ROUND 3 RESULTSlonestar: Kill Ritual – The Serpentine RitualThrash metal. That can either go very wrong or it can go really well. Why? Well, I used to listen to thrash quite a lot some years ago. This resulted in a very specific taste for thrash metal; if it’s too standard, I will really dislike the song. On the other hand, if the song is not that standard and the quality is good, I tend to love it.
Well, to cut a long story short: I didn’t like it. The riffs are nothing special. The same goes for the singer. The mix is good, though the instruments (especially the drums) sound a bit compressed. Anyway, the drums are again good but nothing special. The song itself isn’t necessarily a rip-off of old thrash, but it’s nothing new either and it’s really forgettable. Sorry man, I just don’t like it.
6.7/10
Elite: Pantera - Suicide Note Part IIWell, this is interesting. I’ve heard some Pantera before, but I guess it was not enough to spark my interest. And now you’ve sent me this song, which you only listen to when you’re really pissed off. Well, I can hear that. The main guitar riff is really fast and angry but still is boring IMO. The riffs in the chorus are a bit better, and the riffs in the breakdown and the last part of the song are a bit better as well. The guitar solo is cool though. The drumming is nice and aggressive but nothing more than that. I don’t like the vocals really, they’re a bit overdone IMO. I’ll have to admit, this is a really aggressive song and I can bang my head to it. I can understand that it’s really a good song to let all the anger out when you’re really pissed off. But I already have better songs for that sadly It got better after a few listens, but it’s still not mind-blowing.
7.0/10
MoraWintersoul: Outworld – War CryThis song is pretty cool. The vocals are great, and most of the riffs are. But the song gets slightly dull after repeated listens. It should have been shorter IMO. I don’t really like the mix either; my usual complaints (bass & keyboards are too low in the mix) apply here
The chorus is great and the guitar solo is ok, but as I said, the song drags a bit. Overall, it’s an okay song but that’s all.
7.2/10
Lolzeez: Symphony X – Church of the MachineI have listened to Symphony X before, but I didn’t put them on my Forbidden list, for I thought they were really repetitive. The only albums I’ve heard were (I think) Paradise Lost, Divine Winds of Tragedy and The Odyssey. This song sounded familiar though, so I might have heard Twilight in Olympus once or twice too. Anyway, I didn’t really love the song. I like Russel Allen’s vocals, they’re really good. The guitar riffs were pretty good too but they got boring after a few listens. The choir-like choruses are ok, but nothing fantastic. The keyboards were really nice though, and really created atmosphere. Most parts of the song were cool, but it all went on for too long, and I didn’t like the choruses. The instrumental parts and solos were cool but that’s all I guess. I guess I just don’t really like Symphony X; I thought they were too repetitive and this song didn’t change my mind.
7.4/10
Nihil-Morari: Meshuggah – DemiurgeAh. Meshuggah. I should’ve expected them. Many people seem to like them a lot nowadays. I’ve only heard a few songs by them, and they didn’t really spark my interest. Moreover, I even saw these guys perform live about two months ago at a festival that Elite and I were attending. I didn’t really like them there either; they were very repetitive. And now you have forced me to listen a bit better. Well, then I guess that’s what I’m going to do.
First of all, I should say that the quality of this music is high. I saw these guys perform live and it was tight as hell. Each of the musicians in this band is good. And with each listen, this song sounded a little better to me. The vocals are ok, though nothing special. The riffs are okay; my main problem with them was that they were really repetitive. There were definitely some cool bits, but overall it sounded very much the same. The drums are fitting. I love the mix; everything is clear, even the bass guitar. The lyrics are great. Overall, it’s a cool song, though really repetitive. Only at 3:30, it sounded like things were going in a different direction, but it turned out that they just went back to some more riffs.
7.6/10
Big Hath: Bruce Dickinson – Book of ThelI’ve never heard any solo work of Bruce before, so I’m really curious. I like Iron Maiden and I love Bruce’s vocals, so this should be good. Anyway, the first few minutes of the song remind me of Iron Maiden a bit; not only Bruce’s vocals, but also the riffs, which seemed plausible since Adrian Smith played guitar on this album. But after about 3:30, the song begins to develop a sound that is a bit different, and that doesn’t remind me of Iron Maiden too much (though the guitar solo still did). This song is just really good. I don’t have anything else to say
8.0/10
black_floyd: Death – Without JudgementI am writing this now while I haven’t heard even a single second yet of the song you sent me. Why? Because I wanted to say this: you have unconsciously taken a risk by sending me this song. Why? Because I tend to dislike early death metal vocals even more than I dislike black metal vocals. I have heard a song by Death before, and I know they’re supposed to have written some amazing music, but I didn’t like the vocals last time. So here I am now, listening to Death again.
Well, as I expected, I didn’t like the vocals. But I didn’t dislike them nearly as much as I did before. Moreover, everything else was great. The riffs, the drums, the lyrics, the mixing, everything. Just a great song. I especially liked the fast bits before and during the choruses.
8.1/10
Dr. DTVT: Enslaved – CloudsOk, this song starts out pretty non-metal IMO. Fortunately, it becomes a bit heavier later on; otherwise it wouldn’t have fulfilled the round theme. Anyway, really interesting song. More black metal vocals, so you took a risk again. Still, I seem to mind them less and less. The clean vocals aren’t that great though. The section from 4:00 or so really reminded me of Crack the Skye (the album) by Mastodon. That’s a good thing, since that is one of my favourite albums of all time. Overall, it’s a great song, and I’ll definitely be listening to these guys some more.
8.1/10
Scorpion: Strapping Young Lad – We RideI’ve been wanting to check these guys out for a while, since Devin was in them. So I guess this is the perfect opportunity! When the song started, I immediately came to the conclusion that this song was not about subtlety, which is good (well, at least for this round). Devin’s vocals are awesome as always, and the lyrics are good (WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY FACE?
). This song is tight as hell and it did make me want to bang my head! It’s aggressive, tight and even though it’s a bit repetitive, its short length keeps it from being boring and makes it a very enjoyable song.
8.4/10
crazyaga: Dog Fashion Disco – The Sacrifice of Miss Rose Covington“THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELLS YOU!” Wow, this is fantastic. Really nice avant-garde metal that I can easily bang my head to. Just amazing.
9.3/10
Standings!Big Hath: 25.7
black_floyd: 25.5
Scorpion: 25.0
crazyaga: 24.9
Dr. DTVT: 24.8
Lolzeez: 24.6
Nihil-Morari: 24.6
MoraWintersoul: 23.5
Elite: 23.5
lonestar: 23.3
FORBIDDEN LIST UPDATEAdded:
Bruce Dickinson
Death
Dog Fashion Disco
Enslaved
Meshuggah
Strapping Young Lad
Next round....
ROUND 4: BICYCLE SHOESTRINGS!Title says it all. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the random chaos round! Refer to Rule #7 of the Rules for more information! I tend to be chaotic and random as a person quite often, so I made a round theme which incorporated that! This round you are to send me music of a random or chaotic nature. By this I mean for example avant-garde metal (i.e. Leprous), songs that have both chaos and randomness in music and lyrics (i.e. System of a Down) or just music with random lyrics and strange instrumental shit. I don't really care; chaos and randomness have quite broad definitions, so surprise me and you'll get points! You have until this Sunday, 22:00 (10 PM) CET.