Hey Rocksmith fans!
The one-year anniversary of Rocksmith+ saw the first drop of WMG songs from the new deal, but the ball’s been rolling fast since. A second drop came in, and keys were announced, launching on the 24th of this month with 300 songs both new and old.
WMG drops aren’t like previous drops. There’s not exactly the same kind of hidden gems, you’ve probably heard of most of the bands, you’ve probably heard a lot of their songs. Still, my goal with these is to try to say ‘Hey, this might not play exactly how you think, in a good way.’ Or maybe it plays exactly as you think, which is awesome.
Well let’s get into it.
BASS
For folks that have been waiting for more recognizable metal, Ubisoft has answered. Six Sepultura songs, two Deicide songs, two Testament songs, and one Annihilator song. Refuse/Resist by Sepultura, Souls of Black by Testament, and Alison Hell by Annihilator all return from RS2014; the rest are new additions.
Sepultura songs almost all have a part I think is cool in there but can kinda get stuck in their riffs, still a good time for folks with a higher tolerance than me or that enjoy the songs. I do recommend everyone who can try Refuse/Resist, it has a few exceptional riffs compared to the others as well as a larger amount of variety.
If you picked up Souls of Black by Testament in RS2014, you know how cool the intro is especially. If not, well, it’s the intro, check it out. The rest? Also pretty good. Alison Hell by Annihilator is also an incredible returning bass part, I actually didn’t pick it up in RS2014 and regret that, immediately added it to my bookmarks in RS+.
The Deicide songs are the heaviest sound with fast death metal riffs. They get stuck in their riffs a bit, but both still are worth a look, pretty fun with good movement.
Type O Negative get six songs, including Christian Woman that was in RS2014. The bass parts are all worth a poke if you like the sound, they’re all fun and fairly unique gothic rock, but Love You to Death feels like it’s the stand-out with all the pros of their arrangements and none of the cons. My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend is a good follow-up, it’s a bit stuck in a unique riff for the first half but the chorus and interlude add the needed variety and make for a good time.
Linkin Park got a massive sixteen song drop. Bleed It Out, In the End, Numb, One Step Closer, and What I’ve Done return from previous DLC, but many more hits join them. Probably in part because Linkin Park songs aren’t terribly complex songs, in fact a few of these bass parts are essentially identical to ARCHI charts. But there’s still a couple of songs that might surprise even folks familiar with the songs, One Step Closer has a good riff and some variation added with the bridge, and Papercut is probably the most enjoyable, with good riffs and fair variation.
The Cure get six album versions of songs already available as live tracks. Boys Don’t Cry, Friday I’m in Love (freed from true tuning), Just Like Heaven, and Lovesong return from previous offerings. Lovesong is only two riffs but both are quite fun, while Boys Don’t Cry has a lot of enjoyable movement in anchors and around anchors.
Twisted Sister get a six pack, including I Wanna Rock and We’re Not Gonna Take It from DLC offerings. The latter has a great bass riff, while their cover of Born to Be Wild is an absolute blast on bass, fully recommend.
In miscellaneous new offerings, Barely Breathing by Duncan Sheik and Hard to Handle by Otis Redding bring enjoyable bass parts with them. The former has good movement and some fills, while the latter is just some great riffs. Seal, also new to the library, brings three songs (well two songs and an acoustic version of one). While none of them are bad, Kiss from a Rose might surprise folks who dismiss it as a pop offering, it’s got some cool fills and clever use of power chord shapes.
LEAD
The metal offerings in this drop give folks that want some ‘guitar music’ an answer with some songs that are not only challenging but also often as informative. Get ready to widdly, wow.
Sepultura does those metal double stop riffs, which personally aren’t my favorite. If your tolerance for those is higher, you’ll get more enjoyment out of them than me, but each of them is probably worth a glance at the least, the solos are usually educational in some way or another. Inner Self is notable for a tapping section, and Desperate Cry feels like it does what it does best in the group, with varied riffs and a melodic solo feels great and is great to analyze.
Testament brings fantastic lead with both offerings. Souls of Black has great riffs and great lead sections, while Electric Crown gets a bit more stuck in its chord bits but its lead sections are so phenomenal it ends up not mattering. Very hopeful we see more in time.
And Alison Hell, like the bass part, surprised me as I skipped over it in 2014, with tons of fun riffs and an incredibly engaging solo. As mentioned in bass this went from a song I skipped in 2014 to a spot on my bookmarks, for sure something I’m going to visit again and again.
Deicide’s death metal sound might end up too abrasive for some, but even if that’s the case I recommend cracking into them to find the solos, both songs have surprisingly melodic solos that are very good times and tools to learn from.
Type O Negative bring us a bit of a spooky gothic rock sound as we approach Halloween (I’ve seen people putting up Haloween decorations since September 1st, and I guess Rocksmith is one of those). Love You to Death and My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend are both quite fun gothic rock affairs full of riffs the genre is famous for, while I Don’t Wanna Be Me brings some punk energy with a high energy solo, though it gets a bit stuck in its chords like punk can as well.
Look, Linkin Park isn’t known for outstanding guitar in their hits. And honestly, that’s fine! It’s great that RS+ got an influx of recognizable songs that are approachable, it makes sure the library has a good on-boarding for beginners, which could be difficult to find previously. Additionally, still check out the community charts for the songs, a number of members (including yours truly) have some alternate charts of the song that at the least play differently than the authentic version you might know by ear already.
The Cure bring a good chunk of good leads with their additions, all of their offerings to have fun dreamy new wave riffs that make them pleasant to play through, I feel. Friday I’m in Love is the best exemplar of this with a whole bouquet of single note riffs that are a blast to play along with.
Twisted Sister brings six songs, mostly in a vein of glam metal, which mostly does have fun guitar, and most of them do too. Notably, The Price is a great power ballad and their cover of Born to Be Wild is quite fast and quite a blast; but everything they brought is pretty fun overall and for sure has some neat parts in each.
Unfortunately, all of the other new offerings don’t bring anything exceptional on lead. Still, if you enjoy the songs – or are even just curious about them, the lack of their mention here certainly never means they’re not worth poking, I just don’t think they’ll surprise the general public. But that’s not such a huge deal when we’re not talking about hidden gems, especially for learning – after all, approachable well-known songs are a great thing to load your repertoire with in general and especially starting out.
OTHER VERSIONS IN THE LIBRARY
The full WMG drop was already covered in another article so I don’t feel the need to reiterate any songs I didn’t mention above. Instead, I’ll mention a curious facet of the Rocksmith+ library to try to promote some covers and live versions that have been sitting in the library (and a few I recommend giving a shot with their part bolded in here!), starting with ones that have authentic arrangements.
In metal covers, we have a live Roots Bloody Roots cover by Suicide Silence, and a Caliban version of My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend that I found the lead fun in. While Twisted Sister’s version is also a cover, we do have Krokus’s take on Born to Be Wild as well, and of course from launch Goofy Goober Rock from Spongebob Squarepants was a stand-in for I Wanna Rock with similarly enjoyable lead.
We’ve also got a good handful of Cure covers, as well the Bestival 2011 live of Friday I’m in Love that’s got enjoyable lead as well as the original. Jamie Lancaster’s take of Boys Don’t Cry is a slower bossanova version with a still enjoyable bassline, and we also have 311’s successful cover of Love Song, in addition to Ben Folds’s version of In Between Days.
And those are all the ones with authentic arrangements, but they’re not the only ones we have. The community has been working through some with some offerings that have community arrangements.
There’s many versions of Hard to Handle in the library, including a live version of the Black Crowes’s famous rendition with both lead and bass. Like Beck in Futurama, it gets into a serious thing, and then forget how it ends, but it’s fun for its entire run. Great White’s cover also has a community lead that’s truly a great time as well.
The Bestival Live 2011 performances of Cure songs have some decent coverage by the community as well, including the elusive rhythm arrangements for some. In Between Days has lead, rhythm, and bass; while Lovesong and Close to Me have community bass and Boys Don’t Cry has community lead. There’s also a more stripped down, vocal-focused cover of Just Like Heaven by 48th St. Collective that has a community bass arrangement for its slow and simple part.
Less Than Jake’s cover of We’re Not Gonna Take It has lead, though unfortunately for me it’s after their ska-punk era and more into pop punk. Other versions of Born to Be Wild in the library include Blue Oyster Cult’s midtempo metal rendition that’s quite fun on both lead and bass, as well as bass for a live version of Steppenwolf credited solely to John Kay in the library that’s as fun as the original with additional live nonsense on top.
And finally, we still have many covers currently untouched by either the Notetrackers teams or the community so far – community charters, this is a call to action should you answer. Also note this may be incomplete, due to partial covers or titles being translated to other languages.
For Sepultura, Krisiun has a death metal version of Refuse/Resist.
And for Seal, Emmerson Nogueira has an acoustic cover of Crazy.
In Cure covers, we still have more spread throughout genres. Orleya have a lounge jazz cover of Lovesong, while Natalie Imbruglia has a countrified version of Friday I’m in Love. Something for Kate has a garage rock rendition of Close to Me and 6cyclemind offer a slow pop version of In Between Days.
There’s still more Hard to Handle, because it’s a big song in rock history. Gov’t Mule bring a (first-wave) ska live version featuring Toots Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals, while Etta James incorporates it and many others into her nine and a half minute live Otis Redding Medley.
An acoustic piano version of We’re Not Gonna Take It by Dee Snider sits in the library untouched, though maybe that’ll change when piano is introduced. Donots also have a pretty faithful cover of the song with a bit more punk edge to it.
And in other versions of Born to Be Wild, there’s another live John Kay/Steppenwolf available that has yet to get any charts, as well as Pentatonix’s cover which might take a bit more imagination to chart.
Almost if not all of these have been in the library since launch, so suddenly it seems… well, not impossible we’ll get the original versions of some other bands we only have live offerings of or songs we only have other bands covering. It’s exciting times, we’ve got another WMG drop to sum up right after this. And not long after that’s wrapped, we’ll be getting another song drop with piano support? Who knows what news will break by the next time I ramble at ya, but I’m excited to find out.
