Feeling a little flat?

This week in Rock Band, we take a break from some of the well-known classic tunes of the last few weeks, and go a little more modern with The Fratellis. The Scottish band brings us a 3-pack from their first album, Costello Music, which I honestly know nothing about, not being too well-versed in popular bands. The pack can be acquired from the usual price of 440 MSP ($5.50) or 160 MSP ($2) per song.
Here's what's on offer:

Flathead
Henrietta
Creeping Up The Back Stairs
Note: Click on any song for expert drum videos.

When I found out what was being released this week, I figured I'd be able to save some money. After all, I've never even heard of The Fratellis. Then my girlfriend told me she wanted the song Flathead, so I figured I may as well give it a listen. Oh..... It's the track off that iPod advert; kind of catchy actually. Listening to the others, I realized that I quite like Creeping Up The Backstairs as well, so my plan to skip the DLC this week didn't quite go as planned.....

Okay, Flathead fits into drum tier 3, so it's about half-way up the difficulty scale. The start is kind of like This Ain't a Scene It's an Arms Race by Fallout Boy, with just kick drum and yellow pad, but this quickly turns into a standard rhythm with some off-beat kick drum. The verse becomes a little more interesting part way through, with a slightly less obvious beat that has some double and triple hits with your right hand, but a steady foot rhythm. It still took me a couple of tries to get the hang of it though. The chorus mixes it up a little more, with hits that go back and forth between hands, similar to Joker & The Thief by Wolfmother. The rest of the song switches between these three patterns, so you never have to repeat the same thing for very long.

After this comes Creeping Up The Backstairs, which is up in drum tier 5. I bought this song as it's fun to listen to, and reminds me of Rob The Prez-O-Dent by That Handsome Devil. Most of this track isn't really too hard to play. If you can handle the verse, which has kick drum on and off the beat, you should be able to make it through this one without difficulty. The only real challenge comes from the constant little fills, which are usually short rolls on the red pad. I don't often have a problem with this type of thing, but I think I need to listen to the song outside of the game to hear how they're supposed to sound before I can play them well. The chorus is a nice little break, and there's a bit of variety towards the end, but nothing too original.

So, would they get my recommendation then? Eh.... I could take or leave them. Creeping Up The Backstairs should be nice practice for those short rolls, but overall it's not that fun to play. Flathead sure is catchy, which is almost worth a recommendation all by itself, but doesn't really contain anything overly exciting or original as far as the drum chart goes. Once again, it all comes down to your preference in music. Fans should be pleased, but for everyone else, I'd say this week's selection could be skipped without missing out on all that much.

Also this week, Wii fans can look forward to Rush's Moving Pictures album. This one came out a while ago on other systems, but the Wii library is just starting to take shape and there's a lot of catching up to do. Drumming fans should be pleased as all 7 of the songs provide a nice challenge (especially one.... groan), but unfortunately the album can't be purchased for the bargain price of $11 like on 360 and PS3, and must instead be bought one song at a time, costing you $14 in total. Check here for reviews of all the tracks.

In other Rock Band news, Viacom, the parent company of Harmonix, recently sued Konami over patent infringement. The funny things is, last July Konami tried to sue Viacom over the same thing, claiming that their guitar controllers were too similar to Konami's popular arcade rhythm games such as GuitarFreaks. Now it's Viacom doing the accusing, saying that Konami's Rock Revolution is too similar to Rock Band. It can't be denied that all of these games (along with Guitar Hero) are very similar to each other, but it's a shame that people feel the need to turn to lawsuits just to prove they had an idea first. Viacom are seeking compensation and hope to stop Konami from selling Rock Revolution altogether, which would be a huge disappointment for the seven or eight people who actually bought it.