Round One Results..........................INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shadow Ninja: In The Silence - Ever Closer
So this song starts with some great, heavy galloping guitars that I honestly think is the best part of the song. I didn't find anything that I particularly disliked about this song but also nothing that I really love. I mean it is all solid and enjoyable, I liked the vocals, liked the mellow parts, preferred the heavier parts. I find that I am struggling to really find much to say about it. I think it is just similar to other bands I listen to and doesn't do a great deal for me. As I said, it had some great heavy guitars towards the beginning but I felt it didn't go where I hoped it would, and this ultimately let it down a bit for me.
5.5/10
Splent: Chimp Spanner - Cloud City
This is another djent song that sounds great but doesn't do a whole lot for me. I guess I am quite picky with this style of music. I can't even say myself what I like, with this style, to be honest. It has some really cool melodic guitar leads but nothing I haven't heard before unfortunately. There are some nice bass sounds and all the pieces are there. If it was the first song I had ever heard in this style then I'm sure I would love it more but as it is, it's just pleasant but nothing more really.
5.5/10
Elite: In Mourning - The Smoke
So this song started really strongly with some Gojira style riffing which I liked. The harsh vocals are ok but not really my preferred style of growls, it didn't particularly take away from the song though. Musically it is definitely something that I was drawn to and the shift to the mellow section worked well. The clean vocal delivery wasn't bad but didn't do a whole lot for me. The song really picks up though at 5:05 and this part was my favourite of the song as it built towards the instrumental section. Overall it had some great heavy guitars towards the beginning but I felt it didn't go where I hoped it would.
6.5/10
WebRaider: Moon Tooth - Silver Gallows
This song is a really cool djent style song. I'm not a big fan of the vocals but the guitar sound was great. Kind of a standard sounding song for this genre I feel. I love the guitar, it is the main focus for me in this song. The guitar solo is good but something in the song is just lacking for me. The vocals don't do a great deal for me. There are a couple of times where this song has a Baroness feel, especially at 2:16. I enjoyed it but it didn't really leave me wanting more if I'm honest. Just a solid song overall.
6.5/10
Parama: El Drugstore - Enthusiastic Corruption of the Public Good
This song was really good and I loved the sound of the bass in particular. It has music that is right up my alley but I don't feel it's a particularly structured song, more a showcase of talent. It certainly made me want to listen to the album. It has heavy riffs, and is an all around great instrumental, maybe in the context of the album it will really shine but on it's own it is not something I would listen to over and over. I like the way that it speeds up and slows down in places.
6.5/10
Tomislav95: Dredg - Lechium
Tomi mentioned about the weirdness of this video when he sent this and it is strange. I assume it's supposed to be like this. It adds a weird atmosphere to the song but I don't mind. I like the feel of this song. I'm not sure when this was released but it totally reminds me of Incubus, especially the vocals, and I can assume it was from the early 2000's. I like the vocals and although this isn't necessarily the sort of music I generally listen to, I like it. I don't have a great deal to actually say about the song and it's individual parts. I kinda like it all.
7/10
Sacul: Kyuss - Asteroid
I have always meant to check out Kyuss. When I first got into Queens of the Stone Age I read about Kyuss but along the way never got around to it. I was eager to listen to this. I already had a preconception that this would be desert rock/metal and harness a certain sound. As it is, it has a perfect, dirty feel to the sound which I love. You look at the album cover and this is the sort of music you expect. I was waiting for vocals the whole way through this song but I don't think it's really lacking without. I liked this song a lot but felt it as a total cock tease of a song. For instance at the 2:00 mark it all goes quite and I was bracing for crushing guitars but it kept me hanging on. It seriously has a great feel to it, I love the sound of the bass. This song made me want to check out the album more than any other song in this round but unfortunately as a stand alone song I felt it a bit lacking. I love how it speeds up at the end, but I want to hear what comes next!! In the context of the album I'm sure this works better but on it's own, less so, at least for me.
7/10
Stadler: Angels and Airwaves - Secret Crowds
This one was hard to score for me. As a huge Blink 182 fan I have become a bit pissed off with Tom Delonge and how he has acted over the past. I have tried to listen to Angels and Airwaves a few times over the years but nothing ever really stuck. When they were promoting their first album Tom was comparing themselves, as a band, to U2. This instantly turned me off as I really don't like U2 so I never even listened to them back then. So anyway, to the song. I have always been a fan of Tom Delonge's voice, he's got a very unique sound but I could also see why people may not like it. From the get go I was kind of biased towards this and was conscious to not hold my feelings for Tom against the song. It has a really nice anthemic chorus that actually gave me goosebumps on first listen. It also has a few musical flashes where this sounds like it could be a Boxcar Racer (one of Tom's other bands) song, which I loved as I love the Boxcar Racer album. Nothing about the song itself is particularly groundbreaking but I like it a lot as it is. It's nice to hear something new (to me at least) with Tom's voice that I really like. The lyrics aren't exactly great but it works for me. I mean, part of me just wants to like this and if it was anyone else performing this song maybe it would score way lower. Anyway, I enjoyed it and will need to get a few albums I guess.
7.5/10
Train of Naught: Eidola - The Comfort We Find in Our Vices
So I didn't find much that particularly stuck out to me the first time I listened to this song. This was probably the one that grew on me the most. It has a great energy to it and I like the vocal approach. It has interesting guitar leads that don't distract me too much from the vocal delivery. It has a good mix of what I look for in this type of music and reminds me of some of my favourite bands, I really like the noodley guitars that bring to mind something like The Fall of Troy. It has some great moments, especially at 3:11. It's hard to put your finger on what makes those musical moment so great but that is one, for me. It has a kind of power that comes from a vocal that goes from weak to strong whilst the music mirrors it. Also love the album art.
7.5/10
Home: *shels - The Conference of the Birds
This was one of the songs that stood out on first listen (it was actually the first song of the roulette I listened to). I liked it a lot on first listen but it also grew on me. I think it has a great atmosphere to it and builds really well. It kinda reminds me of Agalloch at times, although with less black metal elements obviously. It has minimal vocals in it but I find it works, I didn't miss the vocals when they weren't there and welcomed them when they were. When it comes in with the heavy section at the 4:30 minute mark it is just perfect for me, it then kinda mellows again but you just know it is building to another climax. It totally delivers, as you have an unexpected use of trumpet which adds an almost wild west feel to it. I love stuff like that, completely out of left field but works so well. This is accompanied by another heavy section with the trumpet still blaring away. You have some growls at the end but they are purposefully in the background and don't overpower the end. I don't know if this band use trumpet in all their songs or if this is just a one off but I will sure as hell be finding out.
8.5/10
Scar: And So I Watch You From Afar - Don't Waste Time Doing Things You Hate
So I think that it is safe to say that this song was probably the biggest surprise of the round. I had heard a song called 'Run Home' by ASIWYFA thanks to the 'Discover Weekly' Spotify playlist (I swear it's the greatest thing ever) which I remember liking. This song however, is nothing like it, in the best possible way. It's this crazy 7 minute instrumental (apart from some chanting vocals at the end). I must admit that I love it and this is exactly the sort of thing I love at the moment. It's quirky, it has unexpected twists and turns, it defies genres and it has a surprising array of musical instruments (including cow bell!!). It has some really groovy bass, this song had me tapping my feet. Lots of cool parts that I felt were held together well within the structure of the song. So it starts just guitars, bass and drums in a fairly minimalist way, then you get this great heavy section with some weird siren kinda noises in the background before going back to the stripped back band. There is a really cool echo effect on the guitars, which sounds beautiful, at this point. The song then starts to build with more melodic guitar and reaches it's climax at 3:30. The full band come in and it just sounds large, would love to hear it live. We then have the cow bell, which just works so well to my ears. I can't help but move to the song at this point, it's really infectious! This song never seems to out stay its welcome and I enjoy it all the way through, every time. I have also realised that they are currently touring the US with RX Bandits (who I love), so for any of you guys who live in the states, check them out if they are playing near you.
9/10
Scorpion: Diablo Swing Orchestra - Justice for Saint Mary
This song, wow! So on first listen I enjoyed the instrumentation and the vocals but couldn't help thinking "I would really prefer this if it was an accompanying a full band." As it went on I continued to enjoy it but felt that if this was all it had to offer then I wouldn't be expecting it to grow on me. At about 5:10 it teases that it may go in a slightly heavier, darker direction, but doesn't (I was initially quite disappointed). But then at 5:46 it DOES get darker and heavier. Oh boy, it sounded perfect. It was just what I wanted from the song and all I was hoping for. Then it goes all dubstep and has a kind of Prodigy vibe which, although isn't necessarily the sort of music I listen to a great deal with, worked well in my book. I felt that it took to long to build and I was initially losing interest but my god was the climax worth it! I have no idea if this is how they sound all the time or something a bit different for them. Either way, I can't wait to hear more.
9/10
Rankings:
11. Shadow Ninja
11. Splent
8. Elite
8. WebRaider
8. Parama
6. Tomislav95
6. Sacul
4. Stadler
4. Train of Naught
3. Home
1. Scar
1. Scorpion
So this round, as I mentioned before, was a fairly mixed bag. There were some really cool sounding songs in this round that I felt may have felt better in the context of the album they came from. The upshot for me is that I now wish to listen to the full albums to see how the songs do fit. The downside for the guys who sent said songs is that it effected your scores as the songs themselves didn't quite work for me on their own.
Send for round two guys!
Topic: Twosuitsluke's First Ever Roulette v. Final results are in.... (Read 77292 times)