In times past, being on road as a touring musician during a big game or expansion launch likely meant missing out until you were home. Not any more, as evidenced by the support for modern technical death metal giants Archspire making time for World of Warcraft: Forever while the band is performing on-stage.
Video evidence was posted by the group on Instagram. The footage shows Justin McKinney, guitarist in support band The Zenith Passage, actively playing Forever on his Steam Deck right at side-stage to Archspire's headlining performance.
"POV: World of Warcraft: Forever comes out on the same day as the show," reads the start of the clip, the caption adding: "When your set starts at [21:00], but you just zoned into Undercity to pick up your Voidwalker quest so you can pet-tank your way through Fenris Isle."
Tech-death in the vein of both Archspire and The Zenith Passage often soundtracks my RPG exploits, especially when I have to do a bit of grinding or push through some early game fluff. Getting the soundtrack live while you plow down rot hide gnolls would be legendary.
Although Forever is designed around vanilla World of Warcraft anyway, making it less hardware-intensive to run, it's nice that it runs so smoothly on the Steam Deck. These bands will have easier jobs maintaining their characters in Azeroth while touring around than George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher, the vocalist for Cannibal Corpse, would've had back in the day.
Fisher's an old school WoW enthusiast, with the Horde tattoo to prove it. At one point there was an NPC named after him in tribute to his diehard fandom. Going handheld for Cannibal Corpse's jaunts around the world would've been like science fiction back in 2008, yet here we are. The future is cool sometimes.
If you've not checked out The Zenith Passage or Archspire, or their tourmates in Crown Magnetar and Analepsy, I'd recommend all four. Archspire's latest album, Too Fast To Die, is a strong start, though I think I rank Bleed The Future higher. Datalysium is where to go for The Zenith Passage, Everything Bleeds is Crown Magnetar at their filthiest yet, ditto for Quiesence by Analepsy.
For a bonus recommendation on Cannibal Corpse: Gore Obsessed. Thank me later. These aren't the only ones getting down while folk are in the pit; a tech for metalcore crew Cane Hill uses his PC to run around Forever during the band's performances right now.
I've inquired about McKinney's games setup while he's travelling, and what the preferred character builds for everyone else in the touring party. I'll keep you updated, and there are still a few European dates on this run - check 'em out if you can.
