Ok ass clowns, time for your judgement. I don’t expect anyone has read this paragraph at first, I know how Roulette results work... you scrolled down until you found your name to see how you did. Well, I tried to be a prick and make things a little more difficult for you. Also, titty sprinkles. Now that you're back reading this, and some of you know how you fared ... As I mentioned, there was a little something in every song I got – 23 submissions in all, so 6-7 of you will be exiting. Some (while enjoyable) were fairly easy decisions. Others were tough.
One thing I failed to mention in the beginning was that I’ve designated about 20 or so ‘mystery’ bands that are on my ‘check-it-out’ list. Anyone selecting those bands got an automatic pass into Round 2, whether or not I liked the song. Three of you chose one of those bands. Also, a few of followed my tried and true Roulette strategy – win if you can; lose if you must; but always cheat. Three submissions were from vocalists I know and love. Smart moves by you three.
Results are listed in no particular order.
Move along, nothing to see here. See you in Round 2
Y&T/Forever – I doubt I need to say who submitted this one. This was one of said ‘mystery’ bands... but it didn’t matter, this was an excellent track, the thin production value notwithstanding.
Bride/Everybody Knows My Name – Dat guitar riff!!! Excellent blend of old-school sounding rock and metal
Subsignal/Where Angels Fear to Tread – Song #2 from a ‘mystery’ band. Again, no matter as it kicked all kinds of ass. There were a couple of short passages that lost my interest, but it was just a fleeting moment.
Silent Voices/Into the Flow – Kirk Gibson, 1988 vs the A’s. Bottom of the 9th, full count, 2 outs. With two bum knees, he cracks a walk-off Home Run. Against this competition, to get a song that stood ahead of the rest is just as impressive. Just listening to a couple more tracks on SoundCloud. Purchase will definitely be made.
Enchant/Paint the Picture – Not only was this a ‘mystery’ band, but it was also with a vocalist I know and love in Ted Leonard. I’ve been meaning to get into Enchant for a long time, and now I know why.
Dead Letter Circus/Lodestar - Liked the vocals plenty; nice smooth break in the middle. The vocal delivery reminds me a lot of the Elysion song that ultimately bumped you to 2nd place in my first roulette. Not sure why you were so worried.
Tyketto/Forever Young – I listened to Tyketto as a result of a last.fm recommendation, and was mostly unimpressed. Clearly I picked the wrong song. This was everything that I love about melodic rock
Disillusion/Fall – Killer opening riff, and then the song never let up. Well done for being the "fresh fish".
Constantine/The Broken Remain – Other than the fact this was 20 minutes of awesome in packed into 10 minutes, I knew nothing about this band. *googles* “Concept Album”. Oohh... full album up on Soundcloud! Yeah, I sense a purchase may be forthcoming.
Thunderstone/Ghosts of Youth – Rick Altzi. One of my favorite metal vocalists right now. Recognized him instantly. Wise choice.
Proceed directly to Jail; do not pass Go; do not collect $200
The Quest/Turn Away – had nice vocal melodies, but that’s about it. Chorus was too damned repetitive, and there wasn’t anything that caught my attention
Hell/Darkhangel - unimaginative riffs, like they're being heavy just for the sake of being heavy. Some good parts (the chorus), but the screaming aspect of the vocals turned me off - reminded me of why I never got into the HEAVY metal of the 80s.
Tame Impala/Elephant – you said you were gonna send some weird shit, and you did. Was this what one would consider electronica? It wasn't horrible, but wasn't the kind of thing that floats my boat these days.
The Cut Line (fate to be determined)
Voyager/ Lost – I went back and forth between liking it long time, and meh - not just the song in general, but during the song.
10cc/Art for Art's Sake – Again with the funkiness!?!?! I really want to like this, but I’m having trouble. I keep waiting for Christopher Walken to blurt out “moar cowbell”, cuz there’s lots of it here. Really has a 70s disco vibe to it.
Smithereens/Behind the Wall of Sleep - Solid rockin tune... I’d expect nothing less, Pretty straight forward... not a lot of imagination in this track.
The Panic Channel/Left to Lose – Great guitar riffs and a nice solo, but much like the previous song, not a lot of imagination. Some moments felt very Zeppelin-ish.
Coheed and Cambria/Welcome Home – I’ve heard C&C a number of times on WPAPU, and been mostly unimpressed, so you were right to worry. Vocal melodies feel more like chanting than melodies, and I wasn’t too fond of the staccato pace from the rhythm section.
The Ocean/Hadopelagic II: Let Them Believe – Dark and disturbed track. I read up on the concept, and it seems pretty cool... not sure sending one of the latter tracks was the place to start on this album though. I think I would enjoy this much more in the context of the entire album.
OmnisighT/Eleven - First half = meh; instrumental sections (especially the outro) were the redeeming qualities; reminded me a lot of Eumeria ... technical flashiness just for the hell of it. I wasn't fond of the guitar tone.
DC Cooper/The Angel Comes – The last of the cheaters! Love DCs voice, but the main keyboard tone was soft like a handshake from a wet sponge.
Touchstone/The Witness (Pts 1 & 2) – This song felt like it could’ve been Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Lots of variety to this, and the transitions weren’t smooth at all.
Three or four of you on the cut line will be sent packing.
Final results to be posted later today if I get the chance. If not, tomorrow morning. Those on the cut line will just have to sweat it out a little longer.