This pack is f’n metal.  Headbangers, thrashers, shredders, and metalheads, prepare for one of the hardest weeks of DLC of the year, “The Prog, Punk and Power Pack.”    This is yet another awesome list of full volume heavy metal, punk and thrash featuring more music from the most hardcore bands that Rock Band 2 has to offer.   For all you expert players in search of higher scoring challenges, this is the week you were waiting for!  Plus it comes out on the 13th which is aguably the most metal day of the month.

Don’t like metal?  No problem, and Harmonix would like it if you played some live Kansas instead.  No, not studio quality Kansas; this is live- and it sounds like about 50 instruments on stage playing all at the same time.  This is the “Prog” side dish of your DLC meal if you were wondering how this all goes together.

Without further delay here are the tracks:

• Motörhead – “(We Are) The Road Crew ‘08”
• Tenacious D – “The Metal”
• Testament – “More Than Meets the Eye”
• Black Tide – “Show Me the Way”
• Blink-182 – “What’s My Age Again?”
• Joe Satriani – “Satch Boogie”
• Joe Satriani – “Surfing with the Alien”
• L7 – “Andres”

You can’t go wrong with Black Tide, their music is like a cutting edge version of classic power metal.  “Shockwave” is one of the songs I like to warm-up with when I’m on drums.   Joe Satriani’s songs are instrumental, meaning there is no vocal track at all (similar to Rush’s “YYZ”).  I was fortunate enough to see Satch live at the Fox Theater in Detroit many years ago, and made his first appearance in Harmonix’s original Guitar Hero 1.  You may be thinking that L7 doesn’t belong beside Testament and Motorhead, but if you listen to “Andres” you may change your mind, in my opinion it is far more representative of the band, perhaps also their best track.   I’m happy to see more Blink 182, and this track in particular should have been released with one of the previous Blink 182 packs.  Nonetheless its always good to see more music from established artists in the game.

• Kansas – “Icarus (Borne on the Wings of Steel)” (Live)
• Kansas – “Point of Know Return” (Live)

As I mentioned there are also two more from Kansas, both live tracks, and both feature keyboard and violin solos!  How much do you want to bet that Harmonix has mapped the violin riffs to the lead guitarist ?   I understand that this is preferable to looking at an empty note highway while the rest of the band plays the song without you, but couldn’t they just stick to songs that at least don’t have keyboard solos?  Kansas’s other song (no, not Dust in the Wind) was parodied in South Park’s infamous Guitar-Queer-O and featured in Rock Band 2.   I always try to summon my best Randy Marsh when I sing Wayward Son.

Next week’s selection should have something for everyone, and if you’re like me at all (you have to buy SOMETHING each week to support the game) I recommend “Show me the Way” or “Andres” should put you in a very metal mood.  As usual the prices are unchanged, 160points per track, and will be available on Tuesday October 13 on the XBox 360 marketplace.