PART TWO:
IX TAC p3 vs Luke p2: No Overtake (best singer breaks tie. Yes, CLAUDIO!)
Reliqa EOD: 5.
Raw Score: 2. Another hard to digest dish of djent, but compensated by really interesting progression turns and pretty good if not arousing vocals. Firts half would be a 1, second half a 3.
Theme Score: 3. The tune just switches from petrol to hybrid. Had the switch been from turbocharged petrol to grandad hybrid, it would have been a 4.
Coheed and Cambria Window of the Waking Mind: 5.
Raw Score: 3. I had bad experiences with C&C and I patiently waited for the other shoe to drop off this one. Nada: I really like it and Claudio even managed to be pretty pleasant all the way.
Theme Score: 2. Now, I am sure this must be some kind of momentous turning point in the whole story's economy, but it doesn't feel so powerful in a de-contextualised status.
X ariich p17 vs Puppies p12: Successful Overtake.
Toehider Toad Hirer: 8
Raw Score: 5 (elevated 4). Let's put it this way: whoever can successfully transition from Sails of Charon's verse to Mr Mistoffeles' chorus is a bona fide genius and has read my personal secret diary of forbidden utopias.
Theme Score: 3. Extremely conflicted, and brilliantly, but still articulated in a coherent evolution somehow depowering the strife. The final twist is a hoot though.
Moon Safari Between the Devil and me: 6
Raw Score: 5 (elevated 4). As if I called a sophisticated rock custom shop and ordered my ideal cocktail of updated Toto, Styx, and three piece Genesis, mixed and produced this millennium.
Theme Score: 1. It never focking turns on itself in any way, shape, or form.
New Marching Order:
1 Crow
2 Luke
3 TAC
4 Stadler
5 Evermind
6 Jazzo
7 wolfking
8 Lonk
9 jingle
10 Sacul
11 Elite
12 ariich
13 romdrums
14 lonestar
15 - Buddy
16 King
17 Puppies
XI Stadler p4 vs TAC p3: Successful Overtake.
Jethro Tull Watching Me Watching You: 6.
Raw Score: 2. Impishly jumpy and anxious, still not my best Tull. Fun fact: I had my first wife (Academy of Arts graduate) airbrush a garage wall with this album's cover replica. That's worthy both 1000 plus and 1000 minus points.
Theme Score: 4. Lyrically beyond perfect. It doesn't only loop, but it Eschers itself ad infinitum.
Reliqa EOD: 5.
Raw Score: 2. Another hard to digest dish of djent, but compensated by really interesting progression turns and pretty good if not arousing vocals. Firts half would be a 1, second half a 3.
Theme Score: 3. The tune just switches from petrol to hybrid. Had the switch been from turbocharged petrol to grandad hybrid, it would have been a 4.
New Marching Order:
1 Crow
2 Luke
3 Stadler
4 TAC
5 Evermind
6 Jazzo
7 wolfking
8 Lonk
9 jingle
10 Sacul
11 Elite
12 ariich
13 romdrums
14 lonestar
15 - Buddy
16 King
17 Puppies
XII romdrums p13 vs Sacul p10: Successful Overtake.
Disillusion Nine Days: 5.
Raw Score: 1. I am sure I would love almost everything on this tune's sheet music, while the diabolical way everything is actually combined in the final aural result is almost unlistenable due to its intensity, and I believe it's by design.
Theme Score: 4. Inner conflict may be too reductive a term; inner quiet deflagration comes to mind and still feels inadequate.
Arco Iris Obertura: 4
Raw Score: 3. There's enough King Crimson in this jam to make it absolutely enjoyable to these ears, and I'm sure it would increase its beauty - as it often happens in its right context of overture piece. On its own it can't go orgasmic.
Theme Score: 1. And it pains me, because I enjoyed spotting the very clever justapoxition of 7 different moods related to the iris' 7 colours, but unfortunately that was not the theme.
New Marching Order:
1 Crow
2 Luke
3 Stadler
4 TAC
5 Evermind
6 Jazzo
7 wolfking
8 Lonk
9 jingle
10 romdrums
11 Elite
12 ariich
13 Sacul
14 lonestar
15 - Buddy
16 King
17 Puppies
XIII King p16 vs lonestar p14: Successful Overtake.
Southern Empire Face the Dawn: 6.
Raw Score: 3. Joyful, melodic, surprising. Three words I would never associate to (and still my most fervent prayer for) this genre in this day and age, but here we are. A sure 4 if a bit less diluted.
Theme Score: 3. Let's just say at the mid point I thought Spotify switched to a Dregs playlist.
Spiritbox Sun Killer: 5
Raw Score: 2. Although a bit too djenty for my palate, gorgeous voice and vocal lines. Although they somehow manage to make me wierdly horny, female orcs are not only horrid per orc-se, but also an insult to feminine grace.
Theme Score: 3. It really turns on itself, and on myself as well.
New Marching Order:
1 Crow
2 Luke
3 Stadler
4 TAC
5 Evermind
6 Jazzo
7 wolfking
8 Lonk
9 jingle
10 romdrums
11 Elite
12 ariich
13 Sacul
14 King
15 - Buddy
16 lonestar
17 Puppies
XIV Jazzo p6 vs Crow p1: Successful Overtake.
Brad Paisley Time Warp: 7
Raw Score: 3. Paisley's gifts are self evident, yet I need to add there must be a reserved place in some heaven for axemen sounding so powerful and assertive whilst eschewing the easy crutch of high gain.
Theme Score: 4. Listen to it and take note of the sections: it does a perfectly symmetrical (and smooth) loop.
Hakushi Hasegawa Only You: 6.
Raw Score: 3. I believed only Yoko Kanno was able to effectively marry grace and chaos, masquerading complexity with a Mozartian faux semplicity. I wasn't wrong, but this artist came dangerously close to the mark.
Theme Score: 3. It doesn't loop overall, but every measure is a little funny loop in itself, and it even manages to literally crash falling down in the middle of the loop.
New Marching Order:
1 Jazzo
2 Luke
3 Stadler
4 TAC
5 Evermind
6 Crow
7 wolfking
8 Lonk
9 jingle
10 romdrums
11 Elite
12 ariich
13 Sacul
14 King
15 - Buddy
16 lonestar
17 Puppies
XV Elite p11 vs Lonk p8: No Overtake.
Ulver This Is Not Sound: 5
Raw Score: 1. I will never know whether I am too lowbrow a listener or this is simply a crock of pretentious noises, but I do know I hadn't a good time with this tune. I believe you could actually die if listening to this while on drugs.
Theme Score: 4. Simply put, when you go from hideous post-modern racket to focking Johann Sebastian Bach, you have definitley turned.
Volbeat Becoming: 6.
Raw Score: 5 (elevated 4). Right metal in right doses, riffing with hair on its chest, an energising earworm of a chorus sounding epic and honest despite nodding to Europe, Avenged Sevenfold, and
yes, Lady Gaga. What's not to like?
Theme Score: 1. It refuses to turn.
XVI wolfking p7 vs TAC p4: Successful Overtake (best singer breaks tie).
WASP The Great Misconceptions of Me: 5.
Raw Score: 3 (demoted 4). When not playing poor man's Alice but daring to slam his balls on the table, Blackie is capable of some of the most astounding and intense emotional singing among his era's peers.
Theme Score: 2. Musically, nada. Lyrically, I'd say we're hearing a man quite torn by inner conflict.
Reliqa EOD: 5.
Raw Score: 2. Another hard to digest dish of djent, but compensated by really interesting progression turns and pretty good if not arousing vocals. Firts half would be a 1, second half a 3.
Theme Score: 3. The tune just switches from petrol to hybrid. Had the switch been from turbocharged petrol to grandad hybrid, it would have been a 4.
New Marching Order:
1 Jazzo
2 Luke
3 Stadler
4 wolfking
5 Evermind
6 Crow
7 TAC
8 Lonk
9 jingle
10 romdrums
11 Elite
12 ariich
13 Sacul
14 King
15 - Buddy
16 lonestar
17 Puppies
That's it. I really feel for the people who got royally screwed over.
You all can send your submissions and insults for Round 4. Just remember the theme: a song that make me feel dirty. Or dirtier than usual, that is.