Black Sabbath News

"Brutal Legend" will rock out with a lengthy list of metal legends.

Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Megadeath and Motorhead are among the 75 bands that will be featured in the video game starring Jack Black as a roadie who fights evil in a mythical metal-themed world. Over 100 songs — such as Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood," Kiss' "God of Thunder" and Ratt's "Lay It Down" — will be included in the third-person action game.

"Since the beginning of the project, there are a few songs that I've dreamed of having in the game, like 'Children of the Grave,'" said creator Tim Schafer. "Every time I heard 'Children of the Grave' by Black Sabbath, I always thought it sounded like people getting ready for war. I had a list of songs like that, but it only covered 10 percent of the game."

Schafer said the game's tunes are fleshed out with the various sub-genres of metal — hair, black, thrash, British, new wave, goth, industrial and death, just to name a few — and play in the background, during cutscenes or via "The Mouth of Metal," the in-game radio station found inside the game's hot rod.

Toughest song to procure? Def Leppard's "Rock of Ages."

"It came down to the wire," said Schafer. "We were really close to not getting that one. We built an entire mission around that song. It's really appropriate because there's these guys mining through rocks. It was the perfect song to use, so we're really happy to get that in there. There's a few songs we fought to get in the game like that, and we got 'em."

"Brutal Legend" has also been fighting another kind of battle: a legal one. Original publisher Activision sued Schafer's Double Fine Productions to stop the game's release by rival Electronic Arts, but attorneys for Activision notified a court last week that they reached a settlement. Schafer insists the game will indeed be unleashed in October.

"We are definitely coming out Rocktober 13th," he said, "and nothing will stop us."

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On the Net:

http://www.brutallegend.com