2016 Roulette Championship v. THE CONCLUSION

[Scorpion]

Misguided like Tyrias said, I considered sending this song to Evermind but thought he might confuse progressive metal for djent. Also I've already sent this song in like 3 roulettes and wanted some variety, none of the other songs on that album were good roulette material except for maybe Natural Selection, but that intro/outro would definitely turn him off.

I never confuse progressive metal for djent. If I like it, it's progressive metal, if I don't, it's djent. No room for confusion.

I think you would like Misguided, so let's say it's not djent.

[Nekov]

Nekov         Von Hertzen Brothers - Bring out the snakes      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQKF5YG2YiU
You certainly love taking risks, I'm pretty sure this is by far the weirdest song of the roulette so far.

Wait, Sacul is in this roulette, are you sure about this?  But yeah, I know what you mean. I'll quote the writeup I got from the mystery judge in the first Roulette of champions

I don't know WHAT the hell that was, but it was some pretty cool shit.

[Sacul]

Just let me know much the axe will hurt 

[Sacul]

 

[Bolsters]

It's still technically Monday in some parts of the world, right?

[Big Hath]

it will be Monday in Hawaii for another 6 hours

[Evermind]

7 AM Tuesday here. Expected to find results here already, but I really should've known better.

[Crow]

9:45 PM ~(o.o~)
i'm not even in this though

[425]

Yeah when I said Monday I lied. I meant Tuesday.

[Crow]

We all feel cheated by your laziness

[425]

It will have been six days since the last person submitted. You're being spoiled by Tyrias's speed.

[Evermind]

You know, it's actually not about the speed this time. It's just a matter of betrayed expectations or something like that.

I won't say anything else since I care about my score.

[Crow]

It will have been six days since the last person submitted. You're being spoiled by Tyrias's speed.

the was meant to imply sarcasm btw 

[425]

It will have been six days since the last person submitted. You're being spoiled by Tyrias's speed.

the was meant to imply sarcasm btw 

I got that Just forgot to add my own appropriate emoticon.

You know, it's actually not about the speed this time. It's just a matter of betrayed expectations or something like that.

I won't say anything else since I care about my score.

I know, I know, I'm the worst. But I don't feel comfortable giving out scores only having heard the songs twice.

[Evermind]

In six days? Come on, I didn't even send an epic this time!

[Crow]

i sent a song so long, it takes 2 and a half days to listen to front-to-back

[Sacul]

Glad I didn't send my 36-min epic: lol

[425]

In six days? Come on, I didn't even send an epic this time!

I know, I know. Here's the thing. As music listeners go, I have a pretty temperamental palette. I can't listen to the same set of songs two or three times in one day, because I'll get sick of them. Which will obviously affect how I score them. And sometimes I can't do it on back-to-back days, either. And there are some days when I'm just not up for much music, if any at all. So it's a slower process for me than for someone like Tyrias, but it is slow out of necessity, so that I can get into the songs and give them the scores they deserve.

I can probably do a better job of fitting my process into the parameters of a roulette, and I think I am doing better with that this round than last time, but the slowness of it is a consequence of the way that my brain works with regard to music.

[Nekov]

How about less wasting time posting and more time listening to songs? 

[Sacul]

I want to know much 425 meh'd my song

[Bolsters]

senecadawg2      Neil Young - Like a Hurricane     

I do not mind Neil Young (I'm not really familiar with his solo stuff other than his huge hits), but I wasn't a huge fan of this song. I think the rating would be higher if the song was shorter... it just seemed bloated. I do understand that was his style, I do appreciate the guitar solos, but they seemed to go on forever and then the song just dragged on and on... I was waiting for him to come back and sing but nope, 2 more minutes of guitar solo. That's too much monotony in my opinion. Sorry dude.


Nekov         Von Hertzen Brothers - Bring out the snakes

This was fun. I loved the jazz influences in the guitars (I was like whoa) when I heard that, it was a great, fun song... But the FADE OUT!  I literally screamed NOOOOO when I heard it the first time. Total cop out. I wish they found a better way to end it. Is this part of a larget concept album? I'd be interested in checking it out. The lyrics sounded like it was part of a story...


Evermind      Fish - Cliche

The song's title actually fits... this is a little Cliche. Yes, I do enjoy Fish-era Marillion, but this sounds like Marillion without the Marillion... you know what I mean? Still, I rather enjoyed it. It was emotive, I love the mix, I love the fake-ending (I love you... pause... DRUM DRUM DRUM KEY CHANGE)... That's so Marillion Fish era ballad. So it's all good. It was a solid song, but not my top one this round.


Sacul         David Bowie - Lazarus

I can't lie, I heard this once before, but I literally only listened to it once, right after he died and everyone was like LISTEN TO THIS BECAUSE MAN THE REFERENCES ARE JUST WOW. And yeah, they are. I know Bowie's music fairly well, but mainly his 70s and 80s stuff, not much in the last 2 decades. This song was POWERFUL man. Wow. It hearkens to Queen's "The Show Must Go On" in the fact you know Bowie knew that his time was short and so he just put EVERYTHING in this, in his own style of mystery and mixing of many different genres. This was awesome. Bravo.


Scorpion    Distorted Harmony - Misguided

I did enjoy this, it was complex, it was fun. Unfortunately, it was one of those songs that even after a few listens I can't really grasp anything that stood out to me. It was solid, it has grown on me, and eventually may have something to it, but even after 4-5 listens I can't think of anything specific that stands out. I love the crispness of the guitars and the fact that everything was so complex and so tight though.

[425]

Okay, so unlike Tyrias, I'm not copping out. I used three different point values to score these five songs, and there's a total of a 1.5 point spread. I haven't looked at the scores in a while, so I no idea if I'm affecting who advances beyond this point. I do know that I'm probably helping Mr. Red out by being partially to blame for any changes in score.

Two people who are "mad" at me took first and second for me this round. So they can get over it.



Evermind: Fish - Cliché

So, this prog rock ballad is really, really good. The opening piano-driven section features Fish singing some subtly cool vocal melodies that then kick us into the main part of the song. Fish's voice, of course, takes center stage, being that this is his solo album. He absolutely shines on this track, singing a lot of good melodies with a lot of emotion and power.

The instrumentation is not lacking in any way, either. Those characteristic prog rock keyboards weave their way through the song, producing a lot of good music and being an important component of the way this song builds tension with a quiet section and resolves it with a loud one. You can hear the keyboard parts starting to build up in intensity along with Fish's voice going into the big, loud sections, and then receding to just piano and backdrop keyboard playing for the quieter parts, like the chorus. I always like it when an artist flips listener expectations by playing a loud verse and a quiet chorus.

There's also a slight false ending on the line "I love you," which is something else I love, that then leads into a dramatic return.

Really, this is just as strong of a prog rock love song as you can imagine. It embraces some prog rock tropes like those prog rock synthesizer sounds, but uses them to create a really awesome song that builds and recedes. It's a really good song and my choice for best of the round.


Nekov: Von Hertzen Brothers - Bring Out the Snakes

Okay, this was definitely a risky submission. I don't really know how to describe this song, but it is definitely an unconventional choice.

Unfortunately, this risk will not really pay off where I am concerned.

The song starts with a lengthy spoken-word section that takes up about a quarter of the song and that really doesn't do anything for me. I don't know why it's there and I don't particularly care for it. It doesn't really seem to add much to the song as far as I'm concerned.

Fortunately, the main song does have more to like than the intro. It's by no means a song that I would rate altogether too highly, but there are some good parts. The first half or so of the song seems to wander a bit and not have a clear direction. There are some good vocal parts in the first quiet section, as there are later in some of the more chorus-like vocal sections. The "come on press rewind" section is downright good, and at that point the song really finds a groove and does some stuff that I actually like a fair bit and find pretty memorable.

Is this a good song? Yes. Do I find it enjoyable to listen to? If you cut off the two minutes of "push the friggin' button" at the beginning, yes. But it seems to be somewhat lost for at least half of its runtime and doesn't really find its way until the last few minutes. It's a decent song, but it's not going to cut it.


Sacul: David Bowie - Lazarus

In a move unprecedented in this roulette, I'm going to not "meh" two of Sacul's submissions in a row!

Because how could I "meh" this? This a song with great atmosphere, some really good melodies, tons of emotion and an ability to work with and build tension. His voice is really fitting for this song, and he gives an honest, emotional performance. The melodies played by the guitar and the brass instruments are really nice (though the guitar tone is a little too jagged, that's not a huge deal here and I get why it is that way here).

There's a really good build in tension in this song, as well. It starts off being a pretty sparse, sonically and by the climax, it's build up a ton of tension. He does a lot of that buildup with his voice, just going through sequentially more emotive vocal parts up to the "bluebird" section, when the instrumentation takes over in terms of building intensity. The song reaches a strong climax and then works its way back down, which is all done really nicely.

I like this song quite a bit. There's a lot to appreciate here in terms of emotional value as well as just good, solid songwriting from the late legend. Rest in peace, Mr. Bowie.


Scorpion: Distorted Harmony - Misguided

This is one of the heaviest songs of the roulette to this point, which is the type of thing that might make you worry a bit where I'm concerned.

Nope. I really like this song, including how heavy it is. It's one of those heavy songs that manages to be have some really thick, crunchy, heavy guitars without sacrificing any melody whatsoever. In part, this is because of the subtle but important keyboard presence, but the guitars themselves play melodic riffs, even at their heaviest. The singer also helps—his voice is gentle enough to bring a pleasant sense of melody and compliment the quiet sections very well, and powerful enough to work decently well on the heavier choruses.

This is one of those songs that I like because it has a good sense of tension, and builds and resolves tension alternately at various parts of the song. Actually, all of my top three songs are good at working with tension. This one is the strongest exercise in contrasts, of course, as it works back and forth between some sections of really heavy riffing and some really soft clean guitar parts. The highlight is when the instrumental section ends and the instruments drop in volume briefly before the band launches into the final chrous. That's a cool moment for sure.

And it's all tied together by a big anthemic chorus. So what's not to like? Overall, this is a prog metal song that typifies some of the best elements of the genre without sounding like a Dream Theater or Symphony X clone. It's not world-shattering or even my favorite song of this round, but it's a good song and an enjoyable listen.

Btw, Evermind, I feel I know your tastes well enough to tell you that this isn't djent.


senecadawg2: Neil Young - Like a Hurricane

Neil Young is an artist with whom I actually have a slight degree of familiarity—my dad is a fan of his. So I'm sure I've heard this song more than once before, but I haven't heard it recently and don't particularly recognize it, so that doesn't affect the scoring.

Like some others, I've never been particularly fond of Neil Young's voice. It doesn't send me into a blind rage or anything, but there's something in his tone that comes out sometimes that isn't exactly the most pleasing thing. Fortunately, 1) the vocal melodies themselves in this song are pretty nice and 2) a relatively small portion of this song's runtime is vocal parts.

The guitar work in this song is undoubtedly its main attraction, and deservedly so. There are two really good guitar solos in this one, that both display a great deal of virtuosity and feel. I mean, really, he just rattles off two great solos in this one.

So, I really like this one a lot. The mild annoyance of his vocal tone aside, this is a really good song. Melodically, it has good parts, and it has some excellent guitar work as well.

[Evermind]

Bring on the scores, I want to know if I made it or not.

Glad you liked this song, 425.

[Sacul]

Bring on the scores, I want to know if I made it or not.

Glad you liked this song, 425.

All of this.

[425]

I have a guess at who is advancing based on my own scores, the knowledge that Tyrias scored everybody the same, and reading Mr. Red's writeups. But I'm far from certain. I have to imagine this will be pretty close, particularly since Mr. Red and I liked different songs this round.

[Evermind]

I think it's the second time I send your favourite song of the round... in Mr. Red's round.

[Sacul]

It seems all of the judges liked my song so I actually have hopes

[Bolsters]

There are the scores, no mucking around. As this is the end of Tier 3 the last of the eliminations takes place, and we say goodbye to senecadawg2 and Scorpion. Sacul, Nekov and Evermind now all move on to the finals tier.

As mentioned, this was the last round to feature the primary/secondary judge system. There are only two rounds in the final tier, and the scoring is much simpler - all three judges will now score your songs out of 10, for a total of 30 each round. So the potential for a higher score is here, if you can appeal to all three judges simultaneously.

I'll post some additional data as I did at the end of the previous tiers shortly.

[Sacul]

 

[Evermind]

Phew!

Wow, Lucas, you've got some great scores in this round. And in Round 7. Time to screw up, don't you think?

Also, thank you Mr. Red for not liking Neil Young.

[Sacul]

I'm sure I'll fail in one of the following 2 rounds, for I have only one great song remaining 

[425]

I think it's the second time I send your favourite song of the round... in Mr. Red's round.

Eh, in the first tier I liked all three songs approximately equally (the Blue Round one scored a little higher, but that's because I had more intervals), and in the second tier I liked the Blue and Red ones about equally. They scored 13.5 and 4.5 respectively which is the same score. I would say this is the only time this happened, to the point where the Red song was my definite favorite of the three.


______________________________



That's who I figured the three would be based on my rough calculations! Congrats to Sacul, Nekov and Evermind; I look forward to seeing what y'all bring in the final two rounds...

Scorpion, you were the champion of my roulette, but I suppose you fell a little short here. Some of your submissions I liked quite a bit, like Amorphis, Heart of Cygnus, Beyond the Bridge and Distorted Harmony, and I will be definitely checking those out. Thanks for playing, it was definitely a good run. Hopefully I'll see you come back to try to defend your crown when I do my v2 in approximately 2027.

Seneca, it's especially hard for me to see you go. If you add up how many points each judge gave each contestant, I gave you more points than I gave anyone else. And it's no surprise if you look at the list of the highest scores I gave. Glen Hansard, Mazzy Star, James Blake—three of the four songs to which I gave a score higher than 4.5/13.5. Needless to say, you've sent a lot of music in this roulette that I really liked. In addition to those three, I'll surely be checking out Beardfish, Ludovico Einaudi and David Gray. Thanks for playing!

[Bolsters]

Tier 3 Score Breakdown



Tier 1+2+3 Score Breakdown

[Crow]

sacul: officially the winner of tier 3

[425]

Wow, I knew that seneca got the highest total score from me, but I didn't realize that he also got the lowest total score from the other two judges! Meanwhile I gave Sacul the lowest total score (though he redeemed himself with me in the third tier, where I gave him the highest total score... reminiscent of what happened in my solo roulette), while the other two judges gave him the highest!

Looks like I'm the anomaly and it was two against one!

Meanwhile, of course, Evermind and Nekov are the models of consistency, for the most part. So it looks like the three finalists are two judges who consistently did in the middle among all three judges, and one who did the best with two and the worst with one. It'll be interesting to see if that becomes a factor when all three judges are weighted equally.