Kingshmegland: A.C.T. – “A Truly Gifted Man”: I liked this. Always tough to drop into the middle of a concept album and settle in, but this was catchy enough to do the trick. I liked how the song flowed, and the chorus was one that I could sing over and over again. I really liked how the song moved from about 4:00 to the end, and as such, I let it play into the next song – “The End”, also from the concept – and it worked nicely. I got some recurring themes (of a sort) from that added listen, and it was really an enjoyable experience. (A‘course, no loss of points, but the band name will drive me crazy until I know why the initials and what they stand for!) 8
Antigoon: Vulfpeck – “Baby I Don’t Know Oh Oh”: I’m going to repeat myself: you deserve far and away the most credit for nerve, and for providing challenging submissions. It doesn’t reflect in the score for various reasons – you got basically an extra point primarily because Charles Jones is excellent, and I can see why you’d send this based on my previous comments (guys in a room) – but this one went way too far into annoying for me to really like it. These guys are full of themselves and not at all in a good way. I don’t at all get the sense of fun and exploration that I did with Anderson.paak song. Instead I get too much of a “look how cool we are, look how we groove, look how much musical taste we have!” vibe. This is Steely Dan without any of the good things that make up Steely Dan. (Full disclosure, I also watched “Birds of a Feather, We Rock Together” as well, and I wanted to dump a can of paint on the bass player – Joe Dart - and the dude with the beard – I think Theo Katzman, who LITERALLY sang five words the entire song - who were both acting as if they were headlining Wembley Stadium with Jesus and the Queen in the front row, as opposed to laying a basic groove for the guy who was really carrying the water (here, Antwaun Stanley). Tone it the f*** down). 7
Jingle.boy: Cloudscape – “In Silence We Scream”: This was an interesting song; I was getting into the intro, I was liking it a lot, but it started to drag a bit, and just as my enthusiasm was starting to fade, it changed it up (about 2:15 in) in a cool way. Then it went back to the intro, and I still liked it, but again, it started to drag, and just as my enthusiasm started to fade, what I would call the main riff kicked in (VERY reminiscent of a certain Petrucci lick on Six Degrees…). I liked the aggressive section that followed, and there was a unique timber to the vocals, though they started to seem like they were struggling, but just as I was about to write him off, what I would call the main chorus kicked in. I think you get the point by now; this was a song that tested, but rewarded, patience, and in the end I enjoyed it. (I liked the little fade out of the intro at the end too). This was good, melodic, progressive metal. 8
TAC: Lucifer’s Friend – “Everybody’s Clown”: I dug the SHIT out of this. I really, really liked this. Song of the round. It got the whole vibe of early 70’s heavy rock without making ANY of the common mistakes. It was Sabbathy and heavy, but it didn’t make the cardinal error of sludging up the guitars. Everyone assumes that “heavy” means more bass, more sludge, and everything on a detuned E string. Iommi was heavy, but if you REALLY listen, a lot of the voicings were higher up the neck and on the A and D strings; and Geezer carried the “heavy”. This band got that. I’m a sucker for the organ, too, and the vocals had the right amount of soul, sounding like a cross between early (Lonesome Crow) Klaus Meine and Glenn Hughes. Sorry to blow your scoring streak, though I don't think you'll complain… 9
Topic: Stadler's Wheel of Fortune! (A Roulette) - ROUND 7 RESULTS (Read 37844 times)