This round was more consistent, and the scores are closer to each other.
Round 3 Results:jingle.boy: Loverboy – The Kid Is Hot ToniteFirst impression: Pretty much exactly what I expected. Probably the best fit for the theme, but might not be quite the best fit for me musically right now.I probably should’ve said something in the OP, but I’ve been drifting away from the older songs and the older production style over these past years, except for the albums I already know and love. This “party-vibe” rock-n-roll with the high synths is definitely not my cup of tea anymore. Not that I actively dislike anything here, it’s fine for a background music, but that’s really all the use I’ve got for it right now.
I’m honestly not sure why I didn’t mention it in the first place, maybe I hoped that somebody will send something that’ll change my mind, but this ain’t it. However somehow you nailed what I’ve been subconsciously thinking since I posted my picture for the theme. It was not even in a nostalgia-framed way, even though I definitely feel nostalgia when I look at it and the nostalgia fits well for the 80s atmosphere of this track… I’m just pretty sure my parents took the pic just for fun of it, like “look at this guy having the time of his life”, and this song kind of encapsulates all of it.
Score:
5/10 + 1.01 = 6.01
Sacul: Beth Gibbons – Lost ChangesFirst impression: We're having +30°С over here and this feels like a perfect song for the smothering summer heat.Much like RJ and I are apparently on different wavelengths of metal, I guess you and I are on different wavelengths of acoustic stuff right now, because of three similar enough (acoustic stripped down instrumentals and a woman at the mic) songs this one resonated with me the least.
The first impression makes sense to me in a way that this song feels almost oppressive. The vocal melodies feel very “closed” and subdued for a lack of vocabulary on my part, and the only part that the song opens up just slightly, the “And all that I want you to want me the way that you used to” line in the end only gives a brief respite from the first three and a half minutes. Or maybe I just like her higher register in this song more. The choruses here walk in circles, and the verses are more reading the lyrics than singing. Look, I’m not sure what it is—sometimes it works for me, like Leonard Cohen with his last album, and sometimes it doesn’t. The song ended up in two parts in my mind: three minutes of background music as the first part, and a bit more pleasant two more minutes as the second part, and even that probably worked because of the contrast with that first part.
Tastes and all, but I probably liked it even a bit less than Chelsea Wolfe. Is the whole new album like that?
Score: 5.5/10
Elite: Ghost – Here Comes the SunFirst impression: Serious question: I don't know the original song, should I listen to it or should I just rank this on its own merit? Also very easy on the ears, like the warm synths sound.I listened to the original song right before doing this writeup and wow the difference in the mood is absolutely striking. From ten listens to the Ghost song and one listen to The Beatles song (and yeah, I definitely haven’t ever heard the original), I like the original more.
Without the original, I was going to say the song feels easy to listen to, but also lacks the spark of energy. It’s as if the sun comes so slowly everyone’s lethargic. Having heard the original, the lack of energy is even more noticeable, The Beatles’ original is positively lively.
I like and respect that they did their own take on a (apparently) classic song, and ended up with something really different, but overall, not counting the synths sound, this is a bit drab and monotonous and I can’t imagine listening to something like this on a regular basis—and having heard the original now, I’d rather listen to that anyway. I’m also not familiar with Ghost’s regular material—is it like that, or does it pack a bit more punch?
However you nailed the theme again, no surprise here though as it was your own theme. The way your picture is so bleak and there’s no sun to be seen aligns perfectly with the monotonous promises of “here comes the sun” from Ghost. Like when will the sun come, in a couple of years?
Score: 5.75/10 + 1.01 = 6.76
lonestar: Lovebites – Thunder VengeanceFirst impression: Constant onslaught on the senses but better than your last entry for sure! So relentless, I'd love it to be a bit more melodic.The first impression here is really on point. The riffs and the words are like the pounding hail here, ruthless and relentless to the point where I actually got tired of the consistently galloping, never-slowing-down tempo. It doesn’t help there are almost no melodic hooks—the only things that left a melodic impression here are the lines “Until the day the light can reach into my blind eye” and “These scars are here to tell me that I'm still alive” in the chorus, and honestly it’s probably because the vocal melody here is rhythmically and melodically similar to “just close your eyes, don’t be afraid, you’re not alone” in Kamelot’s Beautiful Apocalypse.
This is certainly solid still, but I think something might be off with your song choices RJ, you’re clearly on another musical wavelength than me right now. It’s not even Japanese thing (or not entirely—I think the fact that Lovebites were singing entirely in English helped); Frozen Serenade would’ve easily scored 0.75 points more just because how much more memorable the chorus was—I can even hum it right now.
I might check this band out, as I quite liked one of their two songs—even though, for the purposes of this roulette, it wasn’t the one you picked in the end.
Score: 5.75/10
wolfking: In Flames – Sounds of a Playground FadingFirst impression: Does this have a tinge of metalcore to it? Definitely feels like it. If I'm ever in a screaming competition I want this guy on my team.Not sure about metalcore in the end, I think it’s more in the Trivium vein, at least similar to the song you sent in the previous round. If anything, it’s a bit heavier and the singer sounds more harsh and rough—even on the melodic chorus he has a lot of grit in his voice.
The best parts to my ears here are the choruses, the instrumental break and surprisingly the intro. The verses I kind of glossed over on most of my listens, while wishing the choruses were a bit longer and more prominent. The conclusion of each chorus with the title of the song (except the last one) feels a bit rushed to me, but maybe they did it to get the maximum of that last chorus that repeats twice. Overall just a solid metal song, a bit less melodic than Trivium to my taste and so a bit lower on the scoring scale. I do want to check them out but I hope their albums have more variety.
By the way, I’m entirely convinced he’s singing “we are the ghosts of a concrete world, shenanigans of the dying breed” in the chorus and I’m not going to Google the lyrics.
Score: 6.75/10
Puppies: Blackbraid – Sadness and the Passage of Time and MemoryFirst impression: The acoustic sections here are exceptionally nice, this is somewhat Agalloch-adjacent I think. If I'm ever in a growling competition... well, you get it.Good news: yes, this definitely sounds like Agalloch a bit, and that’s something I should enjoy immensely on paper. The beginning with the drums and the consistent acoustic guitar strumming/arpeggios is very promising, and when the electric guitar joins the fray, the sound still stays fairly consistent.
The drawback: while I should, in theory, enjoy this way more, I had difficult time with this song really as my attention just kept drifting away during the heavier sections (so basically after the first two minutes). I’m not sure what made Agalloch such a big hit with me, but this didn’t resonate at the same level. The best parts were the acoustic ones (the beginning and the one around four minute mark), and the electric tremolo in the end—only for the song to immediately begin fading out as the tremolo began.
This band (and their sound) have a lot of potential to click with me so I’ll check them out, but maybe you just went with a wrong song. You can blame the themes for this one especially since you didn’t get any theme points.
Score: 7/10
King: Sarah McLachlan – Fumbling Towards EcstasyFirst impression: I think this is a crossover between pop and world music? I have a soft spot for this particular sound and I've even heard the artist collaborating with other projects in this genre. Very easy on the ears.I’ve heard her guest vocals on Delerium (an electronic/pop project from 90s) and I liked them. This has a similar sound, a very laid-back beat and flowing instruments, which makes the first half of the song sound a bit… like it’s just there and going through the motions.
However the two guitar solo spots (and even the way the guitar is incorporated before the first solo spot, slowly finding its way into the song between the vocal lines) definitely break up the pattern and elevate the song quite a bit. Past the first guitar solo, I’m actually fairly engaged with the song: things liven up here for sure, the drums going a bit wilder, and Sarah goes bolder with the vocal melodies and ad-libs, and then the second solo marks the song’s highest point.
Definitely not my usual listen, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Score: 7/10
Lonk: The Mars Volta – The WidowFirst impression: This reminds me of Rishloo big time; not only the singer sounds kinda alike, but I can't make any sense out of the lyrics either. Sounds grand though.Oh, definitely Rishloo-adjacent. This kind of sound is a bit hit-or-miss with me as I never search for it deliberately to listen to, and the production here sounds a little rough to my ears, however the vocal melodies here are really good, and the slow plodding rhythm in the chorus, supported by a Hammond organ (?)
really works. I liked how they incorporated saxophone in the song as well.
This definitely works as a song and makes me want to check out the album, even if the sound is not my entirely cup of tea—there should really be some grand pay-off in the song for me to score it higher, I suppose (thinking about Rishloo – Landmines). Still, props to the band—this is fairly good.
Score: 7/10
ariich: Monica Heldal – Boy From the NorthFirst impression: I like the lush acoustic soundscape with splashes of electric guitars and I like her voice.Pretty much everything I wrote in my first impression stands. Instrumentally this song is right up my alley, and her voice is absolutely a right fit for this kind of song; however more often than not, for the acoustic singer-songwriter material to work for me there needs to be a strong hook in the song. Something memorable to look forward to. While the attempt to do it is there, it doesn’t quite work for me, and even after almost ten listens, the melody during [/i]“And I know you came with a travelling show, and you started out too young”[/i] fails to grab me. The chorus is just kind of… there.
I think I’ve made it no secret that vocal melodies can make or break the song to me. In fact I think that’s the root of my problem with the whole composition. Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite a pleasant listen—the rich production and the sparse instruments paint quite a lush picture—and some details certainly do stand out in a good way, but vocally there just wasn’t a lot for me to latch on. I didn’t mind when the song came up in the playlist, and this sound should be right up my alley, but in the end something was missing to elevate the song to the next level, the “really good” level.
Two things: I still have high hopes for Monica Heldal because I’m sure she’s got songs that might be more up my alley; and you came very close to the theme I posted though. Got cigarettes and a cat, definitely could’ve came with a travelling show being a bit too young.
Score: 7/10
TAC: The Vision Bleak – The Fragrancy of Soil UnearthedFirst impression: From the first two lines, the singer just got to be German. This plods at a steady pace, the sound is quite grim and I found it very appealing.Where did you get Katatonia from that? Litho will probably correct me (I know he listened to the song), but the only similarities I really see are some of the verses’ vocal melodies, and at some points in the verses I can hear some Behind the Blood guitar work maybe. Or is that because Katatonia’s music is bleak and this band has “Bleak” in their name?
Overall, I do like this, even though there are things I wish they did differently. The German accent really throws me off in some lines; the plodding, chugging guitar and the song’s rhythm could’ve used a bit more variety and subtlety; and really the chorus could’ve used some more tweaking too as it overstays its welcome a bit with the final two lines about “king and truth alone”.
There are some positive aspects about this too—I do like the overall darker and bleaker sound, it’s definitely up my alley, I like how effectively they used growls throughout the song, and I did like a bit of variety the “O’ dying sun” section threw into the mix.
I grew a bit tired of this song in the end, but I’m curious what else they’ve got on the album.
Score: 7.25/10
Stadler: Gary Allan – Songs About RainFirst impression: The best song you've sent in this roulette by far. Clean production, bittersweet and somewhat clever take on the subject, what's not to like?Exquisite production here really helps this song in my book. The subject is obviously a bit trite and cliché, but with a somewhat refreshing take talking about songs about rain playing on the radio. The verses here are what makes the song shine for me, a tried-and-true structure with two lines of descending vocal melody, then two lines building it up and the last line as a resolution.
However (I sound like a broken record in this roulette aren’t I?) the chorus is the main culprit here again—I think here it’s actually the song’s intention—it really feels dragging as the singer keeps and keeps listing the “rain” songs. And it doesn’t help it repeats at least four times in the song, either as a back-vocals or a lead section. It was a welcome choice for the first few listens, but for the last few days I guess I got really fed up with “Rainy Night In Georgia, and Kentucky Rain…” part.
By the way, people thought it was impossible I didn’t know Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles, so let me just say I don’t know any of the rain songs in the chorus either. Not one. I’m like a reverse Tim.
The keys/piano short solo during 2:05 – 2:15 is very classy too.
Score: 7.25/10
twosuitsluke: *shels – The Conference of the BirdsFirst impression: Was positively surprised by heavy guitars making their sudden appearance, and with such a classic long buildup, the payoff delivers.I wasn’t sure what to expect here, and during the first couple of listens I was so lost in the song I didn’t even realize there were several sections with vocals in it! While I quickly got used to the “remember the sun” section in the beginning, the growls in the second half kept taking me by surprise. And I’ve got to say, it’s impressive—for its 9+ minutes of runtime and the minimal amount of vocal sections, the songs manages to stay interesting and engaging for the whole duration.
Given that it’s post-rock, and post-rock is well-known by the climactic build-ups, I wasn’t expecting heavy guitars until the very end, and was positively surprised when they entered at 4:26. They I was worried the song was going to lose its momentum because there were five more minutes, but I didn’t need to worry—the saxophone deluge in the second part stole the thunder once again.
Almost got the rainy glass theme picture with that "remember the sun" part too.
Score: 7.5/10
LithoJazzoSphere: Dave Brons – Song of the EarthFirst impression: I watched the video and it made me want to switch from roadrunning to trailrunning next season. Just beautiful, fantastic voice too.First of all, I like how organic this sounds. Acoustic guitars, woodwinds, even hurdy-gurdy (maybe), clear audible bass, and a fantastic choice of a singer—beautiful voice and suits the song very well.
The song structure makes me think this is something from a concept album, because it seems to be written with a storytelling aspect in mind. There is no big chorus—the song almost feels like it’s going into pre-chorus and then the big solo spots happen (twice)—the guitar solo, and surprisingly the saxophone solo the second time, both fairly excellent. The (somewhat) unconventional song structure makes the song feel a little unfinished or unresolved for me, and I wish they utilized the singer’s voice a bit more.
Overall, this is just a fairly well-written and well-produced song. While it doesn’t have the heights to ascend to a higher tier, I could definitely listen to more of this.
Score: 7.75/10
Shadow Ninja: Second Person – WaterFirst impression: The intro reminds me of Anathema - Ariel a lot and takes me out of the song for a bit, but otherwise I'd say this is one of the best songs here.You don’t really need to make a song to be fairly sophisticated, overly complex or really long to strike a chord with me, and this is a good example. Out of three acoustic/woman-at-the-mic songs in this round, this is undoubtedly the one I like the best. It’s not dragging, and the vocal melodies here are much more up my alley—aside from chorus, I really like how they altered them in the second verse, climbing the scale with “and I have let go of all of my pain” and then down with “it’s sailing and sailing and sailing away from me”. And the chorus is easily my favourite in this round, I kept humming it at work all week.
Ironically, while being simple, straightforward and to the point works so well for this song, I can’t help but wishing for the third chorus because I liked it so much.
While this might not be quite high as Draconian or Fires at the Distance, this grew on me to win this round. And in the end, I found it perfect for the water/bird picture.
Score: 8.25/10 + 1.01 = 9.26
Scoreboard:ariich - 24.27 (congrats ariich)
LithoJazzoSphere - 24
TAC - 22.75
Puppies - 21.25
wolfking - 20.76
King - 20.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 20.27
Sacul - 19
twosuitsluke - 19
Lonk - 18.25
Stadler - 18.25
jingle.boy - 18.01
lonestar - 17.25
Elite - 16.53
Topic: Evermind's artsy/deranged v4 Roulette - Round 3 Results (Read 8639 times)
