Elite's Ridiculous Reverse Scoring Roulette - v4.0: EP Results (The End..)

[Elite]

: EP - The Struggle Elite
: EP - Depths: Revisited
: EP - A Score U__ar__d

TAC:
1. Thoughts Factory - Awakening
2. Dyssidia - An Absolute Severance
3. A Forest of Stars - Virtus Sola Invicta
4. Novembre - Agathae
5. Daedalus - The Never Ending Illusion

Train of Naught:
1. Batushka - Yekteniya I
2. Distances - Hollow Ground
3. Alkaloid - Carbon Phrases
4. Rolo Tomassi - Balancing the Dark
5. Rolo Tomassi - Alma Mater
6. Ancestors - The Warm Glow

Puppies_on_Acid:
Eternity in a Dying Universe
1. Moonsorrow - Pimeä
2. Solitude Aeturnus - Eternal
3. Helrunar - Sol
4. The Thirteenth Sun - The Universe is Burning

Parama:
Blood Boiling and Streaming
1. fun. - Be Calm
2. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
3. Coheed and Cambria - Mother Superior
4. Bent Knee - Being Human
5. The Antlers - Wake
6. Oceansize - The Frame

ariich:
1. Witherscape - The Inheritance
2. Amorphis - Wrong Direction
3. Insomnium - Winter's Gate, Pt. 4
4. Witherscape - The Examiner
5. Insomnium - Shadows of the Dying Sun
6. Amorphis - Pyres on the Coast
7. Witherscape - Vila I Frid

---

So yeah, those are the EPs I have to rank

[Crow]

struggle is TAC
depths is Train
score is ariich

train's EP looks like the flow & cohesiveness is super wacky but who knows
thirteenth sun also looks really out of place on puppies' EP but i remember that being one of the heavier tracks on the album so who knows

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Here's the link for my EP for those of you who are interested.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aoWBO7UlgjPBZEctzq_q3YOtLFRcUC2_

You can download and/or listen to it from that link.

[Elite]

TAC:
The Struggle Elite
1. Thoughts Factory - Awakening
2. Dyssidia - An Absolute Severance
3. A Forest of Stars - Virtus Sola Invicta
4. Novembre - Agathae
5. Daedalus - The Never Ending Illusion

Train of Naught:
A Score Unmarked
1. Batushka - Yekteniya I
2. Distances - Hollow Ground
3. Alkaloid - Carbon Phrases
4. Rolo Tomassi - Balancing the Dark
5. Rolo Tomassi - Alma Mater
6. Ancestors - The Warm Glow

Puppies_on_Acid:
Eternity in a Dying Universe
1. Moonsorrow - Pimeä
2. Solitude Aeturnus - Eternal
3. Helrunar - Sol
4. The Thirteenth Sun - The Universe is Burning

Parama:
Blood Boiling and Streaming
1. fun. - Be Calm
2. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
3. Coheed and Cambria - Mother Superior
4. Bent Knee - Being Human
5. The Antlers - Wake
6. Oceansize - The Frame

ariich:
Depths: Revisited
1. Witherscape - The Inheritance
2. Amorphis - Wrong Direction
3. Insomnium - Winter's Gate, Pt. 4
4. Witherscape - The Examiner
5. Insomnium - Shadows of the Dying Sun
6. Amorphis - Pyres on the Coast
7. Witherscape - Vila I Frid

---

I think I'm going to do something of a countdown, where I post results in descending order. I've listened to every EP twice now, but I think I need a little more plays of every one, so I'll try to get around that this weekend and post the results over the next week or so.

[Train of Naught]

train's EP looks like the flow & cohesiveness is super wacky but who knows

Oh yeah, no doubt about that. Full disclosure, I simply didn't have enough music left that I love and think Elite would enjoy enough. I'm almost 100% sure I'm not winning simply based on the flow, so was mostly taking the opportunity to try and get him to discover some more bands.

Here's my EP on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/lvialviaquez/playlist/4rhneB8jCioyrt1YpJ2ZkZ?si=6HIwJChGTA26QRWGyWyYEA

[ariich]

If anyone is interested, here's my EP as a single mp3: https://mega.nz/#!pL5jHSxC!ahEAGmNyd7IUvX7gocLtT6xPu03adf6kShswX_l-Ofo

Here are the timestamps:

00:00-01:03 – 1. Witherscape: The Inheritance
01:03-06:04 – 2. Amorphis: Wrong Direction
06:04-11:26 – 3. Insomnium: Winter's Gate, Part 4
11:26-16:27 – 4. Witherscape: The Examiner
16:27-22:09 – 5. Insomnium: Shadows of the Dying Sun
22:09-28:20 – 6. Amorphis: Pyres on the Coast
28:20-30:00 – 7. Witherscape: Vila I Frid

The transition I'm most pleased by is the one between 5 and 6, around the 22 minute mark.

[Luoto]

^ I approve this EP

[Puppies_On_Acid]

If anyone is interested, here's my EP as a single mp3: https://mega.nz/#!pL5jHSxC!ahEAGmNyd7IUvX7gocLtT6xPu03adf6kShswX_l-Ofo

Here are the timestamps:

00:00-01:03 – 1. Witherscape: The Inheritance
01:03-06:04 – 2. Amorphis: Wrong Direction
06:04-11:26 – 3. Insomnium: Winter's Gate, Part 4
11:26-16:27 – 4. Witherscape: The Examiner
16:27-22:09 – 5. Insomnium: Shadows of the Dying Sun
22:09-28:20 – 6. Amorphis: Pyres on the Coast
28:20-30:00 – 7. Witherscape: Vila I Frid

The transition I'm most pleased by is the one between 5 and 6, around the 22 minute mark.

This seems like a winning EP to me. 

[ariich]

Thanks chaps. I am rather pleased with it in terms of both song quality and flow, but it also hinges on Elite being sufficiently into melodic death metal, so we'll see...

[Crow]

i mean i sent an EP mostly full of post-hardcore & emo so you'll probably do better than me

nah but i love every single song on my EP & that's how i make EPs so if i lose for it whatever i'm happy with it

[Crow]

puppies EP:
this moonsorrow song sounds like a song i've heard before. i have never heard it before. it's totally fine though but just hammers in that folky black metal doesn't do a ton for me
i have never liked this style of doom metal so solitude aeternus was never gonna do much for me
helrunar song is again, pretty dang fine but i'm not super into it
i've heard the thirteenth sun song before plenty of times but man i forgot how black metal-esque that first bit is, huh.
the transitions generally feel sloppy except 3 -> 4 which worked really well, i have a suspicion you cut down the endings of some songs too as the total length of these 4 songs is around 42 minutes combined according to what i'm seeing looking them up 
solid EP overall though but i mean the one track i really liked was the one i already knew 

[Puppies_On_Acid]

I feel like I may have forced some of the transitions (it didn't really help that the Solitude Aeturnus song fades in at the beginning and fades out at the end). I was pretty happy with the last transition.

[Crow]

some of the transitions on mine ended up working really well (especially 1 -> 2 ->3) & then 4 & 5 end with ambience so it's impossible to make a bad transition there 

my original EP actually had 2 as the opener & then a different fun. song following it and that transition was -stellar- but i didn't have enough time on the EP and the fun song was the one that ended swapped out, oh well

[Crow]

train of EPs:
that batushka song is exactly as "fine" as i remember it being
i dunno if i'm super into this distances song but it makes me wanna check them out some more at least. better than lo! for sure
i literally just got this alkaloid album in the mail yesterday & am gonna spin it pretty soon (after the other dozen or so albums i have sitting on my desk atm lol)
rolo tomassi i've obviously heard like a billion times but these are great picks from the album, two of the best songs for sure. did you do like any transition stuff at all though 'cause the natural transitions from alkaloid into this one don't... work at all
i dig this ancestors song a fair bit also so it's a shame the album's not out yet 

dug most of this EP quite a bit tbh but then 4 of the 6 songs i already knew  doesn't feel that cohesive or flow that well though but the musical quality is there so w/e

[Elite]

Are you scoring my roulette now?

No, I actually like that you take the time to listen to what other people sent.

[Crow]

i usually listen to other peoples' EPs/albums in the final rounds of roulettes as pity listens for those about to get crushed under my unforgiving boot of paramacore 

also 'cause they're usually pretty cool. i always feel like EPs sent in other peoples' roulettes I like more than the ones I get sent in my own for some reason but a part of it may be that most of the time EPs have stuff that would be banned in my roulette (this applies to 4/4 EPs here)

side-note, of the roulettes i've won, two had no EP/album round and the third had both yet I won neither 

[Crow]

ariich:
the first amorphis song was better than any amorphis song i've heard before tbh
obviously i've heard winter's gate before too
witherscape should probably be more of my thing but i was never too into the vocals
the transition between the second insomnium song and the second amorphis song was so hard to find that i had to go figure out where the transition happened after the fact which is both i guess evidence of a really good transition as much as it is a commentary that both sound very similar 

yeah i will admit i started off liking this but by the end it all kinda blended together? i listened about halfway thru the new amorphis when it dropped & wrong direction was before then but i didn't remember it at all. i think like, all the songs were good but at the same time none of them really stood out. not my call to make as to whether or not Elite likes it though 

[ariich]

Yeah I deliberately went for a consistent vibe and style, but I think there's still easily enough variety for a 30 minute EP. Can totally see why no track stood out but that was sort of the point really. I guess it depends on what Dutch Rich is looking for!

[Crow]

we'll see 
i've heard like over TAC's EP too but if he wants to post it i'll listen and post a paramareview whatever sure 
corn 

[TAC]

I'll post the Spotify link tonight when we get settled.

[TAC]

https://open.spotify.com/user/tacdtf/playlist/4zJWHjWiRPPj6nhRkqnhFB?si=-Zx6vSvCRfmXACpiqaoHgA

[Crow]

train to TAC-town:
like i said already heard 3 of these but the thoughts factory one? pretty okay
dyssidia... hmm, the song honestly feels like it shouldn't have harsh vocals and they aren't even very good ones, besides that this is just... pretty "fine" prog metal, i don't have a ton to say about it
i really probably am gonna have to get this a forest of stars album too even with the one i already have, i think this was the best song or close to it though because yeah, really good
this novembre song was i think my favorite on the album and it's... pretty fine yeah, but i think my fave bit is that small bit of more dissonant chords right before the heavy bit drops. i dunno, i haven't even thought about this album in at least a year now 
daedalus song seemed pretty cool too, a fair bit going on here, i'd definitely check it out again if nothing else (seriously might go check out this album, sure, why not)

i dunno if you did any crossfade stuff or if you just sent the spotify playlist but the flow checks out well enough regardless i guess (3->4 was a bit clunky but the rest fine). mostly seems cohesive too, the a forest of stars track sticks out as being a bit different from the rest aesthetically but it's not that far off the mark

man all the EPs here are pretty dang solid it feels like  i'd love to have confidence but i feel like i took risks where everyone else mostly played it safe so i'm betting on 5th place 

[TAC]

Interesting breakdown Parama.

Here is the original PM I sent Elite.

Hi Richard!

Here it is:

The Struggle Elite
https://open.spotify.com/user/tacdtf/playlist/4zJWHjWiRPPj6nhRkqnhFB?si=VAp7iJb9Qk6U6z-VRbeiQQ

Thoughts Factory-Awakening
I thought this would make a good opening. Sets the tone.

Dyssidia-An Absolute Severance
The outer struggle.

A Forest Of Stars- Virtus Sola Invicta
The inner struggle. This is a real offbeat tune that shows someone's mind racing to and fro.

Novembre- Agathae
An instrumental for the most part, this signifies our protagonist coming to grips. It's both moody and gets a bit stormy in bits, as he struggles with each side.

Daedalus- The Never Ending Illusion
He may not understand, but he has a better outlook to deal with it. Hence it's not quite as heavy (metal) handed. Ends kind of epic-y.



I was going to call it The Elite Struggle, but I thought The Struggle Elite sounded cooler!

I hope you enjoy!

Tim

I didn't have time to do cross fades. We were  heading out the next day. There's nothing really jarring between songs though.

[Crow]

here's mine

1. fun. - Be Calm

this song is only their second best but their best doesn't quite fit & doesn't mesh with the EP as well either anyways this song destroys me

2. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade

ooh man this is like one of the earliest examples of a song destroying me that i can remember

3. Coheed and Cambria - Mother Superior

this song destroys me though not quite as much as some of their other songs, but still a lot

4. Bent Knee - Being Human

ooh boy this song is super cool and destroys me

5. The Antlers - Wake

not only does this song destroy me but it utterly devastates me, especially in the context of the album & with the song right after it jeez

6. Oceansize - The Frame

the song that has very consistently been destroying me for the better part of 8 years now

last place

[Elite]

I can't really comment on your takes, Parama, without spoiling what's going to happen with the final results, so I'll refrain from that. Let's just say that I agree with quite a lot of what you're saying and then there's some stuff I disagree with as well (I'm being very helpful here )

i usually listen to other peoples' EPs/albums in the final rounds of roulettes as pity listens for those about to get crushed under my unforgiving boot of paramacore 

also 'cause they're usually pretty cool. i always feel like EPs sent in other peoples' roulettes I like more than the ones I get sent in my own for some reason but a part of it may be that most of the time EPs have stuff that would be banned in my roulette (this applies to 4/4 EPs here)

I must honestly say that I've found this EP round to be the most 'fun' for me as a host so far, because there's so much music in there I haven't heard before, and because the mini-playlists actually make sense for a while (stylistically and tonally) instead of 10 random songs thrown together.

I also burned the single-file EPs to discs to take them in the car. Capping them at 40 minutes was a good thing in hindsight, because it allows me to put 2 EPs on a single disc.

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Snippets?  corn

[Crow]

1. really good
2. really good
3. really good
4. this one sucks tho sorry parama
5. really good

[Puppies_On_Acid]

I imagine mine will be something along the lines of:

First 3 songs were terrible and made my ears bleed (sorry)
Last song was fantastic......why you do dis to me!!!! (I try)
You shit the bed on the flow.......did you even try? (I swear I tried....)
What's with you and always pimping this Moonsorrow band, they suck big fat one's....and why are all of their songs over 15 minutes. Jeez! (but they are so good  )

4/20 minus 4 points for teasing me at the very end with 1 good song. ()

[Crow]

AND I TRY
OH MY GOD DO I TRY
I TRY ALL THE TIIIIME

[Puppies_On_Acid]

AND I TRY
OH MY GOD DO I TRY
I TRY ALL THE TIIIIME

Easy there Linda Perry. 

[Elite]

I imagine mine will be something along the lines of:

First 3 songs were terrible and made my ears bleed (sorry)
Last song was fantastic......why you do dis to me!!!! (I try)
You shit the bed on the flow.......did you even try? (I swear I tried....)
What's with you and always pimping this Moonsorrow band, they suck big fat one's....and why are all of their songs over 15 minutes. Jeez! (but they are so good  )

4/20 minus 4 points for teasing me at the very end with 1 good song. ()

Yeah, that's exactly word for word what I would write indeed! Consider that your snippet

[Puppies_On_Acid]

I knew it (I blew it) 

[Elite]

Was this the first EP you ever made?

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Yep, I'm an EP newbie.

[Crow]

and i've never won an EP round before