Round 2 resultsParama: Oceansize – The FrameOceansize have always been a band I could see be the toughest grower ever and I hope at this point I’m ready to take it in, I know I wasn’t impressed last time when I got “Music For A Nurse“, but Frames really seems to be the most loved album. Seems like you’re really sticking to as long as possible songs in these rounds.
On one hand I really want to like Oceansize because it seems like a grower, but on the other at some point I guess I have to stop trying because it’s starting to feel like a chore. I actually listened to the album “Frames“ once but I didn’t remember much of it. Probably has more to do with me not being much of a post-rock fan than anything though.
Actually, I feel like I need to document this RIGHT NOW because I’ll have to look back to this writeup somewhere in the future, this is the biggest case of “has just clicked with me“ I ever experienced and I was actually about to give you like a 6.5 because I had the same issue with this as I had with 425’s Neal Morse Band song, a long song I only liked chunks of and felt like a chore kind-a to get through. But suddenly it just became a pretty great song. Not my favorite ever but I hope you can atleast live with this.
I’ve heard from pretty much everyone that Oceansize need a long time to grow on you and I think I understand now, lucky I’m giving the songs such a big amount of listens I guess because if I only did 4 this would’ve gotten a 7 at best. I’m really eager to return to this album again now and see how much I like it more than I did before.
8.0/10Shadow Ninja 2.0: Frightened Rabbit – Get OutSN2 wanted me to listen to a song I already know and dislike but I didn’t allow it unfortunately, so we’re going with something I never heard of.
So it’s an indiepop/rock-ish song I guess, I can dig that, but they rarely stand out to me. Foals is my #1 indie band right now and there’s some similarities here and there but not much.
Hmm.. I like the song quite a bit but there’s not really much to it. I know these songs are minimalistic most of the time but I kinda hoped for more. Pretty much your run-of-the-mill indie music, which is not bad here but I can’t point out anything that makes it stand out. Still, the vocals are on point, the chorus is catchy and has this mellow/energetic contrast to it that I like quite a bit. I guess I’d like a little more time with this song.
I think it’s pretty catchy, straight to the point and has good relistening value, though I can’t put it up against the likes of the Death Cab For Cutie and the Chicago song, or even Funky Duck in terms of catchiness. Good submission, though ‘good‘ will not cut it in this competition.
7.0/10Home: Vulfpeck – Funky DuckWell this is interesting, a 2 minute song, no fucking around, just a few minutes of pure fun.
Before I get all negative, I want to say that I do love vocals like these. They’re like the high-energy alternative of Leo Napier, a hip hop artist featured on a few songs off the new Gramatik album which nobody on this forum knows anything about.
Conversely, while this song is all in good fun, I can’t get much out of it because that’s literally all there is to it. I don’t want to look like an anti-fun dude but I can’t put it up against the likes of CHVRCHES and The Fall Of Troy, which I considered the ‘fun‘ songs of round 1 or even the round 2 Chicago song, but in a different way, a way that kept me interested. “He’s a funky duck“ is basically all there is to the song. I wish they used this guest singer a bit more diversely because he has a great voice and the verses were awesome, but the chorus where he starts to howl or something really wore on me after a while. So does this guy play in a soul band? If not, he definitely should, I feel like he’s terribly underused here.
I don’t know whether you had any expectations for this one but apart from tuning in to songs like this for about a minute or so I don’t know whether this music is for me.
Hope I’m not coming across as a prog-nerd that doesn’t like a song like this
just because it does not have any deep lyrical meaning or complex arrangements
I’m not like that at all so don’t lose motivation in sending fun songs like this, I hope I clarified the reasons well enough for you to find something that I like better though!
5.75/10Sacul: Focus – Hocus PocusAlright, time to listen to some yodeling, I’m fucking ready.
But this is really not doing anything for me so far, with one listen in. It’s basically a switch-off between a yodel melody and some guitar-lead jamming with an ocassional solo of any instrument they had. There’s probably some deeper meaning to it I don’t know about (or not) but to me it sounds like they were like “hey let’s see how much random stuff we can fit in 6:40 minutes of yodel/guitar switchoffs“. I see the scatting made its return in my roulette aswell, and not as awesome this time around as either of the two scat-men I got in my first roulette.
It wouldn’t even be half bad if the guitar jams weren’t literally the same riff over and over again, I don’t know if that’s just lazy or genius but from my POV it’s a bad attempt at trying to make the song more cohesive because for a song as unusual as this it gets old remarkably quick. That’s not to say that the riff is bad because that’s actually an amazing riff and I like that it returns, but that’s literally all there is to it apart from the solo sections and the yodels. The unconventional stuff can win me over a lot of the time but I feel it becomes less valuable because the yodeling is repeated so often in the exact same melody.
I might’ve been slightly more negative than I actually felt about the song but it’s really not doing much for me, and I realize it might come off a bit rude but that’s not my intention, nothing personal here, just trying to shed some light on why I’m not that keen on the song.
And as a final note while also kind of echoing what I’ve been meaning to say, I think this could’ve been a very good guitar-centered instrumental, almost like an extended guitar solo with the main riff connecting the solo sections into one piece, because I’m not a big fan of all the random solos and yodel sections stuffed in and while that main riff does return an awful lot, it’s still a great one.
6.0 + (1.0) = 7.0/10 Twosuitsluke: Death – Voice Of The SoulSeems like an easy way out of sending an old-school death metal band by sending an instrumental
but in the context of this roulette it makes sense since bonus points and stuff.
I notice right away that the acoustic guitar is straight-up kicking, I love it. There’s a very intricate vibe to it. But the lead guitars really bury that sound as the song progresses and it’s a shame, I woulda loved some progressive acoustic stuff coming in more often here. It seems like they pick it up again in the second half of the song but this song really centers most around the electric guitar. I can’t help but feel like this makes more sense in the context of the album, a near-4 minute instrumental inbetween 2 longer songs seems like it’s a progressive segue song on the album. I don’t get much out of it as a first time listener without hearing the album. Death metal often speaks to me most and I think should speak to most through the vocals, so like you said this is treated more as a metal instrumental with some prog influences, and it’s not the most remarkable I’ve heard at that.
Would still want to give the band a try with some vocal-included songs so if you can recommend me some (maybe this same album?) I’d appreciate it but I’m not absolutely blown away with this instrumental, it’s not bad though.
6.5 + (1.0) = 7.5/10 Evermind: Rainbow – Gates Of BabylonRuslan reminded me that Rick Astley wasn’t on the banned list yet so I went ahead and did that, thanks for that I guess.
I knew I was getting Rainbow from you
I just had no idea what to think of it, because well, it’s kinda out of my comfort zone datewise.
Aaand, the intro riff kicks in and it’s a pretty cool oriental metal style that I can dig, though I just wish those keys didn’t sound so ‘muffled‘, for lack of a better word, they don’t sound all that pronounced. That’s probably part of the old production. I had worse expectations from this one actually, but so far so good. I’m hearing an amazing guitar solo that really fits that eastern style they’re going for in this song, I hear Dio at the top of his game (which is pretty much him on any song), I’m tempted to say that Dio was the closest anyone came to the perfect metal voice, meaning the best fit to the classic take on metal. Not necessarily meaning that he is my favorite vocalist in metal, but he’s certainly pretty good here. Gotta warn you though, even though I think everything’s alright, nothing is blowing my mind and it’s just some good riffage and some strong vocal work.
Against all odds, this song won’t be the round loser. One of those songs that I find good overall and can’t really point out something I actively dislike, but I’m not all over it. Most of my positivity regarding Gates of Babylon comes from some of the awesome vocals hooks in the chorus, will very likely check out the album.
7.25/10
Tomislav95: Moonsorrow – SankarihautaOkay, of course the guys of Moonsorrow are no strangers to me, I’ve seen their name around a lot. But I’ve always been a bit apprehensive with picking black metal bands/albums/songs, and I still don’t know a lot about it.
The song starts very intense with the heavy metal riffage and the screams and it’s a really great vibe to build a song upon. With the big orchestral opening and the punching riffs I don’t really know how they will follow this up in the coming 7 minutes but so far so good.
Okay the vocals are how I expected them to sound, kinda. The harsh vox at least, and they’re not to my biggest enjoyment. After some getting used to I can ‘tolerate‘ them but they won’t be the center of attention for me when giving this song the final verdict. I really like the folkish instrumentals scattered throughout the song, they’re not on par with Scorpion’s song though but they’re still awesome.
Man I wish I could get past those vocals but it’s really hard to fully appreciate them. They definitely grew a bit on me but it’s still the instrumentals that carry the song for me, making this not much of a standout, but still a solid song. The vocals are not on a level of not being able to listen to them, but I just don’t think they’re that great. Luckily there’s enough good stuff going on to make me want to listen to an album by them. Can’t say this lived up to my expectations for this band but it’s still really good, just, as one of the biggest names in black metal/folk metal or whatever subgenre they might be in I start questioning whether I’ll ever obsess about a black metal band as much as I do with some other genres.
7.5 + (1.0) = 8.5/10Elite: Obsidian Kingdom – Away / AbsentI actually don’t know exactly why I left Obsidian Kingdom off the list since I did enjoy Mantiis a lot, but I guess I still didn’t feel like I knew a lot about the band, so I’m glad I left them off so that I can review this closer off the new album which I’ve heard a lot of mixed thoughts about.
These guys really know how to create atmospheres, I mean, Mantiis just made me feel unfomfortable in the exact way that it should, and this song on one hand sounds very dark once the bassline on top of the spoken word samples kick in, but on the other hand has this euphoric feel with the distant screams. I know theoretically any music is a form of art but Obsidian Kingdom really make it feel more artsy than I usually get from music. Therefore, I don’t think I will lose attention for their music anytime soon and this song basically proves that I should’ve just gone to check out more Obsidian Kingdom in the first place.
Listening to this tune a couple of times more now, I’ve realized something. Parts of this song remind me of how I thought and hoped the new Gojira album would sound like. Pretty dense, very somber and dark and vocals with strong emotional impact. Seems like I’ve just been looking for a new Obsidian Kingdom album all this time.
8.25 + (1.0) = 9.25/10Splent: Chicago – BeginningsI’ve seen this name a couple times and I knew they were a fogey-band sorta kinda but I knew nothing about their music at all.
And this song is really fun, and not in the Funky Duck way where I find it really fun but too much of the same. This piece has all the fun stuff and stays diverse through all its 8 minutes. The trumpets really do the trick here, there’s some pretty brass work here during the verses, aswell as some great harmonics-type brasswork in the chorus. Not to mention that awesome cowbell outro.
This band sounds waaay ahead of their time, I like that. With modern music I can’t tell for sure but when we go back in time I definitely prefer the more unconventional creative stuff. This may not really push boundaries in that regard but it’s still a pretty unique style. I can definitely see why you’ve been digging some Thank You Scientist as of lately too, any fan of good brass should hear them.
7.75 + (1.0) = 8.75/10
Bolsters: Being – MindflayI don’t know how I actually heard of this band, but it was probably through Skyharbor or some other djent band, never heard a note of this band though.
This is the kind of djent that really sticks with me, there’s no fucking around with excessive polyrhythms or palm-muting here. The vocals have literally everything I love, the chorus has some good high-low transitions, the growls are powerful but not too overtaking, and the clean vocals in the verses are good too but not
as good. It has some pop induced vibes that seems to be essential with djent these days, nothing wrong with that since I love the constant poppy djent/poppy progmetal that gets thrown my way with bands like I Am Abomination, Mandroid Echostar and such. I wouldn’t say I like this as much as some of their songs but it’s a great shout and I will definitely look into Being.
Overall pretty straightforward djent but the sheer energy and dynamics make this a damn good song. I only wish that cheesy auto-tuned a-a-a-a-a (1:50) wasn’t in there, that’s kinda weird but it’s such a small thing I can look past it.
8.25/10Scorpion: Wilderun – The Garden Of FireSo this is.. folk metal? I’m very familiar with folk influences in many different types of styles but I wasn’t aware of the genre.
Starting off really strong already with the folkish influences, this song moves very unexpectedly on some occasions and I can’t say I’m against it. I don’t know how many singers are on this song but man it sure stays interesting with all these different vocals. I don’t know if this sounds odd but I hear some very strong BTBAM vibes throughout this song too which is never a bad thing. The funny thing is, in round 1 with all the leaderboard songs I’ve been hammering on about “the climax“ and “song finale“ and here, with one of the heaviest songs I’ve gotten so far, it ends with a nice atmospheric orchestral section, after the fact I’ll admit I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I can see why this is your (one of your) favorite song(s) for sure, this is fantastic, I can imagine this is the kind of song that never gets old either, there’s so much stuff going on that I feel like I haven’t even heard half of it but I’m already sold, I want this album.
I guess during my final listen now, if I could have it my way in a perfect world I would have slightly less deep growls. But that’s just a tiny detail, this song is fookn’a.
I knew I could count on you for sending me some great heavy shit, knowing that if it was one of your favorites surely I would like it too, there’s a lot of overlap between our tastes I feel.
8.75/10425: Death Cab For Cutie – Grapevine FiresI don’t even remember a lot from We Looked Like Giants actually, I just know that I liked it and liked Transatlanticism but not remembering much about the songs themselves.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the vocals sound so much like Adam Young, the dude from Owl City. They’re very pretty vocals, especially for male vocals, in the same way some of the soft The Dear Hunter songs feel. These guys have a great sense of compositions too, even though it sounds kinda simple, it’s damn beautiful. I like how all the attention is drawn to the vocals but at the same time there really is a lot going on alongside them.
Yeah I should look more into these guys for sure, this is a great song yet again and relistening to WLLG that one’s great aswell but I think I like this one better. The melodies are so catchy, I feel like they’re going to be stuck in my head but I don’t mind it at all because they’re great.
8.5/10Additions to the banned list:Death Cab For Cutie
Wilderun
Obsidian Kingdom
Being
Chicago
Moonsorrow
Frightened Rabbit
Rainbow
OceansizeParama: 9.25 + 8.0 = 17.25 (X)
Tomislav95: 8.75 + 8.5 = 17.25 (X)
Scorpion: 8.25 + 8.75 = 17 (X)
Bolsters: 8.75 + 8.25 = 17 (X)
Evermind: 9.5 + 7.25 = 16.75 (X)
Splent: 8.0 + 8.75 = 16.75 (X)
Sacul: 8.25 + 7.0 = 15.25 (X)
Twosuitsluke: 8.0 + 7.5 = 15.5 (X)
Elite: 6.0 + 9.25 = 15.25 (X)
425: 6.75 + 8.5 = 15.25 ()
Home: 8.0 + 5.75 = 13.75 (X)
Shadow Ninja 2.0: 6.5 + 7.0 = 13.5 ()
amount of (X)'s mark the amount of bonuses used, everyone can use up to 3 bonus theme points.
Schedule for next roundSince all the first 7 rounds are pretty much the exact same I will try to keep the same pace. The only variable in this is the amount of time I spend doing stuff away from home. I can usually combine listening with other shit but only at home. I listen to music a lot when I'm traveling for example, but not with the same sense of focus.
So I'd like all the songs within 48 hours again, I think we managed that well within 48 hours last round and this was a damn quick round if you ask me (6 days between round 1 results and round 2 results). I have some hospitation nights ahead of me to check out new houses to move into next year and stuff, but overall I have quite some time on my hands the coming weeks so I could aim for another quick round here to compensate for the 1 week vacation I'm taking in July.
So yeah, send for next round! Of course it's an open round again. Don't forget to check out what the bonus themes are in case you forgot, could get you some easy points!
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Topic: Train of Naught Roulette II v. MURAMASA... MASAMUNE (Read 122692 times)