To kickoff the final results, let me say that no matter who gets the title of Jingle.champ, I’m the real winner. 75 or so new tracks, only a handful that I didn’t like too much, all from different bands
. Boy-o-boy do I have a lot of new music on the ‘check-it-out’ radar. Thanks to all of you (even Nekov
) for a great experience in the last month. I’ll hand out some awards and honorable mentions and shit later, but for now, I’m sure you want to know how the dust settled. At least, two of you do.
Three VERY (and painfully) close rounds. I hate to have to judge, but such is the nature of this show.
Round 1Lies/Starbreaker (wolf) vs
The Years Ahead/Tomorrow’s Eve (obscure)
Both pulling from what has provided success in earlier rounds. Melodic-Metal from the mind of Magnus Karlsson from Kade, and a prog-metal concept album excerpt from Nem. Both great tunes. Real nice backing vocals and chorus on the Lies track - that chorus is VERY catchy, and has been in my head the last 24 hours. A very full sounding track with guitar licks that remind me of Jorn-project tracks (big surprise coming from Karlsson!!), and keyboards that reminded me a lot of Royal Hunt’s sound. Nice transitions from a smooth flowing feel to aggression. Loved the instrumental section. The Years Ahead also had a great keyboard arrangement surrounded by a very heavy main guitar riff (what else would one expect from the good Lady). I felt the other two songs sent earlier from concept albums stood on their own better; that this one really needs the story to go along with it - which I will be doing.
Verdict – Lies by a nose
Round 2Ghost Prototype 1/Scar Symmetry (wolf) vs
Killing My Dreams/Elysion (obscure)
Really liked the Scar Symmetry track. Great tune start to finish … almost. The growls didn't hurt this song (that much), but they didn’t help either. I remember reading someone’s advice to think of growls as just another instrument, so that’s what I did. Still couldn’t appreciate them
. Growls are a hit and miss for me, and in this instance, they missed. But otherwise, a really great song. Killing My Dreams was also a little risky with the female lead. Chick vocals can also be hit and miss for me … I love (LOVE) Tarja and have discovered Magali Lutyen thru this roulette, and love Floor Jansen in Star One. On the other hand, Sharon (Within Temptation), and Floor’s work in After Forever don’t do much for me. This track… scratched me right where I itch. Loved it. Sonically, the two songs were about as even in enjoyment as I could imagine, so the vocals determine which way I leaned.
Verdict – Killing My Dreams by that same nose.
Round 3To Mend a Broken Heart/Eclipse (wolf) vs
Not My Love 2/Tides of Man (obscure)
Well, neck and neck coming down the home stretch, and no, I didn’t plan for it to be this way. You two did a great job in helping me make this as dramatic as possible! Not sure if Jesse “The Body” Ventura was ever big ‘down under’, but several times it seemed as though Kade followed the “Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat” motto. This time, pulling something from Erik Martenssen (who also wrote one of my favorite albums last year – Mercury’s Down by Toby Hitchcock … and Kade - who introduced me to it - knew it). Very nice straight forward Melodic track. All the right elements… smooth vocals, soothing guitar riffs and runs, nice solo, and a rhythm section that just does enough to not steal too much attention. Felt a little generic to me, the production seemed a little flat (not in tone, just in overall umph), and the acoustic outro – while nice – felt out of place.
Not My Love 2 has Nem submitting a very unique and interesting metal song. Instantly, I was intrigued by the vocal harmonies, then the usual prog-metal riffage kicked in, which has been Nem’s signature sound this roulette. Tons of diversity in the vocals throughout the entire track – the high end of the vocals didn’t quite work for me at first, but I warmed up to them with every listen. I loved the guitar outro solo.
This was tough… these last two required
a lot of listens to figure out which one I liked better – and I flopped back and forth a couple of times. The songs in the first two rounds, while very close, my gut told me which one I liked better right from the outset. These two … not so much. In the end …
Verdict: I had wanted to post last night and say ‘shit, we’re boarding, so I’ll have to finish this in the morning’ to prolong the suspense. Then, I was just gonna say that you’ll have to wait an hour or so - just so I can provide a bit of a cliff-hanger, and continue with the mind-fuck. But, since wolfie is wanting a little shut-eye, I will prolong no longer.
The third round winner is Not My Love 2, making obscureJingle.ChampThis was a tough decision, and honestly, if I had posted it last night, it was going to go the other way. Another listen on the plane ride home (and again this morning) reversed the decision.
6 awesome songs you two, and I'll be digging in to each of them a little more - even Scar Symmetry.
Follow up post to come.
Once again, thank you all for this! I had an absolute blast.
Topic: Jingle Boy's Roulette v. drum rolll... pass the envelope please. (Read 93395 times)