Unexpectedly early results since the song have grown on me on the last couple of listens:
Round 2: Open round - The Results
So, this round was full of surprises. You guys all sent me stuff from bands that I didn't hear stuff from before (except for Evermind and WebRaider), and it was honestly all good! I didn't actively dislike one single song. And also, you sent pretty different things for me, too. Here is the chart!
Here's the chart for this round:
FIRST PLACE: WebRaider once again, with "Forget Not" by Ne Obliviscaris
I tried to listen to Citadel back when it came out. There was a lot of hype about this particular band, and with Citadel being acclaimed "album of the year", I tried to listen, and I wasn't particularly digging it. But then you sent me this song, from their debut, and goddamn is it great.
This song sounds like Opeth on power and black metal steroids. It also reminds me of Agalloch a bit, especially in the first instrumental part. The atmosphere is stunning, and the build-up from acoustic to double bass drums and electric guitars is well written and executed. Great stuff.
This song was actually gonna be tied with other two songs, but since you've sent a piece from a band I didn't dig, you have an extra 0.5 points, good job
9.5 pointsSECOND PLACE: We have a tie here!
Firstly, Evermind with a live version of "Imaginations From The Other Side", by Blind Guardian.
I did check out some Blind Guardian before, and I quite liked what I heard, and this confirms it. This is honestly the best BG song I've heard yet: it has a fast-paced tempo, with an adventorous vocal line and one hell of a chorus, which I always sing along with. I also like the concept of the lyrics, and they don't sound too cheesy to me. You were in last place last round, and you managed to recover pretty fastly indeed.
The other song is "Rage Of Despair" by Flaming Row, sent by Scorpion.
Even though its main riff is pretty unoriginal, the rest of the song flows so well that I didn't take notice. It's just a great, fun and catchy piece of prog metal, with lots of vocalists, twists and turns in the bridge, and a great vibe that makes me smile, even though I read the concept of this album, and it's really not meant to be happy. But as Steven says, "Miserable music makes me happy" and so there's that. Reading a few infos about Flaming Row, it seems that it's like a heavier version of what Ayreon is trying to do, an opera with various singers-actors. Sounds great, need to check it out.
Both you guys get
9 points.THIRD PLACE: Shadowninja with "You Won't Know" by Brand New
I've heard of this band, and saw this particular album mentioned in various top 50s (Sacul I think is one of 'em). It's certainly not the type of music that I would actively search for, but damn, it's great. It's very emotional (hence the genre of the band), but it's an "angry emotional" that makes me rock out certainly. The dynamics are well done, with the quiet parts being slower than the heavy parts. Very cool.
8 pointsFOURTH PLACE: Another tie, between Nekov and Sneakyblueberry.
Nekov sent "God's Equation" by Pagan's Mind
This one is a good prog metal song, but that's about it. Nothing really exeptional about it, I think - the groove is great, the riffs are basic, but used in a good way, and the vocal line sounds powerful and inspired by power metal atmospheres. But once again, nothing that really made this piece stand out.
Sneakyblueberry sent "Regular Frontier" by Gatherer
What genre is this? I can't seem to come up with one, and that's strange
Jokes aside, this is probably the most intense and chaotic 3-minute piece that I've ever heard. It does the same effect to me that BTBAM songs do the first time I listen to them, in three minutes. In three minutes it goes all over the place, adding to the chaos also a lot of distorsion, especially bass distorsion. It has good ideas, but the flow is not that great to me. Still, it's pretty nice.
The two of you earned
7 pointsLAST PLACE: Yet another tie, Sacul and Elite.
Sacul sent "All Is One" by Orphaned Land
This is one of those bands from the Middle East (I think Iran or Iraq), and it treats religious topics. This song particularly is about the concept of the coexistence of three religions: christians, jews and muslims. It's a good concept, but the lyrics are pretty bad.
"Who cares if you're a muslim or a jew?" made me cringe. Last time the not-so-great lyrics were saved by awesome music, but this time, not so much, since the music is pretty bland and repetitive, a 7/4 riff over and over and over. Hey, at least it's catchy and fun
Elite sent "Destination Unknown" by Shadow Gallery
This song is a ballad, and well, the thing with ballads is that they're very hit or miss, from person to person. Infact, a find this a great piece musically speaking, well-composed, and hell, even reminds me of Symphony X, and that's a great thing. But it doesn't really hit me emotionally, so there's that. Sorry mate, you were hoping for a higher score, I know
- You have potential tho, Elite. I believe in you
6.5 points to both of you
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So this means that:
WebRaider - 18.5 pts.
Scorpion - 17 pts.
Nekov - 16 pts.
Shadowninja - 15.5 pts.
Sacul - 15 pts.
Sneakyblueberry - 14.5 pts.
Evermind - 14 pts.
Elite - 13 pts.
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DEAR FRIENDS, IT'S TIME TO HEAD FOR THE STRANGE LANDS - SEND ROUND THREE!You have to send me strange stuff. Weird music. And it could be any sorts of weird: because of its technical arrangement, because of its vibe, because it is paricularly wacky and fun (hinthint this is my favorite kind of strange) - just whatever you think suits the theme. This should be fun.