Tool - 10,000 Days review

1 Vicarious - Amazing song about violence, generally considered the star of the CD. Vicarious has some of the best guitar work you'll ever hear.     5/5




2 Jambi - Starts off with a great riff. Near the middle there is a breath taking guitar solo. Great bass 5/5




3 Wings for Marie (Part 1) - This is the intro for "10,000 Days". It is a lot slower than the first two songs. The beginning makes me think of Pink Floyd, for some reason. Over 11 minutes long. 3/5




4 10,000 Days (Part 2) - The song starts off slowly. This is one of Tool's most thoughtful songs. It is about Maynard's mother. 9/10 (This song takes a few listens)




5 The pot - Starts off with Maynard showing off his singing skills. The song is overall weaker than the other songs on the album, but has a hook to it that makes up for lack of technicality. Nice guitar solo. 4.5/5




6 Lipan Conjuring - This is an interlude. I am not sure of it's meaning or purpose. It sounds like some kind of native ritual. I would give this a 2.5/5 but I am a fan of interludes and their artsy stuff... You might not like it.




7 Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman) - This song is the intro to "Rosetta Stoned". It is mostly art not so much music until the end of the song. During the last minute or so, you hear voices talking about how "the patient won't talk". 4/5




8 Rosetta Stoned - This song starts off hard and heavy. The vocals are rapidly telling the story in first person, of a man who was abducted by aliens. I believe this is actually a story about a man who was "Stoned". This is possibly the best drumming on the album. Also the heaviest song on the album. This song is over 11 minutes. 4/5

(This song has excessive swearing, so watch out, if you care)




9 Intension - This one is very artsy. The first time I heard it, I didn't like it at all. It grows on you a lot. Don't give up on it. 4/5




10 Right in Two - Nothing weird about this one. Great bass, and guitar. Also this is some impressive drumming. 4.5/5




11 Viginti Tres - Very weird song. The first time I heard it I had to look up the writing credits because I thought I heard a little Trent Reznor on this. (Nine inch Nails). This song is quite artsy. It is like "(-) Ions" from Aenima. There is some vocals near the end, but you can't really tell what he is saying, and I'm pretty sure it isn't in English or German. 3.5/5

The album is great. The only thing that is lesser about it is the interlude "Lipan Conjuring", I didn't find it as strong as the interludes on "Lateralus" or "Aenima".
Like all of the Tool albums, this will take a few listens to get used to.

8.4/10

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 ... The sequel to Mass Effect

The game starts off ok you wake up, but it turns out (if you have been following the story) that you died, then they put you back together.. thats kinda cheesy.. but pretty much the place comes under attack, you escape then you mean the Illusive Man, who funded your revival and is one of the main characters throughout the game.
No matter what you do you are forced to go on a mission for him.. (Human colonies are disappearing, and he wants to know why and stop, I won't go into details though)

Pretty much... the game is a lot like the first game and the knights of the old republic games in the way that you travel around the galaxy doing missions and tasks that get you closer to the overall goal. Each character that joins your party has a side mission that you can do, and you have to do over half of them to finish the game.
They don't even bother saying that there are missions or something they give you the extremely cheesy line
"You should keep building up your crew" as an excuse to why you have to build up your crew ...
Most of the main planets are fun to do, some of them are from the first game. They excuse is that they need to keep working on the technology that will get you to your final destination..
Overall its actually fun, the best of the character side quests is probably Tali's quest, or Legion, who is one of the best party members.

Then when you get to the final part most of your party will die, unless you somehow, (hax) knew how to get every upgrade and maximize every party member.... the final part of the game is actually quite impressive and is a great ending.. well until you fight the possibly cheesiest boss you will ever see... (Just wait till you get there... I laughed..)  The ending is cool, and you get to go around the galaxy more depending on how you choose to end the game.

The games soundtrack is very interesting, my favorite parts are the Illusive Man tracks.
Most of the planets that you will travel to in the game are creative and interesting, but some of them are complete rip offs of their earlier games and show that they are running out of ideas. (There is a planet that is almost exactly like Teris from the first Knights of the Old Republic game). A notable place is "Afterlife" from that junk planet that wasn't even worth remembering its name, since I can't find any good screenshots of it, here.

Graphics: 7.5/10 They are hardly improved over the first game, if at all.

Gameplay: 7/10 It is very improved, the fights are actually fun and not annoying and disrupting the story like in the first game. The whole problem with item storage and ammo are fixed also.

Story: 8.5 The Illusive Man is one of my favorite all time video game characters, the story was almost as good and I would have given it a 9 if it weren't for that boss... (since its from Bioware, you can know that the boss in question had a lot to do with the story)

Sound: 7.5/10 The soundtrack to the game is very interesting, its not as ambient as the first one though. 

Features: 7/10 After the game you can hang out in the galaxy? Cerberus network, for if you didn't rent the game, (I would recommend for PC more), has lots of free addons and stuff to download...

Overall: 7/10 Mass Effect 2 is one of the best Modern games I have played, but I doubt that I will ever play it again, unless I get it on PC.. It has its bad moments but the main of the game is very good, and extremely good compared to the first games horrible game-play. But still if you want to play this game, you will have to play the first game for it to be any fun or to make any since.

Dream Theater, Scenes From a Memory

I have to say that Dream Theater is one of the most consistent progressive metal bands out there. 
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory is a concept album and is the sequel to the song "Metropolis Pt. 1" from Images and Words (the album). 

1 Regression - 6/10 -This is the intro and I don't normally give intros ratings, but it also includes a short song... The ticking of the clock at the beginning is a very Dream Theater thing to do, and is cool. The spoken words at the beginning sound (if you don't know the story to the album) like a yoga instructor or a relaxation tape...

2 Overture 1928 - 9/10 - Overture 1928 is a three minute instrumental, and a very good one. There really isn't much to say, other then you will notice that the drums have been turned down slightly from the previous albums. The song gets better after about 2:30, and the ending is a really good solo.

3 Strange Deja Vu - 9/10 - Such a good singer...  All the instruments work really well on this song, especially the bass, that I don't normally have a comment about.

4 Through my Words - 8.2/10 - Classical Piano and vocals more of an interlude. I gave it an 8.2 because it is hardly even one minute so it doesn't really slow down the album...

5 Fatal Tragedy - 9.5/10 - It starts off great. It (like most songs on this album) gain points for the vocals.
One of the best progressive guitar solo's I've ever heard, and also one of Dream Theaters best songs. It gets better as it goes.  The drums are exceptionally good at 2:20+. The solos starts at about 3:55 and gets crazy, with the piano mixed in...

6 Beyond this life  - 9.5/10 - Over ten minutes. The intro almost sounds like grunge, but then the keyboards come in.. and the drums.. The vocals are once again completely amazing. I particularly like 2:28 and the mini-solo that follows. There is another solo about 4 minutes later it is longer, and even better. After about 2 minutes there is a questionable instrument used... Its art so I won't say anything but I don't like it personally.. But then the vocals come back for the last minute of the song.

7 Through her eyes - 8.4/10 - This song has some female vocals on it.. its sort of a transition from the first half of the album to the second, and if you are paying attention to the story will make more since. It is mostly (if not completely) acoustic.

8 Home - 9.4/10 - The second song over ten minutes. The song has some oriental-metal instruments/sounds in it, used at the begging and throughout the song at various parts. About 8:50 seconds into the song there is a crazy guitar solo that lasts for about a minute and a half, before the vocals come back in. There is another solo at 11:11 that goes until the end of the song, a minute and a half later. The vocals are great (once again) on this song.

9 Dance of Eternity - 9.2/10 -  It has a great intro. Dance of Eternity is an instrumental, it really shows of the drummers and keyboardists song-writing skills along with the guitarists and the bassist.

10 One Last Time - 8.5/10 - Its under four minutes. The vocals are once again great. It starts off sounding like its going to be another acoustic song, but then there is a little solo, and then goes back. But it really isn't acoustic.

11 The Spirit Carries On - 8.8/10  - This one actually starts off acoustic. Possibly too slow? The lyrics sound like the last chapter, but then there is finally free. There is a nice solo.

12 Finally Free - 8.5/10 - The third song over ten minutes. I actually find the cymbal use at about 3:00 to be slightly annoying.  At about 4:36 there are some extremely over used sound effects that really take away from that part of the song, thankfully its long enough to heal that wound quickly. I have heard that one sample of a woman screaming so many times, its in movies, games, and I think I saw it on TV once... The last two minutes or so aren't really a song, they are more of the ending of the album. Overall its not the best song on the album but the solos and vocals make up for the bad parts, even the bad parts aren't as bad as other bands bad parts.

The average is 8.83, but I will give it a 9.0, because of the length of the good songs, so thats more music 9.0
Also, I'm not going to add the album art to the score. But Scenes from a Memories album artwork isn't that great...

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy. I didn't add an album cover because technically that could be considered nudity and I don't want to get in trouble with Google.. so just Google it (the irony..).. its really not bad at all..


1 The song remains the same - 9/10 - Has a great riff, and solo. But not the strongest song on the album.

2 The Rain song - 9/10 - The intro. Slower then most of the other songs. Vocals are great. Longest song on album.  The song gets even better at 5 minutes in.

3 Over The Hills and Far Away - 9/10 - When the song really starts, it starts great. Great riff. Probably the weakest song on the album, but still a great song.

4 The Crunge - 9.3/10 - One of the best riffs on the album.  Have you seen the bridge? Shortest song on the album.

5 Dancing Days - 9.3/10 - The guitar is great.

6 D'yer Mak'er - 9.5/10 - Such a great song, starting at the beginning. Great vocals, and the guitar is just as good. The solo is good. Some of Led Zeppelin's best drumming. Its one of Led Zeppelin's most famous songs.

7 No Quarter - 10/10 - My absolute favorite Led Zeppelin song, even over Stairway to Heaven. The opening is great, with the guitar solo.  The entire song reminds me of the genre space rock. Slowest song on the album, but in a good way. The vocals are great. The entire song is as close to perfect as I've ever heard.

8 The Ocean - 9.8/10 - The song really takes a different direction from the previous song, No Quarter. The guitar and bass are great on this song. He used to sing on the mountains, until the mountains washed away. The riff is great. The whole song is great but the best part is the ending and the solo. It is such a good way to end a great album.

The average was 9.34(insert random numbers), but I added .3 to The Oceans score and decided to raise the entire score to a  9.5. It really doesn't get that much better then this album, this is also Led Zeppelin's best album.  
This album got the same score as the 10th Anniversary of Slipknot's self titled album, but that doesn't mean it is just as good. Houses of the Holy is far superior, I gave Slipknot's album extra points for the bonus songs that are even better then some of the songs on the album, the demos and the bonus live concert disk, I only watched it once, but it made it worth it even more. AND when I gave it a 9.5 I didn't use the average I just gave it a score that seemed about right. ALSO I lowered the scores slightly on each song because they are all so good and I didn't want the average to end up 9.9 or something ridiculous and so that I could see the difference between the top songs and the bottom songs (which even giving them a 1 point difference doesn't seem like enough)  
EDIT: I added .3 to dancing days score

Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest

If you didn't know, Nile is a technical brutal death metal band (and they are NOT from Egypt,)  Most of their lyrics are about ancient Egypt, Egyptian mythology and even some songs about the middle East and India.

1-Kafir! - 8.8/10 - Great intro. If your Muslim you might get offended by the lyrics...

2-Hittite Dung Incantation - 9/10 - Shorter then most of the other songs on the album. Very fast drums. Great guitar solo.  The ending gets heavy...

3-Utterances of the Crawling Dead- 8 - Great vocals.Very Heavy. Very fast drumming.

4-Those Whom the Gods Detest - 9/10 - Starts off with a cool intro, I have no idea what instrument that is.... then it gets fast and brutal..... Great chorus, sounds a lot how Nile should, makes you think of Egypt.  At about four and a half minutes in it goes back to the intro, but for just a few seconds before the song comes back, and starts off the second half of the song with a crazy guitar solo.

5-4th Arra Dragon - 9/10 - Longest song on the album. Great guitar parts, for some reason at 2:10 it reminds me of Nirvana... in a really strange way... Doesn't the drummer get tired playing these songs live? At around 4:55-5:20 and again at 5:40 there is some high pitched sound going on and off that I am not sure whether it is part of the song... The second half of the song is better then the first on vocals.

6-Permitting the Noble Dead to Descent to the Underworld - 9/10 - Second Shortest song on the album. There is a lot of music packed into 3:32 seconds, traveling at a very fast speed. The guitar solo is great.

7-Yezd Desert Ghul Ritual In The Abandoned Towers Of Silence - 6/10 This song is short, and more of a weird interlude than anything...  It sounds like some kind of Ritual.... The lyrics are not in English, I think they said it was Arabian.. This song will also win the award for "most useless long title".

8-Kem Khefa Khesef - 7.5/10 Starts of fast and brutal and stays that way the entire song, although it isn't the fastest or heaviest song on the album...

9-The Eye of Ra - 8/10 -  THE SOLO. THE GUITAR.

10- Iskander D'hul Karnon - 9.1/10 - Starts off with a great intro. Every instrument is perfect on this song.
Near the beginning the drumming reminds me of really fast thrash metal. Great way to end the album.

The average is 8.8, if it weren't for the song Yezd Desert Ghul Ritual In The Abandoned Towers Of Silence the average would be much higher, and since its more of an interlude I will give the album a   8
The album comes with a very large booklet (large for album booklets) that has info (sometimes multiple pages) on every song.

Dethklok

   I got the non-bonus track version of 'the Dethalbum' by Dethklok.  This is basically the soundtrack to the American TV show "Metalocalypse".  In the show the five band members go around doing death metal related things (Like recording an album in a submarine).  Though they advertise themselves as a "Death metal" band they are very much on the side of "Melodic Death Metal" (Though they don't really conform to all the trends of the genre).


1 Murmaider - 9.5/10 Second best song on the album, sick intro, and the rest of the song is great, heavy, great main riff,
2 Go into the water - 9/10 Nice intro, Nice riff,  LISTEN TO THE GUITAR, Slower
3 Awaken 8.9/10, Everythings there.
4 Bloodrucuted - 9/10 - Shortest song on the album.
5 Go fourth and die - 8.7/10 Tiny guitar solo.
6 Fansong - 9/10 Great Chorus, Heavy.
7 Better Metal snake - 9/10 The first time I heard this one I didn't like it but now its one of my favorites, the chorus is very good, Very good vocals.
8 The lost vikings - 9 Drums are good.
9 Thunderhorse - 9.5/10 Some of the best vocals on the album. Great guitar work.
10 Briefcase full of guts - 8.5/10
11 Birthday Dethday 8.8/10
12 Hatredcopter - 9.5/10 Best song on the album, the vocals are slightly different, clean singing mixed in with the growl makes it a very good song.
13 Castratrikron - 8.5/10
14 Face Fisted - 8.8/10 Heavier then the one before and after it.
15 Dethharmonic - 7/10 - Stars off different from any other song on the album, but gets good at the end.

The album flows well and manages to be melodic death metal without being completely manufactured and trendy.

Album score  8.8

Braid.

I got it for sale when it was $2 on steam.
So that means I have the PC version,
it is a nice little puzzle game,

As you can see from that picture, and the next few, that the graphics are cool, but not really HD or anything,
I don't think this picture below is even braid, it looks different...

Pretty much you run around trying to get the Key to get the puzzle pieces to finish the level,
You COULD just walk straight across most of the levels and go through the door, but thats no fun
You use time to get the peices, like in one world when you move forward the creatures go forward, and when you stand still they don't move, and when you go backwards they go backwards,
and you have unlimited lives, because you can't really die, you just reverse time...
After the first two worlds the puzzles start to get hard, and most you won't be able to figure out on your first try,
There are some bosses that are fun to fight, the first one you have to drop a chandelier on its head, several times, using time to make them re-spawn,

Seeing as this game costs $10, and I got it for 2, thats what I will be rating this on,
Graphics -  5 they are horrible quality and not HD at all, but they are like cardboard cut outs and that is cool,
Gameplay - 7 Using time control to solve puzzles is pretty fun, and plus that you can never die that makes it less frustrating
Story - I don't know whether to give it a 1 or a 5..... so I'll just give it 4
Overall 5.5 If you really like puzzle games you will probably like this, for some reason it kind of reminds me of Mario