Round 5 ResultsBolsters: Ellie Goulding – The WriterFirst Impressions:I mean she is a kind of big name over here in the US, since around 2012 or so, but this predates her hits here so. Also, aside from Lights I haven’t actually cared much for her hits, honestly. At first I didn’t get that this was in a 9/12 cadence and though it was some awkward artsy 9/8 pop song but it makes more sense when the drums kick in. Anyways besides that. It’s honestly a really standard, bright, radio-friendly pop track.
There’s at least a nice layer of textures in the backdrop and as a whole the song sounds nice and lush. But it’s probably just a bit too sugary for me and that’s a touch offputting.
Final Thoughts:Yeah this is just definitely a bit too… bright, glittery, sugary, poppy for me. There’s just no undertone of anything at all going wrong in Goulding’s life here. She sounds completely lovestruck and it’s probably really romantic but it doesn’t resonate in the slightest for me.
Regardless of that I can appreciate how “nice” this song sounds. She’s a pretty decent singer, maybe a touch breathy but it’s not distracting, and the vocal melodies she’s given are pretty solid too, especially the bridge. And the production has a lot going on – piano and synths come to the forefront but there’s some strings in there alongside a guitar/bass/drums rock trio. It kind of gives it a late 90’s/early 00’s vibe from the instrumentation honestly.
But there’s really not a ton else to say here – it’s just a solid pop song that I don’t find especially memorable or compelling. Can’t really knock it, but can’t say I’m too interested in it either.
6.25/10Tomislav95: Emma Ruth Rundle – The Shadows of My NameFirst Impressions:Time for the Tomislav indie stuff hour. I worry that this is going to stay too minimal for me if it keeps on the path it’s going but I can also see it having the potential to come alive and I hope it does.
Her voice is quite nice and I do like the touches of atmosphere in the background. It’s subtle but I think it works, assuming there’s something it’s going to build to off of it. Okay yeah it does take its time but there’s at least a bit of swell near the end. I don’t know if it’s quite enough though.
Final Thoughts:There’s nothing really wrong with this song, but at the same time I just… don’t find much compelling about it. There’s a faint groove driven by the guitar line during the quieter moments that kind of gives this some appeal, and her voice is pretty nice, not really a powerhouse during the quieter moments but emotional enough to work.
And the “loud” moments of this especially I do like the vocals, though I don’t think the music has quite enough power to back it up, even if it’s doing more than the rest of the song. Again I have to stress that it doesn’t sound bad at all, it just doesn’t hit me hard in any real way. And that’s what this song would need to do to work. If I don’t connect with this emotionally I’m going to have trouble enjoying it much.
And that’s, basically what happens here. Again, nothing really wrong with this. It does what it wants to do pretty well, but I guess it’s just not for me. I like my low-key indie stuff to still be really textured, and actually more downbeat than this, but also generally having highs that go higher than this. Also honestly I have no clue what most of the lyrics are either, can’t make them out well and can’t be bothered to look them up.
So yeah on the whole. Wish I liked this more than I do, but I just… don’t.
6.5/10Stadler: Angels and Airwaves – Secret CrowdsFirst Impressions:Another band I’m vaguely familiar with (I think one of their songs was in guitar hero?) but haven’t really listened to much at all. Thus far it’s a pretty solid alt-rock song, and I. Dunno what else to say?
I like the wood percussion on the verses & I dig the laidback groove of the entire song really. I don’t think the vocals sound quite great but they’re solid enough and definitely fit with the music. He has a bit of a tendency to overenunciate words, I think. Also I feel like I’m vaguely hearing a bell in the background which is nice. Yeah this is. Nice. I don’t know if I love it or anything but it’s enjoyable enough.
Final Thoughts:On basically every listen of this song, I was bothered immensely by the singer’s weird tone and overenunciation. So just getting that out of the way right off the bat. That does work against the song for me, unfortunately. It also feels like he’s a bit flat on some notes too but I can’t tell for sure. Ehh. Basically what I’m trying to say is that the vocalist bothers me. The vocal melodies in general are pretty solid though, the chorus especially I do like.
Beyond that, it’s just. A pretty nice song. It’s got a bright vibe to it that never really lets up but never gets oppressive either. It’s just a song that sounds pretty happy. There isn’t a ton really unique about the instrumentation, but it’s got small touches; the intro riff that plays a few times throughout the song is a pretty solid riff, and the bells accentuating the melody in some of the louder moments is a nice touch too. Also the drums right at the end get decently intense.
It is, again, a bit simple, and considering my gripes with the vocalist I can’t really get fully onboard with this, but on the whole it’s still a pretty nice song. Not sure it’ll be a particularly memorable one, but, ehh, I don’t feel like it was a waste of time to listen to it either.
6.75/10Nekov: Lonely Robot – Are We Copies?First Impressions:The start of this is kind of giving me Tool vibes. Though those dissipate when the vocals come in, for sure.
There’s a nice sinister undertone going through this song during the quiet parts but it doesn’t really seem to carry over into when the song explodes. Maybe a bit disappointing there. And it does feel a bit light on substance or a bit too repetitive, something along those lines. Yeah I can’t really find much else to comment on. This is the third song in a row that’s felt just a bit too simple for me, honestly.
Final Thoughts:I find this song… really nondescript. Like, it’s not bad or anything. It’s pretty fine honestly. There’s just… not a lot here that has any kind of personality. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s not necessarily a quality that makes a song bad but it is definitely something that makes a song rather unmemorable.
Like, I can appreciate that there’s usually several layers of instrumentation going on here. Guitar and drums mainly drive the song but there’s synth and piano stuff happening in the background of both the verses and choruses and the song never really feels empty even in its quieter moments. And the chorus really explodes out of the quieter moments which gives it a fair bit of power. While the quieter moments are interesting for their ominous tone.
The bridge amps up the intensity even more though it also has breathing room every so often that gives the song a bit of space. It’s, pretty solid for sure. I don’t know if anything especially compelling happens but I’m not bored. It’s kind of like a porcupine tree instrumental break, though not on the same general level of quality either.
I legitimately don’t have anything bad to say about this song besides that it just kind of lacks personality in any way. It’s kind of catchy, it’s kind of powerful, it has decent atmosphere. It’s sort of just. A really average song in every way, but not a bad one at all.
7.25/10 Evermind: Chronos Zero – The Compression of TimeFirst Impressions:Has guitars, 0/10. This is way heavier than I’d usually expect from you though haha. And apparently has at least three different vocalists.
I dig the touches of electronic stuff happening throughout this song though the fact that they never seem to come to the forefront is a bit disappointing. Also are those some horns near the middle of the track, nice. If I had to complain about one thing, a lot of the riffing is really chuggy and kind of monotonous. It kind of makes everything feel not-so-special. I totally dig when I can hear the bass too, which seems to be on and off every so often. Yeah this is alright enough I suppose.
Final Thoughts:If I do have one big complaint here I do think the guitars sound too chuggy way too often. I can tell a lot of the chugging is actually multiple notes but it can be hard to tell because the constant palm-muting makes a lot of the notes sound almost indistinguishable. It kind of gives off an illusion that the song doesn’t actually have a lot of melodic focus, but it’s actually there, just, distorted.
I also appreciate the variety of vocal styles. The rougher-edged male vocalist who also goes into harsh vocals at times, the much cleaner male vocals, and the female vocalist who only seems to show up for the chorus. All of them sound pretty good, not like amazing or anything, but having different vocalists playing off each other makes the vocals more interesting than they would’ve been with just one of the vocalists doing the entire song.
I do wish this song took breaks a bit more often because they tend to have more of the interesting happening – the swells of horns, the bass licks coming to the forefront, a better sense of atmosphere. I guess one thing I’m not a huge fan of besides the guitar tone is the synth sound, it’s a bit too bleepy bloopy for me, but it’s a very minor part of the song overall.
This also gets a bit too “prog” at times, some of the time signature changes feel a bit forced, but it’s not constantly happening throughout the song either and a lot of the song is more straightforward anyways. It’s more of a nitpick than anything.
On the whole though I do think there’s a fair bit to like here, but not a lot that really blows me away. It’s just a fairly solid prog metal track. A bit on the heavy chuggy side that doesn’t actually appeal to me so much, I really do wish they toned that down a bit but that’s my only major complaint. Also I guess it ends a bit abruptly? Ehh. I do like this, regardless.
7.5/10LordCost: Alice in Chains – Down in a HoleFirst Impressions:If I’m gonna be honest Alice in Chains was always my least favorite of the big name 90’s grunge acts. Just something about how sludgy and gloomy their sound is never clicked with me. Though thus far this track is pretty nice.
It’s nice and downtempo and the guitars have a ton of texture, especially during the louder moments. And the vocals sound better than other stuff I’ve heard from them too honestly. It does feel maybe a bit overly simplistic for me though. The vocal harmonies near the end of the song are great too though, I dig that.
Final Thoughts:This is another of those kinds of songs that would really have to connect with me on an emotional level to work. And I think this one does better than some others, though at the same time… yeah, can’t say I feel it especially strongly either.
There’s definitely some decent power to the chorus, the guitars having a lot of roaring texture and the vocals definitely having some strong emotion and power in them, especially when the harmonies come in during the back half. I don’t really have a good grasp on what the lyrics are either, which I don’t think matters too much since I mostly just care about the vocal performance itself anyways so whatever,
If there’s one thing about this song that sounds slightly off, it does feel like the entire thing is being filtered through a light phaser effect. It’s a very 90’s thing to do, to be sure, but it does muddy the sound of the song just a little, especially the clean guitars during the quieter moments, it kind of destroys the tone of those entirely honestly. A lot of the song is louder throughout but it’s way more noticeable during the softer moments.
And yeah, I don’t know if I feel especially strong emotional presence here but I am definitely onboard with a lot of the vocal harmonization going on, gives the song a good bit of power on its own. Instrumentally it’s a bit basic though, aside from some guitar leads creeping in near the end of the song there’s just not a ton happening. The bass line is solid but not fantastic, but, hey, it works.
So yeah overall… I’m sure whatever score I give this is going to be disappointing to several people here but you can take solace in the fact that, yes, I do like this. I’m not exactly planning on checking out more Alice in Chains after this though.
7.5/10twosuitsluke: Adrift For Days – When the Knot UntiesFirst Impressions:I dig the eccentric atmosphere at the start but at the same time it feels like the song is starting several times over due to a weird start-stop nature it seems to have. I feel like that kind of applies to this as a whole. It’s nice but, fairly meandering.
It definitely excels at creating a textured atmosphere with lots of different things to divide focus between, and the guitar work is pretty solid as well. And then it gets post-metally, whew. So yeah now this really reminds me of Minsk, who also have that kind of tribal post-metal thing going on. Though this took its sweet time getting there. But I like it, it’s definitely interesting, probably the most unique song this round really.
Final Thoughts:I think this song gets off to a bit of a slow start, but in the context of the song I wouldn’t really say it’s a problem? It needs that ambient intro as a jumping point to build off of, to set the tone without really driving the rest of the song. However, I do think the whole “completely stopping about a third of the way in” thing was absolutely a mistake though, because that just kills momentum. The song basically has to restart building up momentum from that point on, and while sure that’s fine in theory it makes the intro feel really disconnected.
And because of that I also feel it ends up taking too long for the song to build up as a whole – it’s not until the last third that things start getting really exciting here. And when they do, whew, I absolutely adore it, the escalating atmosphere before they just explode into this crushing riff. And yeah it makes for a good climax to the build. But I do feel the build there takes too long.
There’s not much else to talk about here though, really. A lot of the appeal comes from the little details. The bassline going throughout most of the song is pretty solid as a base, the guitar work is pretty nice and keeps the song from feeling monotonous. And the heavy part of the song is decisively unsubtle but in a great way. I just feel that cutting the entire first section of the song entirely would’ve made for a more compelling and cohesive experience as a whole, though. I do like this, but I could’ve liked it oh so much more.
7.75/10Train of Naught: Manchester Orchestra – VirginFirst Impressions:Well the start of this is, kind of creepy. Yeah this is very much nothing like the other song I’ve heard from them but probably more up my alley as well. It’s maybe a bit minimal on content though? I don’t know, doesn’t feel like it has a ton to offer.
The vocal melodies are pretty strong throughout though and kind of ominous. As are the horns. Yeah, I can dig that. I don’t really have much else to say though.
Final Thoughts:Yeah, if you want me to really get into some more straightforward rock stuff this is definitely the right kind of song to do it with. For one that chorus is a killer. Even as subtle as it starts off. Probably because you have that children’s choir echoing it at times. It definitely gets a lot stronger as the song escalates.
I would say the vocals don’t actually sound that technically good, very offkey and with a bit of a tone I’m not a huge fan of. Except that due to the vibe this song is going for, that actually works really well, way better than a cleaner performance would. It fits well with the repeating guitar line.
They maybe do hammer in that one melody a bit much though – it drives the chorus, the guitars play it a lot, the horns on the bridge play it as well. But I mean it’s a solid melody and definitely a good one to base the vibe of this song off of. But it is definitely what makes this song end up feeling a bit light on content, in the end.
My overall vibes end up pretty positive but not something I remember especially strongly nor something that really hits me exceptionally hard – there’s a bit of an emotional core to this, sure, but not the kind that speaks to me. Still I’m definitely glad I listened to it, it’s a good song for sure.
7.75/10