Round 3 Results. Most solid round so far. Best song was easy to identify, as was the least best. Everything in between was all very good, and very hard to rank.
Lonestar: Mandroid Echostar -
Kingdom of the Crown Getting heavy on me. Some quality technical prog-metal here. Excellent vocal performance. The band puts together seamless time and key signature changes. Damn fine. Very talented bunch here. Technically stunning… reminded me of Eumeria in that regard. The only knock is that sometimes the technical brilliance is there just because they can, not because it makes sense, or fits appropriately. The last 90 seconds were chubby inducing though.
Ranking: 3
JJ: Black Sabbath –
Headless CrossVery good track. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, but nothing stood out for me. Unfortunately, in this round with this group, that puts it in the bottom of the pack.
Ranking: 5
King: Presto Ballet –
One Tragedy at a TimeFinally! This is the kind of stuff I've been waiting for and expecting from you. What an amazing instrumental opening. Rivals anything Spock's Beard has ever done. A whole smorgasborg of great sounds coming at me. 14 minutes went by just like that *snap*. That atmospheric out-take in the middle was dreamy, and the instrumental exit from it. Song of the round here.
Ranking: 1
Zydar: Hellfueled –
Let Me OutNo shit it's Ozzy/Wylde - You could've changed the meta-tags on the file to say so, and I would have NEVER known. I was never a huge fan of Ozzy though. Some crazy guitar licks and squeals. Even has that Ozzy vocal feel of being hollow and echoing. This was very nice. Doesn't matter that I'm not normally being an Ozzy fan, I REALLY liked this one. While the guitar work wasn't the best this round (Coz get's that award), the overall package was the most rockin one.
Ranking: 1
Nekov: Von Hertzen Brothers -
Faded Photographsmeh... can't put my finger on it, but it wasn't very memorable on first listen. Decent though. This is why you listen more than once - 2nd listen was much better than the first. Had a nice Frost*(y) feel to it. This really got better with every listen. Comparatively speaking though, it was missing a great hook, or a great solo, or a great melody… It was solid all around, just missing that “great” factor.
Ranking: 4
Spidey: Ozric Tentacles -
Lost in the SkyGeez, got something against vocals? A little too ... dunno, is that genre labeled "post" something? Got funky in the middle, and not in a good way. In the way that some leftovers were forgotten in the back of the fridge for 7-8 weeks. Some good, mostly not though… by and large, weird. Some elements in the middle took my mind back to
this. Nothing wrong with it I guess, but there was nothing right with it either. I think you also lost points because, when I checked them out to see what kind of genre they are, there was a mention of "dub", which is one mention too many.
Ranking: 5
Doc: The Tangent –
In Darkest DreamsBookends were great. Keyboard starts like the greats of the 70s – Emerson, Wakeman, Wright etc... Some of the segments in the middle were a little experimental and wonky (Exhibit A - piano solo sounded like it was created by a 5 year old). Felt like early 70s Jethro Tull got time-warped into 2012 and made some music - Exhibit B - flute and sax work on more than one occasion. This has lasting value. Overall though, there were some weak parts that kept it in the middle of the pack this round.
Ranking: 3
Obscure: Shaman –
Over Your HeadYou chose wisely this round Lady. More Prog-metal here. More simple and straight-forward in the prog-metal ness of this song vs the Chefs submission (I only compare as I first listened to them back-to-back). Very nice vocal screams - screams, not growls. Killer instrumental wanking section – especially the keyboards, great outro too. Loved it long time. Have always like Matos’ voice, need to check more of him out.
Ranking: 2
Coz: Paul Gilbert –
BlissMind blowing axe work, but would you expect anything less from Gilbert? His vocals weren't nearly as cringe-worthy as I was expecting. In fact they were pretty decent. Simple, but decent. It was good that he didn't try to do anything more than he was capable of (vocally). On the axe, he's capable of anything, and showed it here. Great main riff. Tough round though, lots of stuff had a more complete package. This re-affirms that I should get more Gilbert in my library. Better vocals, this would’ve ranked higher.
Ranking: 4
Wolf: Vanishing Point –
Closer ApartEventually, you'll run out of Aussie bands to use! Until then, keep sending me this great shit coming from down under. Another excellent track. I'd heard a bit of VP before (I recall Mason using them in a Roulette I was in with him). Excellent prog-rock here ... not nearly as heavy as some of the other tracks this round. Can't say anything bad about this one. You brought it again this round. Vocals were calm, cool and collected. Very soothing. Great guitar melodies and solo. Not too flashy, just simple and very appealing in that regard. The unison outro was very nice.
Ranking: 2
Rankings:
Total Playa
5 The Koala
8 The Skipper
8 The DJ
8 The Viking
9 The Guitar Hero
9 The Quack
10 The Tarantula
11 The Blue Bomber
11 The Maradona
11 The Monarch
Side competition standings in a later post.
Topic: Jingle Boy's Roulette v. drum rolll... pass the envelope please. (Read 94057 times)