Dr. DTVT
Band: Power of Omens
Album: Eyes Of The Oracle
Song: Test of Wills
Power of Omens is a San Antonio, TX based technical progressive metal band with two albums, both of which have submissions in this round. Since the submissions came in at almost the same exact moment, and were from two different albums, I decided to keep them both and just try to judge them on their merits. First impressions, particularly from the second submission were to think of a band with a remarkably similar sound/style to early/mid-era Fates Warning (post-Arch era). "Test of Wills" is a sprawling 19:55 epic that I honestly did not have enough time to fully absorb, but which I definitely found a great deal of enjoyment in listening. I have really not heard anything quite like this band. This is not music for those who do not wish to be challenged with the task of what I often refer to as "active listening" for one must truly engage in and perhaps even study a piece like "Test of Wills" to fully realize it. Sadly, the album appears to be out of print. Because I'd really love to hear the entire album, but I'm not ready to plunk down $39.95 for a used copy from someone on Amazon.com. I probably would have scored this a 10 if it were a bit more condensed, but even as it is, this is one amazing slab of art.
Score: 9.5
Elite
Band: Mr. Bungle
Album: California
Song: RetroVertigo
Mr. Bungle is an experimental band from Eureka, CA, formed in 1985 by some high school kids. They are known for genre-hopping and the use of a variety of instruments and samples in their music. I have heard of them and seen them mentioned here and elsewhere, but never felt compelled to buy any of their music upon hearing samples of their output on YouTube. The track "RetroVertigo" served as confirmation for me that this is not a band that I would have a lot of interest in pursuing. I did not find anything about it particularly interesting or moving and frequently found myself wanting to fast-forward to the end of the track to move on to the next song on my disc. Sorry, Elite, but this was a swing and a miss.
Score: 5
ich bin besser
Band: none
Album: none
Song: none
ich bin besser has dropped out of the competition after 3 rounds
Score: 0
jingle.boy
Band: Mystery
Album: The World is a Game
Song: Pride
Mystery is a Canadian progressive rock band formed in 1986 by guitarist/keyboard player Michel St-Père. "The World is a Game" is their latest album. Since 1999, noted vocalist Benoit David (often compared to Jon Anderson of Yes) has taken the role of lead vocalist in Mystery. Musically, the song "Pride" is a meandering slice of progressive rock in the vein of Transatlantic, early Spock's Beard, or Gabriel-era Genesis. It features plenty of big, huge bass-pedal-soaked soundscapes and soaring guitar solos blanketed in warm analog synths and strings. Michel's songwriting is really very good and I'm actually not sure why I haven't checked this band out yet, since I've had several conversations with Michel about potentially featuring him on a song or two in my own band's next album. This is quality prog rock and I will likely end up buying this album.
Score: 8.5
lonestar
Band: The Omega Experiment
Album: The Omega Experiment
Song: Karma
The Omega Experiment is a 2-man technical progmetal band from Michigan. This is a self-produced album and all things considered, I'm extremely impressed with it. Impressed enough that I will very likely buy the MP3 album from Amazon.com. This is not quite as challenging a listen as previous entry Power of Omens, but it's close. And considering the self-produced aspect, and the fact that I'm listening to an MP3 file, the production values are, frankly, amazing. Musically, it runs the gamut from fast and technical (I can haz blast beatz?) to melodic and orchestral. The occasional and very sparing use of harsh vocals was a little bit of a turn off since I am not a fan of grunting and screaming, but it was used infrequently enough that I could definitely withstand it provided the rest of the album features it at this level. This is a crowded genre that's overflowing with mediocrity and garbage, and this band managed to put together a sound that, while clearly influenced by others, they've also managed to sound pretty unique.
Score: 8.5
nekov
Band: Genius
Album: Episode I - A Human Into Dream's World
Song: There's a Human
This album is part one of a trilogy written by Daniele Liverani. This song is a straight-up power-metal rocker. My research on the album itself seems to indicate that both the album and the arist/composer are highly regarded in the prog rock community, but this song may not be the best overall representation of the body of work as a whole. I think it's difficult to judge a conceptual piece on the merits of just a single track, but nonetheless, based on this track and the strength of the vocal delivery, I am interested in exploring it further. I don't think there's anything particularly innovative or unique about it, but it sounded pretty cool to me.
Score: 8
obscure
Band: Reign of the Architect
Album: Rise
Song: Leaking Wounds
"Rise" is a very recently released album (April 16, 2013) by symphonic progressive metal band Reign of the Architect. From the band's official website: "Reign of the Architect started as a multinational studio project in October 2008. A cooperation between Yuval Kramer, guitarist of the highly acclaimed Israeli metal band AMASEFFER and Mexican drummer Mauricio Bustamante with the basic storyline written by the Israeli metal singer Yotam ‘Defiler’ Avni, the lead death metal singer of PREY FOR NOTHING. They wrote ROTA’s debut album ‘Rise’, a Sci-Fi concept album, only by e-mailing each other combining their own regional musical influences, such as Mediterranean and Latin music, as well as film soundtracks into the language of progressive metal."
The track "Leaking Wounds" is the 6th track on the album. It's got an immediacy and urgency to it that I find hard to describe. It's probably the main riff. Overall I enjoyed it although I found the vocal delivery to be a little bit too over the top by the time the song came to a conclusion. Still, it's pretty good.
Score: 7.5
Scorpion
Band: Power of Omens
Album: Rooms of Anguish
Song: As Winter Falls
As with the first submission, this one reminds me of Fates Warning, probably even more than the first submission, mostly due to the intro to this song. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will buy it. The music is breathtaking and jarring. The drumming in particular is amazing. Unexpected. Unnerving. The vocals are awesome and the guitar player. I think he's a fucking octopus or something. I really would love to hear this in the context of the entire album.
Score: 9.5
TAC
Band: Glass Mind
Album: Haunting Regrets
Song: Your Name In Silence
Glass Mind is an unsigned progressive metal band apparently from Mexico. "Haunting Regrets" is, from what I could find online, their only album. The song "Your Name In Silence" is the 4th track from this album. I found a lot to like here and will probably explore this band further. Musically, it's melodic and progressive with plenty of keys, a lot of great guitar playing and the songwriting is solid. Vocals, while not bad were a bit difficult to understand. I'm not sure if it was due to an accent or the production, but it didn't make too much difference in my enjoyment. Overall, I like it. Not too much else to comment on at this point. Quality stuff.
Score: 8.5
wolfking
Band: Sieges Even
Album: Paramount
Song: Tidal
Sieges Even were a progressive rock band (some refer to them as progressive metal, but I'm still not sure why) from Munich, Germany. They split in 2008 and some of the members went on to form the prog rock band Subsignal. Paramount is their 7th album, released in 2007. The song Tidal is the second track from that album. I found this music to be very engaging, with an interesting arrangement and great vocals, particularly the vocal harmonies. It reminded me a bit of early Spock's Beard or maybe Transatlantic. After I had listened to it a few times, I thought it sounded somewhat familiar and as it turns out I did own their 1991 album "A Sense of Change" but that album features a different lead vocalist and the style was quite a bit different than this album. I don't know that I'd be rushing out to buy this album, but I did enjoy it.
Score: 8
Leader Board:
lonestar - 34
obscure - 33
scorpion 33
Dr. DTVT - 31.5
TAC - 31
wolfking - 30.5
jingle.boy - 29.5
nekov - 28.5
Elite - 26.5
ich bin besser - 18.5
Topic: KirksNoseHair's Simple Roulette v. And The Winner Is..... (Read 40293 times)
