Round 6 Results Part 2 (aka After the Sickening)
Time Requiem - Optical IllusionKattelox
Neoclassical Progressive Metal
SwedenFirst Impression - This feels sort of forgettable. Kind of a poor man's Symphony X.I had such a hard time with this album. Especially with not comparing it constantly to Symphony X. I would almost call it a gateway album in to Symphonic/Neoclassical Power/Progressive Metal. Something for a newbie to cut their teeth on before getting in to the more complex stuff and finding the true masters of the various metal sub genres. To me it all ended up sounding very pedestrian/vanilla. The other major issue is the lyrics. They are the epitome of not good. I don't know if it's a translation issue with the band being Swedish or if they are really just that bad at writing lyrics. I found myself cringing at some of the lines. Then the vocals have no punch to them. This is the wrong type of music for Goran Edman to be singing. I like his vocals in Karmakanic. His voice is way more suited to Prog Rock. Which leads me to believe that Edman is not the lyricist on this album, because I like the lyrics on Karmakanics albums. Maybe he isn't the lyricist for Karmakanic. I have no idea. The guitar sound for the riffs are pretty much identical to Symphony X. It's like they listened to The Odyssey before making this album and just decided to copy the guitar sound. The lead guitar sound is NOT Symphony X like....I also don't like it. Same with the majority of the keyboard patches. They all sound about as cool and tough as a wet noodle. The drummer is just there. The bassist has the most interesting parts here, but he is sadly buried in the mix the majority of the time. The best part of this album is probably the second half of the title track with some cool back and forth between the keyboardist and the guitarist, but sadly the guitar tone and keyboard patches ruin the whole thing. Then there's the fact that almost all of the songs sound very similar in structure and sound.
This may all sound like the album was terrible (it wasn't) and that I absolutely hated it (not exactly). I think they focused the majority of their efforts on being technical and the songwriting, production, and actual sound of the instruments all suffered for it. There are some beacons of light here, but sadly they are ruined by the major flaws this album has. Get a different singer, work on the tone and sound of the instruments, get better production values, use melodies that work for the song, go for more variety, focus less on technicality and more on song writing and I think you have a winning album. This album just makes it on the right side of the inoffensive threshold.
5.5/10
Jorn Lande & Trond Holter - Dracula: Swing of DeathJingle
Rock Opera
NorwayFirst Impression - This artist definitely has a sound and style that they like to stick to.So a Rock Opera about Dracula eh? This is actually fairly different from the other stuff I've heard from Jorn, but you can definitely tell it's him on this album. This album is also still heavily rooted in the heavy/symphonic metal that Jorn does for the most part. The difference here is obviously Trond Holter. I've never heard of this guy before, but I like his guitar playing/riffs/solos and his song writing style. Jorn collaborating with this guy seems to have gotten the best performance (at least in my opinion, based on the limited albums I've heard him on) out of him since his days with Ark. I still think I like Ark more than this, but this at least has a ton of variety to it and for the most part it all sounds really good. Some of the lyrics come across as a little cheesy, but this is a Rock Opera so that's to be expected to some extent. Swing of Death falls in this category, but it's a fun song to listen to and something very different for Jorn. The song before this, Walking on Water is just a fantastic heavy metal track with some great metal singing. The biggest problem I have with this album is the female vocals. I don't like Lena Fløitmoen's voice which first crops up in Save Me. She seems completely disinterested in singing the songs she is on. Maybe that's just her voice. She doesn't seem to be a match for the pure raw passion that Jorn has. Oh well, at least she isn't on every track, but unfortunately it holds back 4 of the songs here. I cant help but think if they able to get someone like Anneke Van Giersbergen or Floor Jansen it could have been so much better. As an example you have Jorn by himself on the song Queen of the Dead and it's a powerful song filled with every ounce of passion he can muster in to the vocals (plus the fact that the whole band is on point on this song helps too). Then Into the Dark totally ruins the musical bliss that I was just enjoying as soon as her vocals come in....ugh. I had my wife listen to it too (thinking maybe I was missing something), and she said that the female vocalist sounded bored, but she thought Jorn had a Dio-like quality to the passion he puts in to his singing. So there you have it. Jorn awesome, Lena boring. Given that nearly 40% of the runtime I could do without, despite the fantastic musicianship through most of it, I cant in good conscience give this a very high score. Luckily you are dodging the bonus point band -1 because after some investigation this seems to be mostly a Trond Holter project with Jorn as a guest vocalist, not a Jorn project.
7.2/10
Arion - Last of UsEvermind
Symphonic Power Metal
FinlandFirst Impression - The melodies! The nearly perfect collaboration of the guitars, bass, and drums!So there really isn't a ton to say about this album. It isn't overly complex or super proggy, but it's extremely well made. Tight musicianship. Incredible melodies. Both emotional and face melting guitar solos. Keyboards that aren't overly cheesy and add a ton to the songs without overpowering them. Vocals that are powerful and technical and emotional all at the same time (really some of the best power metal vocals I've heard in a while), without overdoing it. Bass you can actually hear and follow and enjoy, mostly. Did I mention the melodies? Drums played perfectly to the song. Melodies! It's so melodic. The melodicness of the melodies could out melody even the most melodious of melody snobs who could only dream of melodies this grand......... Yeah anyways.... Granted a lot of this stuff could be attributed to a lot of both symphonic and power metal bands, but it's the way this band meshes each of those qualities together that makes this album so enjoyable to listen to from start to finish. So a 6/10 you will not be getting as you predicted. It's much better than that.
9.4/10
Blindead - Affliction XXIX II MXMVIElite
Atmospheric Sludge Metal
PolandFirst Impression - The atmosphere is crushing and comforting at the same time.Judging on the album cover alone, I expected this to be a reggae/dub/punk/funk band or Nu metal. I was pleasantly surprised when I fired up the album for the first time. Another interesting surprise was the song titles. They all blend together and it makes my OCD extremely happy. Every time I get a new album I compulsively check to see if the song titles make a coherent sentence or blend together in some way. This is the first album I have seen that does this. Why don't more bands do this? No matter.
On to the music. I love the atmosphere here. It isn't crushing in the traditional sense, but more in the bleakness of the atmosphere. It tries to weigh you down and you feel like you are being pushed down by it. At the same time it almost feels like being swaddled in a comfortable blanket. It's a weird combo, but that's just what it feels like to me. And OH MY, that sax (or is it a trumpet) that comes in on After 38 Weeks is bloody brilliant. This whole track is just brilliant and a perfect counterpoint to the first track. The tension builds up again with My New Playground Became. The flow of this album is impeccable. Each song flows effortlessly in to the next. Probably because this is meant to be one long song called Self Consciousness is Desire and After 38 Weeks My New Playground Became Dark and Gray, So It Feels Like Misunderstanding When All My Hopes and Dreams Turn In To Affliction, but the record label said, "No you cant have a song with a title that long." So the band said screw it, we will split it in to 7 tracks and just break the name up. FLAWLESS VICTORY! Anyway, this album is really really good at building up the tension and heaviness and then releasing it in to some brilliant softer sections with a plethora of instruments at the bands disposal (which I realize could all be keyboards, but who cares). From one track to the next "Everything Just Works" (Todd Howard quote, that I don't think even he believes anymore). Dark and Gray is probably my least favorite track here, but it's essential to the album and it isn't bad in any way. The story/concept/lyrics might be the best part of this album. It's a bleak and sad story, but it's very well written and I always say that the saddest stories are sometimes the best, especially if it's so well written. I'm rambling at this point. Take your much deserved high score and send me another album of equal greatness!
9.5/10
Bizali - Thanks AnnaAriich
Indie Jazz Pop
United KingdomFirst Impression - Groovy avocadosOk, where the hell did this album come from?!!? I mean I know the band is from Bristol, but holy crap this is some of the grooviest indie/pop/funk/jazz/rock/blues/RnB/soul music to ever come out of the UK. How is this band not more well known. This is the kind of band that should be known and praised the world over! I think my two favorite things going on here are the vocals and the bass. That bass guitarist is laying down some of the funkiest, grooviest, bad ass bass lines in existence. Not to mention the bass tone is on point as well. The vocalist is very diverse and has some serious chops, being able to navigate her entire vocal range with ease, as well as using a variety of styles. That first track, Lucille, pretty much demonstrates everything I just mentioned perfectly. Possibly even more incredibly is the fact that each track here sounds completely unique, yet at the same time they all make a cohesive whole and don't just sound like a bunch of random songs that were thrown together for an album. And in case everyone else is wondering why my first impression says Groovy Avocados, just listen to Everybody Here. Grooviest song about avocados ever. Then again, I don't think I've heard another song about avocados before. So by that logic it's also the heaviest, funkiest, loudest, fastest, slowest, sexiest, ugliest, crappiest, best, jazziest, song I've ever heard about avocados...... Whatever.....what really matters here is that there isn't a weak song here, even the intro/interludes/outro are worth listening to. How often can you say that every song on an album is great. I don't think I could pick a favorite, I've changed my mind every time I've listened to the album. I guess, gun to head, I would probably pick Lucille since it was the first song I heard and immediately got my attention and pulled me in. But boy what a ride the rest of the album is. I even like this more than that Blue Food album.
9.7/10
The Scores So Far
Romdrums - 7.7, 8.5, 8.7, 9.5, 20.1, 8.7 = 63.2
Ariich - 9.5, 7, 7.8, 8, 20.2, 9.7 = 62.2
TAC - 7.6, 8, 9.1, 8.8, 19.5, 9 = 62
Evermind - 8.2, 7.5, 8.5, 6, 21.5, 9.4 = 61.1
Parama - 9.1, 8.7, 6.7, 8.9, 17.7, 8.5 = 59.6
Lethean - 6.8, 7.8, 6.6, 6.8, 21.7, 8.5 = 58.2
Elite - 7.8, 7.4, 8.3, 9, 16.2, 9.5 = 58.2
Jingle - 8.3, 6, 8, 7.7, 19.9, 7.2 = 57.1
Kattelox - 9, 9, 9, 6.8, 15.5, 5.5 = 54.8
Sacul - 8.5, 8.5, 5.9, 8.4, 15.4 = 46.7
Indiscipline - 7.5, 8, 5.8, 7, 18.1 = 46.4
Stadler - 6.4, 7, 6, 6.5, 18.1 = 44
Shadow Ninja - 5.5
Lordcost - 4.5
Topic: Puppies Crazy Album Roulette (Jingle & Kat Bonus Round...spoiler...Jingle wins) (Read 113418 times)