CHAD // White Lion – Lady Of The Valley80sh sounding. The chorus is very effective if just a bit overexploited. Very fast paced and engaging song that may very well serve for a car trip mixtape, I would certainly include it. The guitar solo around 3m is nothing short of great, as is the one at the end of the fifth minute of the song. There are a plenty of shorter guitar solos, none of which stands out of the lot, but they all collectively bring this guitar and chorus-driven song up a notch. (could have the best cumulative use of guitar solos).
Score: 8/10
SCORPION// Buckethead – SoothsayerWho said you can’t jerk a tear playing fast as hell? Well, it doesn’t really matter. He was wrong.
10/10NEKOV // Aghora – Kali YugaVocals leave me a bit cold. The female voice is intriguing and dreamy – almost intoxicating, but the phrasing is weird (is that Indian?) and so is the pace of the song. A song of this kind is what I would say is in my mind the musical translation of what is going on in a mind caught in a fever-induced delirium. The guitar solo near the end sounds as good as it probably is, and positively so. All in all, this song feels too a bit inconclusive, with many ideas expressed but perhaps underdeveloped. The guitar solo sounded great, but I can’t shake off the feeling of a GS placed there because “let’s do a guitar solo here!”.
Score: 7,5/10KINGSHMEGLAND // King’s X – VegetableGroovy start. Basically the first half of the song is completely supported by a single guitar riff. However good it may be (and it is), that makes the song sound quite flat and unprogressing, if not uneventful. The first major change in the picture is the guitar solo around the 5th minute. The solo is good, but it didn’t stand the distraction proof, that is rewinding the song to a minute or two before the solo and start playing a game or reading post (in this present case I was reading one of blob’s self defensive posts) and seeing if the solo manages to draw enough attention to make me halt what I was doing. The ending, too, is a bit abrupt and involved. However, the song is not bad and at least is graced by a great main riff and great vocals.
Score: 7/10Ville // Kingston Wall – NepalFirst second: my ears are blown. Not metaphorically, there’s a huge loud chord right at the beginning readily explained as the evidence of a transition heavy album. The song is a wonderfully sounding melting pot of musical excellences: the overlong and yet almost dauntingly concise structure of a 70s’ jam song, the powerful distorted guitar of the new wave of prog-after-the-eighties, great guitar solos, an impressive singer and a very compelling and coherent flow. Append to all of that a good deal of catchiness to the choruses and the main guitar riffs and you get the song of the weekend. Highly recommended to everyone.
Score: 9,5/10TAC // Hibria – Millennium QuestThis song could beat any human crafted machine in a hot start competition. Not even one second in, the song has already reached full power and speed! And that’s a speed you don’t usually see in prog metal. Indeed a closer kinship to power metal is evident as soon as the powerful, high pitched clean vocals kick in. However daunting the voice I must admit that I’m more than slightly bothered by the slight abuse of high pitched vocals throughout the song, especially in the early stages. The singer, still, is definitely impressive and the best vocalist of the round. Too bad there’s no point for that this time. The song, however, doesn’t suffer from it a lot thanks to the large and abundant instrumental intermissions sustained by the driving force of two amazing guitar solos. The second one, in particular, gets the bonus point for greatness.
Score: 8/10+1/10Lonestar // Pyramid Theorem – Another Day Slips ByThis song is the oddball of the round. I find myself unable to place it in a definite place musically. Heisenberg’s strikes back? Well, who cares? I love it! It’s a diverse and somewhat fresh piece that definitely doesn’t suffer from the lack of ideas and imagination, being as full of themes and melodies as a 6 minute piece can get. Great pace, great potential (for me to like this band!) and great musicianship. The solo is nothing short of awesome and closely loses the point to TAC’s piece. My only regret: the lack of a really fulfilling closure after the guitar solo. There could have been a conclusive verse or at least a less embryonic outro. Highlight: the slow part around 1:40. (round highlight). Overall the first 4 minutes are worth a 10/10.
Score: 9/10Lolzeez // Opeth – BurdenWell, Opeth was supposed to be a forbidden band, but for this time I won’t issue any penalty nor ask you to send another song. Consider yourself lucky that you chose a song I have no knowledge of.
Well, this song doesn’t really matches the mental mp3 file of Opeth that most of us have in our mind, but still is a pretty great song that I would readily insert in my Opeth top 10 (hell, I don’t even know if I can recall that many songs by them!). Mikael vocals shine as always happens when he fully indulges in his warm and dreamy clean vocals, and the rest of the band stands the competition overall. A very coherent and fulfilling song. The guitar solo is as close to the bonus point as it can get, but again, consider yourself lucky that I let you choose a song from a band I know and somewhat like too without chopping your hand off. Also, did I mention DAT ENDING?
Score: 9,5/10So, all in all, great round guys! I am absolutely happy of the way this roulette is heading musically, it's meeting and surpassing my expectations! Now go, comment!
Topic: Wasteland's Hospice Roulette v. Round 4 Results POSTED! (Read 17606 times)
