Metal

Doujin, Game Music

Achtung!! Achtung!! Ryan8bit Goes Bionic Commando With 2010.8.2

August 5, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | 2 Comments Share this

Ryan Stern, or Ryan8bit as we better know him, was one of the artists that spearheaded the game music arrangement scene since its early days through his metal arrangements of Castlevania and Castlevania 2 released through Castlevania Dungeon. At the time this was a new concept for young fans and his above average sound and production values caught on fast. Since then he has become a dangerously skilled musician and holds a record of most entries in the Dwelling of Duels contest.

While very prolific and dearly loved, he hasn’t had his own album release since those early days so it’s with great excitement Concatenation Records announced that Ryan8bit will release a full Bionic Commando metal arrangement album titled 2010.8.2 .The game is highly worthy of a full album dedicated to the brilliant music, and Ryan8bit is the right man for the job. The album ships for 10 dollars for the CD version or 5 for the digitial. Concatenation Records is a community label that releases works of the artists located at TheShizz.org, home of The Minibosses Message Board. They have earlier put out other game arrangement albums such as The Wonderful World of Willow, Dark Side of Zebes as well as the chiptune album A Chip off the Shizz Block.

Check out the preview for 2010.8.2 on Youtube and buy the album at Concatenation Records.
Miscellaneous

Rest In Peace Ronnie James Dio ~1942-2010~

May 17, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | 3 Comments Share this

Metal lost one of its most important figures yesterday as Ronnie James Dio sadly passed away from cancer. Dio had been a key figure in the metal scene since the late 1970s when he became the vocalist of Black Sabbath, successfully replacing Ozzy Osbourne, and would later form his own band named Dio. Dio was responsible for the now all time classic “Holy Diver.”

As this sad day comes to an end, we’d like to honor the life and talent of Dio by showing you a piece of his history that many have not heard of or seen. Enjoy the footage of Dio’s Famicom game Holy Diver, which was only released in Japan in 1989. The game was developed by Irem.
Doujin, Game Music

Minibosses 10th Anniversary Show Recordings Released!

March 16, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | 1 Comment Share this

We talked about The Minibosses celebrating their anniversary show last month at Yucca Tap Room in Arizona. From the looks of it, the lucky people there got to experience and hear a tight show and great moments throughout the night. Better yet, it turns out there was professional recordings going on at the event as well! Bobsmith, a traveling show recorder, got the entire set recorded, mixed and mastered for everyone to download.

The set includes Super Mario Bros. 2, Goonies 2, Mega Man 2, Batman, Blaster Master, Contra and Metroid. Obviously it being a live recording means you’ll get some drunken crowd banter and massive sing alongs, but be happy you’re listening to this at home safe and sound. You wouldn’t wanna be in attendance and potentially be molested, would you?

Download the live set from Logicind.
Doujin, Game Music

Contra 4: Rocked ‘N Loaded Now Released!

March 5, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | Comments Off on Contra 4: Rocked ‘N Loaded Now Released! Share this

2 months late but who cares?! It’s finally here and ready to ship out. We’ve done plenty of coverage on this CD in the past, with artist interviews and updates on it’s progress along the way. Originally scheduled for release at MAGFest, the production company did a printing mistake and therefor, the team had to switch pressing companies and find a comparable price range.

In case you aren’t totally up to speed on the project, this is a full arrange album of the Contra 4 soundtrack, featuring Andreas “Snappleman” Kotsamanidis, Tony “Prince of Darkness” Dickinson, Dan Behrens from Metroid Metal and ARMCANNON, Marcos “Braincells” Pascoli and Jake “virt” Kaufman, the original composer of the soundtrack! Other awesome contributors show up as well.

You can order this CD at Rocked N Loaded.com for $12.
Game Music, Reviews

Planet Shattering CD: Metroid Metal – Varia Suite (Review)

September 7, 2009 | Audun Sorlie | 3 Comments Share this

Metroid has always been a unique game series. Since the first game’s release in 1987, gamers have been hooked on the barren, lonely atmosphere, exciting boss fights, exploration of strange places and of course, the excellent music by Hip Tanaka.

Metroid was unlike anything else in terms of gameplay and music. It didn’t use upbeat samba or rock ‘n roll influenced tracks. Rather, it was more mysterious, sending you into a huge world of unknown beings and sounds, with a heroic main theme in Brinstar, to the chilling boss theme against Ridley, it’s a solid classic. Metroid 2 and Super Metroid by Ryoji Yoshitomi and Kenji Yamamoto, released on Game Boy and SNES respectively only helped Metroid reach its iconic status.

So with the music being so recognizable and held in such high regard, naturally a lot of arrangements and fan projects and have focused on Metroid, and tomorrow, Metroid Metal will unleash their new CD upon the world.

So, did they do the series justice? Do a screw attack and find out after the jump! (more…)
Japanese

Japanese Musician Spotlight: Dir en Grey

December 9, 2008 | Alix Minjarez | 6 Comments Share this

It seems that this past year has been the year of Japanese rock. With many bands performing at expos or at concerts, they seem to be gaining bigger fanbases by the minute. While all of these bands come and go, one band that has had staying power both in Japan and even America is Dir en Grey. DeG has been around since 1997 and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Hit the jump to get a taste of what you’re missing (more…)