FINAL ROUND RESULTS! pt. 3
Puppies_On_AcidEternity in a Dying Universe – sent as a single file, I burned it to a disc
‘About a being that can’t die, but has tried to kill himself numerous times. When he discovers the universe itself is dying, he hopes this will finally give him release.’ (Or something along those lines).
1. Moonsorrow – Pimeä (14:08)
2. Solitude Aeturnus – Eternal (Dreams Part II) (7:51)
3. Helrunar – Sól (10:56)
4. The Thirteenth Sun - The Universe Is Burning (9:05)
So, this is a monster of an EP, quite literally. When I got the file and saw that it was
exactly 40 minutes long, I thought Puppies must have done that on purpose. Then again, he also wrote a short story of how these songs belong together on his EP and that would mean it would be too coincidental if everything aligned to be exactly 40 minutes long. Turns out that the songs themselves are longer – and unfortunately for the flow on his EP, you can actually hear that, because the transitions between the songs end up being jarring at best, and seriously annoying at worst. Admittedly, the first time I went through the EP, I thought the file was broken or something, because the end seems so sudden, and then I thought Puppies just cut the last song to get to 40 minutes and for a long time that annoyed me. Until I actually looked up the original track to see how that one ends (I expected a fade-out after that grandiose finale), but it’s
exactly the same. Why would you do that!? It kills the track (and makes me sad as a result). So, the ‘annoying end’ can’t really be attributed to Puppies, but it still annoys me to no end, because that song is easily the best on this EP and probably one of the better songs in the EP round. On to the others..
Moonsorrow was .. difficult. It’s quite daring to send in an EP of 40 minutes, especially when it only consists of 4 tracks. Pimeä takes 14 minutes and honestly doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s the same intensity at all times, with lyrics in Finnish, so I can’t make anything out of it. Now, this is not a problem per se, but when every single line is screeched as well, I don’t really get a sense of progression in storytelling either. I can see how this is ‘good’, but for me this turned into background noise way too quickly, because of lack of variation. Repeated listens showed me there’s a lot more to this track though and it has me intrigued enough to try out some other songs from them. Enter the most jarring transition after Moonsorrow gets a sudden fade-out; ‘Eternal’ by Solitude Aeturnus is almost twice as slow in tempo and this style of doom metal does literally nothing to me. This song feels out of place on this EP, because it’s way darker in tone, the guitars are far more distant and less distinct and the operatic style of singing is alright in its own regard, but not in the context of this EP. This was a miss, I’m sorry to say that.
The next transition comes out of nowhere as well, as we enter the much heavier (and louder) guitars of Helrunar’s ‘Sól’. This is a song I actually enjoyed a lot. The vocals took some time to get used to, but there’s a sense of grandeur in the way the chorus (?) differs from the verses. After about 4 minutes the song sort of stops and goes into this fantastic instrumental build-up that lasts over 6 minutes– truly, some of the best stuff in this entire round, and I mean that. The next transition is fine, but the count-down on the drums breaks the flow a little. I would wonder what would have happened if these two songs were switched around? (Ending with Sól). The Universe is Burning is fairly standard progressive metal, that starts out heavy, goes into a long break and ends with this proclamation that the universe is burning, entering a blastbeat part with sudden unexpected growls that should serve as a grande finale (and succeeds, apart from the cut-off ending).
I find it a little difficult to admit that your EP ends up in the ‘bottom two’ of the EP Round, because you were close to the lead throughout all the regular rounds of this roulette. Thing is though, that the transitions especially, but also parts of a couple of these songs just didn’t work with me. The Moonsorrow might be interesting enough to check out further, and I’m definitely going to catch The Thirteenth Sun at ProgPower Europe later this year.
By the way, when I play this file on my computer, the tempo marker literally stops at 39:59 and the music continues for about 10-15 seconds before ending. Is it actually, secretly slightly longer than 40 minutes?
Final Verdict:Like Train’s EP, yours being in this first batch means that you don’t get to wear the Elite Roulette Crown. It’s funny how as a participant you sent me the most diverse stuff, ranging from electronic to death metal, indie & doom. I’m quite picky when it comes to metal, so I found it very cool that you sent stuff in the regular rounds that I hadn’t heard yet, but that were also intriguing enough to dig into (the Enslaved, YOB and – if I ever get to listening to a full album of theirs – Deathspell Omega). You managed to pull out stuff that’s rarely (or never) even mentioned on the forums and you seem to have a really extensive music library, based on what you post and I like that. I’m therefore sure that there’s a bunch of stuff that you know that I don’t yet that I would like, but as for this roulette, I thank you very much for showing me music styles I wasn’t fully aware of and for being a participant in this long-ass rambling mess of a roulette.
Next three tomorrow, with one in the morning (my time) and the two last ones in the evening.