Alright, please don't be offended. You all rock, but only one person can win this one.
#2: wolfking
Off the Metal Cuff EPUDO – Speeder
Bob Catley – Children of the Circle
Black Majesty – Firestorm
Trivium – The Ghost That’s Haunting You
Eden’s Curse – Turn the Page
UDO – Shadow Eyes
Trivium – The Darkness of My Mind
U.D.O. – SpeederI have Accept in my banned list, true, but I actually never enjoyed Udo’s vocals that much. I think this song just emphasizes everything I don’t like about him. I know I said this before in this very roulette, and this time I was prepared since I’ve heard this singer even before I did this roulette – but it doesn’t really help Udo sounds like he’s throwing up here, or as Chad would put it, “got a little twerp in his mouth”. This song is also somewhat an opposite to a term “melodic”, because, I mean, the instruments here are melodic alright, but the vocal melodies are just the screamed parts.
“Speeder! Deadlier than all! Like a wrecked ball! Faster than you are!”. There’s no melody behind these lines, just grit and the power, and I’ll be honest, I like my metal melodic enough, and this kind of song just doesn’t register with me.
12/20
Bob Catley – Children of the CircleAnd speaking of melodic metal, this is just how I like it. Of course, sending Bob Catley was cheating on the grand scale of things, but as long as you get a high score, who the hell cares? I love the man’s voice, I love his work with Magnum and Avantasia, and this? This isn’t an exception. I’ve got chills from the very first line.
“Standing tall, we worship the night…”, damn. Chills all over.
This was my favourite song from your EP by far. Instead of using two songs from Udo and Trivium I think you should’ve just stuck with Bob Catley, because this is the very definition of awesome. Unless this is the only highlight from his album, I fail to see why you decided not to send more songs from this… I’m listening to the song while I’m writing this and this tune is just brilliant. Fantastic pick right there.
(I’ve no idea what he’s singing though. “We are the sickles of the miracle?” I don’t really care though, it sounds awesome and I’m content with it. I’m just imagining him waving his hand in every direction like he always does live and that makes me smile. Damn, I love seeing Catley live. He kicks ass.)
19/20
Black Majesty – FirestormHere’s another awesome track, my second favourite from your EP. This reminds me of Nocturnal Rites, only not as kickass and impressive. Still, I think this is one of the better songs I received from you, and it does a good job to keep up with the heaviness and the overall metal style of your EP. The singer here is really impressive, the vocal melodies are well-written, the instrumental section is creative and engaging… the whole track is quite enjoyable indeed. Love it.
And of course, the ending deserves a separate mention. The way they have this intense keyboard riff punctuated with some guitar notes lead into the reckless scream, this is bloody great.
Sorry for the short write-up, by the way.
18/20
Trivium – The Ghost That’s Haunting YouOkay, so, Trivium. I’m going to get my main complaint about this band out right now, seeing how you sent two tracks from them and all. It might sound ridiculous, but well, this is my roulette and my tastes, so you’ll just have to deal with it I guess!
So I just think – alright, don’t laugh – that Trivium singer sounds arrogant as hell. That’s the best description I was able to come up with, really, and I feel it really does him justice, both on this song and on another one you sent my way. Now, I’m not saying it’s a real bad thing, you know; I think this song works alright, especially with the vocal melodies that are great here:
“What have I done? What have I become? Standing six feet thick, and I’m the only one” is one of my favourite parts of your EP – by the way, I have no idea if those are the right lyrics. So overall this is a really solid song, but I think the band just isn’t for me. I kind of liked it, but it’s not something I would go out of my way to listen to – for example, I liked The Tea Party more. This tune sounds like a generic metal I would stay away from.
14.5/20
Eden’s Curse – Turn the PageThis is a funny song, in fact, I always forget it’s actually on your EP. I’m just like, alright, Kade included Catley, UDO, Trivium and Black Majesty, nice selection of artists and wait, what is that? At the first listen I thought it was Trivium, because it actually had those melodic rock catchy melodies and I thought maybe they had a different singer, but no, this was another band entirely.
I’ll be honest, I like this tune, but it’s just not spectacular enough to warrant an awesome score. It’s just a standard metal tune that I definitely enjoy, but that’s it.
16/20
U.D.O. – Shadow EyesLook, it’s another Udo’s song, and I actually like this one much more than Speeder. This has some melody behind it, and I really like Udo on this tune – I haven’t put Accept on my banned list just for hoots and giggles, I like his voice on the right songs, and this is one of them.
“Can you hear me, hear me calling again?” gives me chills right here, love it.
I think that’s actually a bonus track? I don’t have time to check it right now since I’m just typing these with some incredible speed, but if it is, I’m baffled. This is loads better than Speeder, I like this song a lot. Of course, that’s the case with a lot of bonus tracks, hell, think about Over the Rainbow by Unisonic on their s/t, I think it was a Top 3 track easily. And it’s just the same thing here, awesome tune. Really liked it.
16.5/20
Trivium – The Darkness of My MindHere’s another Trivium song where the singer sounds arrogant and not to my taste. I think the intro is really cool, and the whole song actually has some great hooks and melodies, but once again it just comes down to the singer. I can’t put my finger on it but I really dislike him for some reason.
Obviously I can’t get past it, but I think this song is quite good despite singer getting on my nerves. They obviously tried to get the vocal melodies straight and memorable (even though I couldn’t make out the lyrics and ended up with
“my sesai besai” instead of
“demise is our design”), and they succeeded – this song is catchy as hell, but I wish they had different singer. Oh well, it’s kind of like beating a dead horse, isn’t it?
15/20
EP review:Well, I feel like you just took the first metal tracks you thought of and dumped them into an EP – and you probably did exactly this – but it works surprisingly well. The outcome is quite consistent and solid. I liked how you cut all the silences between tracks and I liked how consistent the EP is, always energetic, and at the same time I liked the variety – UDO was a pure metal and speed, Bob Catley was melodic as hell, Trivium were straightforward, Black Majesty was a slight foray into prog… I thought the flow worked pretty well in this EP. Good job.
Flow points: 4/5The average songs score: (12 + 19 + 18 + 14.5 + 16 + 16.5 + 15) / 7 = 15.857142(857142)The whole EP score: 15.857142(857142) + 4 = 19.857142(857142)Total score: 68,5 + 19.857142(857142) = 88.357142(357142)