Now Hear This...

Un4giv'n
Un4giv'n

Erik Henriksen
pOke Staff

Un4giv'n Un4giv'n

This is the self-titled, debut album from Un4giv'n, a rock band from Auburndale. Depending on the song you are listening to, they have similar sounds of such bands as Godsmack, Scorpions and Seven Mary three.

Musically the band sounds pretty good and tight, all seven songs sound good, with "Vengeance" and "Where do we go from here" being the best songs on the album. Vocally the singer rarely ventures outside of one octave and lyrics on several of the tracks have the same rhythm, leaving them sounding same-y and hypnotic (in a drowsy sort of way). Four of the tracks, "Vengeance," "Loc-n-Load," "Invincible" and "Outta Time" are heavy hitting hard rock/metal songs, while "B-Like-U," "Where do we go from here" and "Didn't I" are the requisite hard rock ballads.

If you are into the local rock scene this is a pretty good place to start, you get seven songs running about 24 minutes for only $9, and you get to help nurture Polk's rock culture.

Video Games Live
Volume One

Erik Henriksen
pOke staff

Video Games Live Volume One

For an album that comes from a concert series you would expect more live recordings, but here you will find only three, although considering that they encourage yelling and screaming this is probably a good thing, either way every track sounds good.

For the uninitiated, Video Games Live is a concert series feature local orchestra and choir members, bringing to life the music of… video games. You would think for their first CD that they would bring out more of the easily recognizable songs. It does have some heavy hitters with Kingdom Hearts, Halo and Castlevania. While some of the other songs that people may recognize comes from Myst, Tron, Tetris and God of War. However, Medal of Honor, Civilization IV and Advent Rising will only be remarkable to people who have played the games (or listened to the respective soundtrack). Not to say any of the songs are not worth listening to as all bring to life a wonderful world of music that was previously unavailable to those who don’t game.

This is music that will move anybody whether they play games or not and is an extremely enjoyable album which is why I would like to give this a 9, but the gamer in me expected a better mix of songs considering the pool of songs that they have performed live and feels the need to bump the score down a little. Anybody who enjoys video games, orchestral music or good music period will enjoy this album and will be left eagerly anticipating the second volume. Video Games Live – Volume One scores a 7 out of 10.

Metallica
Death Magnetic

Erik Henriksen
pOke staff

Metallica Death Magnetic

Alternica is dead, long live Metallica. It is not the complete return to form that fans have been waiting for since "Load" was released, as some of the mainstream influence is still present, but gone is the annoying alternative music, hollowed sounding snare and the return of the awesome guitar licks and solos.

The album starts off with the pounding "That Was Just Your Life," with Metallica proudly shouting we are back! "The End Of The Line," "All Nightmare Long" and "The End of the Line" proves that the heart of Metallica of old is still in there beating. "Suicide & Redemption" heralds the return of the long instrumental that hasn't been heard from since 1988's "… And Justice For All," clocking in at just under ten minutes. Tracks like "The Day That Never Comes," "Cyanide," show the more mainstream influence left over from their last couple of albums, while songs like "My Apocalypse" and "Broken, Beat & Scarred" show what Metallica could have evolved in without going the alternative route. And finally there is "The Unforgiven III" which leaves you wishing they had left enough alone at part I.

For the first time since the 90's I found myself actually wanting to leave a Metallica CD in my CD player, no longer ashamed to call myself a Metallica fan. It is by no means a perfect album, but it thrashes like a Metallica should! Death Magnetic headbangs an 8 out of 10.