First Rock Band album this month

By Robert Purchese Published 18 April, 2008

Judas Priest. Then The Cars and Pixies.

Harmonix has said the first downloadable album for Rock Band will finally be available next week, after months and months of promises.

It is "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest, and the 10 tracks will cost USD 15 on both PS3 and Xbox 360. Individual songs will go for USD 2.

Following it in May will be the self-titled album by The Cars, and then "Doolittle" by The Pixies in June.

When quizzed over the delay, Harmonix boss Alex Rigopulos said finding the masters and translating them from analog recordings was the problem, according to MTV.ca. When you're sticking to a set list of songs it only takes one missing master to hold everything up, he explained. With weekly DLC packs of three, you can pick and choose which songs to include.

The Who was supposed to be the first band whose album would be offered, and Rigopulos said a separate announcement about this would be here "soon".

He went on to reveal that not all albums will be USD 15 because some have more songs in them - although a volume discount will be applied to lengthier listens.

Rigopulos was also unsure of how often fresh albums would be offered, and revealed there was no monthly schedule or anything of the kind set in place. He wants to do it "regularly", though, and reckons we will see the amount of content on offer grow in 2008.

Rock Band will be released Europe on 23rd May as a timed-exclusive for Xbox 360.

For all three instruments - drums, guitar, microphone - and the game you will need to fork out GBP 180, a price that has left a sour taste in many mouths.

Distributor EA has confirmed that all of the US downloadable content will be available here on 27th May.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (14) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Rodigee #1 4 years ago

    but i am un chien andalusia
    i am un chien andalusia
    i am un chien andalusia
    i am un chien andalusia
    wanna grow
    up to be
    be a debaser

  • muters #2 4 years ago

    Fucking... fucking Doolittle?!

    My sense of dignity as a European gamer is slipping - I need to play that. As pissed off as I was at the EU Rock Band price, I'd half be willing to flog my Wii to be able to drum and strum along to the Pixies. Seriously.

  • TuftyMcTavish #3 4 years ago

    Awesome. Judas Priest! Man, I need to stock up on even more MS points now!

  • Gurgeh #4 4 years ago

    All the kids trying to sing and scream like Black Francis will be comedy gold.

    six foot girl gonna
    sweat when she dig
    stand close to the fire
    when they light the pig...

    Edited by 1 at 18/04/08 @ 18:17

  • Feanor #5 4 years ago

    $15 for a whole album is great value if you like the album.

    If there's a god then Siamese Dream will appear on Rock Band someday

  • sanctusmortis #6 4 years ago

    What's 15 bucks in MSP? Without that, I'm lost.
    Pixies going on means I'll need roughly 5000 MSP come 27/5... I NEED NIN!

  • OmagnusPrime #7 4 years ago

    Remember to take into account the Euro-tax because of how much we pay for MS Points. I think we tend to pay 1.5 times the dollar rate for them, so about £10-12 for an album.

    Still not buying Rock Band until the price drops though.

  • Gaol #8 4 years ago

    Sure has great tracks Rock Band.

    Man a whole album of Pixies songs.

    I have no intention of playing drums or singing, its a pity my PS3 GHIII guitar wasn't compatible or I'd be sold on the Solus game.

  • Frosty840 #9 4 years ago

    All £180-tag-related hatred aside, I'd probably buy the game if they gave me, say, £30 (or £30-worth of MSPoints) for DLC.

  • FenderMaster #10 4 years ago

    Feanor

    yaeh siamese dream would be amazing, i really want to see mayonaise in one of these games

    btw, a LOTR fan perhaps?

  • vegard #11 4 years ago

    priest is cool and all, but come on, give us calculating infinity by the dillinger escape plan.

  • FortysixterUK #12 4 years ago

    Frankly, I'm really hoping rock band fails as a game in europe and the compnaies involved realise and understand it's because of the extortionate price. ( I bet it won't though)

    In other plastic guitar related news, why is "guitar hero-aerosmith" only apparently coming to PS2 ?

  • brommers #13 4 years ago

    Went on official site. Says aerosmith will be coming to next as well as last gen

  • InsoFox #14 4 years ago

    Oh to be rich. Silly people, if the price had been better then the Pixies would have sold rock band to me.