The Controversial Roulette v. And the winner is...

[Tom Bombadil]

Sorry for the delay. I've sent now.

[Sacul]

That's because I couldn't be online due to New year's Eve celebrations and shit. Sending now.

No problems. Everybody's in - I don't know how the internet connection will be here in the following days (changing hotels daily), so expect results in Wednesday. I'll have them earlier if I can, but that's not sure. Meanwhile, answer the poll

[Evermind]

If I'm still in the lead after this round (which I sincerely doubt), I don't want more rounds; if not, of course let's go for a few more. 

How's England, by the way?

[Nekov]

As fun as this has been I think this should be the last round. Let someone else have fun too 

[Scorpion]

Yeah, eight rounds is a good number. I'd say you end it after the open round.

[Sacul]

How's England, by the way?

Lovely, beautiful buildings (and redheads   ), nice people, cheap books and clothes, glad people get my poor pronunciation - and expensive food, still have to recover sleep from the flights, weird plugs, and dude, it's fucking freezing. Seriously, I have never had to wear too many clothes. But despite it, I think I'll be sad when I have to leave, cause this is great.

[Evermind]

How's England, by the way?

Lovely, beautiful buildings (and redheads   ), nice people, cheap books and clothes, glad people get my poor pronunciation - and expensive food, still have to recover sleep from the flights, weird plugs, and dude, it's fucking freezing. Seriously, I have never had to wear too many clothes. But despite it, I think I'll be sad when I have to leave, cause this is great.

Freezing? I've watched Dover - Crystal Palace today and there were no snow or rain even. It's clearly higher than 0°C there, I would say, though I could be wrong. But if I'm not, 0°C is not freezing. But hell, other than that, the description sounds awfully nice.

[Sacul]

Don't worry guys, I have listened to your stuff, and the write-ups are almost finished. But can't really post them with my crappy smartphone, so will rent a PC on the hotel's cyber tomorrow and will give you something decent. And will upload some pics from here, so you can see how fucking freezing it is.

[Nekov]

 

[Sacul]

Caligula's Horse - Vanishing Rites (mikemangioy)
I do like the vibes of this song, and how it flows. But there are some parts that sound too reminiscent of Haken's Aquarius. Even though, the djent parts were really cool, and the singer is awesome. Will surely give this one a shot, it seems promising. Great song overall. 8/10


Oceansize - You Wish (Tyrias)
Oh is band again I remember giving them a chance with Frames. And although I liked it, I just got bored and forgot about them. This is a decent song, with some great instrumental work, and a good singer. The vocal lines are rather weak, or at least not my cup of tea - I just like to have a bit more of balance between instrumental sections and vocals. And sometimes that limit is exceeded with too many vocal lines. It also started boring but ended up great. 8/10


The Contortionist - Language I: Intuition (Nekov)
I remember this band getting praised a lot and gave it a chance some months ago. And didn't like it. Nor this time - I left it on the to-listen list to see if someone sent me a song I liked from the album. The calm sections are great but I don't get the heaviness and the wankery. Overall it was good, but not enough. 6/10


Sonata Artica - Don't Say a Word (Evermind)
More power metal? You do have balls. This tune had, surprisingly, decent vocal lines and a good chorus. And enough variety. But I just don't like the band's style that much, and I'm tired of the power metal sound. It has some nice parts and others a bit boring. And a lot of cheese. At least disagreeing with your top 50 is fun . 6.5/10


Boston - Foreplay/Long Time (jingle.boy)
Oh boy, didn't expect this to be so good. I knew this album was so praised, and added it for that reason to the to-listen list. But since I'm not too fond of old-school music, didn't expect this. Everything here is great and awesome, full of win. This song it's lots of fun, and made me smile several times. I love when the acoustic guitars kick in. My only complaint is that I don't get how the instrumental intros connects with the rest of the song - maybe it does within the context of the album. But it doesn't matter that much, since they're both grate. Awesome tune. 9.5/10


Myrath - My Inner War (Scorpion)
This is quite an interesting and eclectic metal-driven song. I really liked it overall, despite having some weak vocal lines at times and some pointless wankery near the end. But it was badass, like the thrash sections. 8/10


U.D.O. - I Give as Good as I Get (Shadow Ninja 2.0)
I hate the guitars at the beginning. They were annoying on the 80s, and sound awful on prog, specially with metal. Thankfully, it gets better from there - but just a bit. I'm not fond of the vocalist nor the vocal lines, but the electric guitar work is interesting when it appears. It could have been better. 5.5/10


Schizoid Lloyd - Misanthrope Puppet (Elite)
This is quite an interesting, eclectic listen. And quite proggy. I like the groove and the atmosphere. And the different transitions and sounds. My only complaint is that sometimes the vocal lines could be better. And the ending a bit shorter. But it's really interesting anyways. 8.5/10


A Perfect Circle  - The Outsider (Tom Bombadil)
This has a Tool vibe. Not a bad thing, but I find it hilarious how I prefer other bands using Tool's sound rather than Tool themselves. And it has almost the same problem as with the Oceansize song, but a bit more balanced this time. This is a badass tune, with lots of attitude and heaviness. Props to the singer. Interesting song and band. 8/10


Lucien - Overture to Winter (Lucien)
Quite minimalistic, peaceful, and soft. This is a nice song you wrote, and it could perfectly fit an 16-bit rpg set in a winter land. Some parts even reminded me of some Pokemon games. Come on dude, you've got an ear for making this kind of music. I hope you manage to put an album on Bandcamp - I would buy it, even if it sucks.8/10


Special points
Nekov, song from the to-listen list (2 points)
jingle.boy, song from the to-listen list (2 points)
Elite, song from the to-listen list (2 points)
Tom Bombadil, song from the to-listen list (2 points)
Tyrias, a band I used to dislike, but your song was great (5 points)


Positions
Tyrias - 86
Evermind - 86
Scorpion - 84.5
Elite - 82.5
Nekov - 80.5
Tom Bombadil - 76.5
Lucien - 74.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 73
mikemangioy - 72
jingle.boy - 69.5


Now wait a minute man. This isn't how it is. I'm confused. Just one of you should win this . Now listen up participants - if you want to carry this on for one or two more rounds, I'm fine. But if you're tired of this shit willing to put this to an end, then here's how we can do it: Evermind and Tyrias send me a song, without a theme, and the one I like best, it wins the game. But with a special condition: no special points at all. What matters now it's the song, not how you combine points smartly. But only if you want, of course.

[Sacul]

Please answer the poll (yeah, again) and give me your thoughts on how to proceed .

[Nekov]

Well, I thought you'd enjoy that one but to each his own. As I said before, this was fun while it lasted but it's probably better if someone else can have fun too.

Thanks for running this 

[mikemangioy]

As fun as the roulette is, a challenge sounds even more fun so yep.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Yeah, I'd say go ahead and finish it, the roulette waiting list is still pretty long.

[Tyrias]

Well, I wasn't expecting to end up tied for first after being 6,5 back last round. No complaints though

Since the poll is already 5:1 for ending this with a duel I'll start thinking about which song to send .

[Evermind]

Damn, I was hoping for 7,5 points and +5 for power metal. Well, this risk didn't pay out.

I'm all for finishing this one, and I'll go think what to send. However, I'm leaving for two days in a few hours, and I don't want to make hasty decisions, so you may have to wait a bit before you'll get my song.

[Elite]

I'd say just stop it now. It has taken quite long already. Just end the roulette with two winners. That has been done before as well.

[mikemangioy]

Anyways, A Perfect Cricle sounds like Tool no wonder because Keenan is in that band 

[Sacul]

I'd say just stop it now. It has taken quite long already. Just end the roulette with two winners. That has been done before as well.

Well, the guys have chosen to have a final duel. And yeah, this has taken quite long, but I'd like to say that it's less than some other roulettes, so a few days more won't hurt anybody.

[Nekov]

This took less than the 2 months that 8 round roulettes normally last so you did pretty good

[Tyrias]

So I'm assuming we're having the duel and I can send my song? If yes then I'll sleep over my choice and send tomorrow 

[Sacul]

Yeah, take your time to think your choice you two. Because there are no special points, sending me good power metal won't save your ass unless it's freaking good and deserves a high mark on it's own. So by now you're aware of my tastes -  dislike cheesy stuff, like well-crafted music, with smart songwriting. And have a weakness for pianos, well-written pop songs, and big choirs. And another crap I can't remember now, so good luck.

[Tyrias]

Sent. I hope you like it enough for me to win this .

[Evermind]

Sent my second favourite song of all time.

[Sacul]

Entries received. Although they're two songs, I want to give them several spins before choosing a winner. This ends on Wednesday.

[bl5150]

This ends on Wednesday.

 

[Evermind]

Entries received. Although they're two songs, I want to give them several spins after choosing a winner. This ends on Wednesday.

Any chance you'll do that before choosing a winner?

[Sacul]

Definitely - writing on a smartphone late at night in another language ain't easy .

[Sacul]

On a first listen, the winner was clear. But the other song grew on me, and it's getting really tough to choose which is best. If I can decide in the next few hours, I'll post the champion's name. If not, you'll have to wait till tomorrow.

[Evermind]

I would say take all the time you need and want, one more day won't hurt anyone, no matter what the result is.

[Tyrias]

Yeah, I think the next roulette has started already anyway, so take your time. Of course, you can always decide you like both songs equally and have two winners, but I guess that would kind of destroy the point of the extra round .

[Sacul]

Ok guys this was really tough because both your songs sucked were amazing, and it took me a bit of time to decide.


Dredg - The Canyon Behind Her (Tyrias)
With just a few misses and lots of hits, you really got what I like, and made me discover some great music (the Brand New album, gosh). So props for getting up to the top, and to this final duel. Now to the tune.
I like the post-rock atmosphere of this song, wonderful. And the chorus, dude. Superb. The singer has an unusual (at least for me) voice, but does an excellent job. The only complaint I have is the weird breakdown in the middle, it kind of breaks the flow. But it gets great again after that. The last two minutes are just glorious. Will check this album and band - amazing choice man. 9/10


Dire Straits - Telegraph Road (Evermind)
So, although our tastes agree on very few things, you played smartly and managed to get to the top of the ranking. Props for taking advantage of the special points and risking yourself several times, cause it paid off, huh? Ok, now to the song.
It's difficult for me to say what I like so much of this. It might be the brilliant piano work, or the flow it has - few songs I know have that natural feeling, that everything it's on it's place. The chemistry between this musicians and how it feels like a jam it's just mind-blowing. Great ending. My only complaint is that it could have some trimming here and there. But it's an excellent piece of music. 9/10


Due to ranking issues, your marks are the same. And your songs are really similar in awesomeness, so I just chose the one I liked most. It was no easy thing, but by a very, really small microscopic margin (and because I have to choose just one, not both or this extra round would have been pointless), the winner is...
















Kevin Moore






























  EVERMIND!

[Elite]

The Canyon Behind Her is my favourite song ever. Good job.

[Evermind]

Wow, I actually won a roulette! Wow! Wheee! No, sorry, I'm perfectly fine, thank you.

So, although our tastes agree on very few things, you played smartly and managed to get to the top of the ranking. Props for taking advantage of the special points and risking yourself several times, cause it paid off, huh? Ok, now to the song.

Yeah man, I felt I wasn't going to meet your taste on music, so I tried to play indeed for the points, and well, it paid off. Although it's not like I didn't send you great tunes, you've got to check out that Mark Knopfler album, David Gilmour solo work and Jon Lord's Sarabande (which ranked at 5 because of not fitting the theme, which means it's actually 8), so I think I've done quite well in this department. Oh, and that Wheel of Time song too.

Dire Straits - Telegraph Road (Evermind)

It's difficult for me to say what I like so much of this. It might be the brilliant piano work, or the flow it has - few songs I know have that natural feeling, that everything it's on it's place. The chemistry between this musicians and how it feels like a jam it's just mind-blowing. Great ending. My only complaint is that it could have some trimming here and there. But it's an excellent piece of music. 9/10

Yes, you actually summed up the reason I like this song so much in just one word, "natural". It's just unbelievable how naturally this whole fourteen-minutes-long beast unfolds, and it's not even an epic or something like that, just the usual song telling the story. I love it to pieces, and it really warms my heart to see you loved it too. Dire Straits are just so amazing, I have no words.

And, well, of course, thank you for running this, I had a blast! Of course some of that blast has to do with me actually winning the thing, because it's my first win in the roulettes, but even if I wouldn't have won, that was a very classy roulette, with great pace and nice write-ups and structure. I'm looking forward to v2, if you will ever decide hosting it.

And, again, of course, the last but not least, nice job Tyrias! I actually haven't heard the song you've sent for the final round, but I'm going to fix that right now.

[Tyrias]

So close! Well, I guess I'll have to continue waiting for my first roulette win, this is the second time I end up second by a little margin (I think it was 0,5 points last time  ). Anyway, I had lots of fun playing and I hope I helped you discover lots of new great artists! (You are right, that Brand New album is indeed amazing, probably in my top 10 albums ever. So is El Cielo by dredg, so make sure you check it out!).

The Canyon Behind Her is my favourite song ever. Good job.

It's not my favourite by any means, but that doesn't mean it's not an absolutely spectacular song (even more in the context of the album). I can certainly see where you're coming from.

Wow, I actually won a roulette! Wow! Wheee! No, sorry, I'm perfectly fine, thank you.


And, again, of course, the last but not least, nice job Tyrias! I actually haven't heard the song you've sent for the final round, but I'm going to fix that right now.

Congratulations to you! And I haven't heard your song either, but I'll definetely listen to it (if only to see what I lost against )!

What I'm still curious about is which song you liked better initially, Sacul.