Gonna do another save and another elim and try and finish tomorrow. I'm uncertain which of the last three I want to cut because they all have their strengths and issues but I am much more certain about the two below.
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So this is a pretty safe entry and at first I was worried it would be too safe for me to really get into. And it's not without its flaws - the production on the guitars isn't great and gives them this really crunchy sound that crushes any power or melody out of the riffs, the album doesn't take advantage of the natural end point created by Voices From Heaven and instead goes on two songs longer afterwards (though both songs are fine). I think there are some good instrumental moments too, when the vocals drop out for those instrumental breaks most songs have. I think what makes this work though is that there definitely is some emotional resonance, though it's kind of wavering on a few tracks, but especially the combo of Light/Voices From Heaven towards the middle (the latter reprising the former for its outro) works particularly well and both the intro and outro track bookend the album well with some of the same vibes. I ended up liking this more than I expected, may even like it more than two of the albums I saved prior at this point (would need to relisten to them to decide for sure, which I probably will do), but yeah, solid stuff.
TAC with
Thoughts Factory – Lost, you're through to the roulette proper.
On the other hand...
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I think this album is the only one in the entire round I liked less with each subsequent listen. At first I was just kinda like, "yeah, this is an okay and unique style but the vocals blow". And then the production started to grate on me - sure, this album is 20 years old, but that doesn't excuse production this horrendously clipped, any intense moment basically fades into a wall of Harsh Noise™ and the guitar tone in general isn't great. Maybe it fits in with the industrial aesthetic but, compared to other industrial metal-ish acts like Khonsu it doesn't sound good at all. And the songwriting, all these songs jump around haphazardly with no cohesion or grounding point, they just ramble on and then end. And the piano interludes, there's already a ton of piano on the rest of the songs, why are there these three interlude tracks that only seem to exist to break up any sense of flow the album could've had? The first one isn't very good either, but the second two are solid. And to top it all off I just don't find any part of this memorable. The riffs aren't particularly inspired, there's occasionally a decent groove going but it's nothing that special, the "weirdness" they incorporate into the songs feels forced and never amounts to much. In the end it basically just feels like a bootlegged version of Arcturus' The Sham Mirrors, an album I already am not too keen on. The guys in this band must've pissed themselves hard when that album came out and completely invalidated any remaining reason this album had to exist, honestly. I did not get much out of this album at all and would easily call it my least favorite of the round, because as dull as I found that Afro Celt Sound System album half the time, it at least didn't actively annoy me and it had at least a few songs I liked. This is just a void of anything remotely interesting or compelling. I get why you'd send it but boy it's just not for me at all.
LordCost with
Dødheimsgard – 666 International, sorry but you just seem absolutely cursed to have one dud round in all of my roulettes and it looks like it came early this time.
1. Closure in Moscow - First Temple
2. Goddess of Fate - The Spiral Orchard, Pt. 1
3. Sleepers Awake – Transcension
4. Thoughts Factory - Lost
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5. Afro Celt Sound System - Anatomic
6. Dødheimsgard – 666 International
Topic: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (The End (not the band)) (Read 39146 times)
