I am still waiting on the new handicap for TAC, but I wanted to get these up before Monday morning because if I don't I won't get to until late Monday. I will PM TAC so he can prepare for one of two choices.
Round 4 – StealthThe top six songs (4-8 points) in this round were all very close to each other, and I had a hard time trying to separate them, but I managed to do so, because I get paid the big bucks ($0) to do so.
Sacul: Last Crack – Wicked Sandbox
If someone told me Metallica lifted and embellished the secondary riff of this song and made it the famous Enter Sandman riff, I’d listen to that argument, because that’s what I’m hearing, and this song came out first. Parts of this remind me of Soundgarden, which was my favorite band for a time in high school. It has that early 90s hard rock/metal feel that is brings back some warm memories.
4/8TAC: Zonata – Illusion of Madness
This song reminded me of so many other songs in places, in completely good ways. I hear some Symphony X, some Blind Guardian, some Dimmu Borgir, and a few other things I can’t place that sound familiar. My only wish would be to hear the song that isn’t being butchered by the rip to get around youtube’s copyright catchers, but I didn’t dock any points for that. TAC is playing winning five card stud in a seven card stud game now folks.
6/8Obfuscation: Massive Attack – Angel
I have heard of Massive Attack, and I have seen this album on tons of lists of influential albums and best albums. Different people like different kinds of food. I like my music like I like my food: lots of bold flavors, spicy things, things with lots of different things going on. This felt like bologna and iceburg lettuce on two slices of plain white bread. There just wasn’t enough going on musically to keep me interested, which is a big reason I tend to gravitate towards busier music.
1/8senecadawg2: Dynazty – Starlight
Seneca said this was a fun song, and he delivered on that promise. This was another straight up power metal song, and it has all the elements of a good power metal song. It was real hard to separate these power metal songs out, but the biggest difference between them all was the vocalist and the guitar tones. Not that these were bad, as reflected by the score, this just fell a little flat compared to the others this round.
5/8Nekov: Genius – There’s A Human
When I saw the lineup for this song, I was pretty excited. Lots of people I know and trust musically. When I saw it was a rock opera, I was worried because they can be very good (Streets, Tommy, SBEMAIL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xASjOErPSdI ), or they can be very, very bad. Well, this one was not at either extreme, but it did feature a cringe inducing chorus, which may have worked better in the context of the album, but alone as a track, that chorus was some rancid cheese – and I don’t really mind good cheese.
3/8jingle.boy: Mob Rules – The Oswald Files: The Dead Man’s Face Chapter V
I’m not sure if jingle is trying to play to my interest in the JFK assassination with this song, or it is just a coincidence. Also, I can’t be the only person who immediately doesn’t think of Black Sabbath when they hear the name “Mob Rules”, and I don’t even own that album. Anyway, I know poor jingle must be getting frustrated at my love/hate relationship with power metal. This song lies much closer to the love end of that spectrum. While I don’t mind traditional power metal, I really like when bands take the power metal sound and have songs about things other than fire and fantasy themes. I will probably end up buying this album just because of the multipart song about Oswald that probably won’t suck if this song is any indication.
7/8lonestar: Odd Dimension – Light Speed Journey
If there is anything I find more hit or miss than power metal, it is Italian power metal. I seem to be the one person who is capable of liking power metal who doesn’t care for Mind Key and Soul Secret. TAC found a hit with Eldritch earlier though, so it isn’t impossible to find an IPM band I might like. So it was with apprehension that I opened lonestar’s incorrectly linked song the first time, his performance up to this point not withstanding
As I started listening, I realized this wasn’t sucking. No…this was beyond not sucking, this was good. Damned good. The guitars were bright, crisp, and powerful, as was everything else. Dare I say, round winner.
8/8Scorpion: Persefone – Truth Inside The Shades
While over half the people decided to go power metal this round, Scorp decided to go back to the well that worked for him last round, sticking to subgenres of death metal. I think calling this band late 90s Opeth’s cousin would be a fair comparison, different enough in the harsh vocals to not warrant the sibling connection, but similar enough to say that fans of Opeth probably would like this as well. Also, this is one of the few bands you can get into from Andorra, regardless of the genre.
6/8Dark Castle: Haim – Forever
I knew DC had a part of him that likes poppy music, and was just wondering when it was going to turn up in my roulette. My MO for listening to these is to usually open it in another tab, and not watch the video. With a very 80s sounding intro and the band name of “Haim”, I was starting to expect this to be a Corey Haim tribute band
For poppy music, this was actually good. I might not ever reach out to listen to this, but I don’t think I would complain about having it imposed on me occasionally, and I certainly wouldn’t argue that they are no talent hacks riding their good looks and a strong push from a record company. These girls can sing. The vocals were the stand out of this song, beefing up a rather plain accompaniment. This song isn’t bad, and I would be happy if bands like this started taking over top 40 and replacing the manufactured crap, but this type of music just really isn’t my thing.
2/8Round theme winner: jingle.boy
HANDICAPSSenecadawg2, for the next TWO rounds , you must send me songs with names that begins with a J, K, Q, X, or Z
TAC, for the next TWO rounds, your song must be from an album ?? WAITING ON SELECTION ??, and for the next round your song must be from a band that begins with one of these letters: J, K, Q, X, or Z.
Dark Castle, for the next round your song must be from an album released in 2013
Public StandingsTAC – 24
Senecadawg2 – 23
Dark Castle – 23
jingle.boy – 22
Scorpion – 22
Lonestar – 15
Sacul – 14
Nekov – 14
Obfuscation - 12
Round 5 theme: Surprise! (and no one can send "Surprise! You're Dead!" by Faith No More