Round 2 results continued!
MoraWintersoul
Sonata Arctica
First impression: Kinda reminds me of Nightwish in some ways.
Final review: I get the feeling this won’t be the last band I’m sent that reminds me of Nightwish. Not that that’s a bad thing, because this is pretty enjoyable! In hindsight, there isn’t that much of a resemblance to Nightwish, at least outside of the first song, “White Pearl, Black Oceans”. This song has that grand, almost cinematic feel to it, plus there’s a spoken word section at the end that reminds me a lot of the ending to Bless The Child. It’s quite good, but my favorite song of the three would be “Fly, Navigate, Communicate”. It’s very upbeat, and manages to be both fast-paced and a little atmospheric at the same time. It feels a little longer than it actually is, but that’s not a problem; I think that’s just a result of all the different things the band does in just four-and-a-half minutes. Draw Me is good as well, but the last minute is basically nothing of substance. I feel like maybe they wanted to do something in the vein of, say, the ending of LTE’s Three Minute Warning, but it goes on longer than it should have. But anyway, Sonata Arctica is pretty good! I might check out more of their stuff, if only because Fly, Navigate, Communicate was a particularly good impression.
White Pearl, Black Oceans - 8/10
Fly, Navigate, Communicate - 8.5/10
Draw Me - 7.75/10
Roulette score: 8.1
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TAC
Teramaze
First impression: One of the more impressive bands I've heard this round.
Final review: Here we have some rather modern music. My research indicates that Teramaze has been around since at least the mid-90’s, but the songs that were sent were made within the last five years. Of the two songs, I prefer “Delusions of Grandeur”. It has this almost uplifting feel to it, with some seemingly uplifting lyrics (though considering the sirens at the end, maybe there’s something darker going on?). Some parts kind of make me think of the song as what a modern version of Awake might sound like. The other song, “Control Conquer Collide”, is also enjoyable. It doesn’t quite have the emotion that Delusions of Grandeur has, but it’s still great and has some interesting ideas. So I quite enjoyed these two songs, I think I’ll probably check out more at some point.
Also, fun fact: Teramaze was the first band I was sent in this roulette, but it was delayed to Round 2 because TAC wanted to send UFO for the Fogey Battle.
Control Conquer Collide - 8.25/10
Delusions of Grandeur - 8.5/10
Roulette score: 8.4
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Stadler
Iron Maiden
First impression: Good stuff overall. I think James LaBrie's singing might've been influenced by this…
Final review: Here’s a band I’m slightly familiar with. And by “familiar with”, I mean my dad used to listen to a few of their songs (off the top of my head, those included 2 Minutes to Midnight, Run to the Hills, The Trooper, and I think one or two others). I also knew the song “Phantom of the Opera” before the roulette, which I thought was pretty good. So anyway, onto the songs I listened to in this round… These guys are actually very good. “The Clairvoyant” is about what I expected from an Iron Maiden song in terms of its style, but it’s really good. The vocals in this song remind me a lot of how James LaBrie sang in the early-mid 90's. The other two songs were quite a bit different than I expected, though. “Isle of Avalon” almost reminds me of Rush in a way. In any case, it’s a lot less heavy than I would expect. And then there’s “Journeyman”, which is even softer; it feels more or less like a ballad! This one is actually my favorite of the three. For some reason, the chorus really speaks to me. “I know what I want, I’ll say what I want, and no one can take it away…” All things considered, I enjoyed this band more than I expected to.
The Clairvoyant - 8.5/10
Isle of Avalon - 8.5/10
Journeyman - 8.75/10
Roulette score: 8.6
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425
Kamelot
First impression: I quite like this, though compared to Nightwish, Nightwish does it better.
Final review: So, Kamelot was sent to me as to “continue along in a similar direction” after my positive reaction to Nightwish. And while I still would say that between the two, Nightwish is better, I think Kamelot has grown on me. “March of Mephisto” reminds me of Nightwish, as well as Avantasia and I feel like one other band that I can’t quite put my finger on… Anyway, it’s a very enjoyable song and is my favorite of the four songs here. Other highlights are “Abandoned”, a rather sad-sounding ballad, and “Memento Mori”, which also starts out slow and ballad-like, but gradually gets more intense, with a lot of interesting elements. I’ll probably listen to the album “The Black Halo” at some point; there’s a lot of interesting stuff here and I’m curious to see what else is in store with the album.
March of Mephisto - 8.75/10
Abandoned - 8.25/10
Memento Mori - 8.5/10
Fallen Star - 8/10
Roulette score: 8.4
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Luoto
Ne Obliviscaris
First impression: It's good, although some parts were a bit boring.
Final review: Considering I really liked Amorphis in the previous round, I suppose it makes sense to send another band with some similarity to them. And I think Ne Obliviscaris does have the same elements that made Amorphis so interesting to me, but I think it might not be as well-executed. There are some rather interesting parts here; for instance, “Devour Me, Colossus - Part I (Blackholes)” has this nice middle section where there’s a lengthy violin solo, and combined with all the other instruments, it sounds very good. But there’s also some moments that aren’t bad, but are just kind of boring. These are usually whenever the harsh vocals are prominent, which I don’t think sound all that great, or at least don’t exactly fit with the music to me. I would say that overall, the highs outweigh the lows. These songs are far from bad, or even mediocre, I would just say that they’re not anything particularly special.
Devour Me, Colossus - Part I (Blackholes) - 7.75/10
And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope - 7.5/10
Roulette score: 7.6
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Anguyen92
Switchfoot
First impression: A lot more "casual" than what I'm used to, but it's alright.
Final review: So to clarify, when I say “casual”, I just mean it’s something… “normal”. Like, compare the Dream Theater songs Paralyzed and Octavarium. Between those two, Paralyzed is a much more “normal” song. I hope that makes sense. I just don’t want to give off the impression that I say “casual” as some kind of insult, since I think that’s the best way to describe Switchfoot’s music. That’s not a bad thing, though, I like to listen to more casual music. It’s simplistic hard rock, with their main strength usually being a good chorus, like in “Lonely Nation” and “Dark Horses”. The music is enjoyable in a lot of areas, too, most notably the main guitar riff in “Meant to Live”. There’s not much else that I found remarkable about Switchfoot, so I apologize if this review comes across as lacking compared to other writeups. With that said, though, I did like this band. I doubt I’ll come back to them, but I would certainly say they have some good music.
Meant to Live - 7.25/10
Lonely Nation - 7.25/10
Needle and Haystack Life - 7/10
Dark Horses - 7.5/10
Roulette score: 7.3
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Part 3 will probably be out on Wednesday. I really am sorry for having to make everyone wait so much, but I’d rather ensure that I have a solid opinion on the rest of these submissions than make a bunch of half-hearted writeups where I might not even know for sure what I’m talking about. Apologies for all the delays, and here’s hoping for a smoother Round 3 and beyond when we get there!