2016 Roulette Championship v. THE CONCLUSION

[Evermind]

Yeah, your song was my favorite of the round. Even without the cat.

Awesome. It seems I won the round according to the two judges, and since winning it outright is just too good to be true, Mr. Red will probably say it's his least favourite song of the round and give me a 7/15 or something.

[Tyrias]

I'm very surprised that my song is getting positive reactions.  Didn't go heavy enough. 

You'd need to go this heavy to get a negative reaction because of heaviness from me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrcY9I-BbjM
whereas the following from the same band is absolutely fine and a great song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akG2cFldO6I

Anyway, I said I'd post a list of some of my favourite songs with female vocalists, so here is a small overview (some of them are duets by the way, but the female vocalists are still very prominent):

ABBA - Chiquitita: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QqMKe3rwY (yes, seriously)
Amatorski - Never Told: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA8Ow3Qc07c
Anathema - Ariel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjAHS4pNUY8
AZEDIA - Thunder and Lightning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPklgCBNlZw
Bent Knee - Battle Creek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBszXDyMYhs
Chelsea Wolfe - The waves Have come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjpc9KE-kW0
Epica - Chasing The Dragon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bidIrp1gZoc
Evanescence - Fields of Innocence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7uZcexsPuw
Guro von Germeten - Accordion Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpzXhIEOQRE
London Grammar - Night Call https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZYw0MQp_fI
Nightwish - Dead Boy's Poem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtyy6hgRHD8
Nightwish - Ghost Love Score live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3brcfttchzA
Susanne Sundfor - Memorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plikjySlGd8

As you can see, that's a pretty diverse list and by no means complete. Maybe it helps some of you in deciding, maybe it'll just confuse you more. If there are any questions, ask away. (and of course we need to get Red's results first. I just wanted this in the thread so it would go faster afterwards)

[Evermind]

What do you think about Anneke van Giersbergen-like vocals? Think Ayreon / her solo work / The Gentle Storm.

[Tyrias]

What do you think about Anneke van Giersbergen-like vocals? Think Ayreon / her solo work / The Gentle Storm.

I saw her live once, supporting Pain of Salvation and Arstidir during an acoustic tour. Quite liked her, though she was the weakest act of the evening overall for me. Not because of her voice, but because it was just her and an acoustic guitar, whereas the others had more complex arrangements. The concert really blurred together, though, because they helped each other out so much during sets. The first song of the evening was Arstidir and POS singer playing Road Salt together, then Anneke came out for a few songs during their set, they helped her out with some additional strings in her set and both "openers" were on stage for some duets and background strings for POS.

Never heard anything from any of the bands you listed .

[Crow]

have you never listened to any devin townsend project either

[Tyrias]

Oh yeah, I know some Devin. I know Terria, Epicloud, Deconstruction, Ghost and some other songs here and there. It's been a while since I listened to him though.

[Sacul]

no addicted? smh tbh fam

[Tyrias]

I tried Addicted a few times, but never got very far in before I got bored and switched something else on.

[Crow]

well anneke is on epicloud quite a bit and she's on ghost a little bit

[Evermind]

Anyway, Devin's best records are Terria, Ki, Casualties and Ghost.

[Crow]

casualties and terria, def. ocean machine, decon, and ziltoid are great too

[Nekov]

So, what up with the red judge? He's the only one who can save me from the evil Evermind...

[Bolsters]

So, what up with the red judge? He's the only one who can save me from the evil Evermind...

I've got his stuff now. As soon as I plug the scores into the spreadsheet and update the scoreboard I'll post everything.

[Sacul]

 

[Bolsters]

jingle.boy      Anubis - Blood is Thicker than Common Sense
This song was a grower. It seemed a little simple at first, but as I listened more I began to like it a little bit more. The middle section with the call and response tended to drag a little bit because they did it so much and didn't change it all that much, which for an 8 minute song just got monotonous. But I enjoyed the chorus quite a bit and the groovy riffs the band played.


senecadawg2      Leprous - The Price
What a unique voice. That was the defining factor in this song. It wasn't too bad, it just didn't grab me as much. Kind of had a Coheed sound to it in my opinion.


wolfking      Solution .45 - Winning Where Losing is All
Sorry Wolfking, you know how I feel about harsh vocals, so that def brought the score down. However, the music, the chorus, the guitar solo towards the end... those were all absolutely phenomenal; harsh vocals are the reason I have never gotten into bands like BTBAM, they just ruin the entire song for me. However, it didn't bring it down as much as others because I really enjoyed the non-harsh parts of this song a LOT. Like, if I could splice out those harsh vox I'd be down totally.


Sacul      DJ Shadow - Stem/Long Stem
My favorite of the round. You picked a good one to send. I like some EDM and this is the kind I appreciate. It's repetative, but every repetitition is just different enough that it's interesting; especially as it builds up. Some of the samples/breaks are a little questionable in my opinion; while they do add to the song i just feel like they break the groove. However, they aren't too debilitating. The beginning... i felt like I was listening to Queensryche or something and then expected it to just go crazy but it never did. That was fine by me.


Nekov      Dragon - Sunburst     
Oh yes. Old school prog that I haven't heard of. Calming, not too crazy. I wish I knew more of this stuff... I may have to look more into this band. Reminds me a little bit of early Yes or Genesis.


Scorpion      Arcane - Unturning     
My favorite heavy one of the round. Kept my interest the entire time.


Evermind      Mark Knopfler ft. Ruth Moody - Wherever I Go
What a calming song; I am not surprised that it was you who sent it. Unlike anything that's been sent yet. Sometimes this kind of stuff is a little too schmultzy for me but this was good.

Now that Tier 2 has been completed, we say goodbye to two more players. Unsurprisingly, wolfking was unable to dig himself out of his hole and jingle.chad wasn't far behind, and so they have both now been eliminated. In other news, Nekov's lead continues to grow shorter.


Round 7 begins now, the next Tyrias round, and hopefully you have all remembered that this is our first themed round of the roulette. I'll make it big and bold so that hopefully no one forgets:

Round 7 theme: Female-Fronted

Start sending now.

[Sacul]

Hell yes 

[Crow]

welcome to the cool kids' club, jingle and wolf

[Bolsters]

Here are your individual score breakdowns thus far, so that you can see how you (and everyone else) is doing with each of the three judges.


This first set contains scores just from Tier 2:




Then, here are your total scores thus far:

[Evermind]

"Nekov's lead continues to grow shorter" is a mild way to put it.

[Sacul]

I have my round entries pretty much planned for this tier - just have to decide what to send to Tyrias. Hopefully 425 won't meh my song, and if I may not have enough points to get to that finals... Mr Red will receive my secret weapon, but if not, it shall get me the championship crown 

[425]

Down to just five now! How exciting!

Sad to see you guys go, though, jingle.boy and wolfking. I already kind of wrote a farewell piece to wolfking in my writeup, so I'll just write a brief one for jingle here: I liked most of what you sent pretty well, actually. Definitely liked Alpha Rev, Headspace, Meat Loaf and Flaming Row quite a bit, and your other two submissions weren't bad at all, either. I'm certainly planning to check into the four artists I mentioned, so your presence here was worthwhile from my own self-centered perspective of learning about new artists. The competition was fierce, undoubtedly, and the other two judges weren't quite as kind to you as I have been. It's been fun having you involved, though. Both of you.

Anyway, onward we go to round 7... It's getting close to crunch time now for our remaining five...

[Train of Naught]

Sacul      DJ Shadow - Stem/Long Stem
I like some EDM and this is the kind I appreciate.

DJ Shadow is EDM?

[Evermind]

What's EDM? Electronic death metal?

[Train of Naught]

Electronic death metal?

Electronic Dance Music

Here I found some Electronic Progressive Melodic Death Metal

[Nekov]

Well, I need to bring my A game back if I want to win this. I'll send something later today.

"Nekov's lead continues to grow shorter" is a mild way to put it.

God damn you Evilmind

[Tyrias]

Some farewell words from me as well:

jingle.boy: It seems our music tastes weren't really made to match, but nevertheless you sent me some stuff I really enjoyed and will check out, especially Headspace and Flaming Row. I enjoyed most of the rest as well (except for the last song ), but I'm not sure if I'm interested enough to check those bands out further. Now you can trash talk and make fun of the others from on outside perspective, with less chance of retribution (at least in this roulette).

wolfking: It's funny how the only song you put more thought into got the worst score from me. Anyway, everything else you sent me I did enjoy quite a bit, and I will check out some of the albums when I'm in a headbanging-and-rocking-out mood. Thanks for playing!

For the survivors, I'm looking forward to your songs! The field is quite close together, all it needs to gain a spot or two is a fantastic song, so give it your best!

[jingle.boy]

Hey... thanks for the pep talk kids.  I'll be able to get thru my day now that my spirits have been lifted.   

jingle.boy: It seems our music tastes weren't really made to match,

I knew that we weren't a match at all; I was only mildly aligned with 425s tastes, and clearly no one knows exactly what Red's tastes are - beyond his banned list.  I knew this wasn't a good roulette for me from the start, so I'm not at all surprised, or disappointed for that matter.

[Sacul]

Sacul      DJ Shadow - Stem/Long Stem
I like some EDM and this is the kind I appreciate.

DJ Shadow is EDM?

Not really, but I guess I can see the comparison on that song


And jingle.boy... I know exactly what Mr Red likes

[Nekov]

And jingle.boy... I know exactly what Mr Red likes

[Sacul]

[Nekov]

Sent

[Evermind]

And jingle.boy... I know exactly what Mr Red likes

That didn't really help you securing the lead so far.

I think I don't really know what Mr. Red likes. I mean, it's also kinda difficult to guess anything based on the write-ups like "My favorite heavy one of the round. Kept my interest the entire time". Well, I mean, I can see why him and you are a match. What have you liked and disliked about this song, why is it your favourite? What was your favourite moment? How does it compare to some other bands you know? Anything else? This write-up above is like "My least favourite song of the round. This is total shit.", only it's positive.

In fact - not to bash on both of you, because everyone has its own style of running these things - just saying how I feel. I think the write-ups are rather important. I actively try to avoid roulettes where the host doesn't put enough effort in his write-ups, because this feels like he doesn't put enough effort in the whole roulette, as far as I'm concerned. And if for some reason I'm in the roulette like this, I lose motivation for carefully choosing my songs and just go with whatever's on my mind.

I understand that sometimes it's difficult to say something about the song if you didn't like it or rather thought it mediocre, but for me it's simply a matter of showing some respect to the players.

[Crow]

i like roulettes where the host(s) are clearly enjoying themselves instead of making it like an obligation or something
this shines through in part with how much the host interacts with the roulette participants and in part how much effort is put into write-ups

so yeah i agree that really short writeups are super annoying because it makes it look like the host doesn't care enough but w/e 

[Sacul]

I'm not in the lead because 425 doesn't love my songs enough 

And I know I'm guilty of making short write-ups sometimes - it's because I wrote them before going to sleep. But sometimes I don't know what to write because there's not a lot to say about a particular song. I already know what I'm changing write-up-wise for my v3 to avoid this, tho.

[Nekov]

And jingle.boy... I know exactly what Mr Red likes

That didn't really help you securing the lead so far.

I think I don't really know what Mr. Red likes. I mean, it's also kinda difficult to guess anything based on the write-ups like "My favorite heavy one of the round. Kept my interest the entire time". Well, I mean, I can see why him and you are a match. What have you liked and disliked about this song, why is it your favourite? What was your favourite moment? How does it compare to some other bands you know? Anything else? This write-up above is like "My least favourite song of the round. This is total shit.", only it's positive.

In fact - not to bash on both of you, because everyone has its own style of running these things - just saying how I feel. I think the write-ups are rather important. I actively try to avoid roulettes where the host doesn't put enough effort in his write-ups, because this feels like he doesn't put enough effort in the whole roulette, as far as I'm concerned. And if for some reason I'm in the roulette like this, I lose motivation for carefully choosing my songs and just go with whatever's on my mind.

I understand that sometimes it's difficult to say something about the song if you didn't like it or rather thought it mediocre, but for me it's simply a matter of showing some respect to the players.

I'm think that might be intentionally done just in case someone can recognize the writing style. But yeah, those writeups don't say much