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General => Archive => General Music Archives => Topic started by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on August 03, 2015, 11:55:58 AM
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Since both Buddyhunter's and Mikemangioy's roulettes are in their last rounds and will ostensibly be concluding shortly, Bolsters has given me the go-ahead to get mine underway. So here we go. Where making this hapen.
Rules
This section is gonna pretty light. If you played in my last roulette, you mostly know how this goes.
If not, there's not really much you have to know. My roulette is pretty light on rules; there are no themed rounds, no time limits, and basically no other shenanigans, at least none that spring to mind immediately. So every round, you simply send a song that you think either is good, or is something I will like. I'm thinking I'll do about 6-7 rounds, but I reserve the right to amend this after we see how this thing paces itself. I'll let you know a few rounds ahead of time though, in case you've got some super-awesome song you're saving or something. All submissions will be rated on a scale from 1-10.
However, I will briefly mention a few things that I'm going to call CAVEATS to this loose and agreeable set of rules. First, although there is not a limit on song duration, the longer the song, generally speaking, the more time it needs to sink in with the listener. However, realistically, I'm not going to be able to listen to these songs as many times as they probably need to totally "get" them. So utilize caution when sending long songs. Second, although there are no themed rounds, just sending a bunch of prog metal will probably not turn out that well. I guess I'll address this more in a different section. Third... I can't think of anything else. I may edit this later if I do.
Tastes
Upon viewing my banned list (posted below) you may think to yourself, "Hot damn, this shadow fella seems to be all about prog! I will send him nothing but prog metal in this roulette." However, the banned list can be somewhat misleading in this regard! It is certainly true that I enjoy a lot of progressive metal, but I'm not hugely into finding new artists in this style lately. It's very rare nowadays for me to find a prog metal band that really impresses me. So while there is a not a specific penalty present for submissions of a prog metal nature, functionally what I would consider "typical" prog metal songs are probably gonna end up in the 5-7 point range. I mean, if you do have a band you think is absolutely incredible in this style, go ahead and send them! I'm just giving you fair warning with regard to where my tastes lie these days.
So what am I interested in? Well, I guess that's kind of hard to answer, but I'll do my best. Lately I've been into a lot of singer-songwriter, indie kind of stuff. I've found an appreciation for some electronic music, and even some rap as well. I continue to be a huge fan of many kinds of metal. That didn't stop being a thing that was true or anything. I really enjoy harsh vocals, so don't worry about them being offputting to me! I am also, as I believe I said somewhere else recently, a big fan of big, over-the-top kind of stuff. This could either be really epic power metal (really guys, don't worry about stuff being "too cheesy". It is unlikely you will meet a barrier of that sort in this roulette), or more operatic or vaudevillian type stuff.
Hopefully this gives you some idea of a direction to take with your submissions.
Also! One final note. Feel free to explain in your PMs why you like the song. This is by no means required, but it's possible that you may point out something that I wouldn't notice on my own, and may increase my appreciation of the song.
Submission
Uh yeah just send me Youtube links. I don't use Spotify or any other streaming service. I guess if your song isn't on Youtube, you can just email me a file, but if possible, web links are preferable.
Participants
Oh yeah, I should have covered this in the rules section. Oh well, it works here too. I'm not really putting a cap on the number of participants. I figure I'll just leave the sign up open until it seems like everyone who wants to sign up has signed up, and we'll get rolling! Also I will say, if you participated in my last roulette, I'd love to have you in this one as well! I got a lot of great music last time, and I have every expectation that with your help, I will do so again!
- Bolsters
- Tomislav95
- Sacul
- Scorpion
- Nekov
- Train of Naught
- Tom Bombadil
- 425
- bl5150
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BANNED LIST
!T.O.O.H.!
3
30 Seconds To Mars
Adagio
Aeon Spoke
Aeon Zen
Agalloch
Alan Parsons
The Album Leaf
Alchemist
Alexi Murdoch
Alice In Chains
Allen/Lande
Amaranthe
Anathema
Angels and Airwaves
Animals as Leaders
Anthriel
The Antlers
Anubis Gate
Arch/Matheos
Arcturus
Arjen Lucassen (and related projects)
Ark
Assemblage 23
Atoma
Audioslave
Avantasia
Ayreon
Azure Emote
Beach House
Between the Buried and Me
Beyond the Bridge
Big Big Train
Bjork
Blind Guardian
Blue Stahli
Bohren and Der Club of Gore
Bon Iver
Bring Me the Horizon
BT
Casualties of Cool
Celldweller
City and Colour
Chroma Key
CHVRCHES
Circus Maximus
CKY
Cloudscape
Coheed and Cambria
Coldplay
Cynic
Dan Swano
Dark Tranquillity
Darkane
Darkwater
Deadsoul Tribe
Deafheaven
Death
The Dear Hunter
Destrage
Depeche Mode
Devil Doll
Devin Townsend
Diablo Swing Orchestra
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Dir en grey
Dominici
Dragonforce
Dream Theater
Dredg
The Drones
Edge of Sanity
Entwine
Epica
Explosions in the Sky
Fair To Midland
Faith No More
Fantomas
Five For Fighting
Flower Kings
Frost*
Gamma Ray
Ghost Brigade
Glass Cloud
God Is An Astronaut
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Gojira
Goo Goo Dolls
Gordian Knot
Gotthard
Green Carnation
Haken
Half Moon Run
Hammerfall
Heather Dale
Homestuck
The Human Abstract
Iced Earth
Ihsahn
Imagine Dragons
Infected Mushroom
Into Eternity
IQ
James LaBrie
Jeff Buckley
John Wesley
Jon Oliva's Pain
Jonsi
Journey
Judas Priest
Jupiter Society
Justin Cross
Kamelot
Katatonia
Kayo Dot
Keldian
Kimbra
King Crimson
Kip Winger
Kishi Bashi
Kvelertak
Lady Gaga
Lana Del Rey
Lance King
Leprous
Leverage
Light Bearer
Lindsey Stirling
Linkin Park
Liquid Tension Experiment
Loreena McKennit
Lost Horizon
Low
Low Roar
Marillion
The Mars Volta
Massive Attack
Mastodon
maudlin of the Well
Meshuggah
Metallica
Michel Camilo
Mike Patton
Mind's Eye
Mirrorthrone
Misery Signals
Modest Mouse
Mono
Moody Blues
Mr. Bungle
múm
Mumford and Sons
Muse
Native Construct
Neal Morse
Nick Cave
Nightingale
Nightwish
Now, Now
The Ocean
Oceansize
Of Monsters and Men
One Republic
Opeth
Orbs
OSI
Owl City
Ozric Tentacles
Pain Of Salvation
Paramore
Pathfinder
Pentatonix
Periphery
Persefone
PJ Harvey
Place Vendome
Planet X
Porcupine Tree
Powerwolf
Psychotic Waltz
Pyramaze
Queens of the Stone Age
Queensryche
Radiohead
Redemption
Red House Painters
Reinxeed
Rishloo
Rise Against
Riverside
Rush
Sabaton
Sarah Fimm
Savatage
Scale The Summit
Scar Symmetry
Scott Walker
Second Person
Seventh Wonder
Shadow Gallery
Shadow Theory
Shamrain
Shining
Sigur Ros
Sikth
Silverchair
Skillet
Skyharbor
Sleep Party People
The Smiths
Soilwork
Solution .45
Sonata Arctica
Sonic Youth
Soundgarden
Spock's Beard
Steam Powered Giraffe
Steven Wilson
Strapping Young Lad
Stratovarius
The Strokes
Styles of Beyond
Sun Kil Moon
Switchfoot
The Sword
Sylvan
Symphony X
System of a Down
Tallest Man on Earth
Tesseract
Theocracy
Thousand Foot Krutch
Threshold
Thrice
Tom Waits
Tool
Transatlantic
Triosphere
Trivium
Ulver
Unexpect
Unisonic
Volbeat
Voyager
We Are The Fallen
While Heaven Wept
Wintersun
Within Temptation
Yes
Zero Hour
This is mostly comprehensive I think. There are probably some groups/artists that I either forgot, or don't know enough material from to include.
Also, here is a link to my last roulette, in case you want to refer to it: https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=41730.0
While some of the artist sent in that roulette are not banned, due to me still not being familiar enough with their catalog to remove them from play entirely, it should be noted that the specific songs sent in that roulette will not be accepted as submissions in this roulette. Unless I forget.
Banned During Roulette
Umphrey's McGee
Papadosio
Rival Sons
Eminem
Iron Maiden
HAIM
Labyrinth
David Maxim Micic
Taylor Swift
David Bowie
Sleepytime Gorilla Musuem
Alcest
Alter Bridge
The Night Flight Orchestra
Conception
Susanne Sandfør
Twenty-One Pilots
Bent Knee
Ellie Goulding
Editors
Shineback
Death Cab For Cutie
Accept
Outworld
Florence + the Machine
Demians
Dionysus
MØ
Hypocrisy
Machine Head
Don Henley
Autumn Moonlight
Woods of Ypres
Meatloaf
Beyond Twilight
Igorrr
Black Stone Cherry
TYR
Tenhi
Lorde
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I'd like to participate since I never did :D rules seem easy and I followed few lists even though I didn't participate
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I'm so fucking in.
Oh, there's Infected Mushroom missing on that banned list btw ;)
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add'd
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In.
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Not a prog metal driven roulette? Sign me up!
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Count me in.
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Haven't done one in a while. I'll give it a shot.
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I told you in my thread that I'd try to play when your roulette came around. My library is small, so it's going to be somewhat tough finding gaps in your banned artist list, but I think I can just barely do it, especially if I supplement with artists who I received in my roulette in the later rounds. So if you will have me, while being fully aware of this, I'll take on the challenge of being "that guy who sends random songs he likes plus in the later rounds maybe some artists he was sent in his own roulette."
Edit: Yeah, there are definitely a few small holes on this list that I can slip through ;)
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I've used the "send whatever I like" method in literally every roulette I've been in, so I fully endorse your utilization of it.
Course I've never won, but you know, journey, destination, all that shit.
Good to have all y'all on board.
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Can we start sending? :D
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Yeah, I suppose so. I'm gonna keep registration open a bit longer though, in case some more folks trickle in.
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sent :hat
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I have zero interest in rap/electronic but I might be able to fill some gaps in the rock/metal/cheese/singer-songwriter area ..........happy to flip some coins and send you some stuff that might hit the spot. Also guitar instrumental if that appeals.
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sorry, only accepting rap-centric submissions
Kidding. :P Added you to the roster. Let's do this.
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sent
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sent
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Sent!
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Sent :tup
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Sent.
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Sent
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OK guys, I have all the submissions except one, and once I get that one, I'll start listening, and we should see results in three or four days.
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Jesus Christ you guys send fast. Don't you people have jobs? :lol
Sent.
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They have (correctly) prioritized my highly important roulette over trivialities like "jobs" or "lives".
Perhaps I have cause to question your devotion, sir?!??
But really, I am pleasantly surprised by how quickly everyone has sent. You guys rock! I'll do the first listen tonight.
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They have (correctly) prioritized my highly important roulette over trivialities like "jobs" or "lives".
Indeed. I've always said that Roulettes should be everyones N°1 priority
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I'm college student on recess and I have no life so this Roulette is my no. 1 priority :lol
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:burns:
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I made a list of artists and noted a couple of songs from each before the roulette started (something I always do when joining one), so it was only a matter of selecting one from that list to send.
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Following and shit
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Hey guys, I did some listening today, and I'll probably do some more tonight. I'm not gonna do the first impression thing that seems to be cool nowadays, because I'm too busy being a useless piece of shit all day playing all these video games. However, I will say that I received a very diverse group of songs; I don't think that any two would fall into the same genre, unless we're judging really broadly. Keep up the good work, guys!
I may be able to write the results and have them up tomorrow, but failing that, they will definitely be up Friday. See you then!
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I'm somehow sure I did pretty well on this round :hat
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Are we getting the results today or are you being a lazy ass?
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can't it be
both things?
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No matter how lazy you are, you'll still deliver results before I do.
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Let it be known that here, on this day, 425 has issued a challenge.
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Something tells me we're not getting results today :lol
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Oops. :lol
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I'm just messing with you guys. Results should still be up today. I only woke up a few hours ago, though, so "today" is just getting started for me.
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ROUND 1 RESULTS
Tom Bombadil
Umphrey’s McGee - In The Kitchen
So I’ve heard of this group before, but I never checked them out because I thought their name was awful. Well, their name is still awful, but as it turns out they still make some pretty great music! This is probably the song that grew on me the most during this round. I think there’s a definite prog influence here, but the bluesy and rock aspects seem much closer to the surface.
One of the things that I think is interesting about this piece is how, individually, none of the parts really stand out as spectacular on their own, but they all come together to make a really tight composition. The singer seems to stay in his comfort zone, the guitar and drums never do anything huge, but taken altogether it’s really quite marvelous. I am definitely interested in checking out more of their material!
8.5 points
Nekov
Papadosio - Find Your Cloud
I’m really at a loss to describe this one musically. Like, I have no idea what genre or style this is. :lol It definitely made me smile, though, and it’s a ton of fun. The instrumentation is all performed extremely well, and I think it’s interesting how relaxing the song manages to be, even though the instruments (the drums in particular) are really tight and fast most of the time. I really like the vocals as well, and I kinda appreciate that they only show up sporadically, letting the instrumentalists carry the piece.
I guess my only real complaint about this one is that it does feel like it goes on a little longer than the ideas in the composition necessarily justify, and it gets a bit repetitive near the end. Still, though, this is a fantastic piece of music, and I’m certainly interested in seeing what other kind of stuff this band does!
8 points
Train of Naught
Rival Sons - Keep On Swinging
Damn son, this is great. I had no idea music like this was still being made. This is just some good ol straight up rock ’n roll. And maybe it’s because the video was filmed in a church, but the whole thing feels like it’s got a bit of gospel influence in the music as well. I guess that might just be the bluesy feel, though, as I think blues and gospel are pretty closely connected.
Anyway, this song is pretty awesome. The singer rocks, the song is well performed, and it’s just a ton of fun to listen to. Have some points, sir.
9 points
Tomislav95
Elliot Smith - Between The Bars
So this is kind of a strange one. Stylistically, this seems like exactly the kind of thing I should be like ALL ABOUT, but for some reason this song doesn’t really do it for me. The playing is nice I suppose, and vocals are certainly fine, but the melodies don’t really do much for me, and overall I just find the song a bit forgettable. I do feel kinda bad about this, since it really seems the kind of thing I should like. Can’t win ‘em all though, I suppose.
6.5 pints
Scorpion
Eminem - Stan
Yeah, this is pretty great. A lot of Eminem’s shtick (based on what little I’ve heard of him) seems to be writing offensive stuff just for its own sake, but he can write some really powerful stuff when he puts his mind to it. The lyrics are fantastic, and I think Eminem does a great job here portraying an obsessive fan. I don’t know how much of this story is based on actual experiences, but regardless, it’s very powerful.
I suppose my only complaint is that the actual “rap” part (like, the rhymes and flow) could be a little stronger. It’s a relatively nitpick, though. This is a very strong track.
9 points
425
Iron Maiden - The Legacy
I don’t know if you know it, but you took a big risk here. :lol Iron Maiden are one of those bands I’ve just never managed to get into. I like Number of the Beast (the song) and like first four minutes of Rime of the Ancient Mariner, before I get bored and start listening to something else.
So let’s talk about this song. Right from the beginning, I can tell I’m going to like this one more, based on the production. Most other IM stuff I’ve heard has really muddy production, and honestly pretty weak guitar tones. That’s not the case here, though. The acoustic intro is great, and that first riff that comes in is fantastic, and the guitar tone is great as well. Honestly, all-around, instrumentally, this song is quite excellent. Plus I can actually hear the bass, how great is that?
Let’s talk about the vocals. This will probably upset people, but I’ve never thought that much of Bruce Dickinson. He kinda falls into the Geoff Tate camp of “I have no idea why this guy is so highly regarded”. In the acoustic intro, I actually rather like his vocals, but I’m not huge on his performance throughout the rest of the song. Especially on the sections where his voice is sort of multitracked, it really kinda rubs me the wrong way. I mean, I don’t outright dislike his vocals, they just don’t do a whole lot for me.
Overall I don’t think this song is a miss, though. I definitely like it more than any other IM song I’ve heard, and as I said, instrumentally it’s tremendous, and even with my lukewarmness on Bruce as a vocalist, I still end up liking the piece quite a bit.
8 points
Bolsters
HAIM - Falling
This is a good song.
… I guess I should say a bit more about it. :lol This song seems to have all of the best elements of modern pop music (concise, catchy songs, great vocals, etc.) without any of its common shortcomings (obvious/bad autotuning, poor instrumentation). The singer (singers? It mainly sounds like just one voice to me) is great, the song is really composed and pleasant, and even though the focus isn’t on the instrumental aspect as much, it’s still quite good, and there’s a few points where I heard some really fantastic guitar work, which is pretty cool. I guess my only complaint here is that the song doesn’t seem to have anything to take it from “really good” up to “great”. It seems very safe, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does (in my mind, at least) prevent the song from reaching the upper echelons of greatness.
8.5 points
bl5150
Labyrinth - State of Grace
So oddly enough I have actually heard of this group before. Another band I listen to (Pathfinder, the most over-the-top power metal band ever) had the vocalist guest on one of their albums, and he was pretty awesome. I didn’t really check them out extensively, though.
This song is basically exactly what it purports to be, which is a really good power metal track. All the instrumentation is solid, and the guitar solo in particular is excellent; I like how the guitarist manages to be fast and shreddy, but still fit in some melodic stuff as well. The vocals are quite good, as well. He does occasionally veer into that over-emphasized vibrato that I tend to associate with Italian power metal, and that hurts my appreciation of the song somewhat, but fortunately it doesn’t happen too often. Overall, I really solid submission, with a fantastic guitar solo.
8 points
Sacul
David Maxim Micic - Mbinguni Amina
Personally I’m really surprised by your choice, I would never have expected you to send this artist. :P The song starts out kind of oddly with some voice samples, and some sort of off-sounding acoustic guitar coming in a bit later. Then a really awesome brass (trumpet?) section comes in, which I really like a lot.
and then
AND MOTHERFUCKING THEN
This fucking vocalist. Holy shit. He is magnificent. He’s like a Russian opera singer or something with a metal grit to his voice.
Unfortunately, this is kind of my problem with the song. The singer is good, like, insanely good, but he only appears for about 30 seconds. Then we get some fairly standard djent riffing, and some other instrumental bits, which aren’t bad, necessarily, but they kind of don’t stand out to me in any way either. This is actually the same feeling I’ve gotten from the Destiny Potato stuff I’ve checked out. Like, there’s some great stuff, but most of the time I feel llike I’m just waiting around through the not-so-interesting stuff for something cool to happen again. There is a very nice guitar solo in this section that I really like, though. Then the vocalist comes back again, but only for a little while, and then the song fades out on a sort of war march, which is pretty cool.
So overall this one is a bit of a mixed bag. If the singer had been on the majority of the track, this would have been 10 points, no question. Unfortunately, there’s just too much of the song that doesn’t really interest me, while I wait for the next awesome moment from the vocalist. Sorry bro, I know you had high hopes for this one. The sections that I liked, though, I really loved, and you are definitely on the right track there.
7 points
Standings
Scorpion - 9
Train of Naught - 9
Bolsters - 8.5
Tom Bombadil - 8.5
425 - 8
bl5150 - 8
Nekov - 8
Sacul - 7
Tomislav95 - 6.5
So now it’s time for ROUND TWO.
Which is the same as this round. Send whatever you want! I am anxiously anticipating the listening of these songs.
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I kind of suspected I might be taking a risk, given that your banned list seems to be covering a lot of territory right around Maiden without including them... I figured there must be a reason :lol
But an 8? I can work with that; I'll definitely take that! Glad you liked the instrumentation, at least, even if not Brucie. And in Maiden, you can always hear the bass, because Steve Harris is the band leader and probably the most influential bassist in the metal genre.
If you're interested in more of this type of Maiden, look at that album (A Matter of Life and Death) and The Final Frontier. The Talisman on the latter is somewhat similar to The Legacy.
Working on where I'm going next; should send at some point tonight.
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But an 8? I can work with that; I'll definitely take that!
Me too - probably the best mark I have received in a non-fogey roulette ;D
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Glad I'm not the only one who likes Rival Sons, would never have discovered them if I didn't randomly bump into that festival stage where they were performing. :neverusethis:
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If you're interested in more of this type of Maiden, look at that album (A Matter of Life and Death) and The Final Frontier. The Talisman on the latter is somewhat similar to The Legacy.
This, The Talisman is great and kinda similar indeed, I was surprised that IM released two albums so good this far in their career, but they're honestly up there with some of the older stuff IMO.
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:laugh: I agree with you that the song goes a little longer that it should. You can find a couple of live performances form them on youtube as well as most of the album that song comes from. For more you'd need Spotify....
Will send something when I get home
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I really missed with Elliott Smith there :lol but to be honest I didn't like him at first either, you should try it some time later.
I hope you'll like next one more :)
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Sent Rd 2
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Tomislav I just noticed I gave you pints instead of points. I think I'm gonna leave it that way. :lol
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Sent, riskier pick this time around. :yarr
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fuck I'm gutted I missed sign up. Oh well, following for fun :tup
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Tomislav I just noticed I gave you pints instead of points. I think I'm gonna leave it that way. :lol
Yeah, I noticed that, too. Wanted to know what happened to other half of the pint :P
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This fucking vocalist. Holy shit. He is magnificent. He’s like a Russian opera singer or something with a metal grit to his voice.
Yeah, knew you'd love his performance ;D . Huh, kind of thought you'd like the growl-y section at around the 4 mins more and the rest of the song as well, but I guess it can't be helped.
Sending soon.
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Sent
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Totally agree with your description. Nothing super special about any individual parts, but the song as a whole is awesome.
Sent Round 2.
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Sended.
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Sendeded.
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I kind of suspected I might be taking a risk, given that your banned list seems to be covering a lot of territory right around Maiden without including them... I figured there must be a reason :lol
But an 8? I can work with that; I'll definitely take that! Glad you liked the instrumentation, at least, even if not Brucie. And in Maiden, you can always hear the bass, because Steve Harris is the band leader and probably the most influential bassist in the metal genre.
I will admit, I did not think I this roulette would cause me to enjoy an Iron Maiden song, so good job on that front. :lol I probably will at least check out A Matter Of Life and Death, even if I'm still not big on Bruce himself.
I really missed with Elliott Smith there :lol but to be honest I didn't like him at first either, you should try it some time later.
I hope you'll like next one more :)
Yeah, it's definitely one I could see growing on me. I'm honestly kind of baffled as to why it didn't click with me, since it really seems like something I should love. Alas.
Tomislav I just noticed I gave you pints instead of points. I think I'm gonna leave it that way. :lol
Yeah, I noticed that, too. Wanted to know what happened to other half of the pint :P
Listening to music is thirsty business. :P
This fucking vocalist. Holy shit. He is magnificent. He’s like a Russian opera singer or something with a metal grit to his voice.
Yeah, knew you'd love his performance ;D . Huh, kind of thought you'd like the growl-y section at around the 4 mins more and the rest of the song as well, but I guess it can't be helped.
Sending soon.
There definitely were other parts I liked, such as the brass section, and as I said, I really liked the guitar solo. I don't know, I guess the djenty stuff just isn't working for me, and overall I think the song would be a lot more coherent if the vocals played a more prominent role.
Also, to everyone, I have 8 out of 9 songs so far. No rush, since results just went up, but I'll start listening whenever I get the last one, and then we'll probably see those results within a few days. You guys have been really on top of sending stuff quickly so far, so keep that up! That way I'll feel more guilty about procrastinating on results. :P
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I will admit, I did not think I this roulette would cause me to enjoy an Iron Maiden song, so good job on that front. :lol I probably will at least check out A Matter Of Life and Death, even if I'm still not big on Bruce himself.
Yay! :tup
Also, to everyone, I have 8 out of 9 songs so far. No rush, since results just went up, but I'll start listening whenever I get the last one, and then we'll probably see those results within a few days. You guys have been really on top of sending stuff quickly so far, so keep that up! That way I'll feel more guilty about procrastinating on results. :P
To everyone = To 425 :lol
Sent. I was the late-y late.
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Well, late-y late in this instance is less than 12 hours after the results were posted, so I think you're good. :lol
Anyway, I have all the songs now, but I'll hold off on listening, on account of me being super tired but unable to get to sleep for some fucking reason. I'll start listening tomorrow, which is to say today, after I get some shuteye. Rock on folks. :metal
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Update! Things are progressing well, and I'd tentatively schedule results for Monday night. This round overall I think is even better than the last round, and I have continued to receive some very diverse submissions! There will definitely be 9.5 this round, and possibly even a.... 10. *ghasp*.
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Could it be today? Or tomorrow? I don't know your time zone:P
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ROUND TWO RESULTS
425
Taylor Swift - Style
Honestly, you probably could have sent me Shake It Off or Blank Space, I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard either of them. I like this song quite a bit, though, so I wouldn’t lament the decision too much.
Obviously, I’ve heard Taylor Swift before. I didn’t really care for much of her stuff at the time (probably like 4-5 years ago; whichever songs were getting played a lot. Couldn’t tell you what they were now). I definitely like this a lot more than anything else I’ve heard from her, and that could be due to the discarding of the country sound that you mentioned (even though I like some country stuff). Her vocal style in particular I like a lot; on previous songs that I listened to it always seemed like she was kind of straddling the line between singing and just sort of “talking” the lyrics. Here, though, her voice is really good and the melodies are quite pleasant to listen to. I guess I should briefly mention lyrics here.
To be honest, I haven’t been a big fan of Taylor’s lyrics in the past (from the like 2 songs I head :P), and I’m not huge on romantically themed songs in general, but I actually think this song does pretty well. I mean, I’m not like blown away by them, but they don’t bother me, and honestly I wasn’t expecting that. I will say, though, other than Taylor’s voice, the song isn’t super interesting to me, and this reflects in the score a bit. I still like it, but it seems like there could have been a bit more to it.
8 points
Bolsters
Perfume - ナチュラルに恋して
I haven’t had a lot of experience with J-pop. Basically my only contact with it has been incidental, in movies or TV shows. This was probably the hardest song for me to really get my head around, which is kind of interesting. I suppose it has to do with being an entire culture removed from me, to the point where when I first listened to it I wasn’t really sure whether I liked it or not, being weirdly unable to use any prior experience to make a judgment on it.
So let’s talk about the music a bit. The background instrumentation seems to consist mostly of bleeps and bloops from a variety of synthesizers, with some percussion as well, which I think is also synthesized. I’m not exactly an expert on that. Vocally, the song is kind of exactly what I would expect from a J-pop song, at least based on my limited experience with it. It’s a very clean, processed sort of sound (not necessarily a bad thing). As with most of the song, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it at first, but it has grown on me a bit. My main issue with the song seems to be the composition of it. Like, there are some interesting things going on, but they seem to change and move around before I ever really manage to get a grip on them. In the end, it’s an interesting piece, and I do enjoy bits of it, but overall I think it’s not really something I can see myself listening to very often. Sorry man. This is actually the scored I sweated the most, since I can’t totally be sure that it’s not just some sort of culture shock thing that’s turning me off it. Still, can’t win ‘em all, I guess.
6 points
Tom Bombadil
David Bowie - Sound and Vision
I’m sort of passingly familiar with Bowie. I’ve heard one or two songs, which I quite like, but have never taken the time to delve deeply into his catalog.
To the extent that I have any particular expectation for the sound of a David Bowie song, I’d say this one meets it pretty well. It’s got some good, kinda quirky instrumentation (great bass, btw), and some equally quirky vocals from the man himself. In both cases, I rather like the result. The music sounds distinctly 80s (I’m assuming that’s around when this was written?), but not in a bad way, except for those really treble-y synths, which nearly deafened me. Bowie’s vocals are quite good as well; I’ve always enjoyed the character in his voice, and the range of sounds and styles he’s capable of, from the sort of deeper, laid back tone, to the higher, sort of childlike singing (I’m assuming this is still him singing, I’ve heard that kind of thing from him before), to the almost spoken bits contrasting the rest.
My main problem with the song (again, other than those synths) is that the song feels too short! I don’t know that I’ve ever had that problem with a song before, but it really feels like the song stops right around when it really gets going, which detracts from my overall enjoyment of the song.
7.5 points
Sacul
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - A Hymn to the Morning Star (of Natural History)
Yeah, this song is pretty creepy. Which is something I like a lot, incidentally.
The song opens with some low droning and some creepy ambient noise, leading into the entry of the singer. You really seem to have my taste on vocalists down, this guy is fantastic. :lol He has a magnificently low voice, and he the way he sings the song makes it feel almost like a lullaby, though admittedly an unsettling one. At around the three minute mark, the song goes into a different section, with falsetto vocals and some instrumentation that reminds me a bit of Scott Walker. I’m not a huge fan of this part, honestly, but fortunately the piece moves back into the into “creepy deep voiced lullaby” mode again, and all is well. The ending of the song is very ominous, again reminding me of Scott Walker, fading out with some ambient creaks and groans.
I really enjoyed this song, though oddly it suffers from a similar problem to Tom Bombadil’s submission, in that it feels like the song ends a bit too soon. The entire piece seems to be building up to something, but then there’s no payoff. I think you said this was the opener to an album? It probably works better in that context, I imagine. That issue aside, though, this is a fantastically creepy piece of music that I really like.
8 points
Nekov
Alcest - Les Voyages de L’Âme
I’ve heard a little bit of Alcest before. In fact, I was sent one of their songs in my previous roulette, and I liked it a fair bit. For whatever reason, though, I guess it didn’t resonate very deeply with me and I never got around to investigating further.
This was clearly a mistake.
This is an absolutely beautiful song, from the cascading guitar chords, to the subdued drumming, to the beautifully ethereal vocals. I think the band was at one point largely black metal? I can definitely hear some of that in the drumming, but other than that it seems to have been largely left behind. I want to say what they have here is sort of shoegaze-y, but it seems a bit more involved and faster than most shoegaze I’ve heard. The guitar work is absolutely beautiful, and reminds me quite a bit of Deafheaven’s Sunbather, which is probably the closest comparison I have for this kind of music, though Deafheaven have a much more prominent black metal side.
I mentioned the vocals before, but they’re so amazing I think I should mention them again. This guy has an absolutely incredible voice. He sings in a clean tone, and he doesn’t seem to put a lot of force behind it, but somehow he’s never drowned out or overpowered by the music, even the sections with a lot of other things going on.
This is not only my favorite song sent in this roulette so far, it’s also one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. You shall reap great things for this.
10 points
Train of Naught
Alter Bridge - Blackbird
I am passingly familiar with Alter Bridge, actually I think Scorpion may have sent me this exact song a while back. My memory of that is pretty hazy though, so I figured I would accept the submission, since I can’t really remember anything about the song. :lol
You say some people don’t care for this guy’s voice? I can’t really imagine that, he’s fantastic. He has a really powerful, soaring voice on the chorus, and an emotive, low tone on the verses. He’s far from the only good thing about this song, however. Instrumentally, particularly the guitar, the group is on fire. I especially like how the composition of the song keeps things interesting by changing up every now and then, going through several different sections.
You mentioned the guitar solo, which oddly enough I think is the only part of the song I didn’t love. :lol It’s not bad, and definitely technically adept, but it doesn’t do a ton for me; my favorite thing about it is how it leads into the final repeat of chorus. The little bit of noodling on the guitar at the very end is pretty cool, too, I almost wish that bit had been extended a bit. :lol
This is a very good song, and I’m always impressed when bands that aren’t strictly prog (and presumably less accustomed to writing long pieces) manage to compose a song like this, that stays interesting all the way through. Have some points.
9.5 points
bl5150
The Night Flight Orchestra - Transatlantic Blues
I’m actually a pretty big fan of Soilwork, but I had never heard of this side project, so I have to thank you for bringing it to my attention. This song seems to have everything I like older prog and rock, but with the added benefit of not-awful production. :lol
I think the first thing I should mention is the vocals. I tend to be a “vocals first” kinda guy anyway (as weird as that is for a Dream Theater fan), and the vocals here stand out particularly. I assume it’s Bjorn doing them? I knew he had a good clean voice, but I never knew he could do anything like this. He actually reminds me a slightly-higher-ranged Dan Swano on this song. The instrumental side of the song is really good as well, it seems pretty clear they’re drawing from a lot of classic prog here, but in a way that’s definitely more “influence” than “derivative”, and they manage to fit in quite a lot of fresh stuff as well, particularly with the heavier, more metal-oriented guitar work, that I don’t think you’d see much of in classic prog.
You said your previous score of 8 was the highest you’d gotten in a non-fogey roulette, but I think you just beat that record. This is an excellent submission.
9 points
Scorpion
Conception - A Million Gods
I guess I should get around to actually buying some Conception albums at some point. Everything I’ve heard from them (which, to be fair, I think is exactly two songs :P) has been fantastic.
This is a really fantastic song. Interestingly, though, on this one I find myself enjoying the instrumental side more than the vocal one. Roy is definitely good here, but he’s a bit less restrained than he was in Kamelot, which I actually think works against him here. But man. Tore Østby. Let’s talk about Tore Østby a little bit. This dude is incredible. Why the hell isn’t he making music these days? I loved him in Ark, and he’s amazing here as well. His riffs are still huge and fantastic, his soloing is great, and he still throws a bit of flamenco in there too, you know, because he fuckin’ can.
Also, the bass is pretty cool. Just realized I haven’t mentioned that. The funny thing about this song is Roy actually ends up being the part I enjoy the least. Like I said, he’s not bad here, but honestly the melodies here aren’t doing a ton for me. The song seems more focused on the instrumental aspect of things anyway, and that’s really where it shines.
8 points :::; )
Tomislav95
Susanne Sandfør - White Foxes
Tomislav, you have redeemed yourself, so much that I may even give you points instead of some amount of liquid this round. :lol
This is one of those artists I’ve heard about forever, but I think this is the first time I’ve heard any of her music. This is also probably the song that grew on me the most this round. Her voice is beautiful, but initially I was pretty leery about the sections where she sings in the higher-range. But by the last few listens, I was loving it. The melodies are gorgeous and the way she belts them out is breathtaking.
I’m actually not sure what to call this kind if music, but I love it quite a bit. Vocally it sounds a bit folk/singersongwriter, but musically it’s got a lot of electronic in it as well. Whatever it is, I think I should seek out more of it!
9 points
STANDINGS
Train of Naught - 18.5
Nekov - 18
bl5150 - 17
Scorpion - 17
425 - 16
Tom Bombadil - 16
Tomislav - 15.5
Sacul - 15
Bolsters - 14.5
Ok so that’s round two. Now let’s do ROUND 3! I think we’re keeping a pretty good pace on this roulette, guys, so let’s keep that up! I’m thinking we’ll definitely have 7 rounds, unless things really slow down due to me being an idiot or something. Let’s rock! :metal
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I should stop sending you music outside of roulettes; after having sent it, I immediately discarded AB from my list.
Also yay! 8 points.
Surprise.
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Hey man, I gave you a 9 last time!
8 does seem to be kind of my "song I like but have some reservations about" score, and I suppose a lot of songs fall into that category. I believe in you, though. You can do it.
I AM SO, SO PROUD OF YOU.
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Shooting for the exact middle of the standings... :P
I'll take another 8. Glad you liked the song, at least more than you were expecting to. That's twice now that I've surprised you by making you like an artist that you haven't liked. Not sure that'll be an ongoing trend, but it's something.
I'm going to take a little time to figure out what I'm sending next. I know the artist, but I'm deciding between a couple of different songs. I'll definitely have it in no later than tomorrow.
Check out Blank Space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg), though, if you have a minute. It's probably more up your alley, just from what I suppose your alley might be, but I didn't send it because it's everywhere, like every time I'm in a store it's playing over the PA. Lyrically it's kind of a love song, but more her playing off the image that has been created of her in the media of her being a crazy girl who goes through a ton of boyfriends.
Also, good choice, Tomislav! Just got into Susanne Sundfør from my own roulette, she's amazing. :tup
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blank space is definitely the best taylor swift song i've heard, primarily because it sounds like a slightly more energetic lorde song, but the lyrics are great too
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Sent round 3.
Edit: Wow, yeah that Alcest song was amazing.
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Yeah, that song is just the opener to a really fucked up and scary album. But I'm sure you'll love it ;D .
Sending soon.
Edit: Sented.
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:D I'm glad you like it that much. If you ever get the chance to see them live don't even hesitate, it's an amazing experience
Will send something tomorrow since I have set up a pretty high standard and need some time to figure out what will go after that one :lol
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Check out Blank Space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg), though, if you have a minute.
I did! It's actually quite a good song. Lyrically I think it's not my thing though. Gimme dragons or spaceships any day. :lol I don't have to like the lyrics to like a song, though.
Sent round 3.
Edit: Wow, yeah that Alcest song was amazing.
Shadow Ninja's Roulette v. Listening to Alcest
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Really bad round for me. I figured you might not love the song, but hoped for a bit more than a 6. :| And two people sent artists I'd planned to use later, and they both scored well. so i dun goofed pretty bad. :rollin
Sending momentarily.
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I did! It's actually quite a good song. Lyrically I think it's not my thing though. Gimme dragons or spaceships any day. :lol I don't have to like the lyrics to like a song, though.
Brb looking for a song called "Dragons and Spaceships."
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Really bad round for me. I figured you might not love the song, but hoped for a bit more than a 6. :| And two people sent artists I'd planned to use later, and they both scored well. so i dun goofed pretty bad. :rollin
Sending momentarily.
I do feel kinda bad about that. I am sure, however, that your reign of terror from my previous roulette will resume shortly.
I did! It's actually quite a good song. Lyrically I think it's not my thing though. Gimme dragons or spaceships any day. :lol I don't have to like the lyrics to like a song, though.
Brb looking for a song called "Dragons and Spaceships."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2fCD1hrow
i legitimately love this song
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Really bad round for me. I figured you might not love the song, but hoped for a bit more than a 6. :| And two people sent artists I'd planned to use later, and they both scored well. so i dun goofed pretty bad. :rollin
I do feel kinda bad about that. I am sure, however, that your reign of terror from my previous roulette will resume shortly.
Nah, I was 99% sure I couldn't even come close to winning again, that's why I'd planned on sending a couple more risky things this time (like this song). That, and I didn't want to become predictable.
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i know Alcest was sent in another roulette and I listened to that one and liked it and I like this song a lot too so I probably need to get an Alcest album at some point
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Now I'm so glad I sent you Susanne's White Foxes, I was in big dilemma. You should check whole The Silicon Veil album :D
Sent!
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Now I'm so glad I sent you Susanne's White Foxes, I was in big dilemma. You should check whole The Silicon Veil album :D
Beautiful song and a great album.
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Yeah, if someone sends you an Alter Bridge song, the likings of getting Blackbird are pretty high, so I wouldn't be shocked if you had this one before, I think the closest this group has gotten to recreating a kind of similar song is Cry of Achilles from their newest album "Fortress".
EDIT: Sent :metal
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Sent
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Dangit, I only just noticed Gojira is on the ban list, that would've been my next round :mehlin
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Sent! As fun as it's been trying to challenge your perceptions, I'm trying to send you an artist that maybe you might not already have an already-formed opinion of, this time. :biggrin:
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Hey Shadow, is it allowed to send live versions of songs? I have band you could like but they're so much better live.
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Live tracks are permitted. Make sure the recording is good, though.
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I sent a live track that is as amazing as the album version ;D
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So Shadow Ninja, what's going on right now? Are you listening, or are you still waiting for someone to submit, or neither? :)
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He's probably just
mastur being lazy
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olol
All the songs are in, and I have begun listening to them. Unfortunately, I'm probably going to be pretty busy today, and pretty much all day tomorrow, so results won't be until Sunday at the earliest.
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That's fine with me, your pace has been way better than mine ever was :P , just didn't know exactly what was going on at the moment.
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ROUND 3 RESULTS
OK sorry about taking so long on this guys. Future rounds should proceed faster. Some of these writeups may be slightly truncated because of time concerns.
Tom Bombadil
Twenty One Pilots - Hometown
I’m not totally sure what kind of music this is. The song opens with some layered falsetto vocals that remind me some indie bands; nothing spectacular, but nothing bad either. Then, however, the song proves me wrong by introducing an electronic sounding beat and vocals. The electronic elements combined with the continuing indie aesthetic of the piece makes for a very interesting sound. The vocalist also has a lower-register tone on most of the song, rather than the higher pitch that I’d tend to associate with indie bands. The vocalist does use this approach on several parts of the song, and I’m honestly not a huge fan of it, but it works alright. My absolute favorite part of the song is the chorus; it’s still stuck in my head.
8.5 points
Sacul
Bent Knee - Being Human
Yeah, she has an awesome voice. The rest of the band is pretty awesome as well. I love the use of the violin as a full piece of the band, rather than just being used for solos. Musically, this song is pretty different. Honestly, the thing it reminded me most of was maudlin of the Well, both in the song construction and vocal approach. I don’t have a ton to say here, this is just a really great submission.
9 points
bl5150
Street Legal - Starship Trooper
I will admit, I didn’t care for this piece as much as your previous submissions. This is a fairly solid metal song, with reasonably good performance all around. Unfortunately, the song really doesn’t do much to distinguish itself. The vocals are OK, but not outstanding or particularly distinctive, and that kind of holds true for the rest of the song. Solid, but not overly interesting. The guitar solo is pretty awesome, though.
6.5 points
Bolsters
Ellie Goulding - Every Time You Go
I believe I’ve heard the name Ellie Goulding before, but I don’t recall whether I’ve listened to any of her music. I probably should, though, as it seems like it would be right up my alley. The focus of this song is Ellie’s voice, and she’s fantastic. I really like the rapid pace of the vocals on the verses, and the more melodic delivery on the chorus. The instrumentation is really great as well; the drums are tight and fast, and I really love the monophonic-sounding synth tones.
9 points
Tomislav95
Editors - Munich
This is a really great song. It actually reminds me a lot of dredg, from the rapid drum beat to the guitar approach. I love this kind of energetic quality to the instrumentation, especially the drums, in contrast with the slower delivery of the vocals. Speaking vocals, they’re excellent as well. In contrast to my dredg comparison earlier, this vocalist sings in a mostly lower register, which works extremely well here.
8.5
Train of Naught
Silver Fist - Ave Fenix
This song suffers from a lot of the same issues as bl5150’s, except I think the performances on that one were better, particularly the vocals. What we have here is a fairly standard metal song, with fast drumming and riffing guitars. Nothing wrong with them, but they don’t really try anything interesting either. The vocals aren’t horribly bad, but they’re not great either. I don’t really think the guy has the talent for this kind of thing, at least not without more practice.
I will say though, it was pretty cool hearing a metal song in Spanish, and the guitar was fairly good.
6 points
Nekov
Shineback - Bedlam Days
Yes, this is definitely different from your last submission. :lol The song starts out with an audio clip that sounds kinda like it came from a radio show in the 60s or something. Strange, but alright. I can roll with it. It then goes into a sort of trippy sounding electronic section, with some neat melodies from the synths and fantastic drumming (probably programmed? Still good). Unfortunately, then the vocalist comes in, and he’s really not to my taste at all. He’s not awful, but his voice definitely sounds too weak and thin to carry the music, and this is especially apparent on the harmonies.
So this is kind of a weird one; it has some parts that I think are great, but others that just don’t do much for me. You definitely aren’t playing it safe, though, so props for that. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, :lol
7 points
425
Death Cab For Cutie - We Looked Like Giants
I’ve heard probably one song by this band before, that I listened to thinking it was a different song. Consequently I realized this, and moved on. I don’t recall thinking too much of that song, but this one is a different story.
This piece is pretty much just fantastic all around. The bass is fantastic (and audible), the drums and guitar are good, and as you mentioned, Ben Gibbard’s voice is fantastic. Oddly enough, at some points he reminds of the singer from Owl City :lol (not necessarily a bad thing, I like Owl City). Anyway, the song is fantastic, both vocally and instrumentally. I like the band does some longer instrumental sections as well, rather than sticking too closely to the verse-chorus formula.
I liked the bonus song as well, and collectively they are more than enough to interest me in checking this group out further.
9 points
Scorpion
Accept - Shadow Soldiers
I’m fairly sure you sent me this song at some point in the past, but since I apparently managed to forget everything about it, I figure that’s OK! Anyway, this is an awesome song. Most of what I’ve heard from Accept has been a bit faster paced, and I’m glad they can write great slower paced songs as well. Now let’s talk about Mark Tornillo. Mark Tornillo basically has the perfect metal voice. Every band should have him as their singer. He’s got a great, gritty voice in the midrange, but he can bust out some fantastic shrieks when he wants to as well. I should also relevantly mention, the guitar work is absolutely phenomenal, both the guitar solos and the regular riffing. Have some points.
9 points
STANDINGS
Scorpion - 26
425 - 25
Nekov - 25
Tom Bombadil - 24.5
Train of Naught - 24.5
Sacul - 24
Tomislav95 24
bl5150 - 23.5
Bolsters - 23.5
Now it is time for ROUND 4!!
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Yay, you liked DCFC! :) I've really fallen in love with this band; I'm happy you liked both of the songs I sent. And I'm also happy that I got a good score!
If you're looking for where to start with them, I'd say Transatlanticism and then Plans is the way to go. The former is more rock-oriented and the latter is more pop-oriented. And then go from there.
I'll figure out something to send for the next round in a bit. I'm running a bit low on artists (:lol), and I'm not quite ready to send stuff from artists I received in my roulette as reinforcements yet, so the next round or two from me might be a bit unusual. I have a couple of hidden gems from random genres to throw out, I just need to figure out which one I'm going with.
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Scorpion
Accept - Shadow Soldiers
I’m fairly sure you sent me this song at some point in the past, but since I apparently managed to forget everything about it, I figure that’s OK! Anyway, this is an awesome song. Most of what I’ve heard from Accept has been a bit faster paced, and I’m glad they can write great slower paced songs as well. Now let’s talk about Mark Tornillo. Mark Tornillo basically has the perfect metal voice. Every band should have him as their singer. He’s got a great, gritty voice in the midrange, but he can bust out some fantastic shrieks when he wants to as well. I should also relevantly mention, the guitar work is absolutely phenomenal, both the guitar solos and the regular riffing. Have some points.
Wolf Hoffman's tone is addictive.
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425, unusual is always welcome.
Also, Wolf Hoffman has to be the most metal name ever. :2metal:
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twenty one pilots is an interesting band i def. need to check out at some point, i'v heard Tear in My Heart which is a pretty cool/interesting song too
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Yeah I kinda expected I took it too far with this one, testing your boundaries :P
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Yikes...........you put me off by rejecting my initial submission. Don't do that again :lol
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Well a 7 is fine by me.
Sent! And still not playing it safe ;)
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Hell yes. Time to recover some lost ground. :hat
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twenty one pilots is an interesting band i def. need to check out at some point, i'v heard Tear in My Heart which is a pretty cool/interesting song too
I don't consider them anything amazing, but definitely a fun band with an interesting blend of genres.
Glad you liked the song Shadow.
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I just sent another third round submission because apparently I can't count to four. :facepalm:
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I don't expect to win this so I'll take some risks from now on. Sent :angel:
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I just sent another third round submission because apparently I can't count to four. :facepalm:
I have done this before myself.
I don't expect to win this so I'll take some risks from now on. Sent :angel:
My taste is so random sometimes I think taking risks is just as sensible as any other method. It tends to be more interesting, at the very least. :lol
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I'm glad you liked Editors. They changed their style on more recent albums, now they're more synth driven rock. Check their newest album (or this year singles) if you like that more.
I sent song for round 4, something different this time :)
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OK guys I have all the songs and have started listening; I'll tentatively schedule results for Saturday, but we'll see how it goes.
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This is moving at a pretty good pace :tup
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Writing results now; they should be up within two hours.
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AND HERE THEY ARE
ROUND 4 RESULTS
Scorpion
Outworld - Warcry
Holy shit.
This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.
I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.
9 points
Nekov
Florence + The Machine - No Light No Light
This is a group that has been on my “I will probably like this” list for quite some time now, but I don’t know that I’ve ever actively listened to them. This song is, more or less, what I suppose I would have expected the group to sound like. A sort of indie/art rock band with a strong pop aesthetic and a great vocalist. Florence (I’m assuming the singer’s name is Florence? The name wouldn’t make much sense otherwise, so I will persist with my presumption) has a fantastic voice; she stays in a lower register than I typically hear from most female vocalists, and it works very well here (she actually reminds me a bit of Lana Del Rey). I also love that even though the emphasis of the song seems to be on the vocals, the instrumental side of the group is still very strong; I particularly the reverberating drums that pervade the piece.
Hmm, I’ve run out of stuff to say.
8.5 points
Tom Bombadil
Demians - Naive
You know, I’ve heard the name Demians before. I recall that they were basically a one-man band, and that a lot of people were big fans. For some reason I had the impression they were a prog metal group, which I guess is why I didn’t check them out?
Anyway, I was completely wrong. This is an incredible song. It actually sounds more alt-rock/metal to me than anything else, though I think some progressive influences are present. My favorite part of this song is the vocalist. On paper, his voice doesn’t seem like something that would really impress, but for some reason it just meshes incredibly well. The melodies are fantastic and the way he delivers them is just perfect. I looked up the band, and apparently the guy is French? I can hear a bit of an accent, but for some reason, the way he sings and enunciates sounds like he’s got something of a Southern twang in his voice. It’s not full-on redneck; it’s actually pretty subtle, but it adds a ton of character to his voice.
This was my favorite song sent this round, and I will definitely be checking this group out further.
9.5 points
bl5150
Dionysus - True At Heart
This is some very solid power metal. The vocalist is quite good, and he’s got a bit more grit in his voice than most power metal I’ve heard, which is pretty cool. The song does everything you’d expect a good power metal song to do, it has the melodic chorus, energetic drumming and some widdly-widdly guitar work. Unfortunately this seems to be the downfall of the song as well; while it is quite good at what it does, it also never seems to quite push itself from “good” to “great”.
7 points
Bolsters
MØ - Red in the Gray
I am not sure how to pronounce the name of this artist. :lol This is a really great song, and oddly enough is the second song I’ve been sent where the vocalist reminds me of Lana Del Rey, though in this case it’s more the faintly jazzy (perhaps not the best term?) way she sings more than the specific timbre of her voice. The song I guess is a sort of dreamy/psychedelic/electronic/OK I don’t know what kind of music this is, but I really like it. The instrumentation is particularly interesting to me because, while on the surface it doesn’t appear like much is going on, when I pay closer attention, there’s a ton of little instrumental flourishes that really round out the song.
9 points
Sacul
The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun
So this is a pretty odd piece of music. It starts out with some strange droning noises, then kicks into a powerful drumbeat, complete with weird electronic sounds. The vocalist is another interesting point. He doesn’t have a hugely powerful voice, and I don’t know that I’d care for him in another contexts, but it actually works pretty well here. Unfortunately, the downfall of the song is that it just goes on too long. It seems like a bit past the 3 minute mark there’s a sort of natural end to the piece, but instead it starts up again, without really introducing anything new, which kind of baffles me. So this is kind of a weird one; I really do like parts of it, but I feel like those parts are overused, and the song would have benefited either from being trimmed somewhat, or just a change in pace.
6.5 points
Tomislav95
Hypocrisy - Eraser
It’s actually pretty rare these days for me to hear a new metal group that I really like, but it seems these guys are one of the exceptions; this is fantastic music. The vocalist in particular is incredible, his harsh vocals are magnificent, especially considering that this is a live performance. Interestingly, while the instrumental side of the band seems to lean more toward death metal/melodeath, the vocals have a definite black metal edge.
Overall not a lot to say here, just a really fantastic metal song.
9 points
Train of Naught
Machine Head - Darkness Within
Yeah, Machine Head is a band I’ve heard of vaguely, but never really investigated.
Initially, at least vocally, it reminded me quite a bit of a lot of radio hard rock, or at least what I consider to be radio hard rock. This kind of persists throughout the song, though I do enjoy it a lot more when the heavier parts kick in; I find the vocalist’s style to work a bit better there, especially on the chorus. Actually the instrumental is my favorite part of the song, the riffing and solo are excellent.
Overall I did like this song, though with reservations about the vocalist.
7 points
425
Don Henley - New York Minute
I am somewhat familiar with The Eagles, though not a huge fan by any means. My favorite part of their music was always Don Henley’s vocals, and he’s in fine form here as well. There is some nice piano and percussion work, as well as a really cool trumpet solo, but largely the focus is on Don’s performance, which I think adds to the strength of the song. One problem I do have with it, though, is that it seems to go on a bit too long without any real changes in the structure, whereas a bit more variation would have justified the track length a bit better. This does affect my enjoyment of the song a bit, even though I do still like it quite a bit.
7.5 points
STANDINGS
Scorpion - 35
Tom Bombadil - 34
Nekov - 33.5
Tomislav95 - 33
425 - 32.5
Bolsters - 32.5
Train Of Naught - 31.5
bl5150 - 30.5
Sacul - 30.5
SEND FOR ROUND 5!!!!
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Nice! Never scored that high in a roulette before :)
Will send tonight.
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*cries in spanish*
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*está llorando*
Fixed. :P
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Nice! Never scored that high in a roulette before :)
Will send tonight.
Shadow Ninja: making dreams come true since whenever he started doing that
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Alright, took a bit of a hit on my "send some song I like" round, but not too much of one. Luckily roulette reinforcements are here. There's one album in particular I've been spinning a lot lately so it's a matter of listening to it again and picking a song, which I will do tonight or tomorrow.
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*está llorando*
Fixed. :P
:lol
Glad you liked them and yes, Florence is the singer. Their second album, which the song I sent you comes from, is more artsy than the other 2 which are more pop oriented but still make for a good listen.
Sent
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I thought I risked with Hypocrisy but I couldn't resist to send you this incredible band and I did it mainly because of vocalist. He is best death metal vocalist IMO. Something different for this round.
Also, Darkness Within is probably my favorite song by Machine Head (I don't consider myself a fan but I know few albums), great choice Train of Naught :tup (too bad Shadow Ninja didn't liked it that much)
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Went from #1 to nearly bottom spot within the last two rounds :angry: gotta step up mah game
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*está llorando*
Fixed. :P
:lol
:'(
Screw this round, will send a fucking weird yet awesome song.
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Apparently there's no correct way to pronounce MØ, because it's her initials and the Ø makes it impossible to pronounce in english for some reason. She has said herself that it doesn't matter how people choose to pronounce the name. Most people just go with "Moe".
(https://www.billboard.com/files/media/how-do-you-say-mo-bb38-billboard-510x340.jpg)
Round 5 is scented.
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"Mew" is a bad way to pronounce it because Mew is a completely different artist :lol
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"Mew" is a bad way to pronounce it because Mew is a completely different artist :lol
I don't like "Moo" or "Meh" much either because both could be interpreted as derogatory. :lol I'll just stick with "Moe".
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Sent pure insanity.
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Scorpion
Outworld - Warcry
Holy shit.
This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.
I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.
Kelly Carpenter is absolutely incredible.
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Scorpion
Outworld - Warcry
Holy shit.
This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.
I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.
Kelly Carpenter is absolutely incredible.
Amazing singer who seems to mostly sing in bands/songs I don't like. :-\ I will check out the new Darkology shortly (tonight actually) but they've never really impressed me , despite his voice.
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Scorpion
Outworld - Warcry
Holy shit.
This is an incredible piece of music. This is exactly the kind of power metal I love, incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous and they don’t give a shit. The guy’s voice is insane. 90% of his vocals are just ridiculous, Halford-esque shrieks, and it is absolutely amazing. He does some growls at the end, too; that was pretty cool. Instrumentally, the band is pretty much on fire as well. There’s nothing here that is unheard-of or game-changing, but they are just SO FREAKING GOOD AT IT that it really works. The riffing, drumming and soloing are all fantastic.
I guess my only complaint is that the vocalist could have been featured more? Simply because he dominates any time he appears.
Kelly Carpenter is absolutely incredible.
Amazing singer who seems to mostly sing in bands/songs I don't like. :-\ I will check out the new Darkology shortly (tonight actually) but they've never really impressed me , despite his voice.
Agree 100%. Darkology has a few excellent songs, but for the most part, they just don't float my boat musically. Virus IV too; and I'm not overly fond of the Beyond Twilight album he did. His work on Epysode/Obsessions is fan-fucking-tastic though. Just goes to show, an amazing vocalist can't compensate for mediocre music.
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OK I have all the songs and have begun listening. There seem to be a lot of longer songs this time around though, so results may take a little longer! We will see.
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:impatient:
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Oh god that's embarassing, my song between all the longer songs.
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Mine's on the short side too.
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ITT no one admits to sending a long song
But really I think Saturday seems like reasonable estimate for results.
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My song isn't long either...
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It's all my fault. :laugh:
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I sent a short but sweet (and fucking insane) epic. :P
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Song I sent this round is more than two times longer than first song I sent and the longest song I have send so far. Said that, it's just few seconds over 5 minutes long :D
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My turn to be that person: Should we still expect results today?
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Lazy Ninja 2.0
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Eh, I think he's faster than I was, even factoring out my epic and EP rounds. I think he just seems slower because he doesn't give updates throughout the listening period as frequently as I did.
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Fair enough. I just hope he likes what I sent :lol Went with pure madness.
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Sorry about the delay, guys! Me and my brother drove home from school yesterday, so I didn't have a whole lot of time for listening/writing then.
Results should still go up today. Though "today" for me includes about 6 and half hours from the time of this post.
:soon:
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You're fine! I just wanted to check and confirm.
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OK as I said before, sorry about the delay. I’ve been trying to keep these rounds at 1 week or less, but I went a bit over this time. Hopefully I can keep things more timely for the next two rounds.
ROUND 5 RESULTS
Nekov
Autumn Moonlight - Letters To God
So here we have a sort of post-rock piece. In a decidedly atypical fashion, though, the song doesn’t start out sparse and build, opting instead to begin full-force, and then move to a quieter section and build up again from there. This is a really sonically appealing piece of music, all the instrument tones, especially the guitar, just sound really nice to me. There’s some really great bass work near the beginning of the song, and the guitar is quite excellent throughout the song. My main issue with the song is that it seems to go on a bit too long; I think it would have been a lot stronger if it had wrapped up around the 5 minute mark. As it is, it seems to just repeat the same ideas that had been used earlier in the piece, and I think this is to the song’s detriment. I did like the audio samples, presumably the titular letters. Those were pretty cool.
7.5 points
Tomislav95
Woods of Ypres - Everything I Touch Turns To Gold (Then To Coal)
This one starts out with some slow, really doom-y sounding guitar chords. I really expected this piece to feature mostly harsh vocals, so I was quite surprised to hear a deep, clean voice start singing. Some harsh vocals do come in after that, but they’re overlaid with the clean voice in a way that works extremely well. My problem with this song is in its lack of variation. Though it’s pretty short, it seems to be quite repetitive. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be? I’m guessing this is some sort of doom metal, and that could well be a staple of the genre. Still, while I do really like those sections of the song, after they’ve been repeated several times without much variation, I start to get a little bored with them.
7 points
Bolsters
Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell
OK first, the link you sent me was 240p. I should dock you some points for that. :lol
Anyway, I have, of course, heard of Meatloaf, but as far as I know, this is my first time actually hearing any of his music. And it is, in a word, awesome. The intro is great, with some fantastic guitar work, and really the whole piece is quite strong instrumentally, but obviously the main event here is the guy’s voice. The way he sings honestly seems to me almost like something you’d hear on Broadway, if Broadway were a bit more metal. As I said before, I really love this kind of theatrical, over-the-top kind of singing, and this is about as good as anything I’ve ever heard in that style. He goes from the softer, melodic parts, to the rougher parts, to the huge soaring sections with ease, and as a plus the whole song is incredibly catchy. This song is nearly ten minutes, but honestly it doesn’t feel like it at all; there’s no point in the song where I feel like it’s dragging. I will definitely be investigating Meatloaf further, and asking myself why the fuck I didn’t do so sooner.
As a side note, this song really reminds me of some other song every time I hear it. I thought I’d have figured it out by the time I wrote these results, but I haven’t, so I’m leaving this here as a sort of note to myself in case I ever do. :lol
9.5 points
bl5150
Beyond Twilight - Ecstasy Arise
So this is a fairly solid prog metal piece. There’s nothing here that really blows me away musically; though the band is quite adept, much of it isn’t hugely memorable. The high point here is obviously Kelly Carpenter. He is fantastic. Not on the “what the hell is this” level of Outworld, :lol but still, really good. The chorus is the best part of the song, and despite being sort of an “unexpected” melody (I don’t really know a better way to put this), it ends up being quite catchy.
Unfortunately, as I said before, the rest of the song doesn’t do a ton for me. It’s all perfectly well performed prog metal, but there’s just nothing here that really catches my attention, beside the aforementioned Kelly Carpenter.
7 points
Sacul
Igorrr - Tout Petite Moineau
And while we’re on the topic of “what the hell is this”…. :lol
Sacul, sometimes you hit, and sometimes you miss, but you pretty regularly send me some of the weirdest stuff I’ve ever heard. This definitely falls under that category, and also falls under being a huge fucking hit.
So let’s talk a bit about it. I feel like if Mike Patton were a woman, this is what his music would sound like. Operatic vocals, bizarre growls/roars/whatever the hell those are, electronic music backed by very stately violin…. Honestly, this song should just be a fucking mess of a disaster, but somehow it’s not. Her vocals are absolutely amazing, whether they’re of the operatic variety, or the shrieks and screams. The dubstep-y electronic backing works shockingly well with the avant-garde vocal performance, so much so that I’m actually surprised this is the only time I’ve heard such a thing done. I also love how the violin maintains its same classical sort of pace and sound, regardless of what’s happening with the rest of the song, which again REALLY SHOULDN’T WORK, but for some reason it does.
Have some points.
9.5 points
Train Of Naught
Black Stone Cherry - Blind Man
I think I’ve heard of this band before. I just kinda assumed they were a typical radio rock band. And well, they kinda are… but then maybe not? Maybe about 20 or 30 years ago. :lol Despite being a modern band, they’ve got a decidedly old-school rock’n’roll sound about them, but with the plus of modern production, so all the instrument tones are nice and clear.
I guess I don’t really have a ton to say about this one. It didn’t blow me away, but it’s very good and I haven’t tired of listening to it yet.
8 points
Scorpion
TYR - The Lay of Thyrm
BY THE SWORD IN MY - wait a minute this band has other songs? Huh.
I have not heard this one before. Despite knowing of TYR for probably about five or six years, I have only ever listened to two of their songs.
This one is… well, pretty much what I would expect from them. Galloping guitars (adjective chosen because I’m pretty sure I actually heard a horse in this song), great vocals, anthemic choruses. I guess you might call this predictability? Normally this would tend to be a detriment for a band, but somehow TYR fuckin’ make it work. I don’t think it surpasses By The Sword In My Hand (but then, what can??), but it’s a solid piece of power metal awesomery nonetheless.
Also, your song 2 I am 90% was one you’ve sent me before. Fortunately, your song 1 submission was accepted. :lol
8 points
Tom Bombadil
Tenhi - Huomen
You know, from the cover art, I kind of presumed this would be a black metal type band. And maybe some of their other music is, but this piece definitely is not. This is a very atmospheric, kind of eerie piece of music. The eeriness, (is that a word?) comes mostly from the vocals. I don’t know what he’s saying, or even what language he’s saying it in, but his deep voice and his delivery of the lyrics gives a very mournful cast to the song. It makes an interesting contrast with the music, which, while not cheerful by any stretch, does carry a more hopeful sound to it. Also I should mention, the acoustic guitar here as beautiful. It really seems like the centerpiece of the song here, moreso than the vocals.
8.5 points
425
Lorde - Buzzcut Season
For future reference, any time you think to yourself, “Wow, this song was such a big hit, Shadow Ninja has definitely heard it”, just go ahead and send it, I probably haven’t heard it. I have not heard Royals, as far as I know.
Nonetheless, I find it hard to imagine that you could have made a better choice than you did here, so lament not. This is a fantastic piece of music, and I’m going to say it’s dream pop, or at least what I think dream pop should sound like. Lorde’s voice is absolutely incredible, very light and melodic and perfectly suited to the dreamlike atmosphere created by the music and the lyrics. And since you mentioned the lyrics (and I did as well), let’s mention them for the moment. You are quite right that the lyrics are more to my taste than probably any other song you’ve sent so far. To be honest, I find it hard to quantify what kind of lyrics I enjoy. A sometimes I just straight up don’t listen to them, but I think more often I’m looking less for words that convey any sort of meaning, but moreso words that fit together in an artful kind of way, that contribute to an emotion or a feeling of a song, but not necessarily conveying any meaning in and of themselves, at least to me.
I don’t know if that makes any sense. One thing me and my brother discussed yesterday was lyrics, and he happened to mention liking vague or metaphorical lyrics, so that he could create his own meaning around them. I often like the same thing in lyrics, but I really don’t associate any “meaning” to the lyrics themselves, I actively prefer the lack of any specific meaning, whether in the song, or by my own association. Or I think, at least. Most of this is me noticing the stuff I like, and then kind of triyng to reverse engineer from there. You can ignore most of this, I’m fairly sure it doesn’t make any sense. Regardless, this song is awesome, and I love it.
10 points
STANDINGS
Scorpion - 43
425 - 42.5
Tom Bombadil - 42.5
Bolsters - 42
Nekov - 41
Sacul - 40
Tomislav95 - 40
Train of Naught - 39.5
bl5150 - 37.5
OK now it is time for ROUND 6!! I will try to keep this round under a week this time. I have gotten a ton of awesome music so far, and I am sure you guys will deliver once more. Actually, one of my main motivations for writing up the results is so I can listen to the songs whenever I want, instead of within my specific roulette listening rubric. So the awesomer your songs are, the quicker results will come! …I think that is the conclusion to be drawn from the thing I said. ANYWAY, two round left to go, you guys! We can do it, I believe in us.
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you go 425, passing along a song i gave you and scoring big with it :heart
I find it very amusing that 425's current score is 42.5, btw
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Oh wow. Thank you, Parama! :heart We're spreading the gospel of Lorde!
Really happy that you liked it this much, Shadow Ninja. I'll figure out what to send next soon...
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Fucking yes, knew you'd love some insanity ;D . Did you watched the live performance I sent? Stunning, to say the least.
Btw, is the "Banned During Roulette" list updated?
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OH btw 425, the other song was good as well, but Buzzcut Season was definitely my favorite.
Sacul: Yeah, I watched it. It was pretty cool. Also, I have apparently completely forgotten about the banned during roulette list. Gimme a few minutes, I'll try to update it.
edit: I have just done that. Hopefully there were no omissions, though I would not put such a thing past myself.
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OK first, the link you sent me was 240p. I should dock you some points for that. :lol
Maybe I copied the wrong URL? Although even the best sounding clip I could find on Youtube wasn't all that great. You should use Spotify. :getoffmylawn:
I had Buzzcut Season lined up for one of the last two rounds, so at least I know that would have been an excellent choice. :tup
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Sent.
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Expected a waaay lower score than 8 after that writeup, I think I should throw in some crazy stuff to end it with a blast.
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Sent
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Sent J-Pop.
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Sent J-Pop.
I hope you have better luck than I did.
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Bolsters
Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell
You're no longer a horrible person. You're a beautiful, beautiful man. Quite possibly a top 10 song of all-time in my books.
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Sent J-Pop.
I hope you have better luck than I did.
Well it's not actually J-Pop, but something quite similar :lol .
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Bolsters
Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell
You're no longer a horrible person. You're a beautiful, beautiful man. Quite possibly a top 10 song of all-time in my books.
The album was #6 on your first top 50 if I recall. It's one of my all-time favourite albums aswell.
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Unfortunately these days when I think of Meatloaf my mind gravitates to his performance at the AFL Grand Final a few years back. It was piss yourself funny , but that's all it had going for it.
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Waiting on Scorp and Train of Naught.
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I'm sorry, my internet was down for the past few days, will look for a song right now.
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(https://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o669/bolsters/bump.gif~original)
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A link to my tune of choice has been electronically transferred to the host of this fine competition.
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All songs have been received. I've got two tests today, but after that I've got a long weekend, so results should be around Sunday/Monday-ish.
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It's Sunday :caffeine:
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IT'S SUNDAY SUNDAY, GOTTA GET DOWN ON SUNDAY
EVERYBODY'S LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RE-SULTS, RE-SULTS
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calm your calms
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:flame: :chill
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All songs have been received. I've got two tests today, but after that I've got a long weekend, so results should be around Sunday/Monday-ish.
so results should be around Sunday/Monday-ish.
Sunday/Monday-ish.
-ish
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You lazy bastard :getoffmylawn:
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(https://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag94/ShadowNinja38/haters_gonna_hate_by_genshihebi-d36bgfk_zpssrpzy4es.gif)
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Sunday/Monday-ish.
Monday
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A truly excellent host would not let his guests wait so long.
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I went looking for a Doc Scratch quote to post.
About twenty minutes later I pulled myself away from reading and realized I still have some fucking results to write. Immortality notwithstanding, I'm not going to live forever, you know.
8^y
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Hey I noticed that's your 5555th post. Congrats! I hope I get a bonus of something :P
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everyone scored 5.5 in this round
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RESULTS
are on the way
:neverusethis:
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>:(
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:corn
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OK here we go again! Results! Woohoo!
ROUND 6 RESULTS
bl5150
Angel Dust - Bleed
This power metal song immediately sets itself apart from other metal songs, by opening with some really cool piano instead of immediate, balls-to-the-wall guitars and drums. It continues this trend even when the guitar and drums come in; the song is still more ballad-like then I suppose is typical for prog metal, and I really like the way the piano lines recur in the background. The very best thing about this song, though, is the vocalist. His voice is absolutely amazing. He sings in a lower register and with more grit than most power metal singers, which really helps to set this song apart from other power metal, plus he shows at several points during the song that he can really shriek those high notes if he needs to. :metal
9 points
425
Voices From The Fuselage - Meteorites
I am familiar with Tesseract, of course. I loved One, and thought Dan Tompkins was basically the best thing ever. I heard a bit of Altered State, and while I thought Ashe’s voice was pretty good, it wasn’t really doing anything for me. I still haven’t listened to most of the album, actually. Then I started listening to this song, and wondered if I should give AS another try. Ashe’s voice is brilliant here; gorgeous and incredibly smooth. Then the heavy instrumental comes in, and it’s awesome too. Then Ashe’s voice comes in over the instrumental, and I remembered why AS didn’t do much for me. As amazing as Ashe clearly is, his voice just absolutely does not work with heavy instrumentation. His tone is nearly full or harsh enough to really pull it off. It’s honestly a shame, because the parts that are just instrumental are fantastic, and the parts that are mostly just Ashe’s voice are amazing, but the combination of heavy + Ashe just does not work for me.
Hmm. The above actually sounds harsher than I mean it to. I actually really like this song, it’s just that I feel like Ashe is really out of place on the heavy stuff.
7.5 points
Tomislav95
Fleet Foxes - Myokonos
I’ve heard of Fleet Foxes before, but I believe this is the first time I’ve listened to them. Musically they are mostly what I would expect them to be, a kind of indie/folk thing. The vocalist surprised me, though. Normally singers for these sorts of bands are a bit more higher-register, so this was a nice surprise. He’s also got a bit of… I wouldn’t call it “grit”, but something in his voice that makes him sound a bit less polished, but in a really good way. Actually, he reminds me a bit of Casey from TDH, if I had to make a comparison. Overall the song doesn’t blow me away, but it’s really solid, and I really like the singer.
8.5 points
Bolsters
Passion Pit - Constant Conversations
This band is an interesting mix of electronic music stylings, and some more indie-sounding vocals. The first time I listened to this one, I actually didn’t like it at all. :lol It has grown on me quite a bit, though. The falsetto vocals combined with sparse drum/clap backing makes for a really unique atmosphere.
Hmm, apparently I don’t have too much to say here. I guess my only complaint is that the song doesn’t seem to have anything to push it from “good” to “awesome.” I definitely enjoy it, but I’m not dying to listen to it again.
8 points
Nekov
Moon Safari - Diamonds
Wow, this is such a cheerful song. Usually I’m not a big fan of happy music, I guess because it tends to feel contrived to me, but these guys absolutely pull it off. Instrumentally, it reminds me a lot of Yes (or what I’ve heard from Yes), except quite a bit more focused. The vocalist is amazing as well, basically perfectly suited to this kind music; his voice is light and smooth and extremely melodic. The composition of the song is really great too; this is really the kind of prog I love, where even though they have cool/weird instrumental sections, they always fit perfectly with the rest of the song. The guitar/keyboard solo in particular is really beautiful, cheerful, melodic and impressive all in one.
This band has been on my “to check out” list like a million years ago, and based on this song, I guess it’s time I finally got around to it.
9.5 points
Tom Bombadil
Phish - Dirt
I’ve heard Phish described as a sort of jam band, and while I imagine that’s more true of their live material, I think you can definitely hear some of that here. The whole song seems very loose, but still manages to be coherent as a song. The instrumental side of the group is very good; the guitar in particular has some really great moments. The vocals aren’t bad, but they don’t really stand out in any way either. Maybe that’s the point, though? The main focus of the song does seem to be on the instrumental aspect. I do feel like maybe the loose, relaxed sort of attitude of the song prevents it from really doing anything to blow me away. I do think the song is quite good, but I think it’s missing something to push it up to great.
8 points
Sacul
Boris - Jackson
Uh…. sorry bro. Not a bonus this time. Like I said, sometimes you hit, and sometimes you miss, and this was…. a miss. Man, where do I start with this. Ok, so the song has a sort of dance/house whatever kind of electronic beat. It’s nothing great, but in and of itself, not that bad. So then we have the vocals. Ugh. Man, they really just do nothing for me at all. I assume the guy is singing in English, but it mostly just comes sound like garbled yowling. There are some other random sounds in the song that irk me.
I feel pretty bad about this, because you’ve sent me a lot of great stuff, but man, I really didn’t like this one. Sorry bro.
4 points
Train of Naught
The Script - Hall of Fame
So I remember one song by The Script that got played on the radio forever ago that I fucking hated. I think I may have heard this one once as well, but it was so long ago I’ve mostly forgotten, so I decided to go ahead with it.
And I definitely liked it more than I would have expected to. Musically, it’s a fairly straightforward pop/rock song, but it’s done pretty well; the piano in particular is nice, and it works. I’m not a huge fan of vocalist, at least on the verses. He has this weird thing where he seems to cut off the words before he finishes singing them, and it kind of annoys me. He doesn’t do this on the chorus, though, and as a result, the chorus is great, probably my favorite part of the song.
I also liked will.i.am on here. Whoda guessed.
7 points
Scorpion
Angra - The Shadow Hunter
So basically all I know about Angra is that Andre Matos used to be in the band and now he’s not. Fortunately, you sent me a song without him (not a big matos fan). Instead we’ve got guy-who’s-name-i-can’t-remember, and he’s pretty good. Fairly standard power metal voice, but he does some pretty smooth melisma stuff that I really like and which kinda sets him apart, and of course he still does those power metal shrieks that we all love. Musically the song is good as well; despite being 8 minutes, it’s varied enough that it never gets boring. I should make particular mention of the guitar solo, which is really really super great. I’m not huge on guitar solos generally, but this one has just the right amount of melodic technicality to put it right in my comfort zone.
8.00001 points
STANDINGS
Scorpion - 51
Nekov - 50.5
Tom Bombadil - 50.5
425 - 50
Bolsters - 50
Tomislav95 - 48.5
bl5150 - 46.5
Train of Naught - 46.5
Sacul - 44
OK so now it is time for the FINAL ROUND!!! Maybe I will post results sometime before we all die.
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I need to listen to some Voices from the Fuselage at some point, I think I listened to one song once but that barely counts
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yay :lol . He sings in Japanese bro :P
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You should check out that song (Meteorites), Parama. It's a pretty good prog metal song, and they're on Bandcamp (https://voicesfromthefuselage.bandcamp.com).
I like really soft voices, so I have no problem with Ashe's voice on the heavy music, but I see where you're coming from, Shadow Ninja. In any case, I'm one nice round away from potentially winning... But I'm out of artists :rollin
Really, though, I am!
Or almost. I think I know what I'm sending, and while I don't really expect to win on it, it's one I know well and like, which I would prefer to just blindly sending something out of my roulette. Hopefully I'll send it tonight at the same time as I'm sending for Parama.
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on the subject of Boris I tried to listen to Flood once since that seems most up my alley but... couldn't really dig it, at all, it seemed pointless
425 if you want me to listen to it, send it to me in my roulette :P
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:rollin true, why would I sabotage an artist I could potentially send in your roulette? I'm dumb. We'll see what I end up sending...
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yay :lol . He sings in Japanese bro :P
I will assume you are correct. My point about the yowling still stands. :P
I like really soft voices, so I have no problem with Ashe's voice on the heavy music, but I see where you're coming from, Shadow Ninja.
It's kinda why I'm not really interested in Tesseract since they said they're not doing harsh vocals. For me, heavy music kind of demands a similar aggression in vocals. And it also seems like kind of a shame since Ashe is so good at the softer melodic stuff. Oh well.
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on the subject of Boris I tried to listen to Flood once since that seems most up my alley but... couldn't really dig it, at all, it seemed pointless
Well, their discography is fucking varied (no, really), and the song I sent is closer to J-pop than anything on Flood - I might evens end a song by them in your roulette ;D
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I'll send tomorrow. Gotta think this one through with a potential victory on the line.
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Sent some pretty crazy, over-the-top avant-crap. Expecting a 3/10.
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8's not bad, but I was rather confident that song would do better. :lol I guess I should have stuck with the plan and sent the first song I chose (it was going to be I'll Be Alright or Take A Walk, if you're interested). You should check it out, I think you'll like this band and you shouldn't let your lack of enthusiasm for Constant Conversations sour you on the idea.
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Fleet Foxes' Mykonos is one sweet little song and 8.5 points is about what I expected (I don't know anyone who dislike this song :P). I have to start checking bands others send, some familiar names but I never really listened to them.
P.S. I sent you the most unusual song so far (it's partially because I didn't send anything weird in previous rounds :lol)
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Last three rounds blew my chance to win, so I guess I'll go beyond my boundaries this time around. ;D
EDIT: Sent. Enjoy your last round Shadow :yarr
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You made a calculation error when adding the scores. Here, let me fix that for you.
STANDINGS
Scorpion - 51.00001
Nekov - 50.5
Tom Bombadil - 50.5
425 - 50
Bolsters - 50
Tomislav95 - 48.5
bl5150 - 46.5
Train of Naught - 46.5
Sacul - 44
In other news, sent.
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All right! Lots of guys here say that they're not big fans of happy music and I don't understand why, there's lots of great happy music.
Scorp, this is what awaits you!
(https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y268/skulldude/mortal%20kombat/scorpion-dizzy.gif)
Sent
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OK I have all the songs now. I've got a fair bit of stuff school-wise, so results probably won't be super quick. Shouldn't be more than a week, though.
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:tup
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:bump:
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As hosts go, you're not really being the best there is at the moment.
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I bust my hump for you people. Day in and day out, I bring home the fucking bacon. And what do I get for it?
Ungratefultude.
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He's the ungreatful bastard, I was just concerned that the thread had gone to the second page. So please, keep the bacon coming :D
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every day it takes you to score your roulette entries is another half-point i lower your score in my roulette rounds
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Shit bro, I'm not even expecting to get good scores at this point. :lol
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you're at least on pace to get the bonus .5 every round of the roulette :P
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Are we there yet?
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OK I have all the songs now. I've got a fair bit of stuff school-wise, so results probably won't be super quick. Shouldn't be more than a week, though.
One more day and it'll have been a week.
No pressure though.
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[PRESSURE INTENSIFIES]
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Wonders where the fuck that pumpkin went???
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there was never a pumpkin?
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Hey Shadow, I haven't complained once about the delay, bonus points please!!!
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Seriously, results may go up today. Or they may not, depending on how much of my time is consumed by homework/studying. We'll see.
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.....was a distaction.
:neverusethis:
But I'm almost finished writing them. 20 minutes at the most.
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if you are even a second late... :xbones
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I'm just sitting in the bleachers...
:corn
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Hey, sorry about taking a while, guys. For once in my tenure at school, I actually have to, like, do homework and study and stuff. Better late than never, I guess.
FINAL ROUND RESULTS
bl5150
After Forever - Evoke
OK first of all the link you sent me was 240p. I should dock you some points for that. :lol
Anyway, I’m vaguely familiar with After Forever, by way of Floor Jansen and Joost van den Broek. I’ve never listened to them extensively, though, and I think this song kind of exemplifies why. It’s a fairly solid piece of symphonic metal, the guitars have a nice tone, some keyboard touches, etc. Floor sounds good, as always. The problem is that the song doesn’t really do anything that distinguishes itself from any other symphonic metal group. Even Floor, while good, doesn’t really blow me away here, and the drastic underutilization of Joost borders on criminal. So while the song is fairly pleasant to listen to, it doesn’t really do anything to grab my attention.
6.5 points
Sacul
Ben Levin Group - Freak Machine Part 1
OK dude first of all don’t think I don’t realize that this is basically the same band as Bent Knee. :lol But I’ve been pretty lenient on that kind of stuff so far, so no need to stop now.
This one is a bit weirder/less structured than the Bent Knee one, though. Again, I’m reminded of maudlin of the Well with the overall utilization of strange melodies and instruments, but this time the cacophony brings to mind a strange fusion of DEP and TMV. Honestly, these sections tend to straddle the line between interesting and just annoying, occasionally leaping all the way to annoying. I mean, there is definitely awesome stuff here, don’t get me wrong. The female vocalist (can’t remember her name, if I ever knew it) is still incredible. The range of things she does with her voice is nothing short of incredible. I particularly enjoy the way she uses her voice as a sort of complementary instrument during the instrumental parts.
I think, though, overall, this one is less than the sum of its parts. There’s definitely great stuff here, but it seems like they just tried to cram every single thing into a lot of these sections, which ultimately I think is to its detriment; the best parts of the song tend to be when there’s less going on (or anytime what’s-her-name is singing).
7 points
Bolsters
Emma Louise - Atlas Eyes
I kinda wonder where you find this stuff. A lot of the groups people send me I’ve at least heard of, but I’m not sure you’ve sent me anything so far that I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with.
ANYWAY this song is excellent. The music creates a very ethereal atmosphere, which really complement/is complemented by Emma’s voice. And speaking of which, she has a beautiful voice. It reminds a bit of the singer from Beach House, though that may just be the general association with the style of music. And while on that topic, I really love this sort of dream poppy, spaced out kind of music. I especially enjoy how, although attention is almost never drawn to it, all the instrumentation is fantastic. I think it takes a particular kind of talent to write great parts but keep them from overpowering everything else.
8.5 points
Tomislav95
Amesoeurs - Heurt
Yeah, I could tell from the moment the guitars came in that this was the same guy that was behind Alcest. Sacul used this method as well, let’s hope it works out better for you. :P
The song starts off really well, with those wall-of-sound guitars and the frenetic, black metal drumming. The vocals are female, which surprised me, and also have that sort of “telephone” effect on them, which… I’m not a huge fan of. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. The second half of the song loses me a bit. I read somewhere that this was Neige’s “darker” project, or something to that effect. Unfortunately (and that does seem to be what he’s going for), a lot of the darker or heavier stuff here sounds like pretty generic, stock-metal stuff and doesn’t do much for me. If this song had just been the first half, it would have been incredible, but the second half detracts a bit from it for me.
7.5 points
Train of Naught
Feint - Snake Eyes
So this is subtitled [DNB], which I THINK is drums n bass? Not something I’m really familiar with, but this is not exactly the kind of sound I was expecting (in a good way). This song is actually quite atmospheric during the verses, with some nice contrast between the guitar and the electronic elements, and some pretty nice vocals. Unfortunately, as the song goes on, I am introduced to what I believe to be the “drum” in drums n bass. And uh… I don’t like it. I guess it’s part of the style, but the drum sound is just so extremely programmed-sounding, with no variation in the dynamics that it really gets on my nerves. Especially since it’s so loud in the mix that it gets in the way of everything else.
So I guess you took a risk here, and in some ways it paid off, and in others it didn’t. That’s life for you, I guess. :P
7 points
Scorpion
Amorphis - Death of a King
So Amorphis are another band that have been on the periphery of my radar for a while now, but who I’ve never really gotten into for whatever reason. So let’s see if that changes!
The beginning of the song reminds me of Home. :lol I’m sure that instrument is used in other places as well, but that’s what it always makes me think of. Then the guitars come in, and they’re awesome, and the vocals come in and they are… less awesome. Yeah, they’re not outright bad, but this guy’s harsh style really isn’t doing much for me. Fortunately, a large part of the song is clean vocals, and they are fantastic, particularly on the chorus. The guitar solo is really good as well, even though I’m not big on guitar solos generally. The harsh vocals come back for the outro, but I actually think they work pretty well there.
So I liked this song rather more than anything else I’ve heard from Amorphis, despite not being sold on the harshes.
8 points :P
Nekov
Dream the Electric Sleep - Listen To Me
So here we’ve got some great prog rock. I wasn’t totally sure what to think about this one at first, but it’s grown on me quite a bit. The instrumentation is very good, but not over the top. It’s not heavy enough to really be metal, but the guitars do have more of an edge to them than most prog rock I’ve heard, which I really like. The central point here, though, at least for me, is the vocalist. I tend to be a “vocals first” kind of guy, and for whatever reason, I’ve noticed that prog rock bands almost always seem to do better in that department than their metal counterparts. This guy in particular is amazing. He’s got a pretty light voice, but he still has enough power behind to not get lost in the instruments, and he just puts a huge amount of feeling into every note he sings.
9 points
Tom Bombadil
Subsignal - The Size of Light on Earth
Oh hey, while we’re talking about great vocalists in prog rock, how about this guy? He is awesome. Actually, this whole song is great. The instrumentation is really fantastic and builds a perfect atmosphere for the vocalist. Honestly, I’m kind at a loss to explain why I don’t listen to this band. I remember someone sent one of their songs in my last roulette and I thought it was great as well, but I guess I never checked them out further. Honestly, the only thing I’m not a big fan of (and I actually I think I said this about the other song as well) are the harmonies. They’re not bad, but they don’t do a whole lot for me, and especially considering how great the singer is on his own, I wish they’d just left them out.
Nonetheless! A very good song.
8.5 points
425
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
So, long story short. My sister listens to a group called Celtic Thunder, who did a song called Brothers in Arms, which I only realized was a cover of this song when you sent it to me. :lol I decided not to ask for a resend because a) you already said you were out of artists and b) as I said, I’ve been pretty lenient on stuff so far. Also I like it. Anyway.
So I said I was a vocals first kind of guy. And if there is one thing that is true about this song, it’s that it is not a vocals first song. Oddly enough, though, it still really works for me. In the cover version I heard first, the vocals were very powerful, and the guy put a lot of feeling into it. I really enjoyed it, so I wasn’t quite sure about this one at first, but the quiet, almost apathetic vocal style actually works pretty well here. And as I said, the main focus here isn’t on the vocals, it’s on the guitar. And wow, this is some amazing guitar playing. I love some good shred as much as the next guy, but I think this is probably much more my preferred style. The “solos” if you can even call them that, are pretty much seamlessly integrated into the music itself, instead of just playing on top of it, and there’s a tremendous amount of emotion in the playing.
8.5 points
Parama
bluh - bluh
0 points
:P
STANDINGS
Nekov - 59.5
Scorpion - 59
Tom Bombadil - 59
425 - 58.5
Bolsters - 58.5
Tomislav95 - 56
Train of Naught - 53.5
bl5150 - 53
Sacul - 51
And the winner IS…..
NEKOV!!!!!! Congratulations!! :metal :metal :woot: :woot:
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Decided not to go with a Homestuck quote for the title this time.
Also, wow those results were close. Not intentional! Thank you to everyone who participated! I got a lot of great music, and some 10 years from now I may actually buy some of it. :lol
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Congratulations Nekov :) ( and everyone else, we were close)
This was the furst roulette I played, had fun and I will definitely check some of the artists here :D
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Well done Nekov and thanks Ninja for a fun roulette , despite my result not being worth the wait ;D
I almost managed to finish last as predicted but Sacul was just too bad for me. I think I managed to sneak a couple of home runs in there , so at least I didn't totally waste your time :D
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fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
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:victorydance:
Awesome man! Thanks :D
I was actually concerned you were not going to like the vocalist.
Thanks for running this, I know we bugged you a lot but you ran this really well and made it fun ;)
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fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Sorry man. You were so close.
Also, I got at least one fantastic song from everyone, probably more. y'all done good. And don't worry about bugging me, if you didn't I'd probably just forget to post anything. :lol
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Thanks for running a great roulette! Despite everyone bugging, this really was one of the fastest roulette s I've taken part in. Hope you do another one soon :tup
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Well no, Ben Levin Group is just a side project of Bent Knee's guitar player, so no cheating there :P
At least I got you into Igorrr, Bent Knee, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum ;D
Congrats Diego :tup
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I enjoyed following this roulette. Some great bands here.
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Well no, Ben Levin Group is just a side project of Bent Knee's guitar player, so no cheating there :P
At least I got you into Igorrr, Bent Knee, and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum ;D
Congrats Diego :tup
The girl singer is the same though, right? Also they both had violin players. Are you telling me the guy got two different violin players? How bizarre.
And yeah, you had a lot of great submissions. And even though the David Maxim Micic one didn't do so well, I've started listening to the singer guy's other band and have been enjoying it quite a bit.
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Well, I made a game of it at least and almost made a comeback. :P Congrats Nekov. :tup
Thanks for running & having me Mr. Shadow Ninja. I always enjoy your roulettes because I get to send a lot of stuff I can't really send to anyone else.
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Congratulations Nekov!
I'm glad you liked the song, Shadow Ninja. I didn't know about that cover at all, I'll have to check it out. Even though I fell a point shy, I feel like I did a decent job here, it being my first roulette and all, so I'm content with this result. :)
Thanks for running this, for the all the complaining about speed, it really was actually paced pretty well and it was a fun one to compete in.
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The girl singer is the same though, right? Also they both had violin players. Are you telling me the guy got two different violin players? How bizarre.
Oh no they are the same, but they just recorded those parts - I think Ben wrote everything ;D
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Ah, the end of my first roulette, it was great fun Shadow, thanks!
And as for Snake Eyes, I'm glad I took the risk, at least it wasn't the complete failure I expected. ;D
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Brothers in Arms is my favorite song ever. And look at my avatar - it's Mark Knopfler :D He and Dire Straits are, unfortunately, not mentioned too often on this forum. He is truly a guitar god.
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I mostly don't mention them too much because I feel like a jerk saying Sultans of Swing and Brothers in Arms are my favorite songs by them, it's like saying "Yo! I'm a huge Kansas fan, you should check out this song, it's called Carry on Wayward Son!"
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Congrats Diego :tup
Congratulations Nekov!
Thanks guys :smiley:
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I mostly don't mention them too much because I feel like a jerk saying Sultans of Swing and Brothers in Arms are my favorite songs by them, it's like saying "Yo! I'm a huge Kansas fan, you should check out this song, it's called Carry on Wayward Son!"
Do you like Mark's solo albums? Sailing to Philadelphia is, IMO, one of his best albums ever (counting both solo and DS). Privateering and the newest, The Tracker, are also great.
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Local Hero in particular, it's the only solo album by him I really know, but yeah, definitely worth mentioning.
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Local Hero in particular, it's the only solo album by him I really know, but yeah, definitely worth mentioning.
Oh, yeah, great soundtrack (also great movie). Song Going Home is masterpiece.
Sorry guys for spamming, but we have to take chance to discuss Mark Knopfler :P