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. y