Ha enough trolling, feast upon some results.
ROUND 3 RESULTS
Parama: Lorde - Buzzcut Season - I don't have a problem with pop music, but this just didn't do a whole lot for me. It wasn't really bad in any way, but I didn't think there was anything in particular that made me want to come back to it, and honestly there were a few times where I couldn't remember how the song went like 15 minutes after listening to it. Still better than a lot of stuff they play on the radio, but not really my thing.
Grade: 5.5
Shadow Ninja: Mew - Water Slides - I was not into this a all on the first listen, but it grew a lot over time. Still not my favorite, but I like it a lot more after a couple of listens. It creates a nice atmosphere for sure. Maybe it will continue to grow, but for now it's still in that average range.
Grade: 6.5
Splent: Enchant - The Great Divide - This kind of felt like one of those "standard prog" songs. There was nothing really bad about it, but also nothing that I felt set it apart from a lot of prog music, and there were a couple times I could feel my concentration slipping. The vocals (is it Neal Morse? Sounds like him) are kind of hit and miss. I like them in the chorus, but not so much in the verses. Overall it's sort of stuck in that good but not great category.
Grade: 6.5
Train of Naught: Protest the Hero - C'est La Vie - Everything about this song was solid. The instrumentation, vocals, production, you name it. That said, in my opinion it didn't really have anything that took it from "solid" to "fantastic". Fun song, enjoyable to listen to, but nothing extraordinary.
Grade: 7
Sacul: Bent Knee - Being Human - Very interesting track. I had no idea where it was going after the short intro, and was pleasantly surprised by an almost Steve Hackett like riff. Probably my favorite part of the song. The vocalist was very impressive, especially at the end with those crazy high notes. Very solid tune.
Grade: 7
Tyrias: ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Will You Smile Again for Me - Another interesting submission you got here. Loved the intro, it was pretty great. And then it completely changes tone, but to a part I like equally well, with some awesome muted trumpets in there. It then totally changes again, although I can't say I like this part as much. But it does a good job of building off this part, eventually coming full circle back to the awesome intro. Cool song!
Grade: 7.5
Senecadawg: Glen Hansard - Bird of Sorrow - This is a super soft, heartfelt piece. And it was pretty powerful. I really liked the build up throughout the song, starting with just piano and vocals and adding in all the rest. I also liked how it brought it back down after the climax, in fact I think the ending might be my favorite part. Great resolution to a beautiful piece. And it keeps getting better with more listens.
Grade: 8
Scorpion: Leprous - Forced Entry - Good news. Apparently I don't hate good music! Yeah, this song was awesome. It had so many different tones and kept me guessing the whole time. At first I thought it would be djent, then it went almost poppy, and then really proggy, and this is all in the first 3 minutes. Also as a drummer, some of the drum parts were mind-blowing in it's level of difficulty. The song was over 10 minutes long, but felt a lot less than that, and I never felt my attention slipping. I think that's proof that I really liked it.
Grade: 8.5
STANDINGS
1. Senecadawg - 22
2. Shadow Ninja - 21.5
2. Splent - 21.5
2. Train of Naught - 21.5
5. Tyrias - 20.5
5. Scorpion - 20.5
7. Sacul - 20
8. Parama - 18.5
Standings are still incredibly tight. Still anyone's game. Also please correct me if a made an arithmetic error, as it's bound to happen at some point.
Next round is basically open, because I won't judge how well it fits the theme, since it's completely subjective, but just send a song you like to listen to when driving or running or anything of that nature. And that was quite the run-on sentence.