Puppies Crazy Album Roulette (Jingle & Kat Bonus Round...spoiler...Jingle wins)

[Lethean]

I gave y'all a T since no one was guessing letters

Well I did ask for a B...

[Crow]

The Sixth Commandment The Final Day?
Collapse of our Godforsaken Existence - romdrums
The Water Parted ?
The and the

Give me I in the last hangmenenanen

also c'mon let's do album order hangman 
i'll start: romdrums starts with jolly - guidance one, elite starts with ancestors - gone, through a window and ends with the warm glow

[Lethean]

Romdrums' is the only one I could have guessed.

But it's a very cool idea using those tracks for a concept album.

[Elite]

also c'mon let's do album order hangman 
elite starts with ancestors - gone, through a window and ends with the warm glow

One of these is right. I’m sure you’ll figure out the other one with the tracks on my album.

[Crow]

my album is rigorously structured (and also only 10 songs long) so hopefully figuring out the order will be easy, i wanna post/share it already gosh

[Elite]

I can post mine too, when the time is right. I’m quite content with the way it turned out.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I gave y'all a T since no one was guessing letters

Well I did ask for a B...

And I gave you the B, there just wasn't any....

Elite: Reflections of Death & Life - A Restrospective
?: T_e _o_ar _orte_
?: The _a__ and the __ood
TAC: The Sixth Commandment The Final Day
Romdrums: Collapse of Our Godforsaken Existence
?: T_e _a__ o_ Tro_ Les Voyages de l'Âme

Guessed letters: ioatbmndescrwjzq

[Crow]

The Polar Vortex - Lethean
The Rain and the Flood - ariich

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

The Rain and the Flood - ariich

That's only partially correct

Elite: Reflections of Death & Life - A Restrospective
Lethean: The Polar Vortex
Ariich: The _a__ and the Flood
TAC: The Sixth Commandment The Final Day
Romdrums: Collapse of Our Godforsaken Existence
?: T_e _a__ o_ Tro_ Les Voyages de l'Âme

Guessed letters: ioatbmndescrwjzq

[TAC]

First impressions and some observations

- This is powerful stuff
- It's both epic and a bit of a mixed bag at the same time
- A pretty stellar second half, marred only by a not so stellar first half
- Great story telling and music that is both fitting and works well as a whole
- There was one band I was worried about going in to this, but it fit surprisingly well
- This flows surprisingly well and is fairly diverse to boot (considering the genres involved)

Can anyone figure out their's?

Mine is kind of told in two halves. Hopefully I'm not the "Not so stellar first half" comment. I wouldn't think so...

But the rest all kind of fit.

[Crow]

mine is literally told in two separate albums each with their own arc
but i'd find it weird if puppies like one half and not the other
i still say mine's the second one but with hope that "mixed bag" is only a first impression and stuff grew on him since then
i also feel like the first one is elite's and the last one is ariich's

puppies give me L (because I Lose)

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Elite: Reflections of Death & Life - A Restrospective
Lethean: The Polar Vortex
Ariich: The _all and the Flood
TAC: The Sixth Commandment The Final Day
Romdrums: Collapse of Our Godforsaken Existence
?: T_e _all o_ Tro_ Les Voyages de l'Âme

Guessed letters: lioatbmndescrwjzq

[Lethean]

I'm afraid mine could be the mixed bag one.  I guess none of them are impossible but I doubt it's the great story telling one.

The Fall and the Flood?

[Lethean]

The Fall of Troy for Parama's?

[Crow]

The Fall and The Flood?

[Evermind]

I'm afraid mine could be the mixed bag one.  I guess none of them are impossible but I doubt it's the great story telling one.

The Fall and the Flood?

The Fall and The Flood?

The Fall and the Flood?

[Crow]

The Fall and the Flood?
put up your hangman coward

[Evermind]

Yeah, I woke up, posted that and went back to sleep. Coming up in a couple of minutes.

[Elite]

My title still says ‘Restrospective’ and that’s not a word :’)

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

There you have it

Elite: Reflections of Death & Life - A Retrospective
Lethean: The Polar Vortex
Ariich: The Fall and the Flood
TAC: The Sixth Commandment The Final Day
Romdrums: Collapse of Our Godforsaken Existence
Parama: The Fall of Troy Les Voyages de l'Âme

[Evermind]

I feel like the concept of the variations of death and life and apocalypse is beginning to get a bit boring, even though I did it in my first EP for you, Puppies. Ariich's EP sounds like something from Halo universe. I guess the one I'm the most curious about is Lethean's, The Polar Vortex sounds badass.

[Lethean]

It's probably not as badass as you think.  I named it that because so many of the songs talk about cold or ice.  It wasn't really the story, although I did imagine that the polar vortex was around during most of the events.

[Crow]

Well since it doesn't look like we're doing song order hangman, here we go.
Direct quote of the PM I sent to puppies incl. the story & the songs & all that

The Fall of Troy | Les Voyages de l'Âme
Two Epics in Ten Chapters

Side A: The Fall of Troy

For this disc, the perspective of the album changes which each song, not telling the story of any one man, but telling the story of a city and a war, and the emotions caused by that turmoil. This is not a retelling of The Iliad as much as it is an entirely separate story using the structure of the epic as its base.

1. Oak Pantheon - Climb

The Story: Long ago, in a distant land, there was a city ruled by a highly religious monarchy. While things seemed peaceful from the outside, there were growing tensions between the ruling class and the lower classes, as well as growing disdain for the god that appeared to have abandoned the people. One man has an insight that prompts him to spark a rebellion, and he begins amassing followers at the same time the rulers of the city try to tighten their grip through the might of god. Tensions seem high and war seems inevitable.

The Song: I was initially trying to avoid doubling up on any particular artist here, and originally the other Oak Pantheon song on this concept album wasn't there, but when I had to replace The Flight of Sleipnir, I ended up deciding on keeping both of these, as this track is an almost mandatory prologue to the story of the rest of the disk - the second track here doesn't make much of an opener, to say the least. Anyways - I figure oak Pantheon is a band you'd dig quite a bit, they take some influence from Agalloch but definitely lean more towards a progressive sound. This song is a long climb (hah) to a fiery climax towards the end which makes it perfect musically and thematically for the needs of this concept album.

2. Usurpress - Ships of Black Glass

The Story: The first strike of the rebellion occurs, setting a major temple of the city ablaze. As the stained-glass windows shatter along with the crumbling temple, the black smog of fire refracts through the glass, painting a bleak image for all who observe. The rebellion presents their manifesto in the wake of the attack - death to the king and queen, and destruction of the religious monarchy, in favor of a new rule that abandons the dated traditions of old. The conflict also draws in forces from other nations all across the world, including one hero in particular that will play a larger part later on, to help the rebelling forces, who otherwise would easily be crushed by the might of the monarchy's army.

The Song: I'm pretty sure the lyrics for this one aren't available online but I can do a scan of them if you want since I have the CD & thus the lyrics booklet. Anyways. I'm pretty sure this entire album is actually about a war similar to the one recounted and this song is absolutely the highlight for me, a great mesh of rough-edged death metal with some progressive and psychedelic elements. It's not an album opener at all though, pretty clearly. And also the shortest song across the entire two-hour experience, though no less epic for it. I definitely prefer the second half of this one to the first half but the whole thing is still pretty good.

3. Headspace - In Hell's Name

The Story: This chapter takes place from the perspective of a soldier faithful to the king and queen and his god above. He sees the rebelling forces as monsters trying to disrupt the natural order, yet at the same time the death and destruction around him makes him begin to question his faith. The rebels are clearly fighting in the name of the underworld, if they challenge god himself, but would any god allow this fighting? Is there even a life after death, if the world itself is this cruel? Yet he fights on, killing many of the rebels and their assisting forces. It is not known what becomes of this soldier at the end of the war.

The Song: So for me this song is absolutely all about that phenomenal intro, though the rest of the song doesn't slack, to be sure. The song most rooted in death and destruction on the entire album is, ironically, one of the least heavy songs of the entire affair (and the only one to feature no death growls at all). I... don't have a ton else to say about this one, it was pretty obvious to pick this one based on the concept of this disc and I don't know if this is explicitly my favorite on the album (Soldier or The Big Day are probably better) but it's definitely the one that fits here the best.

4. The Earth and I - She Abandons the Grey

The Story: The tides of the war have decisively turned in favor of the rebellion, leading the king to flee the castle and leave the queen alone. In doing so, the rebellion is easily able to overtake the castle and the queen, in her last moments, the queen accepts her fate, knowing full well that she will not be absolved of the crimes she committed against the people. Not long after, the rebellion leader confronts the king, both sides exhausted and tired from the death around them. Rather than fight, the rebellion leader offers to allow the king and his men to surrender peacefully, appealing to the king by using his queen's death as leverage. Both sides known the king's army would be utterly crushed by the rebellion at this point, yet the cowardly king flees again to leave his men to die, wanting instead to see his queen one last time.

The Song: This is the last song I added to the album and I'm kind of glad I stumbled into making this actually work pretty well with the concept as it's musically a bit of a breather between the two more intense songs surrounding it, as well as just pretty dang good in general. I also feel like that if there's any one song on this album you won't like, it's this one, but ehh, I like it too much myself to have any desire to leave it off now. This entire album is an interesting fusion of djent, prog metal, post-rock, and even some poppier elements, and this song pretty much puts all of those on display in balance for a proper, epic climax.

5. An Abstract Illusion - Skeletons of Light

The Story: The king arrives back at his castle where the queen lays bleeding out, wounds all over her body, her right arm severed at the elbow. She offers one last prayer to her god before expiring, leaving the king with a cold body and an empty room. Rather than give the rebels the satisfaction of taking his life themselves, he takes one of the same blades that was used to slay the queen, and stabs himself directly into the heart, reuniting with his love in death. Meanwhile, the remaining men still fighting for the king's cause are being slaughtered en masse by the rebel forces, refusing to surrender even as their cause falls apart around them, each of them in turn passing away and fleeing the mortal realm to the light above...

FIN

The Song: One of those albums I enjoyed but then kind of forgot about until I was scanning through my library trying to find stuff for my concept album. And man, this song is... frantic as hell, for the first two thirds of the track, it's not necessarily the heaviest that melodic death metal gets but it's no less intense for it. The last third giving way to a beautiful, much more downbeat finale makes the perfect bookend to this side of the album as a whole, a triumphant victory for one side and an eternal slumber for the other side. This song is also home to the one solitary track edit I made across this entire album, that being a slight fade in on the very first second of the song, haha. For being one of the longest songs here among a long list of long songs, it's surprisingly straightforward, mostly moving in small ways rather than in big ways while keeping its momentum going for about as long as it possibly could before a breaking point. I'm actually kinda sad I slept on this one for as long as I did, I need to revisit this album some more I think.

And yet the story continues...

Side B: Les Voyages de l'Âme

For this disc, the perspective follows one hero, who joined the rebellion's cause from many nations away, and after his long fight is returning home, only to be besieged by many unholy beasts that he believes are set upon him by the god he angered. This is not a retelling of The Odyssey as much as it is an entirely separate story using the structure of the epic as its base.

1. Hail Spirit Noir - The Mermaid

The Story: The hero of the war who travelled from afar to assist the rebellion now departs back to his homeland via ship, along with a sizeable crew, their destination months away by sea. For the first month, they face no real threat. At some point, his men spot what looks like a beautiful woman seemingly stranded in the middle of the ocean, who draws the attention of many of the men onboard, but she turns out to me a monstrous creature, slaughtering and devouring many of the ship's men when they go out to help her, and attempting to attack the ship after. Around a dozen or so of the crew's members fall victim before they manage to fend her off and continue on their voyage, very shaken by the events.

The Song: Well this one's become a bit of a big deal on DTF now hasn't it? Or at least, after Indiscipline's roulette it has. And I mean, there's a good reason for that, this is more prog rock goodness that's been touched by some black metal tones, making for a rather unique sound. And this song just builds and builds to a fantastic instrumental finale, it's surprisingly fun for the subject matter. And I don't even have to take it out of context at all to make it fit in with this concept, this is literally what the song is about, woo. But yeah, definitely a more recent favorite but a favorite nonetheless.

2. Anciients - Ibex Eye

The Story: Some time later, the ship makes port on a well-known harbor town. However, when they arrive, they see that the entire town has been decimated, corpses of the citizen's strewn everywhere, blood filling the streets. Not only that, but it looked very recent - days, maybe even hours. The horned beast then appears before them, a visible rage in its animal eyes, and a thirst for death, its horns stained with the blood of the men it killed. It attacks and kills many of the remaining crew members before they are able to escape the beast. Though they wouldn't know it, the beast only attacked the town because the people had been expanding into the nearby forest and had slain the beast's children in the process.

The Song: Woo boy, Anciients are another of those bands I feel I should be way more into than I actually am, but occasionally one of their songs really clicks for me and is just pure awesome. Like this one, easily the highlight of their second album (which is a solid step up from their first IMO, actually pretty good overall). This song pretty much covers the full range of why I dig these guys - atmospheric intro, jagged, proggy, and frantic first half, bass-driven locked groove that builds and intensifies towards the finale. I know you will probably gripe about the fadeout here and, yeah, I guess I can't blame you, but that's like the only issue I have with this one myself, it's good stuff.

3. Oak Pantheon - Enormity

The Story: Despite the now tattered, ragged crew remaining after two terrifying encounters with forces of nature, the ship sails on, the diminished crew allowing for less consumption of their remaining supplies after they failed to restock at the last port. Their peace would not last for long, however, as they were approached by another ship, telling of some monstrosity razing the nearby nation - entire towns vanishing overnight, landscapes being altered - and the terrified crew of this other ship begging the hero and his crew to come assist them. Not one to leave such a force unstopped, they travel to the nearby nation just as a plan to counter this colossus was being put together, and with the combined forces, they are eventually able to slay the colossal beast, at the cost of many lives of the local townsfolk and some crew members. The remaining crew members opt to stay behind in this town and help rebuild, as they are already exhausted from their long journey and have started to sense that they would continue to face threats and terrifying creatures if they stuck around with the cursed hero. The hero, however, strives on alone, opting to cross the remainder of his journey by foot, even with hundreds, maybe thousands of miles of land still before him.

The Song: The other Oak Pantheon song, and while the last one was more of a straightforward, atmospheric build with some progressive elements, this one is a full-fledged epic, starting with a pounding, doomy movement, before accelerating its pace to a frantic struggle, ending with symphonic swells and a climactic finale. I think I personally prefer Climb ever so slightly and this one wasn't originally on my album until I had to swap out The Flight of Sleipnir, but I also kind of expect you'd like this one more, just from what I know of your tastes.

4. Piah Mater - Earthbound Ruins

The Story: Trudging on alone through the wilds, the hero arrogantly believes he will face no more difficulty, as he had already slain many men and beasts, and even metaphorically killed a god. Yet his journey is much longer and more difficult than he expected, forcing him to cross dense jungles, barren deserts, towering mountains, all land he had no map of and no knowledge of as a seafaring traveller. Still he pushed on, his months-long journey become years long, everyone else assuming he had simply perished on his journey. And the long journey has taken a great toll on his sanity as well, pushing him well past his breaking point. Time only knows what the future holds for him now...

The Song: So yeah we're gonna be blunt here - these guys are just trying to be Opeth. Which, considering that the last time we got a real and proper Opeth album was over 10 years ago, I can't really complain about it. It's more like... Still Life-era Opeth than the Blackwater Park sound too which is a whole extra decade in the past, so again, whatever, rip off all you want IMO. And I'll also be honest in that I have only listened through this album a few times so far and this one is basically only here on a whim, but I mean, it's a cool and good song. I'm pretty sure. I dunno, it fits in lyrically way too well with the concept & transitions too well with that ending to really leave off. I'd have to listen to this album more to really pick a favorite though.

5. Extremities - The Inward Eye

The Story: The hero recalls his journey as he rests, his strength exhausted both physically and mentally, tracing the steps that took him to where he is now. He can tell he's almost home now, having pressed eastward for many years, guided by the light of the sun, the god he used to despise and fight against. His inner reflection gives him the strength to carry on in the face of failure, and at last, after years of struggle, his realization of faith in the god he thought he had killed allows him to find his way home and reunite with his family and loved ones after all these years.

FIN

The Song: This one's a pain because I can't find the lyrics online anywhere but I've put together enough of the lyrics to have a general idea of what this one is about, not that I think it's really... that hard to piece together regardless. This album is one of my favorites of the year currently and this song in particular is a pretty big reason why, basically just a mashup of a lot of prog metal sounds I really dig in a satisfying epic. Jagged, noodling guitar melodies drive large portions of this song, but there's also a mix of great riffing, a really damn strong chorus, and saxophone solos for days, plus a nice quiet break in the middle just to give a breather in the eye of the storm. This was always going to be on my concept album from the moment I had my idea, and in usual fashion I love to save the best for last, so hopefully you don't hate this one like you did Tetrafusion, lol.

General comments on the album

So this was a thing and a half to put together, haha. I got the concept idea around the time I was working on my EP because, hey, who doesn't love a good greek epic? I've never actually read the Iliad but I have a general idea of what it's about, and while I have read the Odyssey I don't remember it all that well. But this isn't a plot synopsis anyways because good luck finding songs explicitly about everything that occurs in the Odyssey. I wanted to write my own story using those as a framework, and as with the EP, the songs were pulled together because of the concept and their lyrics, but then I wrote the story only after I'd actually finalized everything, making it hopefully flow a lot more naturally than trying to stitch together disparate pieces of a story would. And I'm pretty happy with how it turned out all things considered, I thought things would go way worse, lol.

Musically there's obviously one thing holding all these songs together - they're all epics. Or well, a few of them are pseudo-epics, but every last song here is at least decently long and with several different movements. That basically naturally gives way to all the songs having a progressive bent to them - though the styles they take from is all over the board. You've got straight up prog metal (Headspace), folky black metal (Oak Pantheon), various shades of death metal (Usurpress, An Abstract Illusion, Piah Mather), practically straight up prog rock (Hail Spirit Noir), sludge metal, (Anciients), friggin' djent of all things (The Earth and I), and finally groove metal (?) (Extremities) to close things off. I actually don't really know how to categorize Extremities tbh, which is maybe why I like them so much. Anyways, I feel the diversity definitely helps keep things interesting and I don't really think there's anything that feels too out of place here, anyways.

Also I don't exactly recommend listening to the whole thing in one sitting, considering it's just over two hours in total, and each of the discs is absolutely designed to be its own album, but I won't stop you from spinning the whole thing all at once. I haven't ever done that myself though.

At the end of the day whether or not I even make it to this round I still hope you enjoy. This was a lot more fun to put together than I initially thought it was gonna be, tbh.

(Also it wouldn't let me compress the file into a ZIP with the french character in the album name so I just uploaded the folder directly, oops)

[Evermind]

It's probably not as badass as you think.  I named it that because so many of the songs talk about cold or ice.  It wasn't really the story, although I did imagine that the polar vortex was around during most of the events.

I was imagining like the mysterious vortex has appeared at the North Pole, secretly fueled by the magicians who were exiled to the icy North, terribly tired and weathered and just so cold all the time so they couldn't keep up with this life. They did it to draw attention to their predicament, but the vortex itself went out of control and is now threatening the whole surrounding landscape and villages. Then the villages picked their champions, simple folks who were just a bit better with a weapon than the rest, and the folks who have shown a bit of magical talent, and sent them to find this vortex and close it if they can. Little did they knew that the very goddess of winter and starvation is secretly guided the magicians' hands, and as they draw closer to the very heart of this vortex, she watches them, and the weather begins to get way worse, the biting blizzard begins to roam across the land, the temperature drops to the freezing point. They have to fight the wind, the snow and the cold to get to the vortex in a final effort to stop it from evolving.

I'm kinda regretting that I dropped from this roulette now.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

It's probably not as badass as you think.  I named it that because so many of the songs talk about cold or ice.  It wasn't really the story, although I did imagine that the polar vortex was around during most of the events.

I was imagining like the mysterious vortex has appeared at the North Pole, secretly fueled by the magicians who were exiled to the icy North, terribly tired and weathered and just so cold all the time so they couldn't keep up with this life. They did it to draw attention to their predicament, but the vortex itself went out of control and is now threatening the whole surrounding landscape and villages. Then the villages picked their champions, simple folks who were just a bit better with a weapon than the rest, and the folks who have shown a bit of magical talent, and sent them to find this vortex and close it if they can. Little did they knew that the very goddess of winter and starvation is secretly guided the magicians' hands, and as they draw closer to the very heart of this vortex, she watches them, and the weather begins to get way worse, the biting blizzard begins to roam across the land, the temperature drops to the freezing point. They have to fight the wind, the snow and the cold to get to the vortex in a final effort to stop it from evolving.

I'm kinda regretting that I dropped from this roulette now.

I look forward to this concept album soon 

[ariich]

Parama posted his, so here's mine:

The Fall and the Flood
Length: 67 minutes

Even in this final round I want to keep doing new things, so this time you're getting mainly a mixture of prog and melodeath. The story is, er... pretty bleak again I'm afraid! A new disease spreads across the world quicker than anyone can stop it, and the story deals with what happens next, as explained under each track below. There are six bands and each is a different character. Hope you enjoy it!

Link: https://mega.nz/#!ADQHEIJS!aJlzMb-leWY4ZZXCdxENQkzcxS9PtmMgjvjWV_p_OXQ

Cast list:
The Disease (Vangough)
The Dying (Dream the Electric Sleep)
The Righteous (In Flames)
The Scientist (Soilwork)
The Hopeful (Novallo)
The Storm (Twelve Foot Ninja)

00:00-05:44
1. Vangough - Thy Flesh Consumed
(instrumental)
The Disease spreads, slowly but surely, hidden at first so that by the time humanity notices the outbreak, it is too late to stop it.

05:44-11:58
2. Dream the Electric Sleep - Black Wind
“Now you plow your children underground”
“Black wind choking out my life, only rain falls from my eyes"
“Acrid black wind blows”
The Dying - one of those infected - reveals himself to the world. He has already lost his family and now feels the need to spread awareness of the “black wind”. Thousands are dead already and millions more are sick.

11:58-16:35
3. In Flames - Bullet Ride
“Bitterness will run you through”
“Do you feel infected? It's life, the the dark that binds you"
“It's the cowardice that pulls you under”
As the world discovers the full extent of the outbreak, the Righteous immediately puts the blame on humanity for being impure and weak.

16:35-20:43
4. Soilwork - The Ride Majestic
“When they call for me saying "Son, you're heartless", I won't believe it - the ride majestic”
“A later storm that will take it all and wash us all away"
“The skies, the darkness, the sea, you all just showed me the way”
The Scientist discovers a way to save humanity - a metaphorical flood he calls the “ride majestic” - but realises that it will require purging all of those who are or even might be infected. He knows he will be called heartless if he proposes it, but if he doesn’t and no cure can be found, the whole of humanity will be washed away later on anyway.

20:43-26:00
5. Novallo - Give Gravity a Choice
“But there is nothing to be done, so just levitate”
“See, this memory seems to hurt, but with more time, it will help to set you free.”
“Observe the fall as you are, and never hit the ground"
The Hopeful - leader of a global community of optimists - believes the world can be saved without resorting to a purge. That humanity can stop itself from falling. That people just need to work together and they can overcome anything.

26:00-33:09
6. Vangough - Infestation
“I'm the tree, I'm the dying tree, and my leaves are falling on you”
“Fear me, can you feel the plague grow?”
“Finding flesh that fits the mold, so many lives we killed untold”
The Disease spreads more and more, in the air and in the earth. As time passes, more and more become infected and more and more die.

33:09-38:08
7. Soilwork - Death in General
“There was no one there who'd give you up”
“How about driving souls apart, like death in general"
“The world crashing down on the innocent”
The Scientist wrestles with whether to push ahead with the purge. He knows it will rip communities and families apart. He doesn’t want to give up on the hope of finding a cure instead.

38:08-43:02
8. In Flames - Only For the Weak
“I can't tolerate your sadness, because it's me you're drowning”
“In my righteous own mind, I adore and preach the insanity you gave"
“Sell me the infection, it's only for the weak”
As the plague spreads and the Righteous remains unaffected, he becomes increasingly convinced that it is purity from sin that is keeping him alive. He continues to condemn those who succumb to the illness for their weakness.

43:02-50:24
9. Dream the Electric Sleep - Culling the Herd
“Gather round we’re all still here, feel the fire disappear”
“Worn skin and bone, facing bleak alone"
“Hold my head against your gun”
As time moves on, the Disease continues to spread and still no cure is found, the Dying comes to the conclusion that the Scientist was right. If the sick stay, humanity will die out. The only option is to cull the herd.

50:24-55:00
10. Soilwork - The Ride Majestic (Aspire Angelic)
“Recalling the hours you've dwelled, from everything to nothing”
“Now it's gone and all that's left is the path I once repressed”
“The rain whips my conscience, the strain towards the end, the rain keeps on falling, the sound got me settled with sadness"
The Scientist, hearing the powerful words of the Dying and learning that he himself has also become infected, makes up his mind. As awful as it is, there’s no other solution - the ride majestic must happen.

55:00-59:48
11. Twelve Foot Ninja - Deluge
“You tried to find the face of salvation, but all you found was me”
“I will arise and arrive from the depth of this hole”
“You've got nowhere left to go, you'd best prepare for the storm, and it all ends, and it all ends now"
The Storm comes, and does exactly what it was designed to do. The sick are purged, and the conditions that allow the Disease to thrive are eradicated.

59:48-62:59
12. In Flames - Swim
“As we build a brand new planet, lets reconstruct and get it straight”
“We're the settlers of year zero, lets reconstruct and take it back"
“From a thousand branches, spreading the new voice”
With the Disease in recession and as one of the few survivors, the Righteous is more convinced than ever that he was right all along. He insists that humanity must build a new world and live a life of purity so that it is always able to swim through any future storm.

62:59-66:53
13. Vangough - Between the Madness
(instrumental)
The last remnants of the Disease die out, leaving humanity in peace, but broken and lost.

[romdrums]

Since we're sharing: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1R_H58vJdmuxJFce8kMfhmZJu9kI9HiZk

To sum it up, it's a dystopian concept (clearly the preferred type of concept album!  ) about a man fed up with the way things are and his desire to bring about a massive jolt to the status quo. He stumbles upon an audio book called the Audio Guide to Happiness.  While listening to this, it triggers his brain and he becomes hyper aware of his surroundings.  The album tells the story in flashbacks related to the different parts of this audio guide, which he's listening to in the final moments before he sets his plan in motion.  While listening, he finds himself being torn apart and re-assembled, and finds the clarity he needs in order to save the world from itself, and drown out the demons responsible for the current state of his world.  Cheery stuff!

THE COLLAPSE OF OUR GODFORSAKEN EXISTENCE

I could change it all with one push...

Guidance One Jolly

Our current situation needs to change.  The liars lead the lost.  What would it take to make us let go?

Dim Skyharbor
We die alone
Bleeding on our thrones
While they're digging the knife
Someday, we'll unite
Try to find the light
To be the fire
That burns so bright

All the liars lead the lost
Got nowhere to stay and nowhere left to run
We will build a wall
Hide away from everything
Can you save me?

Sold
What would it take to let go from your soul
Rummaging through suffering
Now, come 'round
Lost along the way and can't be found
Alone, buried inside

All the liars lead the lost
Got nowhere to stay and nowhere left to run
We will build a wall
Hide away from everything
Can you save me?

Separate the lies
You can't control
The flow of thought
Can't keep on holding us down
Separate the lies
Revealing all your crimes
Cajole with immoral eyes
Control, control
Silencing our cries

Sold
What would it take to let go from your soul
Rummaging through suffering...

All the liars lead the lost
Got nowhere to stay and nowhere left to run
With muddled sight I see right through you
Can you save me?

A wise man once warned me to watch out for preachers and outlaws, for they are the devil in disguise.  And yet, we took the bait.  Now they are in control.  How did we fall?

Beautiful Fiction FOES

I’m a saint, a sinner in disguise
Breaking out, I’ll shake it out
Every floor climbs higher than the sky
Breaking out, I’ll shake it out

How did we fall into factions?
Why does this end in dispute?
The beautiful lie can be easy
When facing the ugliest truth

Wake up and look out for
Preachers and outlaws
They’re the ones with everything to hide
Wake up and look out for
Devils and outlaws
I’m the pope, the devil in disguise

Waking up to breathe and just get by
Breaking out, I’ll wait it out
Underground and reaching for the sky
Breaking out, I’ll wait it out

Why are we working for monsters?
Is money the loneliest art?
I’m counting down ‘til I can settle
It’s death that tears us apart

So wake up and look out for
Preachers and outlaws
They’re the ones with everything to hide
Wake up and look out for
Devils and outlaws
I’m the pope, the devil in disguise

It’s time to bring about change.  They may not care now, but when this is over, they will know my name.

You Will Know My Name Shattered Skies

Have you looked into yourself? 
Ever cared about someone else? 
Do you seek meaning from life? 
Can you carry on this lie? 
Life has one purpose for me 
And that purpose is to be seen 
Taken in by the eyes of green 
To be seen, to be scene, to be seen 

You mean nothing to me 
I mean nothing to you 
But for now, well I guess you'll just have to do 

Now, I have a throne 
And an audience to hear 
The world shall know 
How I'm endlessly here 
And you may believe 
That I'm more of just the same 
When this is over, yeah 
You will know my name 

Now sometimes I get overcome with fear 
I feel like there's a voice that I can't quite hear 
But it never really has very much to say 
Just something inane about fading away 

You do something for me 
I'll do something for you 
And we'll step over the bodies as we do 

Now, I have a throne 
And an audience to hear 

The world shall know 
How I'm endlessly here 
And you may believe 
That I'm more of just the same 
When this is over, yeah 
You will know my name 

Yeah, you will know my name 
Yeah, you will know my name 
Yeah, you will know my name 
You, you will, you will know 

Now, I have a throne 
And an audience to hear 
The world shall know 
How I'm endlessly here 
And you may believe 
That I'm more of just the same 
When this is over, yeah 
You will know my name 

When this is over, yeah 
You will know my name 

When this is over, yeah 
You will, you will know my name

Guidance Two Jolly

My plan is forming.  It’s time to put thought into action.

Godforsaken Universe Darkane

Look into my eyes and get a glimpse of annihilation 
Seek deep within me, but you will find to pity 
You have entered my dominion. Nobody belongs here but me 
Once you're here the portal behind you is closed

I'll guide you to agony 
I'll make you detest 
I'll bring you depravity 
This is my quest

No one survives a visit in my hell 
Sit back and enjoy your own demise

Feel free to explore, but you will only find wrath 
You will dwell in torment and affliction for eternity 
Control this godforsaken universe 
Appasionate sensation, being superior to god

Vanishing, nothing left 
Perished, no one survive 
Do you share my passion for death? 
I will serve you a dinner of vengeance

I'll guide you to agony 
I'll make you detest 
I'll bring you depravity 
This is my quest

As your soul is torn with surgical precision 
And the void that is left is filled with darkened oblivion 
Left is an empty shell, erased degraded 
An inexlicable fear of what dread waits

Vanishing, nothing left 
Perished, no one survive

Pushed to the breaking point, hate and rage fill the void within me.  The current state of things disgust me.  Pushed to the margins, it’s time to get on with it.

Ostracized Darkane

A brush with death and it's painfully clear
Who am I and what I'm doing here?
I've sacrificed and bled my heart out but for what?
What is it really worth?

Contemplating whether to leave this earth
The hours passing by but time stands still
Scourged there is no longer comfort in mindless violent acts

The hours pass but time stands still

Hate and rage fills the void
Banished from life
Pain and fear haunts the soul
Ostracized

I conquered all that I possibly could
I summoned all the strength I could find
If there's a place for those depraved
By all means send me on my way

An eternity of kindness and grace
Will never be enough to save my soul
Bound to an existence in agony for all eternity

It's not enough to save my soul

Hate and rage fills the void
Banished from life
Pain and fear haunts the soul
Ostracized

But there is no place in this world
For this depraved and decadent monument of humanity

Scourged
This is no way to live
Is it enough to die for?
The sands of time are sinking further
Bound by this burden of life
Death, the final endowment
We're all born just to die

The sands of time are sinking further
We're all just born to die

As the plan crystalizes, I can see the possible outcomes, stretching out from the moment I push the button.  Failure? Success? Is this truth? Or do I die?

Parallel Futures Stealing Axion

No sound, just everlasting pain.
The flicker of eyes remain.
A pale face blaming everything.

Guilt maintains.
A sound escapes.
Calling me...
It's calling for me...
Ending lives are reaching for me.
Calling me...
They're calling for me.

Reaching down, I close my eyes.
I hope for death... fear subsides.
And the shadows encompass all of this, and I awaken.

The voices always carry.
Calling me... Calling for me...
Calling me... They're calling for me...

In the wake,
I survive everything that I try.
I'm awake, millions die.
Is this truth, or do I die?

Guidance Three Jolly

I remember a happier time.  The sun would shine, and I would think to myself, “I could live here when I die.” I long for those days.

Live Here When I Die Under Sanction
(instrumental)

Another future, a slave to the grind.  Hope? It must be somewhere, just out of reach. Invisible.

Invisible Sun Romdrums

I don’t want to spend the rest of my life
Looking down the barrel of an armalite
I don’t want to spend the rest of my days
Keeping out of trouble like the soldiers say

And I don’t want to spend my time in hell
Looking at the walls of a prison cell
And I don’t ever want to play the part
Of a statistic on a government chart

There has to be an invisible sun
That gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day is done

It’s dark all day and it grows all nite
Factory smoke and acetyline light
I face the day with my head caved in
Looking like something that the cat brought in

There has to be an invisible sun
That gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day is done

And they’re only going to change this place
By killing everybody in the human race
And they would kill me for a cigarette
But I don’t even want to die just yet

These voices are confusing.  I can feel my world collapse.  Parallel futures, the invisible sun, the last glimmer of changing things is driving me to distraction. 

Collapse Stealing Axion

All is dark
An empty field inside a dream
You are lost
The sky melts you away

Hear the voice
It tells you the path to survival
In reverse
The message reveals when you wake

When what you know is unfamiliar
You’ll know the fantasy is real
A pinch could wake you from your fragile state of mind
Believe in what you fear

Thoughts must slip away
When you find the clues inside
Your mind can open doors to others unseen
Paradox is born within
When you take control of yourself
Yourself you sacrifice

When what you know is unfamiliar
You’ll know the fantasy is real
A pinch could wake you from your fragile state of mind
Will you believe in what you fear?

What is real? (following)
What is true?
What is wrong? (following)
What is life?

Believing in nothing is seeing everything
Collapsing

Guidance Four Jolly

My life is breaking.  I can’t accept defeat now.  This feeling inside lied to me.

Dreams Reversed Stealing Axion

Something tears the fabric of my truth
Nothing feels right
(You’ve got to grasp what you have lost)
Forcing into darkness for the answers
I’ve only fooled myself

Universe...welcoming
(look past what you have known)
Memories...distancing
(so unaware)
Universe...collapsing
(look past what you have known)
Memories...reversing

If I have known my life
What are these gaps that cloud my reason and
Take hold of me?
Where is the light? Why am I suffering?
Wake me up

So hard to take, my life is breaking
So hard to fake, my mind is waking
Backward thought, forward thinking
Forward thought, backward thinking

Help, I want to believe
Finding that what I’ve seen is calling me
Testing me, redefining everything I’ve been
Nothing is the same anymore
I’m a prisoner sent away from myself

Saving the fallen, they blame me
They’re calling
I’m reaching for something
It’s all coming from nothing I’ve known
Rebuild the past into something that’s new
Truth is not something I’ve seen
Changing my mind about me
Feeling my pride die
Changing my life finally
This feeling inside lied to me

I know what I must do.  This world needs to be jolted awake.  This change is necessary, and I will be the messenger.  In a second, all will fall.

Existence is Just a State of Mind Darkane

Lost and forgotten
Emotions collide in
Empty battlefields
Denounced and rejected
Slowly fading away and into nothingness

Suddenly a sense reminds us
There’s nothing to take for granted
It surrounds us all
In a second all might fall
Existence is just a state of mind

Down and discarded
The lies construct a new reality
Complete isolation
Only self-abducting joy that might have been

Suddenly a sense reminds us
There’s nothing to take for granted
It surrounds us all
In a second all might fall
Existence is just a state of mind

Rise up reinstate
Stage your own escape
Dismantle asperity
Design your destiny

Suddenly a sense reminds us
There’s nothing to take for granted
It surrounds us all
In a second all might fall
Existence is just a state of mind

Suddenly the void collapses
Washed away like time forgotten
It surrounds us all
In a second all might fall
Existence is just a state of mind

My plan is in motion.  I will erase this for you.  I will drown out these demons.  Collapse is inevitable.  Change.

An Iteration So Blatantly Sound  Under Sanction

An iteration so blatantly sound
Distinctly...we can drown these out
Polarized for the parallel horrors
in this endless fugue
Seize this opportunity
Right now

The buzz of a million
The buzz of a million
We will...

Drown out these demons
Drown out these demons
Drown these demons out

Yes we will
Oh yes we will
Oh yes we will

It’s just for a little...

You bring me here
You fell to me
And I will erase this for you
You begged me here
You fell to me
Overcome and put your fears aside

DROWN OUT THESE DEMONS
DROWN OUT THESE DEMONS

[Crow]

It seems like for once I'm the only person who didn't send a single file 
Honestly I think my concept album works better without weird transition stuff since they're each 5 separate acts of a story.
Gonna listen to both of the ones posted so far, though, this weekend hopefully.

[Elite]

https://open.spotify.com/user/1150414537/playlist/3Mid4K4UtwJRtfhUY85nW7?si=DExAXK2pSd-l63J8THgkjA

Well then, the final round. I don’t think I ever sent a single roulette round that’s this long. Almost 1,5 hours of music, 8 bands, 15 songs from 10 different albums. I present to you:

Reflections of Death & Life – A Retrospective

1.   Huntsmen – Bury Me Deep
2.   Huntsmen – Pyre
3.   Ancestors – Gone
4.   Ancestors – Through a Window
5.   Khemmis – Isolation
6.   Hamferð – Frosthvarv
7.   Electric Wizard – We Hate You
8.   1914 – Passchenhell
9.   Hamferð – Hon Syndrast
10.   Huntsmen – The Barrens
11.   Khemmis – Above the Water
12.   In Flames – Dialogue With the Stars
13.   Have a Nice Life – I Don’t Love
14.   Khemmis – The Bereaved
15.   Ancestors – The Warm Glow

The Story
Picture a man at the end of his life. Not necessarily an old man, but someone who doesn’t want to live anymore. He’s standing outside, in nature and nightfall is almost upon him, so he makes himself a campfire to stay a little warm. As he reflects on the life he lived, various memories come to him. He has lived a sad life, in which he has lost much. The first two tracks describe him at present, building a funeral pyre.. The next two songs (Gone & Through a Window) are our protagonist realising that there’s not a lot left to live for and he’s actually, metaphorically, ‘gone’ already. Isolation shows us that this torment has been going on for quite some time and that this moment in his life was bound to happen at some point. It is now that he begins reflecting on things that happened in his past life.

Both Frosthvarv and Hon Syndrast are sung in Faroëse, but the general theme of the album these songs come from is loss of loved ones. The album these songs are on is absolutely haunting and worth a listen on its own, but I picked these two songs as rather contrasting ideas with similarly genius compositions. We Hate You shows our protagonist going on a rampage at some point in his past, apparently having a hatred towards the world and the next song, Passchenhell shows us where that comes from. Although the latter is from an album specifically about the First World War, you can probably substitute WWI for any other war. I used this track to show that out protagonist has seen death and destruction, because he has fought in a terrible war. I’d say this is the ‘centrepiece’ of the album, because it shows where all his anger and hatred comes from.

The Barrens is situated in the present again and next track, Above the Water gives a glimpse of a very distant memory – the protagonist losing his father - among other things. Dialogue With the Stars, an instrumental, is a final attempt at finding meaning in his life, but his prayers find no answer in the darkness, thus follows I Don’t Love in which our protagonist states, for the first time, that he really doesn’t want to live anymore.

Both The Bereaved and The Warm Glow end our story. The former by accepting the loss he’s suffered in life, the latter by – probably – embracing death in the fire he built himself at the beginning.

I could have fleshed this out a little more, but in general I'm very happy with how it turned out. When listening to it over the past week, I thought of more things I could have said and found even more links between the songs. I'm quite sure there's something here for most, even though it gets quite gloomy.

[Crow]

ariich's:
adding all those fancy "news clips" into your album, dang
I know the vangough songs already so won't comment on them
this dream the electric sleep song is way heavier than anything i've heard from them before
i only know in flames from a song or two they had in guitar hero, their style of music ain't really my thing but this is solid enough
same with soilwork really though they're intense enough that i do dig this one a fair bit, i know this album got a lot of acclaim when it came out lol
i dig this novallo song a lot actually, pretty good vocals mostly
i do feel less bad about having a blatant opeth ripoff album on my album considering the blatant pain of salvation ripoff vangough is on this album. neither of those are bad things to be, for the record
it'd suck to be the scientist. not only do you have to deal with the worst possible trolley problem, nobody can even understand what you're saying because you can only speak in growls
screw that righteous dude, tho, he's got my least favorite tracks and sounds like a total douchebag anyways
yeah i feel like i need to check out this dream the electric sleep album again
i like this last soilwork song more because it has proggier tendencies, naturally
i'm pretty sure this was my favorite song on that twelve foot ninja album, though considering what this represents in the story it feels a bit... lightweight for that to be effective, good tune tho
screw the righteous, why is he the ultimate winner of this story 
and they all died happily ever after, the end

yeah not super my album but at least there's one artist i wanna check out more now 
i might leave that burden on people sending them to me in my upcoming roulette which i'm gonna try and start pretty soon-ish? and then novallo hasn't put out a full album yet so i'll wait until they do that

[Crow]

god y'all went with some depressing as hell concepts 

[romdrums]

god y'all went with some depressing as hell concepts 

Aren’t all concept albums serious and depressing?  I thought that was like, the first rule of concept albums, especially for progressive and metal music.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

god y'all went with some depressing as hell concepts 

Yeah, not a single happy concept album in sight from you guys. Where's Trainy when you need him?

[The Walrus]

I would've had enough happiness to balance things out but someone kicked me out of the f'ing roulette 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I would've had enough happiness to balance things out but someone kicked me out of the f'ing roulette 

Still waiting for your post roulette concept album 


















and results from your roulette