There's still time to avoid that, you know.
I'm actually looking forward to it tho
Round 6 ResultsParama: This Will Destroy You – Villa Del RefugioYes, you read my tastes section perfectly fine, I have absolutely never fully enjoyed any full-on ambient whatsoever and sending it would be a huge risk. Great pick!
This was actually the “Sounds a bit stale, been meaning to skip this one several times“ tidbit but it has grown on me quite a bit since, for reasons I don’t really want to mention here in public. I can never completely bash on a song, I will almost always find enjoyment in a song one way or another, and during the first listen here I really dug the glitches, they give off a sense of surrealness or something like that. Feels like I’m listening to the background of one of the most depressing movie scenes ever.
So yeah I’ve definitely come to appreciate this more and would likely listen to an album full of this, if only to just relax and drift away into my ever so interesting thoughts.
7.5 + (1.0) = 8.5/10Scorpion: Orphaned Land – Ocean Land (The Revelation)The intro alone reminds me of a lot of different bands, but mainly Opeth, the similarities are very clear. I said that this was the first band that came to mind when implementing the world music bonus, and for good reason: I imagined a Myrath-like band with mixed vocals, and that’s pretty much what I got.
Not to nag, but I can’t help but think the vocals overall would be better if the harsh vocals, in the first verse specifically, were phrased differently. I guess the fans of Orphaned Land like them this way but it feels a bit odd to me, they sound way more devil-ish (for lack of a better word) than I woulda liked them there. BUT, the song quickly becomes fucking amazing with that chorus, it has its eastern-oriental elements, the ever present Opeth roots and great guitarwork in the background.
I’m also glad they went with a pretty concise format here, they don’t milk out the chorus by repeating it like 5 times and the song ends before it becomes old, exactly how I wanted it. I’ll be checking out this band!
8.25 + (1.0) = 9.25/10Twosuitsluke: Capdown – Pound for the SoundWell, none of the tidbits was about your song, you were correct. This song was so odd that anything I would’ve written about it would’ve been a dead giveaway.
After my first round of listening I said how disappointed I was with the round overall, but this one was more of a middleground entry. Despite the weird (and somewhat repetitive) trumpet-section that returns pretty much anytime they feel like it, the ska-vocals I’m all but used to and the combination of ska and metalcore (?), I can’t really say it felt
that weird listening to this song, which in itself, is pretty weird...
Anyway this is one of the songs that I’ve felt pretty much the same about after the first listen as I do now, it’s solid enough to get through but I don’t know if this is something I would listen to in my freetime. As expected I do like the metal breakdown sections more than the ska sections.
7.0/10Elite: Pain of Salvation – HallelujahHere goes, a PoS cover of a song I’m well familiar with.
And I couldn’t have wished for a better band to cover it. I’ve heard tons of great singers cover this, Myles Kennedy (one of my alltime favorites) and Jeff Buckley primarily, but the almost melo-dramatic tone of Daniel Gildenlow makes this a perfect fit. This guy is the man, I can see why everyone praises this band and why so many people would pick him as the singer when imagining a fantasy progmetal supergroup. I love how when the chorus kicks in he goes very quiet and shortly after they unleash all the instruments and the song cracks open.
Coming in at 9 minutes, you gotta wonder how they’ll fill that space. And well, that guitar solo absolutely slays, but with a song like Hallelujah it’s obvious that the spotlight remains on Daniel at all times. So, I’ve only heard BE and parts of Remedy Lane, which album should I continue with, Remedy Lane or the TPE’s?
8.5 + (1.0) = 9.5/10Home: Pink Floyd – Julia DreamI just love this attitude, you could’ve gone with anything off WYWH, Animals, The Wall or whatever, but you go with this somewhat ‘obscure‘ 2 and a half minute track off an album I never heard of.
It’s a very simple track, but the haunting vibe here is really beautiful. It sounds really dark and the vocals really fit with that style. The flute is a nice little addition aswell, adds to the dark feel off the intro and the chorus. Similar to the Blackfield song there’s some very simplistic melodies that work amazingly well, goes to show you that there’s no need to come up with crazy timesignatures and polyrhythms to be original if you are a musical mastermind. Definitely your best sub-3 minute song
8.0 + (1.0) = 9.0Evermind: Blackmore’s Night - Village LanterneI lvoe the acoustic intro, to begin with. But while none of the tidbits was about your song, I wasn’t very positive towards this song in the beginnings of this round anyway. And it’s stayed pretty much the same.
The vocals give me a kind of happy lullaby feeling that really doesn’t appeal to me, you already said that this is a very warm/uplifting track. I’ve never really heard this kind of uplifting folk-y music and I guess it’s not really my thing. Most of the times my happy music is nonsensical, funky, upbeat or just fun that shouldn’t be taken serious, and this falls in neither of those categories. Still really dig the instrumentation throughout the entire song, with special regards to the intro, but man am I impartial to those vocals, not really doing much for me at all.
Sorry, looking forward to the powermetal round though. Remember, I think you still haven’t used your 11+ minute song so you can send me the longest powermetal tune in your library
6.5 + (1.0) = 7.5/10Shadow Ninja 2.0: Caladan Brood – Wild Autumn WindComing in at almost 14 minutes, combined with the song and band title and the album art I thought I was going to get some very epic blackmetal? And well that’s pretty much what I got here, I guess it has some folky elements aswell.
I gotta admit, getting through the blackmetal vocals in the first section of the song was a toughie, but since I liked everything in this song so much I
really wanted to get into the vocals too, and luckily I did. This song is amazing, from the grandiose chants to the cold guitarwork contrasting the folky medieval flutes, from the crushing cymbals to the heartwrenching harsh vocals, epic is all I could say to sum it up.
The finale does not disappoint, summing up a long song that already has set the bar really high is not an easy thing to do, but they manage. Everything from the guitar solo flowing into the best set of mixed vocals I’ve heard in the entire roulette (the chants mixed with the harsh vocals), and ending it off with the woodwinds is just perfect. Best song of the round for sure, and probably top 3 material of the entire roulette.
The bones of beasts and the bones of kings
Become dust in the wake of the hymn
Mighty kingdoms rise, but they all will fall
No more than a breath on the wind9.25 + (1.0) = 10.25/10Splent: Joseph Magazine – Liquid DreamNo harm in sending stuff you’ve received in your own roulette, I’ve done that several times myself. It’s about sharing good music anyways so it wouldn’t make sense holding on to it if the person who sent it wouldn’t send it here or doesn’t even participate.
Listening to this instrumental, I feel like it’s not covering any new ground to be honest, just a good metal instrumental with some progrock elements here and there. The atonal synths are great, I love that kinda thing, though overall this is not really exciting, for this song there’s 100 others I could put on and get exactly the same out of. That’s not necessarily bad because this is solid enough, but not too impressive either. Poop. Luckily there’s some cool effects and stuff, and a neat guitar solo, they make this song pretty solid throughout, so there’s always something to look forward in this song.
7.0 + (1.0) = 8.0/10Tomislav95: Hypocrisy – Roswell 47Getting a lot of live versions in this roulette, and I gotta say, I haven’t been disappointed with any of them so far, I’m glad I allowed them. This one is no different, I always thought the black/deathmetal crowds were just kinda shoegazing throughout the sets but this crowd seems very energetic!
It was just kinda there at first though, I didn’t really think anything of this entry, but seeing as you have only been sending amazing stuff here, it just had to click at some point, and it did. The vocals have this kind of industrial metal/deathmetal combination and it’s SO powerful, wow. It’s like an extraterrestrial is announcing the earth’s defeat through a megaphone, love it. One of the most powerful vocalists I’ve heard in quite a while.
The chorus, if you can call it that, has the euphoric sound to it that most melo-death choruses have, but this is way darker. I agree with you, this is one of the best growlers in the game, possibly the best.
The song is over before you know it, would’ve liked it to be slightly longer maybe but this is good enough, another great song here.
ROSWELL FOURTY-SEVEEEE-EEEEN 8.5/10425: Anderson/Stolt – InventionThis was the disney/mickey mouse song
I dunno how, because I really dug that Flower Kings song and this has 2 of the same band members. I guess the vocals ruin it for me, but it’s not only that, the music is very disney-esque in a very offputting way, I mean I love happy music but not like this. I gotta give you this though, it did actually make me LOL, probably not the reaction you wanted but that’s life for you I guess.
It doesn’t help that it’s nearly 10 minutes in length either, I mean, it does get better towards the end, if only ever so slightly, but I have to get through nearly 7 minutes of not-so-enjoyable music to get there. Sorry, complete miss here.
5.5 + (1.0) = 6.5/10Bolsters: Sergey Golovin – Sea DevilWith so much instrumental djent to offer these days, I was looking forward what would set this apart from the main stream. And obviously, it wouldn't be a Bolsters submission without some electronic mixed in
Getting some Plini/CHON vibes right off the bat here and that's never a bad thing, especially right now with all the hype for the upcoming Plini debut album. Once the song really kicks in it's a pretty awesome tune, lots-a headbangable riffs, groovy grooves, funky funkes. Yeah this is pretty cool, but I can't help but throw it in the 'okay/good' category because it sounds like just another djent/progmetal instrumental with nothing really all that mindblowing to it. For what it is, pretty rad song though.
7.25 + (1.0) = 8.25Sacul: Blackfield - EpidemicSomehow I always ignored Blackfield, people told me it and No-Man were both boring sideprojects of SW. Well, I still have no idea about No-Man, but this sure isn't boring..
I love how simple this is, piano melodies a child could learn in no time, easy-yet-memorable vocal melodies, tension-building structure in a very simple manner. All combined with Steven's lovely vocals, this is easily one of the better songs of the round. It's always cool how thin the line between happy and sad are in Steven Wilsons songs, at one point you feel like it's depressing and the next thing you know he's singing an uplifting-sounding chorus.
Yea good stuff, I'll check out more Blackfield soon for sure.
8.0/10StandingsTomislav95: 44.0 + 8.5 = 52.5 (XX)
Scorpion: 42.5 + 9.25 = 51.75 (XXX)
Home: 41.5 + 9.0 = 50.5 (XXX)
Parama: 41.75 + 8.5 = 50.25 (XXX)
Bolsters: 41.75 + 8.25 = 50.0 (XXX)
Sacul: 41.5 + 8.0 = 49.5 (XXX)
Elite: 39.75 + 9.5 = 49.25 (XX)
Twosuitsluke: 42.0 + 7.0 = 49.0 (XXX)
Shadow Ninja 2.0: 38.5 + 10.25 = 48.75 (XX)
Evermind: 40.25 + 7.5 = 47.75 (XXX)
Splent: 39.5 + 8.0 = 47.5 (XXX)
425: 40.0 + 6.5 = 46.5 (XX)
Things are still very close around the cutting line, home has made a fucking run for it, the climb between now and two rounds ago is unreal. Also Shadow Ninja is not in last place anymore yay, but it's kinda awkward having my v1 roulette champion in the bottom spot
shit how'd that happen.
Schedule for round 7So this will be the longest round yet, you can all take your time to decide your last song before the bottom 7 get sacked, because I won't be listening to them until more than a week from now, when I get back from vacation. SIT BACK, RELAX, ENJOY THE RIDE
or.. just send now if you like, I don't mind.
I plan on starting the listening + hangmanen the day after I get back, and it will be a pretty quick round from there on as I (as mentioned) am job-less because the place I work at is getting closed down for 2 weeks after I come back. Choose wisely, guys. This next submission may just be your last!