Roadrunner pack 01…My first stab at drums (hard)

So I thought I would give the Roadrunner pack a go on drums(hard). I have only made it about halfway through expert drums at so far and knowing these songs would be just insane I played them on hard. I decided to start with my favorite song in the bunch, Constant Motion by Dream Theater. I am a big Dream Theater fan and was excited to see this as a bit of a precursor to Panic Attack being in Rock Band 2. I was a bit concerned before starting these songs since my drum set if broken but it was working well enough for now (I will be getting a replacement in a couple of days). This drum chart was all I wanted it to be and more. As I expected from a Mike Portnoy song, this chart used all the pads and was all over the place. It was difficult, but not overly so which is just what I like.

Constant Motion 3 stars (hard drums)

The photo quality sucks but 83% on my sightread (first time playing) is not bad for me and since I really like listening to and playing this song, I expect to be in the low to mid ninety percent and 4.5 to 5 stars in a week or two.

Next up was Clouds over California by DevilDriver. I had never heard the song before (actually never heard of the band before) so i wasn’t sure what to expect other than it being metal. the song is not really up my alley with the vocal style. I listen to allot of heavy metal but often struggle to like bands with growling singers and those that scream all the time. In Rock Band though while playing the drums, the drum track is raised in volume and the drums themselves are loud so i could barely hear the vocals anyway. With all that said, this chart was pretty fun and very challenging. Like the Dream Theater track, this one is hard but fun and will get some replay from me. Again bad quality, but 84% is not a bad start and I should be able to improve it a decent bit.

Clouds over California 3 star (Hard drums)

Next up was My Curse by Killswitch Engage. I was familiar with this song from it being in Guitar Hero 3 and thought it was OK. Not my favorite but not bad at all. This chart was not bad but not particularly fun. I could do better and liked it enough to work on it sometime down the road. I can easily get this in the 90% range on my next run and may do it tomorrow.

My Curse 3 stars (Hard drums)

Well I would love to post more photos but unfortunately that is all i have since I failed the other 3 songs. First was Runnin’ Wild by Airbourne. This song really seems like a rip-off of “You’ve got another thing coming” by Judas Priest and that was kind of a turn off for me since i don’t like that song much to begin with. this drum chart was pretty easy for almost all of it. I got a bit confused by the end alternating cymbals and couldn’t pick it up before failing at 93%. I know I could pass this song easily if i just took that part in practice for 5 minutes, but honestly I don’t know if I want to play it again. Having over 150 songs give me lots of options so this goes pretty far down the list.

Next in my punishment was Sleepwalker by Megadeth. I like Megadeth and have most of their earlier albums but haven’t heard the latest one yet so this was another song i was unfamiliar with. This song was very hard for me and had me flailing for the entire 30% of the song I lasted. I will possibly come back to this one later but am not sure I am good enough for this one yet, which is a shame because it sounds good. i cold play it on medium but since I have moved to hard the slow scroll speed messes me up and I find it difficult to switch back and forth, so I would rather jsut play what I can on hard and expert.

Finally I got to Aesthetics of Hate by Machine Head. I have this album but don’t listen to it that much (see my earlier dislike of growling vocals) so i wasn’t completely familiar but I knew what was coming. i still wasn’t even close to ready. I completely suck at the types of patterns in this song and i really can’t so them at the speed of this song. i failed at 10% and will not even come back any time soon, if ever. I put this in the same category of Blinded by Fear (songs I know I can’t pass and don’t really care to).

Maybe tomorrow I will get to these songs on Guitar, which looks to be a ridiculous challenge as well.

Keep on Rocking,

Elvis Lawson