Vomitron-NESessary Evil

Metavania Music 2016

Active since 2002,  Vomitron is a experimental solo project from Lowell Massachusetts guitarist Peter Rutcho (Armory, Crotalus, Graveheart, Birch Hill Dam (live), ex-Frozen, ex-Lecherous, ex-Blistered Earth, B'Chunk, Bloodwitch, ex-Discreate, ex-Pornogore). The cleverly-named "NESessary Evil" is Vomitron's latest instrumental release and just like the previously-covered "No NES for the Wicked" it offers insanely-cool heavy metal versions of original NES video game music! As someone who got an NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) for Christmas as a teenager, "NESessary Evil" brought back plenty of fun memories that I had all but forgotten about. While my family was a tad late to the NES party, I still played many of these games with my younger siblings and friends. It's true that we had to either rent a lot of these games from our local video store or borrow them from more well-off friends, but we had lots of fun all the same! Incidentally, this was right around the time that I was really getting into the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Sometimes I'd have these bands playing over the background music while I played the NES games and sometimes I'd shut off volume on my TV and just let the speed metal and thrash metal take over. All of which means that in a lot of ways video games and heavy metal music go hand in hand for me. With that said, I still would have never guessed that one day we would be witnessing the slick combination of these two fun activities! Well, technically-speaking this is more along the lines of progressive power metal, but still, "NESessary Evil" is absolutely awesome for what it is! Since I can't seem to pick a favorite moment I'll just post the official track list so that everyone can see what we are talking about.


 1.Wizards & Warriors 
 2. Metroid (1 of 2)     
 3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1 of 2)    
 4. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest     
 5. Bionic Commando (1 of 2)     
 6.  Metroid (2 of 2)     
 7.  Marble Madness     
 8.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2 of 2)     
 9.   Bionic Commando (2 of 2)     
 10.  Mega Man

 Obviously there are a lot of classic NES numbers there. With skill and expert precision, Peter Rutcho moves from one timeless song to the next. With "NESessary Evil" Peter pays homage to a piece of entertainment history while further showcasing his technical ability as a lead guitarist. Arranged, performed, mixed and mastered by Peter himself, Vomitron's latest recording is like the past and the future collided. It brings back wonderful memories from a time that is sacred to so many of us even as it presents a version of heavy metal that is almost futuristic in it's stylized (and technical as hell!) approach. For our younger readers a release like this one might not mean much, but for those of us who are...older and greyer, "NESessary Evil" is the gift that keeps on giving! Available on CD and as a digital download, "NESessary Evil" comes highly-recommend! For more information on this (simply-killer!) project and to order this cool as f**k release be sure to click here. 

Vomitron-No NES for the wicked

Metavania music
2011

Vomitron is a solo project for Peter Rutchen. Rutchen plays keyboards for Armory and Frozen and guitar for Graveheart. The idea for this album was to do heavy metal versions of original NES video game music. An interesting idea that I suppose came from having a love of old video game and metal with the realization coming that combining the two might be a promising idea. Indeed it is as Vomitron offers up 14 selections of NES selections getting heavy yet lovingly done versions. Viedo game music is frequently active and often as many of these selections and Rutchen realizes that and translates them according with varies instruments without losing any of the excitement of the original version. If you spent hours wearing callouses onto your thumbs as you pushes and poked away at that rectangular control then some of these songs may be ingrained in your head. In fact hearing these songs may bring back memories of those hours trying to conquer these games. The spookiness and straightforward approach of Castlevania is captured here. Double Dragon has quick pace changes and a heavy metal that are really brought to the surface in this version. Contra really makes a fantastic transition to the heavy versions here. The tempo and tone changes really make this one of the best tracks on the album. In fact every song here is solid. My only complaint is that they may find a limited audience for this project. Given that the peak for the NES was more than twenty year ago most of the people who remember these games are over thirty or more. Still those appreciated those games will likely be thankful for this album.