An interesting round this one and another one that took a bit of time with the ratings. It’s nice to see some strong ratings for a couple of you that haven’t managed one so far – for those that are still waiting
and there’s still 2 rounds to put yourself in a strong position for the second half of the roulette. As far as I am concerned everyone is still very much in the game.
I actually upgraded the stragglers a bit on the final listen so the range of marks is 6.5 – 9.5.
Not too many of you were right in terms of picking the preview comments . I’ll keep that going in future rounds as I know I enjoyed that in Evermind’s roulette. The preview comments have been done in italics in the full reviews.
1) Almah : Trace of Trait – wolfking. Rating = 9.5If I had rated this after the first 30 seconds then you could perhaps cut your score in half – it had a real modern metal/industrial vibe with the feeling that djent (and all that often means for my rankings) was just around the corner , but then the melodies kicked in and despite feeling at times like it really shouldn’t , this song actually works. The modern metal vibe continues on and off throughout the song but there’s enough melody , nice guitar and well integrated progressive moments at to keep me a happy camper. I have sampled this band in the past due to the Angra connection and wasn’t all that impressed, but on the basis of this song I will certainly reconsider.
I listed the “modern metal vibe” as one of the reasons I didn’t like the new Pyramaze quite as much as everyone else. I feel this song pulls it off better than pretty much anything on the Pyramaze. Good stuff.
2) Mark Knopfler: So Far From The Clyde – Evermind Rating =9You’re doing a good job of reconnecting me with the softer end of my musical taste sir. I have been on a bit of a metal binge the last few years and really haven’t been listening to anything from my collection that I would call relaxing. And it’s not that I don’t have plenty of it. This song has a nice folky Celtic vibe and although it doesn’t contain the best guitar work I have heard from Mark , it has that distinctive sound you expect and it does take me back to when Dire Straits were a big influence in my life. Looking back now, Brothers In Arms really should’ve made my DTF Top 50 – it got an honorable mention , mostly because I thought a couple of tracks (Money For Nothing mostly) had aged pretty badly. But it was one of my most played albums of the 80’s and this song brought back some memories of that.
I have never had an issue with mark’s “talky” vocal style – it suits his music quite nicely and his guitar tone has a magic about it. Really nice song.
3) Opeth : Harvest - Big Hath Rating =9The only Opeth album I banned was Damnation but I have heard Blackwater Park once (and that’s plenty enough thanks) –so what are the odds of Mr Hath picking the one song on that album that I liked? A good effort there at judging my taste and applying it to another “DTF fave”. This is a really pleasant song with some nice melodies.
I am no Pink Floyd expert but I felt like there was plenty of Floydian influence in some of the melodies too.4) Blind Guardian : Tanelorn (Into The Void) – Lowdz Rating = 9I mentioned in my write up on the Primal Fear in Rd 1 that I like Scheepers, but that the songs he sings on often don’t live up to expectations. Well Hansi is in a similar boat for me. I have a couple of Blind Guardian albums but have never really considered them a big favourite. I also have some Demons and Wizards and they’re another good illustration. I only like a few of their tracks but one in particular (Love’s Tragedy Asunder) is an all time metal fave. So when I do like a song with Hansi I usually like it quite a bit as he does have a very strong and distinctive vocal tone. I am not sure that this song will ever be an all time fave but it’s a strong power metal track with some nice moments and was a bit of a grower.
5) Jimi Hendrix: Fire –jingle.boy Rating = 8.5I am one of the few guitarists ( or ex-guitarists in my case ) who has never really rated Jimi as a player ...........along with Marty Friedman who copped plenty of shit for saying he doesn't know what all the fuss is about with Hendrix.
I totally get his influence and so forth but to me the players of the 60’s and 70’s were miles behind the greats (or even average players) of the 80’s in terms of technique and therefore (technique being only one aspect) the only thing left to impress me from that period is the melodic/rhythmic side of things and I heard little from Hendrix over the years that did much for me there. That’s not to say that he didn’t have some decent songs though ,or that I have sampled enough of his stuff to write him off totally. I just didn’t get the urge to dig deeper based on what I had heard.
So this song is short and to the point , features some decent guitar work I suppose but the appeal here for me is the groove/swagger/attitude. It’s no coincidence that Van Halen are my favourite band –not only do I love the music but there is a real cheekiness/humour in their music(DLR era more so) that really connects with me. I also used to listen to James Brown with my sister as kids and we would be rolling around crying with laughter listening to him in songs like Living in America with all the grunts and attitude. I believe Hendrix played with James Brown at one point and you can hear some of that influence in this song. “Move over Rover and let Jimi take over”......
So a solid rock song that would’ve been rated lower but for the fact that it (unusually) connected with me in a way that my favourite band of all time does. Good job getting me to rate a 60’s song highly
6) Shineback: Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed – Bolsters. Rating =8.5Seeing as you had already sent this in advance I had plenty of time to stew on it while I waited for the other entries for Rd 3. So I decided to check out its Amazon listing .........after typing it in I noticed that this 10 min + song was filed away under Dance/Electronica . So after my nervous breakdown
I spent a number of days preparing my ears for the torture , but in the end I was pleasantly surprised.There is certainly plenty of electronic elements in the music but given the amount of guitar (thankfully) I wouldn’t have any trouble labelling this progressive rock. I think I will anyway as I don’t want anyone thinking that I like dance/electronic music
In the end I didn’t struggle too much with the 10.5 minute journey as the vocal melodies were nice , the underlying rhythms were surprisingly catchy (if a little repetitive) and the guitar solo work through the midsection was really quite good. I seem to be noting vocalists sounding like Joseph Williams a lot , but the singer here has that sort of tone which is fine with me. The only period where I zoned out a bit –and this probably cost it half a point - was the section post the guitar solos (6.10-8.10) which was mostly acapella vocals and I felt it lost a lot of the song’s momentum. Overall though I liked it.
I am surprising myself with some of this stuff –maybe the old dog is open to a few new tricks after all.
7) X Japan: Endless Rain – erwinrafael Rating =7.5Another erwin selection from the Land of the Rising Sun – this time a ballad. X Japan were a band that I have thought about checking out over the years but never got around to. I can see that they certainly have some talent and I enjoyed the song , but having said that I am not sure that the distinctive vocal tone of a Japanese male singer and the “Engrish” work as well in a melancholy ballad as they do in metal. Nice bridge/solo section and some other nice melodies here and there. Not a stand out song I wouldn’t have thought but a solid effort nonetheless .
8) Iron Maiden : Dream of Mirrors –jjrock88 Rating =7.5I am a fairly recent “convert” to Iron Maiden – enough to rate a decent number of their songs very highly. Somewhere in Time and SSOASS in particular have a consistency for me that was lacking in most of their other albums – the rest of the “classic era” albums all contain songs I really enjoy but also plenty that I don’t.. My exposure to the modern era has been limited to the Best Of: From Fear To Eternity and I like many of the songs on that too. I also checked out Book Of Souls.
Having said that I still rate a large swag of their material (including much of the latest album) as little more than “solid” heavy metal and am still nowhere near comprehending the drooling worship that they seem to get for almost everything they release.
So this track is from Brave New World , which is one of the albums that (based on feedback from others) is one of the modern era albums that is likely to be up my alley. This particular song , like many of theirs, contains a catchy little lick that forms the basis of the song + lyrics/melodies that become rather repetitive and come very close to wearing out their welcome. I was very thankful for the change in pace at 5.50 as I was just about to switch off. It seemed like the song was about to go to a whole new level/direction but then we end up with the same old chorus again shortly after , just faster and with a fairly rough transition.
In the end I think this is a strong song but it’s one which has about 5 or 6 mins worth of musical/lyrical ideas filling out a nine and a half minute song. Take a scalpel to it and it gets an 8 or 8.5.
9) Apple Pie : The Gates of Never – kingshmegland Rating =7I am itching to give you a strong score king , so don’t get too discouraged and give up on me with the prog metal/rock type stuff. I can see what you have tried to do with this and I think you are on the right track in many ways. In other ways you went backwards – introducing growlies possibly wasn’t a great move as I have warned against this. And if he’s gotta growl then at least sound mean and nasty – this guy sounds like he just needs a Butter Menthol
As I have mentioned previously prog rock/metal is arguably my favourite type of music when it is right in my little bullseye zone , but I also lose patience very quickly when too much time is filled in with little more than syncopated/proggy rhythms or muso wankery .........I need some melody, funkiness etc...nearby/around the corner at all times. This sort of thin ice that prog rock/metal bands tread with me can see a large part of my DTF Top 50 filled with prog metal at the same time as the band responsible for one of my top 3 albums ever (Images and Words) has other albums that I would rank very low . It’s not uncommon for I&W and ToT to rank #1 and #2 in a DTF album list but as far as my taste goes they are on totally different planets.
So Images and Words is the absolute pinnacle for me – lots of progressive elements but just about every second has its place and the more proggy moments either involve melody, funky rhythms or resolve very quickly into another melodic moment. In this situation I find that the prog very much adds to the equation . I have a band or two that I recently discovered that are on the lighter side of prog rock/ metal and nail a lot of the elements I like - but I am keeping them up my sleeve for Chad’s roulette.
Another interesting thing that you have introduced me to king is the concept of a song that I love half of and dislike the rest. That doesn’t happen very often but it’s been a bit of a common thread with a couple of your songs and it makes them pretty hard to rate. Am I going to listen regularly to a song with extended sections that I dislike ? – probably not. But do they contain some great moments and deserve a better score than most songs I have no desire to hear again – certainly. Usually I either like a song or I don’t. So I have broken down this song into bits and made brief comment so you can see how I am thinking as I move through it.
0.00 – 2.00 - cool , catchy progressive rhythms with a nice serene melodic interlude around 1.30
2.00- rhythm under vocal seems mostly prog for progs sake –not particularly interesting and loses momentum
3.00- nice melody and vocal , sounds like Joe Williams
3.20 - another proggy section that’s alright
3.40 - another vocal over reasonably catchy rhythm but growls beginning........mine beginning too. Aaaaargghh.
4.15- losing momentum..............proggy rhythms going nowhere
4.35- back to chorus
4.55 - DT like proggy rhythm – cool for a little while but outlasts its welcome....needs to resolve somewhere meaningful much quicker
5.30 back to the main (better) proggy rhythm but getting repetitive at this point
6.20 - growls suck......this guy makes MP sound awesome and seems to have taken “cookie monster” a bit too literally.
7.15- another proggy section that seems to be proggy for the sake of it - finishes with some nice guitar though
7.50 - cool DT like rhythm that has me into it again
8.20 - back to main rhythm which is nice , but getting a bit old by this point.
8.35- chorus ...........nice enough.
On my normal scale this would’ve rated a 6 as I cannot see myself returning to it for the reasons mentioned,but there is enough good stuff in there to suggest a couple of things:
1) I can exercise a bit of discretion and bump up the rating a bit, and
2)
this band most likely has a song that will impress me more than this one does. So I will check out the relevant album.So after all that I decided on a 7 as a bit of a compromise. Sorry for the essay but I wanted to give some more detailed feedback ,as I know you're capable of really impressing with a few tweaks .
10) Last Crack: Energy Mind – Sacul Rating =7This song is perfectly serviceable prog metal but doesn’t really bring any highlights to the table for me – I can’t say that I was impressed with the rhythms, melodies or musicianship. I do hear some Kings X style chord structures in there at times , which I don’t mind , but there’s too few valleys and troughs for mine. Fairly one dimensional and just okay in all departments.
11)The Sacrificed: 24 - TAC Rating =6.55? Bloody hell, I'm nervous.
That means some suckah scored lower than Blondie!! 
Well Tim – I warned you against assuming (hint,hint
) and then you went ahead again and made the suckah comment ..........in poker they say that if you’re at the table and you don’t know who the suckah is then the suckah is you
All jokes aside I feel a bit ordinary giving you such a low rating for a song that you had such confidence in , but it is what it is. Also bear in mind that on my rating scale in the OP that a mark of 6 isn’t diabolical. It represents a song that I consider decent but with little that impresses me or drags me in for repeat listens.
I have of course listened a number of times and I have tried to hear what you hear in this but to no avail. The thrashy riff is fairly catchy and there is some nice guitar work here and there but aside from that I didn’t hear much to talk about. The playing is okay , the vocalist is okay (but rather distant), the production/mix seems a bit of a mess to me and the song is just okay. The chorus does nothing for me. The midsection of the song is a mix of nice guitar work and dissonant semi-djenty stuff (repeated near the end) that I identify as noise.......that stuff likely cost a point or so. On the whole if I was forced to split the two 6.5’s I think I would take the Blondie.
Luckily I upgraded the rating on this late in the piece from a 6 to 6.5 or it really would've sucked for The Sacrificed - being beaten by Blondie in a metalhead's roulette.
12) The Blitz: Untouchable Lady – splent Rating =6.5I almost feel like I need to be careful here not to offend anyone you know (splent knows band members) but I can only be honest about what I am hearing and hopefully you’ll take it in that spirit. This reminds me a bit of the debut album from a band called White Sister in terms of its sound – chunky guitars + some keys but demo quality production. In White Sister’s case the album was saved by some strong songs and a stellar vocalist and is considered a bit of an underground classic. Unfortunately this band have just an okay song and a pretty poor vocalist – there’s the odd flat note and there’s a shocker flat on the guitar at 1.06. The riff driving the song , while simple ,is pretty cool with its unison bends etc...
It seems to me that this isn’t quite what the finished product would’ve been if these guys had seen a proper record deal and so it’s not entirely unexpected. It basically sounds like what I think it is – a fairly cliche song from a mid 80’s hard rock demo.
Updated Standings: Number of * = number of bonus points used.
Evermind 20+9=29*
Lowdz 18+9=27*
Big Hath 18+9=27*
Bolsters 18+8.5=26.5*
wolfking 16+9.5=25.5*
jjrock88 17.5+ 7.5=25
Sacul 18+7=25*
jingle.boy 16+8.5=24.5*
erwinrafael 16.5+7.5=24*
kingshmegland 15.5+7= 22.5*
TAC 15+6.5= 21.5*
splent 14.5+6.5 = 21*
As mentioned before these standings are indicative only until we complete Round 5.
Banned bands
Almah
Apple Pie
Ayreon
A.C.T
Animals As leaders
Blondie
Blind Guardian
Buckethead
Cryonic Temple
Dead End
Holst
Iron Maiden
Jimi Hendrix
Jon Lord
Karnya
Last Crack
mark Knopfler
Mystery
Opeth
Pain of Salvation
Primal Fear
Queensryche
Riverside
Shineback
Stream of Passion
Steely Dan
Steve Vai
The Blitz
The Sacrificed
Throne of Chaos (TOC)
X Japan
Topic: BL5150 Roulette - Ghost Protocol......GRAND FINAL RESULTS (Read 69606 times)
