Blue Oyster Cult tells Warhammer Online to "Kiss My Axe (While I Drink My Beer)"
Eric Bloom of hard rock band Blue Oyster Cult has been a long-time gamer, notably with World of Warcraft. But WoW rival Warhammer Online gave Blizzard a big middle finger when they snagged the venerable rocker to make an original track for WAR. Celebrating WAR's recent unleashing of the Dwarf Slayer, "Kiss My Axe (While I Drink My Beer)" might as well serve as the national anthem for every dwarf drawn up since Tolkien flipped the "f" to a "v" in "dwarves.""We thought long and hard about how to properly tell gamers what the Dwarf Slayer is all about," said Paul Barnett, Senior Creative Director for WAR and the song's lyricist. (Sample lyric: "Been killing so long, I don't feel a thing.")
You can hear the track in its entirety here. It ain't DragonForce, but there's definitely a taste of shred-tastic guitar action in there. Even tampering with fantasy metal in a fantasy-fiction MMO gives WAR a now very Central European flavor, audibly distinct from the orchestral standard in role-playing games typical of the West.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Teams Up
With Members of Blue Öyster Cult on Original Rock Song
‘Kiss My Axe (While I Drink My Beer)’ Celebrates
the Oath (and Axe) of the Dwarf Slayer
FAIRFAX, Va. – April 9, 2009 – Mythic Entertainment™, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) Studio, announced that members of the Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning® (WAR) development team recently collaborated with Eric Bloom and Richie Castellano of the hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult to produce an original rock song. Entitled ‘Kiss My Axe (While I Drink My Beer),’ the track celebrates the recent launch of the new Dwarf Slayer career.
Bloom, a long-time gamer and avid fan of WAR, and Castellano teamed up with Mythic Entertainment’s Lead Sound Artist Brad Derrick, Associate Producer Josh Drescher and Senior Creative Director Paul Barnett. The results of their studio session can be heard here: http://www.warhammeronline.
“We thought long and hard about how to properly tell gamers what the Dwarf Slayer is all about,” said Paul Barnett, Senior Creative Director for WAR and the song’s lyricist. “After going around in circles, we came to the obvious solution – we needed to write and record a hard rockin’ song, and we needed to do it with members of Blue Öyster Cult. If this song doesn’t get you fired up to shave your hair into a mohawk, dye it red, and play a Slayer, then you’re probably dead!”
“I’d heard a previous song written and performed by members of the WAR team, and thought they were quite good for a 'garage band' of game developers,” said Eric Bloom, lead vocalist for Blue Oyster Cult. “I was very glad to hear from Mythic who invited me down to work on the song. I was impressed by the dedication of the developers to make WAR both a success and fun to play, something that, in my opinion, is missing from many other MMO's.”
Based on the popular tabletop war game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning features revolutionary Realm vs. Realm™ conflict that will provide players with an engaging battleground for years to come. Available now for PC, WAR is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information about the game and to download the free 10-day trial, visit www.warhammeronline.com.
