Parama: 3/10. Almost gave this to Evermind but good news it's really yours.
Here are the writeups, over which I have long labored and which I have kept you waiting for far too long. Not much is needed by means of introduction except a brief explanation of a term that I just personally use when talking about epics.
I sometimes will talk in these writeups about a “line.” Whether the song has a line, whether I was able to find the line, what the line was, etc. By a “line,” I basically just mean whether there is a sensible progression of the song from one phase to another, such that it feels like it makes musical sense for all these phases to be together in one song, and such that the song itself feels like a whole despite having a number of different sections. This, to me, is one important feature that separates an enjoyable and integrated epic from a sort of disjointed mishmash of discrete pieces (The Fountain of Lamneth) or an undifferentiated mass of instrumentation with no apparent logic tracing its progression from any one part to any other part (Three Minute Warning).
It’s also worth noting that two songs can both have a line, and one can have a line I like better than the other. For example, I think Octavarium has the best line of any DT epic. SDOIT certainly also has a line, but I feel like there’s somewhat less of a logic to it, and less opportunity for emotionally compelling content, than it is on Octavarium’s.
The term “line” now explained, here are the writeups:
Kattelox: Rhapsody of Fire - The Mystic Prophecy of the DemonknightSnippet:
Significant portions of this song are right up my alley, but there is one part that is definitely not my thing. I'm not saying it's bad; I think it's actually pretty well-done. But even when done well, it's a direction I would vastly prefer a musician not to go. Hmm. I may have pushed the Cheesy Limits after all!
Yeah, you may have.
Look, as I said to lead off the snippet, there is some stuff that I really like here. Chiefly, the symphonic elements, which are quite nice. They seem to be orchestrated pretty deliberately, with layers and thought that go beyond just “let’s put some epic strings here and a chorus there.” They also make the song feel really big, which is something that I think I’ve established pretty clearly so far is something I like.
Now as for the rest. There are other good aspects here. There some very memorable vocal melodies, particularly the main chorus, which is given a very epic sound by the presence of the chorus. I am also a fan of the folk elements that weave in and out here.
As to the not so good. First, as a relatively minor point, I don’t really think there’s a whole lot going on as far as the guitar riffs are concerned. They are serviceable, but it’d be nice to hear a bit more from that end of things. Not a huge objection on its own, but worth mentioning in passing.
But the main objection I have here, as the above indicates, is the cheesy element here.
Now, to be clear, I don’t really define cheesiness in the same way as other people do. I disagree that anything that goes for an epic sound or strings or features medieval-themed lyrics is cheesy. I really like a lot of things that seek out the grandiose, many of them things that are popularly considered cheesy but that I don’t consider cheesy.
As an example, Nightwish is one of my favorite bands. I think they have a few cheesy moments, but by and large they are not cheesy.
What I call cheesy is material that emphasizes a story or ideas that are rather trite, but played as though it is significant. And that, unfortunately, is something that I think is going on here.
Now, granted, I don’t know the full storyline here. But what I’m getting from the lyrics is a story that jumps out as pretty trite. Which is how most medieval European fantasy feels to me, to be honest, and without going on a tangent I will note that this is something that I am unlikely to enjoy in a book and unlikely to enjoy in song lyrics, and I will emphasize my lack of interest in this type of story by saying that I don’t even like Lord of the Rings (though I would not call it cheesy).
Now, a song could get away with having lyrics about this, maybe, if it managed to sneak them mostly past my notice. As it happened, this round, I looked up the lyrics to all the songs, and so I would have discovered some lines that I find pretty bad. But this song does the exact opposite of sneaking it past my notice. It features several extended voiceover sections that go out of their way to really emphasize the story.
In general, I do not like a voiceover, and voiceover is the element that I refer to above in the snippet. If it’s both well-done and brief, it’s okay. I think it works in SFAM well enough. Here, it is well-acted. I mean, Christopher Lee is undoubtedly a very good actor. But it is lengthy, not brief. And it is not well-written. I could go along with it for the first few lines, but once we got to the line “By all the gods of my Nordic lands / We are at the gates of death,” I could not any longer. This and a number of the following lines are just cheesy writing, in my opinion, about a story that strikes me as cheesy.
Since I’ve dedicated several paragraphs to emphasizing what I do not like about the lyrics and voiceovers, I’ll briefly emphasize again: Musically, I like much of this song! The symphonic features are very good, the vocals are pretty good, the melodies are good and memorable, the folk elements are an appreciated touch.
So what I’m looking at here is a song that I like a lot of, but that has a portion that’s like 20-25% of the total runtime that really turns me off in a big way. As difficult to score as it gets.
Score: 7 out of 10Indiscipline: Chris Squire - Safe (Canon Song)Snippet:
Aspects of this are pretty strong, but there's more repetition than I would prefer, which makes it feel a bit less epic.First of all, I’m really struck by how Yes-y this song sounds. I guess it goes to show how important Squire was in the Yes songwriting process! Even his vocal approach is pretty similar to Jon Anderson’s here. Honestly, this song could easily be a bonus Yes song from the CTTE-Relayer era.
True to this being a Squire solo track, the instrumental highlight here is the bass, and there is a lot of the excellent work I expect from him, but combined with some great keyboard sections, as well.
The first half is a pretty nice prog rock song. Nothing crazy, but a number of nice melodies and a lot of skilled playing. I particularly like the main melody, especially when it is played with the brass patch.
…Apparently Squire liked the main melody too, though, because he proceeds to work with it for most of the second half of the song. Which is kind of where I start to lose some interest here. As I said, it’s a good melody for sure! If they were going to pick a melody to work with for 7 minutes, this would be the one to pick! But honestly, it doesn’t make for an experience that I personally love. I like an epic to have some variety and really work through a number of distinct musical sections. And this one does not do that as much as I feel it could. I understand and appreciate some of the work with layering and going for a more classical approach, and I will give this one further listens in the future, but it is not really something that does it for me as much as a number of other songs.
I like all of the distinct parts of the song. I like the style. I just wish it had a little more variety to it.
Score: 7 out of 10Evermind: Flaming Row - Mirage - A Portrayal of Figures, Pt. ISnippet:
The "kitchen sink" mentality adds considerably on this one, giving some needed diversity to what might otherwise feel too same-y over the duration of such a long track.As the snippet suggests, the diversity is what makes this epic particularly memorable. Much of the runtime consists of a long slab of prog metal with vocal counterpoints. These sections are all pretty good, and the singers are definitely talented. But there is a certain amount of repetition of the riffs and melodies that makes those sections feel a little bit like standard length songs pulled out and lengthened.
Luckily, this song has the fantastic instrumental breaks featuring jazz and folk influences. These are things that I love when they are well-integrated into prog metal, and they really work wonders here to make this song feel a bit more expansive.
What this song has going for it is cohesion. All the parts are definitely tied together very strongly. There’s also a bit of build-up (though not as much as I prefer). particularly toward the end, and the aforementioned hint of diversity.
However, I still don’t find this to be among my favorite epics of the round because there is somewhat of a lack of diversity, I feel, among the vocal sections. All of them are good, but all of them are basically at the same tempo and of the same style. With a song this long, I’d just kind of like a part that slows down or a part that speeds up, a part that gets markedly heavier or markedly softer, something to differentiate the various vocal sections from one another. I would also really like to feel a sense of progression. A feeling like the song starts in one place and goes a lot of very different places, something that gives it a really strong line. And those are just not something that is present here. So, while I like this one, it does not compare with my favorites of the round.
Score: 7.5 out of 10Parama: Flaming Row - In Appearance - A Portrayal of Figures, Pt. IISnippet:
This one feels compact, but dense. I do feel like there's a lot going on here that I might not fully pick up until I've heard it 7 or 8 times.So, first, to get it out of the way, yes, this was my preferred of the two Flaming Row epics. Sorry, Evermind! The first part, I felt, didn’t have a ton of progression. It kind of threw out a lot of mid-paced metal sections with similar-ish vocal melodies, with a few different aspects in on the instrumental sections. All without that strong of a line. I didn’t really feel the song moved anywhere.
This one does have a markedly stronger line. And a big part of that is the lengthy piano intro, where the vocal melodies really give a sense of anticipation and buildup—something that always adds a lot to an epic.
This continues, though not quite as strongly, through the metal sections that follow. These sections have the advantage of some fairly interesting guitar work, though they also have the disadvantage of some vocal melodies that don’t really inspire me that much. There are also a couple of lines where the combination of the melody and the lyric just really don’t feel right to me at all: the lines that go something like “Is she dead or alive” and “I’m afraid to touch her skin.” Didn’t work for me. But there is some other stuff that does.
The middle metal section is definitely the weakest part, for me, as some of that was a bit hit-or-miss. The last 7 or so minutes of the song return to the strength of the opening piano section. There’s a focus back on the vocals and the emotion in the voices, and on building tension over time. And this section eventually reaches a pretty good climactic finale—actually probably the best finale of the round, which is worth something, as I really do enjoy a good finale!
In comparison between the two Flaming Row songs, I would say that Part I has the stronger metal sections, and has the folk/jazz influences going for it, while Part II has a stronger line and the climax going for it. It’s a relatively close call, but Part II does win out by a hair.
This could be in the top echelons if that early-middle metal section was better, and I wish that it was. But as is, it’s still a good experience.
Score: 8 out of 10Elite: Beardfish - And the Stone Said: “If I Could Speak”Snippet:
Although the style here isn't too far outside of a particular box, it really feels like this song has a strong personality all its own. That plus some really impressive instrumentation make it one of my favorite of the round.As the snippet indicates, this is a song that is very comfortably within the classic prog rock style. But it’s a song that handles that style really well and brings a lot of its own personality to bear. For example, the melodies that are introduced in the first three minutes are all played with a traditional prog rock sound, but there’s something about their structure that makes them obviously not Yes or Genesis clones. The same goes for the vocal stylings. There’s just a little quirk there that makes this clearly a Beardfish song.
Beyond the question of how distinctive these parts are, the important thing is that they are good. Some nice, almost folky-sounding vocal melodies and just lots of interesting material played on the keyboards, especially. This is a song that mixes together a number of quite enjoyable sections.
The big downside is that the line is not as compelling as it could have been. There is a small climax, but there really isn’t too much in the way of a journey, with build-ups, cool-downs, different musical elements coming in and out. The overall result is that we have a 15-minute song that has a number of good parts and certainly never gets boring, but that doesn’t really end up feeling like much of an epic. Just kind of an extended song. A good extended song, to be fair, but just that.
Score: 8 out of 10
Topic: 425’s Second Roulette v. Keep your hands upon the wheel (Read 97178 times)
