Author Topic: Sonata Arctica Survivor - Results and Discussion - The End Of This Chapter wins! (Read 3145 times)

Evermind · « **on:** April 18, 2014, 12:21:40 PM »

So here we are, fellow Sonata Arctica fans. We've got to determine the best and the worst songs from the band. Quite a task, isn't it? Sonata Arctica went from being predictable to more polarizing than ever with their last four efforts, and that's what makes it fun! I'm sure there will be the hardcore fans, like me (shameless self-promotion, yep), who stayed with band regardless of any changes, and I'm sure we'll also have the few-albums-participants, which, by the way, is not a bad thing at all! If you only heard Ecliptica, or Reckoning Night, or you're totally new with the band and bought Pariah's Child 'cause of the cool artwork, feel free to join in. Anyone who wants to be a part of this is welcome

The general outline for the whole survivor:

- there will be the separated survivors for each album (of course) and one more for the bonus tracks, which makes it nine
- the rounds for everything will last two days, because I don't care much about the time we're spending on this (please let me know if you prefer Chad's approach for Avantasia survivor - running two albums in a parallel and the one-day-deadline for consolations)
- two best songs from each album will go into the finals (which means 16 from the main albums, and 18 if you will count the bonus tracks); the third and fourth songs are going into consolations, where they will fight for three places remaining in a main bracket (which means only three songs from consolations will make it)
- the finals will consist of the 21 best Sonata Arctica songs
- there will be no tie-breakers in the album-rounds or consolations if they aren't important, but there will be tie-breakers in the finals
- the survivor will start after the end of Transatlantic one

Let me know what approach you prefer. I don't mind any critics, so just fire them away.

Evermind · « **Reply #1 on:** April 18, 2014, 12:21:55 PM »

RESULTS:

FINALS
1. The End Of This Chapter
2. Don't Say A Word
3. It Won't Fade
4. Caleb
5. The Power Of One
6. White Pearl, Black Oceans...
7. In Black And White
8. The Misery
9. Destruction Preventer
10. Blood
11. Gravenimage
12. Replica
13. Somewhere Close To You
14. FullMoon
14. The Wolves Die Young
16. Everything Fades To Gray (Full Version)
17. Wildfire, Part: III - Wildfire Town, Population: 0
18. Nothing More
19. The Last Amazing Grays
20. Wrecking The Sphere
21. Misplaced

CONSOLATIONS
1. In Black And White
2. FullMoon
2. White Pearl, Black Oceans...
4. Juliet
5. My Land
6. Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited
6. Fly With The Black Swan
6. The Dead Skin
9. To Create A Warlike Feel
10. Broken
10. Wildfire
10. Wildfire, Part: II - One With The Mountain
13. Cinderblox
14. What Did You Do In The War, Dad?
15. Dream Thieves
16. False News Travel Fast
16. Weballergy
16. Running Lights

1. Ecliptica

1. Replica
2. Destruction Preventer
3. My Land
4. FullMoon
5. 8th Commandment
6. Kindgom for a Heart
7. Blank File
8. UnOpened
9. Picturing the Past
10. Letter to Dana

2. Silence

1. The End of This Chapter
2. The Power of One
3. False News Travel Fast
4. Weballergy
5. Black Sheep
6. Sing In Silence
7. Wolf & Raven
8. Land of the Free
9. San Sebastian
10. Tallulah
11. Last Drop Falls
11. Revontulet
13. ...of Silence

3. Winterheart's Guild

1. The Misery
2. Gravenimage
3. Broken
4. Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited
5. Victoria's Secret
6. The Cage
6. Draw Me
8. The Ruins Of My Life
9. Champagne Bath
10. Silver Tongue

4. Reckoning Night

1. Don't Say A Word
2. Misplaced
3. White Pearl, Black Oceans...
3. Wildfire
5. The Boy Who Wanted To Be A Real Puppet
5. Blinded No More
7. My Selene
8. Ain't Your Fairytale
9. Shamandalie
10. Reckoning Day, Reckoning Night

5. Unia

1. It Won't Fade
2. Caleb
3. In Black And White
4. Fly With The Black Swan
5. My Dream's But A Drop Of Fuel For A Nightmare
5. The Worlds Forgotten, The Words Forbidden
7. The Harvest
8. Paid In Full
8. Under Your Tree
8. The Vice
11. For The Sake Of Revenge
12. Good Enough Is Good Enough

6. The Days of Grays

1. The Last Amazing Grays
2. Everything Fades To Gray (Full Version)
3. The Dead Skin
4. Juliet
5. Deathaura
6. As If The World Wasn't Ending
7. Flag In The Ground
8. Breathing
9. Everything Fades To Gray (Instrumental)
10. No Dream Can Heal A Broken Heart
10. The Truth Is Out There
12. Zeroes

7. Stones Grow Her Name

1. Somewhere Close To You
2. Wildfire, Part: III - Wildfire Town, Population: 0
3. Wildfire, Part: II - One With The Mountain
4. Cinderblox
5. Losing My Insanity
6. Alone In Heaven
7. Only The Broken Hearts (Make You Beautiful)
7. I Have A Right
9. The Day
10. Shitload Of Money
11. Don't Be Mean

8. Pariah's Child

1. Blood
2. The Wolves Die Young
3. What Did You Do In The War, Dad?
4. Running Lights
5. Take One Breath
5. Cloud Factory
7. Larger Than Life
8. Half A Marathon Man
9. X Marks The Spot
10. Love

9. Bonus Tracks

1. Wrecking The Sphere
1. Nothing More
3. Dream Thieves
4. To Create A Warlike Feel
5. They Follow
6. Shy
7. No Pain
8. The Gun
9. Respect The Wilderness
9. In My Eyes You're A Giant
11. Mary-Lou
12. In The Dark
12. Tonight I Dance Alone
14. PeaceMaker
14. One-Two-Free-Fall
16. The Rest Of The Sun Belongs To Me

? · « **Reply #2 on:** April 19, 2014, 12:06:40 AM »

If nobody starts a new survivor after the TA and Avantasia ones are over, I think we could do two albums simultaneously. I used that approach when I ran the SA survivor a few years ago and people were ok with that, as long as there weren't too many survivors going on at once. Now that there's less activity on this subforum than before, I don't think it'll be a problem if we do it that way, especially considering that Chad did as well, although (as far as I know) Avantasia has a smaller discography.

Either way, I'm curious to see how the results turn out! Last time The End of This Chapter and Don't Say a Word were the top 2 songs and the former took the crown. I also remember Caleb and It Won't Fade doing pretty well.

Evermind · « **Reply #3 on:** April 19, 2014, 02:04:16 AM »

That's some weird results in my opinion.

Well, we shall see indeed.

Avantasia has 6 albums, so it's not really much smaller. I also like the two-albums-at-a-time approach because I tend to pair the SA albums in my mind. I do think Ecliptica and Silence are quite similar straightforward power metal, WHG and RN both has a proggy vibe and the sound differs from the first two albums, Unia and TDOG went completely off the track and despite having a different atmosphere, both are adventurous and creative, you get the point.

Evermind · « **Reply #4 on:** May 13, 2014, 10:07:53 AM »

Ecliptica final round results:

Replica - 3 (42,9%)
Destruction Preventer - 4 (57,1%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for Ecliptica were:

1. Destruction Preventer
2. 8th Commandment
3. Kingdom for a Heart
4. Replica
5. FullMoon
6. My Land
7. UnOpened
8. Picturing the Past
9. Blank File
10. Letter to Dana

? · « **Reply #5 on:** May 13, 2014, 10:10:18 AM »

I'm pretty happy with the results

My ranking:

1. My Land
2. Destruction Preventer
3. Replica
4. FullMoon
5. 8th Commandment
6. Blank File
7. Kingdom for a Heart
8. Letter to Dana
9. UnOpened
10. Picturing the Past

Scorpion · « **Reply #6 on:** May 13, 2014, 02:37:40 PM »

1. Destruction Preventer
2. Replica
3. 8th Commandment
4. FullMoon
5. My Land
6. Kingdom for a Heart
7. Blank File
8. UnOpened
9. Picturing the Past
10. Letter to Dana

I'm happy that 3 of my 4 picks to continue beyond this album bracket made it. Shame about 8th Commandment, but oh well. Still looking pretty good.

Don't get me started on the Silence survivor though

Evermind · « **Reply #7 on:** May 19, 2014, 12:56:25 PM »

Silence final round results:

The End of This Chapter - 2 (28,6%)
The Power of One - 5 (71,4%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for Silence were:

1. The End of This Chapter
2. The Power of One
3. Black Sheep
4. Sing In Silence
5. False News Travel Fast
6. Wolf & Raven
7. Land of the Free
8. San Sebastian
9. Weballergy
10. Tallulah
11. Revontulet
12. Last Drop Falls
13. ...of Silence

6-9 are pretty much the same quality for me, and I'm swapping 3-5 constantly depending on my mood. Glad we've got top2 right though.

WHG and RN survivors are coming soon.

? · « **Reply #8 on:** May 19, 2014, 01:13:32 PM »

The fact that Last Drop Falls and Tallulah were kicked out before Wolf & Raven and Land of the Free is a terrible failure, but the top 4 songs are (once again) the same as mine.

Evermind · « **Reply #9 on:** June 11, 2014, 09:02:19 AM »

Winterheart's Guild final round results:

Gravenimage - 4 (57,1%)
The Misery - 3 (42,9%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for Winterheart's Guild were:

1. The Misery
2. Gravenimage
3. Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited
4. Draw Me
5. Victoria's Secret
6. The Cage
7. Broken
8. The Ruins Of My Life
9. Champagne Bath
10. Silver Tongue

All was nice except Broken getting into consolations, but I can deal with it. Also, quite intense final round.

Evermind · « **Reply #10 on:** June 11, 2014, 10:16:06 AM »

Reckoning Night final round results:

Misplaced - 6 (85,7%)
Don't Say A Word - 1 (14,3%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for Reckoning Night were:

1. White Pearl, Black Oceans...
2. Don't Say A Word
3. The Boy Who Wanted To Be A Real Puppet
4. Misplaced
5. Wildfire
6. Ain't Your Fairytale
7. My Selene
8. Shamandalie
9. Reckoning Day, Reckoning Night
10. Blinded No More

Well, this went terribly wrong with Misplaced in finals, WPBO in consolations and Puppet not making the cut at all.

I actually expect Unia and TDOG to go terribly wrong too, I often see myself disagreeing with people's opinions about songs on those albums. Well, I guess we shall see tomorrow!

? · « **Reply #11 on:** June 11, 2014, 12:59:19 PM »

The WHG and RN rankings are less satisfying than the ones for Ecliptica and Silence, but luckily most of my favorites did pretty well.

Evermind · « **Reply #12 on:** June 30, 2014, 09:55:08 AM »

Unia final round results:

It Won't Fade - 1 (14,3%)
Caleb - 6 (85,7%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for Unia were:

1. It Won't Fade
2. Caleb
3. In Black And White
4. The Vice
5. The Worlds Forgotten, The Words Forbidden
6. My Dream's But A Drop Of Fuel For A Nightmare
7. Paid In Full
8. Fly With The Black Swan
9. The Harvest
10. Under Your Tree
11. For The Sake Of Revenge
12. Good Enough Is Good Enough

I'm alright with all of those except The Vice being that low. Before we started this, I actually thought The Harvest and My Dream... will be at the top, while TWFTWF will be at the very bottom. I'm positively surprised!

? · « **Reply #13 on:** June 30, 2014, 10:17:10 AM »

The top 4 songs are the same as in the last survivor and they are my favorites on the album as well, so I'm happy.

Scorpion · « **Reply #14 on:** June 30, 2014, 10:52:46 AM »

Honestly, Unia is such a consistent album that I'd probably be happy with the results, no matter how they looked (short of GEIGE topping it

), but my gut instinct would be to place both Drop of Fuel and The Harvest in the Top 4, and maybe boot out Fly With the Black Swan and ... Caleb? I dunno. Like I said, I love 'em all.

Evermind · « **Reply #15 on:** July 08, 2014, 10:29:15 AM »

The Days of Grays final round results:

The Last Amazing Grays - 2 (28,6%)
Everything Fades To Gray (Full Version) - 5 (71,4%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for The Days of Grays were:

1. The Dead Skin
2. As If The World Wasn't Ending
3. The Last Amazing Grays
4. The Truth Is Out There
5. Breathing
6. Everything Fades To Gray (Full Version)
7. Juliet
8. Flag In The Ground
9. Everything Fades To Gray (Instrumental)
10. Deathaura
11. No Dream Can Heal A Broken Heart
12. Zeroes

Glad we've got rid of Zeroes and Deathaura, sad we've lost AITWWE and TTIOT, and would like to see TDS and TLAG swapped. Not the result I hoped for, anyway.

The SGHN survivor starts tomorrow, and Pariah's Child on the next day after it.

Evermind · « **Reply #16 on:** July 30, 2014, 10:35:40 AM »

Alright, I know it's technically still a day before the last round is over, but as I won't have a lot of time tomorrow, I'll write the results down today, and if they somehow change, I'll change this post too.

Stones Grow Her Name final round results:

Somewhere Close To You - 2 (25%)
Wildfire, Part: III - Wildfire Town, Population: 0 - 6 (75%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for Stones Grow Her Name were:

1. Wildfire, Part: II - One With The Mountain
2. Wildfire, Part: III - Wildfire Town, Population: 0
3. Somewhere Close To You
4. Cinderblox
5. The Day
6. Alone In Heaven
7. Losing My Insanity
8. I Have A Right
9. Only The Broken Hearts (Make You Beautiful)
10. Don't Be Mean
11. Shitload Of Money

Amazing results regarding Top 4, but I'm still disappointed a bit about Wildfire pt. 2 losing. Oh well!

Pariah's Child final round results:

The Wolves Die Young - 5 (62,5%)
Blood - 3 (37,5%)

Results are added into the post above.

My rankings for Pariah's Child were:

1. Blood
2. What Did You Do In The War, Dad?
3. Half A Marathon Man
4. Take One Breath
5. Cloud Factory
6. The Wolves Die Young
7. Larger Than Life
8. Running Lights
9. X Marks The Spot
10. Love

Well, Blood has won, it's great, but on the other hand, I'm surprised and not very glad to see Wolves making in this far. HAMM and Take One Breath are out too, so I'm not that happy with the results.

The bonus tracks survivor starts tomorrow.

And damn, I just realised what a bunch of amazing songs are in consolations already! WPBO, IB&W, The Dead Skin, Juliet (maybe), Wildfire pt. 2, War-Dad, all those are worthy of finals. Gonna be tough to decide, I think.

? · « **Reply #17 on:** July 31, 2014, 12:55:32 AM »

Quote from: Evermind on July 30, 2014, 10:35:40 AM

And damn, I just realised what a bunch of amazing songs are in consolations already! WPBO, IB&W, The Dead Skin, Juliet (maybe), Wildfire pt. 2, War-Dad, all those are worthy of finals. Gonna be tough to decide, I think.

Nah, WPBO and TDS are clearly the best

I'm happy with the top 4 for SGHN, but IHAR and Losing My Insanity should've gone right after Don't Be Mean. The PC results mostly match my ranking, but I wish Take One Breath could've stayed in the game a little longer - Wolves isn't a finals-worthy song IMO, but I'm glad Blood won.

Evermind · « **Reply #18 on:** August 28, 2014, 08:40:03 AM »

And here we are!

Bonus Tracks final round results:

Wrecking The Sphere - 3 (50%)
Nothing More - 3 (50%)

Results are added into the post above.

My top5 for the Bonus Tracks:

1. Nothing More
2. Wrecking The Sphere
3. In My Eyes You're A Giant
4. Dream Thieves
5. Shy

So, apart from IMEYAG losing early, I'm pretty much satisfied. Also, that was the first tie in the finals for this survivor.

Consolations will start either later today or tomorrow, depends on when I get back home from work. What deadline for consolations do you guys prefer: one day or two days as usual?

? · « **Reply #19 on:** August 28, 2014, 08:51:16 AM »

I think one day might be enough, since there are so many songs in the consolation (18, I think?) and only two of them end up in the finals anyway.

Scorpion · « **Reply #20 on:** August 28, 2014, 09:07:26 AM »

I agree with Ville.

My Top 5:

1. To Create a Warlike Feel
2. Nothing More
3. Wrecking the Sphere
4. The Gun
5. They Follow

Evermind · « **Reply #21 on:** August 28, 2014, 09:12:15 AM »

It's three songs actually, but I got your point guys. If no one objects in the next four hours, I'm going with one day approach.

Evermind · « **Reply #22 on:** September 11, 2014, 03:07:37 AM »

Consolations final round results:

FullMoon - 3 (42,9%)
White Pearl, Black Oceans... - 3 (42,9%)
In Black And White - 1 (14,3%)

Results are added into the post above.

My top3 for consolations:

1. White Pearl, Black Oceans...
2. The Dead Skin
3. In Black And White

Two of those made into the finals, so I'm satisfied with the results. FullMoon is a good track too.

Finals starting later today. Do you guys prefer to get back to 2 days voting, or should we keep this one day approach? It seems to be working alright, we constantly get like 7 votes every day.

Scorpion · « **Reply #23 on:** September 11, 2014, 03:12:31 AM »

One day is fine.

1. In Black and White
2. The Dead Skin
3. Fly With the Black Swan

? · « **Reply #24 on:** September 11, 2014, 03:23:55 AM »

1. WPBO
2. The Dead Skin
3. To Create a Warlike Feel

Such a shame that only WPBO enters the finals, but IB&W ain't bad, and I guess it would be weird if FullMoon wasn't there, considering how popular it is. I'm fine with one-day polls as well.

Evermind · « **Reply #25 on:** October 22, 2014, 04:00:40 AM »

Final round results:

The End Of This Chapter - 3 (33,3%)
Don't Say A Word - 6 (66,7%)

The End Of This Chapter wins and is still the favourite Sonata Arctica song here on DTF!

Here's the Top 10:

1. The End Of This Chapter
2. Don't Say A Word
3. It Won't Fade
4. Caleb
5. The Power Of One
6. White Pearl, Black Oceans...
7. In Black And White
8. The Misery
9. Destruction Preventer
10. Blood

? · « **Reply #26 on:** October 22, 2014, 04:02:51 AM »

Once again: thanks for running this, Evermind!

TEOTC is my #1 SA song and plenty of my favorites entered top 10, so for the most part I'm happy with the results.

Evermind · « **Reply #27 on:** October 22, 2014, 04:05:39 AM »

I'm going to take a few months break from survivor-running business (and finally focus on writing my Top 50 albums list, haha) and then we'll do either Nightwish or Kamelot survivor, starting around January or February, or maybe a bit later, depends on which one we'll choose to run and when the bands will release their respective new albums.

Once again, thank you everyone for participating, it's been great!

Quote from: ? on October 22, 2014, 04:02:51 AM

Once again: thanks for running this, Evermind! TEOTC is my #1 SA song and plenty of my favorites entered top 10, so for the most part I'm happy with the results.

Yep, I think the results are pretty good. TEOTC is my #3, so it's a worthy winner alright.

Scorpion · « **Reply #28 on:** October 23, 2014, 02:55:06 PM »

Aside from TEOTC and The Misery being there, that's a solid Top 10. Thanks for running this, sorry for dropping out on some of the later rounds - internet's been a little wonky.

News: Paralyzed official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7m7l8iqGAk

Author Topic: Sonata Arctica Survivor - Results and Discussion - The End Of This Chapter wins! (Read 3145 times)