STACK November Issue 68

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visit BEST OF REVIEWS
ncharted: The nathan drake collection
ith a little over four months to go until the
elease of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, dipping
to The Nathan Drake Collection to whet
he old adventurous appetite is the perfect
ors-d’oeuvre. So how does this remastered
ernion stand up? Surprisingly well. Drake’s
ortune, a game now eight years old, is the
bvious weak link here. But furnished with
080p presentation and 60fps where possible,
ven this entry in the compelling Nathan
rake saga, looks mightily impressive. The
haracters, scenery, and the explosion effects
ave all been markedly improved, as have
he controls that greatly benefit from being
tightened. Subtle additions to the gameplay,
such as implementing features used in the
later games, works exceptionally well. Among
Thieves holds up well and by the time Drake’s
Deception makes an appearance, it’s hard to
believe that this trilogy was actually released
on PS3. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve
played them before or it’s your first time
to the franchise, Naughty Dog’s excellent
adventure series deserves this new-gen
interpretation. Sit back and enjoy playing
through the evolution of one of the greatest
series released on the PlayStation 3.
Paul Jones
Deathgasm
Given than many metalheads are
horror fans as well, there have
been surprisingly few flicks that
combine both elements. This
gleefully gross and gruesome
splatterfest from first-time Kiwi
director Jason Lei Howden goes
some way to rectifying that, as
well as continuing a recent winning
run of low budget homegrown
horror hits. Milo Cawthorne plays
Brodie, a teenage death metal fan
who is less than pleased when
he is forced to move to a sleepy
provincial town to live with his
Christian aunt and uncle, and their
bully of a son. Things take a turn
for the better when he succeeds
in bonding with fellow heavy metal
devotee Zakk (James Blake) and
together with some other local
misfits, they decide to form their
own metal band (the Deathgasm
of the title). Unfortunately, after
stumbling across the sheet music
to a black hymn belonging to a
reclusive heavy metal legend hiding
out in the town, they unwittingly
turn the residents of the local
community into putrefying, blood-
crazed zombies. Blending some
laugh-out-loud scenes of stomach-
churning horror with an unashamed
love of all things metal, Deathgasm
is another must-see Kiwi cult
classic. John Ferguson
Do
M
JOANNA NEWSOM DIVERS
Like a stimulative tonic, Joanna Newsom’s
fourth full-length album Divers prompts
both soft introspection and wild fancies; it
looks for answers to love’s questions in all
manner of hidey-holes and vistas without
ever wandering so far that Newsom gets
lost – an enormous feat, considering the turf
she traverses. While medieval clavichords
are softened by jangling Americana guitar
and gentle rimshots in Leaving The City,
Goose Eggs sees tom-booming drums
fling themselves forward like a Tori Amos
hit. Piano accordion, flute, piccolo, various
woodwind, violins, tiny electronic elements
and the artist’s own harp curl together in
this astonishingly dynamic collection, and
while these instruments are all doing their
own discrete things, they frolick together;
Newsom and her arrangers are able to
arouse them into living characters like
creatures in a Miyazaki film or Peter And The
Wolf, and they’re all playing this ring-a-rosy
with the artist’s voice. Newsom’s vocals are,
of course, full of contrary temper: quietly
intricate vowels skitter around her goal
notes, and all the while she utillises her
fearless cache of vibrato, cutesy curls and
Joni Mitchell caws. She has drawn on all of
her previous releases to deliver this record,
which expressively and sensitively explores
the caverns hiding life’s little profundities.
Zoë Radas
M
32 NOVEMBER 2015