Expand your vino knowledge and break out a bottle of something new.

READ MORE »

With Master Chief elsewhere in the universe, ODST follows an elite group of soldiers known as Orbital Shock Drop Troopers. As the team descends into New Mombasa amidst the heavy Covenant onslaught, they get separated, and a new recruit known as The Rookie must traverse the war zone and piece together what happened. As The Rookie uncovers information, players are launched into flashbacks that put them in control of the missing squad members as they fight for their lives. Once the mystery is solved, take the fight online with the new Firefight mode (think Gears of War 2’s Horde mode), then cash in your invitation to check out the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta that is set to launch in 2010. You’re gonna need more sick days to finish it all.

The grunge guitar icon resurrects Alice in Chains and tells us why the loss of his lead singer will never be okay.

READ MORE »

The best thing about New York band Brand New is their ability to cut and paste the good parts of everything from punk to grunge and even plain ol’ rock ‘n’ roll and stitch them all together. The twangy guitar interlude of “Be Gone” sets things up for “Sink,” which starts with a foot-stompin’ blues blast that builds into a Nirvana-style feedback eruption. There are hints of Neutral Milk Hotel and Modest Mouse in the powerful “At the Bottom” as frontman Jesse Lacey sings, “Think something dark’s living down in my heart/And if I wanted to die before I got old/I should have started some years ago diggin’ that hole.” It’s strange, complex, and startlingly original.

Roadies spend the majority of their time hauling equipment and tuning instruments. Not Eddie Riggs. After he spills blood on his badass belt buckle in a backstage mishap, the world’s best roadie is transported to an alternate universe ripped straight from a heavy metal album cover. Under the reign of evil Lord Doviculus and his glam rockin’ minion General Lionwhyte, demons have enslaved humanity. Armed with two axes (a dual-bladed weapon and a guitar), Riggs, voiced by Jack Black, must rally the oppressed headbangers and restore rock. With an outlandish script and an amazing cast of rock legends (including Lemmy Kilmister, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, and Lita Ford), Brütal Legend is the best homage to rock ‘n’ roll since This Is Spinal Tap.

Noah Levine has spent his living Against the Stream!

READ MORE »

AFI made their transformation from hardcore kids to goth-punk pioneers look as easy as applying eyeliner. The truth is, they've been tweaking their formula, and Crash Love might be the closest they’ve come to perfecting it. “Beautiful Thieves” explodes into huge guitars and operatic backing vocals while “Veronica Sawyer Smokes” races around a punked-up Cure riff. On “Medicate,” singer Davey Havok tries self-diagnosis (“I feel nothing at all”) while darting between dive-bombing guitars and a big gang-chorus. Later, AFI come close to their early days with the hardcore blast of “Sacrilege” as Havok preaches the evils of religion, snarling, “Just let your faith die!” Their best yet.

The rapper-turned-actor-turned-Gamer is out to conquer the world and—what the hell—set the record straight about Jeremy Piven’s mercury poisoning while he’s at it.

READ MORE »