Juno Reactor - The Mutant Theater

Juno Reactor's ninth album The Mutant Theater just came out last week (June 22) and I wanted to write a review of the whole album.  I have listened to this album non-stop since it came out.  I am still waiting for a physical copy of the album but I have downloaded a digital copy.  I knew that this album was going to be very good since I have heard most of the songs before the album came out.  Out of the 9 songs on this album (all Juno Reactor albums have 9 songs in them, except for Luciana), I only didn't know 3 of them (Dakota, Showtime and The Tannhauser Gate).  The album as a whole is now one of my favourite Juno Reactor albums.  It has a very good theme to it (Space/Out of the Universe/Fantasy) and each of the songs flows nicely to one another.  I will give a more detailed look at the album later but I will go through each of the songs individually now.

1) The Return of the Pistolero
- When Juno Reactor was performing their new songs at the Lublin and Ozora shows in 2017, one of my favourites from that show was this song.  This song is truly amazing in that there is some great guitar playing from Amir Haddad.  There is also some great vocals by Taja Devi and Tula Ben-Ari.  For a 11 minute song, this is truly one of the greatest Juno Reactor songs ever.

2) Our World
- Our World was the first single released from this album.  I have already covered this song in another blog post so I won't go into too much detail here.  It is definitely one of the stronger songs in this album.

3) Let's Turn On

- Let's Turn On is another song that was featured heavily at the Lublin and Ozora shows.  I think the album version of this song is much better than the live version because you can hear all the small blips and chirps.  I know there is a video version as well but the album version is the best version.  This song features the vocals of Michele Adamson.

4) Dakota
- Dakota is probably my most favourite song from this album.  It really surprised me when I first heard this song.  Somehow Ben Watkins was able to put together aboriginal chants with his electronic music seamlessly.  I am not sure any music artist is able to pull off something like this.  I like to call this my Canadian Juno Reactor song because I think Ben must of been influenced while travelling and doing shows in Canada.

5) Alien
- Alien is another song that was featured in the Lublin and Ozora shows.  I think it was probably one of the first new song that we heard.  It really works well with the Mutant Theater vibe.  If you could sum up the Mutant Theater album as whole, this song would probably be it.  This song features the vocals of Taja Devi.

6) The Sky is Blue The Sky is Black
- I found this song a while back when watching the Ozora show.  I think Ben called this song Mutant Machina before.  I like Ben's vocals here.  I didn't like this song at first but is now growing on me.

7) Showtime
- Showtime is one of the songs that I haven't heard before the album release so it was pleasant surprise when I listened to this song for first time.  I don't know what influenced Ben to write this song (I asked on the forum, I will edit this when I get an answer).  This song really makes you go on an epic trip.

8) Voyager 304
- Voyager 304 is much like Voyager 303, which was previously released before.  Although I think Voyager 304 is pretty much okay, it is better than Voyager 303 (only a little bit better). It is probably one of the weaker songs in this album but it sets up the next song very well.

9) The Tannhauser Gate
- The Tannhauser Gate is very surreal.  You can tell this song was influenced by the movie Blade Runner.  You can almost picture the movie running in your head when listening to this song.  Fans of the Blade Runner movie will definitely enjoy this song.  This song also makes the album complete.

As a whole the Mutant Theater album is sitting as my second most favourite Juno Reactor album (just behind Labyrinth).  I think there are some great songs in this album, you could argue that most of the good songs are in the top half of this album.  I think one song that could have made this album even better is Ingonyama (with Ace Ventura) but I wouldn't know which song to take out (maybe Voyager 304 but then again this song sets up The Tannhauser Gate really well).  I really recommend everyone checking out this album because it is one of the better Juno Reactor albums.

Diablo 3 Season 13 Review

Well Diablo 3 Season 13 ended last week and I wanted to go over what I accomplished in season 13.  It was a very good season for me.  I think I played as well as I could for this season.  My main goal was to play with the Witch Doctor again this season and try competing in the Solo self found league that Leviathan set up.  I managed to hit greater rift 98 and I almost hit greater rift 99 (I was about a couple seconds off from completing it).  I kind of felt frustrated about not reaching greater rift 99 and I lost one of my characters because I died trying to finish off a greater rift 99.  My greater rift 98 helped me reach rank 38 on the NA leaderboard, which is pretty good since I was playing by myself.  I think it was the 3rd best for the Witch Doctor in the solo self found league.  I managed to get to paragon level 1079 and my current non-seasonal paragon level sits at 1641.

For the majority of the season, I was playing with the Helltooth set, which is my favourite Witch Doctor set.  I now realize how to optimize the Helltooth set perfectly and it's play style is pretty simple to work out.  This season was the first season of playing with the Witch Doctor after the buffs from patch 2.6.1.  The previous season was spent playing with the Necromancer so I didn't have the time then to play with my favourite class.  I did manage to find a primal Sacred Harvester but again I lost my Witch Doctor when I was trying to do a greater rift 99.  I had some very nice gear when my Witch Doctor died, most of my ancient gear had a Caldesann's of +400 intelligence on it.  I also managed to find a good Traveler's Pledge and a decent Compass Rose.  When my Witch Doctor died, I wasn't left with much gear so I couldn't get back to the level that I was on (I am kind of working on it right now during the off season).

For season 14, I might be going back to play with the Witch Doctor again.  I might try a different strategy this time though.  Since the free set for season 14 is the Zunimassa set, I might try to build a Zunimassa set that is for the end game.  I know some people have managed to hit greater rift 100 with the Zuni set so it should be possible for me too.  I also might try and play with the Wizard since I haven't played a Wizard for a very long time.  The only thing that holds me back from playing the Wizard is that I don't really like playing with that class and I don't really like any of the Wizard sets play style.  Season 14 is going to be the first season with a theme to it.  Season 14 will have double goblins spawning so it should be kind of interesting to see.  I hope everyone had a successful season 13 and I hope everyone enjoys playing season 14.

If Overwatch characters had Juno Reactor theme songs

I've always wondered if the Overwatch universe and the Juno Reactor universe collided together, what would the result be?  Well for one, each Overwatch character would probably have it's own Juno Reactor song attached to them.  So for this blog post, I want to explore what Juno Reactor song would be a fit for each of the Overwatch characters.

Ana - God Is God

- Natacha Atlas's vocals fit in nicely with Ana's voice.

Bastion - Rotorblade

-Bastion is a robot so a song that reminds me of robots is Rotorblade.  

Brigitte - Song to the Siren

- Brigitte reminds me of Taz Alexander's vocals.  One of the songs that has great Taz vocals is Song to the Siren.  

Doomfist - Hulelam/Badimo

- Doomfist reminds me of some South African music.  The two that come to mind are Hulelam and Badimo from the Shango album.  

D.Va - Mona Lisa Overdrive

- D.Va has a mech, which is sort of like riding a motorcycle.  One of the most famous scenes in the Matrix Reloaded is when Trinity rides a motorcycle on the freeway.  Mona Lisa is the background song in that scene.

Genji - Samurai

- Genji had training from Zenyatta to be more peaceful with himself.  The lyrics sung in Samurai might be the same message Zenyatta is giving to Genji.  "Anatawa Taiyo" means "You are [the] sun".

Hanzo - Hotaka

- Hotaka would be a nice song for Hanzo.  The use of the taiko drums and shouting in it makes sense for Hanzo.  This song fits in neatly with Hanzo's dance emote.

Junkrat - Swamp Thing

- Don't know if Junkrat was born from the swampland but this song fits pretty good.  Both are erratic and a bit crazy.

Lucio - City of the Sinful

- Ghetto Priest's vocals fits nicely with Lucio's voice.  One song that features Ghetto Priest's vocals is City of the Sinful.  

McCree - Pistolero

- McCree is a cowboy so a good cowboy song is Pistolero.  

Mei - Ice Cube

- Another easy choice.  Mei can create ice walls and create a blizzard.  Once those ice walls disappear, it almost looks like the ice crumbles.

Mercy - Guardian Angel

- Definitely an easy choice here.  Mercy has a guardian angel skill, which allows her to fly towards other characters.  She even has a voice line that says, "Your guardian angel".

Moira - Nitrogen

- Nitrogen is an alien-like song and so is Moira.

Orisa - Zwara

- Zwara is song about wanting the world to change and it matches nicely with Orisa, who was built with the intention of keeping the world safe.

Pharah - Tanta Pena

- Pharah likes to shout out her ultimate and so does this song.  

Reinhardt and Torbjorn - Giant and War Dogs

- Reinhardt is a very big person so Giant suits him well.  Torbjorn has a pirate skin and that reminds me of War Dogs.  These two songs go well together and so does Reinhardt and Torbjorn.

Reaper - Angels and Men

- Angels and Men is all about death and this song reminds me of Reaper, who likes to shout out "Die die die".  

Roadhog - Shark

- Roadhog has a shark skin called Mako so Shark would be a nice fit.

Soldier 76 - Immaculate Crucifixion

- Immaculate Crucifixion is a very powerful song much like Soldier 76.

Sombra - Invisible

- One of Sombra's skill is that she turns herself invisible for a few seconds.  This song reminds me of Sombra's stealth skill.  

Symmetra - Final Frontier

- Symmetra is from India and a good song that reminds me of India is Final Frontier.  

Tracer - Putting on the Blitz

- Tracer has a very playful characteristic and her dance emote goes very well with Putting on the Blitz.  

Widowmaker - Insects

- Well technically spiders are not insects but they do come close enough.

Winston - 10 000 Miles

- Winston come from the moon so this song fits in nicely with who Winston is.  

Zarya - Trans Siberian

- Another easy choice.  Zarya is from Russia so a Juno Reactor song that reminds me of Russia is Trans Siberian.  I can sort of imagine Zarya singing this song.

Zenyatta - High Energy Protons

- Zenyatta is an omnic, which means he is a robot.  A very robotic/techno song is High Energy Protons.

My Juno Reactor Albums Ranked

With the new Juno Reactor album being delayed a bit (it will now come out in June), I look back and think which of the Juno Reactor albums that I like the best.  It is very difficult for me to rank the albums since I really like most of them equally.  But I decided that I should order them from my least to most favourite album in this blog post.  I think when the new album comes out, these rankings will change.  So here is my ranking from least to most (Luciana and Odyssey will not be included):

1.  Transmissions
- To be fair, this was Juno's first album so it is not a really fair comparison to the other albums.  Three are a few songs that I really, really like but overall there aren't enough great songs that make this album memorable.

2.  Gods and Monster
- It is a bit weird to put this album so low in my rankings but there is a good reason for it.  Even though I really love most of the songs in the album, this album doesn't "click" with me since it's music style is all over the place.  I really love songs like Tanta Pena, Immaculate Crucifixion, and The Perfect Crime but there is also really bad songs like Mind of the Free and Tokyo Dub.  Maybe if the closing song was Playing with Fire maybe this album might have done better?

3.  Shango
- Shango is a lot like Gods and Monsters but there is a better rhythm to it.  There aren't a lot of stand out songs in there but there isn't many bad songs as well.  You can tell that there was a lot of experimentation with this album, with the use of Amampondos and Steve Stevens.

4.  Bible of Dreams
- Bible of Dreams was my first album that I purchased.  It had a lot of great songs and it was really easy for me to get into it.  When I think of a "standard" Juno Reactor album, I think of this one.  It has some amazing songs in it.

5.  Golden Sun of the Great East
- I almost put this album a bit higher but I think this is the place that works for me.  Since this was the most recent Juno Reactor album released, I am still kind of digesting this album.  What makes this album so great is that it has very good flow to it (especially compared to Gods and Monsters).  It has some spectacular songs in it as well.  I might end up putting this album higher in the future.

6.  Beyond the Infinite
- Even though this is one of Juno Reactor's earlier albums, this album stands the test of time.  There are many great songs in this album and the rhythm of the album is very good as well.  You will be hard pressed to find a bad song in this album.

7.  Labyrinth
- Labyrinth is by far my most favourite album of all time.  What makes this album so great is that there are no bad songs, there is a great opening and closing song, and it kind of tells a story along the way.  The rhythm so really great as well, there are couple of slow songs with some incredible fast paced music mixed in it as well.

I hope the new album, The Mutant Theater, will end up as one of my most favourite Juno Reactor albums.  With some of the songs that I heard that will be on the new album, I don't think it will end up being one of my least favourite.

Diablo 3 Season 13 Update

Season 13 started about a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to update my status for this season.  For season 13, my main goal was to play with the Witch Doctor again since I hadn't played with the Witch Doctor since season 11.  I am also participating in the new solo self found league which was created by Leviathan.  Overall, I am really pleased with my progress so far.  I just hit paragon 800 already and I am currently sitting at greater rift 86, which puts me in the top 100 of N. American Witch Doctors.  It seems like the Witch Doctor is the least played class for hardcore players this season.  Just by comparing numbers, there seems to be less Witch Doctors and Necromancers this season, which is really surprising to me.

Levelling up my Witch Doctor was pretty easy.  I managed to hit level 70 pretty quickly and gearing for the Witch Doctor was fairly simple too.  I started out with the Jade set since that is the free Haedrig's gift this season for the Witch Doctor.  The Jade set is fairly strong but it lacks any damage reduction.  I quickly managed to find a Helltooth set and that pushed me to greater rift 70 real quick.  Unfortunately, I pushed a little too hard and I died while killing Malthael on Torment 13.  It was a weird death because I knew that Malthael did a lot damage but when I died, my pets were still alive and managed to take Malthael down.  Even with an early death, I didn't lose much progression and I was right back to where I left off.  Now, most of my gear is ancient and I am only missing a few items left.  I am really excited by the new power level of the Helltooth set.  Before Patch 2.4.1, I was only able to reach greater rift 81.  But now, with the power boost to the Short Man's Finger, the Mask of Jeram and the Helltooth set, this build can reach into the greater rift 90's.  It looks like there's at least a 10 greater rift boost with the new patch.

The goal for the rest of the season is pretty straight forward.  I want to reach as high a paragon level that I can reach (hopefully reach paragon 1000 for the first time).  I also want to stay in the top 100 for greater rifts and maybe a top 5 in the solo self found league.  I am almost completed the seasonal journey, I just need to do 1 more conquest.  I hope I can continue to push throughout the season and be able to reach these goals.  I am having lots of fun playing with the Witch Doctor again and I hope everyone else is enjoying playing season 13.