Alright, here are some writeups, at long last.
I agree with Tyrias that this was a round that was on the weak side. Not a huge dip in quality; there will still be several songs getting good scores here as usual, but a) there isn't a standout and b) there are several songs that I really felt like could have been more. So while there are 7 songs here that are at least good, it felt disappointing to me, as the bottom three really felt like they had potential but that there was something missing, while one of the top three... well, just read ahead to what we call "425 Does Six Writeups and a Rant"
Evermind: Roger Waters - It’s a Miracle
Okay, here’s the deal for me about Roger Waters. I like a lot of his music. I have tremendous respect for his talent. But personally, I really dislike the guy. Almost everything he says publicly is really just unpleasant in my opinion. It’s the whole sense of being so proud of how cynical he is about “society.” It really annoys me, and I just personally do not like him.
This wouldn’t ordinarily bother me. Listening to The Wall, who cares, because, though it’s an aspect of the story, it’s not the dominating aspect of the whole thing. But on this song, he’s just so… in my face about how anti-corporate, anti-establishment and cynical he is. I don’t think a song ever needs to name-drop “Pepsi” and “McDonald’s,” and I don’t see why we need a long sequence describing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s fingers being broken. Some people can put aside lyrics and score the song just based on music, but I can’t do it. It’s not like I’m strictly juding the quality of lyrics, but if there are lyrics that annoy me, yeah, you’re going to take a hit. And, to be really frank, this song takes a big hit for the lyrics, because I really actively dislike them.
That said, musically, this is probably the best song of the round. Waters is undoubtedly a brilliant composer, and while he’s not a spectacular singer, he knows how to use his voice to achieve the desired effect in his own compositions. This song is musically really awesome, actually. The atmosphere is brilliant, the subtle instrumentation very good and the vocal melodies all excellent. So, yes, with better lyrics, this could potentially be among the best scores of the whole thing from me. But I can’t do it because the lyrical content is so obnoxious to me and is so in my face that it actively and significantly detracts from my enjoyment of the song.
Listening to the live version, it is there are ways in which it is somewhat better than the studio version. The piano just pops better live, and Waters’ voice works better in this setting, for whatever reason. The choral vocals and the sparingly used drums also jump out. I think some of the atmosphere is lost, or, rather, altered, by placing it on a concert stage, which is why I’m not going to say that the live version is heads above the studio version, but it is probably better. It’s a really fine live performance and recording of a really good composition. I’m definitely convinced that this song deserves a good score, which it will receive. But those lyrics. With different lyrics, man, this would be in the top three or four songs of the whole roulette.
jingle.boy: Dec Burke - Promised
This is an interesting song that I really don’t know how to categorize in terms of genre. I don’t care too much about genre, though, anyway, and the song itself is actually quite cool. There’s a really nice atmosphere created with some synth playing of some sort that is accompanied by some pretty lovely acoustic guitar playing. There’s some good guitar soloing later.
And, just for everyone else’s reference, if you want to really find a male singer that I’m pretty much guaranteed to like, someone like this is a good type to try. I love soft emotive male vocals like this guy’s. There are some nice vocal melodies here, and he really just sounds great on most of them. I particularly like the soft chorus that repeats about two-thirds of the way through the song.
This song isn’t an absolute stunner, but it’s very nice as an understated, unassuming little song that works with a strong sense of atmosphere and incorporates some nice vocal and guitar passages. I quite enjoy this sort of thing.
Nekov: Lights & Motion - Drift
Okay, this is a really cool song. Totally blends genres, like a couple other songs this round, but this is the best results of such a blend in my opinion. There’s just something really awesome about the way this one goes through a series of themes, ebbing and flowing in intensity through each one in succession. I guess there’s a lot of different instrumentation going on here, and it all works together really well to achieve some different musical effects in the song.
My favorite theme is the second main one, after the first loud and intense part, when it comes down to just the piano melody. That’s an awesome motif and I love how they build off of just the piano to add in all the different electronic instrumentation and eventually string parts on top of that one motif.
Also, this song does not overstay its welcome! It’s the shortest song of this round by a pretty wide margin, and I found that to be a good thing, because some of the songs here just felt a little too long for me. This is definitely one of my favorite entries of the round.
Sacul: Alter Bridge - Blackbird
So undeterred by my middling impression of Being Human, Sacul sends another roulette favorite. Well, this one I actually like better, so it worked out.
This is a classic example of song that really oscillates well between loud and soft, which is something that I like quite a bit. I like the clean guitar on the verses, and then, of course, that chorus is pretty massive. The singer is pretty good, not amazing, but very powerful, which is good. He makes these choruses very strong. The guitar solo is nice as well, though not extraordinary. I really like the build in intensity over the course of the song as well, so that’s good.
But here’s the thing, which seems to be a running theme of this round: Does this song need to be 8 minutes long? I hope this isn’t just something that happens to have been bothering me for the past few days because I’ve picked on so many of this round’s songs about it, but I can’t help think it here. I just feel like a song like this that’s more in the 6-7 minute range, maybe, would be a bit stronger?
Scorpion: Fanticide - My Regret
Well, this is undoubtedly an emotionally charged song. The slow soulful guitar work is very nice, as is the vocal interplay done by the female vocalists. The one who does the part of Innocence, in particular, has a very pleasant, soft voice.
There isn’t too much variation here, for a pretty long song. There is a nice buildup near the end that makes up for some of that, but I still think that the song might benefit from being a little bit shorter, but that’s one of those things where I could easily see my mind being changed if I listened to the full album.
I also am not really keen on the growls. Since they’re only in here for like five seconds, they don’t kill the whole thing for me, but I just don’t really think they work in this particular song. They do detract a little bit, and so between the growls and the slight issue I had with length, I did go for the lower of the two scores that I was debating between. There are definitely things to like here (and it’s cool to know that it was actually made by a DTF member, because it really is nice stuff), but like another song from this round, I felt like there was a little something missing. Maybe in the context of the full album…
senecadawg2: Ludovico Einaudi - Divenire
Okay, so seneca sends both the first and the second entry of string music into the roulette championship, both to Tyrias. While the first one wasn’t really a huge hit with me, I liked Divenire quite a bit, ranking it among my favorite entries of the round.
Honestly, this and Drift do a lot of the same things well, even though this is a piano-and-strings only piece while that one is everything but the kitchen sink instrumentally. Both of these songs introduce a variety of themes and use an ebb and flow to great effect. Here, I really like the interply between the piano and the string instruments, especially in the more intense parts of the song, where you can hear the strings move forward and start to overtake the piano. Which isn’t to say that the soft parts aren’t beautiful, because they absolutely are. I really love the piano work here. This one is just a beautiful piece of music through and through, and is probably my favorite entry of the round.
wolfking: Fates Warning - Monument
Fates Warning is, of course, a band that I know of, though I don’t know them very well. I did receive a song from them in my roulette, which was The Eleventh Hour, and which did alright.
This song is definitely an interesting one. For every part where it sounds a little like generic prog metal, there’s another part that is totally its own thing, so credit for that. However, musically, a lot of these parts I just consider to be alright, and the whole thing is not the most cohesive song ever. The intro is good and the vocal parts are solid (the singer himself is not my favorite, stylistically, but he’s good enough), but a lot of the riffing just isn’t really anything special. I do like the clean guitar part in the instrumental section. The end of the song seems to come out of nowhere and, while it’s certainly interesting as a change of pace, it kind of seems tacked on? I don’t know what that’s all about.
Overall, I feel like there might be something I’m missing here. Maybe this song works better in the full album context? Regardless, it’s a good song with some twists, only some of which work, that fails to transcend just good for me.
Topic: 2016 Roulette Championship v. THE CONCLUSION (Read 107046 times)
