Vomitron – No NES for the Wicked (2011)

Just as other people have indicated in the past, once we received a CD with a band named Vomitron and a semi-naked chick in the cover we expected the worst. However, we were quite surprised to hear that almost all tracks in this release are of extreme musical quality and very carefully crafted. Transforming old Nintento music into Metal tunes, Vomitron’s mastermind Peter Rutcho showcases his excellent musical abilities and delivers some of the best re-interpretations of these songs we have ever heard.

Opening with a filler intro, the first real song of this release is an epic interpretation of the “Contra” theme. Showing Power Metal and Progressive Metal elements, this song will immediately get you psyched about the tracks to follow in this excellent release. “Blaster Master” is a nice combination of powerful riffing and trippy keyboard sections, a very enjoyable track for fans of futuristic Power/Progressive Metal. The song that almost everybody will be waiting for has to be “The Legend of Zelda” theme, and Vomitron does an amazing rendition thanks to Peter’s great guitar skills.

The best songs in “No NES for the Wicked” have to be the “Ninja Gaiden” Acts 1-3 and 4-6”. In both of these tracks the transformation of the console music into real life is very rich and well detailed. The mood is always present like on the games and it made is fire up our emulator and play the game with this ‘new’ score. Our favorite song has to be “Korobeyniki” (a.k.a the Tetris song), we love the guitar work in this track and the energy, too bad it is only 51 seconds long (but we can still loop it forever).

Closing the release we have the “Castlevania” song, another very energetic track thanks to the keyboards and the excellent guitar riffing. The drumming is very good throughout the release, but it kind of falls to the background thanks to the excellent guitar work. If you are looking for a nostalgic trip down memory lane with your NES game songs, Vomitron has just the album for you. Peter Rutcho is an excellent instrumental musician and the band’s two albums have clearly established this.

Release: September 20th, 2011

Country: USA