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Reviews

A TRACK-BY-TRACK REVIEW OF THE GOD OF WAR: BLOOD AND METAL EP

 Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 11:30am by

I’m not sure what the consensus is on track-by-track reviews of albums these days, but given that Roadrunner’s God of War: Blood and Metal EP – a soundtrack to the latest installment of the popular video game – features six songs by six different artists, it seems only fair to give each song its due, rather than consider the release as a cohesive whole. And so, without further bullshit:

  1. KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, “MY OBSESSION” – Sorry to be lazy, but I just wrote about this song on Friday, so I’m going to re-print what I said then: “I’m really running out of things to say about Killswitch Engage. I mean, I don’t know how I’d describe this song as anything other than ‘a Killswitch Engage song.’ They made two brilliant records that I love to death with every ounce of myself, and then two records that I thought were fine but I don’t really listen to. I really think that they need to figure out some way to mix it up a little bit in the near future.” Whether or not you want to own this song will really come down to whether or not you’re a KSE completist.
  2. TRIVIUM, “SHATTERING THE SKIES ABOVE” - A natural progression from Shogun and the debut of new drummer Nick Augusto, this is actually one of the heavier Trivium songs in recent memory. There’s no Heafy-as-Hetfield vocals here; he’s often doing classic death metal vox in a much lower register than I can ever recall in a past Trivium track, and Augusto actually gets to use some blast beats at one point, which means he’s already cooler than Travis Smith. There’s also some nice, super-fluid guitar solos.
  3. DREAM THEATER, “RAW DOG” – This is actually an instrumental track, which is to say it’s basically a Liquid Tension Experiment album, which is to say that it’s simultaneously incredibly masturbatory and incredibly awesome. Does anyone ever really miss James LaBrie when he’s not around? Doesn’t it seem like he is to Dream Theater as Meg is to the Griffins on Family Guy?
  4. TAKING DAWN, “MADNESS” - Okay, so when this song started, I was like “Wow this rocks!” And then the vocals kicked in. And therein lies the problem with pretty much every Taking Dawn song I’ve heard so far: vocalist/guitarist Chris Babbitt is weighin’ these dudes down. His voice sounds thin and strained, his melodies are unmemorable, and his lyrics have all the poetry of a third grader’s book report (He seems to mostly be quoting 300 here). If he stuck to his axe and hired someone way better to be the band’s front man, Taking Dawn would be a truly righteous rethrash band. As it stands, I’m waiting for them to start their own equivalent of Liquid Tension Experiment.
  5. OPETH, “THROAT OF WINTER” - You may have guessed this song is the best reason to own this album, and you’d be right. It’s not heavy at all; if you’re one of those idiots who doesn’t like Damnation, you will not like this. Oh well. Your loss. This track is beautiful and brilliant.
  6. MUTINY WITHIN, “THE END” – This isn’t a radical departure from anything on the band’s self-titled debut, which was just released. If you like that album, you’re going to like this song; if you don’t, you won’t.

So there ya have it. The album is going to be available tomorrow as a digital download, or as part of a super-mega-edition of God of War III later this month. My advice would be, if digital retailers offer the release on a song-by-song basis, take the good and ditch the bad and just be grateful for some new shit from a couple of cool bands.

(two and a half out of five horns)

-AR

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  • Coop

    I believe this is only $2.99? Fuck yeah, definitely worth the price.

  • soy el niño más bonito

    “Doesn’t it seem like he is to Dream Theater as Meg is to the Griffins on Family Guy?”

    hit the nail on the head.

  • WowWee!

    Its only $2 and I got it yesterday. Fuck what’s wrong with me?

  • MSalonen

    Poor Jame LaBrie, haha. So true, though.

    He doesn’t even get any writing credits anymore, which most likely means he either doesn’t write anything, or they don’t even let him.

    • brian roach

      He wrote something on ‘Systematic Chaos’ at least the lyrics to one song.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Glenn-Pillsbury/641369365 Glenn Pillsbury

        Which was the exception that proves the rule…

        • Cameron

          And that song sucked.

  • Ziltoid

    he’s often doing classic death metal vox

    Haha, no. Learn what classic death metal is.

    • http://www.fuckoffmyself.blogspot.com Jedsan

      I thought Trivium was classic death metal? Wtf? So what is it then?

      Jk.

    • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

      My name is HsH and I approve this message.

      • Andy Synn

        Strictly speaking he didn’t say that Trivium were a “classic death metal band” (they are though. They invented metal. Both as a musical style and as elements on the periodic table). just that he’s dropped his register into a death-metal style. I question this immediately, but still, accuracy is important.

        I haven’t heard the song, nor am I too bothered to do so, but setting up straw figures to knock them down is SO last millenium.

      • http://thenumberoftheblog.com/ groverXIII

        Whoa, Hammer, you actually agreed with Zilty for once. What’s next, peace in the Middle East?

        Also… “Please Hammer, don’t hurt ‘em!”

        • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

          ZIIING!!

          I love you Grover.

    • Dysenteric

      Yeah, I can’t believe he said that either.

  • http://thenumberoftheblog.com DemiGodRaven

    That’s pretty much what I expected out of it, still have no clue how any of this relates to God Of War, but whatever. I guess it’s a nifty tie in.

  • Sammy

    I’d say Labrie is more like an NFL backup quarterback. He’s there, somewhere, in case you need him. But you almost never do.

  • Caspar Colderson

    Ok, I’ll be that shithead: Stop naming songs ‘The End’! it’s probably the most used song-title ever. And yes, derivations of it counts, too, so no ‘In The End’ or ‘Until The End’ or whatever bullshit! Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!

  • Andy Synn

    So on one EP you’ve effectively got three bands whose singer’s are “weighing them down” (well put).

    Howard Jones – insipid and uninspired
    James LaBrie – all technique, nothing else interesting
    Chris Babbitt – nothing interesting at all

    I gave the KsE song a listen and it does have one thing going for it, the bridge, which is nicely written and played and doesn’t have Howard over-emoting over it all the time.

    Unfortunately then I realised that the playing and guitar tone are direct rip-offs of Porcupine Tree, which ruins the experience (of KsE, never of PT).

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Byron-Ward/797615124 Byron Ward

      I suppose you’ve never realised that Porcupine Tree and Opeth have a lot of similarities between them in that regard then?

      • Andy Synn

        I’m not entirely certain what you mean by this, some clarificiation would be good…

        But I think you mean that Opeth and Porcupine Tree share some similarities?

        Which is fair of course (and the reason i’m not as big a fan of PT’s latest effort, too many of the riffs and tones on that are direct cribs from Opeth and/or Meshuggah, whom Wilson has admitted to holding in high regard).

        I assume by “in that regard then” you mean to suggest that the playing styles and guitar tones between Opeth and Porcupine Tree are direct rip-offs? As if you read my point I was saying that the fact that the bridge-end part of the Killswitch song sounds almost EXACTLY like a section stolen from Porcupine Tree.

        To my knowledge Opeth have never directly cribbed a sound and style from PT?

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Byron-Ward/797615124 Byron Ward

          What I meant was, yes there are a lot of similarities between Opeth and Porcupine Tree’s sound (Largely due to Wilson & Akerfeldt spending so much time working together, I guess).

          What I was mainly going at, in specific was the tone in the bridge end section you mentioned. Mainly the “mellotron” effect/tone used. As I’m sure you’re aware, this is used in a lot of Opeth and Porcupine Tree songs. I just found it weird that you felt it was a rip off, when both Opeth and Porcupine Tree have used the same effect in a lot of their songs already. On top of this, I also felt the riff in general was a rather generic one, as opposed to a specifically written or timed piece.

          Im a big fan of both Opeth and PT, I just found it odd that you thought it was a direct rip off, when both Opeth and PT have been doing it for so long already. If you follow what I’m trying to say?

          • Andy Synn

            No, that’s cool.

            The mellotron effect (or just the use of mellotrons) is a big thing in Opeth/PT both these days I guess, it’s just that the specific chords and progression used by KsE seems almost EXACTLY the same as PT.

            Clearly of course it could simply be an honest case of one artist writing something similar to another one without being aware of it, but I am suspicious in this case. Not really with any reason in truth, but still… suspicious…

  • http://last.fm/user/snagon Snagon

    i can live without this

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Glenn-Pillsbury/641369365 Glenn Pillsbury

      Me too. The snippet of the DT track I heard on Roadrunner’s site was very blah. They’re still descending into mediocrity in my opinion.

  • joshkid

    I’m just sitting here in my corner and waiting for Lamb of Fucking God to release their new track that they recorded for the Iron Man 2 game. And nothing else matters…

  • Dysenteric

    I suppose the best thing is that (fingers crossed) none of these tracks are going to be actually playing in the game itself. I do NOT want to hear Mutiny Within’s song at the last boss battle or something.

    If that sort of thing happens, I’m going to snap the disc into smithereens, put the pieces in two envelopes, shit in the envelopes and mail them to Sony and Roadrunner, one chocolate surprise each.

  • Alex_P

    I might be the only Dream Theater fan who prefers songs where James LaBrie sings. I can’t really stand DT’s instrumentals, because they tend not to advance the album at all. I just feel they’re better when they’re writing songs for a vocalist.

  • ferocious_fetus

    I’d say this is the best Trivium song I’ve ever head…of course I haven’t heard very many because they usually sucked/ annoyed me greatly. This however, I can tolerate.
    New drummer + Heafy’s return of Capharnaum style vocals seems like a winning combo.

  • Baldish

    no physical release(aside form the box set as I have a 360), no buy

  • JRTME

    1. KSE- My Obession- A slickly produced KSE song. I agree nothing really new here. It doesn’t suck but it’s nothing special either.

    2. Trivium- Shattering The Skies Above- I don’t get how they are groundbreaking anything by going back to the way they sound on their second album. This isn’t a bad song either. But I have a couple issues with it. A. The production and overall sound of the Track is next to awful. B. The Solos: No thought went into the first one just wankery. The second harmony solo isn’t bad but kinda cliche.

    3. Dream Theater- Raw Dog: Another just ok Instrumental from DT. I don’t agree with the statement that they are better without James singing. I think The melodies that are written for James in recent have been kinda lame. That’s why their older stuff is better the melodies he sung were better.

    4. Taking Dawn- This is Madness- This not a bad song. I also disagree with his vocals being bad. I think they are fine. I think the issue is they are little on the loud side for this kind of music. As far as lyrics I think the theme is supposed to be about the game.

    5. Opeth- The Throat Of Winter- Well it’s Opeth for sure. I guess I was hoping for them to rip it up on this “blood and metal” track. It’s a good track but I would like to hear them tear it up again. They went back to that acoustic formula again and putt that band pass filter and Mike’s vocals again. The highlight being the acoustic solo.

    6. Mutiny Within- The End- This song takes Song 1 and Song 2 and puts them into one song. I’m always waiting for this band to do something great. It’s more of the same from these guys.

  • Gospel of Madness

    Personally, I couldn’t give a shit about any of the bands on this release.
    Having been a rabid Dream Theater fan since Images and Words, when I see people bashing Labrie, I just remind myself that most of these people download music illegally, Think Lamb of God and Opeth are EPIC, and consider Slipknot to be a metal band.
    We live in times where no one has any standards when it comes to actual metal, case in point being the piles of heaping shit that pass as “metal” and praised on sites like this one.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tim-Shanks/1273561133 Tim Shanks

      wat

  • Joe

    “Personally, I couldn’t give a shit about any of the bands on this release.
    Having been a rabid Dream Theater fan since Images and Words”

    I’m confused by these two statements.

    I personally love me some Opeth and I do like Lamb of God. I’d be amazed to hear what you think is good metal. Cue lists of unrecognizable names that anyone could make off the top of their head.