Baron of Hell by Shotgun Guy | Review

Review by Travis

Micah Jordan releases tons of music under many different names. Shotgun Guy is the most “standard” Nintendocore project he has. This album was released April 24^th,2015. I have been meaning to review this release for awhile. It was one of the stronger nintendocore released of 2015.

“Death Adders Demise” functions as an excellent intro track. I like when albums actually have a feel to them and seem as if there was some thought put into flow and track order. The synth on this track is warm, the drums are strong, This song is actually about Golden Axe which is wicked. The lyrics are strong if you read them.

“VXIV” is a great instrumental track. I love how the lead synth sounds. I'm not quite sure if it's delay or some level of harmonization going on but it's nice. The breakdowns/drums on this album start and finish strong.

“Groovy!” Is a song about Earthword Jim. Any of the tracks with lyrics are immensely more enjoyable if you check the lyric sheet. I have always found one of the interesting parts of Nintendocore to be the lyrics/vocals. It is neat to hear the use of harsh vocals and the crazy lyrics delivered on this album. “Groovy!” is a bit out of place as it seems that the sound quality/mixing on this track is a little bit lower.

“Guide me Aku-Aku” is about Aku-Aku from the Crash Bandicoot games. The track features guest vocals by Adam from Rambo Hates Rainbows. The part right before the 1:00 minute mark is very strong. Vocals are on point on this track and I found the guitar work to be very solid as well. Deep gutturals on this song. This track is one of the strongest on the album.

“Benefits in Power” is one of the more upbeat tracks on the album. I find it interesting how Micah Jordan is effectively able to go from a darker/heavy track to a more chaotic and happy track. Both styles are pulled off very effectively.

“Fuck You I'm Angry” starts out with a strong blast beat. It is a 1:07 long track of anger. The info for the track states that “this is an angry song”. Effective transition between benefits of power to “Total Meltdown”.

“Total Meltdown” is a Duke Nukem inspired track. It is the 2^nd song on the album to feature a guest vocalist, Cory from ZOMBIESHARK!. another on the album to feature a guest vocalist. The track is another example of Shotgun Guys “happier” sounding songs. I really enjoyed the intro synth. Another song with good guitar work and strong vocals.

The final track “Redemption Denied” acts as an effective conclusion to the album. The song features a pretty neat part at the 1:30 mark. The part features very cool interaction between the drum/synth and guitars. I am very impressed with the little fills/rolls done on drums during this album. I love the instrumental part before the final breakdown/section, good use of SFX. Ending speech is very cool as well.

The album is very, very solid. The bottom of the Bandcamp page displays “Note: some of the mixes aren't as I wish they were, but due to computer issues, i have no way of changing the instrumental mixes at all”. I remember speaking with Shotgun Guy and him explaining that computer problems had rendered it impossible to change/access the files he need to tweak the instrumentals. The only real knock on this album is “Groovy!” definitely sounds like it is not mixed/of the same quality as the other tracks. The fact that he did not have access to all the instrumentals and the album turned out as well as it did is a testament to the quality of this release. Great release and I look forward to more from Shotgun Guy!

Artist-Shotgun Guy
Album-Baron of Hell
Date- April 2015
Country-Henderson,Kentucky
Facebook- Shotgun Guy
Genre:Nintendocore, Cybergrind

Track List:

1.Death Adders Demise 02:20
2.VIXIV 01:01
3.Groovy! 02:34
4.Guide Me Aku Aku 02:53
5.Benefits In Power (Ft. Adam of Rambo Hates Rainbows) 02:24
6.Fuck You I'm Angry 01:07
7.Total Meltdown (Ft. Curly of ZOMBIESHARK!) 02:09
8.Redemption Denied 03:35
   

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