Since the introduction of the XBOX360 and PS3 (Sorry Wii, your hockey games are just abysmally bad) the EA Sports series of NHL games has been a sports gaming revolution. The same cannot be said for the soundtrack, or "EA TRAX" provided on the games menu and options screens.With the release of the track listing of NHL10, it seems as if the trend will continue on into this year's game. I've decided to listen to each track and provides links for you to do the same and give a review. The grades are based on how annoying the song will get for the chronic NHL gamers like myself, how well it fits the game and how it would sound over the PA of a stadium during gameplay.
This song seems to fit the bill of the NHL games. It's fast, aggressive and raw. This song may not be as heavy as NHL06's American Head Charge or Avenged Sevenfold but it gets the job done for not being overbearingly irritating. Grade: B.
Ready for my bias? Cancer Bats have been one of my favorite bands lately and this was a perfect song for this game. The gang vocals on the choruses and heavy guitar riffs from this Canadian hardcore band could seemingly make perfect music as a team is coming onto the ice. Grade: A-.
Personally, I've never been one for CKY. However, this song isn't overpowering dreadful. The only complaints for me comes when the guitar stops shredding and resorts to the typical boring CKY riffage. Grade: B-.
Every year's game has featured a pop punk song or two. This year is no exception, they may not be GOB's "I Hear You Calling" from NHL 2002, but this song will do. It's downfall lies within the likelihood of the vocals getting irritating by one month into the game. Grade: B.
Despite the guitar stylings of Mr. Herman Li, this song is simply too long for a video game. Can you imagine this being a random teams goal song or even hearing this in the building? I respect the music, but talk about unfitting. By the second week, I'll be looking for a "skip" button. Grade: C-.
This is absolutely perfect menu music. How it will sound in the game itself is still unknown to me. The bluesy and alternative sound along with vocals should make this a good song for in between face-off's. Grade: B.
When I think of Green Day and hockey, I think of "Welcome To Paradise" being a staple of the Boston Bruins pre-game skate soundtrack. What I don't think of however, is the ringtone-esque favorable Green Day circa 2009. This song does not fit this game, it could fit Madden10 or possibly even a baseball game, but Green Day singing about an enemy repeatedly is simply going to annoy the hell out of me and everyone else playing this game. Could this song get any more repetitive? Grade: D-.
Perhaps it was Courtney Love's song "Make Me Over" from the old NHL "Rock The Rink" game on Playstation 1 that sparked the idea of featuring girl bands in their games. Or maybe it was Paramore's "Misery Business" from NHL08? Either way, EA decided to head for that route yet again with Me Talk Pretty's "Wake Up, Wake Up".
This song sounds like a Flyleaf imitation more than anything else. Considering my disdain for Flyleaf, I simply do not like this song. Despite the cool guitar solo near the song's close, this track is still too whiny for a hockey game. It doesn't help that the singer spends much of the song seemingly making a cry into the microphone. Grade: C-.
Wow, this song should be in NHL99. The industrial sounding guitar and Marilyn Manson-esque vocals seemingly fit it perfectly, no?
I had a problem with this song, for a number of reasons. For one, it sucks. Secondly, it's about the Chicago Blackhawks. If it wasn't bad enough that Patrick "20 Cents" Kane is on the cover, we're going to have a hear a song about how good Tony Esposito and this band bleeds red, white and black? This track also claims that Chicago has the best fans in the NHL and teams need to come to Chicago to see how hockey is played.
It may be catchy, but it's still a poor choice. Grade: D+.
This song is just plain awful. Who thought this was a good idea to record, let alone put in a hockey game. The fact that this is about the 4,502nd time this song has been covered doesn't help their case. Grade: F.
The continuing shoving of Nickelback down the throats of the world. The guitar in this song seemingly sounds exactly like that in the Ministry song also featured in the game. Wayne Gretzky may have been in your video for "RockStar" Nickelback, but you'll simply never be accepted as a serious rock band by most, including myself.
Despite my personal distaste for Nickelback, this song is plausible to be heard in an NHL arena. Grade: C.
The Pennywise like bass intro reminded me of NHL06 and the vocals were nothing special, but nothing to hate either. It fits the NHL-bill of being heavy and the drums remind me a lot of something you'd hear in any of the NHL games. Grade: B-.
Same old stuff if you ask me. Grade: D+.
I used to be a big Rancid fan, then as time went on I realized how simple every song was and how they never really changed what they were doing from song to song. This song represents my point quite easily considering you can't tell the difference between this track off the new album and anything off the first album.
The good part is, this song's only two minutes long. Grade: D.
This song will be difficult to stomach considering in hockey terms, you can't hear this without thinking of those (foolish) Hurricane fans at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. However, this song still kicks you in the face, 25 years later. The fact that you actually hear this song at most hockey games only makes it more fitting.
Grade: A.
This is just straight up heavy. Very fitting for this game. Grade: A.
Personally, I find this soundtrack to be hit or miss thus far. There's quite a few songs I know I'll never listen to such as Green Day, Dragonforce and Rancid but there's also a few that I'm curious to hear in the game and at certain points. In all likelihood, we set our own personal playlists into the game when we buy it about a week in and this soundtrack is never heard again until you're at the main menu.
Along with the new features and soundtrack, I'm looking forward to NHL10 for the idea of never having to hear "Cheap and Cheerful" ever again.
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