Digging for Gold#8: 425: Dio – Shame On the NightFirst Impressions:I will say first and foremost that straightforward heavy metal is uuuusually not my thing, but, we shall see.
This is actually kind of interesting though, it’s a very downbeat, plodding song that still has a nice level of intensity going on. I guess my only worry is that I’m not sure how much this justifies being 5 minutes, I feel like I might get a little sick of it on relistens as it doesn’t come off as a particularly diverse song? But I do enjoy it on first listen.
Final Thoughts:As I predicted, this is probably the song I got the least out of on relistens. Once you’ve heard this once, there’s nothing to really surprise you anymore. That’s absolutely wonderful if you’re trying to appeal to the casual listener or have a radio smash hit – instant gratification that’s just repetitive enough to be catchy but not so repetitive as to get annoying. There is absolutely a place for music like this.
Dio is a great singer, there’s basically no denying that. Unlike Bruce Dickinson last round, he has the music behind him to back up his pipes, too. His vocals are clearly the focus of a lot of the song, and for a good reason. He throws his all into every line, just injects power into every word. I can appreciate that, even if his style of vocals isn’t really my cup of tea, it’s still enjoyable enough to listen to.
But once I get tired of the vocals after hearing this for the fourth or fifth time, the song’s appeal really drops for me. There’s really not a lot to this song. Aside from the quiet intro that gets reprised later, it’s verses and choruses all the way home, with an extended outro fadeout. And it’s all very similar plodding, heavy riffs that are kind of cool but then get so hammered into your head that they start to lose their power after a while. I do appreciate the thick bass on the verses, and the choir vocals on the outro make for a satisfying climax. But as a whole I just get sick of it quickly.
I did specifically warn about this in my tastes post; “Straightforward hard rock is probably going to bore me.” And, yeah, that’s ultimately what it came down to here. I can’t say this is a bad song, and if I only heard it like once or twice a month for a few months and then never again, I’d probably remember it fondly, but listening to it every day for the better part of a week, I’m definitely tired of listening to it and wouldn’t want to return to it.
5.5/10#7: Train of Naught: Children of Nova – Second Sight BlackoutFirst Impressions:A vaguely psychedelic feel to the beginning of this song, probably mostly due to that wah-soaked guitar in the back. And then the song takes a completely different feel when the chorus kicks in apparently, sure. Nice and high energy here, all the instruments are definitely contributing to that.
I think what’s sticking out most here is how good the mix is… all the instruments are quite audible and it all comes together well. Pretty intense, manic ending to this one too.
Final Thoughts:It’s just strange that they spent almost the first two minutes playing one song and then cut to a completely different, basically unrelated song. And I mean, I enjoy both halves separately, but they just don’t go together, the transition doesn’t work. At least for me. Ehh. It’s a small complaint, comparatively, since I can only be bothered by it for about three seconds.
So. The first half is this downbeat, psychedelic type of song. I like it. There’s nice atmosphere to the layers of guitars, it’s very chill stuff. The drums and bass are doing neat, kind of subtle stuff to keep things musically interesting, and the vocals sound fine enough. I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of this vocalist on the basis of this one song, but, solid.
The back half is a high-energy post-hardcore song with a strong emphasis on melodic guitar lines. Well, especially one of them that gets repeated maybe a bit too much, but it’s kind of cool. Definitely feels like they overused it though. The drums here are pretty basic aside from that jagged fill that plays at the end of every phrase, which, again, is pretty cool the first few times you hear it, but once you’ve heard it a dozen times in the same song it might get a bit played out.
The two bits of the song that really stick out are the calmer bridge at around 3:30, returning to the psychedelic vibe of earlier in the song and doing it pretty nicely, it’s a nice breather moment that also is probably the only thing tying the first half and second half together in any real way. And the ending, that’s pretty cool stuff. Blastbeat drumming as the song reaches its close and a fast, frantic guitar line to close things out.
Everything else… well, there’s some solid vocal moments but I never really find them that memorable, just, solid. I could find the chorus powerful and epic, but I only kind of feel that way about it. It doesn’t have as much power as it feels like it should have, and I can’t say why. There’s an intensity to the music and to the vocals and a harmonization going on there, yet it just never clicks into place. I think it may just be the singer. I don’t think he quite sells it, his voice just doesn’t work for me with the more intense stuff.
Honestly I’m still trying to evaluate how I feel about this song, because I like it, but it’s not anything particularly fresh and it isn’t even especially well-executed, just… solid. Again pingponging between two scores here so again I’m just going to give you the higher one, I keep doing this for your songs for some reason.
7/10#6: Bolsters: HAIM – Let Me GoFirst Impressions:Right away this strikes me as much more of a “Bolsters” song than the last one you sent, whatever that means. The vocal timbre of this comes off to me as “angsty teenager who just started singing but wants to sound really mature”.
I like the pounding drums going on here quite a lot, gives the song a big, bombastic feel, and the driving bassline definitely adds to that mood. Oh, it ended. I guess it still felt like this was building to something, but no, it wasn’t. Alright then.
Final Thoughts:I dunno what I was talking about with the vocals. They just sound very indie-rock-ish. And I can’t tell if the singer is a guy or girl, but I also don’t really care particularly much. They sound fine enough. The harmonizations sound pretty good and make the vocals sound a lot bigger than they otherwise would, at the very least. The vocals are pretty clearly the focus of this song too, lots of jagged rhythms and quirky melodies on the verses and big harmonizations and layers on the chorus.
The music behind the vocals does a good job of building up, too. There’s fairly minimal instrumentation behind the first verse and chorus, and then the thumping bass and drums kick in for the second verse, escalating for the chorus as the guitar comes in. The guitar work is pretty simple here but also really effective. That repeating motif feels like something straight out of a 70’s rock song, or at least that’s the vibe I’m getting, but yeah, I dig it.
The vocals do kind of drop out a bit when the guitar takes center stage, but that may be for the best, I’m not sure where else they could’ve gone at that point, they can’t really effectively wrestle with the booming instrumentation or the swagger of the guitars. The song does reach a solid climax by the time it ends, but it really does feel like it was still building to something. I wouldn’t have minded a huge closing chorus with even more layers of vocals and crunchier guitars, some real power to close off the track that ties everything together. But, no, it just… ends.
And I really dislike that synth thing that happens right at the end, it’s just kind of irritating. But it only lasts like a second so I can’t get too bothered. Ehh. Nitpicking.
I wouldn’t say this is the best-structured song, and it doesn’t quite feel like it lives up to its potential, but it definitely grew on me the more I listened to it; the vocals during the verses especially, there’s just a smoothness to the vocal melody there that I quite like. But no, it’s definitely a solid song, I can definitely dig it. Not outstanding for what it is but it’s more engaging than a lot of indie rock tends to be.
7.25/10#5: Sacul: dredg – SanzenFirst Impressions:DTF really wants to get me to like dredg. I was sent them in my first roulette, almost twice actually, and now here they are here again. The verses are pretty nice and upbeat, between the strummy guitar and fast-paced hihats. And there’s a nice amount of power to the chorus, a nice wall of guitar noise. Weird jagged proggy type break, okay.
I quite dig that atmospheric, chaotic bit a bit past the middle of the song, quite intense but also beautiful, in a way. And then… hard cut to some jazzy thing, sure why not. There’s like a whole lot of “stuff happens” in the middle of this song, it seems.
Final Thoughts:Honestly I don’t even remember what the dredg song I was sent in the first round sounds like. It definitely wasn’t half as good as this song, I’ll say that straight up.
The punchy chords in the verses create a nice bright feel, and the bassline really helps with that, I quite like it. It’s upbeat and enjoyable to listen to. The chorus contrasts with a big, dense sound, layers of tremolo guitar and crash cymbal creating a nice soundscape. I dig it.
Then there’s an abrupt cut to a kind of generic indie rock-ish bit that I don’t really mind but is definitely inferior to the rest of the song. Thankfully it’s over quick and the free time intense swell of noise that hits after is really cool, just a lovely huge sound. And then a brief cut to a jazzy break for some soloing, because the middle of this song is an absolutely mess structurally. Again, this bit I’m not so huge on but I don’t mind it either. It’s pleasant, and it transitions back into the final chorus well enough.
I’m not really sure how to describe the singer’s voice here. It’s like… a singing style I’ve heard before (and no, not just from the other dredg song I’ve heard), but one that I can’t make any comparisons to, either. And I’m neutral to slightly positive on the vocals, all things considered. They feel kind of monodynamic, mostly; there’s basically no variation to the level he’s singing at, except that there’s some reverb on his voice during the chorus that makes it sound slightly bigger. The vocal melodies are solid enough though.
In general I’d say I like the main “meat” of this song, but the random interludes in the middle of the song just don’t work too well; it feels like the attitude was “gotta do random stuff just to be prog” but they didn’t really know how to integrate the random stuff very well so it just happens. But there’s nothing here that’s unpleasant to listen to and it’s generally pretty musically interesting. I like this but I can’t say I love it.
7.25/10#4: Evermind: Sonata Arctica – My Dream's But a Drop of Fuel for a NightmareFirst Impressions:I’ve known of Sonata Arctica for about as long as I’ve known of Dream Theater, honestly, but as I’ve almost always shied away from power metal I’ve never really checked them out beyond a few songs.
Already this feels like it has a lot more personality and originality to it than the genre’s standard. Yeah, the layers of harmonized vocals are definitely making me happy. I guess the biggest issue is that the strings aren’t especially convincing, and looking it up, yeah, they are indeed fake it looks like, but ehh. I feel like your quest to get cut from my roulette is going to need at least one more round.
Final Thoughts:The way this song flows and the many twists it takes while sounding fairly effortless in doing so. I admire it for that, no doubt. Building up a simple piano line into a heavy, chuggy riff and then taking that to a driving, triumphant feel with a bit of folky stuff creeping in shortly after, none of these would really be that stellar on their own but it’s the way the song is constructed that makes it stand out.
Around 2 minutes the song cuts to a more standard 4/4 power metal feel and the chorus here is… weird, but intriguing. The vocal line has a weird rhythm to it and a strange melody, it’s far from cliché and interesting as a result. 4:30 sees a return to the driving triplet feel with some piano and huge vocals making for an engaging climax, before returning to piano to close out the track. A full circle type of track.
I think one thing that makes this work where a lot of power metal doesn’t for me is that… a lot of power metal feels too clean and structured, calculated. It ends up, ironically, lacking in power; coming off as feigning heaviness that it can’t actually back up. I don’t think that’s the case here. I think this song is very convincingly heavy and it’s very loose, very flowing. There’s no big singalong chorus that the song defaults to, it’s constantly on the move and doing something interesting at every turn.
I will say though that the string sound does hinder this at least a little for me, and it’s not like this song is that old – 2007 from what I could find, newer than the Kamelot stuff I know, but I actually don’t mind the rougher production this has; it really helps with avoiding the “too clean” sound of power metal. But yeah those strings could’ve served to sound better. Just a nitpick, because I have to.
I can’t say it’s the most unique song in the greater scheme of things, but for power metal, it’s definitely above and beyond what I’m used to. Heck, even Kamelot on their more interesting songs still can fall prey to the issues I have with other power metal bands, it’s just that, well, I heard the standard stuff from Kamelot first, which is probably about the only reason I ever got into them. But considering that I’ve known about these guys forever and never got around to checking them out, you may just have convinced me to give them a proper shot sometime.
7.5/10#3: Scorpion: Dir En Grey – VinushkaFirst Impressions:I feel like at least at the start here the vocals are mixed far too low. That problem goes away quickly enough though so yeah fine. I had to go look up to make sure I wasn’t just imagining that the singer sounds Japanese. And yup. The band is. Didn’t expect that from the name. I uhh. Am not finding much to say about this, other than that it’s solid. Some of the heavier moments of this sound a bit thin, they’re lacking in punch when they should be crushing.
There’s a good amount of diversity here and although none of it is really that fresh I can certainly enjoy it for what it is, even if I’m not a huge fan yet.Final Thoughts:Let’s face it here, this is obviously a really safe entry. The moment your PM hit my inbox you were basically already safe for at least one more round, even before I’d heard a note. Because it’s heavy prog metal, which I am horribly biased towards.
And uhh. Beyond that, I actually have no clue what to say about this, other than “it all sounds good”. The song builds up nicely to its first chorus during the first two minutes, and the chorus is very satisfying with a strong melody to it. There’s some heavier/harsher points to the song but overall it’s quite dynamic.
I guess, the drumming catches my ear the most here, there’s a lot of tom-heavy pounding moments in the quieter moments of the song and some good driving rhythms through the more intense moments. The guitar work throughout is solid too, if not particularly inventive. Some nice pretty moments and some solid riffing going on too.
The vocals on the whole are fine. Not really a huge fan of the distinctly Japanese timbre on the cleans but they have enough emotion in them that I’m not bothered by it, the final chorus especially has some cool moments. And the harsh vocals, while not really that special, sound find. The really guttural growls are actually kind of cool in a way, usually not my kind of thing but I dig it here.
I can’t really say there’s any part of this that really stands out in a strong way, just that it’s a well-constructed song front-to-back that keeps me interested enough the whole way through. I sort of feel like I don’t have enough time/listens to really “get” this and I may come back and revisit it later. But I’m also not going to stress too hard about underrating this right now when it literally doesn’t matter in the long run, and I know where it stands in comparison to the rest of the songs at this point in time, pretty definitively.
7.75/10 #2: Tomislav95: Goldfrapp – ClayFirst Impressions:Okay, the decision to have staccato strings going on in the background of a somber acoustic/vocal bit was a good one for sure. Reminds of me Olafur Arnalds’ Old Skin in a way. It’s maybe a bit slow to build or progress but it’s a very pretty song to listen to at the very least. I don’t have much to say about this.
It’s well-textured and rather pleasant to listen to but not something that hits me too hard on first listen, though I can see it growing on me.Final Thoughts:I don’t know what it is about this one. It’s so simple and lowkey, but quite effective. The way the song builds up from just guitar and vocals at the start to a really full-sounding song with layers of orchestration, and does so smoothly enough that you barely notice it happening. Yeah, that’s the kind of build I enjoy.
This is another singer where I’m not sure if they’re male or female and I also don’t really care because it doesn’t matter, their voice is just a great complement to the music here. And there’s a lot of subtle harmonizing going on in a few places, just another layer added to the whole mix.
The orchestration is definitely what makes this track work, and a good part of that is because it just sounds great. Like, I don’t know if the strings are real or fake but they sound plenty real to me. Between the staccato lines going on throughout most of the song, and the sweeter high tones that add to the texture of the track, it all works really well.
Obviously this did turn out to be a grower, probably even more than I expected it to. I can’t really find any fault with this song. Maybe the ending is a tad abrupt, but only a little? It’s not a perfect song or anything either, it doesn’t evoke any really strong emotions, but it evokes plenty of lighter ones and I quite enjoy it every time I listen to it, so there’s definitely something there.
8/10