Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Quick Album Reviews)

[Crow]

Round 7 Secondary Judge Results – Judge Luoto

1. Hypno5e - Acid Mist Tomorrow

5 points

2. Enchant - Nighttime Sky

3 points

3. Jorn Lande & Trond Holter - Queen of the Dead

2 points

4. Aquillus - Arboreal Sleep
5. Nerve End - Thrive (Judge's Song
6. Ilúvatar - In the Eye
7. Megosh - Checkerboards & Cigarettes
8. Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister - Jupiter
9. With Our Arms to the Sun - Memory: The Drift
10. Mother Love Bone - Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns

Parama’s notes:
Surprised at how much me and Luoto’s tastes didn’t line up here considering how consistent his submissions have been throughout the roulette, but, tastes are just weird I guess. Not much else to say here.

Current Secondary Judge Standings:
Tomislav95 – 15
Train of Naught - 15
Evermind - 13
Luoto - 7
Bolsters - 7
twosuitsluke - 6
home - 5
Nekov - 2
LordCost - 0
Stadler – 0

Yes, the top three people on the leaderboards all got the secondary judge points this round. Sorry to everyone else 

[LordCost]

I didn't see there was a new page with the secondary judges points. I'm doing so bad in secondary judge scores that I forgot to read them.
I expected a score around 7.5, I think it's right. The album cover of Orenda it's maybe the best of the year, musically is great but nothing extraordinary

[Train of Naught]

 
I was actually secretly confident that I finally had something 8+ worthy here, but fair assessment. You'd probably like the song Central Shore: Tio a lot, it's one of the few slow songs in their discography, not counting Gehenne pt. 1 which is part of a three-parter with heavier sections. Overall, I think the soft/heavy contrast is about the same in their music as on this song, but if you don't like the harsh vocals it probably isn't worth it.

Gonna have to check out Sufjan Stevens I guess oh and also:

LOL thanks for the points 2nd judge

If I end up in last place but still manage to grab a final spot due to secondary judge points, does that prove that you have terrible taste?

[Bolsters]

I did have a hard time choosing a song from that Aquilus album, I am pretty sure you will like it at least somewhat, so give it a listen and tell me how poor a choice I made by choosing Arboreal Sleep and how much better my score could have been.

[Tomislav95]

Yea, I didn't know you hate that type of vocals (I love them). Everything you said about production is true but that's the charm of the song for me

LOL thanks for the points 2nd judge

If I end up in last place but still manage to grab a final spot due to secondary judge points, does that prove that you have terrible taste?

Yes.

[twosuitsluke]

I'm happy enough with my score, even though I've now dropped to third place 

I actually read a review of that Planetarium album and added it to my list to check out (also saw that home has been pimping it a bit). Guess I better get on it soon 

Once again, no idea what to send next, let's hope inspiration strikes.

[Nekov]

Well, secondary judges still don't like me  . I'm glad you enjoyed the song, it's a very unknown band which put out some nice albums. I'll send later today

[Evermind]

Thank you secondary judge!

Another attempt at 6/10 is coming Parama's way.

[Nekov]

Sent a short song

[LordCost]

For the next round I can choose between slow post-rock/alternative rock, mathcore, derivative prog, innovative but rather boring prog, nu-metal, post-hardcore, weird bands that blends too many genres and a band too close to Meshuggah. 6/10 or worse is coming in any case

[Crow]

some of those sound better than 6/10

[Stadler]

NONE of you should be complaining about your scores. 

[Tomislav95]

Sent some tasty blackish metal

[Crow]

dark grey metal

[twosuitsluke]

Guess I should try and find something to send tonight 

Think it is clearly time to take a risk. "He who dares, wins"

[home]

Yeeah! I'm pleasantly surprised! I mostly agree with your write-up except that I really love the use of electronic vocals in this song. That one line is very memorable indeed


I already decided on a band, still need to decide on a song (I'll probably just go with the longer one). I do sort of hope I do not make it to the EP round though, as by then I think I'll be out of songs to send 

I played my song to home in the plug.dj and he guaranteed me a 7.5/10...

I was right 

[twosuitsluke]

Just sent what is easily my biggest risk yet.

I sent some sweet London based, dub/hip-hop/metal with some accompanying strings 

These guys can't really be categorised and you really are either going to love or loathe this (probably the latter). I was going to play it safe but if I fail hard with this then I will play it safe from here on out.

See you on the other side...

[Luoto]

Nerve End have been working on their first full-length for a while now, life just gets in the way of these small bands.

Sent the longest song this band has ever recorded for R8.

[Crow]

Round 8 First Impressions

This actually is starting out really cool though, some great atmosphere going on and tension building quite well. Like I genuinely would listen to a song that’s just nothing but that kind of sound, honestly.

I dig this a lot more than the meat of the song honestly, even when it starts getting proggy again there’s still a sense of flow.

The vocals are nice and smooth, the singer has a tone I just really enjoy in general and has pretty solid melodies to work with.

There’s at least, moments here where this kind of hits on something enjoyable and it’s not unpleasant in general at the very least.

It gets better in the rest of the song though, there’s some cool bass work going on I dig a fair bit.

When the song starts up for real though it’s got some cool and dark atmosphere to it that I do dig a lot more. Though I’ll only be truly satisfied if it builds to something.

The ending is pretty grand and intense, there’s a lot more going on there between the driving rhythm, the vocals, and the guitar leads.

Yeah congrats on sending me a song I quite enjoyed in a genre I’d basically written off a while back, I guess.

Right off the bat I am digging the somber atmosphere, and the vocals here definitely have a tone to them I can appreciate.

I am actually digging the riff behind when the vocals come in a lot though, it’s sludgy but also kind of triumphant in tone.

Pretty diverse round and there's a few songs here I quite liked on first listen so we'll see if this can be the best round yet 

[Crow]

Round 8 Hangman!!!

______ - ____.____.________.__.
____ _____ - _______ __ ____
______ ________ - _____ ______
_______ - _____
_______ - ____ __ _______
_____ ____ - ____ _____
_____________ - ____
____ ________ & _____ ______’_ ________ - ________
______ _______ - ___ ___
_______ - _____ __ _______

[Luoto]

R

[Crow]

______ - ____.____.________.__.
____ _r___ - _______ __ ____
______ _____r__ - _____ ______
_____r_ - R____
_______ - _r__ __ _______
__r__ ____ - ____ _____
____________r - ____
___r ___r____ & ____r ______’_ ________ - ________
______ _r____r - ___ ___
R______ - _____ __ _______

Letters Guessed:
R

Luoto waits 3

[Crow]

: ______ - ____.____.________.__.
: ____ _r___ - _______ __ ____
: ______ _____r__ - _____ ______
: _____r_ - R____
: _______ - _r__ __ ______d
: __r__ ____ - ____ ___d_
: __d_________r - ____
: ___r ___r____ & ____r ______’_ ________ - ________
: ___d__ _r____r - ___ ___
: R______ - _____ __ _______

Letters Guessed:
DR

Sacul waits 3
Luoto waits 2

[Luoto]

Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik's Skuggsjá - Skuggsjá

[home]

Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik's Skuggsjá - Skuggsjá

By a train?

[Bolsters]

B

[LordCost]

Give me an A

[LordCost]

Round 8 First Impressions

This actually is starting out really cool though, some great atmosphere going on and tension building quite well. Like I genuinely would listen to a song that’s just nothing but that kind of sound, honestly.

There’s at least, moments here where this kind of hits on something enjoyable and it’s not unpleasant in general at the very least.

It gets better in the rest of the song though, there’s some cool bass work going on I dig a fair bit.

Yeah congrats on sending me a song I quite enjoyed in a genre I’d basically written off a while back, I guess.

It could be one of the best or one of the worst. I remember that my song was a grower for me, if it's one of the two positive first impression above I could get a great score in the end

[Crow]

: _a____ - ____.____.________.__.
: ____ _ra__ - _______ __ _a__
: ______ _a___r__ - _____ _a_a__
: _____r_ - R____
: _a___a_ - Ar__ __ ____a_d
: __r_a __a_ - ____ ___d_
: __d_________r - ____
Train of Naught: Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik's Skuggsjá - Skuggsjá
: ___d__ _ra__ar - ___ ___
: Ra__b__ - _a___ __ Bab____

Letters Guessed:
ABDR

LordCost waits 3
Bolsters waits 2
Sacul waits 1

[Train of Naught]

Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik's Skuggsjá - Skuggsjá

By a train?

Two can play that game

Caspian - Arcs of Command (home)

Give me a C please

EDIT: also if the b is misplaced the bottom one could be that Babylon song by Rainbow. Forgot the name but Evermind sent me that as well so could be him

EDIT2: i think the name is Gates of Babylon

[Crow]

: _a____ - ____.____.________.__.
: ____ _ra__ - _______ __ _a__
: ______ _a___r__ - _____ _a_ac_
: _____r_ - R____
home: Caspian - Arcs of Command
: __r_a __a_ - ____ ___d_
: __d_____c___r - ____
Train of Naught: Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik's Skuggsjá - Skuggsjá
: ___d__ _ra__ar - ___ ___
: Rainbow - Gates of Babylon

Letters Guessed:
ABCDR

Train waits 3
LordCost waits 2
Bolsters waits 1

[Luoto]

S

[Crow]

: _a___s - ____.____.________.__.
: ____ _ra__ - S______ __ _a__
: ______ _a___r__ - _____ _a_ac_
: S_s__r_ - R____
home: Caspian - Arcs of Command
: __r_a __a_ - ____ ___ds
: __d_____c___r - ____
Train of Naught: Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik's Skuggsjá - Skuggsjá
: ___d__ _ra__ar - ___ ___
: Rainbow - Gates of Babylon

Letters Guessed:
ABCDRS

Luoto waits 3
Train waits 2
LordCost waits 1

i'm also checking out 2017 albums in prep for my next album purchase in probably like a week or so, i've arbitrarily decided i'm so far behind on 2017 stuff that i just need to get a ton of it so any band in the roulette that's scored like a 7.5-7.75 or higher i'm interested in at least checking out, so far i have:
Need
Crippled Black Phoenix (ok this was late 2016 but screw it I loved this song)
Eidola
Junius
Sufjan Squad

let me know if any of the other bands have released stuff at all, I can't be bothered to dig much
i'll prob also listen to Artificial Language again just bcuz it was already in my youtube playlists of stuff to listen to but I'm not expecting much there

[home]

let me know if any of the other bands have released stuff at all, I can't be bothered to dig much

Sleep Party People released a stellar album this year

[twosuitsluke]

Adrift for Days album (can't remember exactly what score you gave me) is free on their bandcamp, check it 

Oh and the Set and Setting song was from a 2017 album, but I don't think you'll like it as much as Adrift for Days