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General => Archive => General Music Archives => Topic started by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 09:46:12 AM

Title: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 09:46:12 AM
Hello folks, and welcome to this roulette of mine. My Top 50 list has just been finished, and after eight months of waiting, it’s finally my turn, and here we go. I’m looking for ten players.

It’s the first time I’m hosting such thing, so the rules will be quite simple: classic eight rounds, the odd-numbered rounds are open, the even-numbered rounds are themed. Like this:

Round 1: Open (Length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 2: Themed: Ballads (Length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 3: Open (Length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 4: Themed: Two or more vocalists (Length limit: 10 minutes)
Round 5: Open (Length limit: 15 minutes)
Round 6: Themed: Short epic (Length limit: 6 minutes)

(cut-off line, six players are eliminated)

Round 7: Open: Two songs (Length limit for two songs: 20 minutes)
Round 8: Themed: Epic (Length limit: none)

If your song goes beyond the length limit for less than 30 seconds, it’s alright. For example, you can send a 10:29 song for the first round. However, every next 30 seconds will result in losing a point, for example, 10/10 song clocking at 10:31 will receive 9 points, at 11:01 — 8 points and so on.

This brings us to the scoring system. I’ll rank each song out of ten, and whoever has the most points after Round 8, well, wins the whole thing. No special points, no handicaps, nothing. It’s that easy. Here are the milestones for ranking the songs:

2.5 – bad
5.0 – average
7.5 – good
10 – perfection

So basically if you get more than 5 points for your song, it’s above average, and that’s a good thing. The artists whose song will receive 7.5 and more points are banned for the rest of roulette. My goal for this roulette is to discover new awesome bands, so, please, keep this in mind.

That brings us to banned artists and my overall tastes in music. I’ve recently finished my Top 50 albums list and I’ve got a neat recap of it here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=43039.msg1906635#msg1906635), so you can check it out to get a general grasp on my tastes. I mostly enjoy power metal, prog metal, hard rock, prog rock and such stuff. I do not enjoy a lot of djenty approach, growls, thrash, rap and electronic music, and probably a lot of other stuff, but you’re welcome to try, because, well, there are always some exceptions. While I enjoy classical music, please refrain from sending it in this roulette.

So, the banned artists list! It’s going to be a bit long probably, and not all the bands here are the ones I enjoy, so be careful.

AC/DC
Accept
Adrenaline Mob
Aerosmith
After Forever
Aina
Alice Cooper
All Seeing Eyes
Allen/Lande
Alter Bridge
Amaranthe
Ambeon
Amethystium
Amorphis
Anathema
Angra
Anneke van Giersbergen
Anubis Gate
Arjen Anthony Lucassen
Ark
Armageddon
Astra
Astral Domine
Avantasia
Axel Rudi Pell
Ayreon
Beyond The Bridge
Big Big Train
Black Sabbath
Blackfield
Blackmore’s Night
Blind Guardian
Bloodbound
Bob Dylan
Bruce Dickinson
Casualties of Cool
Cain’s Offering
Conception
Crystal Viper
David Bowie
David Gilmour
Deep Purple
Delain
Demons and Wizards
Derek Sherinian
Destrage
Devin Townsend / Devin Townsend Project / The Devin Townsend Band
Diabulus in Musica
Dio
Dire Straits
Dragonforce
Dream Theater
Echo Us
Eden Circus
Edguy
Eluveitie
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Enchant
Ensiferum
Epica
Evergrey
Fates Warning
Firewind
Fish
Flaming Row
Flying Colors
Gamma Ray
Gary Moore
Genesis
Green Carnation
Guilt Machine
Haken
HammerFall
Heaven and Hell
Helloween
Holy Shire
Ian Anderson
Intervals
IQ
Iron Maiden
Iron Savior
James LaBrie
Jethro Tull
Joan Baez
John Illsley
John Petrucci
Jon Lord
Jon Oliva’s Pain
Jordan Rudess
Jorn
Judas Priest
Kaledon
Kamelot
Karnya
Katatonia
King Crimson
Kiske / Somerville
KISS
Lacuna Coil
Led Zeppelin
Liquid Tension Experiment
Lunatic Soul
Magnum
Marillion
Mark Knopfler
Masterplan
Metallica
MindMaze
Mostly Autumn
Muse
Ne Obliviscaris
Neal Morse
Need
Nevermore
Nightwish
Opeth
Orden Ogan
OSI
Ozzy Osbourne
Pain of Salvation
Pink Floyd
Place Vendome
Porcupine Tree
Pretty Maids
Primal Fear
Psycrence
Queen
Queensryche
Rainbow
Ring of Fire
Riverside
Robert Wyatt
Rolling Stones
Rush
Rustfield
Sabaton
Savatage
Saxon
Scorpions
Serious Black
Seventh Wonder
Shadow Gallery
Shattered Skies
Sonata Arctica
Spock’s Beard
Star One
Steve Hackett
Steven Wilson
Sting
Storm Corrosion
Stormwarrior
Strapping Young Lad
Stratovarius
Stream of Passion
Symphony X
Synaesthesia
System of a Down
Tarja Turunen
Tarot
Temperance
The Beatles
The Doors
The Flower Kings
The Gathering
The Gentle Storm
The Who
Thoughts Factory
Timo Tolkki’s Avalon
Toehider
Tool
Transatlantic
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Triosphere
Tuomas Holopainen
Unisonic
Van Canto
Van Halen
Vanden Plas
Vanishing Point
Whitesnake
Wind Rose
Within Temptation
Yes
Yngwie Malmsteen

Additions to the banned list:

Trail of Murder
Absolute Priority
Wolverine
Last Tribe
Free Fall (and any Magnus Karlsson work, for that matter)
Helker
Enbound
Roger Waters

Lord
Mazzy Star
Xen
Ten
Dog Fashion Disco
Susanne Sundfør
The Tallest Man on Earth
Boston

Arstidir
Circus Maximus
Headspace
Lost in Thought
Pendragon
Morifade
Steam Powered Giraffe

Pure Reason Revolution
Phideaux
Damien Rice
Amadeus Awad's Eon
Bodies of Water
Serenity
Hear N' Aid

Elvenking
Angel Dust
Nightingale
Tiles
David Gray
Speaking to Stones

Iced Earth
Mandroid Echostar
Arena
Swans
Mind's Eye
Heavenly
Pride of Lions

Threshold

Galahad
Kingcrow
Crystal Eyes
Mattador
Ice Age
Journey
Wishbone Ash
Lost Horizon

Surely I forgot some other bands, so I’ll just return your song if I’ve already heard it. Don’t take offense at that. If you’re not sure if the band is eligible or not, ask away. Also, I’ve been following some roulettes and therefore listening to some often appearing songs, so your usual choices may be not eligible here. Songs like Anciients – Raise the Sun; Kevin Gilbert – Song for a Dead Friend; David Maxim Micic – Where is Now? and I think about ten more are not eligible too.

How to send files: via PM. I can also give you my e-mail, if needed. MP3 files are preferable, because I can upload them on my phone and listen to your songs at work or on the road. You can use MEGA (https://mega.co.nz) to upload the files. Youtube links are alright too. Please, absolutely no Spotify, as it’s not available in my country. Also, please provide the artist and the song’s name in PM to avoid any confusion.

And I guess that covers it all. As I said, I’m looking for ten players. Two less or two more will be fine too, so don’t hesitate to sign in. The first round will start as soon as there’ll be enough players.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 09:47:37 AM
List of participants and scores:

bl5150 - 80.5
lonestar - 80
Dr. DTVT - 78.5
senecadawg2 - 74.5
wolfking - 70.5
ErHaO - 68.5

Those are the final standings.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 01, 2015, 10:21:44 AM
heck I'll join this. You like power metal so there's all manner of ridiculous over-the-top stuff I can send.

oh btw, should we go ahead and send for the first round?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: mikemangioy on February 01, 2015, 10:52:15 AM
I'm in. Something tells me I'll be pretty low on this one  :D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 11:00:53 AM
oh btw, should we go ahead and send for the first round?

Well, you can send if you want to, but I won't be listening to the songs until I get all the entries.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: bl5150 on February 01, 2015, 11:14:22 AM
(https://fuelandenergysavingsproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/count-me-in.jpg)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 11:21:34 AM
(https://fuelandenergysavingsproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/count-me-in.jpg)

Didn't expect you to join, but, well, that's great. Looking forward to some fogey stuff. :tup
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 01, 2015, 11:31:27 AM
I'd like to play  :D

I know I never posted in your top 50 albums list, but I did check in a couple times to see what all you had there and seeing your tastes, I think I can find you something that you will enjoy.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 01, 2015, 11:58:37 AM
I think we have a lot of similar tastes, and I can certainly come up with bands not on your list.  I'm game.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 11:58:57 AM
I'd like to play  :D

I know I never posted in your top 50 albums list, but I did check in a couple times to see what all you had there and seeing your tastes, I think I can find you something that you will enjoy.

Everyone is welcome to join in, regardless of following and posting in my top 50 albums list. I'm expecting some great stuff from you. :tup

Also, if Kade confirms his participation, that means I've got five players already. That's awesome!

edit: and now with Mason on board, we're up to six players already. Wow!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Tyrias on February 01, 2015, 12:44:46 PM
Well, I guess I kind of have to play in the roueltte of the guy who beat me so damn close in Saculs roulette, so count me in. Just don't expect any power metal from me, pretty much all power metal bands I listen to are already on your list ::)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Sacul on February 01, 2015, 12:55:21 PM
I'm in. Something tells me I'll be pretty low on this one  :D
This. Also, did you like that David Maxim Micic song?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 01:05:10 PM
Well, I guess I kind of have to play in the roueltte of the guy who beat me so damn close in Saculs roulette, so count me in. Just don't expect any power metal from me, pretty much all power metal bands I listen to are already on your list ::)

Well, you don't have to do anything, but if you feel like playing, you're welcome of course. :tup

I'm in. Something tells me I'll be pretty low on this one  :D
This. Also, did you like that David Maxim Micic song?

The intro was kind of cool, but the vocals lost me quite quickly. Overall, too random and happy for me, sorry. I see how it can be appealing for someone, but it's just not my cup of tea. Probably 5/10 if I had to rank it, exactly in the middle, and the best part is the keyboards and that awesome bass/violin break (until the vocals come in, because that scat thing is totally miss for me). And after that break the song just loses me. Sorry man, just not my thing.

So that makes 9 players already! I said I'm looking for ten players, and I'm willing to extend the limit to 12 (not more, though), but if no one else will join, nine will be alright too. I'm off to sleep now, so let's see if anyone else will join, and the first round will probably start tomorrow, so you guys should get ready to blow my mind with your awesome music.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Crow on February 01, 2015, 01:27:07 PM
i've been following your list and your old dt list too and i've never done one of these so why not w/e count me in
edit: The two songs round is two songs from the same artist, I assume?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 01:46:59 PM
i've been following your list and your old dt list too and i've never done one of these so why not w/e count me in
edit: The two songs round is two songs from the same artist, I assume?

Nope, just two songs, no restrictions except the banned artists list and the overall length. May be from one artist, may be from two different ones, whatever you want.

So, that makes ten people. If anyone else wants to join, welcome, if not, the first round starts tomorrow when I get back from work.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Crow on February 01, 2015, 01:55:48 PM
Hmm okay then, will send in a minute or two once I get a full list of songs worked out :P
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: lonestar on February 01, 2015, 02:27:23 PM
As I suspected, plenty of wiggle room in that banned list.....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: TAC on February 01, 2015, 02:37:28 PM
If you need another, I can probably do this.

As I suspected, plenty of wiggle room in that banned list.....
Yup.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: bl5150 on February 01, 2015, 04:38:04 PM
(https://fuelandenergysavingsproducts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/count-me-in.jpg)

Didn't expect you to join, but, well, that's great. Looking forward to some fogey stuff. :tup

I think I might shock you and use at least half fairly new stuff , just to prove I'm not a total fossil  :hat
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Lucien on February 01, 2015, 05:34:23 PM
"While I enjoy classical music, please refrain from sending it in this roulette."

 :lol

Sorry. I'm going to have to sit this one out  :P
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: ErHaO on February 01, 2015, 05:35:45 PM
Your top 50 was the first of that kind I read and I liked it, so I'll join. But I'll be hard pressed to find decent stuff that is not banned with that list (basically my entire music collection is banned)  :lol Still, it seems like a fun game and I am sure there is some stuff in the back of my head  ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Looking for players
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 09:41:59 PM
"While I enjoy classical music, please refrain from sending it in this roulette."

 :lol

Sorry. I'm going to have to sit this one out  :P

Added that line especially for you. :lol

Alright, with TAC and ErHaO we've got all 12 players on board, so without further ado...

Round 1: Open

The first round is open. Just sent whatever you want. Length limit is 10 minutes.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: bl5150 on February 01, 2015, 09:51:20 PM
Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: Evermind on February 01, 2015, 10:05:28 PM
Four people are in already, you guys are fast.

Oh, and regarding eliminations, since we've got 12 players participating, the elimination after Round 6 will cut this number in half - only six players will remain after that.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: Sacul on February 02, 2015, 01:36:31 AM
Cool, 'cause I have like just 6 songs you may like :lol. Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: wolfking on February 02, 2015, 03:59:22 AM
Sorry I'm late, I'm in.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: Evermind on February 02, 2015, 05:20:30 AM
Sorry I'm late, I'm in.

Well, you still sent faster than six other players, so I wouldn't call it late.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 02, 2015, 05:52:56 AM
Sent!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: lonestar on February 02, 2015, 08:05:22 AM
Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 02, 2015, 09:07:12 AM
First round sent!  :hat
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: Evermind on February 02, 2015, 09:11:40 AM
I need only TAC and Mason now and I'll start listening right away.

By the way, the ones who sent (eligible songs, obviously) are bolded in the participants list, so it'd be easier for you folks to keep track on things.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: TAC on February 02, 2015, 09:15:42 AM
I'll send when I get home from work.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: Evermind on February 02, 2015, 10:59:45 AM
I'll send when I get home from work.

No hurry, the round has begun just 14 hours ago. Everyone is just that fast. Besides, I'm going to sleep now anyway, so I guess I won't be able to start listening until tomorrow evening, so it's all good.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: Crow on February 02, 2015, 11:35:18 AM
i'm ready for such a bad track record that you'll cut me long before the round 6 cuts  :tup
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: jjrock88 on February 02, 2015, 04:49:35 PM
Following
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: TAC on February 02, 2015, 05:12:13 PM
Sent!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 02, 2015, 05:47:03 PM
Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Send your songs in!
Post by: wolfking on February 02, 2015, 06:47:57 PM
Reading through the band list, it's quite mighty and insanely similar to my taste.  Gonna be tough to find a lot of new stuff I think.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 02, 2015, 09:25:20 PM
Everyone is in! I'll start listening in 12 hours, when I get back from work.

Results will be up either Thursday or Friday evening (I hope you all didn't go for ten minutes long songs)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 03, 2015, 12:21:46 PM
So, first listening session is over, I've listened to each song one time. It's quite a diverse bunch of tracks you guys have sent me. Power metal, prog metal, thrash, djenty-jazzy stuff, hard rock, lots of styles. Some really excellent tunes this round, few duds, and a few truly wtf-songs (in a good or a bad way? I'll let you speculate on that.)

So, just to tease you, the range of rankings after my first listen to all the songs you guys sent:

3.0 - 9.0

Of course, some songs can grow on me, and some others can become boring and drop a few points in ranking, so that's not the final range of results, just a bit of a tease.

Anyway, I intend to listen to all of your songs at least two or three times more, hence the deadline on Thursday / Friday evening.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on February 03, 2015, 01:25:46 PM
Good stuff.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: mikemangioy on February 03, 2015, 02:04:49 PM
Thanks for the teasing, now I won't sleep.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 03, 2015, 02:53:02 PM
3.0 hell yeah
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on February 03, 2015, 04:54:18 PM
Figure my track should be a solid 6 minimum.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 04, 2015, 10:07:03 AM
3.0 hell yeah

Sorry, I haven't actually listened to your song, missed it somehow. Current ranking is 1.5-9.0.

Just kidding. ;D

I'm through three listens to each song, and I must say some rankings changed. Biggest change is two points from the first experience.

I'm starting to do the write-ups now, but I will spin all your songs one or two more times when I'm at work tomorrow, then make the final adjustments to the scores and the write-ups, and you should expect the results Thursday evening, probably in 24-26 hours from now on.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 04, 2015, 11:17:58 AM
like i said my goal is to piss you off with my awful musical tastes

actually no i mostly just wanna enter something completely different each round
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 04, 2015, 11:45:44 AM
I'm through three listens to each song, and I must say some rankings changed. Biggest change is two points from the first experience.

I'm starting to do the write-ups now, but I will spin all your songs one or two more times when I'm at work tomorrow, then make the final adjustments to the scores and the write-ups, and you should expect the results Thursday evening, probably in 24-26 hours from now on.
That's exactly what I did in my roulette, just to assure growers can, eh, grow on me *ba dum tss*
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 04, 2015, 12:39:54 PM
Yeah guys, going to sleep with fourth listen under the belt. I've to say, two songs from this batch are absolutely brilliant. Can't wait to get my hands on the albums they're from. Incredible stuff.

The results are definitely coming up in less than 24 hours for now. Check this thread tomorrow!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on February 04, 2015, 01:28:46 PM
The album is called Hunter. :biggrin:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 04, 2015, 01:35:15 PM
their albums are always horribly inconsistent with some great songs and some mediocre ones, without fail
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 05, 2015, 10:38:12 AM
The album is called Hunter. :biggrin:

Ah, RJ, ever so modest and humble.  :lol

Alright, just one more thing before we begin.

I hope you guys realize I don't want to offend you tastes or anything with my write-ups and ratings, it's just I have my own tastes too, and if I don't like the song, I can be respectful yet quite blunt on that matter. Please, don't take any offense either with my write-ups or with my ratings.

Round 1: Results

Shadow Ninja 2.0: Keldian – Journey of Souls

So, you’ve surely noticed I enjoy power metal, and you went with an obvious power metal choice for this round. But you know, the thing is, there are several things I appreciate in my power metal, one and probably most important of them, a seriously vital part, is the distinctive, preferably clean vocals. A lot of musical collectives (especially the Italian bands) tend to overuse the choirs and over-edited vocals, mostly in the choruses, and they all sound basically the same for me. Unexciting verses, bloated choruses, double-bass beat underneath, well, you know (maybe) what I’m talking about. My dislike, or better to say indifference, about this particular approach is fueled by the fact I seem to receive loads of the similar stuff from some labels sending promos for the magazine I’m writing for. Well, there are some good elements in this song, namely the main driving riff and the instrumental part, and the ending is quite good too, but other parts are just too generic and boring. I would say the song lacks direction and punch. By the way, I do like some generic stuff, but this is too much, too over-the-top even for me.

4.5/10

ErHaO: For All We Know – Down On My Knees

Alright, this is the longest song of the round. I have some quirks with the long songs, they have to be good enough to interest me, they have to justify their right to be long, basically. It all depends on how the song grabs my attention, really, sometimes four minutes long song can last an eternity, and sometimes a sprawling twenty minutes epic can be so captivating I barely notice how much time has passed. Unfortunately, this song is rather from the former category. The first part of it has quite a bunch of vocals, and it’s Wudstik, and to start with something, I never liked Wudstik on 01011001, E=mc2 is probably my bottom three from the album, along with Connect The Dots and Web Of Lies; I really hope he steps up his game on The Theater Equation for that matter. So, well, he ain’t doing much better here, the vocals in the first part are the weak link here for me, they’re just so dull and ordinary they do not fit the song at all, in my opinion. It’s just a generic pop/rock style for the first four minutes. But then, it’s where the advantage of the long songs comes into play. Being nine minutes long, this track has enough time to breathe and to develop its instrumental parts into something beautiful. The calm break with clean electric guitar is really good, and I actually enjoy the vocals after it, and the quiet ending is great too. It’s a pity the song takes nearly five minutes to get good, but when it does, I can’t deny it has a few moments of glory.

5.5/10

bl5150: Trail of Murder – Your Silence

“Humble submission”? Well, humility is good sometimes, but when you’re sending this killer of a tune, it sounds a bit untruthful, I don’t know. This is undoubtedly one of two best songs of this round, and I just can’t get enough of it. Well, speaking of the tune itself, I had two associations immediately. First four acoustic guitar notes reminded me of Judas Priest’s Dreamer Deceiver a bit, and after seeing the band’s name I was subconsciously reminded of recent Serious Black song with the same name. I haven’t liked that Serious Black song a lot, though the album was indeed alright, and thankfully, this is much different and much better. This track actually has a bit of Savatage vibe to me, and obviously, that’s an awesome thing. I found myself headbanging instantly to the opening riff after the slow part, and I loved this slurred vocal delivery with the nice drum beat and subtle atmospheric keyboard touches beneath in the verses. When the song explodes just before the chorus, it gets on some other level just beyond my grasp of imagination. The singer is insanely good and fitting, and I just can’t help to admire the whole composition. The second verse is a bit heavier with that riff going under “hesitant but slowly” part. After that great amount of awesomeness I expected the kickass guitar solo and I definitely wasn’t disappointed; and the bridge is magnificent too, I love how the vocalist rolls his tongue with “It’s incentive enough” line. Overall, this is just excellent; I will totally purchase this album right after the roulette without any second thought. Out of curiosity, what’s your rating for this album?

9/10

lonestar: Absolute Priority – Fear of the Night

You probably have an upper-hand here in the whole roulette, because you’re the one who’s most accustomed to my tastes. And this works the other way too, so in fact I expected to get some solid progressive metal from you, and hell, I wasn’t disappointed. Sending me a song from the concept album was clever too, it’s fairly known I adore concept albums, so, well, your submission just couldn’t go wrong. The intro is chilling indeed, and I love how the acoustic guitars, keys, bass and drums are all contributing to this ominous atmosphere. When the heaviness kicks in, I once again find myself in a headbanging heaven. I love how determined and calm the singer sounds before he goes into this soaring mode with ringing keyboards beneath, and then insanity just takes control (I’m not good at making puns, you know.) Well, whatever, I like how second verse gets more intense after the keyboard solo, and of course I love how this chorus rolls. I can’t help but feel it just sets the mood and paves the way for something epic coming my way. The spoken part and the spectacular solo fly by in just a moment, and the apex of this tune (and as I suspect, apex of the whole album) makes its entrance. This multilayered set of desperate and reckless vocals, supported by the instrumental brilliance in the background just hooks my very soul and doesn’t release it until the strangely appropriate fadeout finishes this glorious, incredible number. Do you by chance still have a promo of it?

9/10

Tyrias: Biffy Clyro – Stingin’ Belle

First thought: this is damn heavy. This riff is so pounding, and I guess it’s djenty too? I don’t actually know how exactly djent sounds, but if I hear the weird riff and dislike it, I assume it’s djent, sorry. This album is called “Opposites” and I guess it’s really fitting, seeing how the riff forms a rather stark contrast with the rockish vocals with a pronounced bassline underneath. Cheerfulness in the vocals unites with the incredible heaviness of the main riff, and sadly, it doesn’t work for me at all. I have to admit though, the mix is tight and clear, but unfortunately, it just helps me to hear all the things I dislike about the first half of this song. I rather enjoy the second, instrumental, half, and the riff at 2:42 – 3:05 reminds me of Gamma Ray – Time To Break Free chorus a bit (Now it’s time to breathe in the open air), but that’s about it. The whole song just doesn’t appeal to my tastes. I’m willing to hear some new music, and I’m willing to discover new genres and some awesome stuff, but, sorry, this just isn’t for me.

3/10

TAC: Enbound – Combined The Souls

I’m going to assume the actual song starts at 0:03, because otherwise it would be really weird. Whatever, when the first scream comes up, I know I’m in for a treat. This way of starting songs may be old, and I’m not even a fogey, but I really love those things. They never get old. Anyway, the song starts off in a fine way (as you’ve probably guessed already), but the prechorus is a bit awkward to my taste. However, the chorus is alright and I love the high-pitched backvocal delivery of the title line. Also, I try not to watch the video, because these gilded men are a bit revolting. So, well, this song is a nice contrast to Shadow Ninja’s submission. Again, pretty genetic power metal, but except the prechorus, I enjoy this a lot more. Pronounced bass, crunchy guitar, good old school vocals, every attribute I tend to like is there. The guitar solo is short and sweet, the last few choruses have a nice twist to it, and the abrupt ending is quite fitting to this song. These guys are clearly don’t joking around, the song is short and right to the point, and I like it. Definitely good stuff.

7.5/10

mikemangioy: Evile – Infected Nation

So, I explicitly wrote I don’t like thrash and you send me some thrash? Bold move, that is. But you really should’ve known better. I’ll be honest, because I hate being dishonest (haha), I’ve listened to this song four times, and I think if I gave it a few more spins, I would’ve get a headache. I really don’t mean to offend you in anyway, man, I respect your musical tastes, but I just can’t stand thrash. Well, I can stand some of it, like some of Metallica or early Blind Guardian (though that’s more like speed metal), but it’s just too intense and too random for me. There were good parts in the song, like nice ominous acoustic intro, fine instrumental parts sometimes, decent transition from instrumental to the chorus, but other stuff was downright unlistenable for me. I’m sorry, but, well, apparently thrash is not my thing.

3/10

senecadawg2: Helker – No Chance to Be Reborn

You caught my interest instantly saying the vocalist sounds like Dio, and when he comes in after the heavy riff, yeah, he really damn does. And even more, the melodies during the verse are very similar to what Dio would write, so the similarity is striking. The prechorus is a bit weird until “and now it’s too late!”, and the chorus has a standard awesome heavy metal fare, until this Dio-kind-of-guy goes into more like Halford mode with his pretty unexpected high-pitched scream on “to be reborn” part. The song is a bit samey, but the vocalist kicks so much ass I’m willing to forgive everything, hell, he is really good. Even as the instrumental break is all kinds of good, the singer outshines everything on this track, just like Dio used to do in his solo band (because it was kind of hard to outshine Iommy or Blackmore). You said you like sending this song in the first rounds to ease into the competition, I think you’ve achieved your goal right here.

8/10

Parama: Diablo Swing Orchestra – Lucy Fears the Morning Star

This song wins the Most WTF Song of the Round award without any doubt. It is just that weird and quirky all the way through, and the most incredible thing is I actually like it overall, despite some weak moments. I like the whole riff and how it’s done, great transition to electric guitars too. However, something in the vocals just doesn’t work for me. I like her voice when she’s going all operatic, but her staccato style (I think it can be called like that, but if not I’m sure you nerds will quickly correct me) doesn’t appeal to me. But it has really grown on me through the subsequent listens. In fact, the whole song is a huge grower, and it’s kind of hard to digest on the first listen, but it’s quite rewarding when you dig deeper in it. I also love the instrumental ending with jazzy parts, a definite highlight of the song. I still don’t like the part between the first and the second verse (2:30 – 2:50), but other than that, it’s quite an interesting song. Not something I usually listen to, but enjoyable enough. I’ll check this album out of curiosity.

7/10

Sacul: Throne of Chaos – The Window

I have to ask: did you send this song because you actually like it, or was it because you just thought I’ll like it? This is probably irrelevant, but I was wondering. Anyway, I really like the riff, because it’s just awesome, but the thing is, I don’t really like those vocal melodies and the vocals, they feel quite contrived, and the singer sounds a bit off for me. But the riff is great, they’re wise enough to insert it wherever they can. To be honest, I just don’t know (ha), I enjoy the calm break, I enjoy the riff itself. the guitar solo too, and I totally think this should’ve been an instrumental. The band has potential, but they just can’t convince me with the vocals. I don’t feel like checking out the rest of the album because of that. It’s basically the growls debate for me once again: should I listen to the magnificent, amazing instrumental parts even though I can’t stand the way the vocals (growls) are handled? (see most of the Opeth albums.) Well, I think I shouldn’t. Now, yes, this song has no growls, but in my opinion, it doesn’t have good vocals either. But it’s still better than average, I’ll give you that.

6/10

Dr. DTVT: Wolverine – Your Favorite War

So this is how you start the kickass, epic song. Just a overwhelming wave of sounds right from the beginning, and I’m already immersed in the tune. The vocals are just fine to my taste, and also there’s great, pronounced bassline and the keys are also good. I’ve probably expected the pace quicken up in the chorus, but it doesn’t, and I like that. The song feels pretty restrained, relaxed, and at the same time it’s obviously tragic. The singer seems like he’s pulling the vocals effortlessly, and his voice reminding me of Tom Englund from Evergrey a bit, but with the less strain. I definitely enjoy the instrumental break a lot, with the nice guitar solo, and overall, this song is quite good. A bit generic, maybe, but as they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so I’m totally alright with that. It even gets more intense in the end, gaining momentum, but I think it’s just a little bit dissatisfying in the very end, the way how it finishes on “me”. A small complaint, true, but it’s something. And, also, while we’re at it, the production is just amazing. Enjoyable song for sure.

8.5/10

wolfking: Last Tribe – Wash Your Sins Away

So, I’ve heard a bit of Magnus Karlsson songwriting, and I enjoyed it. I don’t know why I didn’t check it out further, but now you gave me a good incentive to do it, because this song is quite good. It has a standard Magnus’ fare, as far as I can tell, and I’m obviously fine with that. Crunchy guitars, good vocals, exciting prechorus and chorus, this song has nearly everything I can hope for, but to be truly awesome it just lacks some kind of spark. I really can’t explain it, because, well, I like the song indeed, especially “bringing all out” part every time it comes in, but something is off here. Something very small, and I can’t put my finger on it, just… well, something. Hey, I’ve never said I’m going to be rational in judging the songs. Anyway, it’s still really good.

8/10

Standings with a cut line, which doesn't matter until we get past Round 6, so don't worry about it now (the second post in this thread is also updated):

bl5150 - 9
lonestar - 9
Dr. DTVT - 8.5
wolfking - 8
senecadawg2 - 8
TAC - 7.5
___________

Parama - 7
Sacul - 6
ErHaO - 5.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 4.5
mikemangioy - 3
Tyrias - 3

Additions to the banned list:

Trail of Murder
Absolute Priority
Wolverine
Last Tribe
Free Fall (and any Magnus Karlsson work, for that matter)
Helker
Enbound
Roger Waters (I forgot to add his solo work at the start  :lol )

Scroll down to the next post for the Round 2!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 05, 2015, 10:38:31 AM
Round 2: Ballads

This round is probably where the scores will be most different. The things with ballads, well, I'm a sucker for them, but it's usually like that: I either love the ballad or just can't get into it. So, while you can grab a lot of points in this round, you can also miss the mark and end up with something like 2 points. :lol So, well, choose carefully!

You can send whatever you think fits for the "ballad" category, but I certainly won't appreciate something that is totally not a ballad. So if you send something totally inappropriate for the theme, you'll get less points.

So, keep in mind the length limit for this round (10 minutes), and I'm looking forward to your songs!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 05, 2015, 10:49:28 AM
oh noooooo

sent btw
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 05, 2015, 10:58:56 AM
Aaaaaaaaaas expected  :lol that's part of the fun. Sending soon.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 05, 2015, 11:01:15 AM
Aaaaaaaaaas expected  :lol that's part of the fun. Sending soon.

I hope it's not thrash. :lol

Sorry man, it's just, well, that wasn't my thing at all. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 05, 2015, 11:04:17 AM
Oh no need to be sorry, I'm not here to make points, I'm here to help you find good stuff, and if you don't like what I send, well...







the disagreement tradition continues :neverusethis:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Crow on February 05, 2015, 11:31:17 AM
I still never figured out what classifies a song as a ballad
I mean I know some songs are ballads and others aren't but what's the difference
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 05, 2015, 11:42:02 AM
I still never figured out what classifies a song as a ballad
I mean I know some songs are ballads and others aren't but what's the difference

I doubt I will be able to give a satisfactory explanation on this one, really. Just send what you think is right for the theme.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: lonestar on February 05, 2015, 11:49:08 AM
If things work out, I'll try to send every round from a concept album hehehe...


Quote
I don’t actually know how exactly djent sounds, but if I hear the weird riff and dislike it, I assume it’s djent, sorry.

 :lol

Man, save gold like that for the zine!!!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 05, 2015, 12:02:09 PM
If you get a chance to check out more Helker, I'd recommend listening to their songs in Spanish. Their most recent release (from which I snagged that song) was recorded twice, in both English and Spanish. Same songs and everything, just different language. I slightly prefer the Spanish version, because it gives me a chance to practice a bit.

Anyways, I'll send for the next round soon.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 05, 2015, 12:05:55 PM
Quote
I don’t actually know how exactly djent sounds, but if I hear the weird riff and dislike it, I assume it’s djent, sorry.

 :lol

Man, save gold like that for the zine!!!

I really doubt the musicians will appreciate such comments. :lol

If you get a chance to check out more Helker, I'd recommend listening to their songs in Spanish. Their most recent release (from which I snagged that song) was recorded twice, in both English and Spanish. Same songs and everything, just different language. I slightly prefer the Spanish version, because it gives me a chance to practice a bit.

I usually don't really enjoy the non-English songs, but I'll check this song in Spanish just out of curiosity. And yes, I intend to check the whole album in English after the roulette, I liked the song enough to do that.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 05, 2015, 12:09:12 PM
Sweet :tup

Quick question- how much do you like singer-songwriter folk, in the vein of Bob Dylan?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 05, 2015, 12:12:50 PM
I don't know a lot of those singer-songwriter musicians, but I enjoy some songs from Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and others. Don't think I've ever enjoyed a full album from these, but some songs are surely brilliant. I guess it would depend on the melodies and the quality.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Crow on February 05, 2015, 12:28:28 PM
well I was thinking of a non-English ballad to enter but then you said you don't like non-english songs so HMM.

there was a song I had picked as a ballad before I realized "oh crap I don't have an epic and this band is like the only one not banned who has an epic worth entering" which also sucks
god damn you :P
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Tyrias on February 05, 2015, 12:37:12 PM
Well, crap :P. I actually thought this song was a rather sure bet, I'd classify it as hard/indie rock with some powermetal influences, but obviously we disagree on that. Also, I don't listwn to djent and don't really know what it is, but I'm pretry certain Biffy Clyro are not djent :lol. Anyway, different tastes for different people I guess. This was actually one of  favourite albums of this decade.
So, since I'm already far behind I'll just say screw the points and send you stuff you'd probably never have listened to otherwise. Also, there are far to few female vocalists in your top 50 list, so I'm gonna start with a song from a female artist.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: wolfking on February 05, 2015, 12:53:34 PM
Looks like we have some good tough competition.  Will send my song tonight.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Sacul on February 05, 2015, 01:49:08 PM
the disagreement tradition continues :neverusethis:
This.


And by the way, I like the song I sent ya, but just the minimun to not delete the album from my musical library. Oh well, reminder for myself: more cheese on the vocal lines :lol . Will send soon.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 05, 2015, 01:53:55 PM
Round two sent in hopes of a higher score  :D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: ErHaO on February 05, 2015, 01:56:27 PM
Well, at least I am not last (yet)  ;D I personally like Wudstik's voice (also the pop music he is involved with), but do think he could have done more with it on this song (more variation). I also think the song is a bit too long for the material it contains, so I know what you mean with it feeling long. With that said, I like the song myself and think it is a very nice solo project.

Now lets see how the ballad fares  :P

Edit: sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Sacul on February 05, 2015, 02:52:26 PM
I have very little music that fits your tastes, so will go with crap of other genres that will likely give me a 3 or 4, but at least will make you listen outside your comfort area. Sending soon.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: bl5150 on February 05, 2015, 05:49:44 PM
Thanks man .............I knew you had taste from your Top 50 , hence my shock entry  ;D   This is the first time I've been anything other than about last in a roulette - hence the "humble submission" line in my PM.   Not humble any more though  :hat 

You are right to associate it with the Serious Black track.............same vocalist and (I'm guessing) that track is likely a leftover from the Trail of Murder album.  My rating?   Let's say 99% and quite possibly my favourite metal album of the last decade. So it's no "one song wonder" you'll be glad to know. 

Ballads............wow.   I have dozens of ridiculously good ballads , so very hard to choose.  Everything from 10 min epic (sappy) ballads to djenty, thrashy ballads with a classical interlude.  :neverusethis:    Seriously though - toughest round to pick here I reckon.

if Sava weren't on your list "When The Crowds Are Gone" would've been in contention.

Will get something to you tonight.


PS You stated that the Enbound guys don't joke around.

Here's a photo of them   ;D

(https://enbound.com/gallery/20110429assg/enbound-golden-04.jpg)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 05, 2015, 08:45:18 PM
Anyone who knows me will know what song I sent based on this clue:

The saddest, most depressing, soul crushing song ever.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 05, 2015, 09:24:37 PM
It might not be allowed
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 05, 2015, 09:28:18 PM
I thought about reminding you of that, even though I mentioned that song in the first post, but yes, this song isn't allowed. :lol

Brent, I also said that gilded men are revolting. :lol Well, they're not joking around with music at least.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 05, 2015, 09:34:12 PM
I just gave it another listen myself...sooo good.

Thank you Mason!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: lonestar on February 05, 2015, 11:18:21 PM
Second round sent. Mapped out all the other rounds, and I gotta be honest, you guys are kinda fucked in this one. If you just wanna lift up your skirts and get it over with now, I'd understand....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Crow on February 05, 2015, 11:38:10 PM
now i want to know what the not-allowed song is
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: bl5150 on February 06, 2015, 12:53:00 AM
Second round sent. Mapped out all the other rounds, and I gotta be honest, you guys are kinda fucked in this one. If you just wanna lift up your skirts and get it over with now, I'd understand....

What's our resident chef's recipe for this.....?  :laugh:

(https://newsalescoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/humblepie-e1288647520854.png)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: bl5150 on February 06, 2015, 04:07:58 AM
Sent ...........changed my mind at the last minute and upped the risk factor. 10 minute epic ballad on the way   :-\
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: wolfking on February 06, 2015, 04:11:49 AM
I'll send mine in the morning.

That Enbound album is pretty solid stuff.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 06, 2015, 05:06:34 AM
Round 2 - the revenge sent.

Parama, it is "Song for a Dead Friend" by Kevin Gilbert
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 06, 2015, 07:51:18 AM
Two more songs and I will start listening. Great sending pace so far.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Sacul on February 06, 2015, 07:57:43 AM
Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: TAC on February 06, 2015, 09:57:04 AM
It's everyone's lucky day. I just sent Evermind PM that I have to drop out. He'll week if work coming up followed by a Disney trip.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Scorpion on February 06, 2015, 09:59:49 AM
I'd be interested in filling your spot TAC.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 06, 2015, 10:31:49 AM
It's everyone's lucky day.

Excluding me, apparently. ;)

Well, I've just offered TAC to send every song for remaining seven rounds in advance. If he refuses, I'll be alright with you Scorp filling the slot, but of course you'll have to get TAC's agreement first.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: lonestar on February 06, 2015, 12:14:04 PM
Second round sent. Mapped out all the other rounds, and I gotta be honest, you guys are kinda fucked in this one. If you just wanna lift up your skirts and get it over with now, I'd understand....

What's our resident chef's recipe for this.....?  :laugh:

(https://newsalescoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/humblepie-e1288647520854.png)

Never tried it bro. :RJ:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 06, 2015, 02:20:51 PM
Alright, so, we need Kade's song (and he promised to send it in the morning), and if TAC doesn't answer in 24 more hours, we'll proceed either with Scorp (if, again, TAC agrees), or with eleven players. Anyway, I'm so eager to listen to the stuff you've sent me, guys.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: TAC on February 06, 2015, 02:35:52 PM
I'd be interested in filling your spot TAC.

Take it bro!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 06, 2015, 02:56:29 PM
Alright Scorp, you're in then! I'll change your team to "TAC/Scorpion" right now.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: TAC on February 06, 2015, 02:57:58 PM
Alright Scorp, you're in then! I'll change your team to "TAC/Scorpion" right now.
Just change it to "Scorpion". That's fine with me.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Evermind on February 06, 2015, 03:01:22 PM
Alright Scorp, you're in then! I'll change your team to "TAC/Scorpion" right now.
Just change it to "Scorpion". That's fine with me.

Alright, alright, I just thought... oh, well, whatever. I'll change it after this round.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 06, 2015, 03:01:54 PM
Scorpion (with guest appearance from TAC)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: Scorpion on February 06, 2015, 03:23:23 PM
Sent, yo.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: wolfking on February 06, 2015, 04:35:54 PM
You will have my song in about 10 minutes.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 1 Results - Send for Round 2!
Post by: wolfking on February 06, 2015, 04:53:37 PM
Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 07, 2015, 01:20:35 AM
That means everyone's in. I'll start listening today, and the results will probably be posted either on Monday evening or Tuesday evening.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 07, 2015, 12:45:58 PM
First listening is done. Lots of different stuff again, quite a lot of singer-songwriter music, some ambient tunes, proggy upbeat ballads, some awesomeness, all is here, you name it. Some outsiders can count on a very good score, some leaders might find themselves disappointed, but remember, this is only the first listen! Plenty of time for some songs to grow on me.

So far, the ranking range is:

4.5 - 9.5

And trying to increase the tension and to tease you just a little bit more, here are few of my first thoughts about some songs:

Quote from: Evermind's first thoughts about certain songs
This is like some ambient stuff. Really, I don’t know, enveloping stuff. I listen to this kind of music sometimes when I’m in the mood.

Quote from: Evermind's first thoughts about certain songs
Ten seconds in, and I already quite like this one.
More seconds in, and I’m in love with this one.

Quote from: Evermind's first thoughts about certain songs
There's that quiet intro, but so far it’s not a ballad, in my opinion, at least. Let’s see how it goes further, huh.

Quote from: Evermind's first thoughts about certain songs
It’s definitely good and I’m probably giving a low score for it now, but I need to see if it will grow with the subsequent listens. It definitely has a potential.

And then there's that...

Quote from: Evermind's first thoughts about certain songs
This is one of the best songs I’ve heard in the last few years.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 07, 2015, 01:56:58 PM
4.5 hype, potentially lower hype  :biggrin:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 07, 2015, 04:13:58 PM
Yay, a 4.5 ;D. Now that I think it, what I sent you is quite risky (hit or miss) and there's some serious chances you'll dislike it or feel meh at the very least. But I could have sent worse stuff so what the hell.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 07, 2015, 04:28:06 PM
If you can, make sure to listen to my song super loud. In the dark. Maybe then we'll see a 9.5 bumped up to a 10.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 07, 2015, 04:57:39 PM
If you can, make sure to listen to my song super loud. In the dark.
Now that I think it, this might be a good tip for my song. Maybe it will make it a 5.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 07, 2015, 05:34:33 PM
Don't listen to my song again 4.5 is good enough.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 08, 2015, 02:05:08 AM
If you can, make sure to listen to my song super loud. In the dark. Maybe then we'll see a 9.5 bumped up to a 10.

Well, since you've basically lied to me, saying that you've never sent this song in roulettes before (I found out you did indeed send it to Ville in his last roulette), I'm afraid I have to cut your points for this song in half. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on February 08, 2015, 03:42:56 AM
Love the initial reactions idea.  Nice touch.

Don't listen to my song again 4.5 is good enough.

 :rollin
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 08, 2015, 06:40:24 AM
If you can, make sure to listen to my song super loud. In the dark. Maybe then we'll see a 9.5 bumped up to a 10.

Well, since you've basically lied to me, saying that you've never sent this song in roulettes before (I found out you did indeed send it to Ville in his last roulette), I'm afraid I have to cut your points for this song in half. :lol

 :lolpalm: that's only fair... I've played in too many roulettes.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 08, 2015, 12:09:38 PM
Three listens in, the rankings did change a bit, the lowest ranked song is only 4 now, but the one with 9.5 still stays strong.

I don't know about you guys, but for me the most difficult thing in this roulette is to give an even amount of listens to each song. Because right now I just want to spin the hell out of this 9.5 song. But I'll refrain from it until I post the results for this round. ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 08, 2015, 12:52:12 PM
i asked you not to relisten
you did it anyways

 :'(
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 - Listening mode
Post by: ErHaO on February 08, 2015, 03:23:03 PM
The newcomer remark at least makes me hopeful for a decent grade  :P What I sent is a song I really love, both the music and lyrics. But ballads are very personal and can be utterly boring if they do not connect much (to a larger extent than most other types of songs for me because of the often slow and more "simple" nature).

Looking forward to this round's results, considering the banned list I am expecting stuff I do not know and I love ballads.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 09, 2015, 09:23:03 AM
The newcomer remark at least makes me hopeful for a decent grade  :P What I sent is a song I really love, both the music and lyrics. But ballads are very personal and can be utterly boring if they do not connect much (to a larger extent than most other types of songs for me because of the often slow and more "simple" nature).

Well, any grade above 5 is decent enough, in my opinion. You're free to disagree though. ;) And I totally agree with your statement about the ballads, I've found a few of those a little bit boring and unmemorable. Which ones? Scroll down to find out!

Round 2: Results

wolfking: Lord – New Horizons

Ten seconds in and I already quite like this one; forty seconds in and I’m seriously in love with this one. The soulful singing is complemented perfectly by the acoustic guitar playing in the background. This song is a whole load of concentrated awesomeness until the saccharine electric guitar comes in; that’s where it drops to merely good. I have a feeling it just becomes too sweet and happy to my taste in these moments, while the verses have this longing feeling that really appeals to me. However, despite this punctuated sweetness, the singer manages to impress me, and the guitar solo that comes at around 2:30 is seriously captivating, and the way how they end it with those passionate lines is totally the satisfying and the right one, it makes me want to crank the volume up a fair notch. This song is a bit weird, I mean, it’s the chorus I usually love in the ballads, and here I love everything to bits except the chorus. And since I’ve grown to like it too after a few listens, I can just admire the consistency in your entries so far. Great choice, man.

8.5/10

senecadawg2: Mazzy Star – Fade Into You

I haven’t checked any information on this, but I assume it’s kind of singer-songwriter stuff? Regardless, this is quite nice. Simple acoustic melody with something like a lap-steel guitar in the background, enhanced with a dreamy, haunting voice of hers. The tune instantly reminded me of a song after one of The Walking Dead (videogame by Telltale) episodes in the second season. This track is just so peaceful and wistful, it’s a total pleasure to listen to, and your description is just spot on. The solo in the middle is yet another highlight, strikes me as something Gilmour would do on his solo work. Also, I assume this is some glitch with YouTube version of this tune, sometimes the sound just stops midway for me and continues after a few moments (like at 3:17 on the word “your”). Well, I don’t take in into the consideration, because obviously it’s not how it’s supposed to be. Anyway, subtle keyboard touches, those rare lap-steel guitar sounds beneath the steady acoustic beat and the ethereal female voice on top of this, it all forms a beautiful, enchanting picture. I rated it 7 initially, but with subsequent listens this gem grew even more, and I’m almost in love with this song now.

8.5/10

lonestar: InnerShine – Divided in Two

Alright, this song was mediocre on my first listen, but it appeared to be a huge grower. At first, I wasn’t even sure if it was a ballad, and I thought it was quite underwhelming. However, after a few listens, this song is pretty neat. The calm piano intro, a chunk of clean guitar, a tranquil verse, everything is fascinating until we go into the chorus territory. This is where the song almost loses me, but manages to get me back with the intense part where the title line is repeated. I enjoy all the instrumental parts, and overall this song is good, but chorus kind of kills the excitement for me. This is one of two progressive rock ballads in this round, the second was sent by Mason, and while I’m not incredibly fond of either, your song was superior. Not as good as your previous submission though. But, the ending is total brilliance, that I agree with.

7/10

Dr. DTVT: Xen – Find a Way

And here’s the second progressive rock ballad I’ve received this round. You’ve mentioned this band is basically Enchant, and I totally agree with this. So, naturally, I expected this song to be either hit or miss with me, because that’s just the way I feel about Enchant, I love some of their work, and I can’t get into some other songs. Well, this song is closer to “miss” in my book. It’s not bad, it’s some cool, nice and happy prog rock with a few cool twists, but to be fair, it’s just nothing special. I guess some of my dislike comes from the fact I prefer my ballads to be more sad, instead of this upbeat, energetic kind of tune. But it’s still decent, and I also enjoy the solo in the end quite a lot. I will check out this album too, because out of curiosity I went ahead and checked out Existentialist, and while I gave it only one listen, it probably would’ve got an eight. Turns out I really prefer sad or depressing ballads to the happy ones. But you didn’t send it, pity, so instead you get…

5.5/10

Scorpion: Dog Fashion Disco – Desert Grave

I saw the band’s name and nearly decided to dismiss the song completely, but the first few seconds hooked me alright. While being only 3:22 in length, this song is all kinds of awesome, at least the most of it. The main part reminds me of something Knopfler would record, it’s just so peaceful, playful and lovely. Very good instrumental part starting at 0:50 too. I love the bar-like, relaxed atmosphere of the song. For a short number, it contains a lot of surprisingly good stuff, but I really could’ve done without the weird transition at 2:30 to the more quiet part of the tune. But, whatever, you really went outside of the box with this one, and you didn’t let TAC’s work in the first round go in vain, preparing the ground for kicking more asses in the future rounds. I’ll check those guys out after the roulette.

8/10

bl5150: Ten – Soliloquy/The Loneliest Place In the World

“So, let’s see what Brent sent me here. It’s a ten minutes long song, and a ballad, so it just can’t be as great as he descri—“
Those were my thoughts in a nutshell when I started to listen to this one masterpiece. And when the song got to this spectacular chorus at around 1:50, I was blown away completely. When I was thinking about the “ballads” round, I expected some weird choices, but as I’ve made it fairly well known I enjoy hard rock and power metal, I thought I’ll get a lot of these sappy, a bit epic, predictable ballads with sweeping guitar solos. Instead, I’ve got a lot of (still enjoyable, of course) singer-songwriter stuff, progressive rock, ambient, whatever, but the kind of ballads I really have a soft spot for, those were missing until I gave a spin to this one. I knew I could count on some of you guys to deliver in this round, and man, you did just that. This song is perfection in almost every aspect. The vocalist is awesomely brilliant with mindblowing vocal melodies all around (hell, I was humming this chorus for the last two days already), the acoustic and electric guitars are just unbelievable, and despite the song being 10:29 in length (seriously!), it doesn’t feel long at all. I feel like I can spin it all day and never get tired of it. Do I acknowledge this song is a bit sappy and cheesy and whatever? Yes. Do I care? Not at all. Seriously, this is one of the best songs I’ve heard in the last few years. Another album, and, possibly, the whole band’s discography to check out. You’re going to make me bankrupt if you keep going like that, really, and I’m definitely not going to complain about it.

9.5/10

Sacul: Ulver – EOS

You asked me if I consider Gilmour’s latest solo stuff ballads, and I do, but while this has a bit of resemblance to those, but I think Seneca’s entry is much more Gilmour-like. I like the atmosphere on this one, it’s a seriously relaxing track. I guess it’s more ambient than anything. I’ve heard something like that a few times and I enjoyed it, but my problem with this kind of songs is they’re not quite memorable for me. After five listens in, I doubt I can remember any single standalone moment in the song at all, only the overall picture and the mood. I guess I’m just not accustomed to such music. But, when I’m actually listening to this track, it’s a nice listen. I wish the ending wasn’t so sudden though.

7/10

ErHaO: Damian Wilson – When I Leave This Land

I’ve meant to check out Damian Wilson’s work for a long time, but somehow I never did. The way this song started, well, this was really unexpected, because I subconsciously tend to confuse Damian Wilson with Dan Swano. Yeah, I know. :lol Well, whatever, this indeed feels like some singer-songwriter stuff, and, weirdly, a lot of songs this round are like that. Well, this is enjoyable and soft and nice, but it lacks something to grab me. This is emotional alright, this is definitely a ballad, but it lacks something — something that really can hook me. Enjoyable song, but not something I’m willing to check out impatiently.

5.5/10

Tyrias: Susanne Sundfør – The Brothel

So you had pretty much nothing to lose after your quite low mark in the opening round, and now you came up with this entry. And it seems like you will have something to lose now after this round, because this song is just lovely. Haunting, soulful and touching, it really captures my attention at every listen. I love a good female voice with the fine melodies, and this is exactly how I can describe it. Her voice reminds me of Candice Night in some moments, yet more quirky and unpredictable. I wish the song ended at 5:10 though; even though the ending is beautiful too, it just doesn’t fit the rest of the song, in my opinion. However, otherwise I have no complaints; I’ll be checking this album out after this is over. Oh, and I’m also fond of the lyrics in this one.

9/10

Parama: Sigur Rós – Heysátan

So, first and foremost, this band’s name and their song titles are damn annoying to type. I’ve heard about Sigur Rós, obviously, but I think I haven’t checked them because of non-English lyrics, and probably because the genre is quite outside my comfort zone. I feel like this song hasn’t lived up to my expectations, because for apparent reasons the only thing I can think when I see the title is “Hey, Satan!”, and I expect some heavy distorted guitar slaughter with death metal growls all over it. But instead I get this nice, dreamy song. It’s not a bad thing, but it has the same problem of being unmemorable to me. I even struggle to write anything coherent about it. Not something I want to explore, I think, but nice enough for a few listens.

6/10

mikemangioy: Foo Fighters – Still

There’s that problem with ballads, despite how touching the music and the subject may seem to some people, some other people will find the song boring. I know this is frustrating, and I’ve met this kind of thing when I’ve played in some roulettes before (and I probably will meet this again when I will play in yours), but you kind of knew what you were going for signing up for this one. And some ballads, like this, can be quite personal too, and the enjoyment depends on that. For me, well, this song is plain boring, it has almost nothing going on. I don’t know, maybe it gives a nice breathing space in the album’s context, maybe something else, but as a standalone song, well, it doesn’t have anything of interest to me. But, compared to your previous entry it’s definitely better, because it’s not some nearly unlistenable thrash. I was going back and forth between 4 and 4.5 for this song, and I think I’ll settle on…

4/10

Shadow Ninja 2.0: The Tallest Man on Earth – Like The Wheel

I’ve heard of this singer-songwriter guy, and while I wasn’t meaning to check his work out, now I kind of have to, haha. Well, and this is actually quite lovely song. Its simplicity, tranquility and the vocals melodies with a quiet piano arrangement are all the huge advantages to me. But there’s one thing I really disliked about it: the way this guy actually sings the lines. I’ve found his way of singing, his enunciation or whatever this thing is called really annoying. He’s got a nice voice, the music is good, just fitting for “ballad” round, but the way he sings, well… I almost can’t stand it, and that’s very disheartening. He’s pulling some moments just fine, and on the other I wanted to turn this song off. It grew on me a bit, but it’s still somewhat awkward. It’s a pity, this song could’ve been a nine, but because of that singing style, well, it’s not a nine. But it’s still a good one.

7.5/10

Standings with a cut line, which doesn't matter until we get past Round 6, so don't worry about it now (the second post in this thread is also updated):

bl5150 - 18.5
wolfking - 16.5
senecadawg2 - 16.5
lonestar - 16
Scorpion (with a guest appearance from TAC) - 15.5
Dr. DTVT - 14
___________

Parama - 13
Sacul - 13
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 12
Tyrias - 12
ErHaO - 11
mikemangioy - 7

Overall, Top 6 stands unchanged. Brent is on fire so far, Kade and Seneca went up a few places, surpassing Mason and RJ. Scorp manages to keep the place TAC secured him in Top 6. However, the people beneath the cut line aren't far behind, Parama and Sacul are only one point behind, SN and Tyrias two points less. All it takes one good song from either of you, and some of the leaders to slip up, and there are still four rounds left until the elimination, so everything is possible so far, I think!

Additions to the banned list:

Lord
Mazzy Star
Xen
Ten
Dog Fashion Disco
Susanne Sundfør
The Tallest Man on Earth
Boston (I forgot to add this one at the beginning)

And on we go to the round 3!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 09, 2015, 09:23:23 AM
Round 3: Open

Once again, an open round. I think you know a bit more about my tastes now, so it should be a bit easier maybe. Send whatever you want! (preferably no thrash :lol)

The song limit for this round is 10 minutes once again.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Tyrias on February 09, 2015, 10:05:15 AM
Yes! I think I'm gonna continue with my strategy to just send you stuff you probably never would have checked out on your own if it works out like this ;D.  Also, you're in for a surprise if you check out the rest of the album, some of the other songs are quite different.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 09, 2015, 10:05:54 AM
Yaaay  :rollin
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 09, 2015, 10:14:12 AM
Yes! I think I'm gonna continue with my strategy to just send you stuff you probably never would have checked out on your own if it works out like this ;D.  Also, you're in for a surprise if you check out the rest of the album, some of the other songs are quite different.

Well, to be honest, I would've never checked Biffy Clyro either, so I'm not sure it's such an infallible tactic.

Yaaay  :rollin

 :lol

The funny thing is, I've got a feeling from my Top 50 thread you enjoy some prog metal and power metal too, but weirdly enough so far you've sent thrash and a mild rock ballad.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 09, 2015, 10:15:15 AM
sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 09, 2015, 10:18:18 AM
Good stuff this round. I was thinking of sending both Susanne Sundfor and Ulver at some point, but I guess that's off the table now. Glad you enjoyed the Mazzy Star song!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 09, 2015, 10:21:52 AM
Well, Ulver is technically not banned because they haven't got 7.5 or higher score, but I would appreciate if all of you guys will try not to repeat any bands used in the previous rounds.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 09, 2015, 10:22:18 AM

The funny thing is, I've got a feeling from my Top 50 thread you enjoy some prog metal and power metal too, but weirdly enough so far you've sent thrash and a mild rock ballad.

I'm trying not to be too predictable   :lol - I'll see what I can send you this round, maybe you'll enjoy it. Just maybe.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Tyrias on February 09, 2015, 10:32:46 AM
Good stuff this round. I was thinking of sending both Susanne Sundfor and Ulver at some point, but I guess that's off the table now. Glad you enjoyed the Mazzy Star song!
Yeah, thanks for introducing me to Susanne Sundfor in my roulette! Lots of awesome music from her.

Yes! I think I'm gonna continue with my strategy to just send you stuff you probably never would have checked out on your own if it works out like this ;D.  Also, you're in for a surprise if you check out the rest of the album, some of the other songs are quite different.
Well, to be honest, I would've never checked Biffy Clyro either, so I'm not sure it's such an infallible tactic.

Yeah, but I sent that song because I thought you might like it (I still like it of course). I sent that Susanne Sundfor song because its one of the best ballads I heard and she's usually doing a genre you're not really listening to.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: lonestar on February 09, 2015, 10:44:28 AM
Ok, got that ballad shit out of the way without too much damage. Time to bring the pain..


Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 09, 2015, 10:55:41 AM
Just picking out my song to send, now!

Good stuff this round. I was thinking of sending both Susanne Sundfor and Ulver at some point, but I guess that's off the table now. Glad you enjoyed the Mazzy Star song!
Yeah, thanks for introducing me to Susanne Sundfor in my roulette! Lots of awesome music from her.

Indeed, there sure is. She's got a new album coming out in the next couple weeks too :caffeine:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 09, 2015, 11:24:02 AM
not at home right now but i'll send when i get back

expect:
prog metal with minor djent influences (so basically you won't hate it like you hate most djent :P)

and blnumbers already wins the roulette so I'm free to send whatever the hell from now on, great  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 09, 2015, 11:38:30 AM
and blnumbers already wins the roulette so I'm free to send whatever the hell from now on, great  :lol

I wouldn't be so sure about that. And it didn't seem like you weren't sending whatever the hell you wanted for the last two rounds anyway. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Sacul on February 09, 2015, 12:07:09 PM
Just picking out my song to send, now!

Good stuff this round. I was thinking of sending both Susanne Sundfor and Ulver at some point, but I guess that's off the table now. Glad you enjoyed the Mazzy Star song!
Yeah, thanks for introducing me to Susanne Sundfor in my roulette! Lots of awesome music from her.

Indeed, there sure is. She's got a new album coming out in the next couple weeks too :caffeine:
Damn, I'll have to check it then.

Thanks Seneca for introducing Tyrias to her so he could introduce her to me (and thanks for getting me into Brand New, T. - I've been spinning that album like crazy during the las Lt weeks and I love it more with each listen).

Expected a lower ranking - will send something you won't like now :neverusethis:. By the way, what's your take on Devin Townsend? And on pop?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 09, 2015, 01:13:07 PM
and blnumbers already wins the roulette so I'm free to send whatever the hell from now on, great  :lol

I wouldn't be so sure about that. And it didn't seem like you weren't sending whatever the hell you wanted for the last two rounds anyway. :lol

considering I started with Diablo Swing Orchestra of all things I'm surprised you feel that
but I guess I'm trying to keep variety mostly? this round is one of the safer entries I have lined up to be honest
also I have it as WMA so I might need to convert it to MP3 whoops

things that suck:
the band I most want to enter is impossible to represent in one song, so I'm saving them for the two-song round, but I'm gonna get cut before then and then Evermind won't be exposed to them yay :V
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: wolfking on February 09, 2015, 01:42:26 PM
Good song from Brent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 09, 2015, 01:55:51 PM
actually here's a dumb question
can we submit a suite for the "epic round"
'cause umm hmm
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: ErHaO on February 09, 2015, 01:57:56 PM
So far I am at least consistent in scores  :P

I will send the next song somewhere this evening/night for that next 5.5  ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: TAC on February 09, 2015, 02:00:00 PM
Good song from Brent.
Great song from Wolf!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 09, 2015, 02:03:21 PM
Just picking out my song to send, now!

Good stuff this round. I was thinking of sending both Susanne Sundfor and Ulver at some point, but I guess that's off the table now. Glad you enjoyed the Mazzy Star song!
Yeah, thanks for introducing me to Susanne Sundfor in my roulette! Lots of awesome music from her.

Indeed, there sure is. She's got a new album coming out in the next couple weeks too :caffeine:
Damn, I'll have to check it then.

Thanks Seneca for introducing Tyrias to her so he could introduce her to me (and thanks for getting me into Brand New, T. - I've been spinning that album like crazy during the las Lt weeks and I love it more with each listen).

Thanks DTF for introducing me to her so I could introduce her to Tyrias so he could introce her to Sacul! And thanks Sacul for reminding me to listen to more Brand New. Always a good idea.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: wolfking on February 09, 2015, 03:01:18 PM
Good song from Brent.
Great song from Wolf!

Thanks man.  Yeah, it's sort of a go to ballad for me in survivors.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: bl5150 on February 09, 2015, 03:29:24 PM
Good song from Brent.

BACKATCHA............certainly the song that I liked best this round , other than my own  :)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: wolfking on February 09, 2015, 03:37:57 PM
Yeah man, one of us has got this wrapped up.......................Come at us bitches  ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 09, 2015, 03:54:36 PM
the only song from either round I've listened to is the 9.5 one which I thought was good but didn't blow me away on first listen
not much blows me away on first listen tho
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Scorpion on February 09, 2015, 03:57:29 PM
listen to dog fashion disco it'll blow you away unless you suck do you suck parama

Evermind: glad you liked it! And yes, definitely check out the band and album, but be warned that on average, their stuff is a lot more avant-garde and just generally weirder than that song. Still awesome though, but Desert Grave isn't exactly indicative of their sound as a band.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 09, 2015, 04:00:21 PM
it looks like i suck

but i already knew that

owell
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: bl5150 on February 09, 2015, 04:01:51 PM
Sent..........back to some cool  (obscure) power metal.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: wolfking on February 09, 2015, 04:05:27 PM
I'll send something tonight.  Gotta go to work.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: ErHaO on February 09, 2015, 04:32:04 PM
Sent as well! No obscure solo projects this time but a band with a more well known name (was kind of expecting this in the banned list, regardless of you liking it or not).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 09, 2015, 09:36:54 PM
Regarding Devin Townsend and pop: I enjoyed Ki, Ghost and Casuaties more or less, otherwise I don't really like his work. Pop is good if you want to earn 1-3 points, but maybe you'll surprise me. I like PT's Trains, for example.

Regarding suites: I would prefer the single songs.

Sent as well! No obscure solo projects this time but a band with a more well known name (was kind of expecting this in the banned list, regardless of you liking it or not).

This is the band I wanted to check out for a long time, but somehow never did.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: bl5150 on February 09, 2015, 09:47:37 PM

This is the band I wanted to check out for a long time, but somehow never did.

I think I might know who you're talking about......had it on my mind for future rounds.

While we're at it , how do you feel about instrumental stuff?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 09, 2015, 10:22:04 PM
As long as that instrumental stuff is good and interesting, I don't mind, but if it fails to grab my attention, it will probably get very little points.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 09, 2015, 11:51:15 PM
answer with a yes or no, evermind
is the band he sent on the artist list i sent

i just wanna make sure i'm not getting sniped :V
and okay that's fine regarding suites i guess
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 10, 2015, 12:20:05 AM
answer with a yes or no, evermind
is the band he sent on the artist list i sent

i just wanna make sure i'm not getting sniped :V
and okay that's fine regarding suites i guess

I've deleted your PM with the artist list because I needed space in my inbox. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 10, 2015, 12:22:59 AM
okay whatever then  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: wolfking on February 10, 2015, 05:16:20 AM
Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 10, 2015, 08:05:14 AM
Alright, so I need songs from Mason, Sacul and mikemanjioy, and I'll start listening then.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 10, 2015, 10:16:10 AM
I'm going to sleep now; if I'll get all three remaining songs in 24 hours, I'll start listening to them tomorrow evening. Also, Scorp, I've sent you a PM about your song, please make sure you'll check it out.

Also, I should've known better than to allow a 30-seconds breach of limit for the song's length. We're at DTF, after all. See, first I've got 10:29 song in Round 2, now I get 10:28 song in Round 3. :rollin

And looking on the list of bands you guys sent me for this round so far, I have a feeling it'll be the strongest one yet. We'll see how it turns out pretty soon, I guess.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 10, 2015, 10:25:36 AM
if it helps, this is the closest I plan on getting to the length limit for the entire roulette, I have a 4-minute song picked out for the 6-minute round  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Sacul on February 10, 2015, 12:24:32 PM
I'm deciding if sending you something you might like, or will probably be more miss than hit. Will send later.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 10, 2015, 02:50:03 PM
Round three s-s-s-seeeeent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 11, 2015, 08:51:23 AM
Alright, as it's been almost 48 hours since Round 3 began, I'm starting my first listen to the 10 songs I have in my inbox. I'll post my thoughts in a few hours.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Evermind on February 11, 2015, 11:07:01 AM
So, first listen for those ten songs is done, lots of long ones this round. Basically, I don't think this round was the strongest, but it was probably the most consistent so far. Lots of prog this time, and while there is a clear leader so far, there are few songs ranked at 8.5, and they may grow on me yet. I'll need a few more listens to adjust the scores, because some songs are just impossible to digest on the very first try.

The ranking range is 5.0 - 9.0.

A few quick thoughts:

Quote from: Evermind
The intro is simply godlike. Very intense, dramatic and haunting at the same time; and then the vocals add to the whole ominous picture.

Quote from: Evermind
Cool relaxed little song, but overall not something I’m dying to hear again.

Quote from: Evermind
Maybe that’s just me, but some parts of this song remind me of Dream Theater.

Quote from: Evermind
The mood, the beastly instrumental and vocal slaughter feel totally appropriate for a song like that. I really want to spin this again.

Quote from: Evermind
So far, this song has too much going on and all these parts are connected in a somewhat awkward way.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Crow on February 11, 2015, 11:40:39 AM
my scores are gonna go like this
7 -> 6 -> 5 -> 4 -> 3 -> 2 and then i get cut at this point so it can't go to 1 -> 0 but it would otherwise

also i like that i can't be too sure if any of these are comments on mine this time, last round i was pretty sure but this round two or three of them could apply but then none of them could apply too  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 2 Results - Send for Round 3!
Post by: Sacul on February 11, 2015, 03:41:16 PM
Sorry, sent :blush .
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 11, 2015, 09:26:08 PM
Everyone's in. Since there are quite a lot of songs over 7 minutes in length, I may need an extra day to post the results. Expect them at Saturday evening.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Tyrias on February 12, 2015, 04:19:59 AM
I'm on holiday next week and not quite sure if I'll have good internet access there. Can I send the next round (or 2 rounds) in advance?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 12, 2015, 10:22:26 AM
Yeah, sure, why not. I'll send you Round 4 description in an hour.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: ErHaO on February 13, 2015, 02:19:13 PM
As for the next round, what are the rules of two or more vocalists? Is one main vocalist with prominent vocal harmonies/groups singing also okay? Still figuring out what to send, given that all songs featuring more vocalists that do not suck balls are banned (from the top of my head) or quite far from comfort zone/Dutch language.

(offcourse, you might love the songs I think suck balls, so I can always send one of those ;D)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 13, 2015, 02:21:41 PM
Well, I've got those questions covered in the Round 4 description, and I'm going to post it tomorrow along with the results, mostly for the sake of consistensy. If it's really important to you and you want to know it now, I guess I can send you a PM. I suggest to wait just one more day though. ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: ErHaO on February 13, 2015, 02:26:15 PM
Nah, thats cool. I'll wait!

It is not like I am in the running for the glory of winning this anyways  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 13, 2015, 02:27:13 PM
Nah, thats cool. I'll wait!

It is not like I am in the running for the glory of winning this anyways  :lol

Well, you've got something else than 5.5 for Round 3, I can tell you that much. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on February 13, 2015, 02:48:06 PM
Don't be too restrictive with the coming round, I only got one submissable album. :p
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 13, 2015, 02:53:21 PM
Don't be too restrictive with the coming round, I only got one submissable album. :p

Oh, there will be no restrictions except the song will have to have more than one vocalist. You'll find out the exact deal in the Round 4 post. ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 13, 2015, 03:48:29 PM
my pick:
song that pretty much features the band's two main vocalists harmonizing the entire way through
backup entry: song by the same band where both main vocalists have solo bits that's 95% as good
iirc I think every member that plays in this band, permanent or temporary, sings something, so

think i'm set either way
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 14, 2015, 03:57:30 AM
my pick:
song that pretty much features the band's two main vocalists harmonizing the entire way through
backup entry: song by the same band where both main vocalists have solo bits that's 95% as good
iirc I think every member that plays in this band, permanent or temporary, sings something, so

think i'm set either way

:tup

Alright, after five listens I do think it's the strongest round yet. A lot of songs grew on me, so there'll be a lot of high marks this time. I'll give the songs one more listen, do the write-ups and I'll post the results in 10 hours from now on.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 14, 2015, 09:57:27 AM
Alright, so I've warned you, a lot of high scores this round. Seems like you guys start getting a grasp on my tastes, I've enjoyed nearly every song this round. Keep it up!

Round 3: Results

Tyrias: Arstidir – Shades

I don’t think it sounds classical, actually; I think it sounds quite folky instead, which is an awesome thing. I love violin, that’s why I enjoy, say, Ne Obliviscaris. The instrumental intro and outro are simply godlike, with intense use of the violin the music comes off as dramatic and haunting at the same time; and the longing vocals add to the whole ominous picture. While this tune is relatively short compared to the other tracks in this round, it achieves a lot in these four minutes, successfully creating a somber atmosphere. There are some moments in the middle of this tune (around ~2:15) I could live without, but overall this song is nearly excellent. I’ll check this album out.

8.5/10

ErHaO: Circus Maximus – Glory of the Empire

Alright, this is the band I’ve always wanted to check out and somehow I’ve never had a chance to; I’ve seen it being discussed at the great length at DTF, so this entry was probably the most interesting for me. My first impression was that this song indeed sounds a lot like Seventh Wonder, and I like Seventh Wonder, so that’s a great thing. This song is a bliss in the instrumental department, so basically I have exactly two complaints about this song: first, I think it could’ve been a bit shorter, because I felt my attention drift away a few times; second, the vocals aren’t great and probably will take some more time for me to get used to. When the vocalist starts to get to the high notes, he sounds amazing though, accompanied by all the instrumental epicness surrounding his voice. I love the keyboards throughout the song, the quiet intro was also great, and overall the grandiloquent bearing of this song is much exciting. The ending could be more bombastic though, because I think it kind of falls flat after that lot of buildup, but all in all, this is a good one. I’ll definitely check Circus Maximus after this roulette, this song pretty much convinced me to do it. Awesome choice!

8/10

lonestar: Headspace – Die With A Bullet

Yeah, this is indeed far from “ballad shit” as you’ve eloquently put it a few days ago. I’ve heard a mild, soft side of Damian Wilson in the previous round, and I was obviously interested in his ruthless, heavy side. After this song I’ve found out I definitely like this balls-to-the-wall approach much better. If there’s something to be expected from a song named Die With A Bullet, it’s that pounding and relentless approach this song throws at you from the very beginning. The vocal melodies in the chorus are like a hammer driving the countless nails into something. The whole first half of the song is basically a raging battlefield; the second half lowers the energy in the beginning, then continues to build it for the next few minutes gradually; then the song goes totally wild in the end with its stunningly outstanding conclusion. Quite an exhausting listen, but very rewarding. That’s another album to check out, amazing stuff.
 
9/10

Sacul: Brand New – Sowing Season

You know, when I sent you stuff I thought you’d like in your roulette, those rounds turned out to end quite nice for me, I usually got 7.5 + 5 points. I don’t have any special points in my roulette, and since our tastes are quite different from each other, you have to rely only to the strength of the song itself. And the thing is, I actually don’t like most of the alternative rock out there. (ba-dum-tish) And this isn’t much different. I don’t dislike it like thrash, I can listen to it and enjoy it mostly, but it doesn’t have anything exciting in it for me, and this song is no exception. It’s basically a standard fare of alternative rock, and while a standard fare of the genres I love can get a lot of points, this one can only get a few of them.

6.5/10

Scorpion: Lost in Thought – Beyond the Flames

So, after sending me a 14-minutes long song first, you’ve settled on this one. You know, with all the progressive stuff I’ve got in this batch, I wasn’t even sure what to think after my first listen. However, when I gave each song a few more listens, I think they all grew on me one way or another. Your song isn’t an exception, though it was the one I regarded highly on the first listen too. Some parts of this song totally remind me of Dream Theater. This song channels quite an epic vibe, which is right up my alley; I also enjoy the vocals when they’re not muddled by some weird vocal effects, and the soaring vocal melodies are a big advantage of this song, in the chorus especially. Overall, it’s quite a cohesive song with impressive, daring vocals and solid instrumental parts all the way through. Nothing groundbreaking, but epic and enjoyable, and I have a soft spot for the songs like that. Nice pick.

8/10

Dr. DTVT: Pendragon – Eraserhead

Yeah, I can indeed see why you sent this knowing I’m a big fan of IQ. This is spectacularly similar to their work, and even the mix is quite alike. The funny thing is, IQ is probably the only band playing this neo-progressive rock genre I listen to; I’ve never put any effort into discovering more, because IQ was quite enough for me. However, I’ve already regretted this decision after just a listen to this. The instrumental constituent of this song is flawless for me, while the vocals are a bit underwhelming — this is no Peter Nicholis with his distinctive ringing, melodic voice — but I enjoy mostly blunt approach of Nick Barrett too. His vocals fit the music quite well, and while being nothing spectacular, they sound like they belong there. But for me, this is basically the difference between this and IQ: Peter’s voice elevates the music, bringing it to a higher level of awesomeness, and Nick’s voice adds nothing to the song here for me, but at the same time it doesn’t ruin it too. I liked the song, and I’ll check this band out, but I wish the vocals were more memorable.

7.5/10

bl5150: Morifade – Panopticon

If I will ever need to get some cheesy, yet enjoyable hard rock or power metal, I know I definitely can count on you, man. This is indeed quite technical song; I like how the guitar riffs and drum patterns aren’t that obvious for a power metal. Some bands actually go for an easy way out, bringing that double bass technique for every fast song, but those guys are actually quite creative with those complex yet headbang-inducing parts between the vocal lines. The singer’s voice is a bit raw and quite powerful too, I think it goes well with the whole mood the song tries to create. It reminds me of RJ’s entry, while those two songs are so different, they share a certain theme and the mood really reflects it. I really can use some more bands like this one in my collection, fine power metal right here. The only thing I’m not fond enough of is the mix, it feels a bit lifeless and inanimate; and while I understand it’s probably a part of the whole concept all along, it does take some of enjoyment of this song away from me. Otherwise, it’s an excellent track. I wonder if you’re even capable of sending something I won’t enjoy.

8/10

Shadow Ninja 2.0: Steam Powered Giraffe – Brass Goggles

Seriously. This band wins the Most WTF Band’s Name Award for this round definitely, and their name actually suits the music. Strange weird bluesy stuff, which is totally not my thing whatsoever… and I actually like this song a lot. I don’t even know what is so appealing about it, but the whole thing is done explicitly well, with all the harmonies and melodies. The whole awkwardness and bizarreness of this song works incredibly well. The bluesy keyboards work so great with the singer’s voice, which is yet another highlight of the song. It’s not something I would revisit often, but it’s good and interesting enough for me to check the whole album out. I need some weird stuff in my library sometimes, and this is lovely, so why not?

8.5/10

mikemangioy: The Aristocrats – Blues Fuckers

I’ve heard of this band, of course, because Marco and Guthrie are both quite prominent in Steven Wilson’s solo work, but as it’s the instrumental stuff, I’ve never been bold enough to check them out. The beginning reminds me of Opeth – The Devil Orchard a bit. This is interesting enough, actually, groovy and technical, and I guess it’s an awesome track for the fellow bass players out there, because I’m impressed by this bassline, and I don’t even play it. But the song lacks melody and cohesiveness, and while it’s quite fascinating for the first time, it doesn’t have a lot of lasting power for the subsequent listens, and I’m not sure I’m even prepared to listen to the whole album like that. The bass was definitely a highlight and the groove is impeccable, but that’s about it. Totally better than your previous entries though, I guess you’re getting better at this with each round.

6/10

Parama: Caligula’s Horse – All Is Quiet By the Wall

Another long track, and also overly progressive. This one feels like a mash-up of different songs and pieces hastily glued together. Either it’s too much of a grower, or just totally incohesive piece, because after the six listens I still don’t remember how it goes at all. The actual parts are nice enough, with tolerable vocals and good instrumentation, but somehow I just can’t perceive this song as a whole. It sounds like a sample selection from an album. The transitions are too awkward and unexpected for me. The material itself is nice, but this just doesn’t truly feel like a song. The solo in the end is fantastic though.

5.5/10

senecadawg2: RPWL – Unchain The Earth

So, this song is basically the classic progressive rock, and the thing with progressive rock is that while there are some bands and songs I enjoy immensely, there are also some songs that make me go “well, this is pretty much forgettable”. And if it wasn’t for the vocalist, this one would’ve been more like the latter; but the vocalist really saves this one, because his voice appeals for me a lot for some reason. It’s pretty ordinary, but it’s soulful, wistful and longing, and I tend to enjoy those kind of singers quite a lot. I think this song would be nice to listen in spring or summer; it’s uplifting and energizing, and I could use stuff like that in my music collection too. This song lacks something to make it truly great, but it’s a cool relaxed progressive rock. I’m not dying to hear it again, but I don’t mind listening to something like that occasionally. Good one.

7/10

wolfking: Circle II Circle – Heal You

This pick is understandable, since you know I enjoy Savatage, and in fact I wanted to check this band out for a while. My only expectation for this song was the powerful vocal performance from Zak, and it’s indeed there; the guitarwork and the keyboard touches were also nice; the vocal melodies, though, left me pretty unexcited even with overwhelmingly good Zak’s delivery. The verses were good enough, but the chorus totally fell flat, it was just underwhelming. I guess this song would be nice to jump up at on a live gig, but for the studio version it just doesn’t work. Maybe that’s just the case with this particular song, and the whole album has a lot of great tunes, but this one was kind of not that memorable, sorry. Anyway, it was way better than some things I’ve received in this roulette.

6.5/10

Standings with a cut line, which will matter after Round 6, so you probably should start worrying about it (the second post in this thread is also updated):

bl5150 - 26.5
lonestar - 25
Scorpion (with a guest appearance from TAC) - 23.5
senecadawg2 - 23.5
wolfking - 23
Dr. DTVT - 21.5
___________

Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 20.5
Tyrias - 20.5
Sacul - 19.5
ErHaO - 19
Parama - 18.5
mikemangioy - 13

Top 6 still stays unchanged, huh. Brent is still in the lead, but he has only 1.5 points more than RJ, who leaped up with his excellent round-winning Headspace entry. Scorp just keeps sending awesome songs and Seneca holds his place firmly while Kade dropped for a few places. Mason keeps his one point lead over the group of pursuers...

...where Parama and Sacul lost their top places to Shadow Ninja and Tyrias (who is on fire, in fact). I know for some of you it may seem hopeless, but even if you're three points behind the cut-line, you still have a chance. It's still three rounds more until the elimination. (Mike, sorry, I have no encouraging words for you right now. :lol)

Additions to the banned list:

Arstidir
Circus Maximus
Headspace
Lost in Thought
Pendragon
Morifade
Steam Powered Giraffe

Now, let's start the Round 4!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 14, 2015, 09:57:59 AM
Round 4: Two or more vocalists

So, well, the theme is kind of self-explanatory. However, there are few things I would like to address. Those are not restrictions, but more like a preferences.

First, I would prefer both vocalists to be lead ones. Not some distant singer on backing vocals, not a choir, but two or more singers sharing the lead vocals duty over the song. Second, and probably the most important thing, the singers should be distinguishable from each other.

However, you can send stuff with backing vocals too, or you can even go ahead and sent some live track with a guest vocalist which wasn't on the studio record. I realize finding a song fitting those preferences might be kind of difficult, so I won't be taking any points from you guys for that, but I just wanted to explain what I prefer to hear.

Oh, and I recommend you to avoid the usual "beauty and the beast" approach with one brutal growler and one heavenly, beautiful female voice. These songs would fit the theme, true, but I'm not sure if I want to discover more bands like that.

So with that now out in the field, I'm looking forward to your songs! The length limit is 10 minutes again.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 14, 2015, 10:07:20 AM
Damn. I was waiting to send both Headspace and Circus Maximus in later rounds.  :-\
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 14, 2015, 10:08:14 AM
sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 14, 2015, 10:12:59 AM
Damn. I was waiting to send both Headspace and Circus Maximus in later rounds.  :-\

Yeah, both bands are totally banned now. In fact, I'm listening to Daddy Fucking Loves You now and it's damn excellent. Hell of a song right there.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 14, 2015, 10:14:55 AM
Yeah that's the one I was going to send, for the epic round
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: lonestar on February 14, 2015, 10:18:55 AM
Yeah that's the one I was going to send, for the epic round

Awwwww man, cockblocked by the big guy on Valentine's Day no less.  Sucks bro........




Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 14, 2015, 10:20:18 AM
If I make it to the epic round, I'm totally sending Devil Doll.

This is safe to say, since no one else will want to. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Crow on February 14, 2015, 10:27:10 AM
how low can I go  :tup

sending right now
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Sacul on February 14, 2015, 11:14:18 AM
Brand New is as metal as Pink Floyd dude :lol . It's actually alternative rock with post-hardcore and emo. But didn't expect you to like it more than a 6 :P . Sending for thus round will take a while...
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 14, 2015, 11:15:25 AM
I wrote metal? I've meant rock. Too much prog metal this round, so I inserted the word "metal" into everything. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Scorpion on February 14, 2015, 11:21:05 AM
If I make it to the epic round, I'm totally sending Devil Doll.

This is safe to say, since no one else will want to. :lol

dude i might just to spite you

... thought it's not like you can actually send a Devil Doll song in ANY FUCKING OTHER ROUND.

Anyway, will think on this.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 14, 2015, 11:46:09 AM
Well, Dies Irae is technically divided into a bunch of short tracks, so it's possible to send one of those, even though it would make absolutely no sense out of context.

But honestly Devil Doll barely makes sense in context.

Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Crow on February 14, 2015, 12:11:35 PM
fortunately i'm getting cut before the epic round 'cause i still have no clue what to send
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 14, 2015, 01:17:09 PM
For once, we agree. Those are exactly my thoughts on that song. So no big complaints this time  :metal

Will send soon
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: ErHaO on February 14, 2015, 05:17:45 PM
Well, crap. I actually had that very Headspace song set for round 5  :lol Good news though, during 2014 they mentioned being in the process of recording new material a few times, so we can expect another release from them in the (near?) future!

As for Circus Maximus, their albums are all pretty different and I think the vocalist grew between records (Glory of the Empire is from the debut). Each album is strong in its own right.

Expect the next song soon!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Scorpion on February 14, 2015, 05:26:21 PM
But honestly Devil Doll barely makes sense in context.

True. But they don't make sense in the best possible way ever.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 14, 2015, 07:07:55 PM
This is true. Seriously, listening to The Girl Who Was... Death has probably been one of the most rewarding musical experiences ever.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Crow on February 14, 2015, 07:16:38 PM
I have never heard of Devil Doll until today I'm like way out of the loop apparently  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 14, 2015, 07:17:25 PM
Nah, there are only like four fans here.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Crow on February 14, 2015, 07:48:05 PM
I know barely any of the artists being entered too xD
I know Evile mostly via Rock Band, I've heard of Ulver at least, Foo Fighters everyone knows practically, I've heard something from The Tallest Man On Earth before I think, I've heard something Circus Maximus before for sure, that specific Brand New song was in guitar hero at some point, I have heard of Pendragon, I have heard of Steam-Powered Giraffe, aaaand that's about it. 8 artists of 33 and I haven't even heard anything by at least 3 of them  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 14, 2015, 11:04:54 PM
With all of the usual suspects being on the band list, I'm interested in seeing what people come up with.  I'm still deciding between about four different songs that are pretty different.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 14, 2015, 11:08:15 PM
Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Crow on February 14, 2015, 11:28:25 PM
i had my entries for this round and round #6 pretty much set in stone from day 1, my round 6 entry like fits the "mini epic" thing perfectly IMO or at least judging from what I think it means it should, i'm entering it anyways even if it doesn't yolo
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: wolfking on February 15, 2015, 03:07:30 AM
Bugger.  Thought you'd eat up C2C.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 15, 2015, 04:18:52 AM
Bugger.  Thought you'd eat up C2C.

I'll probably check them out anyway at one point or another, but this song just wasn't convincing at all.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: wolfking on February 15, 2015, 05:17:41 AM
I probably won't get my submission in for another 24 hours, is this too long?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 15, 2015, 05:33:29 AM
Nope, it's alright. I doubt I will get every entry in the next 7-8 hours, and I'm going to sleep then, and then I'll have a working day, so I'm scheduling my first listen at Monday evening, in about ~28 hours from now on.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Sacul on February 15, 2015, 09:31:17 AM
Ok, after filtering my music library, discovered I had more two-vocalists albums than I'd thought, but narrowed my choices to 5: 2 prog metal songs, 1 avant-garde/experimental, 1 electronic/beat and an eclectic/fun/a la Mr bungle tune. Will send later :lol .
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 15, 2015, 10:17:04 AM
Choose carefully, I guess. :lol

I'll start the first listen in 24 hours. I still need three more songs though.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Tyrias on February 15, 2015, 02:09:30 PM
Yeah! I hope I'll be able to keep this up, I might even make it to thw finals like this :D.(despite that horribke first round)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: ErHaO on February 15, 2015, 03:39:58 PM
Sent as well! (but you already recieved it I see).

The song I sent is not the best of the album, but it fit the theme of the round the most and is the opening track/single of their latest album. It gives a clear indication of what they offer and what their production is like, I think.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: wolfking on February 16, 2015, 04:49:53 AM
Missed Mason's Pendgraon submission.  Amazing song and album.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: wolfking on February 16, 2015, 04:55:45 AM
Round 4: Two or more vocalists
Oh, and I recommend you to avoid the usual "beauty and the beast" approach with one brutal growler and one heavenly, beautiful female voice. These songs would fit the theme, true, but I'm not sure if I want to discover more bands like that.

I think I'm gonna take this chance.  Sort of all I got that fits the theme.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 16, 2015, 05:03:23 AM
Yeah, as I said, no restrictions. Maybe it'll be awesome.

This Pendragon song will grow on me most likely. Anyway, 7.5 mark equals "good", so it's definitely a good song.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Evermind on February 16, 2015, 10:14:43 AM
Hey guys, it's nearly 48 hours since the round started, I'm going to spin all your songs for the first time right now. It's Monday and the working day was quite exhausting, so I think I'll post my first thoughts tomorrow. That means Scorp, Kade and Sacul still have at least 24 more hours to send, and there's actually no pressure, but if you don't send the song in this timeframe, your song will get less listens than others.

In fact, I would like to finish this round Friday afternoon at the latest, because I won't be around at this weekend at all for a few reasons.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Sacul on February 16, 2015, 01:21:04 PM
Went with the prog tune :coolio . Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: Crow on February 16, 2015, 01:31:47 PM
i just realized, i have absolutely nothing metal planned for the rest of the contest because Evermind has heard most of the metal I have  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 3 Results - Send for Round 4!
Post by: wolfking on February 16, 2015, 02:06:15 PM
Sent.  Went with some growls, so I'm basically throwing myself under the bus.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 17, 2015, 12:41:59 PM
I've got everyone's entries and I'm already through my first listen! Probably the most inconsistent round so far. I knew the theme would be difficult enough, but I wanted to see what you guys will come up with; in the end, some of you managed to find nearly perfect songs for this round, and some of you didn't quite get the right ones. I've got growls, more growls, poppy folk (folky pop?), heavy metal, progressive stuff; lots of different songs. And while some were incredibly awesome, some were... well, not so great.

After the first listen best four songs are at these rankings: 9.5 - 9.5 - 9 - 9

And my least favourite songs are: 4 - 5 - 5.5 - 6.5

But I'm not sure about those four. They may get higher or lower, can't say yet. Anyway, have some of my first thoughts:

Quote from: Evermind
I can’t believe you actually decided to try this one. But I’ve got to say, this is better than I actually expected.

Quote from: Evermind
You know, man, this is outright cheating right here. This album is going straight to the check-it-out-as-soon-as-possible list…

Quote from: Evermind
You sure it’s not an instrumental, right? Oh, alright. Groovy, playful and quirky, I like it.

Quote from: Evermind
The first word here comes off as very Seventh Wonder-ish (think Unbreakable, line “I can see young ones in the park”)

Quote from: Evermind
<...> while I don’t enjoy this song a lot, I acknowledge it’s good and has some appealing parts for me. But you know what the thing was? Those two or more vocalists in the song were supposed to be the main focus, because, well, I wanted to hear good contrast and good usage of vocalists in the song. This song is about everything except vocalists <...>

And this one :rollin

Quote from: Evermind
<...> I never expected someone to send me a song with 8 lead vocalists, 30 backing vocalists, 9 lead guitarists and bunch of other people, and the funniest thing is that I’ve heard about nearly every one of those guys.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: mikemangioy on February 17, 2015, 01:11:49 PM
I've already figured out which of your thoughts is related to my song  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 17, 2015, 01:57:40 PM
I was right, I got a 4  :biggrin:

edit: I feel I should clarify, I'm sending in stuff I like a lot and hoping that Evermind will like too but I have past experience showing that what I like doesn't tend to line up too well with what others like and I'm like "cool that's fine let's make fun of myself about that "

just FYI  :lol

brief reminder that Anesthetize is my least favorite song on Fear of a Blank Planet and that I prefer Lorde's debut album over DT12 by a country mile
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on February 17, 2015, 02:51:10 PM
Pretty certain the first one might be mine.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 17, 2015, 06:39:33 PM
I think I got the 5.5 - the vocal lines of my song don't have enough cheese :lol .
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 17, 2015, 08:05:21 PM
I'm trying to figure out what band the last one might be.  I think I have one or two decent guesses.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on February 17, 2015, 10:01:22 PM
Not to brag, but I'm guessing I got the "outright cheating" one, especially considering who my vocalist were. :RJ:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 17, 2015, 10:12:38 PM
Some of those may seem a bit obvious from the first glance, but it's not that easy as you all might think. For example, this first one refers to three songs, not just one, and the others may yet surprise you when we get to the results.

I'll post them at Friday afternoon, by the way.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 17, 2015, 10:19:48 PM
I was considering about 3 different songs with JLB on them, then decided to go with something he might not discover otherwise, even if it was potentially riskier because probably the ten best songs by the person I sent are all over 10 minutes long.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: ErHaO on February 18, 2015, 03:37:11 AM
Lets see! I was kind of surprised the band I sent does not even have a thread here (only an appearance in a top 50 albums thread, from the looks of it by search).

Half expecting a certain song here btw, with Russel and Floor.

Curious to see which that last artist is. Sounds interesting. I have two idea's, but both not really fit perfectly. One is a misspelled plant, the other one a Greek wild animal.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on February 18, 2015, 04:22:32 AM
Yeah, I'm really keen to find out what the last song is.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: bl5150 on February 18, 2015, 05:12:33 AM
 :corn   ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on February 18, 2015, 08:09:40 PM
:corn   ;D

I knew you would be the one who sent that.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 18, 2015, 10:15:04 PM
Since I think I know which excerpt is mine, I'm planning the songs for my last two rounds :lol .
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 20, 2015, 04:51:28 AM
Since I think I know which excerpt is mine, I'm planning the songs for my last two rounds :lol .

None of those excerpts were yours. :rollin

This round was a diverse one. I intended this one to be the most difficult one from the sending perspective, and I was really interested what songs you guys will come up with. As the result, this round has those incredibly awesome highs (one song is marked 9.5, three songs are marked 9.0), and unfortunately there's also that entry with growls marked 2.5. Nearly as bad as thrash, haha.

Really though, some outstanding tunes this round. Have a look:

Round 4: Results

Sacul: Pure Reason Revolution – Bullits Dominae

After sending some average and nearly good songs in previous three rounds, you’ve finally breached that barrier with this one, sending a good one now. The unhurried nature of this song applies to me a lot, both in the placid instrumental part in the beginning and in the calming vocals. Even when the song goes into heavier sections, it still manages to keep this distinctive leisurely pace somehow. I don’t know if my favourite are the serene parts or the intense ones, but this song is definitely a good one; nice usage of vocals and incredible music underneath them. I’ll check those guys out, I think.

7.5/10

Dr. DTVT: Phideaux – Gift of the Flame

Is this guy the one who sang with Simone on 010111001? I never bothered to check out his solo career. I was wrong. Despite the awkward transitions, which are present a lot in the intro, this song is incredible. The female voice is heavenly beautiful and playful, and the pace is great. That’s how the light-hearted, happy progressive rock should be done, in my opinion — this is loads better than your Xen submission, for example. Saxophone adds a special flavour to this song too. All in all, this track just shines with life and positive energy, it lights my mood considerably and it leaves me wanting for more music from this project. Also, Wikipedia says this album is a concept one with the main character being a dormouse. Sounds interesting! I will certainly check this man’s music after this roulette is over. Any recommendations which albums I should pick up first?

9/10

Shadow Ninja 2.0: Killer Be Killed – Wings of Feather and Wax

After that Steam Powered Giraffe song I was wondering what you have to offer for this round. I decided not to watch the video, because this way I wanted to hear the difference between vocalists, not to see it. And, hell, to the untrained ear those guys are quite similar, but they’re still distinguishable, I’ll give you that. One is quite aggressive in his singing (we even get growls here! Do you know what I think about growls? Right.) and the second one is quite melodic in his singing, so I guess it fits the theme. But let’s get to the important part. Did I enjoy the song? Totally not. The only cool part is the chorus, and the first verse is somewhat enjoyable too. I’m glad this one is relatively short though, because it’s almost painful to listen when the second verse kicks in with that full-growl mode. At ~2:00 mark I just want to turn this off. Sorry man, warned you about the growls, and this one was a total miss.

2.5/10

Tyrias / senecadawg2: Damien Rice – 9 Crimes

I love ballads, so this was probably a good call. This song reminds me of The Tallest Man on Earth submission in the ballads round, featuring the same calm piano parts, only with more intense ending. I like the placid, serene and at the same time grim atmosphere in the beginning, and I love this outburst towards the end. Great usage of string instruments beneath the piano arrangement, and the ending is just magnificent with two vocalists singing at once. Beautiful and sad, this song is just a perfect fit for the theme, not to mention it’s a total pleasure to listen to. This guy in the video reminds me of myself a bit, walking the street and singing something when no one is around. Seneca, I like how you’re sending me the stuff I normally don’t listen to, but somehow it turns out to be so sweet, enjoyable and plain awesome. Tyrias, this applies to your last three entries as well. Good job, guys.

8.5/10

Scorpion: Kylie Minogue & Nick Cave – Where the Wild Roses Grow

I can’t believe you actually decided to try this one; but I’ve got to say, this is better than I actually expected, because I thought this song would be total shit somehow. I know, stupid prejudices and stuff, so I tried to listen to this song with an open mind, and I won’t say I liked it, but it’s alright. My main complain about this song is that the male voice is so dull and emotionless I found myself wishing to skip his singing parts whenever they come up. The female voice is actually nice and that’s what warranted this song a better score. The music behind the singing is alright too, but the chorus lacks some… well, not punch, but it lacks something. So basically this tune is good when Kylie sings, bad when Nick sings, and pretty average when the chorus comes up. And there’s just no pay off at all, unlike that Damien Rice song, for example. I like the lyrics here though, but musically it’s a big borefest, I dunno. I didn’t like this song, but I didn’t dislike it either. Unimpressive tune.

4.5/10

lonestar: Amadeus Awad’s Eon – Incarnation

You know, man, this is outright cheating right here. Russell Allen and Amanda Somerville? In a project I know about but haven’t heard it because of my laziness? Cheating, I call it. However, for some weird reasons no one even thought about sending this one, so I guess it wasn’t that obvious. This song is just awesome big time. I can’t find anything to complain about, and I can find a lot of stuff to praise. Catchy riffs and outstandingly amazing acoustic break with that Egyptian vibe? Check. Soaring Russell’s vocals both in verses and choruses with brilliant guitar playing underneath? Check. That powerful Amanda’s part complementing those four minutes of awesomeness before it? Check. Seems like you really want to take the lead in this roulette. Damnable win, man, this album is going straight to the check-it-out-as-soon-as-possible list…

9.5/10

Parama: Bodies of Water – Under the Pines

Every roulette should have a player that throws absolutely random entries at the host and seemingly doesn’t give a damn about his results. Well, in my roulette that’s you, because I seriously have no idea what to expect from you each round. After the first two minutes I even started to think you’ve sent me an instrumental just for the sake of it. Then the vocals came up, and they’re fitting the song pretty well, I must say. Quiet verses and exploding choruses, all with the audible bass line, this is not what I usually listen to, but it’s right up my alley anyway. Groovy, playful and quirky track, I indeed liked it.

8/10

ErHaO: Serenity – Wing of Madness

Another song with the word “wing” in the title, and this one is much better than the other. Your description made it sound like this tune is some masterpiece of ages, and while it’s obviously not, it’s still a great one. Love the keyboards and the distinctive power metal guitars all around and the female voice singing behind the instruments. The first word “out” comes off as very Seventh Wonder-ish (think Unbreakable, line “I can see young ones in the park”. This “out” is so similar with “I”. Might be just me though.) The verses I think could use more intense singing, because they kind of feel hollow, the choruses however are standard power metal fare – which I tend to love, especially this “We can cross the distance away from reason / I can’t stand the silence embracing you at night” delivery. Great fit for the theme too, I like both male and female voices. Though I have to point out that this album cover is pretty awful and I don’t want to ever look at it again. And I kind of will have to look at it when I buy this one. Too bad. Otherwise, incredible stuff, man, seems like you’re on fire now!

9/10

wolfking: Scar Symmetry – The Spiral Timeshift

Growls? Growls! It’s a great metal, except it really would’ve been better without growls, in my opinion. I like the pace and the riffs, but growls? Nah. Great solo, alright clean vocals, nice slower pace on the solo too, but I really don’t see a point in growls being there. You know, given how one man’s growls can sound different from the clean vocals, I don’t think I would’ve been ready to bet on two vocalists being in this song, but quick check on Wikipedia assured me there were actually two of them. Well man, you knew what you were going for. At least a lot of stuff happens in this track, and some of this stuff is actually good and listenable. Your song is better than the other growly one mostly because of the instrumentation. Still, I don’t think I like it enough to be good, but I actually like it enough to be better than average. Certainly not the worst growly song I've ever heard. I wish that bridge wouldn’t exist though. In fact, the whole tune not much worse than that C2C song you’ve sent me previous round, so there’s that.

6/10

bl5150: Hear N’ Aid – Stars

I’ll be honest, I never expected someone to send me a song from the charity project in my roulette, with 8 lead vocalists, 30 backing vocalists, 9 lead guitarists and bunch of other people, and the funniest thing I’ve heard about nearly every one of those guys. And I never expected this one would actually work. While some unexperienced ear can think this is actually one man singing, because the voices are somewhat similar, for me it’s nearly always obvious who sings what even without your PM here. Actually, sending this song is basically cheating too, almost as much as sending that Amadeus Awad song RJ did, because as you said, this is pretty much Dio song just with a very huge amount of guests. And you know, this is just so awesome. I was sitting with a broad smile on my face during this whole song. I don’t know if you realize how much you’ve made my whole first-listen day by sending this, but I hope you do. My only complaint is that it’s the only original song on the album, but of course I’m going to listen to the whole thing anyway.

9/10

mikemangioy: Mastodon – Oblivion

You know, Mastodon was on my list of the bands to check out, but quite far and away from top, because from all the reviews I’ve read I gathered this won’t be my thing. Well, I wouldn’t say I was wrong, because while I don’t enjoy this song a lot, I acknowledge it’s good and has some appealing parts for me. But you know what the thing was? Those two or more vocalists in the song were supposed to be the main focus, because, well, I wanted to hear good contrast and good usage of vocalists in the song. This song is about everything except vocalists, because they’re totally not impressive for me. This tune is good at creating atmosphere, it’s good at the guitarwork, but, well, it’s totally unexciting in the vocals department. You’re getting better with each entry though! I’m expecting something worth a nine in the six round from you.

6.5/10

Standings with a cut line, which will matter after Round 6, so you probably should start worrying about it (the second post in this thread is also updated):

bl5150 - 35.5
lonestar - 34.5
senecadawg2 - 32
Dr. DTVT - 30.5
Tyrias - 29
wolfking - 29
___________

Scorpion (with a guest appearance from TAC) - 28
ErHaO - 28
Sacul - 27
Parama - 26.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 23
mikemangioy - 19.5

We've got our first change in Top 6! Scorp loses his spot there to Tyrias, who continues his streak of brilliant submissions. Brent and RJ broaden the gap between them and the other participants to 2.5 points now, and while Seneca tries hard to catch up to them, it isn't working so far. Mason fortified his position in the upper half by sending a great Phideaux song, and Kade is still up there despite the entry full of growls.

ErHaO and Scorp are still have the good chances to get into the Top 6 before the elimination takes place; Sacul and Parama are still fighting for those top spots too; Shadow Ninja and mikemangioy are in quite perilous position now. There are still two rounds before the cut, so choose your songs wisely.

Additions to the banned list:

Pure Reason Revolution
Phideaux
Damien Rice
Amadeus Awad's Eon
Bodies of Water
Serenity
Hear N' Aid

Round 5 begins now in the next post.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 20, 2015, 04:51:48 AM
Round 5: Open

Another open round, but this time the length limit is 15 minutes, so if you wanted to send some long proggy stuff, well, it's the time! (I know Scorp wanted to send 14-minutes long song :D) You should pretty much know my tastes now, so I expect some really great tunes from you guys.

Also, I'm going to Eluveitie gig tonight, and I'll be away for the whole weekend celebrating something, so the first listen won't occur until Sunday evening or even Monday afternoon. I think I've managed to keep a good pace so far, so I hope this delay won't be that crucial. I will still be able to read forums and PMs though.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: jjrock88 on February 20, 2015, 04:55:27 AM
Brent, outstanding call with Hear N Aid!!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: wolfking on February 20, 2015, 04:58:53 AM
Brent, outstanding call with Hear N Aid!!

Of course, we should have picked that one, great stuff.

Actually happy with my 6/10 for Scar Symmetry.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 20, 2015, 05:03:21 AM
Actually happy with my 6/10 for Scar Symmetry.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised at how good it was despite the load of growls. They decreased my enjoyment from the song severely, sure, but it wasn't that bad.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 20, 2015, 06:49:00 AM
oh nooooooo

will send soon
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 20, 2015, 06:50:15 AM
Glad you enjoyed it. And good call, Tyrias!

I'll send the next round by the end of the day
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 20, 2015, 08:21:49 AM
Yeah I don't think of vocal performances when I think of Mastodon  :lol
To be fair, I don't think of Mastodon much as they've always been "good" but not "amazing"


Anyways I'mma send in my recent obsession this time around yaaay
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: ErHaO on February 20, 2015, 09:09:49 AM
Cool! Glad you enjoyed it! Seventh Wonder never really occured to me, but you are not wrong on that. I kind of expected you to notice the singers voice, which is really akin to Tony Kakko in some ways (more apparent in other songs though, and not constantly. In the song I sent a moment are his solo lines at the beginning of the last chorus). And the cover, well, I have seen better ones indeed  :P

And my epic description was more of Serenity's general musical direction, not specifically this song. If you like this song, I can absolutely recommend the record, which is really consistent, well paced and contains better songs (with the female vocalist doing background vocals most of the time, so I chose this one). A major Kamelot friend recommended it to me, saying it was better than Silverthorn. While I do not agree with that (I love Silverthorn quite a bit), it is most definately a quality album. And their previous three records are awesome as well (also a bit more progressive metal elements, War of the Ages is more pure symphonic power metal I think).

Also, I think I might take a risky move coming round. Sooo, a question; I saw you have a friend that is a massive Ensiferum fan, how does the music fare with you? And with that I mean the instrumental side mainly (tempo, guitars and the folk?). (Not going to bother you with an all out melodic folk death song full of crappy sounding growlers btw, not to worry).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: lonestar on February 20, 2015, 09:13:08 AM
Oh....



Hell......



Yeah............




I'll send round 5, or as I like to call it, the pain, later tonight. This will be the song I take the lead with.......
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 20, 2015, 09:21:41 AM
Damnit I should have called Hear'N Aid.  That was one of my guesses.

As for Phideaux albums, my suggested order is: Number 7, Doomsday Afternoon, Snowtorch, Chupacabras, Fiendish, Ghost Story, The Great Leap, 313.  The last three are kind of close, but I think most fans would agree with my top 2 and bottom 3.  313 is still good, it's just not as awesome as those first two.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Sacul on February 20, 2015, 10:42:33 AM
Ok, this makes my plans obsolete :lol . Should I try to send you great songs that may grant me a place in the top, so I can keep sending you crap, or use my last two rounds for that? Will decide soon. By the way, that album is amazing, so be sure to check it out.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Tyrias on February 20, 2015, 11:26:25 AM
Glad you liked it! How many times do you listen to the submitted songs? Cause I'm thinking of sending a song that took a few listens for me to fall in love with  ;).
Also, don't Eluveitie have growls? ::)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: ErHaO on February 20, 2015, 12:37:32 PM
I really love that Phideaux song by the way! And I will most certainly check out that project Lonestar sent.

Have not yet had the time to listen to all previous rounds, but expect some cool songs in them as well.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 20, 2015, 01:21:18 PM
I can't quote a lot from my phone, so here are the answers:

ErHaO, I really enjoy the folky side of Ensiferum or Eluveitie for that matter. It's the growls that turn me off from it.

Mason, thanks for the recommendations, I'll be sure to buy them in that order.

Tyrias, I usually listen to each song five times, but if the song is really long, the number may be reduced to 3 or 4. Also, Eluveitie indeed has growls, but I've been invited by my friend, and also I tolerate growls live much more than in studio. The gig was actually awesome. I really enjoyed the violin and the hurdy-gurdy sound, and the female vocals too. Growls weren't too bad live, really.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 20, 2015, 04:05:45 PM
there were like 5 songs from this band i could've sent so i just said screw it and went with the longest one.

sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 21, 2015, 11:32:19 AM
Yeah, I guess that Mastodon are not that great singing-wise. Anyways, sent!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 21, 2015, 07:50:15 PM
Sent.  I think I have a lot of awesome lined up if I make the cutoff.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 22, 2015, 12:54:59 AM
i won't get to enter one band i really want to send if i don't make the cutoff but other than that i'd be pretty happy with what i got to share, i still have nothing for the epic round anyways  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 22, 2015, 03:03:00 AM
Still need Tyrias, Kade and ErHaO's entries. I'll try to do a first listen this evening.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: wolfking on February 22, 2015, 03:14:44 AM
Will send mine within the hour.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: wolfking on February 22, 2015, 04:29:47 AM
Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: ErHaO on February 22, 2015, 04:55:12 AM
Will send my song very soon! Had a very busy weekend unexpectedly. Sorry.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Tyrias on February 22, 2015, 05:00:39 AM
Sent as well!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 22, 2015, 05:30:46 AM
Alright, everyone's in. Two participants sent the same band, they went with different songs though. Another two participants' entries are completely identical. Didn't expect such coincidences in the open round.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: ErHaO on February 22, 2015, 05:36:30 AM
Sent! I took the more risky song.

But since you said the main thing that keeps you from enjoying records from artists like Ensiferum are the growls, this could potentially be an awesome song (and album) for you. At the very least it has a brief guest appearance I'm sure you will enjoy  ;D But no shortage of cheese, and your taste has this fine line between what is too much and what is not that I do not have a feeling for (yet). Vocals (especially the soft ones) are a bit unique too. Let's see!

Also, never liked this artist at all, but after seeing their new album in a few top power metal lists from last year I decided to yt it and I was hooked  :metal

Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 22, 2015, 09:44:39 AM
Out of all the songs in the world, two people ended up entering the exact same one?
I sure hope I wasn't one of those people  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 22, 2015, 02:50:30 PM
Out of all the songs in the world, two people ended up entering the exact same one?

Yeah, weird indeed!

Anyway, I don't think I can do the whole first listening this evening, so it gets postponed to the tomorrow afternoon. Therefore, the results will be up at Wednesday evening / Thursday evening. I know this is a bit long, but due to the extended length limit I've got a lot of pretty long songs this round. Actually, the song lengths are:

3:25 - 4:29 - 4:40 - 6:41 - 6:43 - 8:05 - 9:24 - 12:55 - 14:14 - 14:32 - 14:48

Plenty of people decided to took the advantage of the extended length limit, so we shall see how it actually turns out. Obviously, I wrote down eleven numbers to make you wonder what song was sent twice. ;)

Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Sacul on February 22, 2015, 03:13:08 PM
I'm pretty sure nobody sent you instrumental hip hop  :lol.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 22, 2015, 03:26:38 PM
I'm pretty sure nobody sent you instrumental hip hop  :lol.

You do remember you're on DTF, right? ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Sacul on February 22, 2015, 05:35:33 PM
I think it's more probable someone would send you power metal, but who knows :lol.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 22, 2015, 06:13:11 PM
would not be surprised if the same band was entered that I entered, or even same song :V
though none of the timestamps match any of their other song lengths (not within 5 seconds at least)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 22, 2015, 08:22:35 PM
I would be shocked if someone sent the same band as me.  I only know a few people who have heard of them here, and I know I'm their biggest fan here.  It's a shame too, they are solid.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Tyrias on February 23, 2015, 12:31:30 AM
I would be shocked if someone sent the same band as me.  I only know a few people who have heard of them here, and I know I'm their biggest fan here.  It's a shame too, they are solid.

I'm not sure if I'm their  biggest fan, but I think most people playing in this roulette have never even heard of the song I sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: ErHaO on February 23, 2015, 03:56:53 AM
I would be surprised, since their genre is not well covered here. Someone ought to recognize my description if it's the case (keep the secret if so   :tup).

I place my bets on a certain artist, as they have a connection with one of his favourite artists and a very high scoring song in this roulette (my bets last round were wrong though).

I just hope I do not get cockblocked for the next round, as I finally found something that fits the mini epic bill.  ;D Pretty unknown artist though, but since it is concept and prog rock/metal you never know around here.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 23, 2015, 08:08:26 AM
Alright, that's quite a batch of songs you guys have sent me for this round. I don't think I was able to grasp the whole awesomeness of some of those from just one listen — I will definitely need a few more spins to properly rank all the stuff — but there are definitely some gems there. Still, that's a lot of music I have to go through this round, so the results will be posted at Friday evening instead of Thursday. I know, that's not very nice news, but I want to be able to give all the songs a proper attention and with those song lengths I will need a lot of time for that. Hope you understand. Anyway, have a look at the ranking and the first thoughts!

This time you get the whole ranking scale, though of course it will change over the next few spins. Lots of good songs, few duds, as always. Anyway, one of the strongest rounds for sure! Here we go:

3.5 - 5 - 6.5 - 7 - 7.5 - 7.5 - 7.5 - 8 - 8.5 - 8.5 - 8.5 - 9 (and that actually means that repeated song got either 7.5 or 8.5, at least now)

And the first thoughts, here they are:

Quote from: Evermind
Hahaha, damn, man, what a cover art. :lol

Quote from: Evermind
This is basically my biggest problem with the long songs, if I feel they’re not cohesive, and if they are more like the collection of a few other songs, I can’t give them a good score because I simply don’t enjoy them a lot. The jarring, weird transitions can ruin the song for me, and while it doesn’t happen there, I do think the song is disjointed. Perhaps the next few listens will fix that.

Quote from: Evermind
The ending kind of reminds me of that Headspace song RJ sent me in Round 3, and overall this tune is quite impressive.

Quote from: Evermind
When those female vocals appear, this song turns out into a total bliss though. What a beautiful part! I want to repeat this part over and over, simply magnificent stuff.

Quote from: Evermind
Sorry about swearing, but hell, what the fuck is this?

And the one for a track that got a nine:

Quote from: Evermind
This was a total pleasure to listen to, and while it doesn’t have some sky-high quality moments of awesomeness, this tune just so solid all the way through, and it’s so enjoyable I want to spin this over and over. I think your song wins this round so far, though I guess the other tunes will grow on me after the next few listens too, so that'll be hell of a competition.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Bolsters on February 23, 2015, 08:14:16 AM
Quote from: Evermind
Sorry about swearing, but hell, what the fuck is this?
This is not something a roulette participant ever wants to read. :rollin
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 23, 2015, 08:16:52 AM
Quote from: Evermind
Sorry about swearing, but hell, what the fuck is this?
This is not something a roulette participant ever wants to read. :rollin

Well, I'll remove this in the final write-up, but my first thoughts about that song were precisely that. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 23, 2015, 08:26:50 AM
fuck yes i hope it was mine
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 23, 2015, 08:45:55 AM
if somehow my entry gets marked as disjointed again I'll be confused 'cause usually I'm the one calling long songs disjointed and I don't think any of the long songs I've entered yet are disjointed at all  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 23, 2015, 09:02:03 AM
I don't feel like any of the comments could apply to my song, except for the last one. Meaning it's either an early favorite, or just mediocre and unable to make a strong first impression. Hopefully the first.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Tyrias on February 23, 2015, 09:17:16 AM
I don't feel like any of the comments could apply to my song, except for the last one. Meaning it's either an early favorite, or just mediocre and unable to make a strong first impression. Hopefully the first.

Yeah, same here. While my song is probably not something he would have listened to on his own, I don't think it's far enough out there to warrant a "What the Fuck is this" :lol.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 23, 2015, 09:38:55 AM
I don't feel like any of the comments could apply to my song, except for the last one. Meaning it's either an early favorite, or just mediocre and unable to make a strong first impression. Hopefully the first.

Not to reassure or disappoint you or anything, but those aren't the only reasons. Sometimes I just can't post some comments because they would've been way too spoilery and give away both the player and my opinion of his song, and I obviously don't want this. Sometimes I just like to pick more poignant lines to create a cheesy dramatic tension. For example, Mason's entry (that Phideaux song he sent last round) wasn't in the first impressions list, but I absolutely loved it. Or, say, Shadow Ninja's entry (Killer Be Killed song from the last round) wasn't there either, and it made a very strong first impression — I disliked it a lot.

But the whole point of these first thoughts is to make you folks wondering and speculating to create some activity in this thread, so it seems to be working, at least for now. ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Sacul on February 23, 2015, 10:34:59 AM
I believe the last three comments could easily apply to my tune :lol .
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: ErHaO on February 23, 2015, 10:47:03 AM
I don't think my entry is disjointed, swearing worthy or has crazy coverart. So if included it either it is the remark about the female vocal part or the really positive last part. The word "though" in the female remark, indicating a contrast, would be unfortunate  :P My own opinion would be somewhat in line with the latter one though, solid catchy fun all the way trough, but nothing totally unheard of in terms of this type of music.

Last round I guessed my remark well (Seventh Wonder part), alltough it never occured to me before reading.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 23, 2015, 12:42:51 PM
I'm hoping the last one is mine, but I sent the 14:32 song so I can't be certain.  I don't think my song is disjointed, but I've been accused of being biased when discussing this band.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Scorpion on February 23, 2015, 12:58:37 PM
I have the other really long song, and I don't really think it's disjointed, but then nobody probably thinks that when sending a song, so...
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: ErHaO on February 23, 2015, 02:00:21 PM
I consider some Dream Theater songs disjointed, but still enjoy them very much. Count of Tuscany, Illumination Theory and even A Change of Seasons all have some pretty blunt moments to my ears. I always loved those and eventually got used to those "and now another song starts" moments. It does not necessarily harm a song for me.

I sent quite a long one as well, but on a prog forum I just do not expect people finding that one disjointed  :P


Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 23, 2015, 02:11:14 PM
Pretty much every DT epic is somewhat disjointed  :lol
Might be why ACoS is the only one I really think is great (8VM is good too though)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Scorpion on February 23, 2015, 02:33:42 PM
Octavarium might be cohesive but that doesn't change the fact that Intervals and Razor's Edge just completely bore me. A Change of Seasons have some choppier transitions, but at least every part of it is good. More than good, in fact.

... I'm sorry for the off-topic. Back to your regularly scheduled roulette programming. Which song lengths are yours? Mine is 14:14. :)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Sacul on February 23, 2015, 03:05:31 PM
6:41
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: bl5150 on February 23, 2015, 03:13:07 PM
4.40
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: senecadawg2 on February 23, 2015, 03:15:06 PM
9 for me
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: wolfking on February 23, 2015, 03:21:49 PM
4:29.

I'm gonna be honest and say I put no thought into my track submission whatsoever.  It's something relatively new that I was listening to and quite liked it and saw it wasn't on Ruslan's banned list, and I couldn't be assed thinking of something else, so in it went.  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 23, 2015, 03:45:25 PM
9:24 was my song time so maybe I sent the same song as seneca? I think he was posting his projected score though i dunno  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 23, 2015, 03:49:34 PM
Yeah, Seneca has become a cocky SOB of late.   ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Crow on February 25, 2015, 11:11:19 PM
yeah actually i'm pretty sure we entered the same song  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: wolfking on February 26, 2015, 04:20:02 AM
So, Evermind, how are we going?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: bl5150 on February 26, 2015, 04:22:31 AM
So, Evermind, how are we going?

He can't be assed  ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: Evermind on February 26, 2015, 05:35:11 AM
So, Evermind, how are we going?

As I said, it'll be either this evening or Friday evening. I listened 4 times to longer songs, 5 times to shorter ones, but I still need to do the write-ups. I'll see if I can do them today when I get home from work, but I don't guarantee it.

Edit: just realized I forgot to change the title to "listening mode", sorry. ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: ErHaO on February 26, 2015, 07:44:01 AM
Are you going to post any rules on the small epic? As the definition of that word can be a lot and depends on the artist/genre :P
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 26, 2015, 08:13:13 AM
I don't think there'll be any rules. I know "epic" is quite subjective, but you should know my tastes now, know what kind of bands I like and what kind of bands I dislike, so you can probably guess what songs I think are epic. You may as well just send what you think is epic, and see if I agree or disagree.

Both epic rounds will probably be most difficult for me to judge and most difficult for you to send, because even if you send an awesome song but I think it doesn't really fit the "epic" part, you won't get an incredibly high score.

If you're interested, you can ask about how epic in my opinion are specific songs that were sent in this roulette and also about some songs by the bands featured in my Top 50, and I'll try to provide a reasonable answers.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 26, 2015, 08:53:59 AM
What are the 3 most epic songs on the roulette so far?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 26, 2015, 09:08:47 AM
i'm good, i've had a song picked out for this round since the very start
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 26, 2015, 10:02:39 AM
What are the 3 most epic songs on the roulette so far?

Hm, turns out this is quite a difficult question. I knew the most epic song instantly, the next two took me a while to think of. I didn't include Round 5 for obvious reasons. Here you go:

1. Absolute Priority - Fear of the Night (lonestar) - this is simply the most epic song I've received so far, even if I would include Round 5 here. Perfect epic chorus with the verses being small buildups to it, then a big buildup before the epic harmonies for the ending. Incredible stuff.

2. Lost in Thought - Beyond the Flames (Scorpion) - soaring vocals and borderline cheesy yet epic riff make this song quite fitting for the theme, and the last chorus is even more awesome.

3. Headspace - Die with a Bullet (lonestar) - relentless pounding first part contrasts nicely with the second part, which gradually builds up to the climactic, satisfying and pretty crazy ending.

As you can see, RJ is pretty good at sending epic songs. :lol It seems I often care about the song's ending and the right buildup to it when it comes to an epic.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 26, 2015, 10:06:33 AM
Cool. So, results tomorrow?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 26, 2015, 10:09:45 AM
Well, I've started to do the writeups, but there's no way I can do more than half of them today, or I just won't get up for the work tomorrow morning.

So yes, results will be up in 24-26 hours. Sorry about this slight delay, but some songs were just too long to digest them fast, and I want to be sure I give each song enough chances to grow.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on February 26, 2015, 10:37:59 AM
Don't worry - quality first :tup .
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on February 26, 2015, 02:35:03 PM
Crap, no pressure bro....

Been struggling with this one actually. I got a ton of good tunes to send, but they are all over 6 minutes, some by mere seconds.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 26, 2015, 02:43:31 PM
There's a leeway of like 30 seconds, though, a few seconds over isn't a big deal  :lol
If your song goes beyond the length limit for less than 30 seconds, it’s alright. For example, you can send a 10:29 song for the first round. However, every next 30 seconds will result in losing a point, for example, 10/10 song clocking at 10:31 will receive 9 points, at 11:01 — 8 points and so on.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 4 Results - Send for Round 5!
Post by: wolfking on February 26, 2015, 03:37:17 PM
So, Evermind, how are we going?

As I said, it'll be either this evening or Friday evening. I listened 4 times to longer songs, 5 times to shorter ones, but I still need to do the write-ups. I'll see if I can do them today when I get home from work, but I don't guarantee it.

Edit: just realized I forgot to change the title to "listening mode", sorry. ;D

Sorry, I missed your post stating the timeline.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on February 27, 2015, 09:25:23 AM
There's a leeway of like 30 seconds, though, a few seconds over isn't a big deal  :lol
If your song goes beyond the length limit for less than 30 seconds, it’s alright. For example, you can send a 10:29 song for the first round. However, every next 30 seconds will result in losing a point, for example, 10/10 song clocking at 10:31 will receive 9 points, at 11:01 — 8 points and so on.

Ahh, I misread that. Thanks, pretty much settles what I'm sending for the rest of the roulette then. Just gotta decide between two epics, but that will probably be a last minute decision.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on February 27, 2015, 10:15:14 AM
Yeah, I thought that was pretty much clear, but then someone sent 14-minutes song in the third round, haha.

Anyway, working on the rest of the writeups, results in 2-3 hours, stay tuned folks!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on February 27, 2015, 11:21:49 AM
the suspense, it builds

i'll be in class when you post too, blah  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on February 27, 2015, 11:35:16 AM
 :corn
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Evermind on February 27, 2015, 12:11:10 PM
Parama, the funny thing is that all the evidence pointed at you and Seneca sending the same song, but you actually sent the different ones. :lol Anyway, the (hopefully) long anticipated results!

Round 5: Results

mikemangioy / ErHaO: Elvenking – King of the Elves

Well, when I was saying I really like the folky side of Ensiferum and Eluveitie I didn’t mean this over-the-top intense drumming this song has in the very beginning, which is absolutely awkward, in my opinion. It gets better then, of course, so that’s quite a small complaint. The strained male vocals are questionable to say the least. However, the instrumental side of this song is good enough, and those calm folky breaks like the one at 1:45 represents exactly what I like in those pagan folk metal bands; and the lofty parts are quite appealing too. I also don’t mind when the song strays more into the power metal territory. Overall, nearly all the parts of this tune are nice enough, but I feel like they’re sometimes just crammed together to make a longer song. This is basically my biggest problem with the long songs, if I feel they’re not cohesive, and if they are more like the collection of a few other songs, I can’t give them a good score because I simply don’t enjoy them a lot. The jarring, weird transitions can ruin the song for me, and while it doesn’t happen there, I do think the song is a bit disjointed. Just a bit though. The section at 6:30 – 7:30 with those weird vocals nearly ruins the song for me, but as they say, the darkest hour is always right before the dawn (and with this writeup I’m trying to reach the rather high level of cheesiness this song sustains for the whole 13 minutes :lol ), so when those female vocals appear, this song turns into a total bliss, smoothing a lot of rough edges. This part is so beautiful I want to repeat it over and over. Amazing acoustic and strings arrangement and great Amanda’s contribution to the track. Pity the rest of this tune isn’t that incredible.

7.5/10

Tyrias: Chelsea Wolfe – The Waves Have Come

You know, I’m looking at my first thoughts now and I wrote “I don’t like the vocals” four times there. Well, I wouldn’t say I was wrong, because I still don’t like the vocals, but not that much. This song has this kind of slow and not very exciting beginning with this monotonous, depressing piano playing, which doesn’t appeal to me; the strings in the background are brilliant though. While I tried to concentrate on the other aspects on this tune, the strings drew me attention back to them on every listen. On the last listen I started to subconsciously block the vocals until the payoff at 4:45, because I really don’t think they add anything positive and valuable to the song until that point. The part after 4:45 is glorious, though; and this is when all the song’s elements get to shine in the full force, but it’s just a bit too late for me, because buildup didn’t work at all. The first part could use some trimming and maybe even should be an instrumental. For eight minutes, this song has remarkably little amount of something good going on in it, only the strings and this beautiful section in the second half. But those two things were so good I can’t give this song a low score.

6.5/10

Sacul: DJ Shadow – Building Steam with a Grain of Salt

I tried to be an open-minded listener, I really did, but when I saw “Here’s an instrumental piece of hip hop” and “Enjoy it.” in description of the same song, I couldn’t help but smile at these sentences. Well, actually, this is not that bad. But at the same time, it’s not that good either, because it has nothing to grab my attention at all. I don’t really like how the sampled drums (they are drums, right?) sound, with that unfitting awkward riff (now it’s the moment for you to say I just like cheesy rhythms, so that’s why this one isn’t up my alley :lol), and also there are some weird sounds just before the spoken parts I absolutely hated. I liked the sampled keyboard sounds (or whatever it is, I’m never sure with this genre) quite well, but otherwise, I don’t think I like it. Could be a nice stuff to play in the background, but I have this ambient stuff for it. That Ulver song you’ve sent, for example, would fit much better for background music. Or Storm Corrosion. And the fact this song lasts seven minutes doesn’t help either. Sorry.

4.5/10

bl5150: Angel Dust – Bleed

This starts off so peacefully that I would be fooled into thinking this is a ballad if I didn’t read your description. Great keyboard riff in the beginning sets the atmosphere nicely, and indeed reminds me of Savatage. The vocalist, on the other hand, reminds me of your Morifade entry, and the whole song is pretty much headbanging heaven during the verses and a bit more melodic side on the chorus. The punchline in the chorus is done very well. Actually, scratch then, the whole chorus is done very well. While this song is incredible instrumentally, I think the vocals could’ve been a bit better though. Yeah, they kind of fit the atmosphere, but something about them puts me off just a bit. The scream in the end is cool indeed, though the calm part before it could’ve been better too. I don’t have a lot more to write about this tune, except that this is another solid entry from you. I guess I know for sure who I should ask to recommend me some good hard rock and power metal now. Also, while this song is quite like that Morifade tune you’ve sent me, I kind of like this one better.

8.5/10

wolfking: Nightingale – On Stolen Wings

After those – well, not misses, but not quite great songs – in the previous two rounds you’re finally making a sort of comeback with this one. You know, the funny thing, this actually reminds me of that C2C song you’ve sent, the atmosphere is kind of the same, but I love the delivery and the melodies much more. This was a total pleasure to listen to, and while it doesn’t have some sky-high quality moments of awesomeness, nor does it have an overwhelming length like a lot of other songs in this round, this tune just so solid all the way through, and it’s so enjoyable I want to spin this again. I like those gritty, raspy vocals and I’m impressed how this man goes pretty low in his vocal delivery. At first, you was a clear winner of the round, but I think I’m just a bit less excited about this song after five listens, but I still love it nevertheless. I can’t really pinpoint what I love that much about this tune, but I just love it. I mean, I don’t really need to justify these scores, right? Because so far this song is great. I don’t know about how much lasting power this album will have for me, but I’ll buy it right after the roulette, that’s for sure. Guess it really works when you send the songs without considering the other possibilities and without thinking about the consequences. Great tune, man.
 
8.5/10

Parama: Thank You Scientist – Blood on the Radio

I saw you regarding this album quite high in the band’s thread, saying all songs on it warrant at least 8/10. Well, not for me, apparently. The beginning is just great, I’ll give this to you, but when the vocals appear, the song quickly goes from very good to quite average. I like how groovy it is with the bass and drums, but it really could use better vocals, like your entries by Diablo Swing Orchestra or Bodies of Water. And in fact, it’s a pity, because I quite like the wind and string instruments behind the vocals, I guess the song has a lot of potential and I see why someone might like it, but the vocals are just too out there for the most parts of this tune, so it’s not exactly enjoyable. But then around 7:00 it gets more enjoyable indeed and the song is saved by those parts. It also really reminds me of that Headspace song RJ sent me in Round 3, and overall, the song left a positive impression on me. Could be trimmed or maybe the better vocalist is needed, but it’s quite alright.

7/10

Dr. DTVT: Tiles – Checkerboards

Alright, here’s the thing I want to address first. Hahaha, damn, man, what a cover art. :lol Now we can get to the review of the song itself. You know, five participants sent me songs longer than 10 minutes; two people sent the same song of Elvenking, two other people sent those different songs from Speaking to Stones, and you alone sent something unexpected and really unpredictable. I couldn’t mention it in my regular “first thoughts” thing in the thread itself, but among those long tunes your song was the only one I actually remembered a lot of stuff from. And, well, that’s just great. This whole chorus got stuck in my head after the first listen indeed, those clean, tranquil and confident vocals along with strong vocal melodies left a powerful impression on me, and I just couldn’t help but sing this “scattering checkers on the floo-ooar” line. I love this chorus, and I’m really happy every single time it pops up. I also love the bass on this song, very audible and cool, one of the best things about this track. This is even more like IQ than that Pendragon song, probably because of vocals. The calm part is great, the whole song is great too; the callback to the beginning is a bit clumsy, but still, while I wasn’t sure where to place your song after the first listen (it was 8.5), I’m damn sure now. Somewhere at the very top indeed. You should really prepare to scatter all those checkers on the floor in the next few rounds.

9.5/10

Shadow Ninja 2.0: Kishi Bashi – Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!

Alright, dude, what the hell is this? I don’t even know how to describe it properly, and honestly, I don’t even want to know. Some kind of psychedelic pop stuff, I guess? I really appreciate you trying to broaden my musical horizons, but this is like thrash, nearly unlistenable. My hand unconsciously reaches out for this X mark in the upper right corner of my browser when I’m listening to this. Unlike, say, this weird bluesy Steam Powered Giraffe stuff I liked, this has almost nothing of interest for me. I guess the strings and the acoustic stuff was kind of alright, but that’s it. Once again, I like how you’re trying something totally outside my comfort zone, but this song is so much outside it I don’t even know.

3/10

senecadawg2: David Gray – Gathering Dust

You know, the thing I’ve found the most difficult in hosting the roulette of my own, and this thing also incredibly disappointed me when I was playing the other hosts’ roulettes, it’s when you’re putting your very soul into your entries, sending out your favourite artist ever, making your description so lush and admiring and full of extensive superlatives you’re stunned by your vocabulary, only to find out the host didn’t like your song. I bet you’ve already got over it because you won quite a huge number of those back in these very days, but I still feel bad criticizing your favourite musician’s song. But I just can’t help it. (Now you should be scared and fear about your score.) His voice is quite ordinary, and while I’ve begun to appreciate it after a few spins, I have one grudge I just can’t drop at all. The way he sings “time” in those “stole my time” lines, you know which ones I’m talking about, well, it’s just infuriating for me and I can’t do anything about it. Stole my taime. All my taime. Stole my taime. Hell, man. You know, I think a lot of those singer-songwriter folks tend to do something I hate in their voice, mostly because their songs are composed only of their main instrument and their voice. I won’t lie, I liked the song on the first listen, and I liked it even more on the subsequent once, but it still could’ve been better. I love Joan Baez songs not only because of her incredible lyrics, but also because of her voice. David Gray, in my opinion, doesn’t have this kind of heavenly voice, but still, he got something else. I can’t say what it is right now, but I’ll be sure to delve into the man’s discography to find out. It’s growing on me with every listen, but as of now, I can’t give it no more than…

7.5/10

It really doesn’t happen that often in the roulettes; I’ve got two songs by one band, both progressive as hell and both are over fourteen minutes. And it was indeed intriguing. I expected something going into the progressive rock realm from RJ, and something heavy and sweeping from Scorpion. And I indeed got it from both of them.

lonestar: Speaking to Stones – Earth

Earth to earth, dust to dust

After a pretty long intro, this song unexpectedly goes into this serene, calm acoustic mood, which indeed did surprise me. You definitely should know I really prefer the quiet, moderately paced, thoughtful and unhurried kind of songs, and when they reach the point where they explode after all the plodding yet exciting things, they’re doing it with so much style I can’t help but be swayed by their beauty; and when the track goes all intense I’m just headbanging along. The chorus was pretty underwhelming under the weight of the whole song, and the acoustic part in the middle is really magnificent, floating into this progressive rock I expected. But you know, even if I didn’t like or maybe didn’t grasp some of this song sections, it all gets unimportant when the actual climax of the song comes in at 11:53. I thought I didn’t really like the chorus before that, but this guitar melody and the actual, real chorus with all the support and the buildup  coming in, this is how the long progressive song should be constructed. Incredible ending.

8.5/10

Scorpion: Speaking to Stones – Wind

Into the eye of the storm

In fact, I would’ve thought that earth should be heavier than wind, but then, earth gives life to the plants, while wind can destroy a lot of stuff. It actually can be seen the other way around too, but I’m sticking to this explanation. The riffing reminds me of your Lost in Thought entry; it’s really just this solid progressive metal. This song enters with the heavy intro too, but then instead of acoustic calm stuff uses this magnificent piano break followed by expert keyboard playing, just incredible. And when the pounding, dark and intense riff with those strained, low vocals enter, well, this is when I’m totally sold on this song. The vocals are also more reckless and soaring, switching to aggressive appearance just when it’s really needed. I really like the verses on this song, pretty simple yet haunting and convincing. Of course, the song can’t go the same for those whole fourteen minutes, so there’s an acoustic break around 7:00 too, and I think I even like it more than Earth’s one. I always thought I prefer the calmer songs to the intense ones, but in case with Speaking to Stones, it seems like they’ve got this ability to capture both moods and paces quite perfectly, yet the intense approach just works a bit better for them. Outstanding song all around.

9/10

Overall, I’m just sure I have to check Speaking to Stones as soon as I can.

Standings with a cut line, which means those below it will be eliminated after the next round, so it's time to pay the real attention to it (the second post in this thread is also updated):

bl5150 - 44
lonestar - 43
Dr. DTVT - 40
senecadawg2 - 39.5
wolfking - 37.5
Scorpion (with a guest appearance from TAC) - 37
___________

Tyrias - 35.5
ErHaO - 35.5
Parama - 33.5
Sacul - 31.5
mikemangioy - 27
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 26

Top 6 returns to its usual state. Brent and RJ got the exact same score in this round and continue to wrestle for the lead, Mason leapt one position up with his excellent Tiles entry, Seneca and Kade hold their positions while Scorp regains his place in the safe zone.

Tyrias fell from the upper half with his most riskiest entry yet, and ErHaO tries to keep up with the leaders. It's still 1.5 points separating them from the cut-line, but it's still manageable. However, Parama, Sacul, Mike and Shadow Ninja probably won't get to the leaders in time; there's only one round left. Still, congrats mikemangioy, you're not in the last place anymore! ;D Sorry again, man.

Additions to the banned list:

Elvenking
Angel Dust
Nightingale
Tiles
David Gray
Speaking to Stones

Roll over to see the Round 6 description!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Evermind on February 27, 2015, 12:11:24 PM
Round 6: Short Epic

Well, basically there are no restrictions to this round, except the length limit (6 minutes). However, your mark will depend on how epic the song is in my opinion. If you will send a good song, but totally not epic, well, you should prepare to get some not very high score.

I won't go into the explaining how I percieve the "epic" definition now; you've had your chance to ask some questions. I just expect you to blow me away with your entries, as always.

Remember, this is the last round before the cut. Let's kick this off now, guys.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on February 27, 2015, 12:20:33 PM
Haha, wow. :lol

Will send soon.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Sacul on February 27, 2015, 12:22:37 PM
Yeah, kind of expected this :lol . I'm not sure if sending an epic electronic song that gets out the length limit, or some experimental stuff. Will send later.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on February 27, 2015, 12:27:28 PM
Hell yeah.  Tiles are awesome.

Also, you have no idea how close I was to sending Speaking to Stones as well  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Evermind on February 27, 2015, 12:29:03 PM
Hell yeah.  Tiles are awesome.

Can't really argue with that after this killer of a song.

Also, you have no idea how close I was to sending Speaking to Stones as well  :lol

Hopefully it was either Fire or Water. I have no idea what else they have on this album, actually. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Scorpion on February 27, 2015, 12:32:42 PM
Evermind, you now know 40% of the Speaking to Stones songs in existance. :lol :lol Great that you liked it. Will send shortly.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Crow on February 27, 2015, 01:19:28 PM
I guess this is what happens when my interest basically always lies on the music of the songs, though I have no problem with the vocalist so just personal preference I guess  :lol

anyways sending in a song by an artist who's had a #1 hit single on the U.S. charts
i mean, that's completely irrelevant to the specific song but whatever
thought thinking about it I might change from one song to a different one, the one i had in mind originally is more an exercise in perfect buildup than constant epic-feeling (though the entire back half of the song is certainly epic as all hell) whereas a song I like slightly less is pretty much just epic all the way through i dunno
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: wolfking on February 27, 2015, 03:09:33 PM
Tough criteria for this round.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: mikemangioy on February 27, 2015, 04:19:35 PM
Yay a higher score than 6 :lol
will send my last round soo.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: wolfking on February 27, 2015, 05:13:34 PM
Song sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: bl5150 on February 27, 2015, 06:25:02 PM
Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Tyrias on February 28, 2015, 12:20:56 AM
Well, I hoped that would go over a bit better :P. Still, now I'll have to decide between sending something risky and hoping you love it and sending something kinda safe and hoping one of those above me screws up.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: lonestar on February 28, 2015, 12:44:22 AM
Evermind, you now know 40% of the Speaking to Stones songs in existance. :lol :lol Great that you liked it. Will send shortly.

Not true, they had a previous album. It's on Spotify, though not as good as Elements, it's pretty solid.


Damn man, just can't catch the leader, and I need to make up that ground soon. Taking a solid shot I think....sent....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Tyrias on February 28, 2015, 05:18:32 AM
So, sent for the (hopefully not) last round. I decided to send something a bit riskier, we'll see how it goes.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Scorpion on February 28, 2015, 06:31:57 AM
Evermind, you now know 40% of the Speaking to Stones songs in existance. :lol :lol Great that you liked it. Will send shortly.

Not true, they had a previous album. It's on Spotify, though not as good as Elements, it's pretty solid.

Huh. I did not know that. Will have to check it out, I guess.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Evermind on February 28, 2015, 08:25:42 AM
Got half of the entries.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Sacul on February 28, 2015, 10:09:05 AM
I'm uploading your files right now :biggrin: .

Edit: Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: ErHaO on February 28, 2015, 02:46:20 PM
Haha wow, so mine was the same after all. Well, as I said I expected you to like the Amanda part at the very least  :P

Expect my song very soon! Had a big party and some family visiting, so was of the internet mostly, sorry.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Crow on February 28, 2015, 08:51:01 PM
sent my final entry woohoo
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Evermind on March 01, 2015, 02:21:24 AM
Need Scorpion's and mikemangioy's entries and I can start listening then.

Well, as I said I expected you to like the Amanda part at the very least  :P

Yeah, this part was amazing. :tup
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: mikemangioy on March 01, 2015, 09:59:15 AM
Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 5 Results - Send for Round 6!
Post by: Evermind on March 01, 2015, 10:04:28 AM
Got every entry, will do the first listen tomorrow evening, the results will be posted either Wednesday or Thursday evening.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 02, 2015, 01:31:04 PM
Alright, before we begin, here's a short schedule warning. I've got to make a business trip to another city (and since Russia is damn huge, this another city is about 6000 kilometers away) due to my job, so I'll be away from Tuesday to Friday morning. Therefore, the results will be posted on Friday afternoon when I arrive back here. However, due to the flight taking 6.5 hours, I will be able to listen to all your songs for a few times. I'm sorry for the delay again, but I really didn't expect that.

(And it's -20°C there, while we're having ~0°C here in Moscow. Shit.)

So, whatever, have those first thoughts about the songs you've sent me! And the ranking range is 6.0 ... 9.0 by the way. Really consistent round this time.

Quote from: Evermind
Is it epic? Kind of. Do I like the vocals? Hell no. I think it’s a good example of a song being unexciting just because the vocals fall flat for me.

Quote from: Evermind
I saw a few people on DTF constantly praising this band, and even though my tastes are clearly different from theirs, I kind of wanted to try this band out. And you know what, this is actually amazing.

Quote from: Evermind
The opening strongly reminded me of Beyond the Bridge. There was even the melody that sounded a lot like those “if you want to face it / no, I want to be there / then, pitiful human” lines in the beginning.

Quote from: Evermind
<...> if you want to end the epic song with the chorus, you should make the chorus itself epic enough, which doesn’t happen here. Though the instrumental before the chorus was great, I’ll give you that.

Quote from: Evermind
Interesting how in a lot of epic songs the lofty, grandiloquent feeling is achieved through some insane vocal lines and melodies, but this song does it with terrific and quite epic instrumental ending crossfading into the simple yet soulful acoustic guitar playing.

And as always, here's the one for the best song of the round:

Quote from: Evermind
This song is pretty much a headbanging heaven, and the keys definitely add this epic feel to it, while the vocals and the amazing art (I really like the vibe it's projecting) are complementing the whole package just right. <...> Outstanding pick for an epic round, man.

And there's some interesting stuff going on in Top 6 with those first rankings. They may yet change, of course, but there is some stuff worth attention indeed.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Tyrias on March 02, 2015, 01:47:42 PM
I think the first 2 could kind of apply to my song, and I do hope it's the second :P. Also, when I saw the ranking range I pretty much gave up on going to the finals, but your last sentence kinda made me think it could still be possible...
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on March 02, 2015, 02:44:49 PM
Interesting thoughts.  Can't really pinpoint my song.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on March 02, 2015, 02:53:34 PM
I'd like to believe the second extract is about what I sent :lol. But even a 6 is way better than the 3 I expected - give my song thorough listens. There's lots of things going on that you may not notice on a first or even third spin - a small vocal nuance here, subtle notes played in the background, etc. But if you pay attention, you'll discover lots of small details that reveal that the song is not as repetitive as it can seem ;).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 02, 2015, 03:02:38 PM
Well, mine isn't the last one, because I don't imagine headbanging to it.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: bl5150 on March 02, 2015, 03:26:06 PM
Interesting thoughts.  Can't really pinpoint my song.

Ditto...............definitely didn't have the top song.  Should've stuck with metal  :metal  ;D

 
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on March 02, 2015, 03:46:22 PM
given my past history of entries, the first one is 100% my entry

also the rankings are consistent because you wanted epic stuff and you really like epic stuff :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: ErHaO on March 02, 2015, 04:03:38 PM
The two comments describing the ending do not match up.

The one about fans on DTF also doesn't match (maybe the artist I thought would be the double one last round this time?  :P). This album was recommended once on DTF by the looks of a search, but the band itself is unknown around here it seems (and aside from this album, which I think is fantastic, I am not really familiar with them either).

The other comments could all fit, depending on one's taste.

Let's see if I can end my participation (or...?  :laugh:) with a high score and without symphonic cheese ;D But I guess a positive grade is already a given if you do not change your mind drastically.

Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Scorpion on March 02, 2015, 04:42:25 PM
I know that my submission isn't the last one, because Evermind has already told me that he shares my dislike for the cover. It also doesn't have any acoustic guitar, so... eh, I guess we'll see.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 02, 2015, 10:29:05 PM
I would have had so many choices if it weren't for your taste of harsh vocals.  Dimmu Borgir is pretty damn epic.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on March 03, 2015, 04:41:14 AM
I would have had so many choices if it weren't for your taste of harsh vocals.  Dimmu Borgir is pretty damn epic.

Ditto.  This has limited my choices so much.  Still took a punt with Scar Symmetry, although that's One Direction compared to good old Dimmu.  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 03, 2015, 07:03:10 AM
Well, I guess that can't be helped.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 05, 2015, 06:51:39 AM
So guys, I'm flying back to Moscow tomorrow morning, but I'm not sure how much time I will have after the flight, because I've got a Sabaton gig to attend in the evening of the same day. Worst case, results will be up on Saturday, but I'll try to get them up tomorrow if I can.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 06, 2015, 05:05:14 AM
Alright guys, stay tuned, results in two hours.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Listening mode
Post by: ErHaO on March 06, 2015, 05:53:06 AM
Cool, let's see how my first roulette participation will end!  :D (or with a spectecular underdog uprising :hat).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Evermind on March 06, 2015, 06:35:51 AM
Alright, after the long wait, here we go!

Round 6: Results

senecadawg2: Falconer – Heresy in Disguise

Well, for one thing, I really enjoyed the opening riff. And overall this song doesn’t lack anything in the instrumental department, and there are some great vocal melodies, but the vocalist just doesn’t make the cut for me. This song could use more versatile voice; instead, it got this one, and I would even go as far as say the vocals are a bit of annoying. He sounds good when he sings the title line, which indeed sounds like “heresy in the skies”, like pointed on YouTube, but that’s about it. I enjoyed the song, but I have to say it didn’t feel particularly epic to me, more like a standard fare for power / heavy metal. Well, the ending gets epic just briefly, but that’s about it, so you get one point less for this round. Sorry!

6.5/10

wolfking: Iced Earth – Dracula

This song starts very promising with the calm and ominous acoustic playing supporting the deep vocals, and with the right continuation it could’ve even been 10/10; and those insane screams are quite appropriate with the fast beating riff approaching next, but I wish the vocals were a bit toned down, because those reckless screams become gratifying quickly. A bit of variety would’ve helped in this case. And the chorus, well… while I like the epic things, the one “epic” approach I usually can’t stand is the choir or multiple layers of the same lines behind the vocals on the chorus, hence why I don’t particularly like new Orgen Ogan or Kaledon albums, or a lot of Italian power metal for that matter. And I can’t even explain when it does work and when it doesn’t, because Blind Guardian, for example, can do it really well (except on their latest, but the stupid vocal melodies on those really don’t help there (Xanaduuuuu, anyone? Hell.) Well, anyway, the screams don’t ruin the song, and the only thing I’ve got to complaint about are the choruses, so overall it was a good experience all around. I’ll try to check some of this band’s work, and you recommendations would be welcome.

8/10

mikemangioy: Avenged Sevenfold – Afterlife

I somehow didn’t check a lot of MP’s side projects, so I was excited when you sent me this. I kind of like the song, but I don’t like the quirky vocals, and the chorus reminds me a lot of this alternative metal stuff. While the whole song is quite epic, with cool bass and vibe overall, it’s just if you want to end the epic song with the chorus, you should ensure the chorus itself would be epic enough, which doesn’t happen here. Though the instrumental before the chorus was great, I’ll give you that. One point less for you, man, though it’s not like it really matters at this point, I like to be thorough with this stuff. Overall, nice song, but I really don’t dig this alternative side of the tune.

5.5/10

lonestar: Mandroid Echostar – Citadels

The opening really reminded me of Beyond the Bridge. There was even the melody that sounded pretty much like those “if you want to face it / no, I want to be there / then, pitiful human” lines in the beginning. This is not Beyond the Bridge, for they are much better, of course, but this is something. This song is quite dense and difficult to digest even for its six minutes, but it’s indeed epic as hell. Great progressive metal riffing with appealing vocals, this song left a great impression on me after the first listen and since then it was just getting stronger. I love this break at 3:15, and after one last vocal entry the song is left to the evolution through the music without any vocals. Pretty interesting how in a lot of epic songs the lofty, grandiloquent feeling is achieved through some insane vocal lines, but this song does it with terrific and quite epic instrumental ending crossfading into the simple yet soulful acoustic guitar playing. For that alone, this tune deserves a round of applause and a high score.

9/10

Tyrias: Oceansize – Amputee

Is it epic? Kind of. Do I like the vocals? Hell no. I think it’s a good example of a song being unexciting just because the vocals fall flat for me. Pity, because I really wanted to like it and I was really looking forward to what you had to offer for the other two rounds, but this tune just isn’t impressive at all. You know, I don’t want to offend your tastes, really, because you’ve sent some brilliant tunes in the previous rounds, but this song does totally nothing for me. Our definitions of epic are probably not miles apart, just a few meters maybe, because while the instrumentation is probably epic, and the ending does have this epic vibe, I don’t think it can be applied to the whole song, because the first three minutes are just boring for me. Sorry man, one point less for you.

5.5/10

Shadow Ninja 2.0: Thirty Seconds to Mars – This is War

I obviously heard about Thirty Seconds to Mars, but I always kind of dismissed them as that alternative rock / metal I’m not a fan of, kind of like Linkin Park and other stuff (now, they may be completely different from Linkin Park, but I’m just that ignorant about this genre), so it was nice to finally give this band a chance. I think this is pretty good, honestly. It still has this distinctive alternative vibe, but I rather enjoyed it. It wasn’t that grandiose, but it was epic in some ways, the ways I guess a lot of tracks from this genre are epic. So, overall, rather average and didn’t wow me, but it left a positive impression on me. It wouldn’t save you now, but still, it was more than alright entry.

6.5/10

Dr. DTVT: Arena – Smoke and Mirrors

The tried and true acoustic intro never fails to build the song up to some epic measure, so I was pretty excited for this one. Epic shit indeed. Clean vocals and the guitar behind the organ really enhance the song as far as I’m concerned. This is just the type of song I was looking for this round, short, sweet and pompous, with accessible vocal melodies yet the pronounced progressive and metal edge. I guess the organ / keys could’ve been a little less cheesy, but the guitar really compensates those, so I can say I’m satisfied. I guess my only big complaint is the chorus, it’s just so happy it doesn’t feel like it belongs here in the song, and doesn’t add anything to the epic atmosphere. Anyway, this is a good song.

8/10

Sacul: Swans – Lunacy

I saw a few people on DTF constantly praising Swans, and even though my tastes are clearly different from theirs, I kind of wanted to try this band out. And you know what, this is actually really amazing. I really enjoy all the subtle touches behind the vocals, like the keyboard riff that suddenly starts in the middle of the song. I think the lyrics could’ve been a bit more diverse and imaginative, you know. (“Lunacy! Lunacy! Lunacy! Lunacy! Lunacy!” Seriously.) :lol I wish the ending was more intense, because it kind of kills the whole momentum, but otherwise I like this! This song just has too many great moments and too huge of a buildup to ignore it, and I’m certain I’ll be checking Swans further. Any suggestions what to buy first? Of course, you’ve sent this song kind of five rounds too late, you know, but you managed to send a great tune after all, and that’s what actually matters (or maybe not? You decide!). Anyway, thank you!

8.5/10

ErHaO: Mind’s Eye – Hell’s Invitation

The opening with a spoken part is strangely appropriate, with this pounding riff and the ringing keyboards underneath. The chorus is seriously tense with some weird vocal melodies I already like. The only thing I would erase is this demonic laugh. This song is pretty much a headbanging heaven, and the keys really add this epic feel to it, while the vocals and the art are complementing the whole package just right. I was apprehensive about the vocal melodies at first, but then something has just clicked and now I love them. I can’t help but say they’re pretty Seventh Wonder-ish too. You must be really a fan of this approach; and since I’m a fan of this approach too, it helps you to achieve the high score in this round. Seriously, man, I think this is the best song of the round. Very cool. Outstanding pick for an epic round, man.

9/10

Scorpion: Heavenly – Carpe Diem

I’ve already mentioned this cover in our PM conversation, so I’m not going there again. :facepalm And I didn’t listen to lyrics, so there’s that. I really like the melodies both on the verses and the “aaah” prechorus, and the whole prechorus is basically great, but sadly the vocal delivery itself is a bit underwhelming, and the chorus approach with the multilayered vocals isn’t too good (see my explanation is wolfking’s song writeup). Guitar solo and those riffs after it were a nice decision, working well in the song’s flow, but the mediocre vocals just bring the whole song down a notch. Pity. And what the hell with this muffled sound on the last chorus? Sorry, man, that wasn’t particularly good. With a good chorus this would’ve been 8.5, but unfortunately, the chorus really isn’t epic at all, and it ruins the epicness of the whole song. One point less for you.
 
7.5/10

bl5150: Pride of Lions – The Gift of Song

You know, when I listen to this I kind of see where you’ve got the impression I would like some cheese in my ballads, but I think one of the reasons I fell in love with that Ten song was the amazing guitar arrangement (and this song has nearly none) and the deep, kind of low register vocals. The vocal melodies are amazing here, but this song could really use some guitars, because otherwise it’s just too cheesy even for me. Broadway vibe, you say? I think that’s a good way to describe it. The instrumental part at 3:20 even goes into some disco vibe or something, I dunno, at least until the keyboard part (could be Hammond, could be not. I’m not expert on those things) hits in. And I really can’t argue with the last chorus being damnable epic, because that’s just ridiculous. I can’t quite determine what it reminds me of, but I swear I’ve heard something like this song before. Maybe this very song. Maybe not. I don’t know. This song just reminds me of something else I’ve heard very strongly, and I can’t pinpoint it. Anyway, it was good, but just a bit too cheesy, and since I usually don’t mind that at all, this was apparently very cheesy. Anyway, when I’m in the right mood for this song, it becomes really good. Rises above my expectations and its inspiration keeps me strong, haha. Other times though, I don’t think it’s that great. So I’ll just settle on “good”, I guess. While that wasn’t your best entry, I’m sure you’ve got a lot of other great stuff to introduce me in the last two rounds.

7.5/10

Parama: Fun. – Be Calm

Oh, what an amazing start with those violins. And the wtfness goes in right there! I have a wide smile on my face now, because the playfulness of the whole thing just gets me. You know, the funny thing is that usually in the roulette the players should learn the host tastes but with you I think it’s the opposite. I’m not sure if you have any idea what I like, but I feel pretty confident in your tastes now. As for the song, it’s again playful and fun overall, and though I think that Bodies of Water was better, this is quite cool and good too, and I can see myself giving an occasional spin to something like that. Fun indeed!

7/10

Standings:

lonestar - 52
bl5150 - 51.5
Dr. DTVT - 48
senecadawg2 - 46
wolfking - 45.5
___________

Scorpion (with a guest appearance from TAC) - 44.5
ErHaO - 44.5
___________

Tyrias - 41
Parama - 40.5
Sacul - 40
mikemangioy - 32.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 32.5

I wasn't checking out the whole standings when giving out the scores for each song, so here's what we've got here. The first five: RJ, Brent, Mason, Seneca and Kade are advancing to the next two rounds without any problems. Tyrias, Parama, Sacul, mikemangioy and Shadow Ninja are eliminated.

However, Scorp and ErHaO have the same number of points, so we're going to have a tiebreaker! The rules are in the post below. The other participants who are still in the roulette can use those few days to get ready to the slaughter that will follow.

Additions to the banned list:

Iced Earth
Mandroid Echostar
Arena
Swans
Mind's Eye
Heavenly
Pride of Lions

And before we go to the tiebreaker, I want to say a big thank you the people who participated in this roulette and, unfortunately, has been eliminated.

Shadow Ninja, while some of your entries were total misses, The Tallest Man on Earth and Steam Powered Giraffe were good and outstanding respectively. Thank you for introducing me to these bands/people, I'll definitely check them out further.

mikemangioy, while you didn't sent anything really awesome, I appreciate your effort to try and find something I would like. I think your problem was that your audio library wasn't that extensive, so you actually couldn't sent anything I wasn't familiar yet still appreciate. Elvenking was the closest, so thank you for that band. I'll try some of their albums.

Sacul, I'm honestly surprised you didn't do that good. I was certain our tastes are different yet alike in many ways, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to win your roulette, but apparently you didn't have a lot to offer, or you were too shy about it. You hit home with Swans in the last round, and that Pure Reason Revolution song was good, but I'll be honest, I hoped for more. Anyway, I hope you won't be disappointed a lot with your elimination. I respect your taste, and I'm looking forward to defend my crown in your next roulette, if you will host it. Thanks for participating in mine!

Parama, you've sent a lot of wtf-worthy songs to me, and the funniest thing I loved most of them, so basically you did really great in this roulette. I didn't expect this, but Diablo Swing Orchestra, Fun, and especially Bodies of Water were really awesome, and I will probably check all these three bands out, so you totally didn't do all this for naught. I probably would've never discovered those bands without your help, so great job there!

Tyrias, you've introduced me to some awesome bands and artists, especially Susanne Sundfor. Despite your initial failure with Biffy Clyro, you've managed to climb back into Top 6, but your next entries weren't that good. It's a pity, I was kind of rooting for you to get into the finals, but both those Chelsea Wolfe and Oceansize tunes weren't up my alley. Anyway, thank you for joining in! I would say you did good, but the opponents were just too solid.

Scorpion and ErHaO, roll over to find the tiebreaker info!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Evermind on March 06, 2015, 06:36:12 AM
Round 6: Tiebreaker

Participants:

Scorpion
ErHaO

The rules are simple. Both of you guys are to send me one song. No theme, basically an open round for you, The time limit is 10 minutes. Regardless of the length, I will give each song three listens. After that, I will decide who's going to be eliminated, and who's going to participate in the next two rounds. The score you'll get for this song won't be counted for general score.

lonestar, bl5150, Dr. DTVT, senecadawg2, wolfking: you don't need to send anything just yet. Wait for round 7 and its description, I'll post them after we're done with this tiebreaker.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: bl5150 on March 06, 2015, 06:43:21 AM
No worries.............with mine it was a matter of whether the mindblowing last 2 mins was enough to take the rating right up there regardless of the sorta lightweight first 4 mins.  For me it is........not for you though and I totally get it.

Now............any chance you could give a rough idea for the next round?  I have a couple of songs in mind and according to the first post there's no specific criteria.  Only reason I ask is that I leave for a 2 week trip this morning and will not have access to all my music files.  Given the way you like to listen I'd like to upload them to the cloud before I leave so I can give you mp3s.  I just want to make sure the songs are appropriate.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Evermind on March 06, 2015, 06:48:44 AM
Now............any chance you could give a rough idea for the next round?  I have a couple of songs in mind and according to the first post there's no specific criteria.  Only reason I ask is that I leave for a 2 week trip this morning and will not have access to all my music files.  Given the way you like to listen I'd like to upload them to the cloud before I leave so I can give you mp3s.  I just want to make sure the songs are appropriate.

Alright, it's not like that's a secret or anything. The next round is totally open. You have to send me two songs. You can choose the songs either from the same band, or the different ones, it's your choice. The total length of two songs must not exceed 20 minutes (so you can send 15 minutes + 5 minutes; or 10 minutes + 10 minutes; or 4 minutes + 3 minutes, whatever, as long as the total length isn't over 20 minutes).

Each song will be ranked separately on the scale of 10, so Round 7 is your biggest opportunity to score points. Therefore, the maximum amount of points you can get is 20, which is quite a lot.

If you've got any other questions to ask for Round 7, fire away.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: lonestar on March 06, 2015, 07:31:52 AM
Oh. Hell. To. The. Yeah.


Finally got the lead man. Let's see if it can hold....

The Mandroid Echostar EP of the same name is just fantastic, a near 30 minute concept ep. Really good stuff worth checking out, and they have a full length pretty much recorded and awaiting release. (I have total dibs on the review btw)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Sacul on March 06, 2015, 07:44:35 AM
Now I didn't expect this - again :rollin . Thought you may hate the vocals or something else, but at least you liked two of my entries so that's enough for me.

I'd recommend you checking that album, The Seer. Lunacy is just the opening track, but don't even expect the rest of the record to be like that. Let's say that it's really an experimental thing, but also the band's most accesible output, so...  :lol . But give it some time, and you'll realise it's either a brilliant piece of music or pure hipster crap - I believe the former, although listening to the self-titled 30 mins epic makes me doubt at times.

Anyways, it was fun to play this one - I also expected to do way better, but I guess my musical library ain't big enough to find lots of stuff that would have appealed you. I hope you're prepared to defend your crown in a year or so, 'cause it will be tough - the system will be a bit different, with no special points, so sending good enough power metal won't save you :neverusethis: .

Although I'm not playing any longer, I'll still follow this. Thanks for leading it!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 06, 2015, 08:32:44 AM
I know exactly what I'm sending for round 7.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Crow on March 06, 2015, 08:52:24 AM
wow i'm pissed you entered Amputee of all things Oceansize, why  :lol
For what it's worth Oceansize was the band I would've double-entered in round 7 :V
anyways here's a list of much better songs from Oceansize
Catalyst // Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs // Long Forgotten // The entire Music For Nurses EP honestly //Music For A Nurse // Ornament/The Last Wrongs // Unfamiliar // Trail of Fire // Savant // Only Twin // The Frame // SuperImposer // Build Us A Rocket Then... // Oscar Acceptance Speech // Silent/Transparent // It's My Tail And I'll Chase It If I Want To

and i still need to listen to the non-album/main EP tracks more too, ugh
Oceansize is seriously one of my favorite bands, ever, and entering Amputee is just... why. not that it's bad but whatever :P

I have to wonder if this would've done better as an entry from Caligula's Horse, too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tIfhqvAJeA

anyways that's all I have to say, I never had an epic to enter anyways and the artist I wanted to enter next already got entered so being cut is fine  :lol

And you probably don't have a good idea of my musical tastes because I didn't enter much metal, which is actually a large chunk of what I listen to  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: mikemangioy on March 06, 2015, 08:53:26 AM
Over and out! This was a fun but frustrating roulette  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Tyrias on March 06, 2015, 08:53:43 AM
Damn. I knew it was a risk, but I hoped it would pay off more... Also, I'm not entirely sure what makes the last 2 minutes more epic in your mind, I think the song already starts epic and doesn't really get any more epic throughout the song. Also, I think you put a lot more importance on vocals than I do (and we have a bit of a different taste in them ;)). While I don't think they are great in this song, they mostly just fade to the background when I'm listening to the song and I focus on the Instruments. Maybe I should have realized that earlier in the roulette, now it's kind of to late :P. But the world would be a boring place if everyone liked the same music, and at least I introduced you to some cool music. Thanks for letting me play.

Also, I thought about sending a Swans song as well, for just a second, and then immediatly thought you'd hate it. Guess I was wrong :lol.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Tyrias on March 06, 2015, 09:01:31 AM
wow i'm pissed you entered Amputee of all things Oceansize, why  :lol
For what it's worth Oceansize was the band I would've double-entered in round 7 :V
anyways here's a list of much better songs from Oceansize
Catalyst // Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs // Long Forgotten // The entire Music For Nurses EP honestly //Music For A Nurse // Ornament/The Last Wrongs // Unfamiliar // Trail of Fire // Savant // Only Twin // The Frame // SuperImposer // Build Us A Rocket Then... // Oscar Acceptance Speech // Silent/Transparent // It's My Tail And I'll Chase It If I Want To

and i still need to listen to the non-album/main EP tracks more too, ugh
Oceansize is seriously one of my favorite bands, ever, and entering Amputee is just... why. not that it's bad but whatever :P

I have to wonder if this would've done better as an entry from Caligula's Horse, too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tIfhqvAJeA

anyways that's all I have to say, I never had an epic to enter anyways and the artist I wanted to enter next already got entered so being cut is fine  :lol

And you probably don't have a good idea of my musical tastes because I didn't enter much metal, which is actually a large chunk of what I listen to  :lol

Well, I would have loved to enter one of the other songs you posted, but most of them would have had me at least 3 points deducted for being way over the time limit. :P I actually think that all those longer songs you posted up there are better than Amputee, except the short songs from their last album. And I think Music for Nurses is not particularly epic and works better as a whole. It's absolutely fantastic, though, just not really stuff you can send in a roulette IMO.
Also, what's wrong with Amputee? They're one of my favourite bands as well and I'd say Amputee is among their best songs (which is admittedly quite a lot of material, since they don't really have any clunkers on any of their albums ;) )

Also, damn. Sorry for the double post. Is there any way to make those two into one?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Crow on March 06, 2015, 09:03:24 AM
I'm just talking about in general, not the scope of this specific round  :lol
and there's nothing wrong with Amputee, just that there are some 20+ better Oceansize songs IMO :P
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: ErHaO on March 06, 2015, 12:36:20 PM
Cool!

Will send my stuff and comment tonight! ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: jjrock88 on March 06, 2015, 01:42:14 PM
Thats a great Iced Earth song!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: wolfking on March 06, 2015, 03:49:13 PM
Alright, good shit.  The bands I have available is getting very thin now.  :lol  Let's bring it on.  Good Pride of Lions song too.

Thats a great Iced Earth song!

Oh hell yeah man.

Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: TAC on March 06, 2015, 03:57:21 PM
Dracula is awesome! Just listened to Horror Show a few weeks back. Always thought that Matt Barlow sounds a little like Paul Stanley on that album.

I see Scorp used Heavenly. I would have used them as well, and the lack of Heavenly jumped out at me on the Banned List right away. I would not have gone with Carpe Diem. In the small epic round, I might have gone with Evil.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: jjrock88 on March 06, 2015, 04:11:26 PM
You can hear on a lot of Iced Earth songs the slight similarities between Matt & Paul
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: lonestar on March 06, 2015, 07:38:15 PM
Ok, so I got the lead, and I got two solid fucking bands waiting for the kill. Bring your best kids, I really wanna take this one home. :RJ:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: ErHaO on March 06, 2015, 07:51:09 PM
Tiebreaker sent!

Very late now, so I will comment on stuff tomorrow.

I'll say this now though: hell yeah! Actually won a round  ;D Glad you liked it, I will give my thoughts tomorrow.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: ErHaO on March 07, 2015, 11:23:17 AM
So my thoughts on last round:

As for Mind's Eye. Regarding the vocals, I agree. He often sings melodies that are slightly odd but keep on going in your head as soon as they stick. While having a very different voice obviously, the guy has some similarities to the likes of Tommy Karevik, Thom Englund and Tony Kakko in terms of applying his voice and playing around with it. Not sure how I would call it, but maybe "soulful" is a correct term. I love the vocals on the album a lot. The guitars are also great. Quite often pounding heavy riffs but also some very nice solo's. To convey the concept, the band makes use of a choir, female vocals, voice acting, environmental sounds etc. And like on this song, it is always brief but adding to the atmosphere. (Additionally, as for the art, I read in reviews that the CD comes with a comicbook esque insert (booklet) tying to the story, but I do not own it, so cannot comment on it's quality).

I agree with Falconer. I do think the vocalist (Mathias Blad) is really good, but sometimes he does not mesh well with the music at all. Still, I enjoy some of their work a lot. And when the vocals do align well with the music, it can be fantastic. Kind of wish the guy did some work with others as well (Arjen?). He normally sings in musicals, I believe.

And what... Iced Earth was not banned?  :lol (saw Demons & Wizards). While I do not really love most albums of them as a whole, they have quite some songs I consider true classics. I'm sure there are parts of their discography that you may enjoy.

Aaand potentially cockblocked for Arena! (was initially going for Hanging Tree if I make the cut).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 07, 2015, 11:48:52 AM
Smoke and Mirrors isn't my favorite song, hell it would probably be just outside my top 10 Arena songs, but it fit the theme and it wasn't dependent on the album theme as much as ones from The Visitor and Contagion.  Speaking of which, I relistened to both of those albums in the past week and they are still freaking awesome 18 and 12 years later, respectively.  They both have stood the test of time, and it is criminal how much they have been overlooked.

Falconer is super hit or miss.  They have at least two good albums, but they also released some total drek that so I stopped following them closely.  I strongly considered sending The Coronation before settling on Arena.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: Evermind on March 07, 2015, 11:14:28 PM
Got both songs, but I'm not at home at the moment. Results are coming up in ~14 hours.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: wolfking on March 08, 2015, 04:54:36 AM
And what... Iced Earth was not banned?  :lol (saw Demons & Wizards).

So what?  D&W is a completely different band.  Iced Earth weren't on the list, case closed.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 6 - Tiebreaker
Post by: ErHaO on March 08, 2015, 06:35:20 AM
And what... Iced Earth was not banned?  :lol (saw Demons & Wizards).

So what?  D&W is a completely different band.  Iced Earth weren't on the list, case closed.

Oh, I just worded my surprise! Offcourse D&W is different, but I blindly assumed IE to be on the list since people listening Blind Guardian and D&W are often familiar enough with the band (at least, that was my assumption).

Not a problem  ;) IE never occurred to me for this roulette or anything, I was just a bit surprised.


Fun random IE and BG fact, BG even has a page for their first meeting with Iced Earth in the career summarizing booklet of their Traveller's discography box. I kind of always consider the bands related, even though the music is obviously different (so it's not really rational).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Evermind on March 08, 2015, 02:57:32 PM
Well, I wouldn't say the choice was a no-brainer, but it wasn't as difficult as I expected. Both good songs, but one is just more up my alley than the other.

Round 6: Tiebreaker: Results

ErHaO: Threshold – The Hours

Your PM said “Sooo Damian Wilson, again”, and that was basically my first thought when I saw which band you’ve sent. Well, I guess that’s not really cheating, because I liked Headspace song and didn’t really enjoy his solo ballad you’ve sent me in Round 2. I did enjoy this tune, however. The keyboards are a big highlight of this track, and Damian enhances the track with his clean singing, especially on the “I fight against the hours” parts. This song is quite accessible despite its length (more than eight minutes), and seriously enjoyable overall; the only thing I don’t like is the weird sound effect (I think) coming up after the choruses. Great guitar solo in the second half too. Overall, this song was definitely the better one of the two.

8/10

Scorpion: Theocracy – Laying the Demon to Rest

This song was more difficult to get into. Not that it’s not accessible, but for nearly ten minutes it has a lot of various stuff going on, and while some parts are just stellar, other sections are really uncalled for or just don’t fit with the song, in my opinion. I don’t see the point of this balls-to-the-wall all out heavy intro; I dislike the whispering vocals in the beginning, though the music beneath them is fine; the vocals aren’t really the strongest point of this tune anyway, except when the guy gets his screams out, like on those “Into temptation / I can hear it” lines. I really love the chorus though, the melodies there are outstanding, with a grandiose feeling about them. I also don’t appreciate this song getting exceptionally heavy at times (the instrumental break at ~5:30 does exactly that). I think this tune could’ve been really amazing if the band would just cut some parts out; leaving the calm part with clean vocals instead, leave two verses and two choruses as they are, and soften the instrumental break somehow. Of course, that would’ve been another song at this point. I still liked it, but in the long run I think that Threshold song appeals to me more.

7/10

Which means, ErHaO advances to Round 7, and Scorpion is out. It's a pity, as I'm sure you've got a lot more of badass metal to send me, but maybe next time! Anyway, Speaking to Stones, Dog Fashion Disco and Lost in Thought were all great entries from you, and I'll be sure to check out some of their albums. Thank you for playing!

So the standings are like that now:

lonestar - 52
bl5150 - 51.5
Dr. DTVT - 48
senecadawg2 - 46
wolfking - 45.5
ErHaO - 44.5

Also, Threshold is added to the banned list. Therefore, Seneca, you kind of need to resend one of your songs (again) ;)

See Round 7 description in the next post.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Evermind on March 08, 2015, 02:57:56 PM
Round 7: Open: Two songs

So now we've got only six players left, I will need more music from each of you. So you have to send me two songs now! As I wrote before, you can choose the songs either from the same band, or the different ones, it's your choice. The total length of two songs must not exceed 20 minutes (so you can send 15 minutes + 5 minutes; or 10 minutes + 10 minutes; or 4 minutes + 3 minutes, whatever, as long as the total length isn't over 20 minutes).

Each song will be ranked separately on the scale of 10, so Round 7 is your biggest opportunity to score points. Therefore, the maximum amount of points you can get is 20, which is quite a lot.

If there's any questions, I'll be glad to answer them. Looking forward to your songs!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: lonestar on March 08, 2015, 03:06:53 PM
Hmmm, I didn't see that the two songs could be from different bands, I gotta re-think this shit.....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 08, 2015, 03:42:40 PM
Damn, I was saving Threshold...and I can think of about ten other Threshold songs better than The Hours.  Matter of fact one of them I was going to send in round seven. 
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Scorpion on March 08, 2015, 04:03:02 PM
I'd thought you'd get a kick out of Theocracy. :( Oh well, glad you liked some of the stuff I sent anyway. Your banned list was truly a might thing that stopped many of my potentially awesome submissions.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: ErHaO on March 08, 2015, 04:28:37 PM
Awesome! Hope I can offer you more stuff that suit your taste.

Expect my songs somewhere tommorow!

And Scorpion, I agree Theocracy is awesome! Took me a while to get into them though.

Damn, I was saving Threshold...and I can think of about ten other Threshold songs better than The Hours.  Matter of fact one of them I was going to send in round seven.

Yeah, sorry guys  :blush :angel: I mentioned a band I was expecting twice, it was Threshold. But since I got an unexpected extra round with little prep time, my hands were tied (so to say) and I took the safe oppertunity  :laugh: I love The Hours btw and think March of Progress is a great album. Not necessarliy their best song indeed, but a distinct one and good introduction to the album imo.

I do recommend Evermind to check them out. Especially the albums March of Progress and Hypothetical as a start (note the different vocalists also have a huge impact on the bands sound. The other one, Mac, was great as well).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: wolfking on March 09, 2015, 05:38:45 AM
Damn, 2 songs.  I gotta be out of bands.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: bl5150 on March 09, 2015, 07:37:01 AM
Damn, 2 songs.  I gotta be out of bands.

Out of bands without

(https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2013/08/Cookie-Monster-608x497.jpg)

you mean  :lol


Sent
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Evermind on March 09, 2015, 07:47:58 AM
Damn, 2 songs.  I gotta be out of bands.

It's not like I didn't warn about this. It was even in the first post.

You can send two songs by the same band though, it's not forbidden.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: jjrock88 on March 09, 2015, 03:41:51 PM
Damn, 2 songs.  I gotta be out of bands.

Impossible
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: wolfking on March 09, 2015, 03:55:26 PM
Damn, 2 songs.  I gotta be out of bands.

Out of bands without

(https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2013/08/Cookie-Monster-608x497.jpg)

you mean  :lol


Sent

 :rollin  Yeah, fair call.

Damn, 2 songs.  I gotta be out of bands.

Impossible

haha, I'm sure I'll come up with something.

I'll send something in about 12 hours.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: wolfking on March 09, 2015, 04:11:50 PM
Okay, just looking through my list of bands again, saying I have no more bands was probably the dumbest thing I've ever said.  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: wolfking on March 09, 2015, 05:48:25 PM
Bugger it, just sent my songs.  Late for work haha.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: jjrock88 on March 09, 2015, 07:29:44 PM
Bugger it, just sent my songs.  Late for work haha.

Just tell work you are late because you were sending songs for a song roulette on Dream Theater forum; they will understand
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 09, 2015, 07:50:21 PM
Sent two songs I love, and I think will be right up your wheelhouse as well.

If only Chad were here, he knows these songs kick ass up, down, and sideways.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: wolfking on March 10, 2015, 05:28:10 AM
Bugger it, just sent my songs.  Late for work haha.

Just tell work you are late because you were sending songs for a song roulette on Dream Theater forum; they will understand

It's all good bro, my boss is such a fucking idiot, we are basically our own bosses.  :lol  He's such a soft prick, I'd tell him that and he'd just say, 'oh okay.' haha

If only Chad were here, he knows these songs kick ass up, down, and sideways.

Chad would have all of us covered and be in first place.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: lonestar on March 10, 2015, 09:41:47 AM
Whatever, I have smoked Chad on numerous occasions, and would have done it again here.




I'll try and remember to send tonight, got called into work, bastards....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Evermind on March 10, 2015, 09:43:32 AM
Whatever, I have smoked Chad on numerous occasions, and would have done it again here.

I'll try and remember to send tonight, got called into work, bastards....

Yeah, you're the only one who didn't send me the songs. Not to worry though, got an important review to write for today and tomorrow, so I won't be able to listen anyway.

If RJ sends tonight, I'm aiming for Friday evening / Saturday afternoon results.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 10, 2015, 12:28:28 PM
Whatever, I have smoked Chad on numerous occasions


That's why he hasn't been around, your cooked him and are eating the evidence?  How was the Canadian Bacon?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: wolfking on March 10, 2015, 02:19:12 PM
Whatever, I have smoked Chad on numerous occasions, and would have done it again here.

I hope you're reading this Chad.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: lonestar on March 10, 2015, 10:35:03 PM
OK man, I've sent. Sorry for the delay folks...
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: Evermind on March 10, 2015, 10:46:39 PM
Yeah, everyone's in. As I said, I probably won't be able to write the teasers today, so expect them Thursday evening. Results will most likely be posted Saturday afternoon.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: jingle.boy on March 12, 2015, 05:39:35 AM
Whatever, I have smoked Chad on numerous occasions, and would have done it again here.

Act pretty tough when I'm not around, eh big boy?
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Bolsters on March 12, 2015, 05:42:56 AM
Busted! :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Send for Round 7!
Post by: wolfking on March 12, 2015, 05:49:28 AM
Whatever, I have smoked Chad on numerous occasions, and would have done it again here.

Act pretty tough when I'm not around, eh big boy?

Yeah buddy! haha
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 12, 2015, 11:53:17 AM
Whatever, I have smoked Chad on numerous occasions, and would have done it again here.

Act pretty tough when I'm not around, eh big boy?

 :rollin

Alright, with The Gentle Storm review out of the way, the first listen starts right now. See you all in two hours with my first thoughts about the songs. :tup
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on March 12, 2015, 12:29:39 PM
is The Gentle Storm good
I hope it is
'Cause honestly I haven't been that interested in the project thus far  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 12, 2015, 02:18:29 PM
is The Gentle Storm good
I hope it is
'Cause honestly I haven't been that interested in the project thus far  :lol

Are you really asking the guy who eliminated you from his roulette because your songs weren't good enough about this? :biggrin: Yeah, it's not only good, it's freaking awesome. I really doubt it'll be up your alley though.

So well, the first thoughts and stuff! This was one of the strongest rounds yet. Most of you obviously prepared your secret trump cards to use, and most of them scored well. One participant suprisingly didn't do great after the first listen, but that may have something to do with the songs being growers and so on. Also, I think I've received the first 10/10 song in this roulette, and also two 9.5 songs! Great batch, guys. Just bloody incredible, and that was only the first listen...

Here are your total scores after the initial spin:

13.5 - 15 - 15 - 17 - 17.5 - 17.5

And the thoughts, here they are:

Quote from: Evermind
While this song is quite nice and powerful, I couldn’t help but feel it lacks something. Yeah, it’s good metal I guess, whatever; I don’t think I would strive to hear it again.

Quote from: Evermind
<...> and it just gets more and more epic; the song doesn’t allow any space to breathe or to rest, keeping up with the pounding riffs, the compelling, wide and huge vocal lines, along with intense instrumental breaks.

Quote from: Evermind
Well, that’s some cheesy music indeed. The quiet, calm parts are cheesy, and the heavy parts are even cheesier. And that comes from me, so I guess you really should think it over!

Quote from: Evermind
Hey, is it me, or this sounds a lot like IQ and Pendragon?

Quote from: Evermind
<...> the melodies aren't exciting and the whole song is somehow fails to appeal to me. Maybe it’s just a huge grower, but I don’t think I really like it. Too much random stuff blended together, in my opinion, and without the needed amount of cohesiveness all the great melodies, riffs and arpeggios just fall apart.

Quote from: Evermind
OooooooooooAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Hell, man! Now that’s the power metal I know and love!

And of course the best one:

Quote from: Evermind
First of all, the guitarwork is just stunning on this one. I was wondering why no one is sending me [spoiler], and here we go. This one has this pronounced [spoiler] vibe, and I bloody love it to pieces. One of the best songs, if not the best song I’ve received in this roulette.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on March 12, 2015, 03:03:48 PM
Hmmm, not sure what to make of it. One of mine could have easily been the "cheesy" song, and the other could have been the "epic" one. Just hoping I'm still up top....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 12, 2015, 06:21:16 PM
I'm pretty sure mine is the epic one.  It's epic as fuck.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: wolfking on March 12, 2015, 08:35:46 PM
There could be a few there that are mine actually.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Sacul on March 12, 2015, 08:44:22 PM
I guess the cheesy song is one of those which got a 9.5 :neverusethis:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: bl5150 on March 12, 2015, 09:07:55 PM
I went for some power metal that I was confident in and a short "acousticy" ballad that I thought was a risk - reading between the lines I think I was right in that assessment  ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 14, 2015, 09:21:31 AM
I guess the cheesy song is one of those which got a 9.5 :neverusethis:

 :rollin

Sorry guys, due to some unexpected stuff the results will be posted tomorrow (Sunday evening).
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on March 15, 2015, 07:54:09 AM
 :corn
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 15, 2015, 08:01:03 AM
I'm working on it, got eight writeups done, but there's that English Barclays Premier League I need to watch... ;D

Six hours from now on at the latest.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on March 15, 2015, 10:08:23 AM
No excuses. Plus, the important soccer happened Friday when Tijuana beat Vera Cruz.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 15, 2015, 03:07:42 PM
Alright, this was the best round yet by far! Here we go...

Round 7: Results

ErHaO:

Anton Johansson’s Galahad Suite – Hunted – The Decision 

Well, that’s some cheesy music indeed. The quiet, calm parts are actually alright, but the heavy parts are total cheesefest, especially with those lyrics. Also, this has got to be the best story about how you decided to send this song in the whole roulette. Sometimes those spontaneous decisions are the best ones, but sometimes they’re not, haha. I think the song is more like a hard rock with some calm parts, I don’t think it’s really progressive or something, but I know nearly nothing about the time signatures and that kind of stuff, so I may be totally wrong here. My first impressions about this song weren’t that positive, but in fact it’s not that awful. The guitar solo is good, and the calm parts are enjoyable too if only I ignore the forced lyrics; the chorus is unimpressive though. I don’t know about the whole album, but this song could’ve been better indeed.

6/10

Galahad – Empires Never Last

Now, this one is absolutely different. You know, listening to this song I’m just glad you’ve made it through the tiebreaker to the final part, because this is just excellent big time. The song sounds very much like Pendragon and IQ, and since I appreciated the former in this roulette, and I love the latter, this one was probably a safe choice, and it turned out to be a total hit, I just love this song. The long intro builds the tension up immensely, and the calm part with a great bass is incredible, bursting with the small heavy sections throughout. My biggest problem with the neo-progressive bands is usually the vocals; and this band nailed them, the vocal delivery is amazing indeed. I can’t help but smirk at the British enunciation this guy does at “She’ll point the fingah and pull the triggah”, and that moment he just spits the words in “They al! Ways! Crumble! And fall.” makes me smile too, but I guess that’s the charm of this song! Pre-chorus is awesome and the chorus is absolutely awesome — despite featuring only two short lines, it manages to be epic and incredibly fitting. I just don’t have enough superlatives for this song, man, magnificent tune all around, probably among the top three songs I’ve received in this roulette (another one being that Ten song Brent sent me, and another one is coming up soon in this round). Thank you!

9.5/10

lonestar:

Kingcrow – The Hatch


You sure you didn’t send me Steven Wilson’s Ancestral by mistake? The drums are sure sounding like it. It took five full listens for this song to click with me; initially the part about “too much random stuff blended together, in my opinion, and without the needed amount of cohesiveness all the great melodies, riffs and arpeggios just fall apart” was directed at this song, but finally on the last listen it all made sense. I don’t know what the problem was, but now I’m enjoying this song indeed. The somber acoustic intro with the clean vocals all over it, great start for the tune indeed, with a satisfying transition to the heavy part too. The part I hated initially, the one with “Now I can get out of my maze”, this I still dislike, but otherwise the song grew on me. Good tune all around, but not on your usual level, I think.

8/10

Shineback – Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed

Fine, this one I’ve definitely heard about, so I was quite eager to find out how good is it. That could be a matter of quality, but both the guitars and the first lines (which are sung with some vocal effect obviously) sound not really convincing and likable, which really sours my enjoyment of what comes next. The vocals aren’t that good even without the effects, which is kind of unusual for your entries; all six rounds and Kingcrow song had top-notch vocals. This song reminds me of those happy progressive rock tunes I’m usually not very fond of, just like Mason’s Xen entry in Round 2. The worst offender here is probably the chorus; it’s annoyingly catchy and just isn’t good to my taste. The instrumental parts in this song are much better though, so in the end they kind of save the day here; and I like the part with harmonies at ~6:20, they remind me of Drag Ropes by Storm Corrosion, so the ending of the song would’ve been quite great if only the chorus wasn’t there again, haha.

6.5/10

bl5150:

Crystal Eyes – Shadow Rider 


Now that’s what I call a nearly perfect song to headbang along with. Out of your power metal entries, this is definitely the best yet, the vocals are better than Morifade and Angel Dust, the mix really has its punch, and cranking the sound up helps immensely. That’s the kind of power metal I was looking for! The huge chorus reminds me of Sabaton, which are another band often referencing war in their lyrics, the riff is indeed very Iron Maiden-like; and I don’t know enough of Iced Earth to compare this song with their output. This tune sounds like a good song for an encore, the audience will probably descend into madness during this one, and there are good sing along stuff too in the end. Anyway, the whole song is a great pack of fine power metal, and while it’s a bit of a safe choice on your side, it’s definitely not forbidden to send great power metal, so you get your expected high score for this one.

8.5/10

Mattador – Tired

Total dud? More like total awesomeness, man. I love ballads (wonder why almost no one is sending them), and this one had hit home just fine. Soulful and mournful voice over the heartfelt acoustic guitar playing, turns out it’s all that this song needs to be amazing. I really love the guitar in this song, just incredible. This tune is just full of great moments, I especially enjoy the verse-ending parts that go like “Nothing we can do”, “What have I become”, and of course “…and I’m too tired to live”. The song is really short, and the ending, while being not really different from the rest of the song, is just chilling because of the lyrics. You know, after a few listens I finally pinpointed what this reminds me of — Soldier of Fortune by Deep Purple. May be just me though, for the vocals and the melodies are nothing alike, but the atmosphere is kind of similar, I think. All in all, I just can’t stop listening to this song. Absolutely great tune.

9.5/10

Dr. DTVT:

Ice Age – Perpetual Child 


The two minutes long instrumental intro was outstanding — it actually managed to stay interesting the whole time, giving me the distinctive Dream Theater vibe right away. I even kind of expected “There was no time for pain, no energy for anger…” line to come up next. I doubted the vocals a bit until the part at 3:15 came in, where I was thoroughly convinced this song is going to be awesome. And it definitely is! Getting more and more epic, this song doesn’t allow any space to breathe or to rest, keeping up with the lofty keyboard arrangements, pounding riffs, the compelling, wide and huge vocal lines, along with intense instrumental breaks. The most epic song of the round indeed. I don’t have a lot to say about it, but I really enjoyed this one.

9/10

Ice Age – The Lhasa Road (No Surrender)

Alright, I hope I’m actually listening to the same track you wanted to send me, because the YouTube link was deleted and I still have no access to the file on your Google Drive (whatever you did to make it work apparently wasn’t enough), so I just had to find it elsewhere. But it has the words “Lhasa Road” and “No surrender” in the lyrics, so I guess I found the right one. Curiously, you were the only player who sent two songs by the same band. I enjoy the guitar work on this one, and it’s nice to see the band is capable of writing quite different songs, because this is no Perpetual Child at all, even though some keyboard and guitar sounds feel indeed familiar. I liked this song less than the first one, but there are still great moments like at 3:40 – 4:20, and even the chorus during “That was on the Lhasa Road” is nice. Good song, but after Perpetual Child I expected something more.

7.5/10

senecadawg2:

Journey – Of A Lifetime


You know, during the whole roulette I was seriously wondering why no one is sending me the tunes from 70s, because I’ve made it quite clear most of my favourite albums come from that decade, and now you’ve finally done it big time. This song has this recognizable, pronounced 70s vibe, and I bloody love this song to pieces. Magnificent guitar work, spectacular atmosphere, great vocals, outstanding song structure… there’s just nothing to complain about. That calm approach, the apparent not-giving-any-shit vocals, the soulful delivery, the fascinating, impressive guitars, all is just top-notch here. This is musical perfection for me, and I can’t believe I didn’t check this band out earlier. The best song I received in this roulette for sure, just bloody awesome, and I don’t even know how to describe it properly. Just brilliant. Thank you so much for this.

10/10

Wishbone Ash – Sometime World

Seems like you decided to rely heavily on the old school 70s tunes for this round, eh? Well, guess what, amazing decision right here dude. This one isn’t that glorious, of course, but still such a great tune. Nice, lighthearted, acoustic with occasional electric guitar touches (or maybe lap steel, though I doubt it), this song just floors me up until the relatively speedy part comes in, the melody and the rhythm reminding me of Marillion’s Incommunicado a bit. Playful and fun progressive rock song indeed, and I like it, but definitely not as much as your other entry. Still, I think it would be nice to check out the whole album. I like the mood this song is projecting.

8/10

wolfking:

Lost Horizon – Think Not Forever 

OooooooooooAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Hell, man! Now that’s the power metal I know and love! I can only assume you were holding this band to send them in the later round, but you kind of nearly didn’t make it, so either you have some impenetrable balls of steel or just sending whatever you think of at the moment (I’m leaning toward the second). To say this song is good is to say nothing, it’s a very fine power metal I’m definitely interested in. Great guitars, vocals and the melodies all around. The singer isn’t afraid to take on the high notes and does them pretty great, also for its six minutes the song feels even more concise; the instrumental break is magnificent too, well, it’s almost as good as power metal gets.

9/10

Pagan’s Mind – Intermission

While this song is quite nice and powerful, I couldn’t help but feel it lacks something. It just feels like a tune made totally by numbers, with no soul and no real effort put in it, and while I should like this genre and this song, it just leaves me totally cold. Yeah, it’s good metal I guess, whatever; I don’t think I would strive to hear it again. The vocal effects don’t really help too.

6/10

Standings:

bl5150 - 69.5
lonestar - 66.5
Dr. DTVT - 64.5
senecadawg2 - 64
wolfking - 60.5
ErHaO - 60

The standings are pretty much the same, except RJ lost his lead after an unsuccessful round.

Additions to the banned list:

Galahad
Kingcrow
Crystal Eyes
Mattador
Ice Age
Journey
Wishbone Ash
Lost Horizon

And see the next post for the final round write up!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 15, 2015, 03:08:44 PM
Round 8: Epic

Alright, so here we are, the epic round. The rules are simple here: send me an epic (in the land of the morning star :lol). No length limit. I'll rank it with the 10 points for the song itself, and there also will be a ranking for the song epicness, going up to the five points. So, for example, the song can get 10/10 in usual rankings and 5/5 if it's really epic, giving you 15 points at best.

I'm really looking forward for this round, guys, so I hope you'll bring best epics you have in your arsenal.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: senecadawg2 on March 15, 2015, 03:15:08 PM
I sense it's way too late for any sort of comeback, at this point, but I'm glad you enjoyed the Journey song so much. It's one of my all-time favorites. Clearly I should've just sent another one with it, probably would've scored pretty well.   :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 15, 2015, 03:26:59 PM
Well, your songs kind of did score pretty well anyway. 18 points out of 20 and all that.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Sacul on March 15, 2015, 03:37:15 PM
The cheese just got a 6? No. No, no. NO! No bloody way! What am I even following this roulette? :facepalm:






























 :neverusethis:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Crow on March 15, 2015, 06:20:06 PM
always good to see Wishbone Ash being sent in. Don't recognize anything else here sadly  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: bl5150 on March 15, 2015, 08:24:45 PM
I'm really glad I hit the spot with "Tired" R.........

Well this is my weakest round coming up I reckon, and given that we're now talking 15 points I don't think anyone's home by any means.  I'm away on holidays and uploaded a couple of tracks before I left , so I don't have too much to think about :) .   And I'll be honest.............outside of DT and Symphony X (who also have plenty of duds) you would barely need both hands to count the number of 8-10 min + songs that I really give a toss about.  They almost invariably reach a point with me where it's more about music for the sake of music rather than adding to the song.



Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: lonestar on March 15, 2015, 09:32:46 PM
Well this is my weakest round coming up I reckon

Best news I've read all day, cause I've got one big mamma jamma in the hole waiting for this round. As my grandpa used to say, go big or go home. Sending now.....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: bl5150 on March 15, 2015, 09:58:01 PM
Well this is my weakest round coming up I reckon

Best news I've read all day, cause I've got one big mamma jamma in the hole waiting for this round. As my grandpa used to say, go big or go home. Sending now.....

I think I'm going to go small (<9 mins) and hopefully stay where I am  :lol    Epicness per minute will be my calling card. ;D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: wolfking on March 15, 2015, 09:58:50 PM
I could be an asshole with this round.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: bl5150 on March 15, 2015, 10:01:11 PM
Green Carnation is banned  :lol

Sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 15, 2015, 10:29:18 PM
I could be an asshole with this round.
Green Carnation is banned  :lol
:rollin

It's not like you have anything to lose anyway.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 15, 2015, 10:34:55 PM
I can think of an hour+ song that is not banned, but I don't think I'm going to send it.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: wolfking on March 16, 2015, 04:26:27 AM
Green Carnation is banned  :lol

Sent.

Fuck.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 16, 2015, 06:42:12 AM
Green Carnation is banned  :lol

Sent.

Fuck.

Would've earned you full 15 points though. Maybe I would've added a few more for that guitar solo cover you did. :P

Got three people in (well, technically four, but Seneca needs to resend - I've heard his song already). Due to the length of songs, I'll probably start listening to your songs today.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Crow on March 16, 2015, 08:05:36 AM
For what it's worth, if you haven't heard Light of Day, Day of Darkness yet

I'm so sorry

Your life hasn't truly begun yet
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 16, 2015, 09:19:55 AM
For what it's worth, if you haven't heard Light of Day, Day of Darkness yet

I'm so sorry

Your life hasn't truly begun yet

It was #40 in my Top 50 album list.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Crow on March 16, 2015, 10:39:33 AM
I know you have  :lol
I'm talking in general, to people who may not know of it :P
It's on the short list of epics that I think really works well though, yeah.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 16, 2015, 10:48:47 AM
Oh, alright then. :lol Yeah, it's totally awesome.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: wolfking on March 16, 2015, 02:37:49 PM
For what it's worth, if you haven't heard Light of Day, Day of Darkness yet

I'm so sorry

Your life hasn't truly begun yet

What this guy said.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: TAC on March 16, 2015, 03:04:46 PM
I have never heard a lick of it.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: lonestar on March 16, 2015, 03:18:34 PM
Me neither.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: ErHaO on March 16, 2015, 03:54:40 PM
Same here.

Guess I'll have to start that thing called life soon then.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: TAC on March 16, 2015, 03:55:43 PM
Apperently you can never be too old to start! :D
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 16, 2015, 09:55:08 PM
Sent, with a backup plan just to speed things along.

Also:

Me neither.

I am disappoint.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on March 16, 2015, 10:38:10 PM
and you guys call yourselves prog fans

:P
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: wolfking on March 17, 2015, 06:18:41 AM
You all should check it out, it's truly amazing.

Also, sent.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 17, 2015, 06:22:03 AM
I have all six songs now. Expect results any time from Friday to Sunday, I'm not sure I can be certain this round, with long songs and all.

First thoughts are probably coming up today though.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: lonestar on March 17, 2015, 07:55:29 AM
 :corn
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 7 Results - Send for Round 8!
Post by: Evermind on March 17, 2015, 11:23:09 AM
Alright, actually, for this round I decided to change the approach, as it's the last round and all that. I'll be posting the little stuff like the song lengths, first thoughts, the epicness measure scale, this kind of things one at a time during all the waiting time. I hope this will help to kind of increase the hype or at least sustain it on an acceptable level or whatever. :lol

I guess those won't spoil anything, because all songs are submitted anyway, and even if someone will be able to guess what his opponent sent, it won't hurt. So, here we go, without further ado...

Songs' lengths:

8:52 - 8:58 - 16:37 - 19:34 - 19:39 - 22:24
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - Listening mode
Post by: Crow on March 17, 2015, 02:23:40 PM
in total that's probably shorter than the total time for rounds 5 or 7, haha
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - Listening mode
Post by: Evermind on March 18, 2015, 11:51:51 AM
in total that's probably shorter than the total time for rounds 5 or 7, haha

Yeah. :lol

So, it turns out it's a lot more difficult to digest epics than the usual songs! Who knew? :lol Anyway, my first thoughts, one for each track, which are probably not very accurate, because I can't remember half of the stuff I listened to. But at least there are some general impressions.

Quote from: Evermind
I probably shouldn't be surprised when people send progressive rock in the epic round. :D Well, I enjoyed the positively happy and uplifting vibe of the whole track, and after the first listen it feels quite cohesive. My strongest impression was that this tune really reminds me of some The Flower Kings material.

Quote from: Evermind
It seems this song has that epic vibe for some parts, and for other parts it loses it completely (there is a quite cool memorable moment indeed in one of those other parts, though.) And I guess this back and forth approach is fine if there is some grand ending to top it all off, which is apparently not the case. Not that it's bad, it's just... not grand, I guess.

Quote from: Evermind
Haha, apparently this guy is capable of normal, usual style of singing for the first few minutes at least. :lol Then of course he returned to the approach more familiar to me, but it was interesting to hear that.

Quote from: Evermind
Now, this song is just a fucking powerhouse nearly all the way through, isn't it? Like a train going at full speed or something. (I wave but it doesn't slow down.)

Quote from: Evermind
This tune has this serene atmosphere for the most part of the beginning, and I kind of seem to remember there were a bit of ambient stuff sometimes. Unfortunately, during my first listen to it I was on a local train, going home after a working day, and I think I dozed off after five minutes or so, therefore this song remains pretty much a mystery to me as of now. I'll be sure to give it more attention for the next few days. Sorry man. :angel:

Quote from: Evermind
And more progressive rock, which is never an entirely bad thing. It has this soft sound, all instruments seemingly intentionally sound a bit muddled, which only adds to the track's atmosphere. Quite enjoyable song with some great parts indeed, and on the first impression this one kind of reminds me of ELP.

I'll post the epicness measure scale tomorrow, using some songs from the previous rounds as an example for how much epicness points those songs would've earned if you sent them in this round.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - Listening mode
Post by: lonestar on March 18, 2015, 12:29:25 PM


Quote from: Evermind
Now, this song is just a fucking powerhouse nearly all the way through, isn't it? Like a train going at full speed or something. (I wave but it doesn't slow down.)

Mine, without a fucking doubt. As I tell people every time I send it, make sure your strapped in safely....   :metal
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: bl5150 on March 18, 2015, 05:28:28 PM
Well if RJ is right , then I think mine is the train snooze  :-\
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 18, 2015, 07:17:38 PM
Mine is the first one.  Gotta be, since I sent Karmakanic.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: wolfking on March 18, 2015, 08:32:30 PM
No clue, again.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: ErHaO on March 19, 2015, 02:45:51 AM
Last one, I think.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Evermind on March 19, 2015, 11:58:20 AM
Well, at least one guess here is wrong. ;)

So, as I promised, here's the epicness measure scale for you. In the examples I've included three songs from each participant still playing in this roulette, all of those songs were sent to me during the first seven rounds. It isn't meant to be exact or something, but it should give you an inkling of how I'm going to rank the songs by their epicness in Round 8. You can ask about other songs, if you want.

Epicness measure scale (https://i.imgur.com/ZUv9qWt.jpg)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Sacul on March 19, 2015, 06:03:40 PM
According to that scale, how epic would the Swans song have been? :P
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Crow on March 19, 2015, 07:06:11 PM
so I never scored higher than maybe a 1 on that scale

great  :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Evermind on March 19, 2015, 09:52:06 PM
so I never scored higher than maybe a 1 on that scale

great  :lol

Why do you think that? I just didn't include the songs sent by eliminated participants. Under the Pines would've scored at least 2, I think.
According to that scale, how epic would the Swans song have been? :P

Something like 1, I guess. But I need to spin it again, maybe it's more epic than I remember.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 20, 2015, 11:41:11 AM
I wasn't thinking "epicness" when I sent, I just sent something I thought you would like.

Oh well, it's not like any of us were going to catch random letter and numbers guy.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: lonestar on March 20, 2015, 12:03:17 PM
Yeah, it's a longshot that even I will catch him. Not only do I have to nail it, but he has to falter, and he hasn't done that yet.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Evermind on March 20, 2015, 12:14:52 PM
I wasn't thinking "epicness" when I sent, I just sent something I thought you would like.

That's usually a good strategy for the roulette.

I'm extensively listening to all your songs, and the results will definitely be up on Sunday. That random guy's entries aren't so random though, they seem to be great nearly all the time.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: bl5150 on March 20, 2015, 05:17:15 PM
You guys make it sound like I have 5 posts and been here 5 mins  :lol   "Random letters and numbers guy/he " has numbers in his nick that ain't so random to a Van Halen nut  ;) 
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: lonestar on March 20, 2015, 10:43:19 PM
You guys make it sound like I have 5 posts and been here 5 mins 


Nah man, if that was the case I'd be way more upset about losing to ya. :lol
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 21, 2015, 12:02:59 PM
OU812 I would have got.

I was only referring to your handle.  It's just not the kind of handle that lends itself to easy memorization.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: bl5150 on March 21, 2015, 06:13:59 PM
No doubt 2112 wouldn't have generated any doubts here  ......I'm much more from the hard rock/metal side of things than prog rock if there's still any doubt   ;D  The handle is made up of my initials and 5150.    Feel free to call me by my real name Brent - Evermind has a couple of times in the thread and plenty of others here do ,which is more than fine with me .

As far as that epicness scale goes , one of those I already submitted outside of the mini-epic round got a 3 ........so given that I had the intent of making this Rd 8 song the most epic I've sent , I'm aiming for a 4  :corn
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: lonestar on March 22, 2015, 12:45:06 AM
Ok bro, it's Sunday....





 :corn
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Evermind on March 22, 2015, 01:22:17 AM
It's 10 a.m. here man, I just woke up. :lol

I'm starting to write them write-ups now.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: lonestar on March 22, 2015, 01:44:25 AM
Fine. I'll expect my winning score in the morning then.






Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: ErHaO on March 22, 2015, 04:43:26 AM
Heh, I do not think I will score all that high on the epic scale with the tune I sent. I just hope you like it as much as I do ;D Had to venture far from all my initial idea's because of that damned banned list  :P

I also see I forgot my small  reaction write-up last round, regarding the Galahad's. Will do that together with the final one  ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: Evermind on March 22, 2015, 07:10:40 AM
Alright guys, the writeups are done, but as I need to adjust the post with the bb-code and this kind of small stuff, the results will be up after Liverpool - MU football match. Initially I wanted to post each writeup separately starting from sixth place to the first just to watch RJ reaction and have some fun, but as he's apparently sleeping now, I'll be posting all results together. So the winner will be known in two or three hours from now on.

I'm also planning to run either Nightwish or Kamelot survivor after I'm done with this roulette, so I'll create the poll about which one to run in Polls / Survivors later. If you want to participate, be sure to vote there. ;)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 (Final Round) - First thoughts
Post by: lonestar on March 22, 2015, 08:40:02 AM
Initially I wanted to post each writeup separately starting from sixth place to the first just to watch RJ reaction and have some fun,

It probably would have been the same as your reaction to me getting the Kamelot promo and telling you song by song how good it was.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: Evermind on March 22, 2015, 09:54:59 AM
Initially I wanted to post each writeup separately starting from sixth place to the first just to watch RJ reaction and have some fun,

It probably would have been the same as your reaction to me getting the Kamelot promo and telling you song by song how good it was.  :biggrin:

Dude, that's fucked up. :lol

Alright, so there we are! After nearly two months of bloody battles and all this stuff, here are the results of the final round! The writeups are arranged from sixth overall place to the first.

ErHaO: Echolyn – Island

Well, out of two progressive rock epics (I don’t really consider Sound of Contact to be a full-fledged progressive rock somehow) yours was the only I liked less, mostly because that Karmakanic song was just that awesome. As I said in the first-thoughts post, this song is quite enjoyable with few great moments scattered throughout the tune. Also as I said there, I’m really enjoying the muddled, retro-like mix, which kind of reminds me of Mark Knopfler – Privateering album mix (this is a good thing). However, my biggest complaint about the song is the lack of somewhat memorable parts — I think I’ve listened to it eight times and if someone asks me to describe the song structure and sing some moments, I probably won’t be able to do it. My description will include something like “sixteen minutes of prog goodness”, which is true, because I’m totally enjoying all I hear in this song, especially a good bass line, but somehow it just doesn’t register with me. Maybe I just need to give this song more time, because honestly, I like it, but I can’t remember much about it. I love the calm piano part at ~7:30 though.

And this has to be most non-epic epic (:lol) I’ve received in this round. Just calm and enjoyable all around, but it’s really more like a long song and less like an epic. You really should’ve sent something like Galahad here, would’ve earned you more points. I still liked your song though. 7.5 equals “good”, so don’t be upset!

7.5/10  |  1/5

Overall result: 68.5 (6th place)

It may seem you came at the last place, but don’t forget there were six people eliminated before, so for your first roulette you actually did really well! Sixth place against the eleven strong participants, it’s more like an achievement than a failure. I actually doubted you can come up with decent stuff at first, even though I knew our tastes were quite alike, because you frequented the same bands’ threads as I did, but I thought the banned list may be just a bit too extensive for you; well, you soundly proved me wrong on that count. While you started out quite slow with For All We Know and Damian Wilson, you upped your game a few notches with Circus Maximus, Serenity and Mind’s Eye, and all those bands are on my check-out list now. You’ve secured your place in the final part with Threshold, cockblocking Seneca for Round 7 (:lol), and then totally stunned me with that Galahad entry. While your final round performance wasn’t that strong, I still think this is quite a worthy run you’ve made there. I hope you will participate again in a year or more, and I hope you will host your own roulette so I can share some of my favourite music with you too!

wolfking: Virgin Steele – A Whisper of Death

This band was on my metal-checking-radar for a long time, for five or more years ever since I’ve heard DeFeis singing in Avantasia debut album. I have also heard DeFeis on Timo Tolkki’s Avalon second album (I wish I haven’t though :lol), and that’s it. I was curious how he sings in his own band, because on Avantasia his vocal delivery was kind of random. So I was really surprised to hear his awesome clean voice in the acoustic intro instead of this usual half-screaming with “ow!” and “aw!” exclamations he’s doing in the rest of the tune. Mind you, that’s not a complaint, because his singing style fits the music really well. This is also the shortest song I’ve received in this round, but while some progressive epics need some twenty minutes to unveil, this song does the same job in nine minutes, and even feels just a bit too long maybe. It really takes a lot of great ideas to make a really fascinating and interesting hard rock / power metal track longer than eight minutes, and while this song doesn’t totally fit this description, it wasn’t boring or anything; quite enjoyable, in fact.

I realize now this approach was kind of what I expected of Virgin Steele even though I never heard a single song by them before. Solid metal with characteristic DeFeis’ singing, tasty riffs and solos and all that. I expected this song to be really epic, because long power metal tracks usually are, but weirdly this isn’t the case here.

8/10  |  2/5

Overall result: 70.5 (5th place)

I knew you wasn’t a frequent roulette player, but I definitely wanted you to participate in mine, because I knew you for a hard-rock / AOR / power metal fan, and I didn’t know Brent will sign up, so I wanted at least one of you here (and I’ve got a full deal, haha), so first of all, a huge thank you for participating! You totally didn’t disappoint, and while you had a few misses like C2C or Scar Symmetry, your entries usually had registered quite well with me, with some choices being really awesome, like Lost Horizons, Lord or Magnus Karlsson’s stuff. You didn’t sent any mindblowing-outstanding songs, but most of your entries were solid and went straight into check-out list. It was awesome to know your tastes more, and I’m looking forward to discuss some new albums with you in GMD, and of course you’re always welcome to my next roulette in a year or so! It was a honor to have you participating, man.

senecadawg2: Sound of Contact – Mobius Slip

This tune is incredibly calm and atmospheric, maybe even has some ambient moments. It requires a lot of attention though, because at the first few listens I struggled to find anything memorable, and even dozed off during the very first listen; but when I more or less started to grasp the whole picture this song creates, it turned out to be pretty great. This tune takes its time to build the atmosphere up, as expected of a song nearly twenty minutes in length, with some cool parts during the buildup, such as that small acoustic instrumental moment starting at 7:55, and some not-so-cool parts like the out-of-place Echoes-esque moment around ~3:55. The song then goes into a great tension-filled part in the middle I really like, reminding me of Octavarium structure (few calm parts, then something faster like Full Circle), but instead of building the moment even more (Intervals), it goes straight into a more tranquil, majestic part of the song. I love that serene All Worlds, All Times part, and the instrumental in the end is good, but the very ending when the melody disrupts into chaos soured the impression a bit.

Overall, I think the song lacked a bit of punch here and there, and some more epicness wouldn’t hurt it either. Even as it is, it’s still kind of epic in its own calm sort of way, especially when it gets to that beautiful final part. Also, “I can’t feel anything at all, lipsticks that I recall.” :lol

8.5/10  |  2/5

Overall result: 74.5 (4th place)

Well, you, on the other hand, is a known roulette player, so I wasn’t surprised when you signed up — I was kind of surprised you didn’t win though, given your previous record. As I mentioned in some round, it’s incredible how diverse your taste is, and while it’s clear your taste is different from mine, it’s also clear you can adapt to the person’s taste, seeing how you hadn’t sent any weird electronic stuff and went for such bands as Helker instead. It was also nice to get some awesome singer-songwriter stuff from you like Mazzy Star and David Gray, and of course you sent the best song of the whole roulette, Journey – Of a Lifetime. You did a great job, if you ask me; I guess you can’t win just any roulette you’re in, so try again in my next roulette when the times comes, maybe? ;)

Dr. DTVT: Karmakanic – Send a Message From the Heart

And here’s the best song of this round and one of the best songs I’ve received in this roulette. You’ve said in the roulette thread you didn’t really care for epicness and whatnot and just sent what you thought I will enjoy, and how damn right you were on that count. I always considered myself being only a mild progressive rock fan, slightly leaning towards neoprog, but you somehow managed to send a great progrock tune I loved from the very first listen. It definitely reminds me of The Flower Kings (and now that I’ve Googled some information about the band, I can totally see why :lol ) I absolutely love the lighthearted approach this song presents, with that obviously happy and uplifting vibe. Accidentally, your song started playing just when I left the train, so when I exited the railway station the tune was at ~3:00, when the vocals start. It was a clear day with the sun shining and all that, and the very first “Send a message from the heart / Turn around and face the sun” section made me incredibly happy for some reason. The song features different twists and turns then, sometimes switching the cheerful vibe to a longing one, but always stays cohesive and memorable, featuring the main melody in one way or another. The vocalist is just perfect for this kind of song. I also love the mix, with the ringing piano, audible bass and all that, every instrument can easily be heard. The darker part at ~10:30 is amazing too, the short intense “Walk the path of contradiction, tumble when it turns” is incredible (I wish it was longer), and basically the whole song is amazing. You know, I’m usually writing my thoughts about the tune while listening to it, and this time I kind of don’t want to write anything and just sit here and let the song take me on a journey. The only parts I’m not too fond of is that vocal melody starting from “It is time for healing”, and the “Tides are turning” section, though I enjoy the drums there. I guess that’s what keeps this tune from getting a perfect score.

The awesomeness of this song is something I can’t exactly describe, but I’m totally in love with this song. For its length, which is nearly twenty minutes, it has an incredible amount of strong melodies and solos, managing to stay interesting for the whole listen, and to top it all off there’s that perfect epic ending (that’s how you end a calm, happy song. Sound of Contact could learn a thing or two from these guys), bringing the main melody back, making the song come full circle. Yeah, it’s a cliché thing, but it just works so well here.

When the world is falling and it’s digging in the dirt
Send a message from the heart

When the sky has risen and it's waiting for the end of Earth
Send a message from the heart


Aw, man.

9.5/10  |  4.5/5

Overall result: 78.5 (3rd place)

Alright, first of all, I really didn’t expect you to participate, and also to score that well. For some reason, I was sure you were a big progressive rock fan and I expected you to send lots of it, and since I think I’m only a moderate fan of this genre, I thought you won’t get a lot of points. True, you sent a progressive rock tune I didn’t enjoy once (Xen), but the other stuff you submitted was either good like Pendragon, or incredible like that Karmakanic song or Tiles; and sometimes you scored well with progressive metal, like with Ice Age or Wolverine. You really could’ve won this one if not for that Xen song (should’ve sent Existentialist, man), you played quite well and I’ve discovered a lot of awesome bands, thanks to you. I think I love progressive rock a bit more now, all because of the great tunes you’ve sent me.

lonestar: Silent Memorial – Retrospective

I expected you to send this song, and you didn’t disappoint. Now, this tune is just a fucking powerhouse nearly all the way through, like a train going at full speed or something. And it just screams epic in your face with all those progressive riffs, distorted guitars and a complex keyboard runs underneath. This is like Dream Theater mixed with several bands like Seventh Wonder, probably Circus Maximus from what I’ve heard of them since ErHaO sent me their song, and few more progressive metal folks. The epicness begins right from the intro and continues through the acoustic part too — the single long distorted notes played on electric guitar during the acoustic arpeggios are my weakness (1:45 – 2:00). You know, during the first five listens I absolutely adored the instrumental goodness featured in this tune, and I wasn’t digging the vocals at all, both the delivery and the melodies; but then something clicked and now I love them. Well, the delivery at least; the melodies could’ve been a bit better anyway. But even though the glorious instrumental track beneath it saves even the not-that-good melodies; I do find the instrumental break in the middle of this tune a bit too long — it goes for about eight minutes, and it’s the usual kick-ass prog instrumental section, reminds me of Metropolis. I think six minutes would’ve been just enough. The real glory comes after the instrumental of course, the epic conclusion with some sections that can easily blow a mind of some unprepared listener.

Overall, I think there are three parts that are incredibly epic: the intro to the point when the vocals come in, the “He remembers” section, and the outstanding outro from 20:00 onwards. And that’s really enough to make the whole package epic as hell, along with magnificent riffs and all this headbanging heaven this song provides. This is heavy and epic and glorious, but that Karmakanic tune still edges out your entry by the song-quality-points.

9/10  |  4.5/10

Overall result: 80 (2nd place)

I know, man, I know. You’ve expected to win this, and damn, did you come close to it. You even were in the lead at one point, but then lost all your advantage with one average entry, so if I were you, I would blame Simon Godfrey for that. :lol You had an upper-hand in the whole roulette, because you obviously knew my tastes better than anyone, and almost all of your songs except that Shineback one were great, especially Silent Memorial, Absolute Priority, Amadeus Awad’s Eon and Headspace. At the beginning, I hoped I’ve made the competition a bit difficult to you, following some of your roulette entries, listening to them and banning the bands like Karnya, so you maybe will have some difficulty picking the tunes to send (so I thought), and obviously that wasn’t the case. Guess your audio library is more extensive than I assumed. While I think none of your songs made the Top 5 (see below), you were really consistent in this roulette. I associated your tastes with progressive metal and I did get a lot of outstanding progressive metal from you, I think my knowledge of this genre improved vastly. Thanks for all the awesome entries man, see you in the next roulette of mine, and we’ll be probably competing against each other in the other roulettes soon too!

bl5150: D.C. Cooper – The Union

This is the weirdest song I’ve received in this round for sure. It doesn’t match the standard epic format, and it sounds like some weird mix of bluesy rock, hard rock and power metal, and it’s pretty interesting package, even if a bit pretentious. The piano work is surprising on this track, but it fits really well with this “Never before, never again turn on you”, even though I’m not too fond of melodies here. However, while I kind of like this part, it’s easily the least epic of all the song, and I talked about in the first-thoughts post, saying the song has the epic vibe for some parts, yet for other part loses it completely. That cool memorable moment I’ve mentioned was an appearance of a female voice, and the song really benefited from it, in my opinion. I think I like the verses and the instrumental parts in this song much more than I like the chorus, therefore I stand by my complaint about lack of some grand ending to finish the song.

I think this song is trying to be epic for the sake of being epic, and while it does work, it also feels a bit forced. What I really loved in this song is the female voice in the middle of the tune, which served as a breath of fresh air much needed and appreciated. Overall, it wasn’t your best entry, but it wasn’t your worst entry either.

8/10  |  3/5

Overall result: 80.5 (1st place — the winner!)

The fact of your participation in this totally came out of the blue for me, but now I’m really glad you wanted and were able to make it, because all your entries (except Pride of Lions) were awesome. I needed some more kick-ass power metal in my life, and you provided it with Angel Dust, Morifade and Crystal Eyes; I like some great hard rock tunes and there you are with Trail of Murder; finally, I love a touching – and maybe a bit cheesy – ballads, and those Mattador and Ten tunes were magnificent. If anyone in this roulette was more consistent than RJ, it was you, constantly providing me the amazing tunes from the mostly unknown bands to check out. You know, at the beginning of this roulette I feared how the fact I know some of the participants more than the others can influence my scores, feared I may come off as biased or something; but looking at the results now, I’m pretty satisfied with them, because out of all the people you deserved this win the most. You’ve never sent me a tune that baffled me or made me think “what the hell?”, all your entries (even Pride of Lions) were more or less spot on. I associated your tastes with hard rock and power metal, and you totally delivered. Thank you once again, man, and I hope you’ll join me in the next roulette of mine in a year or so. I’m not sure if my library is wide enough to join you in yours (I need to see the banned list), but I’ll try to play, if you’ll have me. All in all, with all the humble submissions and stuff you won against such beasts as RJ and Seneca, so I can only offer you my thanks and congratulations again. Rock on. :metal

So, well, that was really awesome two months! I've discovered a lot of bands to check out, I think my list has more than 40 of them now, and from the next week I'll start doing it. Looking forward to exploring those neverending musical territories, now that I have the bands' names thanks to all of you guys. While you six were the most awesome participants, a huge thank you again goes to those eliminated after Round 6, you've sent me a lot of awesome music too!

And before this whole journey (pun!) will end, I've got the Top 5 best songs I've received in this roulette to show you:

1. Journey - Of a Lifetime (senecadawg2)
2. Ten - Soliloquy/The Loneliest Place in the World (Brent)
3. Karmakanic - Send a Message From the Heart (Mason)
4. Galahad - Empires Never Last (ErHaO)
5. Mattador - Tired (Brent)

So yeah, there. I'll see you in Polls / Survivors a few hours later hopefully; I'm also ready to answer any questions you've got about the roulette, your songs or whatever else. Otherwise, I feel like I said all I wanted, so once again, thank you guys a lot for those heaps of awesome music, sorry RJ that you haven't won, and with that, I'm out!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: bl5150 on March 22, 2015, 10:14:23 AM
Phew - half a point eh?  Now that's what I like to call "the pain"  :lol   

Funnily enough I considered Silent Memorial and had noticed it before in roulettes and decided to go for something a bit less well known.  I'll PM you the details of the other one I considered which I think may have scored better after reading your analysis.

Quite seriously - it's been a pleasure.  Great players and an exceptionally well run roulette all round - the best I've seen anyway.  I think I'll probably take a break from these after Big Hath's - for a while at least but I really enjoy sharing good music and it's a cool concept.

I also achieved my half serious goal at the beginning of winning without  sending anything from pre-1990  ,aside from Hear'n'Aid where I was struggling for a good multi-vocalist entry.  No fogeys round here.   :hat  ::)
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: Crow on March 22, 2015, 10:16:57 AM
Was fun yeah  :lol
I probably could've tried to play to your specific tastes more but that would've been less fun and if my lowest score is a 5.5 or so I can't say I did too bad overally  :tup
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: lonestar on March 22, 2015, 10:18:40 AM
Half a fucking point??!!?? Really??


I kid man, always a pleasure, and a tip of the hat to Brent for a kick ass performance.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: Evermind on March 22, 2015, 10:32:17 AM
I also achieved my half serious goal at the beginning of winning without  sending anything from pre-1990  ,aside from Hear'n'Aid where I was struggling for a good multi-vocalist entry.  No fogeys round here.   :hat  ::)

In fact it's kind of a pity, I wanted to discover more awesome bands from 70s and 80s too. Thankfully Seneca sent Journey and Wishbone Ash, that should be enough for now.

I also thought Ten was pre-90s, but apparently their album was released in 1996. Huh.

Was fun yeah  :lol
I probably could've tried to play to your specific tastes more but that would've been less fun and if my lowest score is a 5.5 or so I can't say I did too bad overally  :tup

Yeah, I always think it's better to send something you enjoy, not something you think the host will enjoy.

Half a fucking point??!!?? Really??

That's what happens if you do the Kamelot promo threats. :rollin
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: Crow on March 22, 2015, 10:42:11 AM
Half a fucking point??!!?? Really??

That's what happens if you do the Kamelot promo threats. :rollin
RIP.
In.
Pieces.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: bl5150 on March 22, 2015, 10:47:12 AM

In fact it's kind of a pity, I wanted to discover more awesome bands from 70s and 80s too. Thankfully Seneca sent Journey and Wishbone Ash, that should be enough for now.

I also thought Ten was pre-90s, but apparently their album was released in 1996. Huh.



I know what you mean and I wanted to go there but I had oodles of stuff that I KNEW you would at least like , yet had a very hard time getting a handle on what 70's-80's stuff you would like outside of prog rock which for the most part I don't like.  My background really isn't power metal to be honest - I started more as a hard rock/AOR guy , then moved into melodic/classic metal and then prog metal in the early 90's.     I've really only spent time on more obscure power metal (outside of a few classic bands like Stratovarius,Helloween, Kamelot) in recent years.  I'm a fast learner though  :lol

Perhaps try my Top 50 for some 80's rock and metal..........it's really a top 125 if you include all the runners up and HM's  :lol  That'll keep you busy and there's heaps of obscure stuff in there with links etc....
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: TAC on March 22, 2015, 10:53:56 AM
Just checked out Silent Memorial. Never heard of them. It's damn good!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: jjrock88 on March 22, 2015, 11:48:51 AM
Way to win one for the rockers Brent!!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: senecadawg2 on March 22, 2015, 01:18:58 PM
Indeed, congrats Brent!
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: Sacul on March 22, 2015, 02:04:10 PM
Congrats Brent, and thanks Evermind for running this. It was fun disagreeing. Again :lol .
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: Dr. DTVT on March 22, 2015, 09:31:45 PM
I won two rounds, and lost mostly because of round 2.  I can live with that.

Also, Tiles also had a 9.5, so I was one of only two people to get 9.5 or better twice I think.
Title: Re: Evermind's Unsophisticated Roulette v. Round 8 Results - We have a winner!
Post by: wolfking on March 23, 2015, 05:37:25 AM
Well done Brent.