OK, let's get on with another result.
Wolfking - Rise of the NanobotsEidolon – De-Evolution
Scar Symmetry – Seers of the Eschaton
Scar Symmetry – Cryonic Harvest
Blaze Bayley – Robot
Eidolon – Eternal Call
Symphony X – Iconoclast
Flotsam and Jetsam – A Place to Die
First Impression -
hmm, that might be too vague, let me try to express myself a little better
METAL! That's the name of the game with this EP. Kicking things off with a great Eidolon track, De-Evolution. This is one of those bands I'd heard about numerous times over the years, but never checked out, so I'm glad you sent a couple songs by them. This track has a great groove and some epic riffs. After that we have a pair of Scar Symmetry tunes. I kind of lost track of these guys after Holographic Universe, so it was nice to get a couple tracks from their albums after that. I've always liked their brand of Melodic Death Metal merged with Prog. I love the tone on the lead guitars in both of these songs. I mean it's Per Nilsson, he's a great guitarist and songwriter! I know him from a couple other bands that I like too, Kaipa and Zierler. Now onto the most surprising song of this entire round. My dislike for the Blaze era of Maiden is well known. I just don't feel any passion or emotion from him in Maiden's music. I always thought he was a bad pick for the band. But this song.....this not only works for his voice, but he has actual emotion and good tone to his singing here. How come he couldn't bring this level of energy to Iron Maiden. Now I will have to check out some of his solo stuff. This song totally threw me for a loop, I'm still in shock....
It also helps that this song is absolutely headbang worthy
Maybe I'm experiencing Stockholm Syndrome... Anyway, moving on to the 2nd Eidolon song. This one is just as metal as the other one, but perhaps a bit more proggy? Maybe? I also like where this is placed on the EP stylistically between Blaze and Symphony X. Also, until you pointed it out in your PM, I had no idea Frank Aresti was involved with this band. I love his style of lead guitar work and this song is no different. Iconoclast is next and is a fitting song here. I love Symphony X, but I never listened to anything post-Paradise Lost much. I should rectify that. I think my reasoning is, I prefer the more proggy version of Symphony X (basically everything up to The Odyssey) versus the more Metal version they've become since. This ends with a band that I also never got around to listening to much. I've heard the odd song here or there, but not A Place to Die. This song is just
Overall this EP is
It's kicks your ass all the way through!
Song Score - 8.3/10
De-Evolution starts the story off by introducing our antagonist and does a good job of telling of his sinister nature. The two Scar Symmetry tracks move the plot forward telling how our supervillain takes over the population and then turns them into some kind of cyborgs for his purpose of taking over the world. I like how you used the song Robot to give the perspective of one of the cyborgs. The way I read the lyrics, the cyborgs seem to be aware of what happened to them and what they are doing, but are powerless to stop. Our antagonist as full control over their actions and so leads them to war with the world. Kind of puts a more sinister twist on the whole story. These were innocent people. Eternal Call goes into this a bit more as they are marched off to war. Iconoclast recounts the final battle where the people of the nations rise up and ultimately defeat the cyborg army. All the lyrics to this song fit extremely well story-wise. This ends with A Place to Die which has our antagonist basically go into a deep depression because things didn't go his way and all his plans are for naught and then kills himself. Worst supervillain ever and good riddance
There's lots to like about the story. I'd watch this movie. I mean, it's not the most in depth story, but you can only get so far with the EP length.
Story Score - 7.5/10 +1 for bonus theme
Overall the flow works pretty well. I saw no reason to run each song into the next and you didn't for the most part and they all work well on their own. However, the way you blended the 2 Scar Symmetry songs together was a nice touch. I didn't even notice it the first few times I listened through. I also liked the way the spoken word part at the end of Cryonic Harvest leads into Robot. Perfect placement and well executed. The only issue I have is the Symphony X song being just a little quieter than the rest of the songs. Other than that, it all worked quite well.
Flow Score - 8.5/10
Overall Score - 25.3/30