Dr. DTVTBand: Worlds
Song: The Fifth Wheel
Album: Out of The Cold
Worlds is a progressive rock band from Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was a challenge to find anything about this band on the internet. Their MySpace page looks like it hasn't been updated in a few years and I was unable to find their CD anywhere. That's a shame because I enjoyed the song quite a bit. They appear to be unsigned and I'd estimate that the lack of label support manifests itself a tiny bit in the somewhat anemic sounding production values on the recording. However, with that said, there's a lot to like here. If you took classic-era Rush and combined it with Yes you might have a sound similar to what Worlds sounds like. It's too bad they haven't been promoted more, because there's a ton of potential here.
Score: 8.5EliteBand: Jeff Buckley
Album: Grace
Song: Grace
Jeff Buckley is an American sing/song writer/guitarist. He released on full studio album, titled "Grace" before he died in an accidental drowning in 1997 at the age of 30. His music reminds me a little bit of Neal Morse's first two solo albums, although it's more guitar-oriented than piano-oriented. Although Elite thought I might not like this, and while I admit I wasn't exactly crazy about it, the music was actually quite nice. It's probably not something I'd rush out to buy right away, but that's not a quality judgement. I found the music to be quite melodic and sort of uplifting in feel. I don't have a whole lot to say about it other than it's not bad at all.
Score: 7.5jingle.boyBand: Toxic Smile
Album: Retrotox Forte
Song: Raised
Toxic Smile is a German Progressive metal band formed in 1996. The album "Retrotox Forte" is their second album. The composition is quite reminiscent of Dream Theater's early output in that it's quite complicated with quite a few time-signature changes and odd meter riffs. This is among the best submissions I've received in this roulette. This album will shoot straight to the top of my "to buy" list. Musically, I found this to be a bit more eclectic than standard prog/metal, and given that the musicians in this band have a lot of jazz influences, that's not too surprising. Good stuff here.
Score: 9.5lonestarBand: Incura
Album: The Lost EP
Song: Here to Blame
Incura bill themselves as a "Theatrical Hard Rock" band and they are from Vancouver, BC. Seems they have yet to release a full, proper album and have undergone numerous lineup adjustments since their inception, but they've managed to carve out a niche for themselves in the Canada progressive rock scene. Musically, it's pretty chuggy, with a vocalist that reminds me a little bit of Pat Monahan (Train) at times. I will have to take their word for it on the "theatrical" description since it's difficult to form such an opinion from a single 4-minute track, but it was definitely good enough that I would like to hear more from them.
Score: 8nekovBand: Von Hertzen Brothers
Album: Nine Lives
Song: Insomniac
Von Hertzen Brothers is a Finnish prog rock/prog metal band made up of three brothers. They cite Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd among their influences. This track certainly reminded me of the first two, not so much Pink Floyd, but I'm guessing other songs on their album have more ambient tones/moods. I must say, this was a bit out of my comfort zone and I was taken by surprise at first. I wasn't sure what to make of it after a couple of spins. But the more I listened to it, the more I got accustomed to the melodies, which are definitely not standard fare. This music challenges the listener a bit, but pays great dividends to those who rise to that challenge. A bit inaccessible to start, but downright catchy by the time I'd had 4 or 5 listens. Very cool grooves and riffs with very interesting melodies and excellent musicianship all around. Will definitely be exploring these guys further.
Score: 9obscureBand: Tellus Requiem
Album: Tellus Requiem
Song: Oblivion
Tellus Requiem is a Norwegian symphonic/neo-classical(ish) progressive metal band comparable to old-school Symphony X in some ways. Crazy-killer guitar soloing and keyboard soloing. Crushing riffs and big, huge orchestral production values. I very much enjoyed the music these guys delivered. The one thing that I found a bit off-putting was the vocalist. Not that he's a bad vocalist. But as you've all seen from this roulette, I am finicky when it comes to vocals. This guy's timbre was a little on the nasally side for me and I found it very difficult to understand what he was singing. But those are really minor gripes and I think the music definitely makes this a band worth checking out.
Score: 8ScorpionBand: Tetrafusion
Album: Horizons EP
Song: Spider Silk
Tetrafusion is a progressive metal band from Louisiana. The Horizons EP, from which the submitted track is taken, plays like one long continuous track that moves and weaves itself into and out of various moods and feels. I found the music to be extremely well-crafted, although slightly repetitive at times. They made me think that if Dream Theater were to morph into a djent-style band, this might be what they sound like, with the exception of the vocals, which were a bit on the bland side. Tetrafusion's strength is definitely in their compositions. I've downloaded their Horizons EP, which is free on their bandcamp page and have enjoyed listening to it.
Score: 8TACBand: Hibria
Album: Defying The Rules
Song: Millennium Quest
Hibria is a heavy/speed metal band from Brazil, known for their speed and technical prowess. They cite bands such as Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc as influences. It's easy to hear why. The music is heavy, riff-oriented, double-bass-driven, with some pretty cool breaks in there featuring twin harmony guitars (a la Iron Maiden) and even a twist of Neo-classical influences in the ripping guitar solos, complete with sweep arpeggios and harmonized diminished scale runs. I will probably buy this album just to hear the rest of the guitar solos and the riffs. I also found the vocalist to be quite good.
Score: 8.5 wolfkingBand: Seven Tears
Album: In Every Frozen Tear
Song: Hollow Ground
This was an interesting submission. A really heavy sounding yet melodic song with some extremely cliche lyrics, delivered by a somewhat gruff-sounding vocalist with quite a bit of power but not a lot of range. I enjoyed the song, but at the same time thought I was listening to a demo whenever it came up. Dull-sounding production didn't help either. It's too bad, because the chorus was pretty good and the song was decent overall.
Score: 7.5Final Score:lonestar - 42
obscure - 41
scorpion 41
Dr. DTVT - 40
TAC - 39.5
jingle.boy - 39
wolfking - 38
nekov - 37.5
Elite - 34
ich bin besser - 18.5
Topic: KirksNoseHair's Simple Roulette v. And The Winner Is..... (Read 40296 times)
