Final Round 1 (Round 7) results!!
Matchup 1 - bl5150 vs Big Hath
Liege Lord - Fallout vs Soulspell - Into the Arc of Time
Liege Lord - Fallout - Brent
Another classic Brent obscure unknown but safe metal band. I love the intro here, vey melodic and then sounds like Priest stole the guitar lead line for Hellrider or Judas Rising or something. Things kick in nicely and again this is I must say a safe entry from Brent. The riffing is very Iced Earth which I like and the whole thing reminds me so strongly of Stormrider style IE. Wouldn't be surprised if Jon Schaffer were a fan of these guys. A little more melody would have helped too, but it's fine the way it is for the style. The more I listened to it though, the more it kicked my ass to be honest. Not much more to say, great song, well performed metal, not the most original thing I've heard but I like it.
Appeal of Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and Vox - 8.5
Structure and Songwriting - 8.5
Replay Value - 8.5
Would I Purchase - 8.5
Score - 8.6
Soulspell - Into the Arc of Time - Jon
Well, I don't think anyone could possibly cheat anymore if they tried than Jon here. An Avantasia style metal opera offering featuring two favs in Zak Stevens and Jon Oliva. To be honest, I don't often like listening to single songs like this that are suppose to be a part of a concept or story and that made it initially hard to get into, but persistence paid off. This is a very classy song for this style and everything is done quite well. Both Jon and Zak sound fabulous and the song is written perfectly for both of them, even if there is some blatant Savatage stuff going on here. Nice buildup and climax and the general structure works well. Not the most original thing I've heard, but certainly need to hear the whole album I think for this song to fully show what it's worth.
Appeal of Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and Vox - 8.5
Structure and Songwriting - 8.5
Replay Value - 8.0
Would I Purchase - 9.0
Score - 8.6
This was a really tough matchup, with the diverse styles somewhat clashing but I really liked both songs for different reasons. For the bonus half a point, it's gotta go to Brent just for sending something out of the box and totally new to me. I respect that aspect in roulettes.
bl5150 - 9.1
Big Hath - 8.6
Matchup 2 - Dr. DTVT vs Evermind
Wuthering Heights - I Shall Not Yield vs Rustfield - Waxhopes
Wuthering Heights - I Shall Not Yield - Mason
Right here we have some more epic well performed power metal. This didn't hit me right away and surprisingly was a grower considering the style. Great epic vocals, nicely performed and the chorus was a winner. Has some folkish elements in the too which is cool, nice mix of Blind Guardian with some old Helloween style in there too. Not the best power metal I've ever heard, but it's fucking solid and everything here is a pleasure to listen too.
Appeal of Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and Vox - 9.0
Structure and Songwriting - 8.5
Replay Value - 8.5
Would I Purchase - 9.0
Score - 8.8
Rustfield - Waxhopes - Ruslan
This one was quite a tough one to get into. Nothing really stuck out and it took a lot of listens to get my head around it. This was some solid progressive rock, but just didn't have the same impact as some of the others. The singer reminded me heavily of Klaus Meine too which is fine. The more I listened to this though it did catch on and the chorus became quite catchy and had a nice atmosphere. The somewhat harsher vocals were unexpected but a nice twist in the song too. I did think the solo was a bit sloppy and awkward too in some of the phrasing and note selections. Overall a good song that I didn't want to skip, but just did kick me in the balls like others.
Appeal of Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and Vox - 8.0
Structure and Songwriting - 7.5
Replay Value - 7.5
Would I Purchase - 7.5
Score - 7.8
This was a pretty easy matchup. Mason gets the bonus half point with some classy solid power metal.
Dr DTVT. - 9.3
Evermind - 7.8
Matchup 3 - lowdz vs jjrock88
Spread Eagle - Switchblade Serenade vs Warrior - Kill the Machine
Spread Eagle - Switchblade Serenade - Paul
When it comes to bands like Skid Row and Guns 'n' Roses, I'm not really a fan, and I didn't really dig this much either. Production was good and everything was performed nicely, but the style just didn't really do it for me. The chorus is catchy enough but not something I'd really hook onto and discover more of. Even though the chorus was catchy, it got a bit annoying the more I listened to it. I didn't skip it, but wasn't my fav at all, but can understand the appeal
Appeal of Style - 7.0
Instrumentation and Vox - 7.5
Structure and Songwriting - 8.0
Replay Value - 7.0
Would I Purchase - 6.0
Score - 7.1
Warrior - Kill the Machine - Jason
I love how instantly recognizable Rob Rock's vocals are, knew right away without knowing he was in this band. This is a ball tearer and again, took a few spins to grow. I love the chorus, quite modern sounding in the riffing and just great metal. Not much more to say other than sounds like an album I would love, great song.
Appeal of Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and Vox - 9.0
Structure and Songwriting - 9.0
Replay Value - 9.0
Would I Purchase - 9.0
Score - 9.0
No brainer matchup here, sorry Paul.
jjrock88 - 9.5
lowdz - 7.1
Matchup 4 - jingle.boy vs TAC
Presto Ballet - The Chemical Age vs Hangar - The Essence of Your Conviction
Presto Ballet - The Chemical Age - Chad
So these guys really like Rush hey? Some of what's going on here is almost some fanboys paying tribute to Rush. I love Rush, they are one of a kind, but bands trying to copy them, I don't know just seems a bit cheesy. I've known the name from the Metal Church connection but this isn't what I expected at all. This was still an enjoyable song and everything was catchy enough and well performed, and the solo sections were great, they were my fav part I'd say. For what it is, I can enjoy it but I think I have to be in the mood for stuff like this these days and when I'm hearing ball tearing metal around it, I guess unfortunately it suffers a little. Still scored it accordingly, cause it was still a very nice, classy song.
Appeal of Style - 8.0
Instrumentation and Vox - 8.5
Structure and Songwriting - 8.5
Replay Value - 8.0
Would I Purchase - 7.5
Score - 8.1
Hangar - The Essence of Your Conviction - Tim
I'm glad I changed the bonus point from a full point to half a point as I don't like things being rated higher than a 10. The was the instant standout of the round and still is. I thought this song was going to outscore everything by a bigger margin but some of the others grew on me a lot. This is the song I keep coming back to, and probably would make top 3 of the roulette so far, definitely top 5. This is just fucking ball tearing metal. Great production, great vocals, Priester on the drums is cool as we know what he's made of. The chorus wasn't instant but fits perfectly and grew into the song too. The fucking balls out grooves and time changes during the instrumental section was fabulous and kicks me in the ass everytime. Nothing really bad to say here, just I hope the rest of their stuff is this good.
Appeal of Style - 9.5
Instrumentation and Vox - 9.5
Structure and Songwriting - 9.0
Replay Value - 9.5
Would I Purchase - 9.5
Score - 9.4
Sorry Chad.
TAC - 9.9
jingle.boy - 8.1
Leader board after the last round
1. bl5150 - 8.7+9.0+9.0+8.6+9.1+8.8 = 53.2+9.1
2. Dr. DTVT - 8.7+9.5+8.5+8.9+8.8+8.5 = 52.9+9.3
3. Evermind - 8.9+8.6+8.2+9.0+9.0+9.0 = 52.7+7.8
4. Big Hath - 9.4+8.8+8.8+8.9+7.9+8.7 = 52.5+8.6
5. lowdz - 8.1+9.4+7.8+8.5+9.0+9.0 = 51.8+7.1
6. jingle.boy - 8.5+7.9+9.1+8.2+8.2+9.1 = 51.0+8.1
7. TAC - 8.4+9.3+7.6+8.6+7.8+9.0 = 50.7+9.9
8. jjrock88 - 8.0+8.3+7.4+8.3+8.0+9.3 = 49.3+9.5
New leader board going into second round of finals;
1. bl5150 - 62.3
2. Dr. DTVT - 62.2
3. Big Hath - 61.1
4. TAC - 60.6
5. Evermind - 60.5
6. jingle.boy - 59.1
7. lowdz - 58.9
8. jjrock88 - 58.8
Tim storms into the top 4 with that amazing track. As I said, I've decided that no one gets eliminated this round, everyone is still in. Scores still close so the right song choice can potentially get you in the top 4 if one of the others puts a foot wrong. Brent and Mason look hard to knock out but Jon and Tim can easily be knocked out, look how Tim just moved up.
Finals Round 2 (Round 8) matchups;
Matchup 1 - bl5150 vs TAC
Matchup 2 - Dr. DTVT vs Big Hath
Matchup 3 - Evermind vs jjrock88
Matchup 4 - jingle.boy vs lowdz
If you're in the bottom 4, pull out all stops right now.