by Lesley Smith
*DING!*
It's a sound that World of Warcraft fans will be very familiar and it was during the Closing Ceremony Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain finally leveled up, becoming Level 72, 74, 76, 78 and finally Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.
The Closing Ceremony marked the first time the heavy metal rock band - which is comprised of Blizzard staff and fronted by Blizzard's art director Samwise Didier - has performed in Europe and over the course of their five song set - which included 'Power of the Horde', 'Terran Up The Night!', 'Rogues Do It From Behind', 'I Am Murloc' and a new song inspired by Diablo III entitled 'Raise Some Hell' - the band dinged (complete with a shot of a WoW avatar surrounded in light and amended promotional artwork - until they finally hit eighty, officially becoming Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain.
Each member of Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain has an in-game World of Warcraft avatar and the band performed outside Shattrath City during last year's BlizzCon and the band can now be found killing time between gigs within Horde territory in Silvermoon City with their manager. The band were originally named after the maximum level achievable by a Tauren in Warcraft III and returned with World of Warcraft as Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain, levelling to seventy with the announcement of The Burning Crusade so their name-change was not completely unexpected.
The event was the first part of the Worldwide Invitational Closing Ceremony and the band's performance was greeted to rapturous applause and a heavy Horde bias. Didier also invited the crowds to accompany 'I Am Murloc', their final song, with some audience participation: making what he called the 'Murloc mating call'. He quickly explained: "Do you know why it's called the Murloc mating call? It's because when you hear it, you know you're screwed!"