Overall I thought this round was just a bit weaker than the previous too, but the great songs were very enjoyable. Anyway, results!
Round 3 Results:
wolfking: Nocturnal Rites – Still AliveHey now, first W.A.S.P., now this? Winning second round in a row? Looks like you’re on fire!
Now, everything about this song is fantastic to my ears (again!). I suspected this would be a hit from the very first line sung by the vocalist – is it someone who I should know? Can’t place his voice, but he’s amazing. The climax in the chorus is very climactic:
“So there is nothing to revive – I’m still alive!” part gives me serious chills. This tune really packs a punch in only four minutes time. This is exactly how I like my metal – moderately heavy, with enough hooks and memorable vocal melodies, enjoyable amount of grit in the singers’ voice and coated in the distinctive epicness. The enhanced chorus in the ending with the choir behind the main vocals is brilliant (especially when he’s going
“Alive! Alive! Alive!”). One of the highlights from this round indeed.
This is a good example of a magnificent song which, while retaining its moderate heaviness, doesn’t really become a bit grating with the crunching guitar riffs. All in all, great entry. If you keep going like this, I can see you winning the whole thing.
9.5/10
jingle.boy: Damnation Angels – Pride (The Warrior’s Way)Being the longest song of the round, it basically came down to two options: either this song had to impress me a lot to earn a great score, or it could’ve been mediocre and a long mediocre song is always even more underwhelming. Knowing my tastes though, the former option was a safe bet.
I place a lot of importance in the vocals and the vocal melodies, and this song definitely delivers in this department big time. The singer has a very pleasant voice, easy to listen to, powerful when it’s needed, melodic too; an instant hit with me. I can’t say I’m too fond of Japanese influences (or maybe I should call it Eastern vibe? Somehow I associate this song with Japan, maybe because sure I can hear the female vocals in the end (singing in Japanese?). Yeah, well, anyway), but otherwise the instrumental parts are fine. My favourite part is probably the middle one with the bombastic soaring vocals (starting with
“We gather here, beneath the sky”) The beginning does a fine job to get this song running, the ending is a quiet one, but the middle part is a major highlight.
This song was right up my alley, so you finally get your well-deserved 9.
9/10
ErHaO: Suspyre – ReignRemember how I said your next song is going to be awesome in the previous round write-ups? It’s like I’m a clairvoyant or something! Of course, this is dampened by the fact I get to decide if the song is awesome or not, but it doesn’t really matter.
This song was surprising and even a bit startling in a very good way. I expected a metal song (especially looking at the album cover), and, well, I’ve got a metal song, but when this part at 0:25 came up I realized my expectations didn’t mean anything. And what’s even better, they’re using those instruments for the whole song. Is it violin and sax? I have no idea, but it sounds really cool, and I love how they follow it up with acoustic guitar playing that somber melody over the rhythm electric guitar in the verses and then that awkward part again! And the chorus is really cool too. This song achieves something I really like, bringing the weird and unexpected elements in metal. Hell, the way this band entwines both the traditional metal approach and the strikingly unusual elements is worth a round of applause. It was jarring for the first few spins, but there’s no way I can say those parts are feeling out of place now. I can say it’s awesome though. I’m kind of repeating myself at this point.
There’s that eclectic acoustic section in the middle with mandolin or balalaika or whatever which brings the song down for me for half a point, but otherwise it’s really impressive. Congratulations with your good score.
9/10
Tomislav95: Leprous – BilateralYou basically cheated here, even if you didn’t know that – I’m more or less familiar with The Congregation and I enjoyed it quite a bit, so sending Leprous was somewhat of a safe choice. It did get you a good score – in my opinion, of course – and it definitely made me more interested in checking out Leprous discography.
What I like about Leprous so far from my limited amount of experience, you can really say it’s them playing. You can only do so much in progressive metal genre, but these guys do sound distinctive; and since I like that sound, I can’t really complain about it. I have a feeling this is what I expected from Native Construct (not the growls with blast beats, damn it) – the atmospheric parts mixed with some ragged rhythms and memorable vocal melodies. My favourite parts are the tension-filled parts with almost staccato-styled vocals before the choruses and in the bridge.
You’re yet to score a 9 in this roulette, but you show consistency and this may be really important in a long run. I don’t know how the scoreboard looks like so far – I don’t really remember anyone’s scores – but I guess you have a decent chance making it past the cut-off if you keep sending such good songs.
8.5/10
lonestar: Triumph – Magic PowerOlder progressive rock bands can be a hit or miss with me, but I’ve got to say, in a sea of mostly heavier and metal-oriented songs this round, this song was a welcome breath of fresh air. Maybe that’s why it gets such a good score, or maybe that’s because I just like it a lot. It’s kind of like that Kansas song I’ve got in the very first preliminary round, only a bit better.
Remember how I always say I mostly don’t like happy music? Well, there are always exceptions, and this song is apparently one of them. I love how flamboyant it is, the positive energy is just dripping from every word and note. The singer is doing an alright job, but I feel this song isn’t about the singer – it’s about the whole picture. The lyrics are fantastic, guess this song can easily describe almost anyone who’s hanging out there on DTF. Damn, this song is just one huge pool of wistfulness and happiness.
And it also kept growing on me. As I said, maybe in some other round this song would’ve been an 8, but I couldn’t help but love how strikingly different it is from the rest of the bunch. So it gets an 8.5 instead.
8.5/10
senecadawg: Dream Evil – Chasing the DragonThe good old power metal, huh? Well, you can’t really score bad with that in my roulette. What usually determines my scores for power metal is how much the song clicks with me, if it has that spark that really captures my attention. This wasn’t the best one, not by far, but I enjoyed it.
This is really simple song and offers nothing mindblowing like the three tunes above you, but it’s just really solid. Nice vocalist, good catchy chorus, the right length – once again, only four minutes and the song doesn’t need to be longer.
I don’t really have a lot to say about this tune. It’s a nice power metal song and I like it quite much. Among the songs ranked 8/10 in this round, this is the best one, but it’s still not quite 8.5.
8/10
Big Hath: Odyssey – I Am TwoWow, I’m having trouble determining the heaviest song of the round. I’ve got a long heavy song and I’ve got your song. My best advice is not to listen to those back-to-back unless you’re either a big fan of heavier music or you want to get a headache.
But hey, it’s a Dan Swano project, so what the hell, it should be heavy. His low voice complements the heavy guitar riffs perfectly, and I like how dark and somewhat menacing he sounds in the verses with the keyboards and guitars playing in the background, but then – once again in this round – the chorus kicks in and leaves me a bit underwhelmed. I like how he mysteriously whispers the very last word too. The highlight of this song is definitely the atmosphere, somber and grinding at the same time; and I realize the heaviness is part of the style, but I’m not sure I can stand a few songs like this in a row. It was an enjoyable, but also exhausting listen. Good thing this song is only six minutes long…
7.5/10
Bolsters: Thunderstone – ForevermoreWell, I understand how people thought the tidbit about “how I like my metal” is about this one, but while Nocturnal Rites song does everything great, I felt this song overdoes everything just a little. The vocalist is just too gritty to my taste (he reminds me of Ronnie Atkins a bit somehow, and I never liked his way-too-gritty style of singing), the chorus feels unfinished and also has the most cringeworthy line in this round (
“Forevermore, together for”). That’s kind of the most generic rhyme you can come up with, and while I generally don’t mind the lyrics in power metal songs, this one stood out.
But despite all my complaints about this tune, I still enjoyed it. It’s like Nelson’s Dream Evil entry – solid metal, mostly enjoyable, but it does have its flaws, and in this song it’s most definitely the chorus. It’s not like I actively dislike the chorus, but I feel it lacks something, not sure what. This could’ve been a better score, but with the chorus like this, it’s only 7.5. I think you might have actually scored half a point more with Pale Blue Dot, but I only listened to it once, so I’m not sure.
7.5/10
Train of Naught: A.C.T. – A Failed Escape AttemptYou wanted to send this song in the second preliminary round (where the score didn’t matter for you already), but instead you tried your luck with it in this round, and well, I liked it. It really depends on what you think the good score is, but I think this is a good song. So don’t get all the criticism that will follow in the next paragraph too close to the heart.
First off, the best parts about this song are the verses, hands down. I love how they build up the tension, the atmosphere, they really fit the concept and the song’s name. And then… all the tension kind of evaporates when the chorus comes up. I’m not an expert on those things, but I really think the production could use more punch here. All these build-ups to the choruses fall flat, and while – at least partly – chorus’ vocal melodies are to blame, the production doesn’t help either. The instrumental part was underwhelming too. At the beginning it was quite good, and then it went into that circus sound effects part, and while I understand it’s probably because of the story, it didn’t really add anything to my enjoyment, but rather deducted from it.
Don’t get me wrong, when this song was great (during the verses), it was great, but it also was inconsistent. So well, there.
7/10
bl5150: Armory – Beyond the HorizonThis song is an interesting one. As you said, the first half of this song is a pretty much standard power metal, and it has that kind of happy vibe I don’t like too much, so I won’t be lying when I say the first half pretty much fell flat for me, and the since the ending reprises the happy chorus, it also fell flat for me. I just don’t really like this happy metal approach, which is why I’m not a big fan of Stratovarius (though I do like them in moderate doses), so during the first half I thought this is going to be a complete miss.
But the instrumental part saved this song big time. It was by far the most interesting, captivating and appealing part of this tune for me. If this instrumental part was put into some other song I liked more, this could’ve been an easy 9 points or more. I’ve grown to enjoy this song a bit more when I become more familiar with it, but it still far from the top in this round and overall.
7/10
TAC: Iris Divine – In the Wake of MartyrsWell, it’s like you score big in the even-numbered rounds and then score not-so-big in the odd-numbered ones? Maybe that means your Round 4 song will be incredible? I don’t know. Then again, it depends how you define the “good” score. Anything better than 5 is decent in my book and anything from 7.5 and higher is good. So, by this definition it’s… well, almost good.
This is indeed The Paralydium Project situation once again. I like some parts just fine; mostly the choruses, the second verse and the instrumental intro, but I couldn’t care less about the haunting whispery first verse that sounds like it came from some genre with “core” in the name (no idea about which one). I’m not too fond of the instrumental in the middle of the song too, when it gets really heavy, then it gets heavier and then it gets downright grating on my ears. But the good parts are good indeed.
So, well, I know it’s no fun getting lower scores, but I really can’t help it. At least you nailed it with Dead Lord! (if you take this one out of context, it might sound a bit weird)
7/10
Dr. DTVT: Orphaned Land – SapariYou mentioned this band lists Myrath as one of their influences, and I guess drawing influences from the band that is your source of inspiration is one thing, but pushing it too far in one particular direction is another thing entirely. Obviously, I’ve heard precisely one song from Myrath, but if you didn’t say this was Myrath-like, I would never have guessed it, honestly. I mean, it does have those eastern influences, but while Myrath seamlessly built the metal song around them, this seems more like the other way around – they took some eclectic folk song and put metal in there, and while this approach isn’t something I dislike, not at all, this particular melody the song is built around is irritating.
I can’t say the metal is just crowbarred in for the sake of it – no, the song structure is fine, the metal fits… it’s just I don’t like the song. When you base the song around one melody it’s a gamble, because if you dislike that one melody, you dislike the song. This is exactly what happened in my case. I can see someone liking this, because I found it well constructed and thought-out, but I’m not too big on this. Sorry.
6/10Bands added to banned list:Nocturnal Rites
Damnation Angels
Suspyre
Leprous
Triumph
Dream Evil
Odyssey
Thunderstone
The scoreboard:wolfking - 28
lonestar - 26
bl5150 - 25.5
Big Hath - 25.5
Tomislav95 - 25
TAC - 24
(the cut-off line, will matter after Round 6)
Dr. DTVT - 23.5
jingle.boy - 23.5
Train of Naught - 23
Bolsters - 23
senecadawg2 - 23
ErHaO - 22.5
Topic: Evermind's Second Roulette v. The Aftermath (Read 125027 times)
