Round 3 Results!!
Tight round with lots of different styles but nothing really bad, just songs not as good as others.
jingle.boy - Until Rain - Brain Death
Chad delivers up another slab of prog rock very well suited to his style, and it delivers for me. When I first heard it, I was kind of lukewarm on it and thought the chorus was a bit 'meh'. The more I listened, the more that this fucking chorus kept popping up into my head, but that's a good thing. Great riffing and instrumentals here and the vox are nice and unique, something a bit different. Great instrumental break with a lot going on here, but that chorus, very infectious. Not the best song in the roulette, but a highlight indeed, love it. Definitely will be looking into these guys more. Keep up this standard Chad, well done.
Appeal of Style - 9
Instrumentation and vox - 9
Structure and Songwriting - 9
Replay value - 9.5
Would I purchase - 9
Score - 9.1
bl5150 - Brainstorm - The Leading
Brent sends something that's really honing in my my tastes indeed. A high pitched scream followed by a slashing groovy riff had me smiling. I love the swagger in the verses, the singer sounds good and the chorus like Chad's is very catchy and sticks in the mind. Love the high notes too. Not much to say here, this is just solid metal with good vox and good guitars and good melodies. Almost took out the song of the round, but Chad's song's chorus was slightly more addicting to me. Definitely another band to add to the list. Brent keeps the consistency high.
Appeal of Style - 9
Instrumentation and vox - 9
Structure and Songwriting - 9
Replay value - 9
Would I purchase - 9
Score - 9.0
Big Hath - Teramaze - An Ordinary Dream (Enla Momento)
Now, I remember a few of you fellas really digging this band and saying that the new album was a hoot. I had never heard the name and checked out a video. It's fair to say, it was nice, but didn't make me want to check any further. This was Jonathan's second try this round as I knocked back an excellent song by the band Sunburst the first time, so I thought I'd let him off the hook and give this band another go, and I'm glad I did. The production here first off is really great and polished which suits the style. The thing that obviously stuck out to me were the fantastic guitar solos. The chorus is strong and I think for a longer track, the structure works well and is easy to follow. The singer took a bit of getting use to in the verses and softer parts, which is why the second category is rated slightly lower, I wasn't too keen on him here, but all in all, a really great track, and I've seen this album in store, so I'll probably end up picking it up.
Appeal of Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Structure and Songwriting - 9
Replay value - 9
Would I purchase - 9
Score - 8.8
Dr. DTVT - Agalloch - Falling Snow
Mason sends some more adaptable black/folk metal right here and this is one genre that is cool, but I've never really gotten into. There's only a couple of albums and bands here and there that I dig in this style. The sound and style right away scream the style and the vox kick in and we're deep into something here that most of you would absolutely scoff at, and probably would want out of this roulette based on my score in disgust. Saying that, this didn't blow my socks off as not much from this style normally does, but I find the whole song rather alluring, interesting and impressive. If you can appreciate and lose yourself in the style it's pretty well done. The clean vox are haunting as fuck, and I love the melody of the vox and the music going on here. Although, we come to the last 3 minutes or so, and I gotta say it could be the best 3 minutes of the round, absolutely brilliantly done. The mood, atmosphere, melody and the way the music is written and performed here is simply beautiful, and helped the score quite a bit. It wouldn't be high on the purchase list, but the more I listen the more I want to check some of their other songs.
Appeal of Style - 7.5
Instrumentation and vox - 9
Structure and Songwriting - 9
Replay value - 9
Would I purchase - 8
Score - 8.5
lonestar - Speaking to Stones - Earth
Here's a classic style 15 minute prog metal song. This one obviously took a few extra listens to get into but I think I've got a good grasp on it. I see Mark Zonder is on the drums too here, which is nice. All in all, there's nothing really wrong here and I like most of what's going on. The structure was quite tough to get my head around but the whole thing was an enjoyable listen. Great vocals here and the band are tight as fuck too. I really like the chorus actually, it's very well done, and the tempo change going into it gives the song that nice epic feel. The ending is nice and epic too. Where the guitar melody line comes in at around the 12 minute mark is really well done and segues into the ending of the song beautifully. Yeah, I'd listen to the whole album for sure before rusing out and buying, good solid stuff.
Appeal of Style - 9
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Structure and Songwriting - 8.5
Replay value - 8.5
Would I purchase - 8
Score - 8.5
Elite - Leprous - Forced Entry
Well, I see that this song has the dude that sung on the Ihsahn song, huh, wouldn't have guessed that. This is something really quite original here. I'm not sure if I think it's just nice and solid, or if I think it's brilliant to tell you the truth. It has a heavy Pain of Salvation vibe if you ask me which is good. It was enjoyable to listen too. The riffing was good and the keys and atmosphere are a nice touch. The instrumental section was fucking brilliant, and the second half of the song was killer. The only thing I could do without was the falsetto vox part, but I think it would be something I'd get use to in time. I wouldn't go out and buy an album right away but for sure want to hear what else they do, a very talented and original band, very fresh. The singer is very versitile too.
Appeal of Style - 8
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Structure and Songwriting - 9
Replay value - 9
Would I purchase - 8
Score - 8.5
Parama - East of the Wall - False Build
Parama hasn't had a lot of luck here, but this is his best submission yet. This reminds me heavily of Mastodon, it has thier name written all over it, and if for some reason you based sending this song cause they are on my list, I'm impressed. Love the structure here, I thought I was getting an instrumental but then the vocals kicked in. Nice and tough vox and nothing to try hard either. The cleans were a bit hit or miss, but I can live with it. The ending is pure Mastodon too, which is cool. I like it cause it is something a bit different. Nothing mindblowing and something not really on my purchase list at this stage, but a well done song that I am enjoying listening to.
Appeal of Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and vox - 9
Structure and Songwriting - 8.5
Replay value - 8
Would I purchase - 8
Score - 8.4
Bolsters - Psycrence - A Losing Game
Symphony X was the first thing that came to mind when this song started, nice keys and when the band kicks in, it sounds quite monstrous indeed. The vocals are really strong and everything here actually reminds me of an Australian band called Eyefear. I actually had to look up to make sure it wasn't the same dude. Not much to say here, a nice song with a very catchy chorus, but all in all pretty safe and solid. A solo would have been cool but really, it doesn't hurt it. Because it is so safe and familiar in style, it would be soemthing I'd listen to but it would be lower of the list just, but a good entry.
Appeal of Style - 9
Instrumentation and vox - 9
Structure and Songwriting - 8
Replay value - 7.5
Would I purchase - 7.5
Score - 8.2
Evermind - David Gilmour - Faces of Stone
Now, Ruslan gave me a bit of a rundown on this song, and he makes it clear how much he likes it and I guess he would be biting his nails on sending it to me and to see my rating, but fear not, as I think this is pretty good. I'm only a casual Pink Floyd fan and never heard any of Gilmour's solo stuff, which I guess being a guitarist, I should have rectified that a long time ago. Now the style isn't really my thing at first, but really once it gets going, the dark, somber mood and atmosphere portrayed here is something I actually would like. The piano interlude part which goes under the solos is pretty much exactly like a section from Green Carnations Light of Day, around the solo section. I think that's why I like it as it reminds me of that song, quite a bit. The solos really make me enjoy it and the ending solo was of course emotional and brilliant. Would have loved it to go another couple of minutes but I don't think Gilmour is that type of player from what I can tell. I've never been a huge fan of his voice either, but his vox fit really well with this style so they sound great. All in all, a really enjoyable and very well written song.
Appeal of Style - 8
Instrumentation and vox - 9
Structure and Songwriting - 8.5
Replay value - 8
Would I purchase - 7.5
Score - 8.2
lowdz - Holy Grail - Bestia Triumphans
This was a tough song. I'll put it out there, I love the music, but I really didn't like the vocals. I don't know, the style just didn't do it for me. The melodies were quite cool but yeah, the vocals just didn't do it for me. They weren't that bad and I could listen to them, just not the kind of vocals I would normally like, they were quite grating The playing and instrumentation however was great, and I gotta say, the guitar solos were absolutlely fucking brilliant and they really helped the score out. I'd check out more of these guys based on the guitar work of this song. It's hard and unfortunate but damn those solos, very good. I'd still like to give them the benefit of the doubt though and check out some other songs.
Appeal of Style - 8
Instrumentation and vox - 8
Structure and Songwriting - 8
Replay value - 7.5
Would I purchase - 7.5
Score - 7.8
TAC - Chaos Frame - The World Has Two Faces
Now, this is another tough one. This is something looking at everything on paper I should like, but nothing here really got me going. The riffs were good, the solos were good, but just didn't click unfortunately. It's fine to listen to and I don't hate it, but I'm not in love with it. I wasn't too keen on the singer to be honest, and I thought the chorus melody was a bit, I don't know, pompous or pretty. There was just something about it. Once the solos got going in the middle, they were really nice and well done. Again, a band I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt but not something I'll look into at this stage.
Appeal of Style - 9
Instrumentation and vox - 7.5
Structure and Songwriting - 7
Replay value - 7.5
Would I purchase - 7
Score - 7.6
Train of Naut - Waken Eyes - Exodus
This was another band I have heard one song from and didn't think much of it. Train of Naut sends me the epic of the album it seems and I can't really say my mind has been changed. Everything here is well performed and well done, but I feel it was pretty incohesive and I found it hard to get into or really find anything that I could get my head around and remember. I did listen to it multiple times too. Saying that, listening to it wasn't a displeasure and the singer and performers are all good and some of the guitar melodies were great, but didn't have that epic feel to me and probably something I wouldn't look at either.
Appeal of Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Structure and Songwriting - 6.5
Replay value - 6.5
Would I purchase - 7
Score - 7.4
jjrock88 - Baron Cross - The Stage of Intensity
Jason sends another safe slab of rock and this one isn't as strong as his other submissions. Good riffs and vocals here, but really pretty safe and solid but nothing here that really knocked me over. The solos were pretty basic and simplistic and I feel the acoustic guitar was not really needed. It was still cool and the chorus was good and as I said the singer was really good, but not something I'll add to the list at this stage.
Appeal of Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and vox - 7.5
Structure and Songwriting - 7
Replay value - 7
Would I purchase - 7
Score - 7.4
Standings after round 3;
Big Hath - 27
Dr. DTVT - 26.7
bl5150 - 26.7
Evermind - 25.7
jingle.boy - 25.5
TAC - 25.3
lowdz - 25.3
Bolsters - 25.1
lonestar - 24.7
jjrock88 - 23.7
Elite - 21.6
Train of Naut - 21.1
Parama - 20.9
Bands added to the banned list;
Until Rain
Brainstorm
East of the Wall
David Gilmour
Psycrence
Holy Grail
Speaking to Stones
Waken Eyes
Agalloch
Leprous
Teramaze
Chaos Frame
Barron Cross
Round 4 open
Topic: wolfking's roulette to end all roulettes v. Kip Winger approved! (Read 99784 times)