This round was full of fantastic submissions all around. Any of the lower pointers could have been 7 in another. Great job from everyone.
7 points - SneakyBlueberry - Florence and The Machine - My Boy Builds Coffins
Amazing. I’ve been meaning to listen to Florence and the Machine, and this was just brilliant. The instrumental section was amazing, and the vocal delivery was likewise. This one was perfect.
6 points - MG -We Share Our Mother's Health - The Knife
I had to watch it twice to really comprehend what I was watching. Nonetheless, it was quite amazing. The simple toned video really helped. It sounded electronic, and at the same time it was kind of world-music sounding. It was awesome.
6 points - Letters – Deftones – Change (In the House of Flies)
This was fantastic. I need to listen to more Deftones, obviously. This was a perfect submission for this round. The dichotomy between the slow, brooding parts and the heavy, loud parts was very powerful. The vocals were fantastic, and the song had a constant dark imagery that hung around long after the song was over. Great submission.
5 points - Gorille - Tactile Gemma -Creepy-Crawlies
This was very creepy indeed. Disturbingly so. It was also beautiful in some parts. I’m not quite sure to make of it, but it was brilliant. Fantastic submission for this round.
5 points - Thevoxyn – Bon Iver – Skinny Lover
This song wasn’t exactly dark at first glance, but I understand where it came from. As in, while you wouldn’t call it musically dark, it gave off a kind of dark, lonely, pleading vibe. And it was very good. The vocals were nice and the melodies were nice. Perfect simple singer-songwriter kind of song.
4 points - Sonatafanica - Kaki King – Night after Sidewalk
Kind of a similar interpretation as the one Thevoxyn had. Definitely gives off lonely vibes. I took a late night walk to this song just because I thought it would be nicer that way, and it was amazing. So there’s that. I’ve seen her on video a few times before and she has great skill, but from this she can obviously write well too. That’s good.
4 points - Lielow - Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren Amon Duul Ii
One of the stranger submissions I received. The vocals were sometimes outright ridiculous… they were very strange, but they worked. The song had a nice, creepy dark atmosphere. Overall it was very good.
3 points - Jsem - Cult of Luna – Owlwood -
I’ve heard quite a few Cult of Luna songs and I’ve liked them. Owlwood was good. It’s crushingly heavy without relying on the typical metal chugging riffs too often. It’s evilly dark. It was good.
3 points - King - Black Mountain - Tyrants
It feels really shitty to not be giving this song a higher ranking. This round had fantastic submissions all around, and this was one of them. Some of the slower parts were amazing. There were times when the song dragged a bit, but they were generally inconsequential to the song’s overall feel.
2 points - Soundscape - Sculptured – Embodiment is the Purest Form of Horror.
This song was all over the place. It was a very nice dark metal song. Some of the parts began to drag, but that was not a big deal, I still really enjoyed it. As I said earlier, the competition was very heavy for this round. This was a good song.
1 point - Dethklok09 - Jacob Kirkegaard - Church
So the making process of this song is very intriguing. This guy went through great lengths to record this, and from a purely technical standpoint it is a very well done piece of “music.” But I don’t think I could maintain my interest in listening to the same 4 tones drawn out over the course of 12 minutes. It’s not really my thing. Props for such an interesting submission, all the same.
Give me some time to think of the next one, I'm now exhausted.