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Greetings fellow users!  As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session.  It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.  In the first week of the competition’s history, Gameofmetal won with his review of Equilibrium’s album Armageddon, which you can read here.  I’ll start the next week’s competition tomorrow via the lists section of this site, so feel free to check out the selected albums and participate if so desired.   But for now, let me introduce you to Brett Tharp, better known as Gameofmetal – a Sputnik contributing reviewer and winner of the review competition’s debut.

Authentic photo of Brett Tharp rocking out to Metallica’s ‘One’

 

Sowing: I’ll just get straight to the point – what’s your favorite The Bunny The Bear song?

Gameofmetal: Wow, getting right to the big questions aren’t we? I like “The Seeds We Sow” actually. Has a catchy hook even if there’s not that much more to it.

Cool, figured I’d throw you a curveball to start.  So how did you come up with the username Gameofmetal?

Well I’m generally terrible with usernames, so I just combined my two favorite things at the time, Game of Thrones and Heavy Metal. It’s a little lame, but I’ve gone by it so long now that it’d feel wrong to change it.

Understood, I mean just look at my username.  Although Brand New still slays though, so…

Agreed

You’re already my favorite interviewee.  I don’t have to ask you what your favorite genre is, but what’s your favorite band or artist? 

The first band I ever called my favorite was Metallica. From the age of  13 to probably 18 or so I worshiped them. Now, not so much. Their classics are still classics, but I don’t have that same unconditional love for them I used to. Currently, I’d probably say Dark Tranquillity. Their discography is almost untouchable, and Damage Done and The Gallery are two of my hardest 5’s.

Cool.  So would you say that Metallica is the band that “got you into music?”  Or would that title belong to someone else?

It was definitely them for sure.

What album came first for you in their discography?  I’m assuming it wasn’t Kill ‘Em All.

It was …And Justice For All. To be honest, it was really because of guitar hero as lame as some people might think it now. Thirteen year old me gets guitar hero 3 for christmas and when “One” unlocks near the end of the game it was all over from there. Got the cd for my birthday, started learning guitar around the same time, and I was off.

You never need to apologize for playing Guitar Hero.  I used to be able to play “Through The Fire and the Flames” on hard, although I doubt I still have it in me…moving on though, and I swear I won’t (probably will) post this, but what’s your favorite Taylor Swift song because OBVIOUSLY everyone has a favorite Taylor Swift song.

“Wonderland” I think , although 1989 generally just rules across the board.

Sweet, going to the B-Sides.  I had no idea you were such a Taylor Swift aficionado.  Back off, by the way.

You’re safe man, 1989 is the only album of hers I actually listen to.

Fair enough lol.  Are you a musician yourself to any extent?

Used to earn that title a bit more, but yeah I guess so. Used to play in a few lame bands, then moved to just internet collabs that never really got anywhere, and now I kinda put it on the sidelines for some different interests. There is a chance I might have something come out in the future, it’ll just depend on if the guy I got to do vocals for it comes through finally or I get impatient enough to look for someone else. The music’s been done for going on a year now, so the latter option is becoming a possibility.

That’s really  awesome, I hope it pans out for you soon.  What style of metal is it, assuming that’s the genre?

Deathcore. I’ve always been a pretty avid defender of deathcore around sput, and initially I wanted to do it as a bit of throwback to the “good old days” of the genre. Kinda turned into something else in a few ways, but I’m pretty proud of it. Every time I tried to get a project together it either ended after we got a single out or fell apart even earlier. I did all the instrumental recording myself and wrote the entire thing so I’d hate for it not to come to fruition no matter how good it actually is.

Have you ever posted samplings of songs or anything?  I’m sure the sput community would be interested in hearing your instrumental cuts, unless you think it is not far enough along yet.

This is my “solo project” from years back that I just never properly renamed (really hate the name now but I was a teenager then so what can ya do). It’s got some old demos and snippets, but none of it except one riff on one of the demos made it onto this newer EP. The latest two songs here were me toying with some post rock and softer styles of music that I might end up reworking for a separate EP some day. The rest are metal of some kind.

https://soundcloud.com/colossus-in-slumber

Thanks, I can’t wait to listen.  I always thought it was fun hearing unfinished products and seeing the thought process behind the work.  Would you say that, in general, your music is influenced by any artist(s) in particular?

No I could never point to a single artist. It’s always just a massive culmination of everything I like really.

Understandable.  When you listen to a wide range of music, I’m sure there’s influences from all sorts of artists that you’ve admired over the years.  Kind of in a similar vein, and this is just for fun, if you could form a metal supergroup of any 4 people (dead or alive) – what would that look like?

That is such an unbelievably hard question wow. With how many different styles of metal there are, I feel like you’d need to separate it into specific supergroups, like a death metal supergroup, a black metal one and so on. Even then it’s pretty hard to answer personally.

That’s fine, no worries.  I just thought I’d throw it out there.  By the way, I’ve been letting your soundcloud page blast in the background during this interview and when “Unmixed/unmastered demo version – Usurpation (The Beginning)” came on I legitimately forgot it was yours and thought my iTunes had skipped to some awesome Metallica instrumental that I never heard.  Really solid stuff.

Thank you. I’m still pretty happy with that one to this day.

I’m not even a huge metal guy but that really grabbed my attention.  So anyway, I have a couple fun questions before we wrap things up.  You ready?

Yep

If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be?

“Book of the Fallen” by Caladan Brood. Besides my intense love for that album, it has a very grandiose epic intro that would feel right.

Pull up your iTunes or whatever you use and put your entire library on shuffle.  What are the first 3 songs that came up?  Be honest, now.

Oh jeez

  1. “Throat Fisting Abortion” – Abomimable Putridity
  2. “Suicide” – Motorhead
  3. “Sleep” – Godspeed You Black Emperor

Alright that wasn’t so bad

I was just going to say, seems like an accurate reflection.  I was actually hoping an Ariana Grande or Miley Cyrus song, or something, would manage to slip in there.

I do have Ariana Grande’s latest album so that would’ve been a possibility.

No Miley Cyrus unfortunately.

If there’s one feature you could add to sputnik today, feasible or not, what would it be and why?

I’d kinda like to see a larger scale version of some of the tourneys users have done. I participated in both of Scream’s black metal tourneys and the death metal and folk metal ones. Unfortunately the latter two collapsed, along with the doom tourney from another user. I’d like to see a more site wide official version.

Oh and I’m still waiting for a deathcore tag.

I’ll harass mx for you.  Last one: tell me something that nobody on Sputnik knows about you.

I’m an obsessive League of Legends player. Not sure if absolutely no one knows that, but I can’t think of anything better.

I actually know exactly what that is.  Haven’t played it myself, but it’s pretty popular.

I think it’s currently the most played online game but not too sure.

It’s up there at least. A leader in esports as well which I’ve become a huge fan of.

What album will you be choosing for next week’s competition?

I’ll go with Twilight Fauna





Sowing
08.18.16
This was pretty fun

LotusFlower
08.18.16
'“Throat Fisting Abortion” – Abomimable Putridity'

'alright that wasnt so bad'

Gameofmetal
08.18.16
yeah wasn't too bad

ill be honest, there were more embarrassing things that abominable putridity that could've cropped up

MistaCrave
08.18.16
Dude, Guitar Hero 2 and 3 is pretty much what got me into music also. I used to be able to play Through the Fire and Flames on expert. I ALMOST got the log guitar in GH2.

PistolPete
08.18.16
I actually read the whole thing, it was kinda neat and flowed really well (like a real conversation). Keep doing plz

Artuma
08.18.16
"Authentic photo of Brett Tharp rocking out to Metallica’s ‘One’"

lol

Gameofmetal
08.18.16
omg i didnt even notice that at first

ArsMoriendi
08.18.16
Seems like a fun idea.

AtomicWaste
08.18.16
This was a fun read! Well done, guys. I like the idea of these community interviews! Might have to conduct one myself sometime down the road... Maybe next march I'll whip up an official Sputnik Madness Tourney as a blog feature - not a bad idea!

DinosaurJones
08.18.16
Nice. Can we get one with Zak, please? Not really. Okay, maybe.

Sowing
08.18.16
Zak and Potsy are on my radar

ArsMoriendi
08.18.16
You should interview SandwichBubble too, he has such a broad taste.

SandwichBubble
08.18.16
This is actually pretty cool. color me surprised.

DinosaurJones
08.18.16
Oh, sweet. Those would be... interesting. I'd get in on this, but I haven't done a review in literally years, and I'm also stupid busy for the next few weeks for once in my life.

Alas.

Atari
08.18.16
good shit sowing/game. was an entertaining read, and it's a cool way to get to know the active users better

FullOfSounds
08.18.16
This was a fun read, keep doing this stuff.

elliootsmeuth
08.18.16
Good read

ConcubinaryCode
08.18.16
Aw. This is cute.

laughingman22
08.18.16
Fun interview. I really like this new segment

Tunaboy45
08.18.16
fun idea, would love to see more of these

Sowing
08.18.16
I'll post the 3 albums for this week's competition tomorrow. I'll probably only be able to give people until Monday night due to my own schedule.

Pon
08.18.16
This is some wholesome Sputnik content right here < 3 u Game

wtferrothorn
08.18.16
I hope this continues to be a segment, this was a really fun read. There are certain users that I'd imagine that would result in real entertaining interviews.

Sniff
08.18.16
Cool feature

Sniff
08.18.16
Also. Worst way of coming up with a username. Ever.

Gameofmetal
08.18.16
"sniff"

jk bb

Sniff
08.18.16
Ye. Look who's talking.

brainmelter
08.18.16
Cooool

KILL
08.18.16
lol

manosg
08.18.16
Fun idea and quite entertaining questions and answers.

Spacesh1p
08.18.16
Yeah cool feature, enjoyed it.

CalculatingInfinity
08.18.16
"it was really because of guitar hero"

Yeahhhhhhhhhh boi that was the shit back in the day. I think this should be done for every noticable member on the site tbh, especially ones that you don't see on 'popular' threads much like Opeth's or Converge. Really fun and better than I expected this to be.

Jots
08.18.16
was planning on hopping on board with some belittling "questions" but real life took hold, so alas. good read though - interested to see some more of these

Conmaniac
08.18.16
aw this is cool aha. keep doing this, would love to see a new user every week

Pangea
08.18.16
this is a great idea

ShitsofRain
08.18.16
i like this

Zomby - Reflection In Black Glass
QT - Hey QT
Sonny Criss - Sonny's Dream

Deathconscious
08.18.16
Good idea sowing, we could do with more of this.

Willie
08.18.16
I like this idea.

Sinternet
08.18.16
was a cool read good job

iloveyouall
08.18.16
good stuff, although we all know that the sach exposé would be the real draw add.

Sowing
08.18.16
Glad this was somewhat entertaining to most. Like I said, keep an eye on the lists tomorrow as I'll be setting up the next competition.

ScuroFantasma
08.18.16
Sweet interview, I really enjoyed reading it.

Sinternet
08.18.16
cool maybe pick some better albums for us to review next

i was trying to write one for thee oh sees but the album was so boring, dull and unreamarkable there wasn't much to talk about

Sowing
08.18.16
Dude I pick albums that are popular releases for that particular week. Not much I can do.

Flugmorph
08.18.16
tbh this is the best thing that happened to sputnik in quite some time. thx sowing for doing this and game for beeing the first participant. looking forward to the future of this format!

iloveyouall
08.19.16
pick some dope noise jams for me to write about

Sinternet
08.19.16
Lol sowing it was only a joke man

JamieTwort
08.19.16
I dig this idea. Good stuff Sowing (and Game).

Sowing
08.19.16
@sinternet: thought you were serious because you explained it. I do agree they weren't the best choices though. It's highly dependent on two factors - (1) what releases are available that week and (2) what the staff didn't already dib and left as possibilities for an automatic feature.

RogueNine
08.19.16
This is a great feature, looking forward to reading more.

Sowing
08.19.16
Thanks. Looking forward to as much participation as possible!

Snide
08.20.16
These are cool. Game's a cool user. Can't wait to see who gets interviewed next.

Typhoon24
08.20.16
this was cool as shit

Hawks
08.20.16
This is an awesome idea Sowing bro. Great read. m/

Plus Game is the man so that helps.

ashcrash9
08.21.16
Going forward, I'm probably gonna enjoy these User Spotlights as much as if not more than the actual reviewing challenges themselves. So glad you're doing these, Sowing.

betray
08.21.16
luh u game

bloc
08.21.16
Awesome concept actually, really entertaining

teamster
08.21.16
Nice. I would read more of these.

BallsToTheWall
08.21.16
Sold me with the first question.

Sowing
08.21.16
Haha I led with that purposely because he has a ton of their albums 1'd or 1.5'd and figured I'd make things as uncomfortable as possible.

Sowing
02.27.17
Miss doing these.

Also throwback to GoM's contrib days *brushes tear from cheek*

Jots
02.27.17
they were better times agreed

Koris
02.27.17
Yeah, these were fun

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