RANKING TIME WHEEEEEEE
On the whole, this round was not as good as the previous two. A lot of positively boring metal songs here. Probably my fault for making the theme "wrath", in retrospect.
7th placeNominator: lonestar
Artist: Otep
Song: Ghostflowers.
lonestar conceded in his PM to me that he would probably take a hit by submitting this song, and it seems like he was correct.
Didn't care for this one. I suppose I rather enjoyed the first minute but the remainder was very lost on me. I like lonestar and I don't want him spitting in my food should I ever dine at his Bacon Palace, but
1 point.
6th placeNominator: Nekov
Artist: Pantera
Song: Revolution is My Name
I'm not an enormous Pantera fan; their music "rocks" and serves its purpose well, but I guess I don't really care for the purpose. The song didn't really speak to me.
2 points.
5th placeNominator: jingle.boy
Artist: Prymary
Song: The Enemy Inside (pts 1 & 2)
To be clear, jingle sent me as his submission the first two parts of a multi-part epic; he justified it to me as being analogous to Overture/Temples of Syrinx.
This song (or semi-song, whatever) was fine, I suppose. Nothing particularly good here. It's a very derivative and obvious prog epic (it reminds me of a few Symphony X epics, which isn't necessarily a good thing). Also, the singer is quite bad, unusually for a prog band. I don't know.
3 points.
4th placeNominator: Elite
Artist: Mastodon
Song: Curl of the Burl
Another merely OK tune, though we'll start to see more genius with places three through one. Cool song. Some cool riffs. Nothing special.
4 points.
3rd placeNominator: WindMaster
Artist: Orphaned Land
Song: The Path, Part 1: Treading Through Darkness
I guess this is a pretty standard epic as prog metal goes, but it's pulled off well nonetheless. The intro is fine but the tribal motif the band moves to at about the 1-minute mark is where things get very good. This segues nicely into the piece's main theme, a rather majestic but simple progression featuring a synthesized choir. Every now and then, a growly voice chimes in to say something unintelligible, but the voice isn't too intrusive and is there for contrast.
Not too much to say about this one. It's not a life-changing tune or anything, but it knows what it's doing and it does it well.
5 points.
2nd placeNominator: kingshmegland
Artist: Karnivool
Song: Set Fire to the Hive
Elite actually submitted this tune as his second choice, but even if it had been his first choice, shmeg got there first.
So here we are. We've got a very good song here, but I have trouble elucidating my thoughts on it. In short, this song
rocks. The real draw here was how the song dealt with wrath; what I like is a band that can be angry but express that anger without resorting to cliches, over-technicality, blastbeats, or drop-C chugging. Each musical idea is interesting, creative, and ultimately unrelenting, and the well-executed lyrics help in that they give the band a real-world reason to have wrath in the first place. A personal favorite moment is the buzzy, tonally-confusing riff at 0:45 or so.
6 points for the nice man.
1st placeNominator: MasterShakezula
Artist: Ben Folds Five
Song: One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
Master Shake seemed to be cowering in fear as he submitted this song.
It is poppy, doesn't involve guitars, and isn't prog, he warned me. I would not enjoy it if I was a proghead, he said. Let this be a lesson to all of you: I am not.
He also mentioned that he submitted this in order not to send an obvious metal tune. I'd be lying if I said that didn't help; the rest of the songs I heard kind of blended together, but this one stood out.
Of course, I'm not just giving the top spot to this one because Shakey's song was unlike the others; that would be quite lame. I think this is song is legitimately excellent. This is a piece built around a strong melody, and I am very impressed by how big a sound they're getting out of what seems to just be a three-piece. The musicians are excellent, and the song is honest and emotional and real. Good stuff.
7 points.
BONUSES!The Best Band Ever: My favorite Rush song is Limelight (obviously), which is 4:20. Lonestar gets this bonus; Ghostflowers was 4:27, beating Set Fire to the Hive by one second. To lonestar,
1 Rush Point.
Obamacare: Before receiving the bonus above, lonestar and Elite are tied in last with 9 points; the bonus gives lonestar a slight edge, allowing Elite to pick up the
2-point Communism bonus. Ironically, this pushes Elite one space ahead, keeping lonestar in last anyway. Sorry, buddy!
This round's unexpected events leaves Shake in second place, with Nekov, jingle, WindMaster, and Elite tied for 3rd two points behind him. lonestar is just behind these four, but kingshmegland has an unsurprising handsome lead on everybody. Standings follow:
1. kingshmegland - 14 + 6 = 20
2. MasterShakezula - 6 + 7 = 13
3. Nekov - 9 + 2 = 11
3. jingle.boy - 8 + 3 = 11
3. WindMaster - 6 + 5 = 11
3. Elite - 5 + 4 + 2 = 11
7. lonestar - 8 + 1 + 1 = 10
Because Wrath didn't work out too well for anybody, let's go in the opposite direction, shall we?
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ROUND 4: THOUGHTSBonuses: ESP1 (2 points/participant)Deadline: Thursday, July 12 @ 9:00 PM Central Time (~30 hrs from now)ESP1 (2 points/participant) : Calibration check! With your submission, tell me what place you think it will get (7th, 3rd, 1st, etc.). If you guess correctly, you have proven that you have ESP, and you will get a 2 point bonus. You'll also get a TV show where you pretend to talk to the dead relatives of confused people for money. Neat!
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Topic: theseoafs' song roulette v. unbelievable. (Read 36155 times)
