Evermind's Second Roulette v. The Aftermath

[Evermind]

I'll try my best to churn out the results today, but it's not going to happen in the next few hours. I'd say 5-7 hours from now on is a reasonable guess though.

Edit: okay, grabbed a beer and I'm about to begin doing the write-ups now.

[TAC]

 

Wow, you got through these songs quickly, especially taking a day off.

[Evermind]

Don't forget I've started listening Saturday or something like that.

Actually, here's a fun fact: I always started listening a day earlier (and sometimes two days earlier, depending on how many tracks I had at the moment) than I said in the thread, just so I could maintain an impression I'm keeping a great pace. When I posted the blurred picture, I was already two or three listens in for the most songs.

But still, every time I wrote the results I had a good grasp on every entry. I feel I know each song very well know, so I'm doing the results. Simple as that.

[jingle.boy]

^ This guy gets it.

[TAC]

I got a lot of early entries on my roulette, and generally started right away as well. It always seemed like I had half the songs right away, and the other half a day later. I felt like it was actually easier to break things down that way.

[Evermind]

And here we go.

Round 7 Results:

TAC: Michael Kiske

Here’s the main cheater of the round. I mean, to send me something Michael Kiske fronted and get away with it is worth a lot, but it’s Tim after all, he probably has some Kiske-related albums I’m not even aware of. I knew Kiske had some solo albums, but for some reason I never bothered to check them out. I was wrong.

Michael Kiske – New Horizons

I thought Kiske wrote his solo records to step away from power / heavy metal but apparently this isn’t exactly true, because I can easily see this track being on Keepers or on some Gamma Ray album. The fact Kai Hansen and Adrian Smith co-wrote this track with Kiske isn’t a big surprise, in fact it’s kind of obvious after one listen. I mean, catchy guitar work, catchy verses, catchy chorus, all enveloped into a nice power metal package with trademark Michael’s vocals. I certainly didn’t expect anything like that; I thought this album would be more like mellow rock songs or something.

While this song doesn’t have many remarkable parts, the moment where Kiske goes into a high-note scream on the background (during the last chorus) stood out to me. I’ve missed it the first time and when I discovered it on the subsequent listens, I was like “whoa, here he goes with that unbelievable thing again”. I love his voice. It’s incredible.

Overall, this was a very solid song without any absolutely awesome flair, but still, very nice power metal.

8.5/10

Michael Kiske – Do I Remember A Life?

If there was ever a song that lived up to its respective album name that much in this roulette, this is the one. In fact, I think the album’s name is a perfect fit for Kiske’s voice overall, if I had to pick one word to describe it, “clarity” seems like a damn good choice. His voice is always so clear.

I probably should heavily revise my expectations for this album, because this song also wasn’t what I expected from Kiske solo album. This is a wonderful acoustic ballad with an epic and grandiloquent touch to it, and as you said, it’s very reflective too. It’s definitely an extraordinary track that goes away from the traditional forms of songwriting (especially if you consider it was released in 1996), featuring excellent vocal melodies and some tight acoustic playing, especially on the choruses.

Then there’s some unexpectedly heavy (for this song) electric guitar transition to the second part, which I think I like slightly less than the first one – I think they got the buildup right but the payoff was somewhat off… and then the quiet piano part compensates it. You said I shouldn’t bail on that last part, and I wasn’t even going to. I loved it from the very first listen; it’s one of the best parts of the song as far as I’m concerned.

I think this was my favourite song of the round. Nice one, and this should definitely gain you some ground before the EP round.

9.5/10

Well, what can I say? I’ll listen to this album. It’s Kiske after all.

Total score for the round: 18/20

bl5150: Almanac

I’ve never heard of this band before, but your description made it sound like they were very awesome. I don’t quite agree, but I definitely think they’re capable of writing some great material. You weren’t among the risk-takers, but at least you didn’t cheat too!

Almanac – Self-Blinded Eyes

Let me begin with the statement that this song is great. It has a few standouts I’m going to list here now. First of all, the orchestra (I assume from your message it’s the real one), it sounds great and adds a lot to atmosphere of this song. It’s obvious this song was written with the orchestration in mind, and it works big time. I also think two vocalists are quite discernible, and they add a certain flavour to this song, I like how their voices alternate here. They also got the great melodies here, cool anthemic chorus and intense verses. Oh, and the oriental instrumentation throughout the intro and the solo is curious and adds to the atmosphere just fine. (We’ll get to the guitar solos in the second write-up.)

I don’t think there is anything I dislike about this song, actually. It’s a great tune all around, proper heavy / power metal as I like it. It lacks something to elevate it to truly amazing – I’m not going to rate it 10/10 like you did, but I think this is a fantastic song… and certainly the best out of the two.

9/10

Almanac – Darkness / Hands Are Tied

This song definitely had to have an instrumental intro. The instances like this one are why I allowed sending those and why I count such sequences as one song. It really adds to the atmosphere and since it has the actual chorus melody in it, it was a must. I’m going to kind of echo Dave here; I don’t see how you can listen to Hands Are Tied without Darkness.

It’s interesting how the best part of this tune comes first in the very beginning. I’m talking about the “Can’t you see it? Can’t you be heard? Can’t you see it?” section. The intensity is palpable here, and the verses are built up on it too, but the chorus is too anthemic here, and for me it somewhat ruins the pace of this track. Unlike Sunburst – Out of the World, I would’ve preferred this track to stay fast, intense and heavy, not going into the hymn on the chorus.

So I basically liked some of the track and didn’t really like the choruses (which are a big deal for me), but what finally pushed me to give this song a better score is the guitar solo. The solo on Self-Blinded Eyes felt a bit too short, but this one is indeed better, and while I don’t know shit about soloing, this certainly sounds much more progressive than the rest of the song. I indeed seriously loved this solo.

So, well, all in all I think this song warrants a good score.

8.5/10

This album is definitely on my radar now. Cool stuff.

Total score for the round: 17.5/20

Big Hath: Sunburst

Well, I kind of consider this cheating (although not to a great extent), since I liked Black Fate and I somewhat liked The Chronicles Project. It was a safe bet to say I’ll like the vocals on this one, but the vocals don’t make the song, so all the other arrangements and songwriting still had to be good. Also, how many projects is this guy involved in?

Sunburst – Out of the World

This song is a wonder in a sense I’m absolutely in love with some moments and I feel some of the parts aren’t for me at all. I don’t mean to sound like a pussy, but the instrumental parts here might just be a bit too heavy for me. The ever-present pounding guitar riff is grating on my ears. I also feel this song is way too busy instrumental-wise, even when it’s uncalled for. There’s always the fast stuff happening, be that the guitar riff, or layered keyboards, or both. The result is it’s a bit tiresome to listen to this tune. I wish they took a break somewhere, but no, the instrumental part in the middle is heavier than ever, and overall this song is just so relentless it’s bordering on being unenjoyable.

But for all this critique, this song features some awesome vocal melodies and the vocals themselves are brilliant. This guy really sounds like Khan, and there are some excellent moments in this tune indeed, especially that vocal melodies in the chorus, love them, one of the best melodies in this round. That hook on “this world is tearing me apart” is beyond fantastic, and the rest is very good too.

I feel I might’ve been too harsh on this song in the first paragraph, because I really enjoyed it anyway… I just think it had a potential to be 9.5, but instead it’s in the Brent’s ranking zone.

8/10

Sunburst – Remedy of My Heart

I know I’ve made Khan comparisons before, but hell, this is like Memento Mori rewritten, especially with the beautiful, longing quiet intro / outro with those haunting and peaceful vocals. Only the band isn’t Kamelot and this isn’t as good as Memento Mori. It’s not something to be ashamed of – few songs are as good as that one – and this is still a great tune.

Despite being twelve minutes in length, this song feels less busy than Out of the World, and that makes it easier on the ears, which is a big advantage. It also has a grand symphonic epic feel, as opposed to Out of the World, which was expected I suppose. This tune has more pronounced and memorable riffs, less frantic pace and overall I think it’s more well-written, even if it’s somewhat sprawling due to its length. It doesn’t have that incredible payoff moment like Memento Mori (“So subservient in your embrace”) – it does have the payoff moment with “Let me remain forever” with the following guitar solo, but it’s just not Memento Mori-level incredible – and after that it, uh, has something suspiciously sounding like growls in the end. Now that was uncalled for!

9/10

That Khan guy is definitely on my radar now, and I think you have a good position for an EP round. You’re sending some very strong songs so far, hopefully you’ll keep it up with your EP!

Total score for the round: 17/20

wolfking: Mind Key

As expected, I’ve never heard about this band, but since they were an Italian prog metal band I was naturally apprehensive. But it turns out they have more balls and more personality than the bands like Kaledon, Wind Rose, (apparently) DGM and Soul Secret, so I thought this was a great entry overall.

Mind Key – Sunset Highway

First of the things that stood out to me were the vocals. I really liked the singer here, and he was one of the big reasons I awarded the decent amount of points to this song, he sounds nice with both clean and raspy vocals. I enjoyed the heaviness, I think they’ve got just the right amount of it too; and the usage of keyboards (and perhaps piano too?) was excellent, especially liked those small touches on the verses when the singer applies his clean voice, and of course the short breakdown to the piano part in the middle.

Overall this was quite a solid progressive metal song, not too generic and quite enjoyable. Heavy riffs, noticeable keyboards, capable singer, cool songwriting… everything here was good. Not great, but good indeed.

8/10

Mind Key – Graveheart

I suspect this is somewhat of the title track on this album? It certainly has that feeling, being heavier, more epic. Feels much more serious too.

I realized this band reminds me of Evergrey a lot, Tom Englund on the guest vocals or not. Well, they’re not quite on the Borealis level of Evergreyness, but still, they just have the same heavy crushing guitar sound, and the other elements are there too. Of course, when Tom Englund is at the mic in the second verse, they sound too much like Evergrey (and I thought that “Come on come on come on!” part was kinda hilarious). And they have the exact same problem Evergrey does, while I enjoy their songs, I struggle to write anything meaningful about them. Really solid, yep, good chorus, yep, and, uh, that’s it. There also might be a problem your write-ups were the last I had to do, so I might’ve run out of inspiration. Who knows.

Still, I think this song is even better than Sunset Highway (except the short growl-like parts), so that was definitely a good pick. Also, I assume this is a concept album? Because the ending here is very unusual. It makes me want to resort to violence alright.

8.5/10

It seems like you guys finally found the Italian progressive metal band that is up my alley! Will definitely check out these guys further, but since I already have Evergrey and Borealis, I don’t think I’ll be returning to them often. Anyway, two solid songs right here. I think you’ll probably lose your leadership anyway, but you’re in a very good position before the EP round.

Total score for the round: 16.5/20

lonestar: TesseracT

I bet a lot of people who’s following this thread were waiting for this band. Obviously, one certain advantage of these two songs is that I can outright say it’s djent and no one will give me the “idiot, it’s not djent, it’s progressive metal with a heavy edge and polyrhythms / mathcore with downtuned guitars / folky black metal with a guitarist who likes to hit the strings in random moments” kind of looks. However, this isn’t the only advantage of the tracks you sent me in this round.

TesseracT – Dystopia

I said I won’t rank the flow in this round, yet you still decided to send me two consecutive songs from the album, this one is flowing seamlessly into the other one. I wonder if you would’ve done better with sending something else instead of this track (maybe Tourniquet or something from another album entirely?), because this track is just unimpressive. Well, when you consider this is actually djent, it’s not that bad, but this track is just falls on the unmemorable side for me.

My least favourite thing about this track isn’t the weird guitar rhythms, it’s the vocals. Either they’re overproduced and sound too modern and too muddy or he just sings this way on this song. Either way, the vocals here were a huge drawback. The weird guitar rhythms still bothered me, not too much but I don’t think they’re enjoyable either.

Now, there were some good parts about this song, the calm break in particular and the way the vocals are building up before it, but that’s about it, and for the six minutes in length, this just isn’t enough. I wish they did something spectacular after the calm break, but we get some dull section with very ordinary (and still not-pleasantly-sounding vocals) instead. I don’t think this track stands up on its own at all. It kind of works as a drawn out introduction to the Hexes, but that’s a huge stretch. I like how the calm part at the ends flows into the next song though.

6/10

TesseracT – Hexes

Now that’s another beast entirely. It takes all the good things (and even the not-so-good things) Dystopia featured and turns them into awesomeness mostly, making them work just perfectly in context. Actually, this tune doesn’t even feel like djent – more like some experimental progressive metal – and I guess djent can be essentially called that.

So, yeah. The calm parts I liked in Dystopia? Hexes is one huge calm part despite the occasional bursts of heaviness, and it appeals to me a lot. The weird rhythms? They’ve turned into a groovy bassline on this one. The overproduced vocals? I feel they’re clearer on this song, and even if there are some effects, they work. Besides, this song offers me the payoffs to the buildups it features – the serene section in the beginning explodes with that amazing “History hexes us” line, and we have another intense part in the end with “Don’t you dare!”. I felt Dystopia lacked direction and focus, and this song has all of it, while being somewhat in my comfort zone musically. This is the kind of djent I can definitely get into.

8.5/10

I’m still not convinced about going to their live gig, even after rating one song 8.5 I’m leaning towards not going. If there’s something else you can send me that will persuade me, I’m ready to give it another chance. Anyway, I suspect this round will kill your chances of winning this roulette because of Dystopia score, but you still have a chance to introduce me to more awesome music in the EP round.

Total score for the round: 14.5/20

senecadawg2: Neil Young

This was one of those artists I’ve heard of, but I had no idea what to expect. That was probably for the better, I like going clear into some artist’s discography, and in case I don’t like it, well, I didn’t have any expectations anyway. Just like it happened here…

Neil Young – After the Gold Rush

Well, I don’t know if you rushed your entry when you realized you forgot to send, or you genuinely thought I’ll like this, or maybe both… and I think it may sound a bit harsh too, so I’m sorry in advance. I just can’t stand the singer’s voice. Like at all. Not in the “he’s nothing special and too flat and unmemorable” way, but more in “he’s actively annoying” kind of way. I can’t help it, and I tried to get into his voice, since I was actively spinning the songs you’ve sent me – I actually think your songs were the most listened because I was desperately trying to make them click with me, but I only ended up being antagonized against his voice further.

And since this ballad is driven by his voice, the only redeeming part here was from 2:00. The instrumental part. I really feel awkward to express all that dislike on the artist you seem to like a lot, but that’s just it. Sorry.

5.5/10

Neil Young – Like a Hurricane

Well, hey, this song was definitely better than the other one, at least because it wasn’t too vocal driven and his voice here was actually tolerable for me. However, there was another problem with this song – I’ve found it to be too drawn-out, I think it could use some cuts in the middle. I don’t want to cut the guitar solos much, because they’re the reason I think this song is somewhat great, but I don’t think it should’ve been eight minutes in length. Something like six minutes sounds just fine. Maybe he should’ve cut some guitar solos after all.

The guitar solos themselves, well, I’m torn on them. On some moments I find myself loving them, and on other moments they’re too chaotic and too raw to my taste. One day I enjoyed them, the other day I spurned them. I definitely think they’re interesting and this is a better way to spend the time in Neil Young song as opposed to his vocals, but sometimes it was still too much for me.

I thought this song was alright though. Definitely not the reaction you hoped for, but, well, that’s just the way it is.

7.5/10

Neil Young was a miss with me, and it’s more than likely you’re out of competition for the first place, but you still have to send me your EP and now that all the pressure is lifted you can basically go with whatever you want.

Total score for the round: 13/20

Bands added to banned list:

Michael Kiske
Almanac
Sunburst
Mind Key
TesseracT
Neil Young

The scoreboard:

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

[Evermind]

Round 8: Open: EP Round

I'm quoting the message I've sent to all participants a week ago about this round. There are no changes, but I've got one more thing to ask you guys. This isn't obligatory, but if you feel like it... when you send your EP, name it. Invent a title for your EP if you can and want to. That's what I always do in other roulettes, inventing some stupid cheesy titles, and I think it would be fun to see what you can come up with. Of course, it's not necessary and if you don't want to, your amazing EP will just be unnamed.

Anyway, the rules for this round:

The biggest news for the EP round is that I decided to change the length restrictions on this one. Originally it was from 20 to 30 minutes, but I thought some of you might have longer songs in your library, or more artists, or generally more awesome music to share with me, so now the length limit is from 25 to 35 minutes.

There are some nuances tied up to the length limit. First of all, your EP will have to meet the requirement about the amount of artists. If your EP is at 25:00 - 30:00 minutes at length, it has to feature at least three different artists / bands. If your EP is in 30:01 - 35:00 range, it has to feature four different artists / bands. You can include multiple songs by one artist in your EP, or you can include more bands than required - it's all allowed as long as your EP fits the bolded parts. Also, if one of EP tracks is shorter than two minutes, it doesn't count towards the amount of artists used in your EP. I also won't rank it out of 20, since it's not an actual song - but if it provides the necessary flow, serving as a cool intro or a nice bridge between songs or a fantastic outro or whatever, it will be counted towards the EP flow points.

The EP will be rated out of 20. Each song will be rated out of 20, and then the average score will end up being your score for the EP. However, I'll also award the additional points (out of 5) for the EP flow. Those can end up being quite crucial, so make sure your EP doesn't consist of some random songs shuffled together - try to make a theme for it, or try to make it flow. So, 20 points for the actual songs and 5 points for the flow.

You can use some audio-editing tools like Audacity to make sure your EP fits length-wise and to make it flow better. I would be absolutely fine if you'd cut the unneeded silence between tracks - but you're not allowed to cut the actual parts of the songs. I'm also fine if you use some simple effects like fade-outs or fade-ins to make your EP flow better. But in that case, you'll have to notify me via PM which effects you used and where. If you're simply cutting the silent parts, no need to bother with notifying me.

The last part but still an important one - that wasn't that important as much as it was convenient to me in the first seven rounds, but now it's crucial - I will only accept the actual audio files for the EP entries. Sorry about that, but this is necessary so I can listen to them everywhere and it's far more convenient anyway, especially if you're going to tinker with the files cutting out the silences and so on. You can pack them all into .rar file or just send them to me via email or upload them to MEGA, it's your choice. But no YouTube links, no Spotify, only the actual files.

The very last requirement is that you should list all the songs your EP contains in your message so there would be no fuckups on my end. It would be even better if you can provide me the song lengths, but this isn't necessary. Just the band / song names would be fine.

So I think I covered it all, and I wish you luck in this very last round!

[TAC]

Ruslan, I'm glad you liked Do I Remember A Life?. Like I said, it's a TAC Top 3 Song of all time. Kiske is amazing on it.

Instant Clarity is an awesome album. Lots of variety on it too. Definitely a must for any Kiske fan.

The follow up, 1999's Readiness For Sacrifice, doesn't even come close. It was around that time that he swore off heavy rock. It is highly mediocre songwriting, though it ends with two MUST HAVES: Easy and Shadowfights. Both tracks are vocally unbelievable and both stand out from the album, as if they came from something else. You should really try and find copies. Actually, I'll email them to you and you can check them out when the roulette is over. I thought about sending one of them with Life, but I wanted a bit of contrast.


 

[Evermind]

Kiske is amazing

I agree.

The follow up, 1999's Readiness For Sacrifice, doesn't even come close. It was around that time that he swore off heavy rock.

Yeah, and then he went on to record The Metal Opera in 2000 as Ernie (which no one bought after they heard the very first vocal note in Reach Out for the Light ). I still think this is hilarious. Tobias rightfully and lightheartedly made fun of him for this at Moscow show.

You should really try and find copies. Actually, I'll email them to you and you can check them out when the roulette is over.

I'm fine with that. I don't think I can find any of Kiske solo albums here, it's either ordering them through Amazon or getting them through other means which I don't really like to do.

[TAC]

The EP's title is kind of long. It's called:

The TAC EP: A Bunch Of Cool Songs Plus One That Might Be Too Heavy 

[Crow]

it shall forever be engraved in history as the day evermind liked one  (but not two) djent songs

[wolfking]

Bah. lost my lead.  That Mind Key album is solid though, you'll like it.

So, we can make the EP 1 file and then just put the song names and timestamps in the description hey Ruslan?

I'm out now for the weekend, but I'll have a busy Sunday night getting this together and putting my roulette thread together! 

[bl5150]

2 points is a tough ask but we'll give it a go.   

[lonestar]

Shit man, I totally didn't see the "more than one band" thing on the EP, and I had a brilliant second half of an album I was gonna send. Now I need to rethink the whole thing. Grrrrrrr......

[senecadawg2]

I should've known better, but still--damn. Neil Young was a risk for sure and it certainly was a bit of a rushed submission, I just never knew his voice could be so dangerous. Hell, even the Canadian hates it...

Oh well--I'll be working on my EP and send it your way soon.

[bl5150]

My EP is 34:56 

[jingle.boy]

My EP is 34:56 

Pfft ... I've sent a song almost that long.

[lonestar]

OK, sent. Three bands, nine tracks, totaling just under 30 minutes.

I titled it "Why The Fuck Didn't RJ Send These Bands Earlier?"


Rock on bitches. 

[bl5150]

Sent

4 artists/tracks , pretty much bang on 35 mins. 

[senecadawg2]

Sent!

29 minutes of Earth, Wind & Fire.

[bl5150]

Sent!

29 minutes of Earth, Wind & Fire.

Lucky I didn't stick with my original draft (as I have already mentioned in PM to Ruslan) - 30 minutes of Sun , Wind and Rain 

[Crow]

Sent!

29 minutes of Earth, Wind & Fire.

nothing off Water though?

[Train of Naught]

I’m still not convinced about going to their live gig, even after rating one song 8.5 I’m leaning towards not going. If there’s something else you can send me that will persuade me, I’m ready to give it another chance. Anyway, I suspect this round will kill your chances of winning this roulette because of Dystopia score, but you still have a chance to introduce me to more awesome music in the EP round.

tourniquet

[Evermind]

So, we can make the EP 1 file and then just put the song names and timestamps in the description hey Ruslan?

Sure thing, just make sure the names and timestamps are correct.

Shit man, I totally didn't see the "more than one band" thing on the EP, and I had a brilliant second half of an album I was gonna send. Now I need to rethink the whole thing. Grrrrrrr......

Well if you could send only one artist, there would've been more or less no point in rating the flow separately. At least it wouldn't have been that interesting.

I'll check out all the songs eligibility and artists / length requirements to be met in a few minutes, then let you all know via PM / e-mails.

[jingle.boy]

Re: Vasilis Georgiou (Khan impersonator), the only other project he's in is Innosense, and I'd consider that the 4th best of the bunch.  Chronicles>Black Fate=Sunburst>Innosense.

[lonestar]

On a side note, go see TesseracT. I guarantee they will blow you away man.




Take a chance, trust me.

[jingle.boy]

On a side note, go see TesseracT. I guarantee they will blow you away man.




Take a chance, trust me.

Above all else... trust lonestar - it's worked out without fail for me in the past.

[TAC]

Not sure I'm into Tesseract, but I do bet it'd be a great live experience.

[senecadawg2]

I've not had good experiences with the more modern djenty bands in concerts.

[Train of Naught]

So you're saying he should go see Meshuggah right?

[Evermind]

Well, I'm getting paid this week, so I may consider getting a ticket... but I may consider getting just a few more CDs for that money in the local record store. I've got a few in mind I saw last time but couldn't quite afford for the monthly budget.

Anyway, I've got four eligible EPs now, so I think I'll just delve into some of them right now. Tomorrow will be a busy day for me, not sure if I will be able to do any listening then, so I guess the official listening will begin at Monday. I'm not going to give any promises on the blurred pictures / tidbits / results schedule this time, because it's likely I'll get more than 3 hours of music to digest, but I'll do my best to keep the thread alive in the meantime.

[Big Hath]

EP has been sent!

[jingle.boy]

Someone sent Frampton?

[wolfking]

EP sent.

Literally put it together in about half an hour.  Just solid metal throughout.

[Evermind]

Alright, I'm uploading all the EPs on my phone and I will start the extensive listening tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are the EP titles! Take a look at what we have here...

The TAC EP: A Bunch Of Cool Songs Plus One That Might Be Too Heavy
The Empty Hollow
Not Quite As Heavy As It Could Have Been EP, aka The Evermind is Awesome (sung to the tune of the Lego Movie song Everything Is Awesome) EP
Earth, Wind & Fire
Why The Fuck Didn't RJ Send These Bands Earlier?
Off the Metal Cuff EP

I didn't mention this, but the coolness of your EP title will matter towards the EP flow points.