Let me start by saying there wasn’t a bad song in the bunch here. I loved them all - for different reasons. There also wasn’t a standout (good or bad) unlike what I found in the first three rounds. So, this was incredibly hard to rank, and as I said in the OP, just because a song is ranked 5, doesn’t mean it’s 5 times worse than the top ranked songs. The margin of difference in how much I liked all of these songs was very small. If I was just straight assigning points out of 5, there would be all 4s and 5s here.
But, ranking is how I’m going about doing it. That said, I looked to some other factors in the ranking - how well it fit the theme, and how much I felt compelled to check out the rest of their work
Nekov: Unicorn- Hiding Again
nice solemn piano intro. Vocal accompaniment was ok, good, but not great - something about his tone didn't jive with me - ahh... it's Swano. Ironically, I like him better when he's close to growling. I really dug the keyboard elements throughout. Liked Swano as he got more powerful with the singing. Nice female segment. 9 minute track that - like King last round - went by real quick. Musically, great, better vocals would've scored it higher.
Ranking: 3
Wolf: Ark - Feed the Fire
Gollum would say "sneaky little Aussie is tricksy ", giving me another vocalist he knows I have a man-crush on. But, this was kinda strange... At first the vocals sounded dull and flat (not in his tone, but just not as full and powerful as I normally have come to expect from him). He just didn't have that uumph, that I love from everything else involving Jorn. Still, his voice is something I can't seem to get enough of lately. Quality melodic track. Hurts me to put anything by Jorn at the bottom of the pile, but this one - good as it was - didn't measure up to the rest of the tracks this round.
Ranking: 5
Lonestar: Otep - Ghost Flowers
cool base intro; nice riff; dark and disturbing feel to start. Female growlies... Strange, but not unappealing. Man she be mad. Drum fills all over the place. Heavy, HEAVY powerful riffs - guitar and bass. Mother-fuckin metal. Heaviest track this round for sure. Nice track, but it's like I said in the OP, it's not just how you do, but how the competition does. This was very good, but the others were just a shade better.
Ranking: 4
Ytse: Times of Grace - Live in Love
Beautiful guitar sound; beautiful vocals (when they're clean); even the growlies are smooth and tolerable. Great message in the lyrics. Growlie vs Growlie between you and the Chef. Ytse gets the edge. Can't get the melody or the message out of my head. Not sure I could take a lot of this style of music... it's good in moderation, and this was very good.
Ranking: 2
King: Dark New Day - Pieces
One angry guitar. Dark, dark riff that is grinding and harsh. Another use of appropriate growlie vocals. Just enough to fit, and not overstay their welcome. I flopped back and forth at least 4 times as to where this vs JJ's song should rank, and even changed it again as I post.
Ranking: 4
JJ: Silent Force - Hear Me Calling
Solid prog-metal. DC is another vocalist that I love (and I think JJ knew that). Silent Force has been on the radar, and again, this kind of track reaffirms why. Nice flow to the song... Powerful and racing, then calm and mellow. Keyboards were just right, and DC had a really nice ending scream. Got better with every listen and I'll definitely be jumping in with Silent Force soon. Realy nice guitar solo. Despite not having a clear emotional connection, this gets ever so slight of an edge over King for being the better song.
Ranking: 3
Doc: Kevin Gilbert - Song for a Dead Friend
Thankfully, I've not had to experience suicide first hand. I told Mason there weren't words in the English language that could articulate the feelings this induces. This is an incredibly ... Profound song. That's about the best word I can think of to use. As far as the theme goes, Mason slayed you all... combined. But, this isn't just about the theme, but overal how much I liked the song. Which I did very much. Man, I was listening to Redemption earlier the day that the good doctor sent this, and decided to immediately follow this one with No Tickets to the Funeral. Honestly, I have no words to describe how I feel as I listened to these back-to-back.
Ranking: 1
Zydar: Ocean Color Scene - This Day Should Last Forever
Not at all what I was expecting.. And like nothing like any other song this round. A very uplifting feel, but taking a Celtic approach - accoustic, violin, and ... accordion? Neat little track. Had me snapping my fingers and tapping my toes along with it. Another FUN track from the Viking. Not my usual preference, but hey, I like Damian Wilson's solo stuff, which is really funky and out of the norm. I liked this one. When you're in a good mood, this is just what you need to put you in a great mood. This reminded me a lot of Spirit of the West... whom I love, but are at the bottom of my Top 50 album list. It pains me to give this a 5, because it was so fun, and the most up-beat song of the round.
Ranking: 5
Coz: Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues
Completely different from anything anyone else sent. Nice bluesy song, reminiscent of Since I've Been Loving You with all those little guitar squeals. Liked the symphonic back ground. Killer solo, KILLER solo - best of the Roulette so far. Gary's got a real nice smooth voice too.
Ranking: 1
Obscure: CRASHDÏET - It's a Miracle
Very nice. Quick, to the point, inspiring. Just the kind of track you'd want when you're in the best of moods. It's like it would give you that little push to make you feel even more high on life when you're already on cloud 9. Would've been better if there had been a better copy than just YT.
Ranking: 2
Rankings ... it's really heating up now! 4-way tie for first!!!
Total Playa
10 The Quack (Doc)
10 The Koala (Wolf)
10 The Guitar Hero (coz)
10 The DJ (obscure)
12 The Tarantula (Ytse)
12 The Skipper (chef)
13 The Viking (zydar)
14 The Maradona (nekov)
14 The Blue Bomber (jj)
15 The Monarch (King)
Side competition standings in a subsequent post.
Topic: Jingle Boy's Roulette v. drum rolll... pass the envelope please. (Read 94456 times)