the album, one of them featuring John Legend, are at a slowed down tempo, and all feature piano (which I love). It is a good end to an even better album, and this one folks, is worth your time and your money.