Jingle: After Forever – Withering Time (1 pt)
Well, it says something when a song has growls and that’s not what offends my ears most. The operatic vocals on this track just kill it for me, and musically speaking I found it to be a take it or leave it track. I did like how the growls were used to back up the clean vocals at parts.
Joe: Cynic - Intergral Birth (2 pt)
I know a large number of users here love this band, but judging by this song I really can’t see why. A musical improvement over the After Forever I thought, but once again the non-growl vocals managed to tick me off for a good portion of the song. When the singing turns decent I started really getting into it, and the instrumental bit that follows threw off a nice Coheed vibe to me.
Zander: Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Sea of Whispers (9 pt)
This is a pretty beautifully crafted song here. There is a great little guitar solo, a nice deep and enjoyable vocalist with lush melodies and piano/synth throughout. Zander was smart to go with next to no growls, and I did appreciate the way in which the minimal growls were used.
Seth: Intronaut – Sunderance (6 pt)
Well here is an interesting track. Musically it seems to go a couple different directions and it was a little difficult wrapping my head around the track at first. Short and at times peaceful and yet there seems to always be a lot going on. I don’t think the growls on the track were necessary, but they were minimal enough to not detract from my enjoyment of the song.
Wolf: Scar Symmetry - Domination Agenda (4 pt)
Love the use of the growls behind the clean vocals even if it was perhaps unneeded. It’s a pretty driving song from start to finish with some good melodies, a nice guitar solo and only one section that really pissed me off.
Ytse: Solution 45 - Into Shadow (5 pt)
Enjoyed this song a good bit for the most part. I can’t really point to much that I thought was exceptional, but overall the song was just refreshing to listen to for some reason. The exception basically goes to the growls in the song which I found completely out of place.
DTVT: Turisas - Take the Day (7 pt)
Musically I really loved this song for the most part, and the intro seemed like it was written for a pretty epic song, and in a way the song lives up to that. Some vocals I was more fond of than others, and I thought the growls in this song were used quite well.
Rich: Wolverine - Towards Loss (3 pt)
Well, any submission that reminds me of Hugh Jackman has to be a good one <3. Homoerotic tendencies aside (any coincidence Rich submitted this?), I was really impressed with this song musically, but as with many songs in this round my disappointment came with vocals, and not necessarily the growls. There are times at the song I can barely hear the nicer clean vocals because the growls are dominating the mix while an effect intentionally buries the clean stuff. The latter bit of this song is pretty great though.
Mason: 8+7+1+7 = 23
Rapkins: 6+9+1+6 = 22
Wolf: 9+8+0+4 = 21
Hair: 5+4+0+9 = 18
Brit: 4+6+0+3 = 13
Ytse: 1+5-1+5 = 10
Puppet: 7+1-1+1 = 8
Joseph: 2+2-1+2 = 5