Alright, guys, this is it. It all comes down to this. It’s been a hell of a ride, and it ends here.
But before I post the results of the final round, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you again for participating – not just the two finalists, but everybody who was involved in this. Each and every one of you introduced me to some great music. There are a lot of bands I’ve developed an interest in because of this roulette, and I’ll probably spend the next year (or more) trying to explore them all. I made a list of albums that I want to check out, and there are about forty on the list – and that’s no more than one album per artist, for crying out loud! Not even taking into consideration full discographies. This roulette has opened my eyes to a lot of great artists, and I’m truly grateful to all of you. I can’t thank you enough for your time and attention. Truly, I am the winner of this roulette, and the only real loser is my bank account, which is going to be crying in submission sooner than later.
Sincerely, thank you all very much. I’ve had a lot of fun with this, and I hope some of you guys have as well.
Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to bring this thing to a close. Here we go, folks, final round results…
lonestar: Thoughts Factory – ‘Voices From Heaven’Before I get into a proper review of the song, I want to provide some background information here. I had a different experience with this one than I had with other songs in this roulette, because I pretty much knew what was coming ahead of time. It was no secret that lonestar was over the moon about this album, and he wasn’t exactly subtle about his intention to send me something from it, either – when the album was officially released, he posted a link to the online stream, ‘for everyone except Jaffa.’
So I was pretty sure I was going to be receiving something from these guys here. I didn’t listen to any of it ahead of time, but I did read his review of the album, which was so overwhelmingly positive that it raised my expectations to unsustainable levels, and I was pretty sure I was going to end up being disappointed with his submission.
But I wasn’t. This song lives up to the hype. If anything, I would say it actually
exceeded my expectations, and certainly defied them; it was quite a curveball in some ways. After reading the review and learning what the album was about, I was expecting something dark and tormented. What I got instead was a surprisingly positive and uplifting song with a lot of hope and optimism. There are shadows of hurt and loss, but they are tempered by the promise of brighter times ahead. Listening to this, you feel like it’s possible to overcome any hardship, to traverse any darkness and find light on the other side. That being said, it isn’t all sunshine; there’s a distinct sense of desperation running through it, and it certainly has its ominous moments (‘cause these voices… are in my head’). And it ends on a somewhat somber note with a haunting piano passage that leaves me wondering whether or not everything is really going to be okay after all. But the overall feeling is still quite positive. It’s a song about making peace and seeking comfort. It’s a deeply moving piece of music, intensely emotional and very passionate. I feel like the band must hold this subject matter very close to their hearts.
And in terms of sheer musicianship, it’s pretty much a home run. It’s stuffed full of beautiful melodies and lovely harmonies, the vocals are gorgeous throughout, the guitar playing is stellar from start to finish, and the keys are magnificent. It has a great flow, covering a lot of ground with smooth strides and seamless transitions. The slower passages are balanced very well with the more energetic parts of the song, striking a great blend of power and tenderness. The lyrics are both interesting and evocative, the soaring vocal melodies are incredible, and the instrumental sections are terrific, boasting some excellent solos. The whole thing is just… well, heavenly. An absolutely wonderful piece of music.
jingle.boy: Soul Secret – ‘Behind the Curtain’After that last write-up, it might seem like lonestar has this in the bag, but we can’t count jingle out just yet, because this song is definitely a worthy contender! For a little background information, Chad initially sent me two songs, giving me the option to choose whichever one I wanted for the final round. He compared the two songs by saying that this one would engage lonestar in an all-out prog metal slugfest (it delivers) while the other would have been more of a flanking maneuver. After a little confusion and some back-and-forth discussion, I eventually realized that the other song had JLB on vocals, and since I mentioned DT members as being restricted in the first post, I settled on this one. I had never heard of these guys before this, so I went into it with few expectations and an open mind.
And it pretty much blew me away. This song is instrumentally amazing, featuring masterful performances from everybody involved. The drumming has a ton of character to it, with lots of little intricacies and nuances that add a lot of depth and complexity to the song, and on the whole it just explodes with life and power, holding the music together and driving it at a relentless pace. The keys are all over the place, contributing to the background as well as the main substance of the song; they paint the music with a lot of color, breathing their life into the song with rich textures, vibrant melodies, awesome flourishes, and some absolutely beautiful soloing. And speaking of soloing, how about that guitar solo? Stunning. The guitar player is on fire throughout the entire song, playing with a great tone and a lot of feeling, but that solo is a definite highlight. And when the keys kick back in to join the party, the result is just mind-blowing, a flash of nearly blinding musical splendor. That whole section is simply outstanding. And then there’s the vocalist, whose unique voice and style are put to excellent use as he sings his heart out with an interesting combination of toughness and a sort of vulnerability; a powerful and emotional vocal performance for sure. In this song, every element is of very high quality, and all the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly to form a brilliant whole with a great balance of technical proficiency and soul.
The song also has a really interesting feeling to it. In some ways it is very polished, but at the same time it manages to feel raw and open. I’m not sure how that works, exactly, but it does, and the result is that the song feels deeply personal and very fresh. Listening to this, I really feel like the music is a part of me, and it’s an awesome feeling. Incredible song.
Results: It's a tie!Since I love both submissions so much, I’m just going to go ahead and call it a tie! =D… … … … … … Don’t worry, I’m kidding. I’m pretty sure both of the finalists would physically attack me if I tried to go that route.
Ties are for sissies. This thing needs a winner, and at the end of the day, that winner is…
…
….
……
lonestar!
Congratulations, buddy! It was a hell of a fight, but in the end, you came out on top. And truth be told, there couldn’t be a more deserving winner. While I’ve received a lot of awesome songs in this roulette, if I were to try to rank them all (which I’m not going to actually do, by the way, so don’t ask), four of your submissions would make my top ten. That’s a pretty damn impressive record. I can hardly believe that I almost had to eliminate you in the second round; thank goodness I implemented the immunity rule, because kicking you out that early would have been a travesty, and I would have missed out on some phenomenal music. You set a very high standard for yourself in the opening round, and for the most part, you managed to live up to that standard very well. Excellent job.
And jingle.boy, for the record, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of either. You played very well yourself, and this was a pretty close call. The gold medal was within your reach, but in the end, the Chef pulled off the win; I hope you can settle for your bright and shiny silver. Congratulations on second place and a hard fought final round. Thanks so much for participating.
Final Rankings: 1. lonestar
2. jingle.boy
3. SomeoneLikeHim
4. wolfking
5. adace
6. kingshmegland
7. Buddyhunter1
8. Dr. DTVT
9. Elite
10. Nekov
Again, thank you all for participating! You all did a great job! Even Nekov; I know I have you in ‘last place’ and you were the first to be eliminated, but that Subsignal song you sent me is fucking fantastic, and the Frost* tune has grown on me some with repeated listens as well. Truth be told, I really don’t think I received a single bad song in this entire thing. Even my least favorite songs were still solid 6/10s.
And again, congratulations to lonestar!
I hadn’t really come up with any prizes for the winner of this thing, but you can rest assured that I’ll be putting some money toward some of the artists you’ve introduced me to. And if you want, you can choose what my sig says or something goofy like that. Not much of a prize, but there it is.
And with that… I think we’re done! It’s been a blast, everybody. Thanks for the opportunity!
Topic: Jaffa's Prog Rock and Metal Roulette - Final Results posted!!! (Read 42880 times)