Since I think I know which excerpt is mine, I'm planning the songs for my last two rounds .
None of those excerpts were yours.
This round was a diverse one. I intended this one to be the most difficult one from the sending perspective, and I was really interested what songs you guys will come up with. As the result, this round has those incredibly awesome highs (one song is marked 9.5, three songs are marked 9.0), and unfortunately there's also that entry with growls marked 2.5. Nearly as bad as thrash, haha.
Really though, some outstanding tunes this round. Have a look:
Round 4: Results
Sacul: Pure Reason Revolution – Bullits DominaeAfter sending some average and nearly good songs in previous three rounds, you’ve finally breached that barrier with this one, sending a good one now. The unhurried nature of this song applies to me a lot, both in the placid instrumental part in the beginning and in the calming vocals. Even when the song goes into heavier sections, it still manages to keep this distinctive leisurely pace somehow. I don’t know if my favourite are the serene parts or the intense ones, but this song is definitely a good one; nice usage of vocals and incredible music underneath them. I’ll check those guys out, I think.
7.5/10
Dr. DTVT: Phideaux – Gift of the FlameIs this guy the one who sang with Simone on 010111001? I never bothered to check out his solo career. I was wrong. Despite the awkward transitions, which are present a lot in the intro, this song is incredible. The female voice is heavenly beautiful and playful, and the pace is great. That’s how the light-hearted, happy progressive rock should be done, in my opinion — this is loads better than your Xen submission, for example. Saxophone adds a special flavour to this song too. All in all, this track just shines with life and positive energy, it lights my mood considerably and it leaves me wanting for more music from this project. Also, Wikipedia says this album is a concept one with the main character being a dormouse. Sounds interesting! I will certainly check this man’s music after this roulette is over. Any recommendations which albums I should pick up first?
9/10
Shadow Ninja 2.0: Killer Be Killed – Wings of Feather and WaxAfter that Steam Powered Giraffe song I was wondering what you have to offer for this round. I decided not to watch the video, because this way I wanted to hear the difference between vocalists, not to see it. And, hell, to the untrained ear those guys are quite similar, but they’re still distinguishable, I’ll give you that. One is quite aggressive in his singing (we even get growls here! Do you know what I think about growls? Right.) and the second one is quite melodic in his singing, so I guess it fits the theme. But let’s get to the important part. Did I enjoy the song? Totally not. The only cool part is the chorus, and the first verse is somewhat enjoyable too. I’m glad this one is relatively short though, because it’s almost painful to listen when the second verse kicks in with that full-growl mode. At ~2:00 mark I just want to turn this off. Sorry man, warned you about the growls, and this one was a total miss.
2.5/10
Tyrias / senecadawg2: Damien Rice – 9 Crimes I love ballads, so this was probably a good call. This song reminds me of The Tallest Man on Earth submission in the ballads round, featuring the same calm piano parts, only with more intense ending. I like the placid, serene and at the same time grim atmosphere in the beginning, and I love this outburst towards the end. Great usage of string instruments beneath the piano arrangement, and the ending is just magnificent with two vocalists singing at once. Beautiful and sad, this song is just a perfect fit for the theme, not to mention it’s a total pleasure to listen to. This guy in the video reminds me of myself a bit, walking the street and singing something when no one is around. Seneca, I like how you’re sending me the stuff I normally don’t listen to, but somehow it turns out to be so sweet, enjoyable and plain awesome. Tyrias, this applies to your last three entries as well. Good job, guys.
8.5/10
Scorpion: Kylie Minogue & Nick Cave – Where the Wild Roses GrowI can’t believe you actually decided to try this one; but I’ve got to say, this is better than I actually expected, because I thought this song would be total shit somehow. I know, stupid prejudices and stuff, so I tried to listen to this song with an open mind, and I won’t say I liked it, but it’s alright. My main complain about this song is that the male voice is so dull and emotionless I found myself wishing to skip his singing parts whenever they come up. The female voice is actually nice and that’s what warranted this song a better score. The music behind the singing is alright too, but the chorus lacks some… well, not punch, but it lacks something. So basically this tune is good when Kylie sings, bad when Nick sings, and pretty average when the chorus comes up. And there’s just no pay off at all, unlike that Damien Rice song, for example. I like the lyrics here though, but musically it’s a big borefest, I dunno. I didn’t like this song, but I didn’t dislike it either. Unimpressive tune.
4.5/10
lonestar: Amadeus Awad’s Eon – IncarnationYou know, man, this is outright cheating right here. Russell Allen and Amanda Somerville? In a project I know about but haven’t heard it because of my laziness? Cheating, I call it. However, for some weird reasons no one even thought about sending this one, so I guess it wasn’t that obvious. This song is just awesome big time. I can’t find anything to complain about, and I can find a lot of stuff to praise. Catchy riffs and outstandingly amazing acoustic break with that Egyptian vibe? Check. Soaring Russell’s vocals both in verses and choruses with brilliant guitar playing underneath? Check. That powerful Amanda’s part complementing those four minutes of awesomeness before it? Check. Seems like you really want to take the lead in this roulette. Damnable win, man, this album is going straight to the check-it-out-as-soon-as-possible list…
9.5/10
Parama: Bodies of Water – Under the PinesEvery roulette should have a player that throws absolutely random entries at the host and seemingly doesn’t give a damn about his results. Well, in my roulette that’s you, because I seriously have no idea what to expect from you each round. After the first two minutes I even started to think you’ve sent me an instrumental just for the sake of it. Then the vocals came up, and they’re fitting the song pretty well, I must say. Quiet verses and exploding choruses, all with the audible bass line, this is not what I usually listen to, but it’s right up my alley anyway. Groovy, playful and quirky track, I indeed liked it.
8/10
ErHaO: Serenity – Wing of MadnessAnother song with the word “wing” in the title, and this one is much better than the other. Your description made it sound like this tune is some masterpiece of ages, and while it’s obviously not, it’s still a great one. Love the keyboards and the distinctive power metal guitars all around and the female voice singing behind the instruments. The first word “out” comes off as very Seventh Wonder-ish (think Unbreakable, line “I can see young ones in the park”. This “out” is so similar with “I”. Might be just me though.) The verses I think could use more intense singing, because they kind of feel hollow, the choruses however are standard power metal fare – which I tend to love, especially this “We can cross the distance away from reason / I can’t stand the silence embracing you at night” delivery. Great fit for the theme too, I like both male and female voices. Though I have to point out that this album cover is pretty awful and I don’t want to ever look at it again. And I kind of will have to look at it when I buy this one. Too bad. Otherwise, incredible stuff, man, seems like you’re on fire now!
9/10
wolfking: Scar Symmetry – The Spiral TimeshiftGrowls? Growls! It’s a great metal, except it really would’ve been better without growls, in my opinion. I like the pace and the riffs, but growls? Nah. Great solo, alright clean vocals, nice slower pace on the solo too, but I really don’t see a point in growls being there. You know, given how one man’s growls can sound different from the clean vocals, I don’t think I would’ve been ready to bet on two vocalists being in this song, but quick check on Wikipedia assured me there were actually two of them. Well man, you knew what you were going for. At least a lot of stuff happens in this track, and some of this stuff is actually good and listenable. Your song is better than the other growly one mostly because of the instrumentation. Still, I don’t think I like it enough to be good, but I actually like it enough to be better than average. Certainly not the worst growly song I've ever heard. I wish that bridge wouldn’t exist though. In fact, the whole tune not much worse than that C2C song you’ve sent me previous round, so there’s that.
6/10
bl5150: Hear N’ Aid – Stars I’ll be honest, I never expected someone to send me a song from the charity project in my roulette, with 8 lead vocalists, 30 backing vocalists, 9 lead guitarists and bunch of other people, and the funniest thing I’ve heard about nearly every one of those guys. And I never expected this one would actually work. While some unexperienced ear can think this is actually one man singing, because the voices are somewhat similar, for me it’s nearly always obvious who sings what even without your PM here. Actually, sending this song is basically cheating too, almost as much as sending that Amadeus Awad song RJ did, because as you said, this is pretty much Dio song just with a very huge amount of guests. And you know, this is just so awesome. I was sitting with a broad smile on my face during this whole song. I don’t know if you realize how much you’ve made my whole first-listen day by sending this, but I hope you do. My only complaint is that it’s the only original song on the album, but of course I’m going to listen to the whole thing anyway.
9/10
mikemangioy: Mastodon – OblivionYou know, Mastodon was on my list of the bands to check out, but quite far and away from top, because from all the reviews I’ve read I gathered this won’t be my thing. Well, I wouldn’t say I was wrong, because while I don’t enjoy this song a lot, I acknowledge it’s good and has some appealing parts for me. But you know what the thing was? Those two or more vocalists in the song were supposed to be the main focus, because, well, I wanted to hear good contrast and good usage of vocalists in the song. This song is about everything except vocalists, because they’re totally not impressive for me. This tune is good at creating atmosphere, it’s good at the guitarwork, but, well, it’s totally unexciting in the vocals department. You’re getting better with each entry though! I’m expecting something worth a nine in the six round from you.
6.5/10
Standings with a cut line,
which will matter after Round 6, so you probably should start worrying about it (the second post in this thread is also updated):
bl5150 - 35.5
lonestar - 34.5
senecadawg2 - 32
Dr. DTVT - 30.5
Tyrias - 29
wolfking - 29
___________
Scorpion (with a guest appearance from TAC) - 28
ErHaO - 28
Sacul - 27
Parama - 26.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 23
mikemangioy - 19.5
We've got our first change in Top 6! Scorp loses his spot there to Tyrias, who continues his streak of brilliant submissions. Brent and RJ broaden the gap between them and the other participants to 2.5 points now, and while Seneca tries hard to catch up to them, it isn't working so far. Mason fortified his position in the upper half by sending a great Phideaux song, and Kade is still up there despite the entry full of growls.
ErHaO and Scorp are still have the good chances to get into the Top 6 before the elimination takes place; Sacul and Parama are still fighting for those top spots too; Shadow Ninja and mikemangioy are in quite perilous position now. There are still two rounds before the cut, so choose your songs wisely.
Additions to the banned list:Pure Reason Revolution
Phideaux
Damien Rice
Amadeus Awad's Eon
Bodies of Water
Serenity
Hear N' Aid
Round 5 begins now in the next post.