Quite a strong round folks..........we have our 3rd 10/10 for the roulette and many scores in the 8.5-9 area too. I am not sure that much has changed in the standings. Not much else to say apart from "keep it up."
1) Burnclear: Lost For Life – Bolsters Rating: 10Now this is power prog I can relate to. Great musicianship , melodic and progressive rhythms with no time for the mind to wander around thinking “when it this wankery going to end”. - in the end I reckon this is good enough to deserve the third 10/10 of the roulette. It reminds me a bit of Threshold in the chorus.....in fact parts of the verses do too but the song as a whole is a bit more upbeat/power metal than your regular Threshold track. Good stuff mate......I don’t mind soft music at all (as seen below) but like Kade you seem to have zeroed in on my heavy/melodic/prog sweet spot with a number of your recent submissions.
2) Inglorious: Breakaway – Lowdz Rating 9.5Paul has done a “seneca” here (for those following jingle.boy’s roulette) and used an advance track from an album months away from being released. Tricky customer
I was already very interested in this album (Paul wasn’t aware of that btw) , not because I have any great interest in anyone involved but because I was hearing good things. The band have promoted themselves as being a real band with the raw studio energy that hasn’t been around in “project bands” and if this track is anything to go by then they have achieved it. That ,the vocal performance by Nathan James (TSO) and a nice solo turn what is really a pretty basic 70’s influenced rock track into a bit of a barnstormer. The track ends a bit unexpectedly but you don’t want a fade out on a track like this. Three minutes of rockin’ energy.
3)America: Ventura Highway – splent Rating: 9splent goes back to what he knows works and scores a goal. This is the sort of 70’s music I can dig and , like the Steely Dan track you sent , I do know the song from the radio growing up. It’s bright , melodic , nice vocal harmonies, layered guitars and has bits and pieces of other bands that I quite like (Doobies, The Eagles, Fleetwood mac) along with other artists that I might not have bothered with so much (CSNY). In general I am not a fan of folk metal but some of the folk tinged 70’s rock does seem to connect with me.
4) Unisonic: Over The Rainbow - Evermind Rating: 9Nice, relaxing slightly Celtic vibe to this song and as per usual Kiske does a great job. I have put it out there a few times that , despite my love of the second Unisonic , I never really bothered much with the debut. This bonus track from the debut is likely more up my alley than most of the stuff on the regular release. In the end this is a pretty safe,simple song but it does the job and Kiske’s voice and a nice guitar solo elevate it above your average ballad. I find Hansen’s writing very up and down (and I believe the input of Denis Ward into the follow up was a big factor in my feelings towards it) – when he’s good he can be great , but he also has a lot of stuff I really don’t like - but this is certainly a good one. Not quite the magic seen in the ballads Kiske has done elsewhere (Place Vendome) but not far off.
5) Foghat: Slow Ride – jingle.boy Rating 9You have also returned to a style more along the lines of the one or two 70’s bands that you know I like . There’s a definite Doobies feel to the main rhythm here and even the gang vocals aren’t too dissimilar at times The guitar rhythms throughout (aside from the distinctive Foghat slide guitars) and some of the vocals also have a very clear Zep vibe. “Slow down............slow down.........” has Zep written all over it . The extended midsection is fine thanks to the cool bass groove and things move on before it totally wears out its welcome – the outro too thanks to some crazy slide playing. Come to think of it I am sure I have heard a wank free radio edit of this song before . This may not be my favourite style or era but like the America track above it has a really cool groove/hook and nice vocals and is rated accordingly.
6) Rick Wakeman: Never Is A Long Long Time – erwinrafael Rating:9 I liked this a bit more than I thought I would at first Erwin...........a bit of a grower. Probably one of the better example of incorporating choir/strings into pop rock style music that I have heard (although that’s not much
) ..........if an orchestra can groove then these guys are doing it. And some nice playing from Rabin ,who I do already like......I’m not sure I could’ve ranked it quite so high without some guitar solos to make me feel like I was at home
This album is one of the few featuring Ozzy Osbourne that I don’t have , so I’ll have to fix that.
7) Tremonti: So You’re Afraid - Big Hath Rating:9I am of course familiar with Tremonti through Alter Bridge and Creed and he comes up with some cool crunchy (if a bit “samey”) riffs – and he has employed a Van Halen in his band so he must have some taste
. There’s some Alter Bridge songs that I really like but over an extended listen Myles Kennedy can get on my nerves a bit ,so I don’t mind Tremonti’s more vanilla , but still strong vocal tone. I’m not really all that familiar with all the post-grunge bands but this sounds a bit like Nickelback after growing some gonads I suppose. I did get a hold of Cauterize and never got around to it – it doesn’t take much imagination to see an album full of very “samey” tracks in this style and so it’ll be interesting to see whether I find there’s enough variety across an album of his to hold my attention.
8) Saint: Phantom of the Galaxy/Steel Killer – jjrock88 Rating:8.5Well these guys obviously wanna be Judas Priest – only the band is just a bit behind the eight ball in all areas (relative to Priest) . Having said that it’s good solid classic metal and there are some progressive elements to this that add some interest. The song sounded almost over at 2.30 and then changed direction a bit, which I liked. This is Christian metal and you wouldn’t really know (not super preachy) which is how I like it.
9) Stargate: The Power Within – TAC Rating:8.5if there was one guy in this roulette I would’ve backed to send me lots of very “immediate” music ,it would’ve been you Tim but you have surprised me with a lot of prog music that really takes time to grow on me. The extent to which it grows has often had at least a bit to do with a vocalist with a “unique” tone that I was struggling with. And although I wouldn’t say that I struggled with this guy , once again he wasn’t immediately likeable for me .
The incorporation of Spanish guitar into the song was pretty cool I thought and – I have said this for one or two of your other submissions – I think I preferred the instrumental sections to the vocal sections. Certainly a very interesting track but the vocalist and some melodies that weren’t quite there stopped it from scoring a little higher.
10) Glenn Tipton: Baptizm of Fire – wolfking Rating: 8 +1 bonus=9One thing that stood out to me listening to this back to back with the other tracks is that the production on this sucks ass. That aside I wasn’t quite as impressed with this as you are Kade.
I’ll let you in on a theory I developed over my time listening,playing and teaching. And before I go ahead........there are many exceptions (JP is one) but it’s still a decent rule of thumb for me with guitarists. I can divide most of my favourite guitarists into the triers/grafters and the technicians/musical genius categories.
Grafters: guys who have just a decent musical knowledge , very good (but not great) technique and often write/play by ear or hear what they want to play in their head and then figure it out on the neck when writing rather than thinking in complex musical terms. As EVH said ......they fall down the stairs and land on their feet. These guys are often my favourite classic hard rock/metal players - great feel for rhythm , riffs ,solos full of fire and personality in a traditional vocal song setting. A bit rough around the edges , they make musical ideas work that really shouldn’t in theory and if anything that just increases my enjoyment. Put them in a situation where they have to improvise for extended periods or write lengthy instrumentals though and they run out of musical ideas/melodies pretty quick and it can get ugly. Examples: EVH , Tipton
Technicians: these guys have impeccable technique and musical knowledge and are capable of amazing instrumental compositions and “on the fly” improvisation but put in a situation where they need to write traditional rock/metal songs with vocals they become quite sterile and uninspired relative to the grafters. I would put Satriani and Moore in this category.
The end result is that players like EVH and Tipton are right up there for me in an all time list (or EVH’s case at the pinaccle) , but I wouldn’t back either of them to impress me over a whole album of instrumentals. I was a bit in this category myself as a player despite studying music reasonably extensively. I was aware of my limitations and back in the early 90’s it took me 4 years to put together a 5 track instrumental EP that I was pretty happy with
Tipton does alright here though in a “structured jam” sorta way and the backing band is stellar but I find his fairly “dirty” playing and lack of melodic ideas doesn’t gel 100% for me in a full length instrumental track . I think I enjoyed the other musicians as much if not more than Tipton on this. Still.......it’s a decent track and with a bonus point you still receive a 9/10,
11) Blackfield: Christenings - Sacul Rating: 7.5While a lot of the other guys have zeroed in on artists I like in the "pop rock" area and looked for common threads in other artists , you have submitted a song that sounds like a mix of artists that have never really done much for me ( Bowie , Oasis, early Floyd, Radiohead, etc....). Having said that this sort of melancholy/depressing pop rock doesn’t bother me it all – it’s a pleasant enough listen and Wilson’s voice is nice enough (if a bit “plain”) but it doesn’t really grab my attention much either. I think if I am going to like Wilson I am likely to have more luck with his solo/PT stuff.
12) I Mother earth: Pisser – kingshmegland Rating: 7Well the lyrics are a pisser anyway king
This track definitely gave me a bit of a Chilli Peppers vibe along with the distorted modern sound present in a few of your selections. As far as this sort of funky rock goes I thought it was quite decent , although the hooks (while present) didn’t continue to hold my attention for large parts of the song. Sorry to have you down the bottom again king but I appreciate you trying to push me a bit and , in the end, you are still averaging almost 8. It’s just not quite getting there against the competition in recent rounds.
Before the standings I will do a little summary of bonus points available from here and we’ll just cross them off as used:
DTF Fave Bonus Point Available:
jjrock88
Lowdz
Instrumental Bonus Point Available
kingshmegland
No Bonus Points Available
Bolsters
jingle.boy
erwinrafael
splent
Big Hath
Sacul
TAC
Evermind
wolfking
STANDINGS
With one round to go before finals it’ll now take a big mistake from one of the top 6 to change the line up for the final round. Paul isn’t totally safe though - if erwin/ TAC have a perfect ten hiding somewhere then maybe?
Bolsters 9+9+8.5+9.5+9.5+9+10=64.5
wolfking 9.5+9.5+9+8.5+9 +10+9=64.5
jjrock88 10+10+8.5+9+8.5+9+8.5= 63.5
Evermind 10.5+9.5+9+8.5+8.5+8.5+9 = 63.5
Big Hath 9+9+9+8.5+9.5+9 +9= 63
Lowdz 8.5+9.5+9+7.5+8.5 +9+9.5= 61.5
erwinrafael 9.5+7.5+10 +7+9+7.5+9=59.5
TAC 9+8.5+8+8.5+7.5+9.5+8.5 =59.5
jingle.boy 8.5+8.5+8.5+8 +8.5+7.5+9=58.5
Sacul 9+9+7.5+8.5 +9.5+7+7.5= 58
splent 9+8+8.5+8+8+7+9= 57.5
kingshmegland 8+8.5+9 +7.5+7+7.5+7= 54.5
Banned bands
Al Di Meola
Almah
America
Amorphis
Anathema
Angelica
Angels of Babylon
Apple Pie
Ayreon
A.C.T
Animals As leaders
Bent Knee
Big Wreck
Binary Creed
Black Majesty
Blackfield
Blondie
Blind Guardian
Buckethead
Burnclear
Cans
Chaos Frame
Coheed and Cambria
Cryonic Temple
Dada
Damnation Angels
Dead End
Death
Disturbed
Down
Evil Masquerade
FOghat
Glenn Tipton
Haken
Harlequin
Haven
Heavenly
Holst
Holy Shite
I Mother Earth
Ice Age
Inglorious
Iron Maiden
Jimi Hendrix
Jon Lord
Karnya
Last Crack
Mandroid Echostar
Mark Knopfler
Marketa Irglova
Max Webster
Mr Mister
My Soliloquy
Myland
Mystery
Nazareth
Need
Odd Dimension
Opeth
Orphaned Land
Pablo Cruise
Pain of Salvation
Pandora's Box
Portishead
Primal Fear
Queen
Queensryche
Rick Wakeman
Riverside
Saint
Sebastien
Seven tears
Shineback
Sieges Even
Spock’s Beard
Skid Row
Stargate
Steven Wilson
Stream of Passion
Steely Dan
Steve Vai
The Black Mages
The Blitz
The Mob
The Moody Blues
The Neal Morse Band
The Pineapple Thief
The Sacrificed
The Hsu Nami
Theodore Ziras
Throne of Chaos (TOC)
TRemonti
UFO
U.K.
Unisonic
Vicious Rumors
Voodoo Circle
Warmachine
X Japan
Yanni
Yes
Topic: BL5150 Roulette - Ghost Protocol......GRAND FINAL RESULTS (Read 69004 times)
