Round 3 Results:Shadow Ninja 2.0: Kvelertak – MjodFirst Impressions: Whaaaaat have you sent me. This is apparently labelled both “hardcore punk” and “black metal” on rateyourmusic, neither of which are genres I like… much… at all… Like, okay, this isn’t awful, and it’s short enough to not get grating. But it’s just kind of a wall of sound with one or two riffs and some really unpleasant vocals.
Final Thoughts: This one at the very least, grew on me a liiiittle bit from my first listen. That being said, I don’t really know how much of a place I have for this. It’s basically just two riffs, combined with, yes, very much black metal style vocals. I just. Can’t stand those kind of vocals at all. The group vocals on the chorus are okay though. The song does go a fair few places in the short runtime, but it does boil down to just variations on the same riffs. I think the intro bass groove is my favorite part of this whole thing though. Don’t hate this or anything but I don’t get much out of it, sorry.
Score: 5.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 6/10FlyingBIZKIT: The Dear Hunter – The ThiefFirst Impressions: Uhh, hopefully this one’s a grower. They’re doing some mildly cool stuff, but I’m not too in to any of it for whatever reason. Nothing wrong with it, just… eh?
Final Thoughts: This is my fifth listen now and I only vaguely remember hearing any of this before; and I’m not sure why. I give each song the same listening environment and attention, but only this song leaves me entirely cold. The sound is vaguely pleasant, the 5/4 feel is done well, and there’s some decent buildup. The hits that occur on the buildup of the bridge should be powerful and memorable.
And yet… here I am, listening to this again, and just getting nothing from it. I have no clue why, honestly. I’m trying to look at this objectively and objectively it should be getting at least an 8, but… for whatever reason I can’t get into this in the slightest. Sorry. Maybe it’s just too slow of a grower?...
I’ve really struggled rating this one fairly. My mind says it should be 8, my gut says it should be a 6 or lower. I’m going to take the middle ground between those two and hopefully not regret it too much.
Score: 7/10Train of Naught: Avenged Sevenfold – Save MeFirst Impressions: I have indeed heard some Avenged Sevenfold before. Entirely through guitar hero and rock band! And they’ve always occupied the space of “this is totally fine but I wouldn’t actively seek it out”. So hopefully your 11 minutes of a band I’m very meh on works out. This does go a lot more places than what I’ve heard from them before, and it’s… alright, but I can’t say it’s doing a whole lot for me on first listen. Maybe it’s because of the mixing of the instruments but the “big” parts at the end don’t feel big enough to me. Like, almost there, but not quite.
Final Thoughts: I like the bass groove at the very start, basic as it is. And I like the guitar leads in general, though they don’t really stand out. The song feels like it kind of meanders for a while until the vocals come in though.
There’s just ooooone underlying problem that persists throughout the song.
Who the hell mixed this. Aside from the intro, there’s very little bass throughout the song, and a lot of the time the song is really attention-guiding to an unhealthy degree. The big chords in the background are too low to give the song the big sound it really needs to, and this is especially noticeable in the buildup at the end, which never really comes to a climax because it can’t get loud enough with the mixing. A lot of the time the lead will drown out everything else, too.
And honestly, you probably should’ve sent something shorter. This is kinda samey for 11 minutes. Half that and I’d probably be able to get more out of it. Alright, here’s a part with a soaring guitar lead. Now here’s a part where they chug on one chord a lot. Here’s some more guitar leads. Have some bells.
I’m far from hating this, don’t get me wrong, but I feel I’ve heard better songs from this band simply through what I’ve previous been exposed to. Beast and the Harlot is pretty good though poorly structured. Bat Country has good energy. This… just drags too much for me to really get into, unfortunately. The only thing not-by-the-numbers about this is the length, I feel. And Portnoy’s drumming, of course, which is pretty good.
Score: 7/10425: Voices From the Fuselage – MeteoritesFirst Impressions: You did it, you sent a song. Ashe sounds different on the intro to this than his TesseracT stuff but when it kicks in I can tell it’s the same vocalist, yeah. There’s enough cool riffs here and some good atmosphere to keep me interested. I don’t really think it stands out in any way from the similar stuff in the genre, though. Nice to listen to, but nothing special, I don’t know.
Final Thoughts: I kind of feel bad because I kind of pushed you a little to send me this, but at the same time I didn’t really know what to expect other than “prog metal”.
And that’s what I got. Like… fine-tuned prog-metal that technically sounds good, but doesn’t really stand out for me in the slightest. Ashe is a good singer and his voice suits the music well enough. The instrumentation is varied enough and it’s all pretty pleasant and powerful. I certainly enjoy this. But it’s not making me rush to check out more from the band, and I’m probably going to forget about it a week from now.
Score: 7.5/10LordCost: ThumperMonkey – WheezyboyFirst Impressions: Oh god, I dig the bass tone and groove of this intro a lot. The rest of the song just kind of… happened, though. It’s alright and I’m not tired of that bassline yet so I’m not bored or anything, but… dunno, not that engaging.
Final Thoughts: Duuuude. I super dig the guitar/drums/bass groove of the softer parts of this. That’s just a cool thing. The swelling synths in the background are also a nice touch. But then when the heavy part kicks in… ehh. It has energy, sure, but it just doesn’t appeal to me. The vocals especially, I just don’t like them at all here, whereas they’re fine in the rest of the song. And the heavy riff being played isn’t especially interesting, at least compared to everything surrounding it.
Two-thirds of this song I think is pretty cool stuff, though not my favorite or anything, but then there’s the middle third that I kind of wish wasn’t there. Nothing about this is awful though. It just kind of… happens, though, there feels like very little variety for the length. I vaguely like this but I’m not sure I’ll return to it.
Score: 7.5/10Elite: Agent Fresco – See HellFirst Impressions: I like the singer here a fair bit, nice voice. The guitar and drums are having fun screwing a little with the rhythms in the verses while still maintaining a constant time, it’s pretty cool. This one’s leaving me a bit cold on first listen, though, but hey, that’s why I listen multiple times.
Final Thoughts: The math nerd in me does like the 11/16 riff played over 3/4 time. That’s a cool thing and something I can really get into. And yeah, the singer’s voice is nice. Reminds me of the Haken guy a little, or at least I think that’s who I’m reminded of. I think one thing that gets me about this is that it doesn’t feel dynamic enough. The chorus isn’t that big compared to the verses, but it feels like it should be.
While I do vaguely like this one, I can’t say it’s evoking strong feelings from me in any way. The groove of the song is pretty strong, but it kind of feels like a lot of the same after multiple listens. Doing one thing well, but that one thing isn’t quite enough to make it go from a good song to a great one.
Score: 7.5/10Tomislav95: Akira Yamaoka – Theme of LauraFirst Impressions: Never played this game myself but I’ve seen a playthrough of it, it’s pretty good. I vaguely remember this song a tiny bit, I guess, but I don’t actually remember the character it’s named after. It’s a pretty decent slice of instrumental rock with some violin for good measure, but I don’t know how much I’m really going to get out of this.
Final Thoughts: Man, this is actually a surprisingly moody song isn’t it. The bright, dreamy intro, the upbeat main lead, and then the darker guitar line that follows it. This is very much a soundtrack song, though, and outside of context there’s not really a lot for me to gain from this. I enjoy listening to this. I probably won’t come back and listen to it again, but it’s been a pretty strong song all-around in this round.
Score: 8/10Sacul: David Maxim Micic – Where is Now?First Impressions: I gave this album a single listen before but I don’t remember it very well at all so it’s perfect okay with me for you to send this. It’s a pretty big-sounding song for the first few minutes, maybe drags a little but I like what I’m hearing anyways so whatever. Liking the violin quite a bit, too. The song goes a lot of places and incorporates a lot of different/weird elements while still sounding pretty cohesive, though on first listen I wouldn’t say I’m, like, crazy about it, but it’s good!
Final Thoughts: This guy is just a madman, apparently. First he mixes djent with female vocals and pop influences. Then he mixes progressive metal with… whatever he felt like throwing in the blender. This song is just a constant journey, going to a lot of different places while still feeling impressively cohesive.
The first bit is a big build of a section, and I pretty well love it, it’s diverse enough and gets to be plenty full. When the song finally takes a break, we get a fantastic violin solo and a cool bassline. Then a jazzy heavy riff that’s just fantastic. And then it goes all big band on us with some scat singing and… somehow that doesn’t feel out of place in the slightest, it’s actually pretty damn awesome. The solo after is a bit shreddy but it works, maybe because of the palm-muted beginning. A return to the first section closes out the song full-circle, and both the male and female singers here really give it their all to make it sound as big as possible.
Score: 9/10senecadawg2: Foals – Spanish SaharaFirst Impressions: The vocalist on this isn’t my favorite on first listen, this kind of male vocal sound isn’t something I really care for, but it’s not bad. The focus here is the build of the instruments, anyways, and the atmosphere, and that? That is done well, for sure. It doesn’t really feel like it takes too long to get huge, and it teases at it a little closer to the start.
Final Thoughts: This is one hell of a grower. God, I came to love this song in the last few listens. The lyrics actually helped, I think. This is all about the atmosphere and the build. And I really like the vocalist here now, actually, which helps. Mmm. It’s just a really evocative track. The second time it builds up and gets really full is probably the single best moment of this entire round. I really did not expect to be rating this one this highly on first listen but I am definitely loving it quite a lot, each listen just got better than the last.
Score: 9/10mikemangioy: Bent Knee – Being HumanFirst Impressions: 30 seconds in: Oh I guess this is going to be a nice atmospheric female-fronted pop song. Soon after: HEY HI THERE I’M A HEAVY ROCK RIFF. The contrast is very noticeable. The atmosphere of the quiet parts is something I really dig, though, and her voice matches it well. The “suddenly loud” parts kind of… clash though, they’re cool parts but is this really the same song? I dunno. It gets really noisy but in a kind of cool way, later, I will admit that this is probably my favorite so far even if the loud/soft contrast feels a bit clunky.
Final Thoughts: Now that I’ve listened to this enough, the heavy/loud contrast feels a lot more natural. And once that roadblock is out of the way… god damn, this is amazing. The atmosphere of the quiet parts and the classiness of the heavy parts play off each other perfectly. The transitions between the two are done pretty well, too.
The singer’s voice here is really nice, I’m quite a fan of it. The piano and synths here make this very textured and pleasant. It kind of reminds me of Lorde’s Buzzcut Season, though I think the atmosphere there is slightly better.
But then she proves she can sing just fine over the heavier stuff too. Those are some wacky chords but they work so well, and the violin in the mix helps really bring them to life. The breakdown in the middle with the odd rhythms and guitar noise is possibly the best part, though. That is just the perfect embodiment of chaos right there. And the final chorus section is just massive and glorious.
I liked this one the most on first listen and that hasn’t changed, but it went from “this is pretty cool” to “second best song thus far” with relistens. Another good grower.
Also, I can’t believe you secretly sent me Ben Levin again. That’s the second semi-repeat artist of the round.
Score: 9.5/10Current Standings:Sacul – 26.5
mikemangioy – 26.5
senecadawg2 - 26
Elite – 24.5
425 – 24
Tomislav95 – 24
LordCost - 22
FlyingBIZKIT - 21.5
Train of Naught - 20.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 17.5
This was a really polarizing round for me. The top three here are among the best and most interesting stuff I've been sent, while the rest didn't really do a whole lot for me. Also subnotes: I ping-ponged between 9.0 and 9.5 on Foals and I'm sorry I went with the lower score but I didn't quite feel a 9.5 from it :<
Anyways, send for round 4! A lot of y'all have been sending me non-prog stuff anyways and I've found a fair bit of it to be pretty strong (Brand New, Coldplay, Foals were all great) so I'm expecting good things.