Round 2 results! I was NOT more benevolent with scoring because they are supposed to be "worst" songs, I judged them as I would have done with any other song. A 10 here means the same as a 10 in any other round.
Ultimetalhead - Strapping Young Lad - Underneath the Waves (7 points)First listen: Is this what they call "wall of sound"? I never really understood the term but now I think I do. It's a different kind of production to what I'm used to but it doesn't bother me. Musically, this is still aggressive as fuck so I see you haven't lost your punch. I feel like this is a lot to digest on a single listen but I like it so far.
Subsequent listens: I really don't know what to make out of this song, all I know is it won't let me breathe for the whole duration. I'm getting warmed up to the production style and I like the aggressiveness of the riffs and vocals. If this is the worst song, I guess I could enjoy this album. Seven points.
kári - Bon Iver - Creature Fear (6 points)First listen: I felt kind of underwhelmed with the first listen. The song reminded me of Kings of Convenience - lowtempo, acoustic guitar with very faint drumming and the occasional uptempo chorus here and there. Not something I dislike, but it doesn't stand out either.
Subsequent listens: I liked this more on repeated listens, the lowtempo sections didn't feel as long as on the first listen and the choruses gained some strength. The abrupt ending doesn't help a lot but I know this is a continuous album that I should listen in one sitting, so I won't hold that against the song. Six points and a new entry in my musical "to-do" list because I feel I owe this album a full listen.
Zantera - Amplifier - Post Acid Youth (9 points)First listen: I was kind of afraid seeing the "Progressive Rock" tag that this would be a more traditional kind of progressive or neo-prog but this turned out awesome. It reminds me a lot of Oceansize (even though I have only listened to Effloresce yet), the space rock feeling here is very strong. I quite like this.
Subsequent listens: If this is the worst song of the album (at least in your opinion), Amplifier has to be an Effloresce-like effort that I will automatically love on the first listen. Even if no single instrument stands out, the whole band sounds really tight together. Another nine points for you, very good.
ReaperKK - Fair to Midland - Walls of Jericho (9 points + 1 point for Fair to Midland)First listen: I thought FtM were metal with harsh voices and very crazy in an avant-garde sense. Either I'm wrong or this song isn't too representative of their style... either way I pretty much enjoy this song. It isn't anything extraordinary but it has some nice melodies and is a very listenable piece of music.
Subsequent listens: Reading what I wrote above I have no idea why I said it isn't anything extraordinary. I love the vocal melodies and the light hearted guitar riff and synthetizer background. It does have a slight "radio-friendly" feeling but I'm not bothered by it in the slightest. For some reason the song reminds me of These Walls by DT only several times better since I fell out of love with DT a long time ago. You get nine points too, good work.
LLTWM - Frank Turner - Nights Become Days (5 points)First listen: A nice acoustic track, but I can't say it's doing a lot for me. As soon as it finished I couldn't remember the melodies, I guess I need more listens to get more out of it.
Subsequent listens: Never been a fan of the singer-songwriter stuff but I usually enjoy acoustic, solo performances of certain frontmen (Dustin from Thrice and Casey from TDH) so I guess it's more a matter of knowing the song. After repeated listens, the song still doesn't grab me until the last minute when the piano becomes more prominent. I guess I could end up liking this in the context of an album, but as a standalone song I must give it 5 points.
black_floyd - Spiral Architect - Conjuring Collapse (4 points)First listen: The instrumental sections at the beginning remind me of the Dance of Eternity, which isn't a bad thing. Not a fan of the singer, for some reason it reminds me of classic heavy metal which I'm not a fan of. The instrumentation is interesting enough to cover for that, so I don't necessarily dislike the song. Nice instrumental outro too.
Subsequent listens: This is still a bit too "in your face" technical for me. I would have adored this 3 or 4 years ago when I started getting into DT, but in the last few months I have shifted my interest towards other genres. Like I said above, I don't dislike the song but it's just something I can't see myself delving further into. I give it four points.
obscure - Guilt Machine - Over (6 points)First listen: The opening electronic sounds have me so confused, coming from you surely this must be metal?
Subsequent listens: While the mix of electronic and guitars is pretty interesting I feel the vocal melodies in the chorus could have some more strength, I feel they have some untapped potential. Still, the song was interesting enough to make me wonder about the whole project, 6 points.
Elite - Shadow Gallery - Society of the Mind (5 points)First listen: More prog metal? You guys are bent on giving me a hard time, aren't you? This sounds like pretty formulaic stuff, none of the instruments stand out to me. With that I don't mean it's a *bad* song, it's just that it doesn't make me want to check the whole album or anything.
Subsequent listens: Repeated listens confirm the above - this song is a step below your previous submission (Seventh Wonder) which was a bit more interesting as far as prog metal goes. The little vocal harmonies here and there make it a bit different but it's still not enough to get out of the neutral zone - five points.
Gorille85 - Frank Turner - Wessex Boy (7 points)First listen: Another Frank Turner submission on the same round, you guys must hold him at a very high regard. This one worked better though due to many reasons: interesting guitar especially during the chorus, the claps giving it a more dinamic feel and better vocals.
Subsequent listens: The vocals definitely feel more emotional here than in Nights Become Days and the guitar riff is something that stays long after I have stopped listening to the song. I'm baffled as how you consider this worse than Nights, are you cheating?
Seven points.
Rankings:
Topic: Xanthul's boring and unimaginative Roulette - Zantera wins!! (Read 21648 times)