#5: senecadawg2
Earth, Wind & FireAgalloch – Birch Black
Thrice – Come All You Weary
Ludovico Einaudi – Fly
Thrice – A Song for Milly Michaelson
Agalloch – Our Fortress Is Burning… I
Agalloch – Our Fortress Is Burning… II – Bloodbirds
Agalloch – Birch BlackThis is my first foray into Agalloch. Let me preface this saying I always intended to get into Agalloch but I also knew they’re folky death metal band featuring growls so I just stayed away from them. Some people recommended me The White EP (Tomislav included) and I still never checked it out. Well I guess this just had to happen at one time or another. I guess some people would say my first foray into this band is underwhelming because it’s an instrumental, but what the hell, it’s still a song, and a good one at that.
I liked this one a lot. Nice drumming and nice acoustic guitar playing, it’s all about atmosphere here. I think the electric guitar tremolo (or whatever it is) in the end is a bit drawn-out, but otherwise this track is very enjoyable, and it sets the stage for what’s to come just fine.
18/20
Thrice – Come All You WearyThis is my first foray into Thrice as well! Look at you, casually introducing me those bands and making me actually like and be interested in them.
Thrice never were on my radar somehow. I knew they exist and for some reason I lumped them into the “Zantera / Sacul music” category, meaning they were playing some weird music I wouldn’t be fond of. There are a lot of well-known bands in that category, like Godspeed You Black Emperor, Swans and so on. I assumed Thrice were one of those, and, hell, apparently I was wrong.
This song is awesome. It’s not as awesome as one of the next songs, but I’ll be damned, I love this one. The outburst of energy and emotion in the chorus makes this one so memorable and touching, and the calm instrumental parts and verses are so fitting. And coming after Birch Black, this song is even more powerful. I dare to say you achieved something great with this two-songs “Earth” combination. This was one of my favourite sequences in this round.
19/20
Ludovico Einaudi – FlyDespite being longer than Birch Black, this piece definitely felt like an intro of some kind, or an instrumental prelude. Not to say it wasn’t enjoyable, because the piano instrumentals are always enjoyable unless it’s the cat walking on piano, meowing and pressing the random notes he manages to get his paws on; but I wouldn’t call this particularly memorable either. Don’t get me wrong – it is beautiful, it is nice, but it’s not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
16.5/20
Thrice – A Song for Milly MichaelsonThis is my second foray into Thrice! Okay, fine, I’ll get to the song.
I felt that song was quite inferior to Come All You Weary, to be honest. I guess this song might be the reason Fly didn’t score too well – I feel like Birch Black score was actually enhanced by the fact I loved Come All You Weary, and I think this time it didn’t work in your favour – I was kind of indifferent to this song, and by association Fly got maybe a point less. But this is pointless to argue anyway.
But this song is actually alright, it’s just not as memorable as the other Thrice song was. I’m definitely getting a “wind” element feeling from it (I’m going to laugh if it’s actually in the other alchemy index on the album, since I don’t know the tracklist for that one), and I’m also getting the fatalistic feeling from this song. I really like it, in fact, the careless (not arrogant) attitude the singer is displaying, like he’s tired of life, is very appealing here. However, I thought the guitar work here was a bit too repetitive with that one chord playing over and over, and I felt this song had no buildup – which would’ve been fine if it didn’t have those drums doing the buildup only for nothing to actually happen. Those were like a giant tease never getting anywhere.
Still, I liked this one a fair bit. It’s my least favourite from your EP, but it was still a good song.
16/20
Agalloch – Our Fortress Is Burning… IThis is my second foray into Agalloch! Alright, I’ll stop.
I pondered on what to do with these two a lot, and eventually I decided to separate them. Not only it allowed you to get a higher average score, but I don’t see why I should lump these two into one song. After all, the distinctions are there (one song has growls and one doesn’t, what else do you need?), so two songs it is.
Well… I think this is fantastic. It seems the folky side of Agalloch is something I already love, because both Birch Black and this tune are awesome. I would say this song is more distinctive and more focused than Birch Black, it doesn’t have this annoying guitar technique, it has more pronounced rhythm and as you said, it has more of that fiery, intense mood. The muted electric guitars in the background in the second part are emphasizing it, and overall I thought this song was quite ominous.
19/20
Agalloch – Our Fortress Is Burning… II – BloodbirdsAnd as expected, this is a perfect, logical continuation of the first part. I love how those tracks were split. The very first note here takes me into the musical heaven. I mean, the first part was fantastic instrumental-wise, and this part is just heavenly. I just couldn’t stop headbanging to it, and everyone at work probably thought I was nuts every time this song came up.
So here’s the story I wrote in the tidbit. As I said, it just happened that my first listen of all your EPs was happening at work, and I wasn’t quite familiar with any of the tracklists at the moment. When I’m able to listen to the music at work I’m usually quite immersed in what I’m doing, and sometimes if the music itself is dull enough, I may end up not registering anything I’ve hearing. But when I was listening to this one, I found I’m growing less attentive to what I’m working on; and I’ve paid more and more attention to this song instead, but I had no idea what I’m listening to. And at some point I thought
“wow, this is just fantastic, but when will the vocals come in?” So naturally I checked my phone to see which band was currently playing, and immediately I thought
“Oh shit! I take that back! Please don’t let the vocals come in!” 
And I admit I was wrong here all along.
The growls are fucking
perfect on this tune. Not in the kind of “hey, alright, growls aren’t bothering me here like on ‘The Empty Room’ way”, but in the kind “I can’t imagine this track without growls” way. In the “this is bloody awesome and I wouldn’t have this any other way around” way. In a headbanging, fist-pumping and doing the reckless evil face while listening to this song kind of way. I’m sorry for swearing here so casually, but holy fucking shit this is so incredible.
I can’t even start describing how great this tune is – alright, I kind of had started it in the previous paragraph, but this is everything I could’ve wished for, and more. Not only this is way different from everything I’ve received in this roulette, but it’s the single most satisfying payoff in any EP ever. The urgent, frantic instrumentation behind the freaking growls here, punctuated with the desperate, beautiful and destructive lyrics… this is outstanding and this is something I never expected to get. Or, for that matter, to like.
You know what? This deserves a perfect score. This was my favourite song from the whole EP and maybe from the whole roulette. This is what you do when you want to introduce me to the growls, folks. Watch and learn.
20/20
EP review:Well, despite me not liking A Song for Milly Michaelson as much as the other tracks – which was your fault since you picked all the awesome tracks – I thought this EP was amazing. I mean, this was definitely the oddest EP genre-wise but I like how well-thought out it is. From the certain atmosphere in each section, sticking to the elemental theme, to the interesting decisions regarding the flow and the song lengths (I loved how you made each song longer than the last), it’s obvious you put an effort into this, and I think it works – well, I think it’s bloody perfect. I definitely thought the elemental parts worked just fine – the warm and enveloping atmosphere on Come All You Weary was perfect for Earth theme, the lightness and calmness of both Fly and A Song for Milly Michaelson were perfect for Wind, and don’t even get me started on that pair of Agalloch tunes. Pure perfection for Fire theme here.
Remember how I mentioned it would be nice to have a different EP from all the power / progressive metal ones I had coming my way? Well, obviously I still stand by this, but I just wanted you to know your EP was the one I kept wanting to come back to. I mean, I was spinning all those EPs at work, and – I’m not kidding – I eagerly waited until I could spin yours once again. I think I’ve listened to Our Fortress is Burning like twenty times. When I had a spare fifteen minutes or so I just thought “screw that EP thing, I’m going for that track once again”. And I obviously did headbang, imitated the growly singing and all that. Folks at work certainly think I’m nuts now. But, hey, who cares. I don’t know about the whole scoreboard, but you’re awesome and your EP is awesome. Neil Young isn’t awesome but once again, who cares when you can have Agalloch.
Flow points: 5/5The average songs score: (18 + 19 + 16.5 + 16 + 19 + 20) / 6 = 18,083(3)The whole EP score: 18,083(3) + 5 = 23,083(3)Total score: 62,5 + 23,083(3) = 85,583(3)
Topic: Evermind's Second Roulette v. The Aftermath (Read 114139 times)
