It’s an interesting feeling when you start Medium level on Guitar Hero III. Interesting because it’s the level where you really have the impression you’re playing the guitar. Easy mode is really just strumming along to the rhythm without any real investment in the music, making you a video game version of Bill Wyman.

But Medium mode… yeah, you start to feel it. Feel it real.

Imagine my thrill when I got to Heart’s Barracuda and hit it with five stars. I love Barracuda, it’s without a doubt one of my favourite songs of the era. It was quite a prideful moment for me. So I’m listening to Panther’s Diamonds, Violence, and I’m figuring I could tear that one up in GHIII (that’s the acronym for Guitar Hero III - real gamers use acronyms) because its rhythm reminds me of the trampling riff of Barracuda, only funkier. Like the if Wilson sisters fused with the guys from The Rapture. Extraordinary music ensues. This is such an incredibly powerful yet subtle track.

And clocking in at 2 minutes 15 seconds, the song doesn’t overstay its welcome and leaves you wanting more. Thus, were it a part of GHIII, I’d be playing this song over and over again. Which is kind of the case at current press time with Lacuna Coil’s Closer.

Perhaps I have just found out I play video games too much.

MP3: Panther - Violence, Diamonds

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