Author Topic: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (The End (not the band))  (Read 37638 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline home

  • Posts: 2085
  • Gender: Male
  • Sound is the factor which holds it together
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 First Results ft. Corn)
« Reply #385 on: June 08, 2018, 10:46:27 AM »
Boiii :metal
Break the mold, let's shake the ground, wreak havoc!

Online Evermind

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 16238
  • Gender: Male
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline Sacul

  • Spinettapilled
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 12115
  • Gender: Male
  • ¿De qué sirvió haber cruzado a nado la mar?
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 First Results ft. Corn)
« Reply #387 on: June 08, 2018, 01:50:05 PM »
At least I'm glad I didn't get rule 6'd :lol

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 First Results ft. Corn)
« Reply #388 on: June 09, 2018, 06:35:17 PM »
alright boys let's do some more
----------
This just sounds like Eidola. It sounds mostly like their latest album more than Degeneraterra in that all the songs are pretty straightforward and hook-filled, though they're not as heavy and don't have any harsh vocals at all. And for the most part, it works, there's one track near the middle (Salamanders and Worms I think) that has a really obnoxious chorus and pretty much ruins the song, but that's the only song I don't really care for, and the rest of this is nice enough. I think most of the songs do feel a little too similar, the songs where they strip down the techiness and mellow out tend to work the best - A Faint Illusion in particular is the highlight here, I feel. I think the sameyness would be an issue if the album was much longer but it's pretty brief on the whole, under 40 minutes total. But I mean on the whole, it's pretty solid. Not as fresh or consistently interesting as Closure in Moscow, for sure, but I dig it.

ariich with Tides of Man – Dreamhouse, welcome through to the next round.
----------
So honestly why the hell is the bonus track tracked as part of the second song on this album? Like, because... it's absolutely garbage, my least favorite thing in this entire round, and I have to consider it because it's objectively part of the album. So that brings this entire thing down a bit. This album is basically two long instrumental pieces & that awful bonus track, the first is okay but it meanders it bit, it flirts with some solid ideas and keeps me interested throughout but it never feels like it quite builds to anything, it's just a jam session basically. The second half is a lot more cohesive and basically one long buildup, though its pacing could be a bit better, it feels a bit drawn out at points, but overall I still like it more than the first half. And then "HEY AND AWAY WE GOOO" in the most grating type of prog rock voice with garbage spoken word vocals & lyrics that make me genuinely cringe just in case I wanted to come away from this feeling mostly positive. This would probably be #3 in the round without that but as it is I really don't want to listen to it again. Pretty good and unique stuff for 90% of its runtime though? Yeah, just, that last bit can screw off. Geez.

Dacul with Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn, why are your entries so frustrating? Dunno but this one's still good enough to be through to the next round.
----------
1. OWEL - OWEL
2. Ultar - Kadath
3. Tides of Man - Dreamhouse
4. Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn

there's actually one album here that's been getting progressively worse with each listen despite my thoughts being decently positive on first listen but I still don't think it's gonna match how not-interested I am in the bottom two here so that'll likely still get posted up in my next results which will probably be tomorrow morning? I wanna close this out tomorrow for sure though.

Online TAC

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 74109
  • Gender: Male
  • Arthritic Metal Horns
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #389 on: June 09, 2018, 06:40:39 PM »
I should just pack my bags now..

would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #390 on: June 09, 2018, 06:43:28 PM »
i mean 3 of the 4 people remaining are safe, so there's only a 25% chance you'll need to pack your bags  :corn

Online TAC

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 74109
  • Gender: Male
  • Arthritic Metal Horns
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #391 on: June 09, 2018, 06:46:05 PM »
Oh, there's 8 of us. I was thinking there were only 6.

OK, well I only have the socks and underwear loaded so far...
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17548
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #392 on: June 10, 2018, 01:27:00 AM »
You’re doing this on purpose, right?

Right?

The suspense is killing me
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #393 on: June 10, 2018, 02:01:13 AM »
having relistened thru all but the bottom 2 now, i'd definitively call the remaining 4 the bottom 4 overall, so, nah i'm just going favorite to least favorite  :corn
to be clear only the top 3 this round i have pretty positive opinions on, 4 and 5 are eeehhh, 6 thru 8 are all not very good at all imo

Offline Train of Naught

  • I sympathize, with a cockroach
  • Posts: 8008
  • Gender: Male
  • .....and a cockroach
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #394 on: June 10, 2018, 02:28:06 AM »
Genuinely shocked you don't like my album, I thought you would like it a lot :lol
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17548
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #395 on: June 10, 2018, 02:35:02 AM »
oh, crap
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline ariich

  • Roulette Supervillain
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 27971
  • Gender: Male
  • sexin' you later
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #396 on: June 10, 2018, 03:29:08 AM »
:tup

Yeah A Faint Illusion is probably my favourite on the album. The final section in particular is just really captivating and kinda cathartic. I agree the album isn't as great as First Temple, but I'm glad you dig it!

Now to think about round 2...

Ariich is a freak, or somehow has more hours in the day than everyone else.
I be am boner inducing.

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17548
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #397 on: June 10, 2018, 03:35:20 AM »
So, what's still in the running is this:

Train of Naught: Lo! - Vestigial
Elite: smallman - Envision
TAC: Iris Divine - Karma Sown
Puppies_On_Acid: Absu - Absu

I think Absu is a black metal-ish band (right?) and Iris Divine is melodic progressive metal if I remember correctly. My submission is basically heavier Tool with an inaudible vocalist and ethnic instruments and I have never heard of Lo!. I honestly don't know how this round is going to end.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

  • AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11639
  • Gender: Male
  • AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #398 on: June 10, 2018, 09:31:07 AM »
Yeah, I genuinely thought Parama would at least enjoy the technicality of Absu. Plus there are a lot of really cool riffs throughout that album. Oh well. If I get to move on to the next round I will definitely be sending something more in the Parama-core lane. Lesson learned, don't stray too far from that lane... :corn
aka Puppies_On_Acid
My last.fm | My Rate Your Music Page
Quote from: Podaar
King's Photoshop powers are akin to a three year old cutting faces out of photographs with the edge of a dull spoon and pasting them in place with garden shovel full of Gorilla Glue.
Quote from: TAC, definitely not King
Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

Offline Sacul

  • Spinettapilled
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 12115
  • Gender: Male
  • ¿De qué sirvió haber cruzado a nado la mar?
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #399 on: June 10, 2018, 09:45:32 AM »
Wait, what bonus track? In Dulce Jubilo? Those not part of the record damnit :lol. Should have reuploaded the album without those, oh well, at least I'm not cut yet.

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #400 on: June 10, 2018, 10:04:39 AM »
no the stupid horseback thing, it's literally part of the second track but it's also technically not part of the "ommadawn" song/suite etc

Offline Sacul

  • Spinettapilled
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 12115
  • Gender: Male
  • ¿De qué sirvió haber cruzado a nado la mar?
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #401 on: June 10, 2018, 10:25:01 AM »
Ohdamn, I love that track, it's so silly but somehow charming :lol

I've got no metal for you I think, so I'll have to find something else for this round.

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #402 on: June 10, 2018, 04:59:36 PM »
okay, i'm really not too thrilled that even after a third listen i can't really determine which of the bottom two i like less but i'm confident enough to save either of these now.
----------
I genuinely just don't have much to say about this one. It's just like, the complete baseline for "acceptable" albums. It's got solid but not particularly compelling riffs, it has its moments of decent technicality but it never wows me, the vocals are okay but don't really strike a chord with me. Honestly the only song here that's particularly memorable is the instrumental, In Spirals, which has a pretty solid guitar line as its main hook in lieu of an actual chorus. Even from a sonic level this is just... fine, but not much else. The guitar tone is a tiny bit muddy but not to the point where it really affects much & the rest of the instruments all sound fine, nothing sounds polished to the point of soullessness either. I don't really have anything bad to say about this album except that it's just for the most part wholly unmemorable and feels rather generic. Thoughts Factory at least worked to build an emotional connection and a bit of a narrative throughout the album, while this just feels like a collection of somewhat samey songs that aren't even distinct from the rest of the prog metal scene much less each other.

Despite that, TAC with Iris Divine – Karma Sown is still easily through to the next round because I just flat dislike the remaining three.
----------
On an ideological level, this may actually be the worst album in the round. The two albums below it, while I enjoy them even less while listening, at least have one thing in common; they know what they're trying to be and they land the mark. This album. It has no goddamn clue what it's doing. It's a 42 minute album that spends the entirety of its runtime meandering about, introducing locked grooves that never develop and aren't distinct from each other nor the legion of Tool imitators that came before them. At least with bands like Soen, Rishloo, Karnivool etc. there are at few things they all have that make them work to some extent. Big hooks that songs are built around and ground the tunes so they're not just meandering about for 6 minutes and then ending. Songs that have some energy so the entire runtime isn't this monotonous low to mid tempo dirge of recycled riffs and textureless basslines. Enough common sense to not have a goddamn 8 minute folk interlude that goes absolutely nowhere and grinds the pace of an already sluggish album to a screeching halt. I will say this. The first two tracks, at least kind of work. They have the problem of not having any sort of hook but they're solid enough tool clones that at least have a bit of space to develop. Everything after that just bores me to tears, but especially that 8 minute folk track, which is just pure trash. This is another of the kind of albums where I at first thought it was solid but nothing amazing, but the more I listened to it the less I liked it and the more blatantly apparent it was that it just did not work. I know puppies mentioned considering a different album from this band and I'm kind of morbidly curious now just to see if they could actually pull off this style well, but in the case of this album it just absolutely does not work.

Despite that, Elite with smallman – Envision is still through to the next round because the two albums below are even worse. Oh boy. Yes. Things are about to get messy indeed. Literally the only thing keeping this here is that aesthetically I can kind of jive with the sound of this album and it's way, way more melodic than the two remaining.
----------
I'm going to go on a tangent here before anything else, to point out exactly why the two remaining albums flat out do not interest me at all and why it's so difficult for me to choose a least favorite between two albums that would both score viciously low with me that my critical facilities fail to be able to determine a loser at this point. And this is important for everyone in this roulette (well, except home and Dacul who seem content to not send any metal period which is fine):

I do not like heavy for the sake of heavy. I loathe most djent for this same reason, it's a toneless, mindless mush of boring riffs, and I'm pretty averse to a lot of death metal for this same reason. I don't want to hear downtuned riffs and single note chugging or low, sludgy chords played ad infinitum. Taking the effort to construct melodic riffs or powerful walls of heaviness that have actual goddamn texture to them is not hard at all and bands that cannot take the time to do either of these things and then still try to be as heavy as their genre allows them to be are bands I don't have the slightest interest in, and this has been an ongoing thing in several of my roulettes that I've constantly, constantly had to point out, yet y'all keep sending me this kind of stuff anyways. It's even worse with a full length album too as now it's just a large chunk of my time wasted on albums that will never get more interesting to me no matter how many times I try to sit through them to try understand them. I am very likely to rule 6 any type of album like this from now on, and to be quite honest, the only reason I didn't rule 6 an album this round is because there were two of the goddamn things and I'm limiting myself to only using the rule once per round at most, it's only if there is a blatant standout for being completely unlistenable, which, to their credit, I don't think either album this round is, but I reserve the right to use the rule on any album like this in the future as you all should know by now these kind of albums just bore me to death.
----------
Results as they stand:

1. OWEL - OWEL
2. Ultar - Kadath
3. Tides of Man - Dreamhouse
4. Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
5. Iris Divine - Karma Sown
6. smallman - Envision

Final results aren't coming today because I don't feel like suffering through Absu or Lo! again at the moment. If I can't decide a loser between the two after another listen or even partial listen, I'm just gonna cut both and be done with it, lol.

I might be a little upset that the two people I gave a bye in the prelim round sent me trash in return, I dunno  :lol

Online TAC

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 74109
  • Gender: Male
  • Arthritic Metal Horns
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 More Results ft. Cheese)
« Reply #403 on: June 10, 2018, 05:39:52 PM »

...complete baseline for an acceptable writeup....

I'm through!! :metal
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17548
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

  • AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11639
  • Gender: Male
  • AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
I honestly didn't think Absu would do this badly with you... :( I'm genuinely disappointed in myself that I didn't send something that you would like. At any rate, I hope I get a chance to make it up to you. Either way, I'm still going to send what I had planned for round 2.
aka Puppies_On_Acid
My last.fm | My Rate Your Music Page
Quote from: Podaar
King's Photoshop powers are akin to a three year old cutting faces out of photographs with the edge of a dull spoon and pasting them in place with garden shovel full of Gorilla Glue.
Quote from: TAC, definitely not King
Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
i was baffled that you sent anything thrash metal when thrash metal is one of my least favorite subgenres of metal period, tbh
and the album feels way more thrash than black metal too which doesn't do it any favors, the only other album of the style i've listened to is vektor's 2016 album and even then i liked that one more for the prog elements than anything but i wasn't even huge on it so

Online Evermind

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 16238
  • Gender: Male
I think you should eliminate them both and move on to the next round, yeah. :biggrin:
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline Train of Naught

  • I sympathize, with a cockroach
  • Posts: 8008
  • Gender: Male
  • .....and a cockroach
Confirmation #57547838 that I have no clue at all how your tastes work :corn
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
i at least get the intention of your submission & why you'd think i'd like it, but what you actually sent was a double-length version of the bad disc of precambrian

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17548
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Honestly, out of the batch of albums I selected the smallman album was the ‘worst’, even though I still like it to an extent. I agree that it goes on too long, despite being only about 43 minutes. The folk track is indeed pretty bad and completely kills the flow. I considered sending the album without that track, but figured that would be cheating :lol

I deliberately sent the worst one first though, so I hope you’ll have more fun with the next one. I didn’t think you’d think this low of it though!
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline Train of Naught

  • I sympathize, with a cockroach
  • Posts: 8008
  • Gender: Male
  • .....and a cockroach
That's fair I guess? The Ocean are big fans of Lo! probably because they share a lot of similarities with the heavy Precambrian side of their sound. I also think it compares to some of the best Precambrian songs like Orosorian and Stenian though but that's just opinions

If I somehow make it through I will give the submission more time, but I definitely don't regret sending this because I truly do love it myself and that's the great thing about music innit
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

  • AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11639
  • Gender: Male
  • AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
aka Puppies_On_Acid
My last.fm | My Rate Your Music Page
Quote from: Podaar
King's Photoshop powers are akin to a three year old cutting faces out of photographs with the edge of a dull spoon and pasting them in place with garden shovel full of Gorilla Glue.
Quote from: TAC, definitely not King
Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
literally listening to your album right now, chill  :corn
didn't know you wanted to be eliminated -that- badly

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
okay let's *devin townsend voice* hey boy
y'all get these huge uncut walls of text that were basically the only way I could untangle my complex opinions on both of these, but here it is.
-----------
This album. On first listen I was really not into this one. And that didn't change, ever. I definitely get the intention. And I don't think that it really fails immediately. Okay, well actually. I do not like this core style of vocals at all, it's genuinely one of the most generic harsh vocal performances I've ever heard and has absolutely no texture or aggression to it, it's just... a noise that exists. But yeah, the first few tracks, at least have some okay riffing even if I'm not super into them. Glutton was the one you wanted me to like and, it's got its moments, the bassline drives a lot of this song nicely and the riffs are solid. I'm not like, in love with it but it's a pretty competent tune. And it works because it's a lot less riff-driven, with lower-pitch guitar melodies more than riffs a lot of the time, a bit of room to breathe in the middle. If you're going to do this style of post-metal, that's basically the way to do it. And then the song right after immediately proves how not to do it. I feel like what this band lacks is a good sense of the "middle ground" of metal. They do the heavier stuff quite a lot. And they do break things up with the very occasional quieter moment. But there's never those in-between phases where the song is just left to simmer for a while, which means there's no chance for anything to really build up, it's just an on-again off-again between walls of heavy riffs with occasionally stopping for a breather only to go right back again. And the styles of riffs they play here just do not interest me, a lot of the time. Like you have this crushing sludgy riff in Butcher Birds. It's slower-paced, sure, and it's heavy. But I just don't -feel- it. There's another album I've been really digging, On Strange Loops by Mithras, and I want to point to one song in particular, Into the Godmind, which ends with this just COMICALLY heavy riff, heavier than anything on this album. But it's the long payoff of practically an album's worth of buildup to get to that one moment and it just CRUSHES, the guitar tone is there, it's literally as downtuned as they could reasonably get, it's just a basic rhythm you can FEEL. In the rare moment where I like something punishingly heavy and it needs to right conditions to work; if you're just doing it constantly without any real variation between the riffs it both diminishes the heaviness in the moment and makes it lack memorability overall. And man, this album really feels lacking in memorability. I've gone through this four times and I genuinely don't remember a single moment of this besides that bass groove in the middle of Glutton, and I only really remember it because I just heard it. The way the album is structured also does it no favors; four of the 5 longest songs on the album are all in the last five tracks and the song lengths steer longer towards the end, at the point where a listener is more likely to be exhausted, which makes those last few tracks reeeeally drag on more than they would if the album's structure was a bit more balanced. Like, I absolutely hate Locust Christ but if you put it in towards the end of the album in the middle of the 5 minute tunes it'd at least function as a good change of pace. Okay, and I wanna point out this because it's bugging me again. A Tiger Moths Shadow is like the pinnacle of what I mentioned about having no middle ground. It starts out with this slow buildup that could organically evolve into something but instead they just slam right into the heavy riff instead. I think this song has some of the more interesting riffs on the album at the very least, it's the other track I'd call particularly a standout; the riffs here aren't as sludgy and have a bit of melody to them, I can kind of dig them. The vocals kind of ruin it a bit but I can at least somewhat get into this one, save for the aborted buildup that starts the album. I suspect my biggest disconnect with this album is that I like my music colorful - even if you're doing something heavy, I expect it to be for a reason & I expect more than just plodding riffs. The Hirsch Effekt pull off extreme heaviness well because the way they do it is so far from what most bands' first instinct is - rather than huge riffs they love to build these walls of sound based on high-pitched, dissonant chords and guitar melodies. Ira's opening riff goes hard as hell and it's about two octaves above a lot of the riffs on this album. And the post-metal I do like that loves this kind of sludgy riffing, it's done for atmosphere, it's not so upbeat and there's still often gradual buildup. Stenian which you specifically brought up, it has that moment of simmer between the clean intro (which already builds up some on its own) and when that massive riff kicks in. And that riff has power, groove, and atmosphere, and it's sticky as hell (so much so that they somewhat reprise it on Cognitive Dissonance to achieve a similar effect). I also just find myself chuckling at the "it's just more of the same" line in Bestial Beginnings every time, lol. Yeah, you're telling me. It's probably the one track that does well to achieve some semblance of post-metal atmosphere in a meaningful way though. I think if you took some of these songs in isolation they'd fare better than they do in the form of a full album, because I'm not going to deny that, yes, there are some okay songs here. But they don't do enough to distinguish themselves and there's not enough unique ideas between them to sustain even an album of this length and the entire album suffers for it, it took me until my fourth listen to even be able to distinguish between a few of these tracks, and there's still some tracks here that I just... don't feel at all, and there's nothing that comes even remotely close to the average The Ocean or Intronaut tune. I dunno. I have complicated thoughts here, as the meandering wall of text probably suggests, but it's really your fault for sending me an album I have to give 100% of my attention to to even be able to find some positive traits at all. And even then, I think I'd rather just wait for that upcoming The Ocean album in a few months rather than give this another spin.

So yeah, this is Train of Naught with Lo! – Vestigial.
----------
Honestly the first song on this one is pretty fine. It’s got okay riffs, it has that melodic break in the middle which, while nothing special, at least serves as a nice break from the intensity around it. And it’s got a bit of flavor with the marching rhythm bit towards the end, I do genuinely like that too. Stylistically as I’ve said I’m not super into it – thrash metal is just a hard no for me, never really cared for it, and Slayer in particular is one of the worst metal bands to ever get popular in my opinion. But I also am generally not so much for the more straightforward side of black metal, it can work in small doses like on Skepsis Pt. II, but I prefer the atmospheres. This opener still at least does the black metal style in a way I’m mostly on board with. Things start falling apart reeeally quickly after that though. The main riff of the second track doesn’t do much for me at all & I can’t say much for the rest of the song either, it’s quick and not obnoxious but I don’t dig it either. The production on this album… seems to be taking more from black metal than thrash metal but the texture on the guitars, while certainly lo-fi enough, still feels too crisp, the tremolo-picked riffs don’t disappear into a blur of noise the way a lot of black metal tends to, rather they just feel jagged and stiff. I also don’t care for the palm muted riff starting off Amy, it’s kind of incredibly goofy the way it sounds? The groovier middle bit it surrounds is… again, okay, but it never sucks me in & I really think the tone is part of it. It’s not heavy enough to be pummeling but not clean enough to be melodically satisfying. Really if I were to point to one specific thing… I think it’s just the tempo. I don’t actually listen to a ton of fast-paced metal and albums that do have fast-paced stuff it’s usually not a nonstop thing. Where as this album is just… relentless. It gets tiring more quickly than other albums just because of how upbeat a lot of it is and really that’s my issue with thrash metal in general, the emphasis on speed just wears me out and simultaneously makes everything sound really similar. And I’d like to appreciate the progressive touches on Of the Dead and Those of the Void but I guess it doesn’t work as well when there are still good chunks of those songs that just miss the mark for me. The former does get this solid riff going towards the middle and the weird synth thing going on at the same time makes for a pretty great buildup, there is absolutely something there and it’s what frustrates me most, that the album absolutely does have its moments of brilliance but they’re far and few between and mired in samey thrash-y riffs that I don’t care for. If they’d built more of the album around that kind of sound and toned down the rest I think it could’ve led to a much more balanced album, I guess is what I’m trying to say. You also called out the technical aspect of the album and I want to comment on that as well; yes, I did list technicality as one of my five tenants of what makes an album good to me, but it’s probably the least important of the five, and it’s more like… the seasoning that takes a good album to being a great one, it’s more in the relisten value of albums I already enjoy at their core, something to pick apart and keep me invested even after I’m familiar with the more straightforward moments of the album. Yes, I absolutely do enjoy technical metal but not if it doesn’t interest me sonically to begin with. Also the main riff in In the Name etc. I could swear I just heard the same riff earlier in the album but I don’t actually think that’s the case? Which just really suggests to me that man, a lot of these riffs sound way too similar. The solo on this song is okay though.  Those of the Void starts off pretty strong with some haunting atmosphere and a great black metal-esque buildup section but the moment the vocals come in my interest drops significantly. I guess I should talk about the vocals. They’re “eehh”. They detract maybe a little but stylistically I prefer them to Lo!’s at the very least. Then there’s another of those prog touches I mentioned with the chill piano interlude and a bit of acoustic guitar accompaniment. Some strings. It’s a nice, serene moment that the album really, really is starved for and is one of the most memorable moments of the entire thing just by default. But the song doesn’t linger on it too long and then it’s right back to the parts I’m not so keen on… the solo isn’t awful but it’s a bit generic thrash-shreddy. See, that’s the thing, this album is at its best when it strays as far away as possible from its core sound. That almost undermines the comment I made earlier about how at least these two albums both knew what they wanted to be, because this one isn’t as certain and every time it doubts itself it actually gets way, way better for it. That might just be the most frustrating thing of all. Sceptre Command also hits on something decent for a bit in the middle of the song, though it again feels a bit disconnected from the rest of the song… see the issue? I don’t really have anything else left to say about this one except that it also has the handicap of being about ten minutes longer than its competitor here, which… yeah, that makes it feel like it drags on even more. While I think the best parts of this are better than the best parts of the other album, it comes at the cost of them being very infrequent and spread out across a longer time period. And stylistically this one was never going to work for me, just, at all.

And this is Puppies_On_Acid with Absu – Absu.
----------
I’ll admit that I did have a hard time picking one of these two as my least favorite, but with relistens one of these at least trended up a little from my initial impressions while the other just stayed at a low point and never recovered. And from the tone of the write-ups above, I think it’s pretty clear now to me which of these I prefer. I do feel I was maybe a little harsh on one of these as it’s really not that aggressively bad now that I’ve had this really dedicated listen to try and pick it apart – absolutely still bottom two of the round for me, but there’s at least… a spark of something there. Meanwhile, I was  just as hard as I needed to be towards the other and my opinion hasn’t softened at all, and while it’s a shame to have to cut either of you, since I know you’re both capable of sending me some really great stuff, one of you has to go, and it’s gonna have to be Absu. Sorry, puppies, but feel free to send me some other stuff to check out regardless ‘cause I know you have some of it, just, this one did not work for me at all.

1. OWEL – OWEL 
2. Ultar – Kadath
3. Tides of Man – Dreamhouse
4. Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn
5. Iris Divine – Karma Sown
6. smallman – Envision
7. Lo! – Vestigial
----------
8. Absu – Absu

Everyone else can go ahead and send me albums, I'll probably start listening Wednesday or Thursday depending on how I feel, I actually already have TAC's since he seems to be one of the first to send every round :lol

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

  • AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11639
  • Gender: Male
  • AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 Final Results)
« Reply #415 on: June 12, 2018, 12:06:13 AM »
aka Puppies_On_Acid
My last.fm | My Rate Your Music Page
Quote from: Podaar
King's Photoshop powers are akin to a three year old cutting faces out of photographs with the edge of a dull spoon and pasting them in place with garden shovel full of Gorilla Glue.
Quote from: TAC, definitely not King
Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

Offline Crow

  • Holy Guide of the 4/10
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26736
  • Gender: Female
  • tdjghjjkhliòujoàupougjyufkuyrkuyt
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 Final Results)
« Reply #416 on: June 12, 2018, 12:29:24 AM »
sorry man that's just how roulettes play out sometimes
on a positive note after this round we're officially over halfway through the roulette in terms of total number of albums

Offline Train of Naught

  • I sympathize, with a cockroach
  • Posts: 8008
  • Gender: Male
  • .....and a cockroach
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 Final Results)
« Reply #417 on: June 12, 2018, 01:26:42 AM »
I feel sorry for you for apparently spending so much time on 2 albums you dislike so much :lol will definitely check out that Absu album though :metal

Sending another abomination today

Btw A Tiger Moth's Shadow and As Fools Ripen are my favourites lol, I also love Glutton but mentioned it because I thought that would be your standout. I just think the riffs are awesome in those songs and I love how loud the bass is, aaand of course I knew this but I am more into core vocals than you most of the time
« Last Edit: June 12, 2018, 01:33:01 AM by Train of Naught »
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

Offline ariich

  • Roulette Supervillain
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 27971
  • Gender: Male
  • sexin' you later
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 Final Results)
« Reply #418 on: June 12, 2018, 02:35:47 AM »
I feel sorry for you for apparently spending so much time on 2 albums you dislike so much :lol
Yeah seriously, seems to have spent more time on the albums he hated than the ones he liked. :lol

Ariich is a freak, or somehow has more hours in the day than everyone else.
I be am boner inducing.

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17548
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: Parama's Disastrous Roulette v3 (Round 1 Final Results)
« Reply #419 on: June 12, 2018, 02:54:17 AM »
Damn, those walls of text :O
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey