As said in my post above here, you guys gave me a very hard time to rank these songs. There was no bad song between them and I really did enjoy all of them. I think I can safely say this was the best round so far, despite the short lengths of songs and it was definitely the closest in terms of rankings. It took me way more listens than in the rounds before this one, before I could justify my scores to myself. Thanks for sending me awesome stuff, all of you. Now; RESULTS:
Last Place:
Participant: ReaperKK
Artist/Song: Michael Kelsey - Blue Gravity
Length: 1:31
I feel bad, once again, having to give a song the lowest score. This track was amazing and I really loved the work between the guitar and the ambient soundscapes. It creates a mystifying atmosphere and it's a shame that this track isn't any longer. I'd love to hear more from this guy, if his other stuff is a bit like this and I'm sorry for only giving you 1 point.
2 points grouping
Participant: Scorpion
Artist/Song: Buckethead - Big Sur Moon
Length: 1:13
(Also sent, but not judged was Somastate - Reversals, clocking in at 0:36)
From one guitarist onto the next. Buckethead does a similar thing, but only uses his guitar and an array of effects (most notably delay). I have heard of the man and I have heard some of his things, but never this track. It's an impressive composition, but in this case, I think it's good it's not any longer, though it's very good while it lasts. 2 points.
Participant: Zantera
Artist/Song: Converge - Tender Abuse
Length: 1:25
First off, I don't dislike this song at all, I think this is very awesome, but in this round it stuck out like a sore thumb. Everything else I got was more mellow or laidback and this track came blasting across. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it and loved the heaviness and grooviness of the track and what I especially like is that such massiveness can be put together in such a short amount of time. Now, there's whole genres of music with songs less than two minutes *cough*grindcore*cough* which don't interest me at all, but this was an awesome submission and certainly something I did not expect in this round. 2 points.
3 points grouping
Participant: kári
Artist/Song: Squarepusher - Tommib
Length: 1:19
Probably the weirdest track I got in this round, with some weird ambient sound, no real direction, a fade-in intro, a semi-sudden end and no vocals or distinctive use of instruments at all. I loved it, it sounds like some electronic nothingness, if that makes any sense. I doubt I could listen to a full album of this stuff, but it works wonders in small doses. 3 points.
Participant: Xanthul
Artist/Song: Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1
Length: 2:00
The first song so far with audible lyrics (no, I'm not mocking growls here) and it's wonderful. I loved the addition of brass and other instruments and the higher sung vocals in the last half-minute. Despite only being 2 minutes long, the song builds up very nicely and I really wonder what I could hear in Part Two. I'm going to check out the entire album this track came from. 3 points.
4 points grouping
Participant: MoraWintersoul
Artist/Song: Insomnium - Nocturne
Length: 1:58
This track just sounds like an introduction to a melodic death metal album, and I believe it is, especially with the volume swell at the end. Not judging a single song by what's more on the album, I found this song very relaxing, but it's very dark as well and this is mainly because of the strings and the synthesized soundscapes behind a haunting piano melody, sometimes backed up my some drums. Very nice pick and for that you'll get 4 points.
Participant: Nekov
Artist/Song: The Flower Kings - Garden of Dreams: Mr. Hope Goes to Wall Street
Length: 1:43
So, this song is part of a multi-part epic by The Flower Kings. I have meant to check these guys out forever and this small snippet just confirms that I should do this. The downside from this snippet is that it's not longer and as a single track probably doesn't do the whole thing justice, mainly also because it doesn't start or end properly. However, this is some great proggy goodness, which I really like. You'll get 4 points, plus an extra point for the band, totalling 5 points.
Round Winner!
Participant: Ravenheart
Artist/Song: Black Tape for a Blue Girl - The Doorkeeper
Length: 1:17
Wow, this is beautiful. The amount of beautiful put together in a composition of such a shrt length is pretty astounding. Granted, it's not a particularly difficult song, but the piano melody works wonders and that woman's voice is amazing! This was the best song I got this round, thanks. 5 points
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Side Mission 1:
Scorpion sent two songs, being the only one who did this. Both his songs where the two shortest sent (1:13 and 0:36), so he gets 2 extra points for having the shortest song ranked in this round.
Side Mission 2:
Team Tea sent a total of 1:25+2:00+1:58+1:17=6:45
Team Coffee sent a total of 1:13+0:36+1:31+1:43+1:19=6:22
All the members on Team Coffee get an extra point for sending the shorter length of songs!
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Current Standings:
Nekov: 17+5+1= 23 points
Xanthul: 19+3= 22 points
ReaperKK: 19+1+1= 21 points
Zantera: 19+2= 21 points
Ravenheart: 15+5= 20 points
kári: 15+3+1= 19 points
Scorpion: 14+2+2+1= 19 points
MoraWintersoul: 14+4= 18 points
Damn, those results are very close to eachother!
Team Standings:
Team Coffee: 23+21+19+19= 82 Points
Team Tea: 22+21+20+18= 81 Points
And the teams are almost even as well. Wow!
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Next Round!
ROUND 6
Main Goal: "The Silly Round"
Yes, you read that right. Next round is the silly round. I want you to send me something stupid/silly/bad/weird as long as it's music related. The goal of the upcoming round is to make me laugh or giggle and what you send me can be anything; a very bad song, a hilarious video clip (on youtube for instance), a terrible cover of a song, a band screwing up on stage or a fan-made video of a song. You name it! This round will have no restrictions as to what bands you can or can not send, but I won't have any stuff with Dream Theater's music. Since this is the silly round, the ranking system will be different for next round as well. If your submission makes me laugh, I'll give you 1 point. If your submission makes me giggle, I'll give you 0 points. If I'm indifferent to your submission, you lose a point and if I don't find anything funny about your submission at all, you'll lose 3 points. This round will not have any side goals. Find me the funny!