Crossfade is an American rock band that finally coalesced in 2001 after a few name changes consisting of The Nothing and Sugardaddy Superstar. Crossfade is home to founders Ed Sloan, Mitch James, and later permanent member Les Hall. As well as a few others that’ve cycled through throughout the years.

Their first album, self-titled Crossfade, depicts a man struggling to find himself and sounds like a series of understandings the singer has, with the typical relationship sentiment burned in here and there with Cold and Colors. The second album descends slightly in value, onto largely the topic of a selfish or cold lover.

Those two songs don’t show off the capacity of the singer or the band nearly as well as the rest of the album does. They feel simpler and almost corporate, as though the contract they signed said they had to have two generic songs to endlessly repeat. Though, that’s no jab to the song’s success; if they weren’t considered good they wouldn’t have been so popular, obviously.

The rest of the album takes on this darker sensation and feel. Angsty, irritated guitars, backing the powerful vocals that’re speaking of trying to be more and not settling for less than what you wanted to achieve. It’s enthralling. And in the tone that they present, it doesn’t make it feel corny or manufactured. I’m not sure how often, but I’ve noticed when songs try to be inspiring or the like, that it’s difficult to feel their struggle. It doesn’t feel like the bad is what sculpted the good, it comes off more like ‘everything is awesome and life used to suck, but now it’s great.’ It’s all preference at the end of the day, but for my tastes I enjoy being taken on a bit of a Hero’s Journey.

That’s not to say there isn’t any presence of mechanicalness, it’s there and probably thanks to producer Randy Staub, who’s helped the likes of Nickelback, Evanescence, and a bunch of the other notable bands from that time.

Crossfade’s second album, Falling Away, is less original than the first and details the relationship between the singer and his ex-girlfriend. She didn’t want to believe in him, he got too angry sometimes, she was cold to him, he slowly started losing feeling for her and eventually made the decision to leave. It’s a tale . . . understandably retold but not any less reused. None of the music is bad, and some of it can be as enrapturing as the first album. On some level I do enjoy it more, producers ‘n’ such were less involved so there’s a more personal feeling of individuality to each song. But for me, just the ex-girlfriend thing is kind of boring. None of it clicked like the first one did.

Perhaps they redeemed themselves for their third.

By Quinn Nordick

Genshin Impact is a free, anime styled, RPG game with a ton of amazing gameplay and fun characters. At the beginning there are two travelers, a brother and a sister, that get separated by this unknown god. As the player, you get to choose who you want to play as, the sister, or the brother. Then you get to name whatever one you choose.

After you name them, you wake up on a beach in a world called “Teyvat” and end up finding your little travel companion named “Paimon”. She’s sweet, kind, and might talk a little too much, but she’s your only friend in this world right now.

The game then teaches you the basic controls such as how to attack, run, climb, and use your elemental abilities. Which you get from touching a statue of the seven. Where you find out that you can control the elements without something called a vision. A vision is a jeweled amulet gifted by the gods to citizens with strong ambitions.

Visions give the user the abilities to use one of the seven elements. Cyro, pyro, hydro, electro, dendro, anemo, and geo. Also known as ice, fire, water, electricity, plants, and rock.

After the tutorial, you start the long story quests that you follow in your journey across the world of teyvat. You will meet many people along the way. Some foes, some friends, and many battles.

As you travel across nations you find yourself in many interesting predicaments such as being in trouble with the law enforcers or even the nations archon, also known as the nation’s god.

There are many nations, 7 are ruled by archons. only one nation so far has a god that is not a part of the 7. This nation is known as Nod-Krai. This nation is different from the others, unlike other nations this one worships the goddess of the moon, as their god is not an archon due to the moon not being a natural element like the other gods, and she also does not wish to assert control over her nation.

Every other nation has a god that controls one of the 7 elements, and each represent an ideal. These gods are known as Barbatos, The god of anemo. Rex Lapis, the god of geo, Beelzebul/Baal, the god of electro, Buer, the god of dendro, Focalors, the god of hydro, Haborym, the god of pyro, and Tsaritsa, the god of cryo.

These seven are known as the primary gods that rule each nation. Every nation you visit uncovers more of this worlds story, and more clues to where your sibling may be. But you also soon find out that this world is not as innocent and colorful as it seems, will you uncover the secrets that lie beyond the false sky?