ARTS
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - 13
SOUNDS OF
SUMMER
ALBUM-RICH SEASON
OFFERS EVERYTHING ?
Expansion pack
adds life to 'Doom 3'
SUM M ER MUSIc P RviEw
O nce the distractions of daily life (read:
school) fade from our collective subcon-
scious, summer feels like a time of end-
less pauses and waning afternoons. Unless, of
course, you're the least bit interested in music.
The summer of 2005 promises pockets of
excitement for everyone. Clubs get a new Missy
album, moody hipsters get Spoon's Gimme Fic-
tion and geek-rockers stuck in the mid-'90s get
Weezer.
Wherever you listen to music - in your car,
in your bedroom, walking down the blistering
city streets - this summer's releases promise
to be more than enough to make the hazy nights
just drift away.
Dave Matthews Band
Stand Up
RCA
May 10
Crash into - a brick wall! DMB's latest promises
even more annoying, sedated violin solos and quasi-
passionate saxophone riffs. Forty-year olds who think
they're "hip" and conformist teenagers alike will bask
in the glow of Matthews's fun-guy meets-wannabe-
activist persona. A quick tip for summer hookups:
Setting the mood with DMB will not get you laid on a
first date. Try something less awful, like Rob Thom-
as's new album.
Spoon
Gmmie Fiction
Merge
May 10
Spoon has arguably been indie rock's most depend-
ably exciting band for the last six years. Gimme Fiction
comes on the heels of a career- defining three-album
streak; it holds the band's sharp melodies against a
surprisingly funky rhythm section. Forget that "O.C."
appearance: These guys are on some Al Green-meets-
Wire, middle of a July night, glory days shit. That's
the way they get by.
Weezer
Make Believe
Geffen
May 10
Hooray for disappointment. Six years after
they were good, Rivers Cuomo and his band of
manic-depressive nerds look to release another
albun somewhere between Maladroit and The
Green Album. The first single, "Beverly Hills,"
is a few minutes of pithy guitar schlock and
insipid lyrics about everyone's favorite rich-bitch
enclave. Yeah, we're not that enthusiastic about
it, either.
By Chris Gaerig
Daily Arts Writer
"EGAME EVIEW
Video game fanatics and horror
movie freaks alike rejoiced at the release
of "Doom 3" about six months ago. As
the next installment in the revolution-
ary "Doom" series,
"Doom 3" combined Doom 3:
uncanny graphics Resurrection
with extraordinary of Evil
gameplay. The fast-
paced multiplayer
mods also made it
one of the most exhil-
PC
Activision
"Yippee-kay-yay, motherfucker."
Stephen Malkmus
Face the Truth
Matador
May 24
Rumor has it that, post-Pavement and post-Jicks,
the venerable king of '90s indie rock goes it alone
on Face the Truth just as he did on his self-titled solo
debut. Fans shouldn't expect another collection of cute.
abstract pop like Stephen Malkmus or the brooding,
ambling guitars of Pig Lib - he's got a few more
tricks up his sleeve. Don't tell anyone, but a friend on
the inside mentioned something about lots and lots of
synthesizers. Watch out for SM and whoever he's play-
ing with at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit on June 10.
Sleater-Kinney
The Woods
Sub Pop
May 24
Since 1996's Call the Doctor, indie guitar god-
desses Sleater-Kinney haven't misstepped once - and
they don't even have a bass player. (I heard there isn't
one single chord played on The Hot Rock.) Their first
release since 2002's bright, politically charged One
Beat, The Woods promises more incendiary guitar
counterpoint, machine gun drumming and throaty
howls from the ultra-badass Olympia, Wash. trio.
The White Stripes
Get Behind Me Satan
V2
June 7
The delightfully vintage rockers will release their
fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan, on V2 Records in
a few short months. The album was recorded at Jack
White's Third Man Studio in Detroit. Plan on the
channelling of dead or near-dead blues and country
legends, White's signature growl-whine and a whole
lot of nothing from eye candy/place holder Meg.
Coldplay
EMI
June '7
After their multi-platinum sophomore album
A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay embarked
on an arena-packing tour, frontman Chris Martin
knocked up Gwyneth Paltrow and "Clocks" became
the soundtrack to a thousand teenage heartbreaks.
The lead single from X&Y, "Speed of Sound," hits
airwaves this week with enough ethereal Brit-rock to
keep fans at bay until the album's release in June.
Foo Fighters
In Your Honor
RCA
June 21
Dave Grohl screams his way through another
surefire million-seller this June. Led Zeppelin
bassist John Paul Jones makes a guest appearance
as Grohl attempts to satisfy his '60s rock fanta-
sies. Also accompanied by soccer mom favorite
Norah Jones, The Foo Fighters seem to be appeal-
ing to a different demographic (i.e., your parents)
with their first two-disc release.
Missy Elliot
Cook Book
Atlantic
June 28
Get ur freak on! With help from The Neptunes,
Elliot promises to fill Clear Channel lineups with
one or two club-licious hits. Enlisting Ciara and
Fat Man Scoop, Missy Misdemeanor will have
fans flipping and reversing it before the summer's
over. Come on, Missy, bring back the puffy black
trashbag garb. You looked freakin' hot as a sumo
wrestler.
- Compiled by the Daily Music Staff
arating games on the market. But months
later, "Half-Life 2" was released, casting a
shadow over the magnificence of "Doom
3." Any doubt in the "Doom" series's
greatness is quickly banished by "Doom
3: Resurrection of Evil," which casts aside
the ominous "Half-Life 2" veil.
"Resurrection of Evil," the first "Doom
3" expansion pack, retains the original
game's eerie ambience and high-powered
gameplay. The main character - a dif-
ferent nameless marine than in the origi-
nal - along with several other soldiers,
traverses through uncharted ruins until
he comes across an artifact from hell.
After grabbing the piece, which opens
the gates of Hell, the real fun begins.
"Resurrection of Evil" shows off Activ-
ision's graphic abilities with new land-
scapes and settings. Most of "Doom 3"
took place in a military base with narrow,
metallic corridors; huge caverns and mas-
sive ruins take their place in the expan-
sion. These new landscapes contribute to
the more intense ambience of the game.
The fluid gameplay of "Doom 3"
is maintained well in "Resurrection
of Evil." All of the original version's
demons and zombies are present, along
with several new ghouls. The revamped
imps, which are most common in this
expansion pack, prove to be a handful,
requiring a fair amount of ammuni-
tion to kill. The possessed marines and
flying skulls can also be difficult and
tedious to defeat.
Included with the standard flashlight,
shotgun, pistol and machine gun are a
slew of new weapons exclusive to "Res-
urrection of Evil." The double-barreled
shotgun, the grabber, acts much as the
gravity gun does in "Half-Life 2," grab-
bing objects and projectiles for redirec-
tion. The most useful addition, the hellish
artifact, is relatively easy to find early in
the game and extremely useful. Running
on human souls, the artifact's abilities
change throughout the game. First slow-
ing time, it later grants super strength and
invincibility.
The most obvious changes, aside from
the different environments, are the scare
techniques. In "Doom 3," the monsters
were hidden in every nook and cranny.
Their appearance was textbook and soon
became predictable. The monsters in
"Resurrection of Evil" are sparse in com-
parison, though they attack in hoards.
The scenery often changes to blood red
or pitch black with audible cackles and
screams without any attack or material-
ization of monsters. The intermittence
of the creatures along with these occur-
rences creates a nail-biting atmosphere.
"Resurrection of Evil" only falters
because it mirrors "Doom 3" so closely;
this isn't a prominent flaw, however. The
new weapons, enemies and environments
are a fantastic addition, but the expansion
pack follows the original too closely to be
a legendary game.
A Morning in the
Chem Lab, an Afternoon
at the Beach
Choose from over 600 courses. You'll be joining
7,000 other students who know that world-class
learning at Boston University also means world-class
summertime fun in Boston.
l '
t
Now
$2
.
all you cOn fly,
all summer long.
Hey, you cOn sleep in September.
GLIDE Summer Travel POss. College students only! The GLiDE Pass gets you all the
summer flyin' you can handle on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays among
all our destinations East of the Mississippi from May 1 - August 31, 2005. All you
need to pay each time you fly are the applicable fees and taxes, which can be
I up to $20.40 per one-way flight-or about the cost of a large pizza* You also
get big discounts on the other days of the week, and to the West all the time. It's
an awesome deal @ $249* Passes are limited. When they're sold out...it's all over.
Requires a college ID, proof of age (18-25) and a sense of adventure.
Go to NylCOM to buy your pass or for more details.
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