The Streak Continues

Though not quite as satisfying as a win, like last week's against Chicago, today the Sounders left PPL park with an end result of a draw that felt nearly as good after conceding off of a free kick half an hour in and making up for it early into stoppage time at the end of the second half. An incredible downpour of rain and steady wind made for terrible field conditions and fairly rough match as a result. The Sounders lacked any real sort of attacking edge until very late in the game, not having made an attempt on goal until around the seventy seventh minute but the introduction of Fredy Montero and Alvaro Fernandez made all the difference. In the first minute of stoppage time Rosales sent the ball into the box off of a free kick, which came off of Jaqua's head and landed at Montero's feet. After a pass back and forth with Zakuani, Montero bought enough space to send the ball back into traffic where Fernandez glanced a header down to skip off of the grass and off the post and in. Having been sent onto the bench in favor of Erik Friberg, with this goal Fernandez certainly makes a case for rejoining the starting eleven, don't you think?

Wild Night in Portland

Heading into their home opener, Portland had been running on a fairly dry streak getting two losses and a tie in their first three games. Watching tonights match you wouldn't know that they were struggling, ultimately netting four goals to Chicago's two to come out on top.

The game was action packed from beginning to end. Portland should've gotten on the board in the eleventh minute on a corner kick sourced goal by Kenny Cooper that was ruled out because apparently the ball had gone out of play, but they soon made up for that in the twenty ninth minute thanks to a great ball through to Jorge Perlaza. Anthony Wallace then added another only minutes later off of a fantastic volley through traffic that Sean Johnson could do nothing about. The scoring resumed almost immediately after the second half begun, Perlaza adding another to Portland's tally off of a blunder by Johnson. Chicago begun to claw their way back thanks to an own goal by Portland's Eric Brunner and a shot by Pappa to was just deflected in by keeper Jake Gleeson as he was trying to knock it out, but it ultimately proved to no avail as amidst chaos in Chicago's box in the eighty fourth minute defender Dasan Robinson accidently knocks the ball inro his own net.

While I'm naturally opposed to the Timbers because I'm a Sounders fan, I can't help but acknowledge that it's great for them to get their first win of the season. Especially a home.

A couple interesting facts worth noting: The Chicago Fire handed both the Sounders and the Timbers their first win of the season, the 4-2 scoreline of tonights match exactly matches that of the Vancouver Whitecaps home opener a couple weeks ago.

Whitecaps Debacle

I had a lot of respect for the Vancouver Whitecaps due to their so far fantastic performance in MLS, but I've got to say this single act of utter stupidity by their french striker Eric Hassli degrades that respect a little. To set things up, in the closing minutes of the first half midfielder Gershon Koffie gets served a straight red in a collision with a New England Revolution player because his arm and elbow struck the Revolution player straight on in the face. Hassli then gets subbed on coming into the second half. I don't know the exact detail, but he picks up a first yellow in the forty ninth minute. He then goes on to score in the fifty sixth minute and in the process of celebrating he removes his jersey which results in a second yellow, thus a red and ejection. Oh, and get this: this is his second red card only four games into the season.

Not a very bright one, is he?

And as it turns out, that was just the beginning of the match descending into farce. In the seventy fourth minute Revolution player AJ Soares, in an attempt to shutdown an attack by the Whitecaps makes a late challenge for the ball that sends Atiba Harris sprawling. Certainly it was a foul, or even yellow card, worthy play but from a close-up replay a straight red is definitely on the extreme side. It definitely seems that ref Toledo has either acquired a taste for the red card or is simply finding an opportunity to even things up for Vancouver.

Then, finally, to add insult to injury, the Revolution score three minutes deep into stoppage time to bring the final result level at 1-1. In all honesty, though, I would have been dumbfounded had the Whitecaps held onto their lead after going two men down.

Album Review in Brief - Attack of the Wolf King

Though a little late, I thought that I'd start transferring some of my pre-blog album reviews here. So,  without further ado:

[5/5]

After showing an impressive amount of improvement with 2008's Dreamer, Haste the Day make an incredibly noteworthy return with Attack Of The Wolf King. Despite undergoing even further line-up changes (losing the Chaulk brothers, drummer Devin and guitarist and vocalist Brennan), they've only improved. New guitarists Dave Krysl and Scotty Whelan prove their worth with impressive technicality and meaty breakdowns and bassist (and notably only original member remaining) Mike Murphy picks up on the clean vocals, proving to be a little higher than Brennan, but just as good if a little reminiscent of the cleans on Pressure the Hinges. Really noteworthy is the flow of the album throughout. With a few exceptions, each songs flows right on into the next, and while this proves to only emphasize how brief the album is, the transitions in many cases work to excellent effect. Key example, the transition from Merit for Sadness to The Un-Manifest. The quick swap from the closing breakdown of Merit for Sadness to the chaos and discord of the intro of The Un-Manifest is what I can only describe as absolutely amazing.

While there is no changing the fact that Haste the Day is no longer the same band as they were with Jimmy Ryan, there is no denying the strives and improvements that they have made with this latest effort.

Top Picks: Wake Up The Sun, The Un-Manifest, The Place Where Most Deny, Crush Resistance

Album Review - Downtown Battle Mountain II

Over the last couple of years Dance Gavin Dance has undergone several line up changes, at one point leaving only Will Swan and Matt Mingus as the last remaining original members. With Downtown Battle Mountain II it's as if no line-up changes ever-happened, with the exception of the absence of guitarist Sean O'Sullivan. With all these recent line up changes DGD's sound has gone through some considerable changes, evolving largely thanks to Kurt Travis and Will Swan's impressive guitar skill. Now with Travis kicked out and Johnny Craig back you would probably assume that they reverted to their sound as of the original Downtown Battle Mountain. While in a sense they have, thanks to the absence of O'Sullivan Will Swan takes on responsibility for all guitars and for the large part maintains the musical developments of the past two albums and really takes the opportunity to shine.

The main topic of discussion of Downtown Battle Mountain II is that of the vocals. Vocals-wise Happiness found a complete shift for the band, with Travis doing clean vocals and Swan taking on the screaming vocals in Jon Mess's absence. They both performed up to par, proving that they both have what it takes to fill the rather big shoes left behind by both Craig and Mess. Now, as discussed earlier, Craig and Mess are back and they're both just as fantastic if not better (largely in Mess's case) as they were in the original Downtown Battle Mountain. Again and again Johnny Craig has proven himself as an amazing vocalist, and Downtown Battle Mountain II is no different. The most notable highlights of his performance are found in the likes of Purple Reign, Blue Dream, and Elder Goose. While he is an amazing vocalist, Craig doesn't exactly prove himself as a lyricist. Paling in comparison to those of Travis, the main content of his lyrics are of girls, sex and drinking. If you are at all familiar with mainstream music you'll know that those are fairly common and cliche topics, and I expect much more out of a band as extraordinary and of as high a caliber as DGD. Then there is Jon Mess. He is one of the more unique screams that I've heard and he further proves himself here with a marked improvement to his screaming. They're both stronger and shriller, taking a more commanding role throughout the album. Mess writes his own lyrics and they're incredibly strange and completely random as always.

In terms of instrumentals Downtown Battle Mountain II strikes me essentially as a continuation Happiness. To an extent hey are reminiscent of those of the original DBM, but they have taken the experience and growth that they've acquired (they mostly being Will Swan and Matt Mingus) from the past two albums with Kurt Travis and applied it well. Thanks to Will Swan assuming duty for both guitar positions, he is allowed to really shine and show off his skill. I can pinpoint no specific songs that really standout, Swan always delivers his technical and funky guitar work and his performance is really strong and consistent throughout. When it comes to drums Matt Mingus performs fantastically, bringing a high level of skill as has come to be the expectation that fits in perfectly with Will Swan's technical guitar-work.

Though initially hesitant at the spurning of Travis and the re-acceptance of Craig, I couldn't be more happy with how Downtown Battle Mountain has turned out. I may even stray as far as to suggest that this has the potential to rank as my all-time favorite DGD album.

Gaining Momentum

The Sounders had a relatively slow start to their season, one that has caused a lot of concern among fans. Their first two matches resulted in losses, although they displayed plenty of promise by keeping on the pressure against two of the best teams in the league (although they were a little overwhelmed when it came to possession against the Red Bulls). Things changed with last weeks match against Houston. Although they went down one late in the second half from a goal by Geoff Cameron off of a ricochet from a free kick by brad Davis (don't quote me on that), they kept on pressing and attacking at Houston and finally broke through in the eightieth minute through Zakuani off of a corner served by Erik Friberg. This breakthrough certainly proved to be the catalyst they needed, as they were able to put a few more back in tonight's game against San Jose. The Sounders got the early lead through Evans off of a cross into the box by Mauro Rosales. San jose responded though fifteen minutes later as Dawkins slid one past Keller. The Sounders regained the lead just before the end of the half from a diving header by O'Brien White at the end of a Zakuani cross. Sadly the Sounders weren't able to either keep or add to that lead, as San Jose brought things back on level terms through a shot from distance by the recently subbed on Stephenson. While the tonights game did end on another tie, great things are clearly on the horizon for the Sounders. As has been stated, once one goal is scored many more will follow and that certainly seems to be proving true. I think that this is the start of a build of momentum and soon a winning streak.

The Gaming Clash: Mobile vs. Console

Lately the developer of the well-known and highly popular Angry Birds Rovio, specifically Peter Vesterbacka, has been firing off rather brash and bold comments about the place and impact of mobile games of the gaming industry. Here is his latest quote:

"It’s interesting to see people like Nintendo saying smartphones are destroying the games industry. Of course, if I was trying to sell $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I’d be worried too."

Does this guy have any real understanding of what gaming truly is? It's an absolute embarrassment that tripe like Angry Birds are considered legitimate games, and thus a part of the gaming industry. There is a reason why mobile games are so cheap and real games are so expensive in comparison: the level of substance held by the game and the amount of time and effort put into the development of the game. There will always be this key difference, and if the casual side gradually kills off the serious side of the industry...that will be the end of gaming. I'll give an example of the level of content, say between Angry Birds and Pokemon Black Version. What do you get out of one or the other? Angry Birds gets you several levels where you launch birds into precariously built structures to eliminate pigs and thats it. How long will it be until you move on to something else? Now considering Black Version, you can get hundreds of hours worth of enjoyment out of it. From the main story, to the post-story content to the depth and sheer amount of multiplayer options there is plenty to keep the player coming back. That is how gaming should truly be, but casual gaming is putting that in jeopardy.

Not only does casual gaming put the serious side of the industry at risk through lowering value of the content of a game, it's also steadily bringing along the death of the industry through the creation of unrealistic pricing expectations. As I stated before, mobile games are so cheap because they take very little time and effort to create. When you seriously take that into consideration, you get what you pay for. The exact same thing can be said of legitimate games. Sure you pay a pretty high premium but you get what you pay for, which means a lot more game and a lot more enjoyment.