Gorille85 Frank Turner - I Still BelieveNice, upbeat song. It's really tough to get into this after I've been binging on something as energetic as Foxy Shazam, but I still enjoyed it. It's got a nice, bouncy, almost country twang to it that should bother me, but it doesn't. As annoying as the ever-present "HEY YAY"'s were at the beginning, I found them pretty catchy by the end. Funny how that works.
Good song, just not as awesome as Foxy. Oh yeah, and harmonica solos have no place in rock music. Ever.
4 PointsYtseBitsySpider Circus Maximus - Glory of the EmpireHey look! It's the unicyclist from the cover of ADTOE! Glad to see he made it safely to the ground. Anyway, I see a lot of people dismiss these guys as a DT clone. While I can see why they get that reputation, there's still enough in this song to differentiate them from DT's brand of prog metal. I especially enjoyed the intro with the flutes. When the main melody kicks in, the DT worship starts to get a bit more prominent. The singer reminds me a bit of the guy from Vanden Plas, and I think he's the strongest link in that band. These guys probably deserve a bit more recognition. Good, solid prog metal.
5 pointsRavenheart Type O Negative - Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia)Type O is one of those bands that I hear a lot of praise for, but I don't ever really get the urge to see what they have to offer. Having heard this song, I can say they're pretty cool. The music has a very dark atmosphere with the fantasy keyboards (Not sure how else to describe them). The singer has a very fitting voice for this type of music, deep and powerful. This is good stuff, but it's nothing mind-blowing.
4 points73109 Machine Head - ImperiumI've only heard one or two songs from these guys, and they both made me go "meh". This song was no exception. I have no idea what it is about this band, but it just does absolutely nothing for me. It's not that it's bad music by any means, it's just not interesting enough to make me want to listen to it. Plenty of other bands do what Machine Head is doing, and they do it much better. Oh, and the half-growled vocals are borderline torturous to listen to, like John Bush but slightly worse somehow.
2 pointsClairvoyantCat Jaga Jazzist - Oslo SkylineThis is pretty neat. It's, like you described so eloquently in your PM, jazzy, jammy, posty, and instrumental. It's very relaxing, even with the heavier sections. I especially like the section where it settles down, and the synth waves just swell around the speakers. I really don't know what else to say about it though. I liked it.
5 pointsariich Guthrie Govan - SevensI haven't been into shredding quite as much lately. Not sure why, it just hasn't spoken to me like it usually does. This song totally flipped that on its head though. This is some very creative stuff. It's much more interesting than the typical sweep-tapping (though I love Yngwie as much as the next guy). This also benefits from a change in dynamics once in a while. Most shred guitarists tend to play a fairly static brand of music, but this is certainly not a victim of that generalization. The sick groove that happens around the 3:00 mark is so much
5 pointszxkhlo/NocturnalConspiracy/Tick Oceansize - UnfamiliarLike Type O, this was a band that I heard a lot of praise for, but never felt like checking out. I definitely should have though. This kind of reminds me of alt-rock with a more progressive edge to it. Though, some sections are also delightfully trippy. I really need to explore this band further.
5 points Dark Castle The Wretched End - FleshbombAwesome song title, first off. Even more awesome song. It's very dark, extremely heavy, and the vocals really compliment the music well. These guys remind me a lot of Vreid (another Norwegian thrash band) with better production, and that's a very good thing. I like to think this is the only roulette where a thrash song can win a round right after a swing-revival song wins the previous round, but I genuinely loved the fuck out of this song.
6 pointsThe Scoreboard:
Ravenheart - 25
ClairvoyantCat - 25
Gorille85 - 24
ariich - 24
YtseBitsySpider - 23
Dark Castle - 23
zxkhlo/NocturnalConspiracy/Tick - 20
73109 - 16
Sorry for the massive delay guys, but here you go. Notice how the spread between 1st and 6th place is a whopping 2 points. This is shaping up to be quite the interesting fight to the finish.