ROUND 1 RESULTS!High scores everywhere!
crazyaga: Stars of the Lid – A Meaningful Moment Through A Meaning(less) ProcessThis is something different than the other songs I received. It was about the seventh song I judged, and it really relaxed me. Quite beautiful and nice to clear your thoughts. But even though I liked the song, I don’t think I could make it through an album of songs like it, since it is so minimalistic. Maybe it’s too silent, I don’t know. But listening to this stuff for too long would probably make me sad, though I don’t really know why. I also found it really hard to judge this song; judging it means also comparing it to the other songs, and it’s just such a different type of music. I did my best though.
7.3/10
Nihil-Morari: Led Zeppelin – I Can’t Quit You BabyWow, this song is really bluesy! I like it. The bass is a bit low in the mix unfortunately. The guitar is great, and I would expect no less from Mr. Page. This song made me realise why John Bonham is regarded as a fantastic drummer; the drums are really great and the small details are nice. The great thing is that I didn’t even notice these details until I listened a bit better. Overall it’s a cool song; I didn’t really like the lyrics though. They’re really straightforward and not really original, even a bit cheesy. It’s not really my thing. The song is good though.
7.5/10
MoraWintersoul: Dark Tranquility – Lost to ApathyReally cool melodeath song. I like In Flames and through them I knew of Dark Tranquility’s existence, but I never really took the time to listen to them. I should have, though; this sounds really good. It’s a bit “standard”, but hey, they’re one of the first melodeath bands so I didn’t really expect to hear some mindboggling crazy shit. The melodies are great, the vocals are good and the drums are too. The choruses are quite catchy and fit the song well. The verses are nicely fast paced. The keyboards in the song are cool but a bit too low in the mix and the bass is WAY too low, I can barely hear it. The guitar solo in the middle part is pretty good too, but the bit before that where you can hear the keyboards really well and the guitar is a bit less prominent is just epic. But Milena, please never send me a 240p again
I found the song on Spotify where the quality was way better. Also, the duration was about 30 seconds longer as well, so I guess they must have cut some bits in the official video you sent me. The last ~50 seconds of this song are really awesome. Overall, it’s a really nice song.
7.9/10
Big Hath: Avantasia – Lost in SpaceCool song! It’s a bit conventional, but it’s good nonetheless. The vocals are great, I especially like them in the choruses. The mix is good. The drums are really simple but it fits the song. The keyboards are great. The lyrics are nothing special, but since this is a song from a concept album, I will have to check that album out. The lyrics are a bit sad, but the song has an uplifting sound which is a good combination.
8.0/10
black_floyd: Byzantine – Ancestry of the AntichristGreat song! The intro is cool, and I love that they reprise it at the end. The drums are cool. I like the guitar riffs and the lead guitar licks (or whatever they’re called) during the verses. The bass guitar should’ve been a bit more prominent in the mix, but I almost always want it to be more prominent so I guess that’s not really a new thing. I loved the percussion bit in the middle and the guitar solo after that was really cool too. I’m a bit of a nitpicker when it comes to harsh vocals/growls, but the growls featured in this song were good (even though I liked his semi-clean voice in the last verse even more). The lyrics are really cool. The ending is great (more percussion!
). Overall it’s just a great song. Nice mix of genres, it’s quite unconventional.
8.4/10
Lolzeez: Genesis – Can-Utility and the CoastlinersA few months ago I put on a Genesis album (I believe it was Selling England by the Pound) but I didn’t really like it. I guess I should’ve listened to it better; I was busy doing other things, so I heard it all but didn’t really listen well enough. This song made me realise my mistake in judging Genesis so quickly. It’s a really cool progressive song. Gabriel’s vocals are cool but not that fantastic, but they fit the song well. I really like the keyboards in this song. The guitar is awesome as well. Really, every instrument is cool in this song! I particularly like the bass guitar bit around 4 minutes. Overall, it’s just a great song with great lyrics.
8.5/10
Elite: Ben Folds Five - One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn FacesWow Rich, you really hit the nail on the head there. Great song, I really like the prominence of the piano in the mix. The song is melodic, and it’s really rocking even though there’s no electric guitar. The singer is good and the lyrics are cool. The drums are simple but not boring and fit the song well. It’s just overall a great song; simple, catchy and it even reminded me of Flying Colors a bit, which is a good thing. One thing that made it extra special for me was the piano; I’m planning to start playing piano in the near future, and this song makes me want to start playing even more.
8.5/10
lonestar: Incura – Here To BlameWow, the intro is really cool. It’s almost a bit of classical music. The riff after that is just epic. The vocals are great, the drums are cool and the guitar makes me want to bang my head off. The keyboards are fantastic, though a bit low in the mix at times. Holy shit, this song just blew me away. The lyrics are cool, but not especially good. They could’ve been worse and I wouldn’t even have cared; this song is awesome. My only complaint is the bass guitar; way too low in the mix.
9.0/10
Scorpion: Cat Empire – FishiesFirst comment: double bass! My uncle is a professional double bass player and I love the sound of that instrument. And the point where the trumpet came in... Holy shit, this is epic. This is such an uplifting song, and it stays interesting from begin to end. Love the piano solo and the trumpet solo. Too bad the double bass is a bit low in the mix later on in the song. The vocals are great too! The lyrics are good, but not too fantastic. It’s just a really nice song to which you can listen a great number of times without getting bored. I definitely need to hear more songs by these guys.
9.0/10
Dr. DTVT: Agalloch – Falling SnowIn the small write-up you sent in your PM to me, you said that Agalloch was very popular on DTF for a reason. Well, I must say that I have known about Agalloch for some time. I listened to them a few times but I just couldn’t seem to like the high pitched black metal vocals. However, I knew their albums were kind of worshipped everywhere and I wanted to like them. So I was really happy when you sent me this song.
The song starts off great. The mix is fantastic; this, combined with the music itself which is just excellent immediately creates a dark, haunting atmosphere. I love that. For me, it’s not the sort of dark atmosphere that makes me sad; it’s the sort of atmosphere that is just really beautiful. The harsh black metal vocals at first were a bit disappointing; I’m just really not used to them and as I stated before, I’ve always disliked them. But as the song went on and on, I started to like them more. After the listens I gave this song for the judging, I didn’t even mind them anymore. I still like the clean vocals a bit better, but the black metal vocals really contribute towards the atmosphere. The guitars, drums and bass are all just excellent and couldn’t be better in this song. The lyrics are fantastic; a bit indirect and really dark. This is just epic and I have no doubt I will start to like it even more over time. Congratulations, a deserved first place in this round!
9.5/10
FORBIDDEN LIST UPDATEAdded:
Byzantine
Avantasia
Agalloch
Cat Empire
Incura
Ben Folds Five
Genesis
Led Zeppelin
Dark TranquilityI have used an 8-sided die to determine the theme for the next round! I rolled a 5, which means that the next round's theme will be...
ROUND 2: SHOULDA COULDA WOULDA (I don't know why it's called that)Send me a song from one of the following genres that I should listen more to:
Prog from 1985 or older
Jazz
Blues
Fusion
Melodic death metal
Neoclassical piano music
A song doesn't only have to be of one of the genres above, as long as the song you sent doesn't contain only a trace of one of those genres. I have to be able to hear it.
You have until Saturday, 17:00 (5 PM) CET. Have fun!