Evermind's Second Roulette v. The Aftermath

[Evermind]

Hello and welcome to the second edition of my roulette!

Some of you guys probably remember the first edition which took place roughly a year ago, and some of you reading that haven’t been around at that time, so here’s the link to that thread. It was a lot of fun (at least for me) even though some people who wanted to participate didn’t have time or took a break from posting on DTF. In the end, Brent (bl5150) won that one by half a point over RJ (lonestar) and now everyone has a chance to challenge him as he will defend his crown.

You know, a lot of people who ran their first roulette are seemingly not satisfied with the way they ran it, so they proceed to change the rules dramatically for v2, employing the different ranking systems, trying some other round structures and so on. Well, that’s not me. I look back at my first roulette and there aren’t a lot of stuff I’d run differently if I had to do it again. So the structure will be mainly the same, the number of players will stay the same, the rating system will stay the same. Some themes from the previous roulette will remain, some will change, and of course there will be some nuances here and there, so it’s still better if you thoroughly read this post.

I also wanted to let you know this will be my last roulette for a while – I don’t think I’ll run v3 any time soon, probably 2018 at best, or maybe even 2019. So if you want to play in my roulette, this is your best chance.

And now, without further ado, let’s get to the rules:

• There will be 12 participants in the main competition. I’m sending out eight invitations to some DTF members: six to the participants from my first roulette who managed to get past elimination line after Round 6; and two more to the people who I know wanted to participate in the first edition but didn’t make it there.
• Since all invites are accepted, that leaves us with four free spots for anyone to play. What comes next depends on how many people will want to play: if it’s only four people, we’ll proceed straight to the Round 1; if there are more people who are willing to throw their hats in the ring, we’ll have a preliminary round (think Chad’s roulette) between them. If there will be more than eight people contesting, we may need two preliminary rounds. The invited players are already in Round 1, they don’t have to pass the qualifications.
• The rounds structure and the time-limits are:
  
  Round 1: Open (Length limit: 10 minutes)
  Round 2: Themed: Ballads (Length limit: 10 minutes)
  Round 3: Open (Length limit: 10 minutes)
  Round 4: Themed: Violin / Woodwinds / Brass instruments (Length limit: 10 minutes)
  Round 5: Open (Length limit: 15 minutes)
  Round 6: Themed: Female fronted (Length limit: 10 minutes)
  
  (cut-off line, six players out of twelve are eliminated)
  
  Round 7: Open: Two songs from the same band (Length limit for two songs: 20 minutes).
  Round 8: Open: EP Round (Length limit: from 25 to 35 minutes)
  
  
• If your song goes beyond the length limit for less than 30 seconds, it’s alright. For example, you can send a 10:29 song for the first round. However, every next 30 seconds will result in losing a point, for example, 10/10 song clocking at 10:31 will receive 9 points, at 11:01 — 8 points and so on.
• The scoring system will be simple: I will rate your songs out of 10, just like in previous roulette. I think my rating for most of the songs back there was pretty much on point except a few tracks I might have rated too high or too low, but that’s inevitable I guess. I wrote this in the first edition:
  

  2.5 – bad
  5.0 – average
  7.5 – good
  10 – perfection

  And I still think that’s about right. I’ll reserve 10/10 for something truly special (last time Seneca got the only 10/10 with Journey – Of a Lifetime); I don’t mind giving lots of high scores if I thought the songs in the round were really good – I’ve given a lot of 9 and 9.5 back then; but I also don’t mind giving the average scores if the song didn’t grab me or even a very low scores if I thought the song sucked and wanted to turn it off. Don’t be offended if you get something like 3/10, that simply means I didn’t like your song, that’s all.
• The artists that got 7.5/10 or more from me are banned for the rest of roulette.

Now with that out of the way, let’s get to my tastes and the banned list. First, check out my Top 50 albums list. I’d change a few albums in the 40-50 range now, but it’s still pretty much on point, so it’s a great reference to what kind of music I love.

My tastes didn’t change much from the first roulette. Progressive metal / rock, power / heavy metal, hard rock, these are still my favourite genres. There’s a good chance I’ll love something with a folk vibe. I prefer sad music to happy music, but it doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy a nice happy song if it’s done right. I usually don’t tolerate growls – but I think there are some albums where growls are perfectly placed, like The Human Equation. I’m not a fan of djent (but I’ve got to warn you guys our views on what’s djent and what’s not djent can differ completely ), I’m not a big fan of electronic music though there are a few bands I do enjoy, I’m not into thrash metal, hip-hop and all that. It’s difficult to describe anything, so if you have any questions about my tastes or the bands in the banned list, just ask away in this thread.

That brings us to the banned list! I’ve changed the color for the bands I’m a huge fan of and I’ve bolded the bands I really like so you can get some perspective on my tastes too. The list will consist of a few parts.

1. The main banned list:

AC/DC
Accept
Adrenaline Mob
Aerosmith
After Forever
Aina
Alice Cooper
All Seeing Eyes
Allen/Lande
Alter Bridge
Amaranthe
Ambeon
Amethystium
Amorphis
Anathema
Angra
Anneke van Giersbergen
Anthriel
Anubis Gate
Arjen Anthony Lucassen
Ark
Armageddon
Astra
Astral Domine
Avantasia
Axel Rudi Pell
Ayreon
Beyond The Bridge
Big Big Train
Black Sabbath
Blackfield
Blackmore’s Night
Blind Guardian
Bloodbound
Bob Dylan
Borealis
Boston
Bruce Dickinson
Casualties of Cool
Cain’s Offering
Chronos Zero
Conception
Crystal Viper
David Bowie
David Gilmour
Dec Burke
Deep Purple
Delain
Demons and Wizards
Derek Sherinian
Destrage
Devin Townsend / Devin Townsend Project / The Devin Townsend Band
Diabulus in Musica
Dimension Act
Dio
Dire Straits
Dragonforce
Dream Theater
Echo Us
Echoes
Eden Circus
Edguy
Eluveitie
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Enchant
Ensiferum
Epica
Epysode
Evergrey
Fates Warning
Firewind
Fish
Flaming Row
Flying Colors
Gamma Ray
Gary Moore
Genesis
Green Carnation
Guilt Machine
Haken
HammerFall
Heaven and Hell
Helloween
Holy Shire
Ian Anderson
Intervals
IQ
Iron Maiden
Iron Savior
James LaBrie
Jethro Tull
Joan Baez
John Illsley
John Petrucci
Jon Lord
Jon Oliva’s Pain
Jordan Rudess
Jorn
Jørn Lande & Trond Holte
Judas Priest
Kaledon
Kamelot
Karnya
Katatonia
King Crimson
Kiske / Somerville
KISS
Lacuna Coil
Led Zeppelin
Level 10
Liquid Tension Experiment
Lunatic Soul
Magnum
Marillion
Mark Knopfler
Masterplan
Metallica
MindMaze
Moonspell
Mostly Autumn
Muse
Ne Obliviscaris
Neal Morse
Need
Nevermore
Nightwish
Opeth
Orden Ogan
OSI
Ozzy Osbourne
Pain of Salvation
Pink Floyd
Place Vendome
Porcupine Tree
Pretty Maids
Primal Fear
Psycrence
Queen
Queensryche
Rainbow
ReVamp
Ring of Fire
Riverside
Robert Wyatt
Roger Waters
Rolling Stones
Rush
Rustfield
Sabaton
Savatage
Saxon
Scorpions
Serious Black
Seventh Wonder
Shadow Gallery
Shattered Skies
Silent Force
Sonata Arctica
Spock’s Beard
Star One
Steve Hackett
Steven Wilson
Sting
Storm Corrosion
Stormwarrior
Strapping Young Lad
Stratovarius
Stream of Passion
Symphony X
Synaesthesia
System of a Down
Tarja Turunen
Tarot
Temperance
The Answer
The Beatles
The Doors
The Flower Kings
The Gathering
The Gentle Storm
The Who
Thought Chamber
Thoughts Factory
Timo Tolkki’s Avalon
Toehider
Tool
Transatlantic
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Triosphere
Tuomas Holopainen
Unisonic
Van Canto
Van Halen
Vanden Plas
Vanishing Point
Whitesnake
Wind Rose
Within Temptation
Yes
Yngwie Malmsteen

2. The “I’ve got this in my first roulette, checked out more from this band and liked / loved it” banned list:

Absolute Priority
Amadeus Awad / Amadeus Awad’s Eon
Árstíðir
Bodies of Water
Circle II Circle
Enbound
Galahad
Headspace
Hear N’ Aid
Ice Age
Journey
Karmakanic
Kingcrow
Last Tribe / Free Fall / anything from Magnus Karlsson
Lost in Thought
Mattador
Nightingale
Phideaux
Serenity
Speaking to Stones
Susanne Sundfor
Ten
Theocracy
Threshold
Tiles
Trail of Murder

3. The “I’ve got this in my first roulette, checked out more from this band and wasn’t too fond of / it was alright, but nothing special” banned list:

Angel Dust
Arena
Circus Maximus
Crystal Eyes
Damien Rice
David Gray
D.C. Cooper
Diablo Swing Orchestra
Dog Fashion Disco
Elvenking
Heavenly
Helker
Iced Earth
InnerShine
Lord
Lost Horizon
Mandroid Echostar
Mazzy Star
Mind’s Eye
Morifade
Pendragon
Pure Reason Revolution
RPWL
Silent Memorial
Steam Powered Giraffe
Swans
Thank You Scientist
The Aristocrats
The Tallest Man on Earth
Wishbone Ash
Wolverine

4. Bands banned during this roulette:

Redemption
Avenged Sevenfold
Arion
Brand New
Kansas
Marketa Irglova
Coheed and Cambria
Glass Mind

Pantommind
Dynazty
Myrath
Sufjan Stevens
Bent Knee
The Chronicles Project

My Soliloquy
Black Fate
Leverage
Sieges Even
Cloudscape
Vandroya
Beardfish
Beyond the Black
In the Silence
Odd Dimension
The Paralydium Project

W.A.S.P.
Dead Lord
The Mayan Factor
Midnight & Jon Oliva
Lee Abraham
The Smiths
Mechanical Poet
Slipknot
Dave Kerzner
Sylvan

Nocturnal Rites
Damnation Angels
Suspyre
Leprous
Triumph
Dream Evil
Odyssey
Thunderstone

Lyriel
Shooting Star
The Antlers
Yanni
The Tea Party
Telergy
Kompendium
Circle of Illusion
Shadow Circus
Apocalyptica

Edenbridge
The Dear Hunter
Teramaze
Subsignal
Vision Divine
UFO
The National
Prospekt
Consortium Project
Cans
Klone

Avatarium
Forgotten Tales
Tori Amos
Pandora's Box
Daughter
Floor Jansen and the Metropole Orchestra
Beautiful Sin
Fanticide
Jefferson Airplane
Seven Kingdoms

Day Six
Burnclear

Michael Kiske
Almanac
Sunburst
Mind Key
TesseracT
Neil Young

That’s it for the banned list. I’ve also got a list of bands I’ve received in my previous roulette. They aren’t banned because I didn’t like them enough to check out. Be careful if you’re going to send one of these:

Anton Johansson’s Galahad Suite
Biffy Clyro
Caligula’s Horse
Chelsea Wolfe
Damian Wilson
DJ Shadow
Echolyn
Evile
Falconer
Foo Fighters
For All We Know
Fun.
Hardline
Keldian
Killer Be Killed
Kishi Bashi
Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave
Mastodon
Oceansize
Pride of Lions
Scar Symmetry
Shineback
Sigur Ros
Soul Secret
Sound of Contact
Thirty Seconds to Mars
Throne of Chaos
Ulver
Virgin Steele
Xen

I’m sure I forgot some bands, so in case you send something I’m already familiar with, I’ll simply ask you to send something else. If you’re not sure about the band being eligible, you can ask me in the thread or in PM. Don’t forget I’m usually following all roulettes and sometimes listen to the songs getting great scores, so songs like Glen Hansard – Bird of Sorrow (which is apparently a new Kevin Gilbert – Song for a Dead Friend in terms of being a ballad and it’s getting perfect scores every time too) and a few others aren’t eligible.

Regarding the way to send the songs, I’d recommend sending them via PM, especially since I’ve got more space there now. I can give you my e-mail if needed. I prefer if you will send me the actual files (mp3, wav, flac, whatever). You can use any file hosting; I recommend using MEGA for it’s really simple and convenient to use. YouTube links are alright too. No Spotify – it’s not available in my country. If you can’t send any link to your song for some reason, just PM me the band name and the song name and I’ll find it myself.

Also, it would be nice if you provided both the band’s name and the song name every time you send me a song, so I don’t get it wrong when I’m posting the write-ups.

And I think that’s about it! Post in the thread if you’d like to participate; I’ll give you guys a few days to see this thread and decide, and then we’ll move on to Preliminary Round #1 listening.

[Evermind]

The scoreboard:

Big Hath - 69
TAC – 69
wolfking - 68.5
bl5150 - 67
lonestar - 63.5
senecadawg2 - 62.5

Bolsters - 49
Tomislav95 - 47.5
jingle.boy - 46.5
Train of Naught - 46.5
ErHaO - 45
Dr. DTVT – 44

[Evermind]

Preliminary Round #1

Since we've got more contestants than free spots already, there will be preliminary rounds. Roughly, if there are less than eight participants, we'll try to settle this in one preliminary round, if there are more, it'll probably take me two rounds to decide.

These rounds are simple. All the contestants should send me a song, I listen to them a few times, rank them and decide who's going straight into the Round 1, who's going to the next preliminary round (if there will be more than one round, that is), and who is out. So if you send me a really amazing song, there's a chance you're in without any additional rounds or something. Think MasterChef or whatever. This means you should probably pick a strong song, because your participation in the roulette depends on it.

All the invited participants aren't required to send me their songs, but if any of you guys want to try and see what my tastes are like in action, you're welcome to send me something. I'll listen to it and rank it, but you have no influence on the competition here. Also, if I'll like your song enough, the artist will be banned, so be careful. If you don't want to send, you can always laugh and mock the contestants, so there's that.

The length limit for these rounds is 10 minutes.


At this point, everyone is welcome to sign up to this roulette and join the battle in preliminary rounds. The deadline for signing up and sending the song for Preliminary Round #1 is Saturday evening in my time, which is about 96 hours from now on. I'm leaving this open for an extended period of time so everyone can see the thread and sign-up if they want.

Let the competition begin!

[Crow]

Following, but not participating, I'm ready for this disaster 

Round 4 looks like a fun theme.

[jingle.boy]

Following.  Participating.  Kicking everyone's ass.

You're all playing for second place, bitches.



Will read the OP dissertation later.

[Train of Naught]

Consider that 9th spot mine, sent 

[Tyrias]

I think I'll try my luck in the preliminary rounds, but send something that I love but is totally out of your comfort zone. Maybe it will even be something from the "things I didn't like in my last roulette"-list. Then I'll leave it up to fate if I go on.

Also, I feel like this:

I’m not a fan of djent (but I’ve got to warn you guys our views on what’s djent and what’s not djent can differ completely ),

was totally posted because of that Biffy Clyro song I sent you last roulette  . (and no, it's still not djent, whatever you may think)

[Train of Naught]

(maybe it will even be something from the "things I didn't like in my last roulette"-list. Then I'll leave it up to fate if I'll go on.

I sent something off that list aswell, totally worth the risk.

[Tyrias]

Currently deciding between post-rock, alternative rock and orchestral dubstep. I'll not be surprised if I don't make it past this round.

[Evermind]

I think I'll try my luck in the preliminary rounds, but send something that I love but is totally out of your comfort zone. Maybe it will even be something from the "things I didn't like in my last roulette"-list. Then I'll leave it up to fate if I go on.

Sure thing, go ahead! I mean, you've introduced me to Susanne Sundfor, so I'm glad you decided to try!

Currently deciding between post-rock, alternative rock and orchestral dubstep. I'll not be surprised if I don't make it past this round.

Or, well, maybe not.

Speaking of that, I have no idea how I get such the high scores from you in the Championship Roulette. We are so not a match.

[Tyrias]

Well, both the alternative rock song and the post rock song are bands you got in your last roulette, but I felt that in each case you got the worst song of the respective album. I'll probably save the orchestral dubstep song for if I make it (it's a lot more orchestral and choir than dubsteo though, and it even has some electric guitars. I know I can't send you something that just has the dubwub)

[wolfking]

Let's get it on!

[Tyrias]

And sent. I ended up not taking that big of a risk after all, at least I hope so .

And actually, I really hope I'll make it. I think I have some really cool stuff to send you that's quite out of your comfort zone but I think you'll enjoy quite a bit nonetheless. And I want to remedy some mistakes (*ahem* first round *ahem*) because I think you'll probably enjoy a lot of the band's output, even if you hated that particular song.

[splent]

The only risk I'm taking is that it's one of my favorite songs, and I won't be able to use the band later... but I guess that may be a good thing because it blocks more.

Sending in a minute, and since I'm at work I'm sending Youtube (hope you don't mind)

[bl5150]

I don't like feeling like an idiot at the end of a roulette where I have sent some of the host's favourite songs in scoreless qualifiers...........so for now , I will mock and laugh

Gawd - just noticed violin/woodwind/brass

[splent]

I will laugh and mock thanks -learned my lesson in jingle's about sending a couple of my best songs in qualifiers 

Yeah I know, but it has to do with what's on and not on his banned list and themes and the like. I just want to make it, and maybe it'll be good enough where I can jump straight to round 1. 

[wolfking]

Yeah, I try and not send too many favs early on either.  Leaves no room to move.

[splent]

Yeah, I try and not send too many favs early on either.  Leaves no room to move.

Yep. I hear you.

This is the only favorite I'll be sending early. I can't send a favorite if I'm a)not in round 1 and b)if the band is banned (I'm seriously afraid that another player will use the band I'm sending before I get a chance to... maybe I'm just paranoid, I don't know).

[Luoto]

Following and participating. Should be fun!

[wolfking]

Yeah, I try and not send too many favs early on either.  Leaves no room to move.

Yep. I hear you.

This is the only favorite I'll be sending early. I can't send a favorite if I'm a)not in round 1 and b)if the band is banned (I'm seriously afraid that another player will use the band I'm sending before I get a chance to... maybe I'm just paranoid, I don't know).

That would be extremely bad luck, but it's happened to me once before too.

[TAC]

Laughing and mocking J Boy.





Oh wait, I'm supposed to be laughing and  mocking the prelim participants? Oh. I must have misread that.

[Scorpion]

Sent the qualifier.

[bl5150]

Phew............just remembered that Steel Panther's latest single has violins 

[wolfking]

Hmmm......I remember now that you banned anything Magnus Karlsson related Ruslan.......that's like a quarter of my collection.

[Elite]

Entering, but probably won't last through the qualifiers. Sending soon, if that's ok with you.

[bl5150]

Hmmm......I remember now that you banned anything Magnus Karlsson related Ruslan.......that's like a quarter of my collection.

He doesn't like growls either.............there goes another 70% 

[wolfking]

Hmmm......I remember now that you banned anything Magnus Karlsson related Ruslan.......that's like a quarter of my collection.

He doesn't like growls either.............there goes the other 70% 

[jingle.boy]

Did I miss what the distinction for bold vs green bold is?  Do you sarcastically like what's in green?   

Laughing and mocking J Boy.

Mock away my good friend.  You'll get yours soon enough.

Also, dubstep and any genre requiring the word "post" or "core" to describe it has no place in this roulette.



Now... who should I cock rock-block?

[TAC]

Phew............just remembered that Steel Panther's latest single has violins 

I already know what I'm sending for that round.

[bl5150]

So Kiske has sung with an orchestra has he?  Checking..........

[TAC]

 

I get horn-y everytime I hear him sing.

[bl5150]

 

And wood(wind)    As the years pass it might be more the wind.

[Bolsters]

Sent the qualifier.

[Crow]

if wolfking is a fan of the growls then i might just have a decent chance in his roulette 

[wolfking]

if wolfking is a fan of the growls then i might just have a decent chance in his roulette 

I'll keep that in mind.  You might get a call up. 

I just noticed the theme for round 4, don't know what the hell I'm gonna do there.