Round 3 results......Elite: Obsidian Kingdom - Away/AbsentI feel after all the listens given to all the songs in this round this song seems to have left almost no impact. Granted, this song had some real tough competition this time around. It sounds like something I should like but it does almost nothing for me. I suppose part of that may be due to the vocals being low enough in the mix and kind of distant, that I can't really make them out. That could be it. I like the bass in this song a lot as it is nice and audible. Writing this, I'm worried that the fact this song follows Frost* in my Round 3 playlist may effect it. After loving the hell out of that song it makes this feel anticlimactic. I'll definitely try to check out a few more songs by these guys, maybe this song just isn't for me.
5.5/10
Stadler: Mother Love Bone - Chloe Dancer/Crown of ThornsYea, this song has a kinda classic rock/grunge vibe, I've never really been a fan of grunge. This song doesn't exactly turn me off but it also doesn't tickle my musical funny bone. It's all solid stuff, it has quite nice vocals and is all quite nice and melodic. I love the little break with the minimalist guitar solo before 'Kick it'! I know I have heard quite a lot of stuff like this before and it does all feel very dated to me. It's probably too long for me as well, it doesn't hold my interest throughout.
5.5/10
Scar: Breaking Benjamin - BreathA friend of mine actually played a me a few songs by this band recently. I'll admit I'd never heard them previously but always had a preconception that they were generic radio rock/metal. I tried not to let preconceptions effect my overall score. It has a solid chorus and all the instruments tick the boxes. It is the sort of thing that I am happy to listen to if someone plays it for me but I have no real desire to seek anything else out by this band. I guess there are bands similar to this in my library but ultimately, they fill my quota for this kind of music.
6/10
Scorpion: Alcest - Oiseaux de ProieI'm not gonna lie, this was another band that I was looking forward to someone sending. I like the almost tribal sounding drums at the start. This is another song (like Elite's) where the vocals are kinda low in the mix and they feel quite distant. It does fit the atmosphere I guess. This is sort of what I was expecting from Alcest. It's not made me any more or less eager to listen to them though. I'll still end up getting round to them at some point. It may be the sort of song that would be great when listened to along with the rest of the album. On it's own, it's good but not really anything more than that.
7/10
Shadow Ninja: Mew - Am I Wry? NoI like the atmosphere this song creates and liked it from the off. The drums and guitar work well in the intro. The vocals gave off an emo vibe to me when I first listened but this isn't a problem for me. I could imagine the vocals polarizing people to be honest but I quite like them. The repetitive snare towards the beginning works well for me. Love the instrumental bit at 2:15 where the strings come in, it has a nice change of pace and it all sounds beautiful. I find music like this very interesting but I have never been a huge fan of any bands that sound like this really. I like the piano in the outro as well. Feel it could have gone on a little longer without becoming dull. I guess the vocals are the focus for me when I listen to this.
7.5/10
Sacul: Bent Knee - Being HumanI've seen this band mentioned quite a bit on DTF but still didn't know what to expect. This is different to what I did expect though. I like the female vocals, which are often a gamble for me as I don't listen to much with a lead female vocal, at times she sounds a bit like Bjork, which is cool. I like how it goes from a simple vocal over something which sounds like something off the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack (something from the Midgar slums when you meet Aeris) to a heavier more upbeat sound, then back again. It mixes a few different styles really well and transitions between the mellow to the upbeat effortlessly. I like the instrumental section that starts to build, with the drums at 2:30ish to the vocal "I imagine your dead body". This is definitely not the sort of music I would seek out for myself. I will give the album a go and see how it sits with me.
7.5/10
Parama: Progenie Terrestre Pura - Sinapsi DivelteYou described this as Bladerunner metal if I remember correctly? I can see where you are coming from. The album cover probably helps set that vibe as well. I certainly like the sci fi feel this song oozes. I'm definitely wanting to check out the album just to see if it is all in this style or this is partly setting a feel during the course of the album. The first few minutes go by but it never feels like it is dragging. It starts to get a little heavier and some vocals are there, kind of in the background. Although not a lot happens in this song that really sticks out it all moves along and progresses well, it never really feels like an 11 minute song. That being said, it probably could be a bit shorter without effecting the song too much. I like it at the 8 minute mark where it all kind of gets stripped back and you hear the guitar a bit clearer for a short time, it all gets a bit more black metal after this. It's an overall good atmosphere but not the sort of song I would get the urge to listen to on it's own. Intriguing overall though.
7.5/10
Home: La Dispute - King ParkOne word for this....intense. I'll admit on first listen I wasn't taking in the lyrics at all. If I'd scored on one listen you may have got a 5/10. I was quite turned off by the vocals, they kinda grated on me. They use that style where they are kind of spoken/shouted. The music isn't really the centrepiece of this song at all but it's far from bad. It's all about the story being told. Once I paid attention to the lyrics the emotion and intensity of the song started to sink in and I started to get it. I had already read a little about the story behind the song before Home sent me a link to an article about it. It speaks to the side of me which is angry about the fucked up state of the world that we live in. I'm lucky enough not to live in a part of the world where stuff like this happens often, it's fucked how so many innocent lives are lost in cases like this. The end of the song is the high point and is REALLY intense. I won't spoil the story or the experience for anyone who wants to listen to this. Listening to the last 45 seconds is kind of heartbreaking, it's raw and (again) intense. I also LOVE how it ends abruptly, it works perfectly in the context of the story. I'm still not 100% where I stand on this yet, even after all these listens. Ask me in 6 months how I feel about this one. So scoring this?? Difficult to say the least. This is a great example of music being used to take you on a journey and tell a story. It's hard to judge it on music alone as it's so much more than that. Screw it, I'm going to give an 8/10, I can't bring myself to score this any lower.
8/10
Train: Russkaja - EnergiaOk, so this is right up my street. It's a weird kind of polka ska punk which is like a hybrid of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Rammstein (when the vocals are in Russian they sound similar to German, hope that's not too offensive to any of you guys who are German or Russian) and Jaya the Cat. The energia is great, it is really upbeat and is just lots of fun. This is perfect live music for me, I would jump about like an idiot to this. I have never heard ska punk with Russian musical influences so this is a first. It's basically a twist on music I already love so you chose well here Train. It's one of those songs that makes me want to move but is not something I will necessarily listen to for years to come. It has a great use of horns, heavy guitar parts, native vocals and English vocals, skanking guitars and (the aforementioned) traditional Russian influences. FUN.
8/10
WebRaider: Black Crown Initiate - Belie the MachineNow this is how I like my progressive death metal! The intro is awesome and has this great melodic guitar line, then the groovy bass comes in and it all works well whilst being mellow, then the heavy guitars and drums kick in. It has a very distinct Gojira feel to me. The growly vocals work really well for me and are just how I like them. The double bass drums in this song are a real highlight, along with the drumming in general actually. The clean vocals actually also fit really well (over more Gojira influenced guitar work). At 9:00 minutes this is another song that doesn't out stay it's welcome. At 4:55 there is a little instrumental breakdown with more groovy bass which then starts to build towards the heaviest part of the song. When I think of progressive death metal, I think of Opeth. Opeth are superior to this for me, basically due to the vocals being more to my liking and they are more melodic/less traditional death metal. This is more like Gojira and I actually prefer this to a lot of Gojira songs, as I said, this is a perfect example of how this style of music should be done in my opinion. It even has a great little guitar solo at the end of the song. Everything about it just works really well has great contrast between crushing and groovy.
8.5/10
Tomislav95: Seventh Wonder - Hide and SeekSo, Seventh Wonder are a prog metal band but to me they mainly sound like power metal (with some prog influences). No bad thing as I love a bit of power metal, especially with prog elements. I'd said earlier in this thread that I thought that this band sounded like Sonata Arctica. I don't care what anyone says, that's who they remind me of. This song has such a strong chorus and I am belting it out whilst writing this. It's nice to listen to some good metal with great synths/keyboards as I haven't been particularly taken by any bands with strong keyboards (in this style) for quite a while. I read up about this album and the concept that surrounds it, I am certainly intrigued and will be listening soon. This is easily my favourite song of yours so far Tomi. It's a really well structured song and at 8 minutes it doesn't bore me at any point. The vocals are definitely a huge selling point and I hope the rest of the album stands up to this standard. It just has everything that I love about music in this style, it takes me back to when I first discovered power metal. Also, the end is really cool. I will admit that I was originally going to score this about a 7.5-8 but the last couple of listens I fell in love even more. Music like this can definitely be a risk as it can easily fall into the category of 'generic power metal' for me. It paid off this time, awesome stuff.
9/10
Splent: Frost* - Dear Dead DaysThis was easily the best song of the round (and the roulette so far). It starts with an 8-bit, video game sounding sample. I did check to see if this was accidentally an 8-bit cover of the song (I've heard it done with Haken songs). Then the guitars and drums kick in and we are all good. There is also some great lead synths which just sound incredible to my ears. It reminds me of some video game style music, or something like The Black Mages. There is then a little vocal part which fits well but changes to this kind of robotic sounding voice, which fits the music. We are then back to the 8-bit sample with some great instrumentation alongside it. Everything about this rocks for me and sounds really fresh. Can't say I can name anything that sounds the same as this. It is all very progressive and mixes different styles beautifully. I suppose at a few points this does almost remind me of Haken actually but it also sounds nothing like them, great description
. The vocals grew on me a lot, there are few styles of vocal and it's all great to sing to but this is a perfect example of where the music mainly grabs my ear. There are some heavy parts right until it all stops and is stripped back to just the piano, this builds to the awesome climax of the song at 5:48. This is pure joy, everything just sounds like eargasm to me here (another poor description, I know), it's the climax that makes this song for me. It is just a glorious song, just listen to it if you haven't heard it before. We have our first 9.5, well done dude.
9.5/10
Scores12. Shadow Ninja - 5.5+5.5+7.5=
18.511. Scar - 9+4+6=
1910. Elite - 6.5+7.5+5.5=
19.59. Stadler - 7.5+7.5+5.5=
20.58. Splent - 5.5+6+9.5=
217. WebRaider - 6.5+6.5+8.5=
21.56. Train of Naught - 7.5+6.5+8=
224. Parama - 6.5+9+7.5=
234. Tomislav95 - 7+7+9=
233. Sacul - 7+9+7.5=
23.52. Scorpion - 9+8+7=
241. Home - 8.5+8+8=
24.5OK, so it's getting interesting now. The scores are all really close and can still go anywhere from here.
The next round is the sing-along round. I want you to send those perfect songs to sing your heart out to. It doesn't all have to be based around a great chorus, I love a great bridge. It's not all about the lyrics, it's about the melody, intensity, passion, vocal, lyrical content combined.
I'll post some examples of songs that showcase what I'm looking for soon.
I also may attempt a game where I post clips of me singing (vocal only) the songs I receive, for you to guess. It can only go amazingly well or terrible, there is no middle ground here.
Right, I'm off to do vocal warm ups.........
Topic: Twosuitsluke's First Ever Roulette v. Final results are in.... (Read 77549 times)