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As I mentioned there are 4 songs here that are hard to split and here they are. I've rated 2 the same and then the next two just slightly lower cause even though it's hard to split, if I had to choose 2 out of the 4, I probably could. They are all pretty much neck and neck though because each are different, but the replay value might split them but to me they have everything I like in my music. There is one element missing that I like from these, but everything else is there in one way or another.
Saying that, I can't rate these songs any lower, but there is a couple of songs not too far behind.
Big Hath - Leather Heart - The Crow
I could be wrong, but I think these guys might like old school Ryche. The good news is, so do I. These guys are obviously wearing their influences on their sleeve but this is fantastic in every way. Great sound, crunchy tones, simple yet powerful metal riffs and a great mid solo section. The vocalist is brilliant too. The Queensryche vibe is so strong, but I also get vibes of bands like Lizzy Borden and WASP, but this is one of those songs that the style is done so well and the song is so good, the replay value is high. Must check.
Style - 9.5
Instrumentation and vox - 9.5
Songwriting and Structure - 9.5
Replay value - 9.5
Would I purchase - 9.5
Score - 9.5
TAC - Arida Vortex - The Veldt
This is powerful, raw and a band I want to hear more of. The solo is fucking ripping. The first time I listened to this it was near the end of the pack so it didn't prick my ears right away. But what did was that wonderful solo section. That subtle key change of E to F (tuning dependent) in the middle of the solo with that tapping section and then harmonic minor rundown just gets me wet. This is my type of guitar playing and that section I need to listen to over and over again. Saying that, everything else is perfect for what I like. Never heard of these guys at all but this album is sounding like a must. Amazing track, nothing more to say, it's just good metal.
Style - 9.5
Instrumentation and vox - 9.5
Songwriting and Structure - 9.5
Replay value - 9.5
Would I purchase - 9.5
Score - 9.5
Bolsters - Pantomind - Walk On
This one didn't grab might right away, but it didn't take long. For starters the lyrics, these lyrics are wonderful, something I can relate to at the moment and take a lot from and a class song to match. Having being in a bit of a rut in my life for a while now and being stuck at crossroads for a while now, these sorts of lyrics are fabulous and worthwhile. This seems like your regular DT style prog band, but this is all class. Simple riffs, simple DT sounding keyboards but great vocals and wonderful catchy melodies. The singer really sounds like Mike Andersson at times, which is cool. The hook at the end of the chorus gets me going every time. The key change into the first solo is magic also. Simple instrumental sections too. Great atmosphere but nothing wankey or self indulgent. I just hope the rest of the album lives up to this song, which might be my only fear with this style sometimes, but this is great to listen to over and over. That's the only thing that knocks a bit of the points, is with this style sometimes I seem to just gloss over a lot of these bands as they are pretty samey and the albums don't live up to particular songs, but this song is a perfect start with these guys.
Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and vox - 9.5
Songwriting and Structure - 9.5
Replay value - 9.5
Would I purchase - 9.5
Score - 9.4
bl5150 - Eldritch - Before I Die
Wait, are these emo lyrics? is he going to kill himself over this bit of pussy? Haha, anyway, what hooks me with this one is again the wonderful melodic solo. Plenty of hook and the lead up to the section is simple but very powerful. Sounds like a Magnus Karlsson solo actually. I have one album from these guys called El Nino I think so the style of this song was surprised but not sure if it's warranted because I can't remember anything from it. This tickles my melodic rock side which as we know, the output lately has been less than inspiring. This is simple but well crafted, well performed and vey very catchy with a high replay value. The only thing that gives this a slightly lower mark is I'm thinking this one wouldn't stick as much as the other 3 long term and I feel the album on a whole there might be less to discover given the style here. I know I shouldn't rate like that as that seems unfair, but it's minimal and am a pretty good judge based on the style of one song on what the album might have to offer. Class song though.
Style - 9.5
Instrumentation and vox - 9.5
Songwriting and Structure - 9.5
Replay value - 9.0
Would I purchase - 9.0
Score - 9.3
Luoto - Pressure Points - Electric Shadows
For someone I don't know much about yet, I gotta say, your submissions are impressing me. This hooked me right away. This also has everything I like. The growls at the start were fabulous so I was a little disappointed that we didn't get them again. But I'm sure checking out the album on a whole will fix that. The clean vocals are not as strong as the growls but they are adequate. Don't know anything about these guys, but sounds like a band that's for me. The structure seemed really strange I must say. Don't know if it woks better in context of the album but it seems a bit off, but everything here is cool. The solo obviously is the highlight here, wonderful. Great rhythm and keyboard tones underneath and a great section where less is more at times but also some great note selections and some awesome phrasing. Reminds me a lot of Soilworks older solo sections too. The second half is great too with a great keyboard melody and good climax. Replay value isn't as high as the first four, but I think discovering the whole album will be worthwhile
Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and vox - 9.0
Songwriting and Structure - 8.5
Replay value - 8.5
Would I purchase - 8.5
Score - 8.7
jingle.boy - The Chronicles Project - Prologue/Forever
I could have sworm Kamelot was on my banned list. At first the blatant Kamelot influence and Karma riff rip off kind of turned me off. But with more listens I realized I didn't really give a fuck and that this was a good song. I haven't really liked what Kamelot have done since Roy left so might as well enjoy this then. The prologue is obviously the same dude on VP's last ones and is an over dramatic but cool enough intro. The chorus melody of the main song is fantastic and everything keeps your attention here. No solo until some ad lib until the end seems foreign to me, but to be fair, I didn't even notice until quite a few listens in. Nothing new here, but a good song and hopefully the rest of the album can keep up the melody.
Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and vox - 9.0
Songwriting and Structure - 8.5
Replay value - 8.5
Would I purchase - 8.5
Score - 8.7
lowdz - Ram - Return of the Iron Tyrant
This sounds a lot older than what it is, and this is more like it from you Paul. This is as cool as it was on the first listen as it was on the 10th or 15th. No bullshit, classic sounding metal. Can't get over that this is from 2015. There's not much to say on this one, it's pretty meat and potatoes, what you see is what you get style of metal, but it's metal I like. I guess the only thing compared to some of the others is that it probably wouldn't have the replay value as some of the others. But a great song, great tones, powerful riffs and ripping vox.
Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and vox - 9.0
Songwriting and Structure - 8.5
Replay value - 8.0
Would I purchase - 8.5
Score - 8.6
Tomislav95 - Klone - Nebulous
You got some balls mate sending this to be honest. When I make it pretty clear that I want hard hitting nuts in my face good powerful metal, I get this. Luckily I found this hard to pass up. The atmosphere going on here is very majestic and the chorus is quite powerful. Based on the criteria, I should rate this lower. It's on the Porcupine Tree style of music which I like but only from time to time and I'm very specific. There is another band this reminds me heavily of but I can't think of them funnily enough. Anyway, surprisingly the replay value is strong considering what's on offer and the atmosphere is great. Don't know who these guys are or what they are about, I just fear if all their stuff is like this, I probably wouldn't listen to an album repeated, but this song is surprisingly good.
Style - 8.0
Instrumentation and vox - 9.0
Songwriting and Structure - 9.0
Replay value - 8.0
Would I purchase - 8.0
Score - 8.4
Stadler - Whitesnake - Burn (From the Purple Session)
I gave Stadler a break here, because after his first submission was rejected, this technically fit the criteria. I didn't check this album at all, because I'm not the biggest Purple fan, even though I know a bit of their stuff. Don't understand why Coverdale would do this, but keen to hear it. Coverdale obviously doesn't have his voice anymore but on a whole, this was a pretty enjoyable rendition. It did get hurt by the female singing and the lack of Coverdale in the "you know we had no time" section. That was almost cringeworthy cause it needs that balls which doesn't have it here. No Glenn Hughes is felt here. The verse is fine though. I'm a Reb Beach fan, always have been, so him shredding on this made the rating go up. I like his style, a lot and realised when he does the tapping for the keyboard guitar unison melody in the middle how Malmsteen pretty much stole it for Jet to Jet which I never really picked up on. Anyway, Coverdale probably didn't need to do this, but I liked it. I'll accept it. Dunno if I'd spend cash on it though.
Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Songwriting and Structure - 9.0
Replay value - 7.5
Would I purchase - 7.0
Score - 8.1
Evermind - Wind Rose - Age of Conquest
Decent power metal. I was a huge power metal fan when I discovered Hammerfall and Blind Guardian but slowly moved away from it a bit when my tastes got heavier. This submission was class power metal though with everything over dramatic like power metal should be. Cool chorus and melodies too, but I guess even though it's enjoyable, it's pretty stock standard for me and don't know how much I'd replay it and get into it. There's not much to say, I liked it and didn't feel like skipping it, I just think I've heard this before but sounds like for the style, it would be a strong album.
Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Songwriting and Structure - 8.0
Replay value - 7.5
Would I purchase - 7.5
Score - 8.0
Puppies_On_Acid - Ghost Ship Octavius - Mills of the Gods
This was a band that was sent in my first roulette, the song In Dreams. I enjoyed it, but not enough to check out the album. SO I was happy to take another song from it. Interesting style this one, the major key chorus does prick your ears in a strange way. Overall it didn't hook me as much as a lot of the others, the thing I liked was the solo section, that was well done. The song was very original though and definitely something different so not sure exactly why I didn't enjoy it as much as the others. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, just didn't have the lasting power as the others above.
Style - 8.5
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Songwriting and Structure - 7.5
Replay value - 7.5
Would I purchase - 7.5
Score - 7.9
Kattoelox - Metal Allegiance - Can't Kill The Devil
A pretty safe submission this one that didn't blow me away honestly. This one got rated lower basically because it's an all star band whatever with Chuck Billy and Skolnick trying to write a testament song. While there was nothing wrong with it, I've just heard it all before and it didn't offer me anything really. The intro reminds me heavily of Seasons in the Abyss too. There's not much to say, while I really like Testament, this was like getting sent a banned artist or a song I already know.
Style - 9.0
Instrumentation and vox - 8.5
Songwriting and Structure - 7.0
Replay value - 6.5
Would I purchase -6.5
Score - 7.5
Elite & Parama - Wilderun - The Garden of Fire
I knew right away with the style that this was going to be tough for me. This one is tough to get into. Seems a bit disjointed and hard to get a grasp on honestly. All the elements seemed decent but unfortunately, it just didn't grab me even after multiple listens. Perhaps it's the style, perhaps it's me but I guess it's just the style I don't really connect with with. Some of the lead work was good though and the last section was the section that I enjoyed, although it was a bit too late. Maybe multiple listens would help, but doubt I'd have the time to try and get into them more.
Style - 7.0
Instrumentation and vox - 7.5
Songwriting and Structure - 6.5
Replay value - 6.5
Would I purchase -6.5
Score - 6.8
Lethean - Leprous - The Flood
The second band that was sent in my first roulette. I can't even remember the name of the song that was sent last time, but it was okay. Saying that, it wasn't good eonough that I checked out anything more. I was happy to try again, but this one wasn't as good. I knew right away with the vocals that, yeah, not really digging this and from what I've heard from the band, probably not for me. I gave it a few spins but didn't like the vocals that much and just couldn't get into it at all to be honest. The style just isn't for me, and feel bad for rating it so much lower than the song above it.
Style - 6.0
Instrumentation and vox - 6.0
Songwriting and Structure - 6.0
Replay value - 6.0
Would I purchase -6.0
Score - 6.0
Topic: The Wolfking Second Coming Roulette v2. We all know who won. Thanks to all!!! (Read 86660 times)