Here are the final results - I apologize for taking so long this round, but I wanted to give this final round as many listens as I could, and just couldn't do much of it over the weekend. Thanks everyone for participating! I had a lot of fun and discovered at least a couple bands that I really liked from every person who joined. Maybe we'll do this again some time. 😊
Without further ado:
10. Asia - My Own TimeSent by Kattelox
I hate to do this, because I know you really love this song, and I don't actually hate it. I think by now everyone's probably realized that I'm not going to go all Wolfking on anyone, but I think I have at least made it clear when I really didn't like something. This isn't one of those situations. I liked most of this song, but I would like it a lot more if it weren't for the chorus. It's just a bit too poppy for my tastes, whereas I like the singer's voice for the most part and I like the overall feel of the rest of the song. I hope this isn't entirely surprising, as you indicated I wouldn't listen to it unless it was sent in a roulette.
9. Magnus Karlsson - Not My SaviourSent by jingle.boy
I wish I liked the singer more, because this song is pretty
. When it comes to this kind of metal, it often comes down to how well I like the vocals and this time I didn't care for them too much. I've found that I generally don't like singers whose default mode is a raspy/gritty kind of voice. (Tom Englund is different). I like it when someone has that in their repertoire, but overall I just prefer a clearer voice. Otherwise, this is a really cool track, and I see that there are other singers on the album, so I wouldn't mind exploring it further. I have a feeling that our tastes align more than this roulette might have either of us believe, just based on some random other threads, as well as you being one of the few people who seemed familiar with some of the stuff I sent Kattelox in his roulette. We just didn't align so much during this one.
8. Genesis - One for the VineSent by Stadler
I'm all over the place with this track. I like it, I don't like it, I think it takes too long to get moving, I think it's fine, etc. I'm glad you sent this, because I was hoping to get some older prog during this roulette. I don't blame people for not sending it to me based on how they perceived my tastes, and as neither Yes nor Genesis scored super high, they may have been right. But I appreciate that I got to listen to some of it anyway - I've always felt that I should explore more of it, and yet never had enough motivation to actually do it. I'm still not sure why it is that 70s Rush resonates so much with me but I have such a hard time with the others. I'm rambling a little, but bottom line: I kind of liked this. I liked Phil Collins way better than Peter Gabriel (on Supper's Ready), I like the way the track picks up at the clock ticking part, and I like some of the vocal melodies quite a bit. On the flip side, I suppose I'd like it to be just a tad heavier a little bit sooner, and some of the really high vocals don’t quite work for me.
7. Primal Fear - One Night in DecemberSent by Evermind
I've seen Primal Fear live a couple times and am sure I've listened to miscellaneous tracks on youtube, and they never really did much for me. This track is better than my memory of them, for the most part. I think the intro, middle breakdown part, and ending are soooo cool. I'm definitely a sucker for that kind of intro, with the storm, the crows, the bell tolling, etc. That build up is just fantastic. Unfortunately, I'm not as into the "meat" of the song, which lines up more with what I was expecting from them. I like Ralf Scheepers better than the guy in jingle's track, but I'm not a huge fan of his voice either. Still, this was a really enjoyable listen and
.
6. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - StormSent by Sacul
I really enjoyed this track, especially the first half, which is really strong, and I like the whole crescendo aspect of it. I don't own anything that sounds like this, but I've seen a few bands live that I would consider similar. I had a feeling I would probably like this based on maybe sampling a track or two in the past, and I do. For my tastes it takes a little too long to end maybe, and the second half sometimes loses my attention. I was having a hard time ranking this one up against the others, and my usual method of asking myself what I would rather listen to didn't necessarily work. This would really come down more to what I might be in the mood for at the time vs what I think I like better. So I'm putting it somewhere in the middle, and ahead of some of the others because it's not similar to much that I already own or listen to.
5. Ascendia - Demon EyesSent by TAC
You're really good at sending tracks that are just
that have singers I either like, or at least don’t mind. I love the chorus of this track - it might not seem like anything terribly special, but it just sounds cool and I have it in my head a lot - in a good way. Ascendia is the other band I've seen live, and for some reason I was just kind of meh about them - didn't dislike them, but also didn't think they were doing much to set themselves apart from the other bands I've seen at ProgPower and liked better. I enjoyed this track a lot though.
4. Hail Spirit Noir - The MermaidSent by Parama
Congratulations on winning yet another roulette! I still can't believe you were thinking about not participating at all.
About this track: At first, I wasn't really sure how much I liked it; I didn't care for the singer much, and didn't like some of the, I don't know, retro? sounds in the song. However, after the 2nd or 3rd listen I was pretty certain it would at least be ahead of enough of the other songs to land you the win. (But wasn't going to let on and spoil the surprise). It also grew on me a lot - the singer started to bother me less, as well as some of the spacey sound effects, and I started to anticipate certain parts each time I listened to it, and eventually enjoy the song as a whole. The last few minutes are just really cool too. 😊
3. Moonsorrow - JotunheimSent by Puppies
This is the song I considered to be a challenge that I was up for. Although - 425's recent post about liking songs within the context of a roulette better than he might outside of it kind of resonated with me… I wonder how I would have done with this song had it just been recommended to me. Would I have even listened to the whole thing? But it was in the roulette, so I did listen to the whole thing, and right away I liked something about it enough to where I felt like I needed to see if I could make it work. It's totally epic. It does indeed have harsh vocals that I find more tolerable - if it had Opeth style vocals, I really don't think it would have mattered how epic this song was. But if the circumstances are right, I can deal with this style of vocal, and the circumstances were right for this song. I won't lie - I'd like more of the clean vocals to help balance some the harsh ones, but I was in a good open minded place for this one to hit me. All of the little effects like the wind and the birds and the fire crackling helped add to the mood as well. Somewhere in the middle of the song, I think maybe starting around 8:30 (or was it 9:30), it just seems so triumphant and energetic and I really enjoyed it. It never felt like it was too long, despite my complaining about the overall length of the round. 😊 I think Kattelox should totally give this song another listen - maybe if you don't have to listen to the whole album, this particular track can be enjoyed or at least appreciated more…
2. Novembre - UmanaSent by Train
This song would have suffered from its position on the playlist… except it was good enough to overcome that. It was a few songs after Moonsorrow, and at that point I initially wanted to throw up my hands, cover my ears, and say "no more harsh vocals, make it stop." However, it's a *great* song. I love how atmospheric it is, and the first time I listened to it and it went into that shift when the growls receded, the weak clean vocals (which superficially reminded me of old Katatonia clean vocals) came in, and then to that part with the samples - it definitely made me take notice. The song really makes great use of the samples, not sure if they're from a movie or something. Then it builds back up and so fine, if I have to deal with growls for this then I will. 😊 Sometimes, depending on my mood, I would kind of ignore them and just focus on the music behind it. Other times, I would try to experience and appreciate the whole thing, vocals and all. This song has been coming on strong today and I think it would have taken the top spot in quite a few of the other rounds.
1. Semistereo - The SearchSent by Elite
Starting and finishing the roulette with a bang! This song is totally awesome and rules in every way. You definitely brought out a secret weapon for this round and couldn't have done anything more. It was up to either Parama dropping the ball or everyone else sending a song that was better than his. That didn't quite happen, but this song absolutely rules. I couldn't believe jingle ranked it so low in his roulette; when his results came out I was already pretty certain this would be #1 in mine. Unlike a lot of the songs this round, I like the singer's voice, so that's a big plus right there. I like the mood of this track, and that kind of beautiful yet somber feel to much of it. I like the various twists the song takes, and the build up, and that heavy part with the ahhhh vocals, and - yeah, pretty much everything about it. 😊
Final standings:1. Winner: Parama: 5 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 1 + 4 = 25Favorite tracks: Thy Catafalque - Oldódó formák a halál titokzatos birodalmáb and The Hirsch Effect - Agitation.
As the winner of this roulette, you get to pick out 3 albums for me to listen to and report back with my thoughts. Two of them have to be from this roulette, and as I didn't dislike any of your songs, you can pick any two you like. The third can be outside the roulette (or still within if you prefer). I really hope you don't make me listen to something with hardcore punk vocals, or even a lot of death metal vocals, but it's up to you. 😊
2. Second place: Elite: 1 + 10 + 4 + 1 + 5 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 27Favorite tracks: Perihelion Ship - New Sun?, Agent Fresco - See Hell, Foscor - De Marges i Matinades, and Semistereo - The Search
As the silver medalist, you get to pick 2 albums for me to listen to - one with a song that I liked from this roulette, and one can be anything from this roulette whether I liked it or not. I'm hoping it won't be Ulver, but I'll do it if you insist. 😊
3. Third place: Train of Naught: 3 + 4 + 3 + 8 + 3 + 6 + 3 + 2 = 32Favorite tracks: Rishloo - Landmines, O'Brother - Deconstruct, Novembre - Umana
And as the bronze medalist, you get to pick one album with a song I liked for me to listen to; I'd say anything but Orphaned Land qualifies.
4. TAC: 9 + 3 + 7 + 5 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 5 = 38Favorite tracks: Pyramid Theorem - Primitive Designs, Iris Divine - In the Wake of Martyrs, Essence of Sorrow - The Mirror
4. Puppies on Acid: 7 + 8 + 1 + 5 + 6 + 1 + 7 + 3 = 38Favorite tracks: Type O Negative - Anesthesia, Children of Nova - The Complexity of Light, Moonsorrow - Jotunheim
6. Evermind: 6 + 6 + 5 + 2 + 10 + 4 + 4 + 7 = 44Favorite tracks - Airbag - Broken, Beyond the Bridge - The Difference Is Human, Flaming Row - Aim L45
7. Kattlelox: 4 + 7 + 8 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 8 + 10 = 46Favorite tracks: Agalloch - Our Fortress Is Burning, Pt. II (Bloodbirds), Aquaria - Here Comes the Life, Mystery - Dear Someone
8. Stadler: 8 + 2 + 6 + 9 + 1 + 9 + 6 + 8 = 49Favorite tracks: UFO - Love to Love, Jane's Addiction - Three Days
9. jingle.boy: 2 + 9 + 10 + 7 + 7 + 4 + 9 + 9 = 57Favorite tracks: Soul Secret - Behind the Curtain, Epysode - Raven's Curse
10. Sacul: 10 + 5 + 9 + 10 + 7 + 10 + 10 + 6 = 67Favorite tracks: Nine Inch Nails - The Wretched; Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Storm
Topic: Lethean's Laid Back Roulette (Final round results!!!) (Read 64430 times)
