Here they come! shaking in their boots, they’ll be skipping stones with your bones, when these ants know,
Evermind: Primal Fear - When Death Comes Knocking 7The intro is pretty nice, the song kind of loses me when the vocals join in though. The chorus is nice and catchy. Rest of the song.. it’s all okay, I like it, but it’s just not too special for me. The middle part is the only part that really stand out I think even though the solo is a little generic. Overall it’s a pretty standard metals song, almost a little cheesy again. Do you like cheese Evermind? (okay, of course you do)
Luoto: Amorphis - My Kantele (Magic and Mayhem) 7The intro is pretty great, but I don’t dig the harsh vocals at all here. The section starting at 1:40 is way more enjoyable, the clean vocals are nicer and the synth lead is pretty good. The harsh vocals after this aren’t too good again and the instruments don’t make up for this either. I do really enjoy the last minute, the outro is probably my favourite part about this song.
Twosuitsluke: Coheed and Cambria - The Willing Well II: Apollo II: The Telling Truth 7.5The intro is pretty interesting but there’s something about the vocals in the beginning of the song that really puts me of. I do quite like the singers voice in some of the higher parts later though. Instrumentally and composition wise I think this is a really good song. There are quite a lot of very distinct parts but it steels feels as a whole song. It’s a shame that some of the vocal parts prevent me from fully enjoying this. I do love how this song ends though.
Sacul: Ulver - Glammer Hammer (psychedelic) 7.5Although the atmosphere is great, my mind keeps wandering of during the first part. I do like how it transits into the second part which I like a lot more, though. There’s quite a lot going on there working together to create something that’s really intense. I keep hearing more things near the end of the song , it’s just layered in a really good way. it’s a shame I can’t keep my attention on the song during the first half ‘cause the second half deserves a better score.
Tyrias: Lindsey Stirling - The Arena 8.25The violin in this song is just amazing, wow. She clearly is a very talented and a virtuoso player, I love how many different sounds she gets out of the violin. The melodies during the whole song are fantastic. The electronic drums work really great here and build up nicely during the first minute. I’m normally not a big fan of this kind of electronic music in the chorusy section, but it all goes together so surprisingly well! with the electronic sound. I checked out the video btw, it fits the music great. I think I listened to one of her songs a year or so ago, this is so much better than what I remember!
Parama: Thank you Scientist - A Wolf In Cheap Clothing 8.25The brass in the intro (during the whole song actually) is great. I like how this starts pretty intimately and then goes into a part which reminds a little of Rishloo at 1:30, but with brass. All the band members are clearly very competent, singers got a great voice too. I do feel some parts are not too memorable/chaotic, but that’s perhaps just because I don’t completely grasp this song yet, it’s got quite a lot of different parts and variations in less than 7 minutes. Which is a great thing in this case btw. This is a band I am really looking forward to listening to some more, based on this song they have a pretty unique sound.
Elite: Jolly - When Everything's Perfect 8.25The keyboards at the intro are pretty nice. I like how they keep playing subtly during the heavier parts. The chorus is quite catchy actually, the nonsense vocals after it are quite cool too. The middle section is pretty intense too. The ending kind of creeped me out at first, they first create this innocent feel with the children’s voices, creating this huge contrast with the ugly intense section that follows it. It works great and while it isn’t pleasant to listen to it is quite enjoyable if that makes sense. I also listened to Firewell btw, which also pretty good but I enjoyed this song more so good choice!
Train of Naught: Dreadnought – De Lune (Psychedelic) 8.25+1The atmosphere in the first part is absolutely beautiful, the flute makes it sound really organic and the singer has a very soothing voice, creating a very “magical” sound. They kind of break out of that atmosphere at around 3 minutes but quickly go back to it. The flute solo is pretty good as is the heavy section that follows. The synthesizer part starting after is the only thing I’m not too big a fan of in this song, it has an almost cheap sound and the melodies are a little simple perhaps. The rest of the song is just really good I just love the atmospheres and textures in this song.
Tomislav: Dredg – Ode To The Sun 8.5I like the intro, the distant vocals right at the start are pretty nice touch. The guitar work isn’t even too special but it’s just very solid and quite groovy sometimes. The vocals are really good, I really like how the vocalist suddenly switches between a very intense and a very sensitive voice. Like with the This is all for you.. Transcend part. Sorry for the short write-up. I just really don’t know what else to say about it, it’s all pretty good
Scorpion: Diablo Swing Orchestra - Justice for Saint Mary 9This starts of really nice with acoustic guitar and strings. Some absolutely beautiful vocal melodies too! The way it builds up is really nice, I like the intense strings at 2 and a half minute followed by some beautiful melodies again and then the brass joins in really nicely. It gets really intense at 6 minutes going into a metal section and then… Wow! The ending of this song really blows my mind. At the end of the metal section when the sound goes a little flat I first though my headphone jack wasn’t plugged in properly, and then that dub-steb section kicked in while I was fiddling the headphone jack. That was so unexpected and so damn good. Easily the best song from this round, thanks Scorpion!
All in all a pretty good round! Justice for Saint Mary is easily the best song this round but five other songs scored higher than an 8 too. Please send within the next two days. Don’t forget to use the bonus points, it is probably a good idea to use all three before the cutting point after round 7. I will updated the “banned during roulette” list tomorrow if I can find time, every band scoring a 7 or higher is banned btw.
Score:10 Twosuitsluike: 15 + 7.5 = 22.5 X
9 Luoto: 16.25 + 7 = 23.25 X
8 Evermind 16.5 + 7 = 23.5 X
7 Elite: 15.25 + 8.25 = 23.5
6 Train of Naught 16 + 9.25 = 25.25 XX
5 Tyrias 17.25 + 8.25 = 25. 5 XX
4 Tomislav95: 17.75 + 8.5 = 26.25 XX
3 Scorpion: 17.5 + 9 = 26.5 X
2 Parama: 18. 75 + 8.25 = 27 XX
1 Sacul: 19 +8.5 = 27.5 XXX