Round 7 results! INCOMING WALL OF TEXT
UMH - The Devin Townsend Project - Bend it Like Bender (8 points + 1 bonus point for DTP)FUCK YOU. The intro riff reminded me so much of another song and I was trying to figure out which for a whole fucking hour (it was I Couldnt Do It Alone from The Dear Hunter). Anyway, a very energetic song and like you said the female vocals add a very nice touch. 8 points.
UMH - Dog Fashion Disco - The Hitchhiker (8 points)I was going to make a joke about these guys being best pals with Polkadot Cadaver given the stylistical similarities but I already knew they're some of the same guys, so fuck jokes. I liked this better than Polkadot, the first and last sections are pretty good (especially the quiet piano parts with almost whispered vocals) and the middle section is just batshit crazy. 8 points.
UMH - Foxy Shazam - Oh Lord (9 points)Fun fact: I listened to this the first time without watching the video and I thought they had a female vocalist (now it sounds totally male to me and I can't understand how that could have happened). Anyway a very nice song, terribly hard to classify in a genre (which isn't a bad thing) and very upbeat. This was an 8 on the first listen but now is a nine, you really did bring out the big guns like you said in your PM.
Zantera - Kayo Dot - A Pitcher of Summer (7 points + 1 bonus point for Kayo Dot)It took me three listens to even start thinking what could I write about this song - it's that difficult to judge. The first calm section is pretty nice and it already shows glimpses of the weirdness that is to come with the different tempos, spoken words and other tricks. The vocals are somewhat weird, like he's running out of breath or something, I can't describe it. Sometimes I like them but and some other times they bother me. On the third listen I found out there was something similar to a chorus behind the distorted guitars of the middle section. The last two minutes are just a big WTF for me. I'm not sure if avant-garde is my thing. 7 points.
Zantera - Brand New - Luca (8 points + 1 bonus point for Brand New)Excellent song all around. I love the singer's voice and the instrumentation is also very good though it takes a bit to get used to the squeals and high pitch sounds in the background in the middle section. Repeated listens made this better, I got used to that section and I continued enjoying the rest of the sections - the awesome quiet verses in the second middle of the song, the surprising heavier section that closes the song... 8 points
Zantera - Agalloch - Fire Above, Ice Below (7 points + 1 bonus point for Agalloch)I wasn't expecting any black metal vocals, I thought they had turned into a non-metal band kind of like Anathema. Anyway these vocals were very limited so they didn't really bother me. It's a quite long song so it's hard to judge in three listens but I know I enjoyed the vocals (non harsh part) and that the instrumentation had a nice ambient feeling to it while being very guitar-driven. 7 points, could be higher with more listens but that's what I think of it right now.
Gorille - Ulver - Providence (9 points + 1 bonus point for Ulver)I've been reading people raving about Perdition City for ages so I was kinda hoping someone would send something from that album, but this works too. I love the ambience on this one and the female vocals which, as you probably know by now, are a big turn on for me. I like how the song evolves from ambient to heavy and oppresing, back to ambient with a different touch to keep it from being repetitive and so on. This is another song that's probably enhanced by listening to it in the right context - anyway, it still deserves 9 points.
Gorille - Ferry Corsten - Ain't No Stoppin' (10 points)Trance time! Never in a million years I was expecting this kind of song in a DTF roulette, it goes to show what a great, varied place this is. When I was younger I had my electronic music phase, going to dance clubs and all that stuff. While I no longer do that I still enjoy electronic a great deal and trance is the subgenre I love the most even though I don't know any artists by name. Anyway, this song was very awesome with very good melodies and a lot of variety (for a trance song). Truth be told, at first it had me dancing in my chair like a retard... then it had me dancing all over the room like a retard. 10 points.
Gorille - Nekrogoblikon - Bears (7 points)After the surprising trance song this is even more surprising if that's even possible. Could it be that you're playing it safe? Sending three very different song hoping for a 10 in one of them to go with the "Best" scoring method? Anyway, for an extreme metal song this was quite nice, the raspy vocals don't bother me much which is weird for me and the mix of black, death and regular vocals is a nice one. The instrumentation in the background is very uptempo (excellent drumming) which also helps to avoid getting me bored or focusing too much in any specifics. I was tempted to give this 8 points which is weird for such an extreme metal song but I feel the second half is a bit worse than the first so I will give it 7 points. I might check these guys out though. BTW, they have no Wikipedia page so I searched them in google, this is what I found (from metal-archives): Genre: Symphonic Folk / Death Metal. Lyrical themes:
Goblins kári - 65daysofstatic - Radio Protector (7 points + 1 bonus point for 65dos)It's nice to see a piano driven post-rock song, as you already know by now I love the sound of classic piano. The song has a nice crescendo which is par for the course within the genre and good upbeat drums, especially after the calm section in the middle of the song. However, I feel like the first half of the song is clearly the best and after that it becomes a bit repetitive. All in all, not really much to write about but it's a nice song. 7 points.
kári - Portishead - Roads (10 points + 1 bonus point for Portishead)Great, I already had this album in my computer in lossless format but I hadn't listened to it so it's good to have an starting point. This reminds me a lot of the Massive Attack submission in the first round, I love the downtempo, dreamy electronics with the delicate female vocals. I recently saw these guys in a list of artists with small discographies that were a must and if this song is representative of the rest of their work, I can see why they made such a list. Very good song, 10 points.
kári - Kyte - These Tales of Our Stay (9 points)Another hard to pinpoint song - is this shoegaze? is this ambient? is this post-rock? I don't care, it's awesome. After a very quiet intro the vocals and the bass pick the song up and start moving it in a more dynamic direction before they stop in the quiet instrumental break in the middle of the song. The second half of the song has a very cinematic feeling to it and I love how the drums keep the nice groove right until the very end where there's only a xylophone? keyboard? repeating the main theme of the song. It's weird how this main theme and its variations are repeated throughout the whole song but it never feels repetitive because of said variations and because half of the time it's in the background letting other instruments do their thing. Very good song, 9 points.
LLTWM - Can - Sing Swan Song (7 points + 1 bonus point for Can)I added these guys to my list of bonus bands since I saw a lot of people in RateYourMusic raving about them and what a visionary band they were. When I saw in YouTube that this is from a 1972 album I knew they were right, it's incredible how music made 40 years ago can sound as modern as if it was made today. Regarding the song itself, it's nothing that rocks my socks off but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It has a very ethereal feeling, almost eastern sometimes and the little noises and squeals in the background give it a nice touch. I don't think this is something I could listen to regularly but I wouldn't mind checking out a whole album to have some background and knowledge in bands that changed the musical picture. 7 points.
LLTWM - maudlin of the Well - Geography (8 points + 1 bonus point for motW)Another quiet song by Toby Driver, I get the same feeling about his voice that I did with the Kayo Dot submission but it has less of the "whiny" moments in this one. Truth be told, I was expecting some weird song with growls, weird tempos and breakdowns and stuff like that, which I think is what motW usually does, right? Regardless, this was a nice dreamy song with the right length to avoid boring the listener. I guess I need to check these guys out further if I want to see what the fuss is all about. 8 points.
LLTWM - Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost (9 points + 1 bonus point for NMH)That's some powerful intro riff and bass there. I think I've heard a song by these guys at some point in my life, the voice sounds familiar. I love the intensity on this one, especially for a mostly acoustic track. The drums and horns are also very intense, joining the bass to buryi the initial guitar riff as soon as they have chance. You said some people can't stand the singer - I love him, I think he is at least half of this song. It seems like the song segues right into another one so I guess this will be even better in the context of an album. Still, as an standalone track, 9 points.
Elite - maudlin of the Well - Gleam the Ranks (9 points + 1 bonus point for motw)Nice to see a heavier song by these guys - still no growls though, I get the feeling you guys are hiding the big bad guy from me fearing growls might turn me off
Anyway, some very awesome drumming and keyboards on this one and the singing is a notch above the other two Toby Driver songs I have received. I feel he does better this kind of singing than the whiny quieter parts (though I have to admit I'm warming up to those too). The riffing is also awesome so really, there's nothing objective to complain about, the only thing keeping it from a 10 is that I don't really feel like it's one of those songs that keeps wanting me to listen to it. 9 points.
Elite - Mastodon - Black Tongue (9 points + 1 bonus point for Mastodon)You should have sent this for the drumming round, it's amazing. This is probably the kind of metal I've been searching for to expand my library: excellent riffs, powerful drumming and good vocals. I love how they keep the song short and to the point without adding unnecessary solos or over-repeating any riffs. Again, this would have fared awesomely in the drumming round, I love it. 9 points.
Elite - Alcest - Écailles De Lune (Part I) (6 points)This was a pretty difficult song to judge, it's pretty long and I found myself losing attention too often. The first part is a bit too "thick" for me and the vocals don't do much for me. The instrumental sections in the middle were OK I guess and there is a nice riff here and there, but overall the song felt too long and I kept losing attention. The calm guitar before the outro is also nice but the outro itself is again very thick with the blast beats and quick guitar. I don't know, it's not a bad song or anything but it didn't really grab me at any point and force me to listen to it. 6 points.
ReaperKK - Devin Townsend - Down and Under (7 points + 1 bonus point for DT)This is more folkish than UMH's submission though it does become heavier towards the end. Even though I like the different riffs in the song none of them stand out to me, the thing I like the most about the song is the soft intro and the bagpipes or whatever it is during the middle section. Once the heavy stuff starts I feel overwhelmed with the sound, it sounds too thick for me and I lose interest. I've heard a lot of good things about Terria so I keep wanting to like this but it's just not happening for now. 7 points.
ReaperKK - God is an Astronaut - Post Mortem (10 points)Looks like post-rock library is going to grow quite a bunch after this roulette. I haven't heard much of Mogwai so I might be way off but this song reminded me a bit of Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. It's very rythmical, it's got lots of nice guitar riffs and keys supporting the whole thing in the background. I like how they take the opposite approach to standard post rock and instead of building up a crescendo they kind of break it apart, deconstructing it for five minutes until it becomes just a loud hum. I was sure they would bring the whole thing back with full force after that but they surprised me by just letting it die slowly. Beautiful song, 10 points.
ReaperKK - 65daysofstatic - Retreat! Retreat! (8 points + 1 bonus point for 65dos)More post rock! This is more energetic and upbeat than kári's submission and also a tad more noisy with the buzzing bass and heavier guitars. Like in Radio Protector, the drums here are pretty good too so I think I'm going to like these guys if only for the drums. There's a certain feeling of grandeur during the first couple of minutes that I enjoy and the calmer section adds enough of a twist to keep me from getting bored. A little bit better than the other song in my opinion, 8 points.
black_floyd - Days of the New - Whimsical (9 points)I could get flamed for this comparison, but after Unplugged in New York this is the direction I think Nirvana would have taken if it weren't for the death of Kurt Cobain. Excellent, dark acoustic guitars with gritty vocals, nice melodies and heaps of emotion - it really reminds me of Unplugged and that's a good thing since I love that record (fuck the haters). This is really is a great song, my only grip is that it could have been one or two minutes shorter. Still, good enough for 9 points.
black_floyd - Lush - Ladykillers (7 points)Infectious riff plus fast vocals, very energetic song. I like the vocal harmonies during the choruses and that they keep the song short at to the point. Very power-poppy, there used to be a band here in Spain a while ago that had tunes very similar to this and they achieved some short-lived popularity. This is basically the same formula - female vocals with catchy melodies, power chording to the max and short songs. It is a nice song and though I believe I would quickly get tired of this kind of music I have to be fair - I'm judging songs by their impression in three listens, and in three listens this is an 7.
black_floyd - Jimmie's Chicken Shack - When You Die You're Dead (7 points)Another catchy riff, you've really gone the alt-rock way this round. This one has a little bit of crazyness added to it though, for a three minute song it was incredibly hard to get into it and start appreciating what's going on. The riff in the chorus was surprising, I thought the whole song would be upbeat but they turned somewhat heavy in that section. All in all, a rollercoaster of a song and I seems like the main riff is stuck in my head, I can't help it. 7 points.
Scores:
UMH (Scoring method is "Worst"): 8 * 3 = 24 + 1 bonus =
25 points You chose correctlyZantera (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 8 + 7 - 4 = 18 + 3 bonus =
21 points You should have chosen "Worst" for 24 pointsGorille85 (Scoring method is "Best"): 10 * 2 = 20 + 1 bonus =
21 points You should have chosen "Sum" for 23 pointskári (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 10 + 9 - 4 = 22 + 2 bonus =
24 points You chose correctlyLLTWM (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 9 + 8 - 4 = 20 + 3 bonus =
23 points You should have chosen "Worst" for 24 pointsElite (Scoring method is "Worst"): 6 * 3 = 18 + 2 bonus =
20 points You should have chosen "Sum" for 22 pointsReaper (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 10 + 8 - 4 = 20 + 2 bonus =
23 points You chose correctlyblack_floyd (Scoring method is "Sum"): 9 + 7 + 7 - 4 = 19 + 0 bonus =
19 points You should have chosen "Worst" for 21 pointsRanking:
With this, our finalists are:
Zantera and ReaperKK!! Incredible final round with some excellent submissions but sadly the lead built in previous rounds proved an invaluable asset for these guys. Still, I loved this round a lot and the fact that all songs were above 6 says a lot about how you guys have managed to pin down my taste - believe it or not, a six still means what it meant in the first round and everything you've sent has managed to spark at least some interest in me