It's Saturday evening here, so...
Tenhi - Huomen (Tom Bombadil)Nice minimalistic song, and great atmosphere. Although I don't understand the lyrics, the singer is great and makes a good job, specially when singing out loud, like in a chamber. Never heard this neo-folk thing - the closest is Ulver's
Bergtatt, when it gets folky. It works great on the background, but it is too simple for my taste. Nice anyways.
7/10Half Moon Run - No More Losing the War (Shadow Ninja 2.0)This song was similar to the previous, as both are folk-y and dark. But this is different, of course. I like the singer's voice and the effects on the vocals. Love the atmosphere. Great guitars on the background. Short, but good song.
7.5/10Storm Corrosion - Drag Ropes (mikemangioy)This is like, my third attempt to Storm Corrosion. Heard it a few months after it's release, but disliked it. Gave it another chance earlier this year, and nothing. I've listened to lots of music since, and thought it might change my appreciation of this. The dark, bleak atmosphere is great, and so does Mikael's voice. It all goes great till 2.19 when those weird effects appears. After that, it gets weird. Like, so much. Some parts are cool, and other not so much. The vocal counterpoint is awkward, but awesome somehow. The rest of the song has some boring sections, and some neat ones, like the guitar solo and when the piano appears here and there. Overall is weird, even for Steven's standards. If I had liked it a bit more, you would have earned the special points. But, well...
6.5/10Susanne Sundfor - White Foxes (Tyrias)This is an interesting choice. The synths and her voice are lovely. Somehow, this is fairly electronic, yet it all feels alive and dark. specially with how the vocals sound. The chorus is great, and so does the rest of the song. I'm a noob on electronic music, but I love what I've discovered so far - so don't be afraid to send that kind of stuff. This is great stuff. Baroque pop? Interesting genre.
8.5/10Russian Circles - Burial (Nekov)This is creepy. Definitely the darkest tune from this round. I'm not a big fan of post-metal, specially if it includes senseless growls. Or at least in the style of Isis' Panopticon. Good thing this is just instrumental. I think I've heard this band mentioned a few time on the post-rock thread. It has some post-rock, indeed. But also lots of heavy, distorted guitars. There are some intense moments, with great work on the drums. I'm not a big fan of the guitar tone, specially during the first half. But what the hell, the ending is great.
7.5/10InVertigo - Darkness (jingle.boy)This band must be really underground since they aren't on Sputnik nor have more than 1K plays on Spotify - they're on PA though. About the song. It's quite proggy and has lots of variations, that it never gets boring. And although I like this tune so much, specially after the first half (when it gets awesome), it isn't really dark. Just because it's on the title, it doesn't automatically apply for the theme. I'd give this song an 8.5 if it was another round. But...
"What could be better than a song titled "Darkness"". That it actually was dark.
5.5/10Alcest - Souvenirs d'un autre monde (Lucien)I've heard the new Alcest album everywhere. On lots of tops and what-I've-been-listening-to lists. This seems to be one of their first works, when they were black metal with shoegaze, I think? It doesn't matter - this is awesome. I love the ethereal atmosphere and what the guitars does. It kind of reminds me to modern Anathema. Although it'd seem awkward that the singer was too static while the song was energetic, it actually works great. I love this shoegaze thing - will have to listen to
Loveless soon, it seems. Gorgeous.
9.5/10Amon Amarth - Embrace of the Endless Ocean (Scorpion)I think the closest I've listened to melodeath is Opeth, but they're too proggy and folky, so they don't count. You were woried wether this would be a total hit or complete miss. Congratulations - it's the former. I love how this song focuses on songwriting and a clean production rather than masturbating over senseless riffs and the cookies monster with common cold. The growls are cool, they guy has talent. The guitar work is also amazing, it never gets boring and does lots of things. I know that death metal can get way more extreme, so I appreciate this degree of intensity. I dislike death metal in the vein of Death's Symbolic. But this is another thing. Awesome.
8.5/10Need - Mother Madness (Evermind)My problem with prog metal in general is how unoriginal most of the genre is. It's like they took Fates Warning's songwriting, added some acoustic guitars a la Queensryche, and a few DT melodies. I've listened to lots of artists that don't even have a signature sound nor focus on songwriting. My fav bands of the genre do actually mix their music with another elements and really care for being original, making great songs and never repeat themselves no what other have done before. So I was fairly skeptical when you and Elite sent me prog metal, since the songs were not genre-bending. On a first listen, this was bad. But after some spins, it grew a bit on me. It actually has lots of variety and it's fairly interesting. My only complaint are the vocal lines, which aren't so original and are reminiscent of thrash metal. And had some cheese here and there. But it was a good song anyways.
7.5/10Flaming Row - Time Mirror (Elite)Another prog metal song, with some power metal. I've seen some users on this forum masturbating over the band's new album, and was curious when you sent me song from them. Dude, this is great. I love the chorus (kind of reminds me to
Symphony X) and when the female singer appears. The heavy moment at 2.20 is
. Too sad it's short but whatever. This song has a nice balance between drumming, guitars, and synths. The instrumental section is quite creative and interesting. Cool song.
8.5/10Darkest song (Theme Winner - 4 points)Russian Circles - Burial (Nekov)Special points
Tom Bombadil, genre I've never listened to (neo-folk) (3 points)
Lucien, genre I've never listened to (shoegaze) (3 points)
Scorpion, genre I've never listened to (melodic death metal) (3 points)Tyrias, genre I've never listened to (baroque pop) (3 points)Evermind, song from a genre I dislike but what you sent was great (5 points)
Elite, song from a genre I dislike but what you sent was great (5 points)Nekov, song from a genre I dislike but what you sent was great (5 points)PositionsElite - 57.5
Evermind - 55
Nekov - 53.5
Tyrias - 51.5
Scorpion - 50.5
mikemangioy - 50
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 48.5
Tom Bombadil - 46.5
Lucien - 43.5
jingle.boy - 42
Round Six
Music for Airports
If you have been too lazy to google this, then let me explain it. The title of this round is a reference to the Brian Eno album,
Ambient 1: Music for Airports. So - send me some ambient (duh) songs. My fav albums on this vein are Ulver's
Shadows of the Sun/Messe, GYBE!'s
F#A#Infinity, Devin Townsend's
Ghost, and Stars of the Lid's
And their Refinement of the Decline. If you don't have this kind of stuff, just send laid back songs with a huge, unique atmosphere. With a great focus in sound rather than in songwriting. I have some ambient records on my to-listen list, by the way.
Poll
Topic: The Controversial Roulette v. And the winner is... (Read 20524 times)