Have you noticed thatJack Black’s usual anticshave gone from endearing to unbelievably annoying ever since he put Tenacious D on hold?
He abruptly ended a tour because of his friend and bandmate Kyle Gass’ (frankly quite tame) joke aboutthe attempt on Donald Trump’s life— there was no backlash, just a man throwing his longtime friend under the bus out offearof backlash. Seeing him as the infamously irritating Claptrap in theBorderlandsmovie and as Steve inthe awful Minecraft movie trailerhasn’t helped, but in spite of it all, damn it, I still want Brutal Legend 2.
Tenacious D is returning, so the band hasn’t split up completely, but the move has certainly painted Black in a worse light and lost him a lot of goodwill with fans.
If you haven’t playedDouble Fine’sbest game, it sees Jack Black use the power of metal to fight back an oppressive, demonic regime in a fantasy land alongside headbanging miners and glam rock hordes.
Double Fine scrapped plans for Brutal Legend 2 over a decade ago, butfounder Tim Schafer hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to the gameall these years later, so I remain hopeful for its long overdue comeback. However, if it does happen, it’s probably time to sidestep Black and hand another metal artist an instrument capable of shredding the Road Demons. For example…
Poppy
Poppy debuted as a bright and cheery pop star with an unsettling YouTube ARG that depicted her as an android-like figure veering extremely far into the uncanny valley. It skyrocketed her to fame as countless high-profile creators began to peel back the mystery, pouring over her library of unnerving videos to try and piece together a narrative.
Adding a story to her pop persona gave Poppy an edge in a market notoriously difficult to break into, but perhaps the most surprising twist was in 2019 when she pivoted to the world of metal with I Disagree. Alongside it, she dropped the graphic novel Genesis 1 which details her origin story more explicitly, asking the question, “Is she a machine?”, and whether she’s humanity’s redemption, “or its damnation?”
Poppy already has a hook for a game like Brutal Legend — a quiet-spoken, ambiguous android who can get loud when the need arises, who may be humanity’s saviour, but also its downfall. The more alien, uncanny persona she crafted over the years could take the story that much further, offering a unique protagonist who would completely stand out from Jack Black in every respect.
Bring Me The Horizon
Bring Me the Horizon is one of the best metalcore bands doing it right now, and they never shy away from their love of games. Their newest album even samples Sans fromUndertale, and the band collaborated with Hideo Kojima onDeath Stranding’ssoundtrack, so they already have one foot in the door.
To see Oli Sykes, a singer with unbelievable range, step into a heavy metal utopia would fit Bring Me the Horizon so well, but you can’t just have Sykes screaming a demon’s brains out. In the original Brutal Legend, it was all about Jack Black — Kyle Gass only had a cameo. But for Sykes, you gotta bring in lead guitarist Lee Malia, bass guitarist Matt Kean, and drummer Matt Nicholls too.
Schafer wants to push further into the RTS elements of Brutal Legend, which was a great breath of fresh air from the hack ‘n slash gorefest, so I’m fully on board with that idea. But to take it further, you need a band firing off on all cylinders, not just one artist, and that’s what Bring Me the Horizon brings to the table.
Honourable Mention: Spencer Charnas - Ice Nine Kills
If you haven’t heard of Ice Nine Kills, they’re a metal band who sings about horror movies. Just imagine lead singer Spencer Charnas falling into the same world Jack Black did, but causing the world to outright crumble as nightmares from horror cinema’s century-long legacy pour in right alongside him.
Slipknot
Lastly, we have Slipknot. One of the best parts of Brutal Legend was how it paid homage to the wide range of metal and rock with its various factions throughout the game, and Corey Taylor falling into a world where there’s an entirely new group wearing Slipknot-style masks wreaking havoc would lend itself to that original idea perfectly.
The band has a library of some of the most iconic songs in modern metal, from Psychosocial to Custer, but what stands out more than anything with Slipknot is their aesthetic. Everyone knows them from their creepy, but distinct masks, and in a game like Brutal Legend, aesthetic is everything. The originalbledmetal from its Metallica-styled UI to ancient stone hands clasping giant stone guitars to anvils with glowing red eyes chained to the sky atop a mountain like something out of a Powerwolf album cover.
For pure vibes alone, Slipknot takes the cake for the best pick in Brutal Legend, injecting so much of that metal iconography into the protagonists themselves.
Brutal Legend
WHERE TO PLAY
Brütal Legend is an action-adventure that marries visceral action combat with open-world freedom. Set in a universe somewhere between Lord of the Rings and Spinal Tap, it’s a fresh take on the action/driving genre, which in this case is full of imitation cover bands, demons intent on enslaving humanity and Heavy metal tunes. Featuring the talents of comedian, actor and musician, Jack Black as super roadie Eddie Riggs, as well as cameos by some of the biggest names in metal music it’s a wild ride in the belly of the beast that is not to be missed by gamers and Metalheads alike.StoryThe vivid and wildly creative world of Brütal Legend is brought to life through a spate of chrome, leather, rocker babes, epic music, fire-breathing/stud-wearing beasts, mountains made of guitar amps, and more. Follow Eddie as he embarks on a tour of epic destruction with an axe, a guitar, and his minions as he commands the power of rock in epic band battles. It’s lighter-flicking awesomeness that will melt your face clean off.CombatBrütal Legend’s combat is a combination of classic action slasher and real time strategy mechanics. Melee and ranged combat come from your double-sided broadaxe and demon-slaying, pyrotechnic-creating guitar. Add that 1-2 punch to a guitar solo mechanic that can summon objects, buff your teammates, or cripple your opponents, and you have a deep, gratifying core gameplay combat loop that is fun for the hardcore and accessible for the casual. On top of that, players will journey from Roadie to Rock God by commanding legions of metalheads into Brütal Victory and sending troops charging into battle.A Streaming Open WorldBrütal Legend gives you the freedom to walk, drive, or fly anywhere in a fully streaming open world whose art style is inspired by some of the most iconic and hilariously rad metal album covers ever created. Every vista in the beautiful universe of Brütal Legend looks like it was pulled from a Frank Frazetta painting.Packed With Cameos and Voice TalentBrütal Legend is full of cameos from gods of metal like Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, and many, many others. It has a MASSIVE metal soundtrack from every era of metal music: 1970’s classic metal to 1980’s hair metal to the scarier cousins of 1990’s metal. And of course, Jack Black pays the ultimate homage to metal as Eddie the Roadie, continuing the theme from the work of his band, Tenacious D and his previous films like School of Rock and High Fidelity.Multiplayer Mayhem4v4 “skirmish” multiplayer marries action combat with a strategic unit-control mechanic. As the leader of one of the factions in the game, the player will direct his armies in a Battle of the Bands where the trophy is survival. Brütal Legend’s multiplayer is online-enabled, so you’re able to conquer your friends online (broadband connection required for online play).MusicThe music in Brütal Legend is truly massive. Made up of 108 of the most rocking tracks from 75 different bands representing every sub-genre of metal, it is something to experience in and of itself.
