Just so you know, I have no better idea of what is going on in the scaling of the scores than you do. If anyone reading this is running their own first roulette soon, I would really recommend that you strongly consider doing what I've seen others do, which is just awarding fixed point values to a ranking of the songs from each round (first place gets x points, second place gets y points, etc.). Because it has really been tough figuring out how to scale points. Ultimately, I've decided that it is more important to make sure that I am consistent within one round that across rounds. I think I'm still close to a consistent score system across rounds, but I'm working harder to make sure that things make sense within this round, so that everyone is on a level playing field within each round.
It might be a bit easier if I just got songs and did writeups with no scoring at all—this round, everyone's song would get a score of "really good." But that would defeat the whole purpose of having a game where someone wins, so I'm happy to keep working through the scoring to that end.
In any case, here we have results.
Round Six ResultsTAC: Heavenly - EvilSo I’ll admit right off the bat that I’m not a big power metal guy. I mean, I like Nightwish’s
Oceanborn, but I got there through their later albums and I wouldn’t consider that typical power metal, anyway. Generally, I find the genre, from my limited experience, to be rather same-y. And I could very well still have that opinion if I were to listen to several albums from different power metal artists. But this entry definitely benefits from being submitted as one song that I listened to several times over the course of a week. Though, at first, I really didn’t see much in it, I have come to like it pretty well.
The beginning of the song is probably my least favorite part, because the really fast percussion is just a bit much for me, and I don’t really like the singer’s voice on that part (I don’t especially care for him later in the song, either, but he becomes tolerable later). The middle part of the song has some nice big choral parts with some pretty good vocal melodies, particularly the chorus. I also like the way that there are multiple phases including a calm part. That really contributes to the epic feel, since it feels like the song does a rather lot in its 6:13.
On the whole, this song definitely achieves the goal of being a relatively short epic, is definitely a well-written, energetic piece, and has gotten me to reconsider my general disinterest in power metal. Though I’m still not sure about listening to full albums of that style of music!
Score: 8.0Big Hath: Riverside - HyperactiveThis song is one of two songs I received this round that I found to be really chaotic on first listen. It opens with a really great piano intro, and then jumps into a series of rather unusual musical parts, the first of which sounds kind of like a Dream Theater instrumental section! Ultimately, though, this song started to makes sense to me and definitely makes me interested in seeing what this band has to offer. I’d heard of this band before now, of course, as one of the more well-known “prog metal” bands, but I don’t think I’d ever listened to their music or really considered checking them out. I think I will be now.
This song is kind of a stylistic oddity, to me. I suppose my closest frame of reference is
In Absentia-era Porcupine Tree, which is an album I enjoy but find a bit abrasive in comparison to my personal tastes. That’s what holds this song back for me, as well. I find it to be abrasive, both in the guitar tone and in the lyrical themes. Nevertheless, I find myself enjoying it because the music is just so well-written. The star player here for me is the keyboard player, even though he just sits in the background a lot of the time. I find him really intriguing. The other guys aren’t really notable, but they do a good job. This is a well-written song that defied my initial hesitation to get a pretty solid score.
Score: 8.0kingshmegland: The Feeling - SewnSome roulette props are due to you, king. You figured out pretty early that I like good pop rock and you’ve been giving me a steady stream of it since round 2. It hasn’t translated into a position near the top of the standings, unfortunately, but I really do look forward to all of your submissions.
This is yet another fun little pop rock song that I really like. The singer/guitarist has a nice personality that translates well into a very good performance in the video you sent me. His singing is really pretty, and melodies are memorable. The lyrical subject matter also intrigued me a bit; it’s a rather unconventional love story that is really told quite nicely.
Musically, I’m not too crazy about the instrumental section towards the end. I get that this is what makes the song epic and therefore appropriate for this round, so it’s a bit strange that I’d be complaining about this, but I just found that part to not be as good as the rest. Overall, though, this is a very nice song that will get me to look more into this band in the future.
Score: 8.0 + 0.5 bonus = 8.5OpenYourEyes311: 311 - Sometimes Jacks Rule the RealmAnother very nice pop rock song, the other one of the two that I was sent this round.
I really like the singer. His voice has a really pleasing tone, and he just floats on those pretty vocal melodies right on top of the music. The musicians are no slouches, either. The bassist is quite prominent and memorable, which is a bit unusual for a band of this style, I think. The music played by the guitars progresses throughout the song and gives the song its epic feel. There are a lot of different parts within this 5-ish minute song. Perhaps my favorite is when the chorus returns after the quiet section (and again towards the end, really), but in somewhat more epic fashion than before.
Score: 8.0 + 0.5 bonus = 8.5Evermind: Phideaux - The Claws of a CrayfishThis is really an unusual song that stands out a bit even in a round of fairly unusual songs. I suppose part of it is that it’s a part of a concept album, but to its credit, it really does stand on its own as a little epic.
What really jumps out about this piece to me is the multi-instrumental nature of it. There’s a lot going on, musically, with string sections and saxophone players accompanying the traditional prog-rock instrumentation. The piano player may be the standout musician, though its hard to point one person out when so many musicians must have been involved in coming together to make such a seamless-sounding piece of music. The singer is a bit unusual-sounding, very high-pitched, but his voice is quite pretty.
This is a song that I could still get more out of with several more listens, and I’m sure I will also enjoy unpacking the whole concept album. I really enjoy quite a bit the way that the song goes through so many different sections and brings in so many different instruments in a very short running time. Definitely an artist to look into.
Score: 8.5Parama: Thank You Scientist - My Famed Disappearing ActThis is the other song that I found really chaotic and quirky upon first listen. This one has really come into its own for me, though, as it is now among my favorites in a round of really good songs.
It starts off with some guitar parts that are very stereotypically proggy (
), before launching into a vocal section. I really love the singing and vocal melodies on this song. The chorus is pretty huge, which is really at the core of why this song is so epic. The music doesn’t let up the technicality, but it does so in a way that is really quite consonant with the vocal parts and makes the whole thing work really well.
This song is really a fun maze of twists and turns all strung through with an epic earworm of a chorus.
We’ll miss you everyone...Score: 8.5ShadowNinja 2.0: God Is An Astronaut - Suicide By StarI’m actually somewhat surprised that it took this long for someone to send me some post-rock, particularly since it is so obviously down my alley and I’ve only heard Sigur Rós. But better late than never.
This song repeats a really pretty motif quite a lot throughout its duration, augmenting it with some different instrumentation. I love the way that the various guitars and keyboards interplay with each other to build the music up. After the three-minute mark, things start to get pretty intense with the aggressive electric guitars playing with the desperate-sounding keyboard melody to bring the song towards its climax.
The double-bass drumming is pretty unexpected but makes for a pretty intense moment, which is exactly what the song needs. I’ll admit it scared me off a bit at first, but it’s really good. Quite a lovely little song.
Score: 8.5 + 0.5 = 9.0lonestar: After Forever - Through Square EyesI feel like this writeup could really just consist of me saying “Floor Jansen” and giving a score. But I’ll go into a little more detail.
I’m a big Nightwish fan and have absolutely loved Floor in Nightwish. So I was happy to get something from Floor’s old band After Forever, that I have shamefully never looked into, I was quite pleased. And she does not disappoint. This is more operatic than she usually is in Nightwish, and that is excellent. She also does a lot counterpoint with a growler, in that “beauty and the beast style.” I really don’t care how much of a cliche it becomes, you can almost always count on me to love something like this. I just find the contrast really pretty. The quiet middle section is rather pretty, again because of Floor, and I like the way the song builds back up into the more aggressive parts. The background music might not be the most innovative stuff, but it does its job. Some of the symphonic parts are really quite nice.
In conclusion, Floor Jansen is probably the best singer in metal, and one of the best in all of popular music. This is a pretty good song, and Floor sings it, so that makes it a really good song.
Score: 9.0Scorpion: God Is An Astronaut - SnowfallThe other song by God Is An Astronaut, and I like this one just a little bit better. In some ways, these songs are pretty similar, and in others, they’re polar opposites. Both of them repeat a motif and build on it, but where Suicide By Star is desperate and (later) violent, Snowfall is serene.
The musical theme that is repeated here is just such a pretty little melody. It really fits in so well with the title. I especially love it in the beginning, when it’s very calm and peaceful. The added intensity in the parts of the song makes for a nice change of pace, though, and it gives the song that epic vibe, as though it’s telling a little story. It gets really huge towards the end, which makes the whole thing feel quite a bit more exciting. I really do love the way these post-rock songs very often play with the way intensity can make one or two musical motifs sound very different from each other.
I’ll definitely return to this artist as a way to continue to foray into this style of music, and I think the fact that two different people sent songs from the same band that have similarities but also sharp differences was actually really interesting to experience.
Score: 9.0 + 0.5 bonus = 9.5Sacul: David Maxim Micic - Wrinkle MazeI don’t really know what to call this song, except awesome. This is an absolutely beautiful little epic that uses a vast array of instruments to create one cohesive piece.
The song begins very calmly, and builds very slowly into a powerful and memorable melody, driven by a low-pitched, choral sound. Slows down a bit, and then absolutely opens up. Wow. The guitars, strings and chorus work together to make this absolutely gorgeous melody sound spectacular. I wouldn’t necessarily expect a guitar solo in a song like this, but this one is really fitting and contributes to the mounting epic vibe, particularly with the choir in the background just building the intensity higher and higher.
I don’t know who this guy is, but he is really, really good. Now I see why you promote him so heavily!
You’ve won two rounds in a row now, Sacul. Putting together something here, that’s for sure.
Score: 9.5 + 0.5 bonus = 10.0Natural Standings:ShadowNinja 2.0 - 53.5
Parama - 52.5
OpenYourEyes311 - 52.0
Scorpion - 51.5
Evermind - 51.0
Sacul - 51.0
kingshmegland - 50.0
lonestar - 50.0
Big Hath - 48.5
TAC - 46.5
Adjusted Standings:Scorpion - 45.5
ShadowNinja 2.0 - 45.0
Parama - 44.5
OpenYourEyes311 - 44.0
Sacul - 44.0
Evermind - 43.0
kingshmegland - 42.5
lonestar - 42.5
Big Hath - 41.0
TAC - 39.0
Again, let me know if I screwed up the standings.
EDIT: Oh! OpenYourEyes311 and kingshmegland, I just remembered that I was going to give you 0.5 bonus for your round five submissions that I hadn't given you at the time because I make weird roulette scoring decisions at 2:00 AM.
And every artist from this round is banned.
Round Seven: EpicYes, time for the epic round. No length limit. But take a look at the post I made a couple of pages back when I was asked about length. In essence, I said that you should keep in mind that I am going to have to listen to 9 other songs that you should assume are just as long as yours. And that I'm going to listen to your song probably three times, four times at the most (I've listened to every other round four times, but I'm just not sure that it's practical to do that here). So it may not be a good idea to go for that 35:43 song when you have a perfectly nice 19:34 song that you could go for instead.
There's also no low end on length, really, but it should be fairly long. I would say that if you're under 15 minutes, you're almost definitely too short. I'm not at all saying that songs shorter than that can't be epics, but it would be hard to scale a 12-minute song against a bunch of 23-minute behemoths.
You're also going to have to give me a little time on this one. I've been in the week to week-and-a-half range listening to about an hour-and-a-half of songs. This time I'm going to have something close to four hours of songs. So it will probably take me a little longer. Up until now, I've just had four sessions where I sit down and listen to all the songs in one go, and that's obviously not an option here, so there'll have to be eight sessions, probably. Overall this is just going to take longer because the songs are longer. But I absolutely feel that this round needs to be in the roulette, because I'm really excited to see what sorts of long-form stuff you all have to send me!