Author Archives: Joe

January 22, 2011

The State of MLB Video Games

By Joe

The Show franchise stands as the best of the current crop of MLB games.

2010 was the first year since 2002 where I did not purchase a new video game baring the Major League Baseball license.  I’m not sure if there was one particular reason but I was surprised with myself that I just did not have the desire to get a new one.  Perhaps this ties in with my previous post about my feelings on video games in general and my lack of interest, but I always felt that my baseball obsession was enough to overcome that.  Maybe it was because the home town team, the Boston Red Sox, had just completed a rather drab off season and appeared to be stuck in neutral as the season approached.  Or maybe it was just the product itself hadn’t advanced enough in a year to warrant another purchase.

Whatever the reason, my apathy towards the idea of purchasing a new baseball title did not return completely this year.  In all likelihood, I will make a new purchase in 2011 and it will likely be for the latest title in the MLB The Show series put out each year by Sony.

The Show has been my franchise of choice over the past few years ever since Take Two Entertainment acquired the exclusive third party publishing rights to the MLB brand, thus putting a dagger into my preferred franchise of the time EA Sports’ MVP Baseball*.  This agreement did not apply to first party publishers so Sony was able to keep putting out a new game each year, which was a great thing because Take Two’s title has been consistently mediocre each and every year.

A great franchise that died too early.

*I always felt the consumer lost out big time with the exclusive rights deals brokered for sports games in the middle part of the last decade.  Take Two’s acquisition was largely a response to EA securing exclusive publishing rights to the NFL brand, thus killing off Take Two’s fantastic NFL 2k series and leaving gamers with Madden as their lone option.  In the span of a year, my two favorite sports titles were no more.

The Show has risen in quality over the years and has even surpassed the level of the final MVP game, though who knows where that franchise would have been now had it been allowed to exist.  The Show shamelessly ripped off MVP’s pitcher meter, a system where the player has to time his or her button presses with the release points of a pitcher’s delivery for optimal pitch execution.  This is a good thing as the pitch meter has been the single best addition to the baseball video game since the behind the plate hitting camera.  The Show has been able to add considerable depth to its franchise mode, clean up some annoying bugs, and give gamers the highly addicting Road to the Show game mode where players create a character and try to achieve Hall of Fame status over their career.

The first baseball game I ever bought and one of the best all-time.

The only problem with what I just stated is that most of those additions were either made or perfected for 2007’s game.  Since then, little has changed aside from incremental boosts to the game’s visuals and gameplay balance.  The last few years the game has felt like a $60 roster update.  If the same is true of this year’s title than Sony can safely assume that I won’t be purchasing the game in 2012, I’ll get my fix this year and let that title last me a couple of years.  So without further adieu, here is how I think this title can be restored to glory (bare in mind, I did not play last year’s game so if anything I propose was added for 2010 that’s why):

  • Better franchise mode – This is kind of a loaded suggestion but I’ll spell out exactly what I mean.  The current franchise mode is pretty solid, it lasts longer than most gamer’s attention spans and gives the player control over GM duties as well as Ownership duties.  There’s just one major issue that has bugged the Hell out of me over the years and that’s the ability to negotiate with players on your roster at any time.  Presently, the user signs a player to a given contract and the player plays out that contract to its end, barring early retirement.  I want to be able to approach said player in the final year of his deal about signing an extension, rather than waiting until the end of the season.  This better allows me, the gamer, to better manage how many expiring contracts I have to deal with at year’s end.  Since players cannot be predicted to re-sign no matter how much money is thrown at them, a year in which 3 or 4 core players are up for free agency can be devastating.  Also, let’s improve the feedback received when negotiating with players in free agency.  As I said before, their whims are impossible to predict since they won’t always just take the most money (no matter how crazy an offer you make them, it’s no guarantee of anything) which is fine, humans should be hard to predict.  I just want a sense of how interested the player is in my offer.  It’s a mechanism that has existed in virtually every game the last 8 years and even exists in The Show when working on trades.
  • Attrition and Improvement – For me, even though players come and go the franchise mode feels very static.  For the most part, the superstars of today will still be superstars 10 game years from now, which just isn’t realistic.  A 40 year old Tim Lincecum shouldn’t be firing 97 mph fastballs consistently nor should Albert Pujols find himself leading the league in home runs.  At the same time, those hot-shot rookies with A ratings for potential do not tend to get any better.  This pretty much destroys the minor league system and affects gameplay balance because while I, the user, know that minor leaguers do not improve no matter what the scouting report says, the AI still assumes they will and overvalues them in trades.  As a result, the game is interesting only so long as I can keep restocking my roster with real Major League players as opposed to the ones generated by the game for the annual draft.  This grossly affects gameplay balance in later years as most divisions seem to be won by 85 – 90 win ball clubs while mine win 110+.  And that’s with me simulating the outcomes of 99% of the games, so it’s not like I’m physically playing the game and just beating up on the computer controlled clubs on the field.
  • Waiver system – The Show has been good about adapting the various GM roles to the video game system but one has been omitted for too long and that’s the waiver wire beyond July 31st.  In the real world, players can be traded freely up until the non-waiver deadline of July 31st.  After that, any team wishing to move someone has to put that player on waivers at which point every team in baseball can put in a claim on him.  If a team claims the player the team that currently owns the player’s rights can either pull the player back off of waivers, allow the claiming team to take the player, or work out a trade with the team who claimed the player.  If multiple teams put in a claim then the team with the worst record is rewarded with the claim.  If no team claims the player then he has been cleared through waivers and the current team is now free to trade him to any club interested.  This system is not in the game, so after the July 31st trade deadline passes no trades can be made.  This should be an easy fix.
  • 40 – Man Rosters and Options – Right now, there is no way for me to view who is on my 40-man roster which determines who is eligible for the Major League team and who is protected from the Rule 5 Draft.  The only way to know who is on the 40 is to individually look at each player, which is tedious and time consuming.  There’s also no way to see how many options remain on a player.  Options allow the front office to freely shuttle the player back and forth between the big league club and the minor league affiliates.  And there’s no way to sign free agents to minor league contracts.  Again, easy fixes.
  • More Customization – When I create a player, particularly a pitcher, I want to be able to fully customize his pitches.  MVP did this so why can’t The Show?  Particularly, I want to determine pitch movement.  Using the normal clock format is easy.  I want my guy’s curveball to break 11 to 5, or 10-4.  Maybe my guy’s cutter breaks down more than horizontal, so let me do that too.
  • Manage Mode – Right now manage mode is way too detailed.  That’s better than being on the other end but how about some middle ground?  In MVP, manage mode was done on an at-bat basis, in The Show it’s on a pitch basis.  To me, manage mode should be an alternative to just simulating the game that allows me some input.  The Show seems to think of it as simply an alternative to swinging the bat and throwing the ball, that you just watch and put on plays on a per pitch basis.  The end result being games take just as long this way as they do playing, actually they’re probably even longer.
  • Playoffs – Another simply one would be to let me tell the CPU that I want to go with a 3 or 4 man pitching rotation in the Playoffs.  Also, have the AI do the same.  I shouldn’t be facing the opposing team’s 5th starter in the ALCS, that’s just stupid.  Of course, I can pick who starts each game so it’s not like right now I’m forced to throw a 4th or 5th starter, but it’s just annoying having to keep changing it.  The simple solution would be to allow the gamer to leave spots in the pitching rotation empty.  Right now, the game won’t let you play or sim a game without a valid 5-man rotation, which is stupid.  Even if it’s the regular season I should be allowed to have a 4 man rotation if I think it will work, the consequences be damned!  And let’s make game 7 of the World Series feel different from a game played in May.  If the CPU’s starter is a bit shaky early on the manager should have a quick hook.  I want to get a sense that the AI is going all-in to try and win the game as opposed to living to play another day.

I think that’s enough for one entry.  I’m almost certain I’ve forgotten about some other annoyance I have with the franchise but if most or all of the above were inserted for a new game I’d be pretty content.  At least give me the sense as a consumer that I’m not paying for the same game over and over.  Gimmicks don’t work and I don’t care if players sweat more realistically this time around.  I just want a great simulation of the game of baseball.  The developers have come close over the years to giving me just that, but so far no one has hit one out of the park and I’m beginning to think no one will.

Leave a comment | posted in Sports, Video Games

January 21, 2011

#6 – Children of Bodom: Hatebreeder

By Joe

Children of Bodom: Hatebreeder (1999)

Children of Bodom burst onto the extreme metal scene in 1997.  After getting onto the bill as a support act for Dimmu Borgir, Bodom was able to draw major label interest from Nuclear Blast who would soon agree to distribute their demo LP, Something Wild.  The album would prove to be a modest success but the seed had been planted and by the release of their second album, Hatebreeder, Children of Bodom was a popular name in heavy metal circles.

Hatebreeder was released in 1999 and was met with great success in their native Finalnd, as well as in other parts of Europe.  Children of Bodom have released four full-length albums since, with a fifth due out in March, to critical acclaim and increased popularity but have not come close to eclipsing their sophomore effort.

Bodom, as it was constructed during the "Hatebreeder" years.

Hatebreeder represents a technical fury of speed and melody.  The actual sub-genre that Bodom fits into has never been clearly defined.  Metal is of course noteworthy for having numerous and excessive amounts of sub-genres and Bodom has been labeled as melodic, neo-classical, death, black, and probably others I’m forgetting.  Their exact genre is not important, most fans of heavy metal can get into this record.

The main selling point for Bodom is the guitar playing of frontman Alexi Laiho and the keyboards of Janne Wirman.  Laiho combines the best aspects of Randy Rhoads and Yngwie Malmsteen to create his signature sound.  Complicated leads and blistering solos are not uncommon, but he also knows when to focus on melody over speed lending a bit of taste to the guitars on the record.  Wirman is the perfect complement to Laiho as his keys contain the same technical bliss as the guitars.  Some of the album’s best moments involve Laiho and Wirman trading off leads or playing in sync with one another.

The rest of the band proves functional and gets the job done.  The only drawback for some on the album are the lyrics and vocals.  The lyrics, from what is decipherable, are mostly metal cheese and Laiho’s vocals are the growling kind associated with extreme metal.  His vocals are even lower on this album as opposed to later releases where his grunts became more of a rasp.  The lyrics are a bit less campy here than some of the stuff that would follow.

This live album, recorded during the "Hatebreeder" tour, cemented Bodom's reputation as one of the most technically impressive bands around as they reproduced their studio sound live without the addition of overdubs.

Some of the highlights of Hatebreeder include the first track, “Warhearts,” as it sets the tone for the rest of the record.  The title track contains one of the better choruses and one of the album’s signature moments when Laiho and Wirman duel during the song’s outro.  “Towards Dead End” is a popular track amongst fans and live crowds, but the absolute best track may be reserved for the album’s closer and lone single, “Downfall.”  From it’s epic intro to big solo, the song packs the thunder and energy that best defines the Children of Bodom sound making this the band’s signature track.

It remains to be seen if Children of Bodom will become a band known for peaking too early.  While the albums that followed have varied in terms of quality, I personally think none have come close to matching the quality found on Hatebreeder.  Despite the fact that the band has been around for over a decade, the band members are still very young so anything is possible.  Even if they never make another album as good as Hatebreeder it won’t change the fact that we already have some great material.  There are many bands that wish they could say they had released an album of Hatebreeder’s quality.  Bodom could put their instruments away today and leave the metal community feeling pretty good about the music they left behind.

Top Tracks

  • Bed of Razors
  • Hatebreeder
  • Downfall

Leave a comment | posted in Music, Top 10 Albums

January 17, 2011

Video Games – A Fading Interest

By Joe

Who didn't have one of these?

My generation is the one that grew up with a Nintendo in every household.  It was rare to encounter someone as a kid who didn’t know who Mario was or what the “blood code” was.  Sure there was the occasional classmate who’s parents were opposed to video games, but they were the ones with the biggest obsession.  For them a Nintendo was some kind of forbidden fruit, you never knew if they were your friend or just using you to feed their addiction.

I received my first Nintendo Entertainment System when I was four.  It was a Christmas gift from my grandparents and quite a happy time for me.  It was the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt bundle edition with two controllers and a light gun.  I don’t know how much time I spent with it, but I know it was a lot.  I was never very good at Super Mario.  I knew where all the warp zones were but my methodical pace always doomed me on the longer stages in World 8.  As for Duck Hunt, I could hold my own for a few levels but once things got fast and furious I had that plastic gun barrel up against the glass to avoid hearing that incessant dog laugh at my poor shooting.

My NES collection never got very big.  I can still remember every game I owned.  Aside from the Mario bundle, I had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which was incredibly hard), Battle Toads (which was brutally hard), Super Mario Bros. 3, and Dr. Mario.  My sister had some terrible Barbie game, but that was it.  I’d rent games often and play other games at friend’s or cousin’s houses so I was readily familiar with Zelda, Mega Man, and the other usual suspects.  I also had a Game Genie, which was awesome because it made me feel like less of a failure.  Looking back, I’m not sure if I ever legitimately beat any NES games.  Usually just reaching certain levels was a huge accomplishment, like getting past the water level in TMNT or level 3 in Battle Toads (the one on the hover bikes, that was a game that was still impossible even with Game Genie).  Frustration ruined my persistence, so I would just get mad at a game and then go play with my action figures or something.

I had even less Super Nintendo games.  I had to wait a little while before my parents

would get me one, and it was one of my favorite Christmas gifts.  It was like a scene

My friends and I would spend hours after school watching this fatality over and over. It's kind of surprising none of us turned out to be a serial killer.

from A Christmas Story where I begged my parents for months and then didn’t notice it hidden behind a dining room chair until my dad pointed it out to me.  Aside form the pack-in Super Mario World, the only other SNES games I would ever get would be Mario Paint, Turtles in Time, and the horribly disappointing Spider-Man and the X-Men.  I remember thinking there was no way a game starring both Spidey and the X-Men could be anything less than unbelievable, but it was utter garbage.  I should add, by this time I was at least respectable at video games and managed to completely beat Super Mario World and destroy the very easy Turtles in Time, even on the hard difficulty!  And while I liked the SNES, I was at an age where I never had enough of my own money to buy games and the following Christmas I got a Sega Genesis.  From that point on, my parents and relatives would only ever buy me Sega games for some reason.  Oh well.

I only wanted the Genesis for Mortal Kombat, because the Super Nintendo version was censored while the Genesis version had a code that would enable blood and the gory fatalities.  My friends and I got quite a bit of milage out of that game!

One of my first Playstation games, and one I loved.

It was around that time where games became my favorite past time.  I moved on from Genesis to Playstation, camped out on launch night for a Playstation 2, and acquired just about every major console that has followed (with the notable exceptions being the two X-Box consoles).  I don’t know how many games I’ve owned over the years, but it’s a significant amount.  There’s been plenty who have owned more, but many hours of my life have been spent with a controller in hand.

I’ve now reached the point where they’re losing their luster.  This past year I only purchased three games on my own, Red Dead Redemption, Smackdown vs Raw, and Rock Band 3, the latter I only got because I wanted to see if I could learn anything by using the new keyboard (to be determined).  Outside of Red Dead Redemption, games just aren’t holding my attention any longer.  I can’t put my finger on it, but I think it’s a host of things that have lead to my indifference.

Great games can still hold my attention as I did spend many hours with Red Dead Redemption as I did just about everything there was to do in that game.  That used to be the norm for me though.  Over the last few years I’ve amassed a sizable collection of games that have gone neglected.  Off the top of my head, I can think of several games that I have played 3 or fewer times, among them would be Mad World, Battalion Wars, Dissidia, and Uncharted 2.  Most of these are actually pretty good games.  Uncharted 2 is celebrated as one of the best games to come out in the last few years.  I received it as a gift in 2009 and never even played it until this past fall.  Even when I play it, I know it’s pretty good and something that I should enjoy but I just haven’t gone back to it.  I’m actually going to force myself to resume playing it in the next few days along with Super Mario Galaxy 2, which I’ve probably completed about 50% of and I’ve had it since June.  Since getting Rock Band 3 at Christmas time, I’ve only played that once.  I probably played the first Rock Band only 3 or 4 times, I can’t remember.

I also have a DSi and a PSP, both of which I rarely play.  Recently I’ve made myself pick up the DS again as I have a train ride as part of my commute each morning that lasts about 45 minutes.  As a result, I’ve hit the 90 hour mark on Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and am pretty much sick of it.  If not for my commute I would have never put that much time into it as the game is too easy and the plot is atrocious.  I have a bunch of games I’ve spent little time with that I’ll have to pick up (maybe Final Fantasy III) in its place.

I've spent many hours with this game, only because it was there in front of me.

Things do not look any different going forward.  The 3DS will be the next big piece of hardware to launch and I won’t be partaking in that.  I can’t justify getting in line for one when I’ve barely touched the handhelds I do have.  Mass Effect 2, many outlets pick for best game of 2010, gets a PS3 release tomorrow and I am intrigued.  Since I don’t own an Xbox 360 I’ve never played a Mass Effect game but have heard good things.  I won’t let myself buy a copy though until I’ve at least beat Uncharted 2, I don’t want to see it “go to waste” by never beating it.  I have reasonably high hopes for ME2 as I enjoy the RPG genre and haven’t played a new one in some time.  Final Fantasy XIII did not sound appealing to me so I skipped it, first time I’ve done that ever (not including the online only Final Fantasy XI) with a Final Fantasy title.  My thirst for an RPG was some-what quenched last winter when I borrowed a copy of Final Fantasy XI for the Gameboy Advance, which I played mostly on the train.  I also fired up my PS2 and played through one of my favorite games of all-time, Xenogears, this past summer.  I know ME2 shares little in common with Japanese RPG’s but that’s okay, I also enjoy the American ones such as Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls.

Beyond Mass Effect 2 though there is virtually nothing on the horizon I am looking forward to.  As someone who does enjoy Batman, I’ll probably end up with a copy of the Arkham Asylum sequel which is supposed to come out in the fall.  I’ll keep an eye on the Dragon Age sequal and the Oblivion follow-up but I’m not excited for either one.  It’s a time of transition for me where my free time seems more valuable now than it did when I was a teenager.  I can remember coming home from school and playing Playstation until dinner time, even doing the mundane such as level grinding in a Final Fantasy title or flying through a fighting game with every character just to unlock a new costume or something pointless.  Stuff like that just doesn’t interest me anymore.  Every game today comes with a list of unlockable trophies or achievements for people to spend time on and most of them are just stupid and require little skill, just a lot of free time.  It can get to the point where playing a game feels like a chore.

Perhaps this game will give me reason to get excited once again.

The thing that really irks me is the downloadable content some games provide.  Normally such a thing would be welcomed, but as I mentioned before, this year I purchased the latest Smackdown vs Raw game (a guilty pleasure) and was sickened to see what some of the downloadable content was.  Most of it is the kind of stuff that would be unlockable in a game by completing a certain task, or something that would be given from the start such as the ability to augment the wrestler’s abilities in-game.  Now that stuff is something the user has to pay for.  It’s a small fee but the fact that it exists disgusts me enough to consider forgoing purchasing any future games in the series.  I can remember getting WWF Attitude when it came out.  Every wrestler in the game had 4 attires, now most only have one and if you want more you have to pay more.  It’s just nickel and diming by the publisher.  Perhaps if the product was of exceptional quality I could forgive such a practice but it’s not.  Every year content is removed from the game to be re-added years later as something new and exciting.  It’s pathetic.

At least I'll always have Xenogears.

I suppose I should be happy my interest is waning as this opens up time, and money, for me to pursue other things.  It is what it is, I suppose.  Maybe something will come along that will re-ignite my interest again, but I don’t know.  I thought the long-await Starcraft 2 would be such a game, but Blizzard’s decision to release each campaign scenario separately just left a sour taste in my mouth.  That and the game is virtually unchanged from the first, which was released in 1998.  Diablo 3, which probably won’t be released until 2012 anyways, looks to be the same – an old game with a fresh coat of paint.  I guess that’s the root of my disinterest, every game just feels like something I’ve played before.  Video games are incredibly expensive to develop these days and publishers are afraid to take chances as a result – I get that.  It’s still disappointing though that with all of this technology we’re left playing games where the visuals are shiny and new but the game underneath it is 10 years old.  I still have most of the games I bought and played 10 years ago, so why spend $60 on something I’ve already played?  Forget Uncharted, where’s my copy of Chrono Trigger?!

Leave a comment | posted in Video Games

January 17, 2011

#7- Edguy: Mandrake

By Joe

Edguy's "Mandrake" was the band's final studio album release for their original label AFM Records.

When I first conceived of this list I gave some though to splitting up the two albums featuring vocalist Tobias Sammet but figured that would defeat the purpose.  If Avantasia comes in at #8 and Edguy at #7 then so be it.

Edguy is, of course, Tobias Sammet’s principal band.  He along with Jens Ludwig, Dirk Sauer, Tobias Exxel, and Felix Bohnke have been putting out albums since 1997.  In its infancy, Edguy was a pretty by the numbers power metal outfit coming out of Germany, a hot bed for that kind of music during the time.  With obvious influences being drawn from the likes of Iron Maiden, The Scorpions, and Helloween, Edguy was carving a name for itself in the metal community.  Coming off their best album to date, Theater of Salvation, Edguy took a little break for Sammet to explore musically and record the first two Avantasia records.  During this time, they re-recorded their initial demo, The Savage Poetry, for a major label release and got some much needed R&R.  When they re-grouped sometime in early 2001 they began crafting their best album to date, Mandrake.

Mandrake was released later in 2001 and represents the pinnacle of Edguy’s power

Edguy - not to be taken seriously.

metal roots.  The album contains everything a power metal fan would dream about, combining speed and melody for a pulse-pounding sixty minutes.  There are breaks here and there where the band slows things down and each of those tracks is woven flawlessly into the tapestry of melodic metal.  “Wash Away the Poison” represents the best of Edguy’s ballads up to this point as it manages to dodge the cheesy hooks and lyrics of their previous ones.  Instead of feeling like the token ballad of the album, it works well with the other songs and earns its place.  Other songs such as “Painting on the Wall” settle for mid-tempos and the bonus track that appears on almost every release, “The Devil and the Savant,” finds a way to make use of those Europe influenced synthesizers without ruining the track.

The boys in Edguy very much enjoy having fun on stage.

Where the album shines brightest though is on the opener “Tears of a Mandrake.”  It’s a bombastic mid-tempo epic that has become a staple in the live show.  It is one of those songs where the chorus leaves a lasting impression.  Not to be outdone, is the album’s big number, “The Pharaoh,” which comes in at a running time of  10 and half minutes that never feels that long.  A lot of epics end up being long just for the sake of being long, but “The Pharaoh” is wonderfully crafted with multiple time changes and new hooks as it twists and turns its way towards a satisfying conclusion.  Sammet’s high-flying vocals work well with this song, and the twin guitar attack adds a spice to the mix.

The album also knows when to bring the noise, so to speak, with the head-banging “Nailed to the Wheel” providing some nice, crunchy, riffs.  And an Edguy album wouldn’t be an Edguy album without a little bit of that quirky humor the band is known for.  “All the Clowns” is a light, catchy song that only Edguy could get away with on a metal release.  “Save Us Now” contains the most ridiculous of Sammet’s lyrics as he refers to drummer Felix Bohnke as a high speed alien drum bunny.

Perhaps the band realized it could never make another power metal album as good as Mandrake and that is why it has never tried to since.  After the release of Mandrake, Edguy would go on to sign with major label Nuclear Blast where it has released three albums since.  Each successive album has contained more rock elements with the old power metal sound slowly fading away.  That’s not a criticism as each of the following albums has been good in its own right.  Mandrake though does represent an end of an era for the band and that era went out on one gloriously high note.

Top Tracks

  • Tears of a Mandrake
  • The Pharaoh
  • All the Clowns

Leave a comment | posted in Music, Top 10 Albums

January 15, 2011

#8 – Avantasia: The Scarecrow

By Joe

Tobias Sammet's Avantasia - The Scarecrow

Ranking my favorite albums has reminded me just how much I love them.  Avantasia’s The Scarecrow is no exception as it’s an album I simply cannot get enough of.

For those unfamiliar with the Avantasia name, it’s the side project of Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet.  Avantasia was initially conceived as a metal opera that borrowed heavily from the speed metal genre and incorporated multiple vocalists and guest musicians.  Two albums were released early last decade under the heading The Metal Opera and were well received by fans and critics alike.

The Scarecrow was never intended to be the third Avantasia record.  Sammet had felt he had done all he could with speed metal but there was still a desire to create music outside of his main band Edguy.  He joined forces with famed rock/metal producer Sascha Paeth to begin construction on his third solo effort.  At some point during the writing process, Sammet decided to release his latest effort under the Avantasia banner.

Avantasia boasts a large cast of musicians.

The Scarecrow is not a metal opera but it does share many similarities with its predecessors.  The album makes use of multiple vocalists though this time around their roles are not as clearly defined.  With the first two albums, each vocalist played a character where as here they represent different emotions with the only exceptions being Jorn Lande’s Mephistopheles type character and Alice Cooper’s Toy Master.  In addition to Lande and Cooper there are vocal performances by Avantasia vets Bob Catley and Michael Kiske as well as new comers Roy Khan and Amanda Somerville.  Sammet is the only vocalist to be featured on every song.

While Sammet has moved away from speed metal, there are still a couple of tracks familiar to Avantasia fans.  “Shelter From the Rain” is very much a song in the same style as old Helloween tracks (hence why ex-Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske is featured) and there aren’t many Avantasia tracks faster than “Another Angel Down.”  “The Devil in the Belfry” also brings some speed towards the end of the album but represents the last of such tracks.  The majority of the album falls into a mid-tempo groove.  Some songs come across as almost pop rock such as the singles “Lost in Space” and “Carry Me Over.”

Avantasia is the creation of german heavy metal vocalist and song writer Tobias Sammet, who also handles bass duties on the album.

The title track is the album’s biggest number coming in at over 11 minutes.  It starts off slow and works its way towards a big outro.  Perhaps it isn’t as central a piece as Sammet intended but it does work, though it takes a few listens for its impact to be felt.  “The Toy Master” features Alice Cooper on lead vocals and is a really atmospheric track drizzled in personality.  Cooper does a great job bringing life to the character and the song features some of Sammet’s more imaginative lyrics.  “I Don’t Believe In Your Love” is another song that comes across as more rock than metal but is punctuated by excellent pacing.

The only track that comes across as a dud for me, and the reason why this album isn’t higher on my list, is Sammet’s duet with Amanda Somerville, “What Kind of Love?”  It’s the signature ballad of the record and while I have no issues with ballads, this one falls flat.  It comes across as cheesy and overdone.  Some of Sammet’s vocals are a bit over the top and Somerville’s lack subtlety.  It’s not awful, but is worth skipping over when listening to the album as a whole.

One song doesn’t hold this album down though or keep it from being the best Avantasia record to date, which is saying something.  The first two Metal Opera albums had some excellent material though each one contained more filler than The Scarecrow.  The Scarecrow had two follow-up albums released in 2010, and of the two, The Wicked Symphony comes in as a close second to The Scarecrow.

With Avantasia, Tobias Sammet runs the risk of outdoing his main band Edguy.  With five albums under his belt it’s debatable which band has the better discography at this point.  I would probably still take Edguy’s catalogue over Avantasia but it’s not an easy decision.  Hopefully Sammet has the energy and the desire to keep on supporting both bands as I don’t think Avantasia has come close to running its course just yet.  Sammet has found a nice niche for himself in straddling the line between rock and metal and there’s more room to explore.  The Scarecrow is an easy recommendation for music fans of many tastes.

Top Tracks

  • Another Angel Down
  • The Toy Master
  • Devil in the Belfry

Leave a comment | posted in Music, Top 10 Albums

January 15, 2011

Wrasslin’

By Joe

I’ve always had this theory that for most males there exists a time in their life where the world of professional wrestling seems really appealing.  And by professional wrestling I am of course speaking of Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, steel chairs and that sort of stuff.

Eat your vitamins, do your pushups, and take your steroids, Brother!

For my generation this theory is easy to understand.  When I was a kid in the 80’s Hogan was the biggest star in wrestling along with Macho Man Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior.  These muscle bound larger than life characters seemed like super heroes to me.  Combine that with the theatrics and violence of the WWF and you had a recipe for success.  I was young enough to consider the possibility that what was happening before me was real and not scripted.

At some point things get old.  As I got older I was more aware that the whole thing was fake.  The most obvious being The Undertake and his dead man persona being lead around by the bulbous Paul Bearer who supposedly controlled him via an urn he carried everywhere.  I’m not sure if anyone could be expected to fall for that.  And after awhile the storylines begin to repeat themselves.  For a show that has no off season it does pretty well to keep things going but eventually roadblocks are hit and things get a feeling of “haven’t we been here before?”

Though the word was never used on WWF programming, The Undertaker was basically a zombie.

I suppose the nail in the coffin of my early wrestling fandom was Hogan departing the WWF for WCW, continuing a mass exodus of talent from one brand to the other.  WCW had this stigma about it, I don’t even recall what it was specifically, but for some reason I could not even consider watching it.  The WWF was left with Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart as the only legitimate main event talent.  I remember one title match later on at Wrestlemania featured The Undertaker against Psycho Sid.  Anyone who can remember how awful Sid was in the ring can understand why that was a huge low point.

It wasn’t long after that the WWF figured out it’s audience had outgrown it, so they had to “grow up” with it.  I use that term loosely as growing up just meant increasing the amount of cleavage and profanity across the board.  The thumbs up was replaced with the crotch chop and the squeaky clean baby-face was no longer in vogue.  Now the biggest name in the game was a foul-mouthed, beer swigging, anti hero.

Stone Cold Steve Austin brought me back in late 1997 which began the second act of my wrestling obsession.  This time it was more intense than ever, partly because I was able to make it through two hours of Raw each week.  In what is now known as the Attitude Era, the WWF gave its wrestlers more freedom to be themselves which helped get rid of the stupid gimmicks that had dominated the scene.  In hindsight though, this just meant everyone was some tough badass.  The bad guys weren’t much different from the good guys, it was just all about who was with the character of Vince McMahon, and who wasn’t.

Stone Cold liked beer, middle fingers, and hitting Vince McMahon with steel chairs.

Stone Cold kicked off the era and The Rock sustained it.  I suppose the era ended when the whole WCW invasion angle began.  Or maybe it ended with Stone Cold went heel.  In reality, it was mostly on life support until The Rock departed for good to pursue his movie career.  Mick Foley, a guy who never would have been popular in another era, was also gone and Stone Cold had left earlier due to health reasons.  Shawn Michaels would make a surprising return and the Undertake was still kicking around but the whole thing was done and over with.

I lost interest long before any of that stuff took place.  I don’t remember exactly when I tuned out but it was sometime around the Austin “What?” gimmick.  I hated that, but it was probably just the last straw.  At some point I realized I was watching out of habit as opposed to enjoyment and other things began dominating my free time.  What doomed it for me was the same thing that had doomed it before, it just grew stale.  After two or three years of intense interest on my part I realized I had seen it all.  Little actually surprised me and the actual wrestling matches usually weren’t entertaining enough on their own to keep around.

Stone Cold and The Rock would face each other many times during the Attitude Era.

I have never gotten back into it.  Now the WWE trends young once again and a whole new generation is getting hooked.  It seems to be doing well, though there also seems to be less instance of the wrestling world reaching into the mainstream.  John Cena is the biggest name but I don’t see his image in other places as often as I used to see Hogan, Rock, and Austin.

That said, this is The Nostalgia Spot and my affinity for such things does affect my long abandoned wrestling interest.  I’ve made a few DVD purchases over the years, but most of them were for the matches.  I have the three disc Mick Foley set which is just entertaining.  While it’s not even close to being all inclusive, it does contain a lot of his wild matches that still resonate today.  For pure technical wrestling, I have the Eddie Guerrero and recently released Chris Jericho sets.  Both guys made their name in WCW where I tuned in infrequently so for me there was a lot of new on these sets.  Both guys are in-ring acrobats, though Jericho was one of the best characters ever.  For pure nostalgia though I have the Stone Cold set.

Steve Austin was not a great in-ring performer.  Often derided by wrestling purists, he mostly was a brawler and his arsenal did not possess anything even remotely flashy.  I do think he was an underrated worker though, and for someone who was arguably the biggest wrestler of all-time, he was willing to put guys over during his matches (keyword being during).  He’d take chair shots to the head, let guys work him over, and took numerous bumps on the unforgiving concrete.  He didn’t go as far as Foley, but he certainly wasn’t some wimp.  And when the situation called for him to shed some blood and blade during a match he gushed.

The legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Re-living his matches was actually better than I thought.  The actual purchase of his DVD set was one of those purchases where I regretted it immediately after its completion as I felt it would not do what I wanted it to do.  Which is to say, I wanted to get that old rush of excitement I would get when Austin dominated the screen.  While it wasn’t quite the same, it was still there.  As a result, the best matches are on discs 2 and 3 when Austin was wrestling under the Stone Cold gimmick as opposed to his earlier days.  Before that gimmick, he was pretty boring.  A boring wrestler with an ordinary repertoire is not much fun to watch.  If I have one complaint about the set it’s with the lead-ins by Austin before each match.  It’s as if he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be in character or not.  As a result, sometimes he comes across as Stone Cold, and other times he sounds like he’s being candid.  He also doesn’t touch upon any of his real-life antics when his star was fading.  Austin famously wouldn’t let anyone get a clean victory over him and had a couple of walk-outs on the WWE.  Though expecting him to go into such detail on his own DVD set might be asking for too much.

The current face of the now WWE, John Cena. He pretty much sucks, but apparently the kids like him.

Even though my interest in the television product is now non-existent, I still enjoy the videogames.  Which is kind of amusing to me because overall my interest in videogames is at an all time low for me.  I just like creating my own characters and scripting my own events in these games.  They’re pretty fun to actually play, though inherently flawed.  I don’t buy a new one every year but when I do I get a lot of milage out of it.  I’m still waiting for the perfect wrestling game to be made, but that’s probably another post by itself.

I do not anticipate ever getting back into wrestling full time.  As my post started out I mentioned I think every guy has his wrestling phase or phases and that’s it.  Sure some are lifers who are hooked on the soap opera routine.  And there’s something to be said of having a new episode to watch every week, something only soap operas really offer.  Because of the nature of the game it will always be able to stick around.  It’s overall popularity will rise and fall with the times but there’s always a new generation ready to get into it.  I often wonder if the current more PG approach the WWE takes will eventually change over as its audience, once again, gets older.  I’d actually be surprised if it didn’t.

Leave a comment | posted in General

January 14, 2011

eBay and the Free Market

By Joe

When the internet came along it changed everything.  Such a statement is usually hyperbole but in the case of the internet its impact could not be overstated.  I’m sure most people remember their first internet enabled PC.  I do.  I was in the seventh grade and while this was my first PC it wasn’t my first experience with the internet.  My best friend growing up had such a toy for awhile.  His dad was a tech-minded person that always wanted to have the latest and greatest so they had all of that stuff.  I had already seen a good amount of what the internet had to offer a 12 year old boy, and it was mostly porn.  For a kid at that age, having the ability to access adult media was like having a key to the Garden of Eden.  And back then all that was really available were still pictures.  They would be labeled something generic such as “big boobs” or “lesbians” and you’d sit around for a couple of minutes waiting for the thing to load.  And it was awesome.  I can’t imagine what the kids of today must feel with high-speed connections and streaming video.  Talk about sensory overload.

Of course, the internet isn’t just for pornography.  Arguably, one of the internet’s greatest gifts to mankind is that glorious website full of people’s unwanted junk, eBay.  Depending on how you engage eBay, it’s either the greatest thing ever or a necessary evil.  As someone who never sells on eBay and doesn’t have to deal with the myriad of fees and obvious favoritism towards buyers, I love it.  Sure when I lose out on an auction with three seconds to go I utter every curse I can think of at my screen but in the end I always come back.

Since eBay’s obvious successes many have tried to imitate it.  Amazon lets people sell their stuff on its site, though not auction style.  Craig’s List is even more open serving as more of an online classifieds section, just hope the people you meet on there aren’t maniacs.  I don’t think any other sites have done as good a job as eBay though.  The auction format is fantastic as it allows demand to dictate the price.  Unless you’re completely inept when it comes to listing an item you’re going to get a fair price for your it.  Granted, it’s not always apparent at the time and some sellers may even try to manipulate the price of their item by having dummy bidders jack it up.  And even after the auction has run its course, some sellers may feel like they got the short end of the stick, but that’s not really true.

Baseball cards were huge when I was a kid.  My cousins and I would make pilgrimages to the local convenience store for packs of cards.  We would tear through them tossing aside the mediocre players in search of our favorite stars or anything that said “Rookie,” because you never knew who the next big star would be.  At the time, numerous price guides existed that kids would read as gospel.  If the magazine says the card is worth fifty bucks then its worth fifty bucks.  Over the years though, people soon realized that 99% of baseball cards were worthless.  Over-produced and cheap to begin with, the demand was never there.

Most people still have a card mentality when it comes to their wares but really an item is only as valuable as the market dictates.   And in this case, eBay is the market.  If you own a rare piece of music and want to know what it’s worth, don’t consult a price guide just look it up on eBay and see what it’s going for.  That’s what you can expect, give or take, your item to fetch if you were to sell it that day.

Whenever I’m in the market for something of that nature, I like to first do my homework by letting a few auctions go just to gauge an item’s worth.  Sometimes though an item is so rare it becomes difficult to do so.   Just today I was tempted to place a bid on a trinket of sorts I had been eye-balling for years.  Just another piece of music memorabilia.  The problem was the seller started the bidding at $350.  Now, I would expect this particular item to go for a couple hundred, but $350 was on the extreme end.  It had been a long time since I had seen one of these so I really had little to fallback on in terms of pricing and old eBay auctions are only viewable for about 90 days so it’s not like I could go back through their archives to figure it out.  I decided to wait it out and see what happened and, lo and behold, the auction expired with no one placing a bid.  The market had decided that, while this piece is rare and normally in demand, $350 was just an unreasonable price.  The decision to not bid was a wise one on my part.  While I don’t have an item I covet, I also didn’t needlessly pay a premium for said item and if I’m patient I may be rewarded down the line.

Instances like the one described above make me shake my head.  Why would a seller post an item at anything other than zero to kick off their auction?  Well, I know why and it’s because they have a pre-conceived idea of what the item’s worth is and are afraid to sell it for less.  Perhaps the person paid close to what they’re offering it for and are trying to avoid taking a loss, which is inherently foolish.  As someone who collects vinyl I can safely say it’s actually not the greatest investment.  Sure there’s a lot of records out there worth a lot of money but I’m going to let you in on a secret – it almost never appreciates.  If you go out and spend $500 on a rare piece of vinyl today, chances are that five years from now it’s going to be worth about $500 give or take a few bucks for inflation.  Even in today’s crummy economy, most of these items are still selling for what they commanded a few years ago.  So long as the item is kept in good condition, it is unlikely to depreciate but appreciation cannot be expected.  That’s why it’s inherently foolish to make hobby type purchases as investments.  The only instance where something like a record will increase in value is if you do something to increase its value, like getting it autographed for example.

In a perfect world, eBay wouldn’t allow listers to place a starting bid on an item.  It just defeats the purpose.  If a seller truly wants to sell their item that’s what they should do.  Guaranteed, even your most useless piece of junk will get at least one person’s attention who’s willing to buy it for a pittance.  If you’re scared that your item isn’t worth what you think it is then don’t list it.  Or do what everyone else does and gouge people with shipping costs.

Leave a comment | posted in General

January 14, 2011

#9 – Kamelot: Karma

By Joe

Kamelot - Karma (2001)

Kamelot is a relatively new obsession for me.  I had the pleasure of doing college radio years ago (when appropriately enough, I was attending college) which was an excellent experience and a great way to hear new music.  For anyone embarking on that part of their life, I whole-heartedly recommend it.  That is assuming all college radio stations are as good as WKNH in Keene, NH.  WKNH had a great selection of music including an expansive library of my preferred genre; metal.  I was also fortunate to be allowed to play whatever I wanted so long as I met the station’s quota of five new cuts an hour.  During my time there I was able to find several new bands that would become among my favorites, one of them was Kamelot.

Kamelot is actually an American band from Florida, though their frontman as of their third disc is Norwegian born Roy Khan.  Despite being from the US, Kamelot is far more popular in other parts of the world than here.  That’s primarily due to the fact that the only metal that gets any attention over here is Metallica and latest flavor of the month.  I don’t mean to sound like an elitist snob but the metal scene in the US is awful, uninspired, and banal.  Kamelot blends multiple sub-genres of metal to create a unique experience.  The band started off as a fairly standard power metal group but evolved into a quasi-prog outfit, only without the pretentiousness.

While I was exposed to Kamelot during my college years, I didn’t become a card

Kamelot has been around since 1991, but it didn't truly take off until the addition of vocalist Roy Khan in 1997.

carrying member of the Kamelot fan-base until recently.  Most would probably say their best album is The Black Halo, and it’s hard to deny otherwise, but for my money I’m going with Karma.

Karma is the band’s fifth full-length album.  Released in 2001, it could best be described as symphonic metal.  There’s a certain theatrical flair to a lot of the music present on the disc.  It’s the perfect run-time for a full length at just under an hour and it contains a diverse section of music.

The opening number, “Forever,” is a soaring piece of catchy power metal tastefully done.  Power metal and taste do not often go together but Kamelot has made a career out of doing so.  Songs often contain a catchy chorus not over-exposed.  It’s easy for a band to ride a chorus, often having it repeat itself two, three, or more times at the song’s outro.  Kamelot almost never indulges in such a practice, almost to the detriment of some songs.  There are times where I wish they’d drive a chorus into the ground, because they’re just so good.  Particularly on the song “The Light I Shine on You,” but in the end I know their approach is for the best.  It just means I have to listen to the track again.

Kamelot throws in a couple of ballads to keep things in perspective, “Don’t You Cry” being the stronger of the two.  It’s a song guitarist Thomas Youngblood wrote about his father, whom apparently passed away when Thomas was very young, and as a result, has little or no recollection of.  The album has a big closing number, the three part “Elizabeth” which centers around the part true and part myth story of Elizabeth Bathory.  It’s a cool number but one I don’t think quite meets the band’s expectations.  It definitely works best as one long song, even though it’s divided into three tracks.  The title track is one of the band’s absolute bests.  It combines imaginative story-telling with great pacing and a typical Kamelot chorus, a staple of the band’s live set to this day.

I don’t feel like I have completely captured how great I think this album is, and that’s probably because at it’s heart it’s a pretty simple and straight-forward album.  For me, it just hits all of the right notes and walks that fine line between sophistication and bombast.  Kamelot is a really tight band and vocalist Roy Khan is among the genre’s most talented.  Not only is Karma perhaps the band’s best release, it’s also a great jump-in point for people new to the band.  The albums that follow are even more diverse and complex.  Khan is currently sorting out some personal problems that’s preventing him from touring in support of the more recently released album Poetry for the Poisoned.  Hopefully he can get things straightened out and rejoin the band as there’s still a lot of great music left in this outfit.

Top Tracks:

  • Forever
  • Karma
  • The Light I Shine on You

Leave a comment | posted in Music, Top 10 Albums

January 10, 2011

#10 – Alice in Chains: Black Gives Way to Blue

By Joe

Black Gives Way to Blue was Alice in Chains' first album in fourteen years and the first with new singer William DuVall.

As part of my lead in for my top 10 favorite albums I touched upon the omissions and surprises.  I was particularly surpised that three of my favorite artists didn’t have an album I included as one of my top 10 favorites.  Right behind that though, was my selection for number 10.

Alice in Chains was one of the top bands of the early 90’s.  Their debut Facelift was a stand-out amongst the similar sounding bands out of Seattle and distinguished itself amongst the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden.  AiC was the grunge band with the most obvious metal edge.  Really, calling them grunge was a cop out.  Their sophomore album Dirt was their biggest hit and is cited by many as their best album.  Sadly, front man Layne Staley’s own personal demons limited the band to just three full length albums in the 90’s, as well as a couple of EP’s and a live album (Unplugged).

Dirt is a great album and I have no issue with someone proclaiming it the group’s best as that’s what I’ve always believed.  Then a funny thing happened, as I was making out my list I realized it was no longer my favorite Alice in Chains album.

That distinction now belongs to 2009’s Black Gives Way To Blue, the band’s comeback effort following the death of singer Layne Staley in 2002.    No one really could have expected the band to continue on, and for awhile it seemed like it would not.  Only after doing a one off show for charity did the guys realize they had the desire to make more music together.

William DuVall was added to complete the band and handle the majority of Staley’s vocals while on tour, but for the album guitarist and principal song writer Jerry Cantrell handles most of the vocal duties.  DuVall is most used in harmony with Cantrell or on backing vocals, with the exception of the song he penned, “Last of My Kind.”

William DuVall has proven to be a great addition to the band.

Most people are familiar with the singles “Check my Brain” and “Your Decision,” both very good songs but if that’s all you’ve heard of the album you’re missing out.  “Acid Bubble” is one of the band’s most diverse compositions and perhaps the best song Cantrell has ever written.  “Private Hell” finds a nice somber melody for the verse and the explodes at the chorus.  It’s one of those songs that knows it has a great chorus, so it doesn’t over-do it.  The end result being you want to hear the song again immediately following it’s conclusion.  The album’s closer, a ballad dedicated to the late Staley, is the perfect way to wrap things up.  It’s sweet and to the point and features piano work by Sir Elton John.

So why do I consider this to be the band’s ultimate album?  Perhaps it’s the freshness as Dirt has certainly been over exposed throughout the years (I remember being so sick of “Rooster” when it came out, radio nearly ruined that song for me) to the point that maybe I’m now underestimating it.  I choose to think it’s because BGWB is the more complete album.  Start to finish, it doesn’t let up.  Yes there are a couple of tracks deserving of the label “filler” but the filler here would be stand-out on lesser releases.

This entry isn’t intended a slight against Dirt or the memory of Layne Staley but more to shine light on just how great this album is.  I’m happy Alice in Chains is back to making music again.  Replacing a lead vocalist is a daunting task for any band which is why it took so long, especially when something tragic creates the need to do so.  I look forward to more great things out of this group and if you have the chance to see them live don’t pass it up.

Top Tracks

  • Acid Bubble
  • Private Hell
  • Black Gives Way to Blue

Leave a comment | posted in Music, Top 10 Albums

January 10, 2011

Top 10 Albums – A Lead In

By Joe

Continue reading

Leave a comment | posted in Music