Let's see if I can make this result posting mistake-free. Probably not.
Big Hath -
Witherscape / The Math of the Myth
Swano is great, I can take his growls in moderation - which is exactly what happens here. Musically it rawks - killer keyboard led-intro, lots of variation in the guitar sounds and tones keeps me interested. Piano/keyboard melody in the instrumental worked real well. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this in-and-of itself, but being such a huge Star One fan, I very much like what Swano delivers. Conclusion was kind of abrupt and not exactly what I would have expected, but it worked - proving Swano sounds great even one his own and going all mellow. Good use of 'cheating'.
Ranking - 2nd (for 10 points)
bl5150 -
Herman Frank / Kings Call
Vocally great; musically… adequate. Given the depth of your library, you really have no need to 'cheat'. This is proof that cheating doesn't always pay off. Just how I love Kelly Carpenter on Epysode, he can't carry the mediocrity of the music from his other acts. Altzi seems to suffer from the same fate occasionally. I love him on Epysode, Thunderstone, Masterplan, At Vance and on FreeFall, but didn't dig Frequency... at all. This is proof that a fantastic vocalist can't carry mediocre music. This was a little better than mediocre, but the rhythm section was way too prominent - the bass drowned out a lot of the good stuff - there was some really good guitar work - when I could make it out. I hate to dock the ranking due to production, but I gotta - it just makes it a bit of a chore to listen to. Saying that, I can’t believe I’m ranking this below the next song….
Ranking - 8th (for 4 points)
Bolsters -
Taylor Swift / Starlight
God, what a gorgeous voice - well, gorgeous everything. I can dig this, and actually had been thinking about buying this album. Catchy as fuck. Make this kind of music a little heavier, chocolate-up the guitar tone, and you'd have a great melodic-rock ballad. Mrs. Jingle heard me listening to this, and was all WTF? I explained I was running a roulette, and she said "well I knew you weren't listening to this of your own accord"
. The good - vocals, writing, hooks, production; the not so good - lyrics (a little too fluffy), poppy structure. Like the CHVRCHES song last round, I'll hardly ever proactively reach for this (or any of the other pop songs in my library - yes... I do have some), so I can't rate it too high, despite it being a pretty enjoyable tune.
Ranking - 7th (for 5 points)
Evermind -
Holy Shire / Winter is Coming
I read your background on the tune, but didn’t read your ‘review’ until just now, as I didn’t want to be swayed before I’d even heard the track. I can’t say that I know much (ok, anything) about the literary background, and invariably that would’ve helped with my appreciation of the song. Everything about it was pretty good on first listen. Something about the pitch/tone of the vocals was a little odd - I think it would've worked better if it wasn't so high - the chorus was ok, but when they got high during the verses, it was a little underwhelming. It sounded like it wasn't the natural space for either vocalist - but in a lower register, I really liked them both. I liked the slow pace, and the increase in both instrumentation and tempo.
Ranking - 5th (for 7 points)
jjrock88 -
Nevermore / The Heart Collector
Straight up metal. Meat/potatoes music... which is ok from time to time, but there wasn't anything more, or memorable, to this. Vocally, it reminded me a lot of Dickinson, except without any of the soaring highs and dynamic range - which is what makes Bruce so incredible... and this, not so incredible. Guitar solo was good, but nothing unique. On the whole, it wasn't bad, but nothing about it makes me take notice or creates a desire to come back to it.
Ranking - 11th (for 1 point)
Lowdz -
Crash the System / Fight Fire With Fire
Coming in at the soft-end of the melodic rock spectrum (kind of in the realm of Work of Art) this is fun and catchy, but what I like to call 'powder-puff' melodic rock. This too had a nice catchy chorus. Given main writer behind this - Daniel Flores (Mind's Eye and Tears of Anger), I'm surprised/shocked over how 'soft' this is. Not a bad tune at all, but could've used a bit more edge to it. Also, I seem to be missing the Sass Jordan reference you eluded to?
Ranking - 6th (for 6 points)
Mystery Machine -
LA Guns / Ballad of Jayne
Ahhh… the golden age of power ballads. Sadly, there was probably a reason this one didn’t get a lot of air-time in these here parts, for it was not golden. Sounded very much like a poor man’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn. There was a hollow/distant vocal effect which was so prominent in 80s power ballads. That works with a vocalist like Bach or Michaels or Coverdale, but not here. The solo was something any beginner guitarist could have wrote or played. Nothing was terribly bad, but it just wasn’t terribly good either. So much for your Star Trek scoring method. The only reason it topped Jay's submission is because I tend to prefer a power ballad over a straight up metal tune.
Ranking - 10th (for 2 points)
senecadawg2 -
The Paralydium Project / New Frontier
This was the one that first stood out to me - and then catching up on FB, the ProgPower USA pages were going all gaga over this. Dynazty goes prog is a pretty good way of describing it. Great instrumental opening; crunchy-djent guitars are used sparingly. Beautiful vocals. Great melodies and riffs; good introduction of key/piano melodies, lots of variety in pace, tempo, timing, instrumentation... total package here. Clear cut winner this round. Great prog without getting too wanky.
Ranking - 1st (for 11 points)
TAC -
Chaos Frame / Giant Killer
I think the highlight of this one was the guitar runs, riffs, and rhythms. Vocally, there’s quite a bit of range here, and overall I really liked the delivery - here’s another vocalist that reminds me of Anders Engberg of Speaking to Stones. Add on some very interesting drum work. Pre-chorus was probably my favourite part - especially the rhythm section; good instrumental wankfest - concise, to the point - leads to a nice, quasi-shred duel/solo.
Ranking - 3rd (for 9 points)
wolfking -
Evil Masquerade / Black Ravens Cry
Despite the very repetitive rhythm guitar line, it was a good enough not to bore me or have me wishing it away. I really liked the vocal fade in/out effects, which to me were very reminiscent of Epysode, and most of you know how stiff that music makes me. This had an excellent chorus - especially the step-down part 1/2 thru the chorus. Percussion - was very Portnoy-like on some of the drum creativity. Very familiar vocals - not sure why, or who it’s reminding me of.
Ranking - 4th (for 8 points)
Zook -
into Eternity / Pain Through Breathing
I've never been a big fan of that thrashy, machine-gun like drum beat. Clean vocals thru chorus were really good, guitar melody worked, harsh vocals were ok. Do they even have a drummer, or is it all programmed? The snare's sounded richer and fuller than the bass drum - they were way too clean/crisp. Otherwise, this was a pretty good song, but that bass drum brought it down a whole lot for me - because it's just always there. This could've ranked much higher, and I enjoyed it more (perhaps more accurately, I was able to listen past the bass drum) with each listen.
Ranking - 9th (for 3 points)
Standings:
wolfking - 32
bl5150 - 29
senecadawg2 - 29
Evermind - 28
TAC - 28
Lowdz - 27
Big Hath - 26
Bolsters - 18
jjrock88 - 17
Zook - 16
Mystery Machine - 15
For the bottom four, I suspect you’re playing for pride now… not sure that much ground can be made up in just 3 rounds. For the others… it only takes a minor mis-step to lose some tangible ground. Reminder ... Top 4 will make the finals. I've figured out the scoring system to determine the overall winner, and will outline that shortly.
As a reminder, the following people still have their tag-team option:
Big Hath
Evermind
Lowdz
Mystery
TAC
Wolfking
Zook
And also, the following still need to send me a (power) ballad of some kind:
bl5150
Bosters
senecadawg
TAC
Wolfking
Topic: The jingle Roulette Trilogy - Final Results - no more mind games (Read 81319 times)