Round 8 ResultsSomething unexpected happened.
5 PointsSacul
The Black Queen – Ice to Never
Synthpop - from ‘Fever Daydream’ (2016)When you mentioned in your PM that you have ‘nothing left to send me’ I was kind of dreading this song already. Surely someone with a pretty expansive music library must have something to send? But you have been some kind of oddball throughout the roulette, to be honest. Kind of throwing stuff at me to see if it sticks (and failing miserably in the first two rounds). I kind of got the idea that since you’re always late in sending, you just hastily choose whatever you’re listening to at that moment (trust me – I know the feeling of pushing myself to send stuff as well).
Anyway, this song is your last stop in this roulette and I’m sorry to not have you end on a high note, because this just fell flat on me. That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable or good, because it frankly is, but there’s just nothing more to it. Yes, I’ve had parts of it stuck in my head, but at the same time I just don’t care for this song enough to want to listen to it again. The next song, while I didn’t really enjoy that one, was a challenging and interesting listen at least. This is just .. background noise that’s pleasant enough not to turn off, but not engaging enough to actually listen to. Sorry man, but thanks for some of the stuff you
did send this roulette!
4 PointsLordCost
Spratley Japs - Oh
Psychedelic / Experimental - from ‘Pony’ (1998)Honestly, this sounds like a demo version of ‘Dirty Boy’ by Cardiacs and that’s also where this song fails to interest me. The first half is barely audible and the second half goes on for too long. It might have been my mood over the past week, but I could not get into this, even though I wanted to, because I absolutely adore the Cardiacs stuff I’ve heard so far (THANK YOU).The production on this song was also less than great (yes, I have tried other means than Youtube, which indeed sounded the shittiest). Especially the second half suffers from this. All in all, this wasn’t exactly bad, but it didn’t touch me either.
Sorry for the relatively short write-up. Like Sacul, I’m sorry to not have you leave on a high note, but I thank you very much for playing regardlessly! Stick around for the conclusion if you like, of course you can join in hangmanen and other shenanigans
3 PointsTrain of Naught
The World is Quiet Here – The Vagrant: Inanimate
Meshuggah Rip-Off - from ‘Prologue’ (2018)Eh, this is pretty bad. Is it Meshuggah I hear? Or is the vocalist imitating Randy Blythe? Really, this song doesn’t give the band an identity of its own, except for the last quarter of the song which is this really weird and completely random swing metal that comes out of nowhere after the djentshredfest that precedes it. While slightly enjoyable anyway, what really hurts this song is the lack of identity and the similarity to other stuff I’ve heard before. Is the rest of the album interesting enough to listen to?
Puppies_on_Acid
Deathspell Omega – A Chore for the Lost
F’d Up Black / Death Metal - from ‘FAS – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum’ (2007)Honestly, I’m intrigued, but at the same time this is barely listenable. I made the comparison to both Captain Beefheart and Mr. Bungle in the snippets, not because the music is similar, because it’s not, but because it’s of an even higher degree of unlistenability (is that a word? It is now). I honestly don’t know how to rate this properly, because on one hand what these guys are doing is phenomenal and musically extremely complex. On the other hand though, it’s as if the band tries to hide all the intricacies under a layer of heaviness, blast beats and growls, which is a shame in some way, because some of it gets lost. The structure of this song is also demanding (the first time the blast beats enter after that long pause is quite frightening indeed) and all the dissonances make that harder. I actually really like the last 3 minutes of the song where it gets a little more melodic and the microtonal-sounding riffs in the minute or so before that are very original. Despite not really wanting to return to this, I’m still intrigued a lot – kind of when I first got into growls – but repelled at the same time. This is a good thing, because it did manage to move me in some way.
By the way, is this black or death metal? I’ve seen it being called black metal all over the internet, but it sounds more like death metal to me (mainly because of growls instead of shrieks, lower tuned riffs and pretty good production). Where does one draw the line?
2 PointsParama
Spectral Lore – A Rider in the Lands of an Infinite Dreamscape
Atmospheric Black Metal - from ‘III’ (2012)Parama’s self-proclaimed favourite black metal song ever is quite a relentless beast in terms of intensity, but one that shows a lot of underlying melody if you’re willing to look for it. This is quite a rewarding song, despite having no idea what it’s about (lyrics are either growled, screamed and/or buried deep in the mix). The uplifting quality of the music make you feel victorious at the end of the song; it has nothing of the inherent sombre atmosphere a lot of black metal tends to have (in my experience, that is). Again, a song that’s almost 13 minutes long manages to score highly, because it’s interesting, diverse and – to me – refreshing.
1 Pointariich
David Maxim Micic – Mbinguni Amina
Progressive Metal - from ‘Bilo 2.0’ (2012)After Sacul sent me ‘Where is Now’ in a roulette once, I never bothered to listen to David Maxim Micic’s other stuff, despite being a guitarist and reading about him doing lots of interesting stuff. It simply couldn’t really bother me. I think I’ve seen him live with Organized Chaos as well, though I would have no idea what this guy would look like. I remember this ridiculously talented singer though, and I read later in a review that this was actually a classically trained opera-singer. For some reason the band didn’t interest me that much live, but that had to do with weird stage antics mostly and the music not appealing that much to me back then. I never bothered to look back.
Enter ‘Mbinguni Amina’ – David Maxim Micic, we meet again. Oh, and it’s not only you, but also Vladimir Lalic – who is
indeed the same classically trained opera singer in Organized Chaos. What a coincidence! (Which as it turns out, is absolutely not true). Sorry for thinking you were a woman in the first part of the song – I should have recognised that a man can sing stuff like that as well, but it’s just highly unusual to hear this type of singing in metal. ‘Where Is Now’ didn’t interest me. I found it disjointed and unfocused. This song is the opposite. What a fantastically glorious composition this is. I’m probably very late at jumping on the David Maxim Micic bandwagon, but I was sad to find he does not sell any physical copies of his music. Perhaps I should check out Organized Chaos once again. Thank you, ariich, for sending the right osng at the right moment. Loved it.
0 PointsTAC
Lör - Spectrum
Progressive / Epic Folk Metal - from ‘In Forgotten Sleep’ (2017)So, this is like a worse version of Wilderun, but since that is a ridiculously high standard, ‘worse’ doesn’t mean ‘bad’ at all in this case, for this is an outstanding song. Seriously, this might be one of the best tracks I received in the entire roulette. I love how it’s melodic, how it goes completely over the top at the end, and how it doesn’t seem to take itself completely serious, but then again does at the same time. The main melody is ridiculously catchy and the way it’s woven throughout the entire song makes for a very cohesive listen. The chorus is grand – in an ‘epic’ sort of way and the growls, while initially out of place, totally make sense when you listen to the music in the background. The guitar solo is nice and the buildup to the last over-the-top chorus is great, hilarious, epic and
all at the same time. Wow, this was awesome, thanks!
Current StandingsParama: 2, 0, 2, 2, 0, 2, 3, 2
(13)Puppies_on_Acid: 1, 2, 0, 3, 3, 0, 2, 3
(14)ariich: 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 1
(17)TAC: 4, 1, 4, 4, 4, 1, 1, 0
(19)Train of Naught: 1, 3, 1, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3
(19)Sacul: 4, 5, 1, 0, 3, 4, 0, 5 (22)
LordCost: 0, 4, 5, 1, 4, 5, 2, 4 (25)
Nekov: 3, 3, 3, 4, 1, 2, 4 (20)
Tomislav95: 3, 4, 3, 2, 5 (17)
Stadler: 5, 2, 4, 5 (16)This was not intended, really. There was supposed to be a clear cut top four, so that I would have 4 EPs in the final round, but my scoring system screwed up big-time here.
Parama and Puppies are through, that much is (was already) certain. ariich delivered amazingly in the last round and is through, based on his total score. Now, TAC completely redeemed himself over the last few rounds and actually gave me one of the best songs in the entire roulette and based on scores alone, he’s through to the next round, edging out Train who, admittedly, delivered a rather shitty song this round, but still has the same score as TAC.
I’m torn on what to do now, because Train has scored quite consistently throughout the roulette, so I’m tempted to let him have a go at the EP Round as well (thus forfeiting my ‘only 4 people get through’ rule). This means 5 people in the last round – which also means that it might take a while to deliver results. Thanks for all the music so far!
Later this week: reviews of some albums I purchased thanks to this roulette. I’m 11 albums down already; this roulette is costing me
Topic: Elite's Ridiculous Reverse Scoring Roulette - v4.0: EP Results (The End..) (Read 53829 times)