After a bit of a hiatus, I’m bringing back some Rock Band ‘Band Practice‘, not just because I love this section, but because of the fact that my favorite band, Nine Inch Nails, is the featured content this week! Do they rock as much as I hoped they would? If you’re not a fan of the band, will you still like it? Is March of the Pigs censored? Find out after the jump!

To answer the questions in the previous paragraph; yes, maybe, and yes. This pack is actually a very well rounded one in terms of difficulty, so that’s a definite plus. As far as the selection, I can’t imagine many but the most die hard of fans wanting The Collector, though for pushover players it is the easiest of the bunch.

Quite a few more will know of March of the Pigs. To the dismay of myself and others, ‘I wanna f*ck it up’ is in fact censored, but it isn’t quite so bad. The song is so loud and everyone will be playing so hard that you won’t notice, and if you have a live vocalist, he/she can even sub it in themselves without penalty. This song will also feature quite a surprise for those who aren’t prepared for it, didn’t read the guitar details below, nor looked at my picture above.

Finally, most people who listened to the radio back during the mid 90’s will remember The Perfect Drug, arguably the band’s biggest hit since Closer; of the songs, this is probably the most notable single downloadable track. Also, it so happens to be one of the hardest damned drum songs in the entire game, sitting just underneath Won’t Be Fooled Again on the difficulty scale. What you will have to bear in mind is that Nine Inch Nails’ material is very synth heavy, so much of what is really a synth will instead be assumed to be a guitar or bass part.

So how does each song fare?

[Note: Guitar and Bass are judged on Expert difficulty, while Drums and Vocals are judged on Medium difficulty. Additionally, Rock Band is always fun multiplayer, so all of these were tested in single player, to isolate each part. A group dynamic was not a part of the review process.]

The Collector
Guitar: Extremely easy, bordering on sheer boredom. No challenges here; tier 1 stuff. You will be playing piano with your guitar at the end.
Bass: Also extremely easy, but plays longer than the guitar. If someone wants to whine about not being able to play guitar while you are hogging it, go ahead and let them have it on this one.
Drums: This one is fairly simple and straightforward. Minimum of kickpedal, and not much of a basic beat-section to speak of, which is nice if you need a good warm-up song without the shattered ego.
Vocals: Also fairly simple. The pitch runs a decent gamut of highs and lows, but if you suck at singing, this is a great song to get a feel for it. I five starred the vocals my first time on this, and I am an atrocious singer.

March of the Pigs
Guitar: Precision chords are going to weed out the wannabe thrashers from the guitar gods. Although rather repetitive, it can still be a challenge to hit them all. This song will have you playing piano with the guitar as well, which caught me off guard. I think it works well enough, but I’m sure people will be divisive on this.
Bass: Holy shitballs. This is probably the hardest bass song in the game, because…well; you know that synth effect in the opening drum intro? Yup, that’s not a synth anymore, that’s you on bass. Like the guitar, this is repetitive so you at least don’t have to worry about them throwing you curveballs, though during the kickpedal sections after the screaming, you will need to employ some up/down strumming to hit those notes (unless you want your arm to fall off).
Drums: What most people downloaded this song for; this is HARD. A very fast beat combined with plenty of kick-pedaling to really give you a challenging workout (try it on Expert and watch yourself fail immediately). Captain Obvious Pro-tip: switch feet for kick-pedaling at the second half of the song.
Vocals: This is also extremely difficult, since a good chunk of the song is damn near screaming. That will keep most people’s scores down, and if you don’t know the lyrics, the quieter but more aggressive sections will trip you up.

The Perfect Drug
Guitar: Not too shabby of a note-chart, very well rounded. Not the most difficult thing ever, but certainly not that easy either. Plenty of chords, fast strumming action, and some hammer-ons/pull-offs make this a rather enjoyable track to hit the guitar with. Beware of the synth before the drum solo! That’s a guitar part.
Bass: Criminally boring. You will do absolutely nothing until the first chorus, and after the second chorus, you will do nothing until the start of the outro. 100% my first try on Expert.
Drums: Well, on the difficulty tested on (Medium), this is actually a fairly simple song. I’d rank it maybe as difficult as Go With The Flow. Like The Collector, this is a well rounded chart but has a bit of strange timing you will have to be mindful of. The drum solo is considerably tougher than the rest of the song, but after that the overall tempo dies down and makes for an easy grab at 5 stars. For a harsh reality check, give these drums a shot on Expert.
Vocals: Another one that will make those of us that are tone deaf a little less self-conscious. Most of it is low volume enough to keep the crowd meter from dropping too low, and the chorus isn’t very high in pitch itself. The outro is almost too easy, but watch yourself if you run out of breath easy, as this part goes on for a bit of time.

All in all, I was pleasantly pleased as a huge NIN fan, and I really hope to see more songs make it (Wish, Last, We’re In This Together Now, StarF*ckers, Into the Void, Head Like a Hole, Survivalism, Sunspots, I could keep going…), but if you’re not too keen on NIN, I would only recommend The Perfect Drug and only consider March of the Pigs if you are relatively decent.

That said, The Perfect Drug is probably my new favorite DLC song to play, as it is one of the most exciting songs to play with in a full group. Besides Bass, everyone will have a blast with this one, and it’s a great World Tour “Custom Setlist” song to throw in there, as it is long enough to not have to make everything count to get 5 stars (unlike the short and difficult March of the Pigs). For those looking for a pretty strict challenge, March of the Pigs is definitely the route to go as it is far and away the hardest overall song when all instruments are factored. Avoid The Collector unless you’re a huge fan or it’s for completeness sake.