Ranking time! YAAAYYYYYYY
7th placeNominator: MasterShakezula
Artist: Ween
Song: Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?
Oh man, I don't even know where to start with this song.
The nominator's justification for this particular song was that the lyrics contrast with the song's tone, and by, do they ever. The song describes, in pretty gruesome detail, what happened to the narrator's pony. The pony desperately needs help (his lung's fucked up, as it happens), but he can't really describe his situation because he is a pony. We don't hear what happens to the pony, unfortunately. Actually, the song ends very quickly (probably a segue to the album's next song), leaving the listener with a lingering sense of loneliness, despair, and confusion.
Anyway, this was a strange song, but it wasn't awesome strange, like the CAN song was. I guess you could say I didn't really "get it". Shakey gets
1 point.
6th placeNominator: jingle.boy
Artist: Blessed By a Broken Heart
Song: Rockin' All Night
jingle knew I was familiar with Spock's Beard, so he couldn't submit Day For Night. Unfortunately, the song he did submit was worse by orders of magnitude.
I didn't know they still made music like this, man. This is a song that could've been a hit in the 80's: it's very catchy, and it is in no uncertain terms about partying. It's not notable in any way; it's one of those "I had some guitars and a record deal so what the fuck?" songs. Unfortunately, nothing in the song grabbed me, and for that reason jingle gets
2 points.
5th placeNominator: Elite
Artist: Katatonia
Song: The Longest Year
Here's a tune from the album "Night is the New Day", which explains its submission in this round. This song was fine. I didn't find it incredible or anything. I particularly enjoyed the breakdown at 3:05 and how the verse before led into it, but other than that, there wasn't anything very notable here.
3 points.4th placeNominator: lonestar
Artist: Mechanical Poet
Song: Old Year's Merry Funeral
A very interesting song. The album is called "Woodland Prattlers" (whatever that means), and the band's style is very Victorian and very steampunk. This comes out most obviously in the song's orchestration, which features in addition to the typical metal instruments, piano, strings, some wind and brass instruments, what I believe is a synthesized harp, and an interesting music-box sound at 1:57, which is my favorite moment of the tune.
I do give it credit for being a truly orchestral metal piece, and for covering a lot of ground in 7 minutes (in that it rarely stays on one riff for long). The downside to this approach is that I had some trouble wrapping my head around the piece structurally; as a whole, it didn't make much sense to me. Also, there's an orchestral breakdown in the middle which I didn't really enjoy, because few musically interesting ideas were posed therein, despite its orchestrative originality. In spite of its flaws, I enjoyed the piece, and it gets from me
4 points.
3rd placeNominator: WindMaster
Artist: Between the Buried and Me
Song: Mirrors
When I found out WM had submitted a BTBAM song, I was not happy.
I've listened to a bit of BTBAM; I had mostly heard good things about Colors and wanted to see what the hype was about. Needless to say, I disliked the vocals.
So I went into this song expecting the worst, and I was pleasantly surprised. A melodically interesting, original, and somber piece. I get a real Mars Volta feel from the introduction, and that's always a good thing. However, the musical interlude in the middle of the piece was by far my favorite part here. Very groovy but yet laid-back and not less emotional. Great stuff. For the previous round's last-place finisher, a well-deserved
5 points.
2nd placeNominator: Nekov
Artist: Illegal Aliens
Song: Ratrace
Now, here's a song that's "good weird". I've never heard anything quite like this; it's a song with jazz and gospel sensibilities in spite of its metal sound. More than that, it's tasty as fuck, and the melodies are unquestionably catchy. The best moment for me was the "have you ever been electrified" chorus, with the inter-line scatting.
I don't really know if I have anything more to say about it; it's a song that, against all odds, draws you in and will not stop until it puts a smile on your face. I greatly enjoyed it and will be checking out more by this band.
6 points.
1st placeNominator: kingshmegland
Artist: Slow Motion Reign
Song: Life Simulator
Turns out that his highness's chest-pounding was not premature! Consider this a second "home run". This is a wonderfully dynamic piece, fluctuating between dissonance and wonderful resolution; the song's main rhythmic motif, heard during the verses, is excellent and imaginative on its own, but for me, the real treat is how it leads into the choruses, which are perhaps more traditional of heavy alternative music but when combined with the verses are majestic, rewarding, and interesting. One feels a certain tension from the introduction's tonally uncertain riff, and this is intentional; this is a song that knows how to create resolution from tension, and that knows how to create that resolution in interesting and uncommon ways. In other words, this is a song that knows how music works.
7 points.1. kingshmegland - 7 + 7 = 14
2. Nekov - 3 + 6 = 9
3. jingle.boy - 6 + 2 = 8
3. lonestar - 4 + 4 = 8
5. MasterShakezula - 5 + 1 = 6
5. WindMaster - 1 + 5 = 6
7. Elite - 2 + 3 = 5
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ROUND 3 - WRATHBonuses: Obamacare (2 points), The Best Band Ever (1 point)Deadline: Wednesday, July 11 @ 6:00 PM Central timeObamacare (2 points) : Sometimes, the government has to step in and help the less fortunate. It's a fact of life. The person in last place at the end of round 3 will get a government-sponsored 2 point bonus. Obviously, these points cannot be spent on alcohol.
The Best Band Ever (1 point) : This is a Tribute: the person who submits the song whose length is closest to that of my favorite Rush song gets a 1 point bonus. He will also be admitted to Paradise, which has a wide variety of delicious milks to sample.
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Good luck, everybody!