Round 10 results!!Going from 12th to 1st.. Things got reaaally close towards the top of the board though, I exceeded the character limit, so the final results/standings will be in the next post.
12th place!SplentGentle Giant – River:
First impressions: Doesn’t sound as much as a closer as some of the other songs on here, but works very well for what it is. It’s actually a very fun groovy song, which was the main reason I liked some of your best submissions in this roulette, like Roundabout and SOYCD. The singer feels like a classic prog rock version of Ray Alder, pretty neat. Quite liking this so far.
It’s still a good song, the fact that you’re hooking me up to stuff from the 70’s alone should be taken into account already, too bad this ain’t a contest of risktaking though. I stand by my first impression descriptions, just a very fun song with groovy elements mostly in the guitar solo. I’m not too fond of the singer in the very beginning but it got better over the course of the song. ‘Solid‘ is all I can add to my thoughts. A very solid and enjoyable song, I get the feeling that it totally slipped your mind that this was a closing themed round though. I’m not going to bother with it though, since it won’t make a huge difference on the final results.
If I had been around this community for a bit longer it may or may not have affected your submissions, probably not, because you seem to just send some of your all-time favorite songs, I always encourage that, and have done it sometimes too. As long as you had fun doing so it’s fine, after all you got me to like a Queen song other than Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as a Yes song, SOYCD which I would probably check out some day either way, and this song was pretty neat too. You almost winning Tom’s roulette and almost ending up last place in my roulette probably says more about the difference between our music than it does about your music in general, it was fun to have a classic rocker in almost every round, regardless of the scores I gave them.
8/1011th place!
Shadow Ninja 2.0The Dillinger Escape Plan – Parasitic Twins:
First impressions: Okay I kinda asked for this. To be fair though, when I say I can’t get into the singer of TDEP, you should know I mean the harsh vocals, this song, whatever the score, will not disprove my point. Alright, the song has all kinda of cool stuff going on in the background, interesting percussion bits, cliché horror-movie bells, the chilling opening makes for a great amount of suspense, interesting song so far..
So the first one and a half minute were very interesting, the core of the song didn’t really add much to that but it was consistent, but the ending is pretty awesome, they manage to mix a dark sound with groovy guitars which somehow sounds pretty good.
Now that I’ve heard it a couple more times, I realize that the creepy atmosphere in the beginning reminds me of the Korn debut album. But yeah I still like this song, my opinion about the middle section has changed though, beginning to like that more, so it’s pretty consistent. Ending is magnificent, and in the end that’s what the song for round 10 should be all about, will it be enough to save you from last place? MAYBE!
From the very first song you sent me I was worried that there wouldn’t be anything at all from you to keep my interest, I could not stand those Tom Waits vocals. The Tallest Man on Earth almost had me confirm that statement, but soon enough it got way better, and you’ve slipped in some amazing songs, also being one of the four people to get a 10/10 (which I’m sure you still can’t believe). I know when I participated in your roulette it was my very first time, and being #1 after the first two rounds I thought I did something wrong or something, it seemed too easy. So I started doing the worst thing possible and send some basic stuff of which mostly I don’t even listened to myself (Darkness Within is an exception, that song is amazing). But I’m glad I had someone with the mindset of “Hey, just found out about this song and I think it’s pretty neat, what do you think of it?“. I think my run in your roulette was too uninspired, but I learned from that, and I strongly believe that if you’ll ever do one again I can come up with some better stuff.
8.5/10
10th place!mikemangioyNirvana – All Apologies:
First impressions: I find it quite odd that I never heard this song, I’ve heard a fair amount of Nirvana songs from Nevermind and In Utero but this doesn’t sound familiar. Never been a huge fan of Kurt’s vocals to be honest, I liked him on Heart-Shaped Box and Lithium but that’s about it. And this song I feel doesn’t qualify for that category. Frankly, I’m a bit annoyed by the overly distorted guitars as well, so it’s not just Kurt. I will not harm your Grohl fandom though, because the drumming is still tight as hell. Don’t think I’ll be enjoying this song as a whole though.
I hear Foo Fighters songs all the time when my friends listen to them, but never Nirvana, can definitely hear some simi-larities though, for obvious reasons. I’m not going to talk around it, I’m not fond of this song, like I said, not a huge fan of Kurt’s vocals, he has a very unique touch to his singing voice that simply isn’t for everyone. Simple instrumentation can definitely work, but this is the kind that does not stick with me. Tough luck, not my cup of tea.
Well, apart from the Italian song in the first round, there wasn’t really any obscure stuff coming from you I don’t think, but what you’ve gotten me to do is open my eyes for bands like Rush, who apparently have an album with a song I did quiet like, that also sounded like they didn’t stick to their old sound, Clockwork Angels. An Ayreon song from an album I won’t try to type out showed me that The Human Equation shouldn’t be my only album by Arjen to check out. Colors could be forgiven for the bad first impression it had on me, because Veridian/White Walls kicked ass. The Twelve Foot Ninja song, though being amazing, I feel was a fluke, I don’t think I will like the album as much, but I will give it a chance. So yea there was a lot of cool stuff that has been added to my list. Sign up for that v2 right now!
6.5/109th place!SaculKyuss – Odyssey:
Stoner metal? I’ve heard one Kyuss song before on the Guitar Hero Metardica I believe, and it fucing sucked, hope this one is better (that song was called The Demon Cleaner I think). This song is definitely a little more upbeat, which I like, because that other song was so depressing, and in a way that plain bored me. This is the kind of distorted guitar that I can kinda dig, but I would probably not be able to stand an entire album of this music. Judging this song, I think it’ll work out fine, energetic and likable vocals, cool guitar riffs, very loudly mixed bass, groovy as fuck instrumental section, yeah this one’s cool.
I still fucking hate Demon Cleaner and I don’t get how a band that puts out a song like that can make something this ‘cool‘. Cool is definitely the word to describe this song. I’ve gotten more used to the distortion, and it’s definitely not as distracting as with the Nirvana song. Yeah this one was a grower, I already kinda liked it but now I really like it to the point where I might return to this album.
Kicking off I was sure I was going to get DMM, but overall I’ve gotten some very unexpected songs from you that I did enjoy in the end, you were definitely one of the bigger risktakers, a lot of different genres included, even though you seem to return to prog quite often (that’s not a crime, everyone did it at atleast some point(except maybe Shadow)). I think the Ulver song was the breaking point, from there on it seemed like the only way you could get back into the top was with big risks, it didn’t particularly work out, but for what it’s worth I thought the Igorrr song was enjoyable even though I didn’t really like the song. Odyssey had its moments and I might even return to this artist at some point.
8.5/108th place!Bolsters Circle of Illusion – Nightmare:
First impressions: A 16 minute symphonic rock/metal piece, I don’t have a whole lot of symphonic music, but it tends to do well for me so far. About 5 minutes in and I feel this song is taking the term “theatrical” to a level that I can’t yet handle, like with a lot of the avant-garde metal stuff. The instrumental sections are kinda intriguing but the entire thing is a LOT to take in, more than anything I’ve received in round 6 (epics round), so, after my standard routine of 4 listens I might be able to shed some more light on this.
I can handle stuff like A.C.T, in fact, I really enjoy them, but this is so much to take in, I’ve heard it 3 times now and will listen to it one more time after this, but it’s still very hard to get into. The song has some cool parts tht I can appre-ciate, like some of the guitars, dramatic keyboards in the background, a slim amount of the vocals, but in my head they don’t connect, I hear various cool parts spread across a 16 minute song, filled up with lots of stuff I can’t digest. I must say that this all sounds more negative than it is though, because it’s all wrapped up in a very cool epic ending, which kinda reminds me of Octavarium.
From someone who sent me Journey in the very first round, the prejudice of you being a classic rock dude had to be made. However, it got followed up by the craziest things. Metal with electronic/dubstep/DnB influences, a Final Fanta-sy soundtrack cover, the fascinating craziness of rock legend Meat Loaf, a 26-minute piece of prog-rock, whatever you get the point. I like how you started out saying that you had no idea what you were getting yourself into, a roulette with themes which you hadn’t done before, on top of which my musical tastes were completely unknown of. I like that attitude, just going for it and sending some great tunes.
8/107th place!LordCost Celesty – Legacy of Hate Pt. 3:
First impressions: Okay, wasn’t really into the female vocals in the beginning, I thought I was in for a really boring 14 minute piece, and I personally didn’t get the resemblance of this singer and Brent Smith, but as soon as the pace changed it got way, way better. Some amazingly energetic symphonic/power metal. I don’t think this song could beat your second-most epic song, because that’s pretty much my favorite song of the roulette (after Meteorites and maaybe Forget Not), but this is some very solid epic power metal.
It’s a shame that beginning doesn’t appeal to me as much, but from like 5 minutes towards the end it’s all amazing, some very DT Systematic Chaos-ish stuff in the instrumental section around 7 minutes in that gets me every time. This song overall has that theatrical vibe that Bolsters’ song has as well, but this band doesn’t over-do it, it comes in doses that I can comprehend/get used to in a considerable amount of time. The death growls at 10 minutes were a little bit uncalled for IMO but I still very much enjoy this song.
You may not have won this, but I think we both know you and I have some very similar tastes, and it showed. Excellent score after excellent score, the only thing that kept you from entering the finals were one or two songs you were aware of yourself were risky things (I think, atleast you said that about Oceansize, Unexpect might’ve been self-explanatory).
9/106th place!TyriasAmplifier – Airborne:
First impressions: Getting a really eerie vibe from that intro, which may or may not be good depending on how the song turns out to be. This music is a very typical choice for an epic closer, that’s definitely not a bad thing though, it carries a great atmosphere, it has tearing guitar riffs near the end that still live up to the term ‘epic’, and the vocals are very soothing for the music, I can’t see anything beating this song at this point, we’ll see.
Seems like I got it right the first time around, I wasn’t too vocal about my opinion there though. This song is amazing, just like the dredg song you sent me, it has this great atmosphere that pretty much defines the song. That crushing musical breakdown is just outright epic, all sorts of epic. Definitely a contender for #1 of the round, it’s hella close though.
I had been lurking the forums a bit and had been around a couple months already before starting the roulette, but I never saw you before, you don’t post as much. From what I understand, 2 and a half month and 10 songs later, you’re a fairly young fellow with a very wide variety of songs, including some plain fun electro-swing, Russian turbo-polka, a live-recorded version of a MrSuicideSheep song, and tons more. ‘T was definitely something else, that’s for sure.
9.5/105th place!Parama.fun – Take Your Time
First impressions: I honestly had my expectations set to 0, you came off as if you didn’t have hope in your song anymore. This is great though, because that mindset apparently made you stray away from the dark stuff, and send me this super fun song. It has the pop-like vocals that the Thank You Scientist song you sent also had elements of. What I like most of all is you seem to have everything planned out a bit, and prog is mostly (not only for you but for everyone) the thing people tend to fall back on if they have nothing extra-ordinarily special to send, here you are like “whatever let’s just send a cool pop-rock song“ and it’s amazing. Some catchy melodies, fun instrumentals, and a good fade-out.
God this song is so joyful! I’m still liking this a lot. Don’t know if it will be a round winner but it’s definitely way better than your last two songs, glad you took this uplifting turn for the last round. I think all I wanted to say about this has been said in the first paragraph, so, that’s it, ended it with a bang for sure!
Throughout the roulette I was a bit undecided about most of your songs, most were middle-of-the-pack without any real standouts. Then suddenly you got the best two-round run with Forget Not and My Famed Disappearing Act. Round 8 and 9 cost you the cup, but you still delivered some kickass songs that I’ll be checking out albums of.
9/10
EliteLesoir – Battle:
First impressions: Everything about this song suggests that I should like it, the style, the metal, but that’s only to a certain extent. It has some memorable vocal melodies, but the memorable parts are not necessarily memorable for good reasons, the „I used to“ in the chorus annoys me a bit. Instrumentals are on par, but while the vocals are kind of soothing, they keep me from thinking more than ‚average‘ of this song.
Definitely not the most fitting song to a closing theme, you might’ve forgotten about it or something. But it wouldn’t change much anyways, I think parts of this song are very good, in the sense that they are powerful and energetic. However, as a whole I don’t enjoy this song and would probably not return to it. Why? The chorus still annoys me a fair bit, while the vocals in the more quiet parts do appeal to me. In the end it doesn’t balance out eachother in the best way possible, this is probably my least favorite song from you so far.
Starting round 2, I think you never left the #1 spot in this entire roulette, the consistency throughout the entire thing was pretty impressive. Also got me some quality songs, like the Navarone song, whose name I was already slightly familiar with, the Transatlantic epic, Forced Entry, that Mantiis album is also something I’m eager to explore, and of course Ben Folds Five. I liked the length of your writeups in the PMs, it doesn’t really affect the score directly, but you describe the song without writing an entire fucking essay like some do
. After the first two rounds I was sure you would keep performing well and you did, this final round made the top 4 participants closer than ever though, so unless you already checked the results, now is the time to scroll down and see for yourself..
7/10425Bruce Dickinson – Arc of Space:
Alright, will this 4 minute song by Bruce Dickinson be the song that will wow me enough to get you into the finals? Let’s see.
First impressions: Onto a great start, I have actually never heard his solo work, but basically, this is what had first drawn me to Iron Maiden in the first place, that magnificent voice. I did not know he created such beautiful music! Soaring guitar solo, crushingly strong vocal deliverance in the chorus, has a great touch of closure to it. I’m through my first listen, but I already know I want more of Bruce’s solo project.
This is fucking beautiful man.. I fail to understand why I never bothered with Bruce’s solo work, I didn’t know he could create and sing such beautiful ballads. Three listens in and I already kinda want to make this song my soundtrack, one hell of an emotive song. Yeah my final verdict: This song seems flawless.. it’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, I’m not just saying that. I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn’t give this the full 10/10, holy shit.
Regardless of if you’re making the finals right here, you were one consistent candidate. Not only that, you were also the only person to score a 10/10 outside of the epic round. On top of that, probably the best average score of the last two rounds (this being after you said you were running out of artists
). I was always kinda uncertain of what to epect from your songs, going from power metal, to prog metal, to pop, it wasn’t the most diverse bunch of songs, but the difference between the different styles were huge (if that makes sense). This #3/#4 race is going to be close as hell, but you definitely have a chance, which means you would quickly need some new artists. (Who am I kidding you probably already skipped to the results before reading this)
10/10
Topic: Train of Naught Debut Roulette - And the winner is... (Read 47358 times)
