Megasus

Megasus (2009)

Joe Pelone

Considering how much love for music goes into the Rock Band games, it's no surprise that some Harmonix employees are musicians themselves. Four of them constitute the metal group Megasus (puns! Yes!). On the band's self-titled seven-song effort for 20 Buck Spin, the group turns out a smorgasbord o' metal.

Sometimes Megasus plays sludge ("Ten Kingdoms"), sometimes they get psychedelic ("Swords") and sometimes they go for more of a cock rock thing ("Paladin vs Berserker"). It's not always great--"Swords" is seven-and-a-half minutes long and it sure does feel like it--but given the band's pedigree, it makes for a nice curio. Besides, the riffs are plentiful, making each song a viable candidate for Rock Band 3 (actually, "Red Lottery" is available for download right now).

And just like in Rock Band, the lamest part about Megasus is the vocals. Frontman Jason Kendall has versatile enough pipes, but he's no Chris Cornell. His reluctance to stick to a vocal style leaves the band feeling slightly faceless. The gruff takes work alright, but whenever he cleans up his singing he reveals some laughably lacking lyrics. The songs tend to follow repetitive rhyme schemes without much room for depth, so anybody looking for something more meaningful behind the guitar tricks will be disappointed.

Still, the music is accomplished, and fans of Soundgarden, Mastodon and Kylesa might find a track or two to like. Hell, Megasus wouldn't be out of place if they opened for those bands. Until they do, though, they'll have to stick to their day job…playing video games. Lucky bastards.