So, about a year-ish ago, I was told by a friend of mine about a couple of video game inspired bands, The Protomen and The Megas. I had heard of both of these bands before, but never listened to any of their music. Then Capcom released a 25th anniversary album of Mega Man inspired music, which featured a wide variety of bands and artists, including 3 songs each by The Protomen and The Megas. I immediately was grabbed by both groups as the songs were catchy, fun, and also seemed to have a story to tell.
I decided to first take the plunge on The Megas, buying up Get Equipped (music from Mega Man 2), and both History Repeating Red and Blue (music from Mega Man 3). As a huge fan of Mega Man 2 (especially the music), I decided to start off with Get Equipped, which also included 2 tracks that were featured on the 25th anniversary album. However the versions on Get Equipped are different, in that they feel more like rough cuts while the versions on the anniversary album are much more polished. Overall, I enjoyed Get Equipped and one element I liked is that for the robot master's stage music, they tried to basically infuse a personality and story into each of them, usually told from the perspective of the respective robot master the song is about. They tried to paint some interesting pictures of them which really kind of grabbed me and fleshed out the ideas behind the game.
Then I checked out the History Repeating albums, and suddenly I shifted The Megas way up my list. These albums are phenomenal. Much like Get Equipped, the music is all based on tracks from the game, but they lyrical quality gets a huge step up and some of the stories given to the robot masters are just fantastic. From paining Hard Man as a former champion looking to take on Mega Man to regain his former glory, to Needle Man being a kind robot trapped in the body of a killer. Some really interesting concepts. The best of which comes in the form of an encounter between Proto Man and Mega Man which is built up and hinted at throughout the albums and pans out over the course of 4 really great tracks. I've always loved albums that tell stories and it really helps that this is building a story on top of content I already really liked (in Mega Man 3). Overall, regardless of your attachment to the games, the music is fantastic and I really recommend it. As a bonus, they are great live, sounding even better than they do on album (which I always use as a testament to the actual quality of a group, because it's harded to sound good live than on a produced album).
The Protomen were a different case. While I really enjoyed the tracks on the anniversary album (especially Built to Last, which is just great in every way), for whatever reason I didn't pick up the albums. They kind of remained on the fringe, though I can's say specifically why. Then, we went to MAGFest and saw them do two live shows, and I became completely enthralled with them. They have such an energy and devotion to their music and are all around amazing performers. Plus, the energy from the crowd just made their main show a shining moment in a great weekend at MAGFest. So I naturally picked up their main albums (The Protomen and Act 2: The Father of Death) and listened to them on the long car ride back to Indiana from Maryland.
This is where things get interesting. I don't have a ton of background on The Protomen, I only knew that I liked their music, and that they wrote original tracks inspired by Mega Man, instead of using the songs already in the games. Listening to the albums, it was clear that similar to The Megas, there is a story being told through the music and actions. Listening to both albums there was that same energy present that really made me interested to know more. I could tell the first album revolved around the city being taken over by Dr. Wily and Proto Man being sent to stop him, but that's about all I was able to pick up on my first listen. Act 2, meanwhile, focused on the fallout between Dr. Light and Dr. Wily that took place before the first album, and I got a bit more out of that one (it feels like Act 2 polished a lot of the musical elements from the first album and had a better overall sound to it.)
Then, I pulled out the booklets included in each album, which actually told the whole story (as well as gave the lyrics) for each album, and I suddenly found myself completely engrossed with these albums. There is a full, very interesting and very well told story to each album which flesh out the world in which The Protomen sing about (which is quite different from the world the actual Mega Man games take part in). Basically, The Protomen are making an epic rock opera, and it should be experienced by everyone. The story being told is deep, interesting, and very engaging, and it's accompanied by some fantastic music. Again, I can't recommend them enough.
I know it's been awhile since I blogged about anything, but this was something cool enough that I wanted to share it. Hopefully some other people will discover these bands through this.
-Justin
