Click, click, boom

This fell of the back of a donkey cart over the weekend. It's a remix album for WayForward's necrophiliac Contra 4. I never played that game, so I can't judge how faithful, or appropriate the metal reinterpretations found here are, but I do like me some fuckin' rock, and I feel qualified to make a comment. This stuff fuckin' rocks!

The closest video game comparison one can make is Daisuke Ishiwatari's Guilty Gear XX soundtrack. Something I was never a fan of. The difference between the works presented here, and the GGXX tracks, is that Contra 4 Rocked 'n' Loaded is concise, unlike the all-over-the-place nature of the GGXX OST. Every track is made up of everything it needs, blazing fast guitar riffs, groovy base lines, keyboard flourishes, and a drum machine. This is a testament not only the skill of the producers and players, but also to the ability of the original composer, who was involved with this project since day one. This can therefore be considered an official remix album, even though it's not, you know, official.

Rocked 'n' Loaded is definitely video game music for people who don't like video game music. By that I mean this is real rock music. It commands attention just for being itself, and isn't there to be in the background. The closest real world musical comparison I have is Children Of Bodom. The keyboards on the first two tracks do sound almost identical, but change their tone for the latter half. In 10 minutes R'n'L already managed to evolve further than COB managed in 10 years. Just in case anyone had any doubts, track 10 comes full circle and throws in chiptune melody along side the riffing. This combined with a certain voice clip, from a tangentally related medium, combine into exactly what the producers set out to achieve, a celebration of Contra, video games, and rock-and-roll. I give Contra 4 Rocked 'n' Loaded 29 spent shell casings out of a 30 round clip. Let's hope they won't get sued.