I JUST pressed the "Post" button jackass, don't interrupt me!
LordCostUnexpect – Unsolved Ideas of a Distorted Guest:
There’s been a lot of submissions way out of my comfort zone, but this one has to be the winner in that regard. I simply can’t get into this like the other whacky stuff, it almost seems like some of the stuff going on in the song are not even understood by the band themselves. I’m fine with the instruments being pretty crazy, and I actually think the bass guitar is beyond great, but I’m into the kind of chaotic songs when they feel somewhat systematic, whereas this just feels too chaotic for me to comprehend, maybe I’ll get into it with a few more listens though.
I regocnize great musicianship in all of the instruments, including the vocalist(s), but the music just does not appeal to me all that much, too extraordinary for my likings I guess.
6.5/10mikemangioySteven Wilson – First Regret/3 Years Older:
Such a long song, but damn, this is not too shabby. The very lengthy instrumental intro, while not being my favorite part of the song, sets the mood perfectly, with a mix of ambient-ish and progressive rock elements. From what I’ve heard so far from SW (which is only this song as far as solo stuff goes) I’m kind of impressed, but on the other hand I don’t think I will like his music as much as the average DTF member. The songwriting skills of this dude I can see are pretty damn good, but musically I don’t like it just as much. I don’t know a lot about Steven but from his lyrics I can kind of get how the subject is about something very close to him or something, I usually like my emotional songs plain and straight to the point-ish, and I haven’t been into the mellow side of prog rock an awful lot. When it does hit, it hits big time, but this is inbetween.
Man I’m probably going to get a lot of shit for grading a Steven Wilson song below my average
7.5/10senecadawg2David Gray – Please Forgive Me:
I didn’t like this nearly as much as the previous two songs (which were pretty much in the same category). To each their own I guess. While this guy can sing just as good as Damien and Glen, hell, maybe even better, I like this song significantly less. But yea those two were pretty high up so that still doesn’t mean
too much. My main issue with this song is those instruments on the background. This song should be all about David Gray, but some things, like that clap beat at 3 mins in is something that makes me lose focus on the singing part of the song. Does he do all the music with a program? If so I hope I’m the only one that’s actually bothered by this. Great voice, and some generated background music that I don't understand and probably shouldn't be too distracted by, but in the end it does annoy me. David Gray's talent still got you an okay score for sure though. Of course you know what you’re doing here, you’re continuing a route of strong singer-songwriters, but unfortunately the laughing avatar man will keep you from expanding your (tied) lead, and will instead keep you in a solid spot to take back that lead.
7.5/10Shadow Ninja 2.0Sleep Party People – Change In Time:
Surprise surprise, Shadow Ninja sending me some artist I’ve never heard before. I gotta say I’m very pleased I received both this song and Sacul’s NIN song, they were both very relaxing in their own way to me, while this song would strike one with the word relaxing way quicker than the NIN song. This band is pretty unique, as are Santigold, Tom Waits, w/e you name it, but with this I actually have no idea how to label it, some kind of ambient? Anyway it’s a pretty good, relaxing song with odd vocals in a good way, the kind of vocals that act more like an instrument than delivering a message, which fits perfectly for this kind of music. Hell yea I’ll have this kind of music play in the background when I’m in the mood, for that, I thank you.
8/10
BolstersMeat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell:
Cool name, first off. I have heard of Meatloaf before, about how amazing of a singer he supposedly is, but I didn’t expect him to have such long songs, thought he was more of a radio-hit kind of guy. It’s a pretty catchy song alright, didn’t appeal to me on first listen but it’s gotten a little better. This feels like what Queen would sound like without the glam and with more of a rock edge. There really barely isn’t too much I can complain about, maybe it’s a bit too busy as a whole for my liking, but I can definitely say I’ve enjoyed some music from the one and only Meat Loaf, did not expect that to happen at the start of this roulette.
8/10SaculNine Inch Nails – Just Like You Imagined:
I’m pretty sure I never heard anything from NIN except for one song, it could very well just be this song, but it doesn’t sound familiar. I don’t know what kind of music they actually make and what their vocalist sounds like, but this instrumental is pretty good, especially for the theme. They keep the song fairly simple (well except for that piano part), but in a way that it sticks with you and sets the theme for the album, which basically means it’s the perfect album opener. Althooooough…. yea like I said they keep it fairly simple, it’s not going to be a round winner that’s for sure, but it’s easily scoring some solid points, liked it a lot. Also, I like this one better than your original submission so you got away good.
8/10ParamaEast of the Wall – some songs tied together:
East of the Wall sounds like one of those typical Parama bands that no one else likes, judging from just the name for some reason. The groovy elements in Linear Failure are just glorious, actually yeah let’s talk about Linear Failure, the core of the song, because how I see it, there’s 3 tracks that might aswell have been a single one, because it forms one song. Since the first and last are intro’s and outro’s, my attention was drawn to the middle section the most. I could probably not have asked for better placed screams, this band apparently knows the balance quite well. It’s up there with the most experimental stuff in this round, although it doesn’t even come close to the shit Tyrias and LordCost sent me
, and for those type of songs I always fear that I can’t reward it. But this song I did like a lot, and it had more of an epic feel to it than most songs this round, but because of my low standards it doesn’t stand out as
the best song, definitely a good effort though.
8.5/10EvermindVanden Plas – Vision 11even: In My Universe:
I see this name pop up every once in a while in the GMD and I always wondered but never checked out what they would be like. The style of intro they picked sounds kinda similar to March of Mephisto, which is a great thing. I actually like this guy’s voice more than the Kamelot guy though, and I feel like this one has more of an “opening song” type of touch to, making for a perfect fit to the theme, so you seem to have less trouble with opening rounds than happy/uplifting rounds
. Wow, I really like that guitar solo, it starts off very slow and emotive and then keeps up with the rhythm’s as they pick up pace, that’s pretty cool. The choir section is pretty cool, somehow reminds me of A7X lol. I’ll take an educated guess based on my past rating skills and say this will end up just above average, like #5 of the round or something (this is without having scored anything yet and only being past the first listen).
8.5/10TyriasRUSSKAJA – Energia:
Would it surprise you that this song is not the furthest out of my comfort zone in this round? Probably. But this one actually worked out way better than LordCost’s song. Like they say with those whacky songs, it’s kinda ruined when they take themselves too seriously doing it, but this band embraces it like no tomorrow. This song is full of ENERGIA, and the offbeat trumpet (yes guys, offbeat trumpet) makes this song amazingly happy sounding. It’s certainly not the best fit to the theme, even though it’s the original album opener, but it’s still allowed. I love how your risks tend to work in your favor, because that Caravan Palace song was also probably way better than you had expected. I’m going to be frank with ya though, this is 100% sure not a song I’d buy on iTunes and jam along to when riding my bike to school, it’s just not. But it has definitely intrigued me to check out some more of these guys, and maybe I’ve finally found the perfect song to piss off my neighbors when they call the cops on me again for noise disturbance without giving me a warning first.
8.5/10425Coheed and Cambria – Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute:
You’re lucky I’m sorta used to this guy’s voice because it was pretty hard to get used to at first (DW I only know “Welcome Home”). That’s a pretty cool intro, but the transition from intro to verse is pretty damn sudden, would’ve liked if they went on a little longer there, or made it smoother. No question whether this guy can sing, I’m definitely enjoying the chorus a lot because of that. I actually like the rhythm guitar in this song way more than the leads, or is it just one guy who double-tracked it? Also a very complete track, even though it’s an opener, it doesn’t feel incomplete and in the need of being followed up with the rest of the album. Anyway I already had the idea in the back of my head to check out C&C, but I could definitely see that idea coming closer now, cool band. I actually thought at some point this might become another 10 but nah, no way it could contest with Meteorites
9/10EliteNavarone – Time:
Man, first I’m getting all these mp3 links and now a song that’s only on Spotify, that’s it I’m getting my 1 month free premium now. I’ve heard of this name once or twice, but have never heard any of their music I don’t think. The amount of distortion combined with the bass is just about perfect to give me a Royal Blood vibe, but fortunately, it’s not at all like them, cause I wouldn’t really be interested in more of those. This band has their own cool way of making a name for themselves, Merijn van fucking Haren. Who is this guy? After nearly 3 minutes of slow-paced rock you’d expect the song to really remain a bit on the softer side, then he starts kicking ass. The riffage afterwards is pretty neat too. Overall I almost
can’t not like energetic rock like this, it’s in my nature, and this more than satisfies, I think I’m liking this even more than the Jeff Buckley song.
9/10splentYes – Roundabout:
splent dude, you just keep doing your thing. First you send me that killer Queen (ha) song, and now this. I was never used to those classic prog bands (while Queen isn’t nearly as proggy as Yes) but I definitely should! Don’t be discouraged to send modern stuff though, just trying to say that this stuff is currently working very well for you.
I like how loud the bass is mixed in this, especially enhances the first few minutes, everything combined with this vocalist makes me super relaxed and energetic at the same time, cool combination. Favorite part of the song has to be the groovy keyboard section in the middle though, and the overall thought that has been on my mind is just how sheer happiness of these musicians is seen back in the songwriting, modern bands should take their happy pills before starting to write more often. I’ve seen some good reviews about Fragile, and never thought this music’d be for me, but this might just be the gateway song to Fragile and eventually more of Yes’ neverending discography.
9.5/10Current standings:Evermind: 43
Elite: 43
425: 42
Senecadawg2: 42
Sacul: 41,5
Tyrias: 41,5
Bolsters: 41
Parama: 41
Splent: 40,5
LordCost: 39
mikemangioy: 39
Shadow Ninja 2.0: 35
In other news I've corrected a couple of earlier scores since we're halfway done now, I feel I owe these to some of you, IIRC there's about 5 songs I added either ,5 or a whole point to, will post later today. And I'll open the next round in a second.
Topic: Train of Naught Debut Roulette - And the winner is... (Read 52407 times)
