TOG's TOP TEN BANDS/ARTISTS

TOG's TOP TEN BANDS/ARTISTS

10. Metric

I don't fully remember how I discovered METRIC. But when I did I was completely hooked. With fun melodies with sometimes not so fun lyrics makes this band really good. I was able to see them in Vegas a couple years ago and that was pretty fun.

Songs to check out - Gold Guns Girls, Youth Without Youth, Synthetica, Sick Muse, & Black Sleep

Album to check out - Syntheica

9. Korn

During my angsty teenager years (compared to my current angsty adult years) this was my favorite music in the world. They are not the same currently as it was when I was younger but this band will always have a place for me. It perfect music for when I am angry and bitter. It was also the first live performance I seen on my 21st birthday.

Songs to check out - Got the Life, Freak on a Leash, Make Me Bad, Here to Stay, & Trash

Album to check out - Issues

8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs

This music is pure off the wall "corkiness". As soon as my friend suggested I listen to them it was all I played for weeks. They are still on a list of bands I still need to see live.

Songs to check out - 10x10, Isis, Zero, Heads Will Roll, Sacrilege

Album to check out - It's Blitz!

7. Metallica

Metallica has been making music since before I was born and they are still amazing at it. I prefer 90's Metallica after The Black Album to the 80s guitar epic Metallica which is considered wrong but whatever. Saw them in Vegas also and it was pretty great.

Songs to check out - No Leaf Clover, Nothing Else Matters, Until it Sleeps, Turn the Page, and Enter Sandman

Album to check out - S & M or Load

6. Rammstein

Angry German industrial metal music. After I moved on from listening to KORN with my angst, I moved on to RAMMSTEIN. I love the powerful beats and when the lyrics are translated it has has some great lyrics. I don't know if I ever want to see them live because they all scare me. They also have the best set of music videos ever.

Songs to check out - Ich Will, Du Hast, Engel, Mutter, Sonne

Album to check out - Mutter

5/ 4. Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails & How to Destroy Angels)

 Trent Reznor is my 2nd favorite musical god. Not many people know that he IS Nine Inch Nails. He writes it all. He has started a side project HtDA with his wife, who also has an amazing voice. Not mention he is doing the score for my favorite director's films (The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and currently Gone Girl). I have seen both bands live and HtDA is my 2nd favorite show ever. The above image is from a live show and it was just so cool looking.

Songs to check out -  Head Like A Hole, Terrible Lie, Closer, Deep, Ruiner (NIN) / Welcome Oblivion, Parasite, The Space in Between, A Drowning, How Long? (HtDA)

Albums to check out - Pretty Hate Machine (NIN) / Welcome Oblivion (HtDA) 

3/2/1. Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle, & Puscifer)

I mentioned above that Reznor was my 2nd favorite musical god. Here is number one. The man has no less then 3 separate musical projects. TOOL is the original and most popular with it's extended songs about abstract stuff, APC is the supergroup formed with many other artists from other bands. PUSCIFER (despite the childish name) is very experimental grooves with a sexual undertone in a lot of it. All of them have a distint sound to them but all share the amazing vocals of Keenan.  Keenan & Reznor were suppose to do a band together and I am sad it never happened. I have seen TOOL live once, a 2 day show for APC, and PUSCIFER twice. The first time is my favorite show of all time. 

Songs to check out - Schism, Lateralus, Vicarious, The Grunge, The Patient (TOOL) / Judith, Blue, Weak & Powerless, Vanishing, Gravity (APC) / Vagina Mine, Momma Sed, The Humbling River,  Tiny Monsters, Holiday on the Moon (PUSCIFER)

Albums to check out - Lateralus (TOOL) / The Thirteenth Step (APC) / V is Vagina (Puscifer)

Honorable Mentions : Lacuna Coil, Godsmack, Linkin Park, the Naked & Famous, TATU

TOG's TOP TEN PLAYSTATION 3 GAMES

TOG's TOP TEN PLAYSTATION 3 GAMES

I am not just going to list playstation exclusive titles but ones that I have played on the console. I have always liked games that had a good story on top of the other things that make a great game. Graphics, characters, gameplay, etc. Anyone of those things could be argued to be the most important aspect of a game, but it really matters on who plays it. I also excluded HD remakes from the list.

10. Prince of Persia

A reboot of the original PRINCE OF PERSIA games saw a new prince in a new setting. I am/was a huge fan of this game. I love the cel shaded look and the story was actually really good. The gameplay was pretty much the same throughout, climb here, collect light seeds, and fight this guy. But it was so much fun. They also had Elika as your companion throughout the game. She saves you from dying from enemies and falling. This might seem odd as there is no challenge but it's basically the same cause falling starts you back at a previous point. And when she heals you, the enemy gets healed also. I really wish that they made a sequel to this. 

9. God of War III

This game is brutal. You play as Kratos, a man of vengeance and rage who was wronged by the gods and now wants to kill them all. The first GoW was about killing Ares, then the sequels focused on Zeus and the rest. This was the first game released on the new consoles when 1 and 2 were on PS2. You fight and rip apart so many creatures and characters of Greek mythology. The highlight of the game is fighting a Godzilla sized Titan and taking him down.

8. Assassin's Creed II

There have been 6 main installments in the ASSASSIN'S CREED franchise. One a year since AC2 was released. But I feel every game since has been a copy of this one, the only one that really offered anything new was AC4. I enjoyed the first game alright but this one had me hooked. Any free moment I had was playing this game. I once spent a day off for 14 hours straight playing this (man I wish I could do that nowadays). I did everything I could in that game and really 100% it. 

7. Bioshock 2

Man all three of the BIOSHOCK games belong on this list. One of the others actually is, but I left out the first game. It is really great but I choose 2 over it because 1 had a protagonist that was just a plot device. 2 was better because it was more personal, the decisions you made during the game affected what another character does and acts at the end. It is some heartbreaking stuff. I have played it in both good and bad mode. The atmosphere in these games are insane.

6. Dead Space 2

Man these games are nightmares. I never could play a horror game until I tried Dead Space. I screamed and yelled a lot. The sequel was more action oriented then original. Like comparing ALIEN to ALIENS. But from the opening scene running down a hallway in a straightjacket, to the famous eye scene. It is just one insane moment after the next. Also exploding babies.

5. Heavenly Sword

Known by many as GODDESS OF WAR because it's similarity in gameplay to the GOD OF WAR series. But I think it's better because I really enjoy the overall narrative of it. Using motion capture of great actors to create the character. I also enjoyed at the end where I fought an entire army who was on the scene at once. I never seen that many moveable characters at once. This also never got a sequel and it's a shame. 

4. The Walking Dead - Season One

So many feels. This was more of interactive movie where you walk around, talk to characters, & interact with items that help you change the story. But the overall narrative is the same, it just changes you how to got there. This is better then the mediocre show and the comics that I actually really like. Need to play Season Two soon.

3. Red Dead Redemption

The game was designed to be GRAND THEFT AUTO in the old west and that's what it was. The game was a perfect homage to the gritty style we expect of Westerns. Full of great characters and full of so much to do. Shootouts, poker games, hogtying someone to the train tracks, you almost do it all. Plus it had one of the best DLC's in UNDEAD NIGHTMARE where zombies, chupucabras, sasquatches, the four horse of apocalypse, and a unicorn take over the old west. 

2. Bioshock Infinite

The first two BIOSHOCK's were set in the underwater city of Rapture. This time it was set in a new fictional city of Columbia, that is floating high in the air. You play as Booker who is a man with a debt. He is sent to Columbia to save Elizabeth. It then becomes a great story about redemption and possibility. Elizabeth was designed and modeled after a lot of Disney Princesses. 

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 - Guns of the Patriots

The MGS series is one of the my favorite things of all time. This was supposed to be the final entry to the game (it's not now). So it was set up to the big finale of the journey of Solid Snake and any loose ends. I have a hard time choosing which MGS is the best but this is a powerful contender. With the great stealth gameplay (might be too easy) & so many fantastic moments make this one of my favorite games of all time. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS : Batman - Arkham Asylum, Tomb Raider (2013), The Unfinished Swan, & DMC - Devil May Cry

GAMES I STILL NEED TO PLAY : The Last of Us, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2 & 3, Mass Effect 2 & 3, Journey, Skyrim