Alright, let's release the tension and pressure.
Indiscipline: Temperance / Daruma's Eyes (Pt 1)
Fantastic musically…opening was awesomesauce … vocally, it was textbook Italian power metal (with some proginess to it). Loved it. Amazing chorus - loved the lead and backing vocals there. I suppose you could’ve gotten a Rock-level “FINALLY!”, but since I really didn’t know what to expect from you coming in to this, I have no point of comparison to know if you should be doing better than you were. Italian power metal walks a fine line with me between being too cheesy - like blue-cheese cheesy - (i.e., I can only take so much of it), vs being a nice blend of pepper-jack spiced cheese that offers a lot of different flavours. You nailed the latter here.
Ranking: 1Evermind: Lee Abraham / Harbour Lights
Again with the flute!
Gorgeous song… reminds me a lot of another gorgeous ballad with "Harbour" in the title (Peaceful Harbour). So beautiful and relaxing. Gorgeous outro solo… Lee can deliver some serious emotion with his guitar, that's for sure.
Ranking: 2.1Lethean: Almah / Breathe
This was pleasant as fuck, but damn that was short. Smooth voice, nice smooth tune - the vibe reminds me a lot of Solsbury Hill/Solitary Shell. Didn't really have much to say as I typed this, so I thought to check out the band at metal-archives, and ... well ... suck me sideways, I thought I recognized the voice!
Ranking: 2.2Elite: Andromeda / Crescendo of Thoughts
FINALLY! Something that clicked. I’d heard a few Andromeda tracks a long time ago, and they showed up on a compilation album I have from somewhere, so I knew they were kinda keyboard heavy in their sound. The keyboard/guitar unisons and duels were magnificent. This is the kind of Prog-metal that these ears were made for - complex, but not too much of a wank-fest. Vocally, I wasn't wow'd, but it fit well with the music. Good 2nd choice - I don't think Oceans of Slumber would have fared well at all.
Ranking: 3.1wolfking: Lizzy Borden / Lovin You Is Murder
Not quite as good as you introducing me to W.A.S.P., but almost. Nothing but straight forward classic metal here. I’d guess the only reason I missed out on these guys is because I can remember precisely zero radio exposure for them back in the 80s. Of my group of close friends back then, I had only one buddy in high school that shared the same tastes and level of musical interest as me. We found what we liked, and weren’t fanatics about expanding our musical arsenal, so we pretty much stuck to what we knew - about 40-50 bands I’d say. Add these fuckers to the list - prolly just start with a best-of compilation.
Ranking: 3.2Lowdz: Westworld / Illusions
That's some damn fine AOR in a round where a few people took risks - and whiffed - this safe choice resonated well. It's nothing that would standout in the world of Melodic Rock/AOR, but this was a really nice track. As the week went on, it felt more and more ordinary, so I’m not sure if they’ll make the cut when I dig deeper into all the new discoveries here, but in-and-of-itself, this was a very nice track.
Ranking 4.1jjrocks: Twisted Sister / Ride to Live, Live to Ride
Solid… in the Frontiers way. It didn't quite capture me the way some of the other classics did that you've provided so far, but this was an excellent metal tune, with all the right elements that appeal to me. I feel as if I could start with the exact same writeup for every single one of your submissions, they would all be guaranteed to be at least middle of the pack, with some trending to the top (ala Impellitteri) - wishing I'd explored these acts beyond the radio hits back in the 80s (and regretting that I hadn't), but for now I'll just have to seek 'best-of' recommendations, because I can't fathom trying to explore the depth of the discography that most of these have.
Ranking 4.2lonestar: Fullforce / Visions
Vocally, it was pretty much as I expected… and I was disappoint Musically it was kinda bland, and Anderssn didn't do enough to save it and make it better. Sometimes voices I love don't compensate for a song that lacks quality - Brent fell victim to this last roulette with a submission that had Rick Altzi on the mic. Scored worse than Taylor Swift. I appreciate the '... but always cheat' submission, but Mike's voice alone couldn't make this a great submission. Still, middle of the pack this round.
Ranking: 5Kattleox: Iced Earth / Damien
Vocally, it also was pretty much exactly as I expected… and it was meh, but musically it was pretty good. Starts out really nice with the choir and acoustic, but then Barlow comes in - see my earlier comment… Barlow just isn't that interesting to me. There were some parts where he delivered the goods (he sure can wail, I'll give him that), but otherwise, meh is how he - and his era of Iced Earth - hits me. I liked it more than the other IE song I got from Zook in my 2nd (Dante's Inferno), as it definitely and it got more enjoyable with multiple listens; but on the whole, it would seem that IE just isn't for me
Ranking: 6.1Bolsters: Dave Kerzner / The Lie
Ah… the singer from A Sound of Contact . I've listened to them a few times, and found them to be pretty enjoyable. Vocally he was ok, though it felt like he mailed it in… there didn't seem to be much emotion or passion in his delivery, it fell kinda 'flat' for me; musically - especially the instrumental breakdowns and solos - this was excellent.
Ranking: 6.2Train: Closure in Moscow / The Church of the Technochrist
Fun, enjoyable, but I would rarely proactively reach for this kind of music. It totally gives me a Deer Hunter vibe - I keep coming back to them as a descriptor for this kind of music, cuz I don't know what/who else to draw as a comparison. Fun, funky, kinda poppy, kinda proggy, upbeat, definitely psychadellic, and simply nice music to listen to (for the most part). Vocally it was pretty strong. I enjoyed the fuck out of this, but I would rarely proactively reach for this kind of music. I think I said earlier that I reach for TDH once every couple of years, and that's enough to satiate me for this funky-psyhcadellic-prog kind of music. I mean, I think their
FB profile says it all about them.
Ranking: 7Stadler: Keane / Bedshaped
Really not sure what I just listened to. Was it pop? Rock? It wasn't bad by any means, but I just didn't get a lot of enjoyment out of it. The high pitched, yet soft vocals that are in the intro up to the part the full band kicks in were not good, and they kept coming back for more - like a subscription to the jelly of the month club (though I don't have a rant to go on). The outro was nice, except for the keyboard tone there - sounded like a $15 keyboard you’d pick up at Toys R Us. Ultimately, this one started out weak, got a little better in the middle, but finished with a whimper.
Ranking: 8King: No More Pain / Bleed
WWHHYYYYY!?!?!?!? Sorry to say, your trend continues. You got something against consistency? This came a little too close to feeling/sounding Haken-ish, which as everyone knows, is not a good thing for this cochise. Share this one with Nick, I'm sure he'd love it. This had a lot to like about it - a lot of the guitar runs and riffs, the drum work, the instrumental section starting at 4:30ish for instance. Unfortunately, it had a lot more that I didn't like - it had an alt-rock feel for the most part, I'm not sure if I like or dislike the vocals, the outro... I'm with 425 on that - what the fuq was with that!?!? For some reason, when all the individual pieces are put together, it just sounded like a hot mess.
Ranking: 9.1TAC: Dyssidia / An Absolute Severance
I dunno man… your were certainly right, the harsh vocals blew… huge... like a deepthroat on Peter North level of suckage; unfortunately, the cleans didn't compensate for them; and the music certainly is metal af, but it didn't jive with me at all. This tune actually sounded worse with multiple listens. I know the younglings broke you in your roulette, but I'm proud to stand with Paul and jj (for the most part). This just ain't working for me - it started out as 10lbs of 'meh' in a 5lb bucket, and gradually descended into 10lbs of suck. On the bright side, it’s not the first 9 you got in a roulette today!
Ranking: 9.2Puppies_on_Acid: Alkaloid / Kernel Panic
Um… no. Way too much growls, and given I don't exactly like that style to begin with, these are what I'd classify as bad growls. Not enough clean to offset them, and growls for the sake of growling simply isn't my thing - it's not a vocal style that has any appeal to me on it's own - I might as well be listening to (c)rap or hip-hop. There is simply no appeal to me in growling/cookie-monster vocals just because. Tasteful and appropriate is what I've been saying about grows from the outset, and these vocals didn't hit me as such. This was the second one that I had to pull the ripcord on. I think I hammered out 3-4 genuine attempts, but by then, I knew this was the runt of the litter even though I gave it a couple more courteous listens. By the 6th go, it needed to be put down. C’mon man… surely you have something in your library more to my liking?? Please don’t make me suffer thru more experiments and/or attempts to get me to like something WAY outside my box.
Ranking: 10Standings:
Evermind*: 4+3+1+3+7+2=20
wolfking*: 2+4+6+5+3+3=23
Bolsters: 5+4+5+1+4+6=25
jjrocks88**: 4+2+4+6+6+4=26
lonestar*: 2+5+5+2+7+5=26
Kattoelox: 1+7+4+4+6+6=28
Lowdz: 6+1+8+6+4+4=29
TAC: 2+5+5+3+5+9=29
Lethean*: 4+8+4+4+8+2=30
kingshmegland: 4+9+1+8+1+9=32
Indiscipline**: 6+7+6+8+7+1=35
Stadler: 7+6+7+9+2+8=39
Elite: 10+7+10+5+9+3=44
Train of Naught: 9+10+7+7+4+7=44
Puppies_On_Acid: 8+8+3+10+10+10=49
* - 1 point improvement
** - 2 point improvement
Provided I didn't fail like I did with the blurred pic, Evermind retains the lead, while TAC drops like Marchand taking a slash. With two rounds to go, I’d say the top 5 all have legitimate chances to win, though the next 3 after that probably need a TAC-like comeback (in ariich’s roulette) to have a chance. To the bottom 7… please don’t throw in the towel; please aim for something that would appeal. Have some pride, dammit!
Topic: jingle.boy's 4th roulette: That's all she wrote folks - another happy ending (Read 98143 times)