Initially I wanted to post each writeup separately starting from sixth place to the first just to watch RJ reaction and have some fun,
It probably would have been the same as your reaction to me getting the Kamelot promo and telling you song by song how good it was.
Dude, that's fucked up.
Alright, so there we are! After nearly two months of bloody battles and all this stuff, here are the results of the final round! The writeups are arranged from sixth overall place to the first.
ErHaO: Echolyn – IslandWell, out of two progressive rock epics (I don’t really consider Sound of Contact to be a full-fledged progressive rock somehow) yours was the only I liked less, mostly because that Karmakanic song was just that awesome. As I said in the first-thoughts post, this song is quite enjoyable with few great moments scattered throughout the tune. Also as I said there, I’m really enjoying the muddled, retro-like mix, which kind of reminds me of Mark Knopfler – Privateering album mix (this is a good thing). However, my biggest complaint about the song is the lack of somewhat memorable parts — I think I’ve listened to it eight times and if someone asks me to describe the song structure and sing some moments, I probably won’t be able to do it. My description will include something like “sixteen minutes of prog goodness”, which is true, because I’m totally enjoying all I hear in this song, especially a good bass line, but somehow it just doesn’t register with me. Maybe I just need to give this song more time, because honestly, I like it, but I can’t remember much about it. I love the calm piano part at ~7:30 though.
And this has to be most non-epic epic (
) I’ve received in this round. Just calm and enjoyable all around, but it’s really more like a long song and less like an epic. You really should’ve sent something like Galahad here, would’ve earned you more points. I still liked your song though. 7.5 equals “good”, so don’t be upset!
7.5/10 | 1/5
Overall result: 68.5 (6th place)
It may seem you came at the last place, but don’t forget there were six people eliminated before, so for your first roulette you actually did really well! Sixth place against the eleven strong participants, it’s more like an achievement than a failure. I actually doubted you can come up with decent stuff at first, even though I knew our tastes were quite alike, because you frequented the same bands’ threads as I did, but I thought the banned list may be just a bit too extensive for you; well, you soundly proved me wrong on that count. While you started out quite slow with For All We Know and Damian Wilson, you upped your game a few notches with Circus Maximus, Serenity and Mind’s Eye, and all those bands are on my check-out list now. You’ve secured your place in the final part with Threshold, cockblocking Seneca for Round 7 (
), and then totally stunned me with that Galahad entry. While your final round performance wasn’t that strong, I still think this is quite a worthy run you’ve made there. I hope you will participate again in a year or more, and I hope you will host your own roulette so I can share some of my favourite music with you too!
wolfking: Virgin Steele – A Whisper of DeathThis band was on my metal-checking-radar for a long time, for five or more years ever since I’ve heard DeFeis singing in Avantasia debut album. I have also heard DeFeis on Timo Tolkki’s Avalon second album (I wish I haven’t though
), and that’s it. I was curious how he sings in his own band, because on Avantasia his vocal delivery was kind of random. So I was really surprised to hear his awesome clean voice in the acoustic intro instead of this usual half-screaming with “ow!” and “aw!” exclamations he’s doing in the rest of the tune. Mind you, that’s not a complaint, because his singing style fits the music really well. This is also the shortest song I’ve received in this round, but while some progressive epics need some twenty minutes to unveil, this song does the same job in nine minutes, and even feels just a bit too long maybe. It really takes a lot of great ideas to make a really fascinating and interesting hard rock / power metal track longer than eight minutes, and while this song doesn’t totally fit this description, it wasn’t boring or anything; quite enjoyable, in fact.
I realize now this approach was kind of what I expected of Virgin Steele even though I never heard a single song by them before. Solid metal with characteristic DeFeis’ singing, tasty riffs and solos and all that. I expected this song to be really epic, because long power metal tracks usually are, but weirdly this isn’t the case here.
8/10 | 2/5
Overall result: 70.5 (5th place)
I knew you wasn’t a frequent roulette player, but I definitely wanted you to participate in mine, because I knew you for a hard-rock / AOR / power metal fan, and I didn’t know Brent will sign up, so I wanted at least one of you here (and I’ve got a full deal, haha), so first of all, a huge thank you for participating! You totally didn’t disappoint, and while you had a few misses like C2C or Scar Symmetry, your entries usually had registered quite well with me, with some choices being really awesome, like Lost Horizons, Lord or Magnus Karlsson’s stuff. You didn’t sent any mindblowing-outstanding songs, but most of your entries were solid and went straight into check-out list. It was awesome to know your tastes more, and I’m looking forward to discuss some new albums with you in GMD, and of course you’re always welcome to my next roulette in a year or so! It was a honor to have you participating, man.
senecadawg2: Sound of Contact – Mobius SlipThis tune is incredibly calm and atmospheric, maybe even has some ambient moments. It requires a lot of attention though, because at the first few listens I struggled to find anything memorable, and even dozed off during the very first listen; but when I more or less started to grasp the whole picture this song creates, it turned out to be pretty great. This tune takes its time to build the atmosphere up, as expected of a song nearly twenty minutes in length, with some cool parts during the buildup, such as that small acoustic instrumental moment starting at 7:55, and some not-so-cool parts like the out-of-place Echoes-esque moment around ~3:55. The song then goes into a great tension-filled part in the middle I really like, reminding me of Octavarium structure (few calm parts, then something faster like Full Circle), but instead of building the moment even more (Intervals), it goes straight into a more tranquil, majestic part of the song. I love that serene All Worlds, All Times part, and the instrumental in the end is good, but the very ending when the melody disrupts into chaos soured the impression a bit.
Overall, I think the song lacked a bit of punch here and there, and some more epicness wouldn’t hurt it either. Even as it is, it’s still kind of epic in its own calm sort of way, especially when it gets to that beautiful final part. Also,
“I can’t feel anything at all, lipsticks that I recall.” 8.5/10 | 2/5
Overall result: 74.5 (4th place)
Well, you, on the other hand, is a known roulette player, so I wasn’t surprised when you signed up — I was kind of surprised you didn’t win though, given your previous record. As I mentioned in some round, it’s incredible how diverse your taste is, and while it’s clear your taste is different from mine, it’s also clear you can adapt to the person’s taste, seeing how you hadn’t sent any weird electronic stuff and went for such bands as Helker instead. It was also nice to get some awesome singer-songwriter stuff from you like Mazzy Star and David Gray, and of course you sent the best song of the whole roulette, Journey – Of a Lifetime. You did a great job, if you ask me; I guess you can’t win just any roulette you’re in, so try again in my next roulette when the times comes, maybe?
Dr. DTVT: Karmakanic – Send a Message From the HeartAnd here’s the best song of this round and one of the best songs I’ve received in this roulette. You’ve said in the roulette thread you didn’t really care for epicness and whatnot and just sent what you thought I will enjoy, and how damn right you were on that count. I always considered myself being only a mild progressive rock fan, slightly leaning towards neoprog, but you somehow managed to send a great progrock tune I loved from the very first listen. It definitely reminds me of The Flower Kings (and now that I’ve Googled some information about the band, I can totally see why
) I absolutely love the lighthearted approach this song presents, with that obviously happy and uplifting vibe. Accidentally, your song started playing just when I left the train, so when I exited the railway station the tune was at ~3:00, when the vocals start. It was a clear day with the sun shining and all that, and the very first
“Send a message from the heart / Turn around and face the sun” section made me incredibly happy for some reason. The song features different twists and turns then, sometimes switching the cheerful vibe to a longing one, but always stays cohesive and memorable, featuring the main melody in one way or another. The vocalist is just perfect for this kind of song. I also love the mix, with the ringing piano, audible bass and all that, every instrument can easily be heard. The darker part at ~10:30 is amazing too, the short intense
“Walk the path of contradiction, tumble when it turns” is incredible (I wish it was longer), and basically the whole song is amazing. You know, I’m usually writing my thoughts about the tune while listening to it, and this time I kind of don’t want to write anything and just sit here and let the song take me on a journey. The only parts I’m not too fond of is that vocal melody starting from
“It is time for healing”, and the
“Tides are turning” section, though I enjoy the drums there. I guess that’s what keeps this tune from getting a perfect score.
The awesomeness of this song is something I can’t exactly describe, but I’m totally in love with this song. For its length, which is nearly twenty minutes, it has an incredible amount of strong melodies and solos, managing to stay interesting for the whole listen, and to top it all off there’s that perfect epic ending (that’s how you end a calm, happy song. Sound of Contact could learn a thing or two from these guys), bringing the main melody back, making the song come full circle. Yeah, it’s a cliché thing, but it just works so well here.
When the world is falling and it’s digging in the dirt
Send a message from the heart
When the sky has risen and it's waiting for the end of Earth
Send a message from the heartAw, man.
9.5/10 | 4.5/5
Overall result: 78.5 (3rd place)
Alright, first of all, I really didn’t expect you to participate, and also to score that well. For some reason, I was sure you were a big progressive rock fan and I expected you to send lots of it, and since I think I’m only a moderate fan of this genre, I thought you won’t get a lot of points. True, you sent a progressive rock tune I didn’t enjoy once (Xen), but the other stuff you submitted was either good like Pendragon, or incredible like that Karmakanic song or Tiles; and sometimes you scored well with progressive metal, like with Ice Age or Wolverine. You really could’ve won this one if not for that Xen song (should’ve sent Existentialist, man), you played quite well and I’ve discovered a lot of awesome bands, thanks to you. I think I love progressive rock a bit more now, all because of the great tunes you’ve sent me.
lonestar: Silent Memorial – RetrospectiveI expected you to send this song, and you didn’t disappoint. Now, this tune is just a fucking powerhouse nearly all the way through, like a train going at full speed or something. And it just screams epic in your face with all those progressive riffs, distorted guitars and a complex keyboard runs underneath. This is like Dream Theater mixed with several bands like Seventh Wonder, probably Circus Maximus from what I’ve heard of them since ErHaO sent me their song, and few more progressive metal folks. The epicness begins right from the intro and continues through the acoustic part too — the single long distorted notes played on electric guitar during the acoustic arpeggios are my weakness (1:45 – 2:00). You know, during the first five listens I absolutely adored the instrumental goodness featured in this tune, and I wasn’t digging the vocals at all, both the delivery and the melodies; but then something clicked and now I love them. Well, the delivery at least; the melodies could’ve been a bit better anyway. But even though the glorious instrumental track beneath it saves even the not-that-good melodies; I do find the instrumental break in the middle of this tune a bit too long — it goes for about eight minutes, and it’s the usual kick-ass prog instrumental section, reminds me of Metropolis. I think six minutes would’ve been just enough. The real glory comes after the instrumental of course, the epic conclusion with some sections that can easily blow a mind of some unprepared listener.
Overall, I think there are three parts that are incredibly epic: the intro to the point when the vocals come in, the
“He remembers” section, and the outstanding outro from 20:00 onwards. And that’s really enough to make the whole package epic as hell, along with magnificent riffs and all this headbanging heaven this song provides. This is heavy and epic and glorious, but that Karmakanic tune still edges out your entry by the song-quality-points.
9/10 | 4.5/10
Overall result: 80 (2nd place)
I know, man, I know. You’ve expected to win this, and damn, did you come close to it. You even were in the lead at one point, but then lost all your advantage with one average entry, so if I were you, I would blame Simon Godfrey for that.
You had an upper-hand in the whole roulette, because you obviously knew my tastes better than anyone, and almost all of your songs except that Shineback one were great, especially Silent Memorial, Absolute Priority, Amadeus Awad’s Eon and Headspace. At the beginning, I hoped I’ve made the competition a bit difficult to you, following some of your roulette entries, listening to them and banning the bands like Karnya, so you maybe will have some difficulty picking the tunes to send (so I thought), and obviously that wasn’t the case. Guess your audio library is more extensive than I assumed. While I think none of your songs made the Top 5 (see below), you were really consistent in this roulette. I associated your tastes with progressive metal and I did get a lot of outstanding progressive metal from you, I think my knowledge of this genre improved vastly. Thanks for all the awesome entries man, see you in the next roulette of mine, and we’ll be probably competing against each other in the other roulettes soon too!
bl5150: D.C. Cooper – The UnionThis is the weirdest song I’ve received in this round for sure. It doesn’t match the standard epic format, and it sounds like some weird mix of bluesy rock, hard rock and power metal, and it’s pretty interesting package, even if a bit pretentious. The piano work is surprising on this track, but it fits really well with this
“Never before, never again turn on you”, even though I’m not too fond of melodies here. However, while I kind of like this part, it’s easily the least epic of all the song, and I talked about in the first-thoughts post, saying the song has the epic vibe for some parts, yet for other part loses it completely. That cool memorable moment I’ve mentioned was an appearance of a female voice, and the song really benefited from it, in my opinion. I think I like the verses and the instrumental parts in this song much more than I like the chorus, therefore I stand by my complaint about lack of some grand ending to finish the song.
I think this song is trying to be epic for the sake of being epic, and while it does work, it also feels a bit forced. What I really loved in this song is the female voice in the middle of the tune, which served as a breath of fresh air much needed and appreciated. Overall, it wasn’t your best entry, but it wasn’t your worst entry either.
8/10 | 3/5
Overall result: 80.5 (1st place — the winner!)
The fact of your participation in this totally came out of the blue for me, but now I’m really glad you wanted and were able to make it, because all your entries (except Pride of Lions) were awesome. I needed some more kick-ass power metal in my life, and you provided it with Angel Dust, Morifade and Crystal Eyes; I like some great hard rock tunes and there you are with Trail of Murder; finally, I love a touching – and maybe a bit cheesy – ballads, and those Mattador and Ten tunes were magnificent. If anyone in this roulette was more consistent than RJ, it was you, constantly providing me the amazing tunes from the mostly unknown bands to check out. You know, at the beginning of this roulette I feared how the fact I know some of the participants more than the others can influence my scores, feared I may come off as biased or something; but looking at the results now, I’m pretty satisfied with them, because out of all the people you deserved this win the most. You’ve never sent me a tune that baffled me or made me think “what the hell?”, all your entries (even Pride of Lions) were more or less spot on. I associated your tastes with hard rock and power metal, and you totally delivered. Thank you once again, man, and I hope you’ll join me in the next roulette of mine in a year or so. I’m not sure if my library is wide enough to join you in yours (I need to see the banned list), but I’ll try to play, if you’ll have me. All in all, with all the humble submissions and stuff you won against such beasts as RJ and Seneca, so I can only offer you my thanks and congratulations again. Rock on.
So, well, that was really awesome two months! I've discovered a lot of bands to check out, I think my list has more than 40 of them now, and from the next week I'll start doing it. Looking forward to exploring those neverending musical territories, now that I have the bands' names thanks to all of you guys. While you six were the most awesome participants, a huge thank you again goes to those eliminated after Round 6, you've sent me a lot of awesome music too!
And before this whole journey (pun!) will end, I've got the Top 5 best songs I've received in this roulette to show you:
1. Journey - Of a Lifetime (senecadawg2)
2. Ten - Soliloquy/The Loneliest Place in the World (Brent)
3. Karmakanic - Send a Message From the Heart (Mason)
4. Galahad - Empires Never Last (ErHaO)
5. Mattador - Tired (Brent)
So yeah, there. I'll see you in Polls / Survivors a few hours later hopefully; I'm also ready to answer any questions you've got about the roulette, your songs or whatever else. Otherwise, I feel like I said all I wanted, so once again, thank you guys a lot for those heaps of awesome music, sorry RJ that you haven't won, and with that, I'm out!