In alphabetical order, the Round 8 writeups.
Bolsters: Diabulus in Musica / Healing
Heavy as fuck, and right on the edge of sounding too 'thrashy' for me. It wasn't bad for this For operatic/symphonic metal, but not great either. I wasn't totally in love with Zuberoa's vocals; Tarja and Floor are the standard-bearers for operatic-metal (Tarja was my introduction and Floor takes it to another level with in being able to deliver opera range and so much more). That 'traditional' opera section at the 4 minute mark was kinda weak - the high pitched scream leading right back to the main (thrashy) riff was a very jarring and awkward bridge. Otherwise, despite not being "great", this was a very good track - not quite enough to make me want to dive into them, but enjoyed this none-the-less. Was it enough to overtake Evermind... we shall see.
Elite: Tesseract / Smile
Juuuuust a bit outside … of my strike zone - where you've been with a lot of your submissions. You were pretty consistent stuff just outside of my current preference for what I like to listen to, with a gem or two tossed in there. This fits the same bill… our preferred flavour of prog-metal is just slightly out out of sync. The varied vocal styles - clean, whiney/wail, screams/growls - didn't sit well with me. The guitar tone also grated on me after repeated listens. The overall flow and musicianship was fine, but "fine" unfortunately ends up at the bottom of the list.
Evermind: David Gilmour / Rattle That Lock
On the first few listens, I had some serious fears that, to use a baseball analogy, your closer just might have blown the save for you. Kudos for being true to yourself in sending Gilmour, but something didn't jive here. Almost everything was ordinary at best, and I was *not* a fan of the backing vocals in the chorus ... At. All. He sounds good, and the guitar solo and outro were both excellent (though the solo was pretty short; the guitar outro was great - just again with those backing vocals). Don't feel too bad though, I'm not a fan of Robert Plant solo stuff over the last 25 years either - he (and Gilmour it would seem based on this tune) is simply making a style of music that has strayed a little too far from everything that I love about Zeppelin/Floyd - too much groove; not enough rock/metal/prog. Pins and needles for you until tomorrow. Yeah, I'm being a prick.
Indiscipline: John Norum / Eternal Flame
A little thin on the production, but that's some seriously shred-a-licious guitar work right off the bat. Who knew?? I never really got anything that shreddy in Europe, and of course, I love me Goran Edman (as Katt and Evermind know). Double dipping within the roulette is some seriously sly cheating
.
jjrocks: Diamond Head / Call Me
Not bad by any means, but it was pretty uneventful. Not much here captured my attention… perhaps your most plain and uninteresting submission this whole roulette. Just a typical mid-tempo 4/4 rock tune with a basic verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus-outro structure. The musicianship and vocals were rather ordinary, which didn't save it from sounding like something I've heard a hundred times before.
Kattleox: Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah / Lake Shore Drive
What is this, the guilty pleasure round? This had early 70s fuck-rock all over it, and it sure was catchy hell. There was a TV show that was very well known in Canada in the 70s/80s (jj will know what I'm talking about) - The Littlest Hobo. This tune gives me all the same vibe and feels of that
theme song. It was fun as hell, like listening to Zeppelin/Hot Dog - it's not something that's going to be a regular go-to song, but I'll love this every time I play it. I'm not going to make the mistake of rating it at the bottom just because it's not my normal cup of tea (like I did with Zydar's submission of Gloria by Mando Diao in Roulette v1 - damn I still love listening to that tune), but it ain't gonna be a top 3 tune either.
kingshmegland: Special Providence / Irrelevant Connotations
Much like your Bleed submission, there was way too much wankery here with little cohesion to pull it together. There are lots of individual moments that I should (and some that I actually did) love, but just as I'm getting into those parts, there's an abrupt turn, and I've got the equivalent of sonic whiplash. As RJ will attest in cheffing, you can't just put together a lot of good things and expect the sum of the individual parts to be good/great. There has to be a rhyme and reason to the recipe, and this tune didn't deliver that for me.
Lethean: Solefald / Eukalyptustreet
Ballad + harsh vox + non-english. You're combining one of my favorite things with two of my least favorite things. It was like a 2-on-1 beatdown. I probably could've been ok if it was just the grows, or just not-English, but the two combined squashed any enjoyment I had from the music. This song felt every bit like a 9 minute track - and then some. I gave it a solid 5 listens before pulling the ripcord. Another hard 10.
lonestar: Kaipa / Our Silent Ballroom Band
That was a lot to digest, but once I was able to, man. Wow. Soooooo many fantastic elements. Quintessential *prog* here. Love Aleena's vocals, especially the intro. Every listen to this song just made it better and better as I was able to take it in. The atmosphere that the keyboard provides throughout the entire 22 minutes made me all warm and fuzzy. The slow gradual build over the first 1/2 of the song was like aural foreplay. Lovely vocal harmonies interspersed with brief little guitar runs just as they almost blow their load at the 8 minute mark - and then chill with a 3 minute instrumental breakdown filled with a plethora of key/guitar unisons and callbacks, and a nice little guitar solo. Act 2 comes to a climax after 6 more minutes of frantic bliss, and then a nice cuddle for 5 minutes. Someone pass me a cigarette.
lowdz: Magnum / Les mort Dansant
Yeah, I was totally wrong to say I wasn't a fan of Bob's voice. I'm now certain that what I didn't like about Magnum was because of their music. I've tried Storyteller once (I must've been multi-tasking and not really taking it in, because if it's anything like this tune, I gotta give 'er another go). I also have a Best-of from Magnum, and was largely underwhelmed by it - and now that I reflect, it's not likely because of Bob, but rather the music/writing. I loved the slow gradual build on this track as well - Bob's great... better than great ... he's fan-fucking-tastic, and this is an impressive ballad that starts soft and solemn, and builds fantastically over 6 minutes. I'd inadvertently started listening to a live version of it at first - which was especially special. Was digging that for sure, and will definitely check that out, as he's awesome in a live setting. If Kaipa was the equivalent of a great 22 minute shag, this was a cock-worshiping hummer if I ever heard one.
Puppies: Psychotic Waltz / Into the Everflow
2nd half WAY better than the first - but that doesn't mean it was all that good overall. First half was way to somber and macabre for my tastes… vocals were a little whiny at times too - that was a turn off. Background guitar work was really nice - had a vibe like QR/Promised Land, but vocally it sure wasn't early/mid-90s Tater. However, continued listens had me appreciating the mood and guitar work more and more. This was initially slated for bottom 3, but worked it's way up a bit. The vocals never did click for me, and that's what held this back from rating any better.
Stadler: Concrete Blonde / Carry Me Away
Everyone (at least the fogeys) knows Joey, and that's pretty much all I know/remember about Concrete Blonde, so I wasn't sure what to expect here, and this was a very pleasant surprise. Loved the acoustic intro, and then - SNAP - right into a slightly frantic and angry (and drunk) rant - both lyrically and musically. I certainly don't hear the 'alternative' in this rock tune. Nothing super overwhelming here, but a really REALLY nice tune to listen to.
TAC: Eternal Of Sweden / Surrounded By Shadows
And he's back. Where was this the last two rounds? Seriously, what the fucking fuck!?!? Melodic metal at it's finest. Nice gritty vocalist (sounds a lot like Chity from Red Circuit - and earlier in the Roulette from Katt, PowerQuest), and his style fits the music like a glove. Reminds me a ton of the song Last of the Heroes by Sturm Und Drang - which I absolutely love - particularly because of the keyboard melody that drove this song. Everything about this was a bullseye.
Train: Solution .45 / Winning Where Losing Is All
Tasteful and in moderation - you got the memo. That's some beautifully melodic music both vocally (with the cleans) and musically. Tasteful growls in moderation don't detract, but for me, they don't add anything special to this either. Fantastic sound all around. I know Kade will be all like
, as he gave these guys to me last time around - and they did well, but I just didn't go any further with them. Perfectly crunchy guitars, and the clean vocals are off the charts good. You definitely saved your best for last.
wolfking: Midnight Sun / Nemesis
Dude… sales 101 - set expectations low; deliver high. You did the opposite here. Highlighting that it was an Magnus project, I had some high-ish expectations, and this failed to deliver. Great melody, just what I'd expect from MK. But when I've become used to the the quality of vocalists he usually has (Allen, Lande, Harnell, Sheepers, Kiske/Sommerville, Andersson - not to mention the variety from the two FreeFall albums!), well, this guy on the mic was underwhelming to say the least. You thought you were cheating, but by playing it safe, you went too safe and got caught. Musically, it was pretty damn good - certainly not MK's best, but still really good. Vocally, super meh. If this had been my first intro to MK, surely would have been digging it a lot more than I did. Tune in tomorrow to find out if you finished up, down, or ended up Even Stephen.
Topic: jingle.boy's 4th roulette: That's all she wrote folks - another happy ending (Read 98304 times)