New Mastodon Track Stomps Into Rock Band, Other New Artists Follow

The catalogue of downloadable tracks on Rock Band is big business for developers Harmonix. Over seventy-five million tracks have been purchased and downloaded from the Rock Band Music Store in the three and a half years since its launch, and with a more than two and a half thousand available songs covering genres as diverse as Country, Metal, Funk and Pop, fans are never short of a tune to rock out to. In the update this week there are six new tracks, some from debut artists, some from groups who are expanding their existing Rock Band presence.

Heavy metal monsters Mastodon are making a return with “Blood and Thunder” – which is taken from 2004 album Leviathan. Previously, “Colony of Birchmen” from their 2006 album, Blood Mountain, had been made available in the Rock Band Music Store, so now Mastdon fans have double the fun. Alternative rockers Anberlin bring us “Breaking”, the second single from 2008 album New Surrender, and they too have a previous Rock Band Store entry, with “Feel Good Drag,” already available for purchase.

For fans of more classic tracks, The Ohio Players make their Rock Band debut as “Fire,” the title track from the band’s 1974 album of the same name, and “Love Rollercoaster,” which was released on the band’s 1975 album Honey are added to the catalogue. “Love Rollercoaster” may be especially well-known to many younger rock fans due to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ 1996 cover version. Also making their debut are American rock band Relient K with the track “Must Have Done Something Right” from their 2007 album Five Score and Seven Years Ago, and 1980’s New Wave heroes, Tommy Tutone also add their tune “867-5309/Jenny” to the ever-growing library.

These tracks will be available for Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 on April 19th, although in Europe they will come to PlayStation 3 on April 20th. They will cost £0.99 (160 Microsoft Points / 200 Wii Points) per song. The Pro Guitar and Pro Bass upgrades for “Blood and Thunder”, “Love Rollercoaster” and “867-5309/Jenny” will cost an additional £0.59 (80 Microsoft Points/100 Wii Points). All tracks are original artist recordings.