Music - Gosta Berlings Saga: Tid ar Ljud, Detta Har Hant

Gosta Berlings Saga (whose name is taken from a famous Swedish novel) are a fantastic instrumental rock band from Sweden. To date they have released three albums, and although I've yet to hear their latest, the first two are both excellent.

The music of this band is built using the typical rock lineup of guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, but the band couldn't sound further from typical rock. What we are treated to hear are greatly textured soundscapes, built with textured layered guitars, lively bass, and excellent drumbeats.

In both of their albums, the magic is in the details. The various instruments interact with each other in such a way to create beautifully textured pieces of music, masterfully layering the sounds to build gorgeous soundscapes that are atmospheric more than melodic. The sum is definitely more than the parts, with the interactions between the instruments creating the subtle tapestry that defines the bands sound. Multiple listens are definitely recommended, for there are plenty of little details that are easier to notice once one is familiar with the music. 

Listening to their debut, Tid ar Ljud reveals a band with a lot more chops and confidence than one would expect, and with a surprisingly solid ability to craft complex, yet listenable instrumental music. 

Between their first and second album, the band changed guitarists, so Tid ar Ljud is the only album they released with Matthias Danielson on guitars. Compared to Einar Baldursson, who would replace him on the next album, Matthias puts a bit more rock and 

heaviness into his playing, making this album a bit meatier than its follow-up. This works quite 

well, and the closing track, Svarta Hal Och Elljusspår (which roughly translates to Black holes and Floodlit Track) is 

perhaps the best example of this. It is also possibly the best track I have heard from this very 

talented group thus far.

Their second album, Detta Har Hant (which translates to "This Has Happened"), as I mentioned already, features new guitarist Einar Baldursson. I don't know how much of it is because of Einar's involvement, but the sound on this album is a lot more precise, and the soundscapes have a bit more depth. Einar has a more mature and restrained sound than Matthias, although as a result Detta Har Hant does not rock as hard as the debut. Instead it has a bit more of a spacey sound that was not quite as present in the first. This change shows that the band is prepared to continue to grow and evolve their sound, yet despite that the two albums both retain distinct similarities.

The music on Detta Har Hant is incredibly strong, and I'd be hard pressed to name a single track that I didn't like. 

I must admit that most of my favorite moments on this album are the more upbeat tracks, such as the opener Kontrast (Contrast), Fem Trappor (Five Stairs), but I also have a soft spot for the build up in some of their more laid back tracks, such as Nattskift (Night Shift), which builds from a soft keyboard part before the guitar comes in. 

Overall, Detta Har Hant is an excellent release that deserves a lot of attention, especially from those who enjoy adventurous instrumental music.

Definitely a recommended band. Now to get my hands on their latest, "Glue Works"...

Buy their music! 

Tid ar Ljud - Wayside Music | Lasers Edge

Detta Har Hant - Amazon.ca | Wayside Music | Lasers Edge

Both available at Synphonic

Movie - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The following text will likely contain spoilers.

Movie - Triangle (Analysis)

Please note that this blog entry is going to be full of spoilers on the movie Triangle; it is an in depth analysis both of the plot, and the strong and weak points of the movie. If you would like to read a review of it that is spoiler free, please proceed to my review of Triangle.

Movie - Triangle

Although it is labelled as a horror, I wouldn't call Triangle such. It is not really scary, and although several elements common to horror movies do happen to exist in the movie, the way the story plays out is quite surprising. I would classify this as a really good psychological thriller.

The movie has quite a fair amount of shock value, and before the movie is half over, at least one of your pre-conceptions about the way this type of movie should play out will be shattered. The plot twists and bends and continues to mess with your mind, and for me, I was pretty much on the edge of my seat until the end of the movie.

This is a movie that benefits coming in with a blank slate. The trailer does contain a fair amount of spoilers but is presented in such a way that they are not what they seem - a good twist in my mind, although I would recommend seeing this without watching the trailer first if possible.

The most difficult part of describing this movie is doing so without giving away any spoilers, so in that sense let me just say that the plot of this movie has to be seen first hand to fully appreciate. If you know what to expect, a lot of the "What the!" moments of the movie will not quite have the same impact. Luckily, even in that case, the movie itself is a big puzzle, and it doesn't quite tell you how all the pieces fit together, so there is still entertainment value if you know what to expect.

This movie isn't without flaws though. In my rumination over the puzzles, I have found at least one of what seems like a logical flaw to me (or at least, a piece of the puzzle that leads to a less satisfying answer). Furthermore, some of the character development was not as strong as you would like - although then again, the reason for this is part of why the movie was so shocking to me and so I'm not entirely sure how they could have done this differently.

In Depth plot analysis - including huge spoilers

Trailer:

Wii Game - No More Heroes 2

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is the sequel to No More Heroes, and I was drawn to the series because of Suda51 (who I have been a fan of since Killer7 on the Gamecube).

Like the first game, this game is a pretty repetitive action game which benefits from good motion controls and an amusing plot. In comparison to the first game, some areas of the game were improved, but others are less even.

The story of the game pretty much mirrors the first game - the UAA (United Assassins Association) has ranked Assassins, and you start at the bottom of the rankings and try to fight your way up to #1. It's spiced with a bit of revenge; turns out the #1 assassin kills your best friend, Bishop (the guy at the movie store and who would bring you your bike in the first game). In this game, you start at #51 instead of #11, but thanks to a number of plot devices, there are only 15 boss fights. To increase your rank, you enter the next "ranking battle" (which are the main missions), fight off a bunch of weak enemies, and then eventually confront the Assassin ranked above you and defeat them.

In No More Heroes 1, this part of the game was perfect. Each level could be played through in approximately 10-15 minutes, which is approximately as long as the button mashing combat in this game is fun. Yes, there is more depth to the combat then just mashing buttons - you can attack low or high, and use wrestling moves instead of your beam katana. There are also occasional motion controls, usually swiping the controller for a finishing move, to break up the combat. But in practise, I found the most effective way to play the game was to tap the a button as fast as possible, and if I ever stunned an enemy, switch to hitting B (since no matter what health they were at, that would perform a grab, which would kill them). Unfortunately, some of the levels - especially near the end of the game - ran a bit long in this game, and I'd be pretty sick of the fighting by the time I reached the boss.

I did also encounter less weapon clashes in this game. A weapon clash was when you and your opponent would strike at the same time, and your weapons would meet mid-strike; it was then up to you to basically "wax-on" your wii-mote fast enough to push them back, which would result in you getting to kill the enemy in one hit. These were basically random but really added a lot of spice to the combat; yet in No More Heroes 2, they were a lot less frequent.

The boss fights were of course the highlight, but I found that while some bosses were just as fun in the first game, there were a couple whose dialogue + design was less hilarious and/or out there. For example, one of the early fights has you fighting against a Resident Evil parody boss, but they say nothing, so the fight lacks the ridiculous dialogue.

A few of the bosses were frustrating as well; one boss would shoot you with strong bullets, which would drain your battery fast, then run away, and although I was never close to being defeated, I felt like combat got locked into an endless combat of me blocking, charging my battery, and then doing my best to catch up with her and dodge her next attack until I could finally get 3-4 hits in, at which point she would then use another move to run away.

There were some really great bosses however, for example, Destroyman returns from the first game, with a neat twist - since you cut him in half, there are two of him, each half-human half-machine. (Unfortunately, the second half was also another boss I spent more time chasing then fighting).

The programmers also tossed in a bit of a twist, letting you play as Shinobu for a couple of fights (she was the girl you decided not to kill in the first game), and there is one completely-random fight where you play as Henry (your half-brother, also from the first game) against some weird messed up anime girl in his head? It makes more sense during the game. (Wait - nevermind - no it doesn't XD). There's even one fight where Travis operates a giant robot!

The non-mission gameplay has been much improved since the last game. You no longer have to pay ridiculous sums of money to get to the next ranking battle, instead being able to go them one after the other if you so desire, so there's less pointless running around. Mini-games for money still exist, but all of them (except one) are 8-bit style, and a lot more arcadey, less frustrating. The money you get from those can be used to train Travis (which is actually relatively cheap) or to buy new weapons. There is no more driving around through the city, which is also a great improvement.

In total, No More Heroes 2 is a really fun game, and it has been much streamlined since it's predecessor, as well as expanded (with 5 more boss fights). That being said, I think it wasn't quite as successful as the first - the last boss fight, for example, was not such a shocking, ridiculous revelation as the last boss in the first game, the story was still ridiculous but some of the bosses lacked any charm of their own, and some of the missions seemed to drag on.

Still, definitely worth playing if you enjoyed the first.

Trailer:

Buy it - Amazon.ca

Movie - Ever Since The World Ended

Ever Since The World Ended is a fictional documentary that takes place in a future where plague has ravaged most of the human race, leaving behind only a small group of survivors. It takes place in LA, where the population has been reduced from millions to less than two hundred.

The atmosphere is perhaps the most interesting part of the movie, although it is obvious in some parts the tricks they used to make LA feel more empty than it actually was. Regardless, if you just accept it, it really does make the world feel a lot more bleak and dangerous.

The people are of course the driving elements of the story, and the film gives a good impression of both those who lived before the plague and who are coping with the world they are left with and all that they've lost; and those who were born or grew up after the plague and never knew anything different. I think this is the most interesting point of tension in the movie, the difference between either groups approach to the plague and their goals for the future.

The movie also does include a couple of subplots, one involving a member of the community who had been dangerous in the past, and another about an expedition by several of the community members outside the city.

Despite this, the movie does come to somewhat of a dull ending, with no interesting conclusions being drawn or observations being made at the end. At the end of the film, there is a clip of the documentary being premiered, and the director says: "I tried to find a conclusion, but couldn't - so hopefully you'll draw your own as well." Unfortunately, like the filmmaker, I was not able to draw any conclusion from the film either.

Overall a film with some really interesting world building, a few interesting sub plots, that does a good job of feeling like a documentary but doesn't come to any satisfying conclusion.

Trailer:

Available At: Amazon