Puppies Crazy Album Roulette (Jingle & Kat Bonus Round...spoiler...Jingle wins)

[The Walrus]

I'm currently working on that album, and results are tomorrow. 

[Crow]

god y'all went with some depressing as hell concepts 

Yeah, not a single happy concept album in sight from you guys. Where's Trainy when you need him?

hey at the very least my album doesn't end with most of humanity dying or a guy committing suicide 
just like, a lot of people dying in a war and then a lot of people being slain by mythical beasts and such

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

god y'all went with some depressing as hell concepts 

Yeah, not a single happy concept album in sight from you guys. Where's Trainy when you need him?

hey at the very least my album doesn't end with most of humanity dying or a guy committing suicide 
just like, a lot of people dying in a war and then a lot of people being slain by mythical beasts and such

Death, death, and more death 

[Crow]

yeah but it's not depressing death 
anyways congrats on your win ariich

[Crow]

okay time for romdrums' album

i checked out the latest skyharbor album but it really didn't do much for me. i kinda dug guiding lights when that one came out but haven't really gone back to it much since then. new singer ain't no daniel tompkins though, he kinda lets down an otherwise solid tune.
this foes song sure exists. i dunno. i wasn't very interested in it
same with this shattered skies song lol. there isn't a ton to either of these songs except an okay chorus
this darkane song feels kind of absurdly out of place compared to the first few but if we're going with like, a different sound for each 'step' then i can't complain about that. i actually kinda dig this one,  anyways, compared to the last few
like i dunno if i'd want a full album of darkane but one or two songs of this are, like, fine
i'm sorry but this stealing axion song flat bores me lol
i'd hate to say that the jolly interludes are some of my favorite parts of this but uuhhh
the under sanction tune is alright. kinda decent synth worth but that's all that stood out
your own cover track thing, uuhh i'll just say this style of gothic/darkwave w/e vocals just never does much for me so i don't really have any further commentary

i wanted to at least get to all the artists on your album once and now i've done that and there's like a half hour left and i can't say i'm too inclined to keep listening, sorry
not my roulette though so that doesn't mean much

[ariich]

adding all those fancy "news clips" into your album, dang

Yeah I had fun doing that, helped tell the story.

this dream the electric sleep song is way heavier than anything i've heard from them before
yeah i feel like i need to check out this dream the electric sleep album again

There are a few cracking songs on that album. There's some filler as well IMO but overall I think it's excellent.

i do feel less bad about having a blatant opeth ripoff album on my album considering the blatant pain of salvation ripoff vangough is on this album. neither of those are bad things to be, for the record

Yeah there's a super strong Pain of Salvation influence throughout a lot of that album, but as I said in my roulette there's enough uniqueness still that it doesn't feel too much of a rip off or get in the way of it being really strong stuff.

screw the righteous, why is he the ultimate winner of this story 

Yeah it's pretty bleak to be honest.

i dig this novallo song a lot actually, pretty good vocals mostly
novallo hasn't put out a full album yet so i'll wait until they do that

Their stuff is mostly much groovier (sort of pop djent) than the song I included here. Definitely recommend giving their second EP a listen at some point.

[ariich]

By the way are we getting all the results at once, or is there going to be a tense, painful slow reveal?

[Crow]

ariich i own the vangough album you don't need to sell it to me

and i hope it's a slow reveal so i can be out first and watch you writhe in agony over whether or not you won (you did)

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

By the way are we getting all the results at once, or is there going to be a tense, painful slow reveal?

Maybe I'll drag it out and post 1 result per day, starting with 6th overall in the roulette. 

[Crow]

DO IT 

[Crow]

didn't listen to elite's full album because it's 90 minutes long and i'm familiar with like two-thirds of it already (and disinterested in In Flames and Khemmis in general) but the stretch of hamferd to hamferd i listened to and i'm worried i'm sleeping on that album 'cause i dug both of those a lot, actually. 1914 was good too

[TAC]

By the way are we getting all the results at once, or is there going to be a tense, painful slow reveal?

Maybe I'll drag it out and post 1 result per day, starting with 6th overall in the roulette. 

No! Last round, I waited three days to find out I blew it. If my results aren't up by Tuesday, I automatically win!





Next Puppy Post: TAC-6th Place.

[Crow]

TAC post your album  i wanna listen to it

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

By the way are we getting all the results at once, or is there going to be a tense, painful slow reveal?

Maybe I'll drag it out and post 1 result per day, starting with 6th overall in the roulette. 

Next Puppy Post: TAC-6th Place.

You are right! TAC gets 6th place, everyone else wins! On to the next roulette! 

[romdrums]

 

[TAC]

TAC post your album  i wanna listen to it

https://open.spotify.com/user/tacdtf/playlist/5CghgUkmtcwuR1jpYasV9x?si=DoI53gpIQLqagVQxv9f0Cw

The last song is a short instrumental called Deliverance, by Before The Dawn. For some reason, it is now negated on Spotify.
Here's the track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGXEjQTZels

It's a story of how a murderer spends his final day before execution.

The tracks:
1. Let It Be Written-You Shall Not Murder
2. Karnya-Flooding Blood
3. Branch Arterial-My Curse
4. Scarlet Host-Altered State Of Denial
5. Euphoreon-Mirrors
6. Fractal Cypher-Idle Words
7. Frosttide-Final Hour (Instrumental)
8. Golden Resurrection-God's Mercy
9. Absolute Priority-Tragic Reconciliation
10. Mask Of Prospero-This Road Leads To Desolation
11. Lost Domain-...In The Waiting Room Of Death
12. Before The Dawn-Deliverance


The first half is the murderer reliving how he got to this point. He looks at his actions in Flooding Blood. Goes through the stages of Blame (My Curse), Denial (Altered State Of Denial), Rage (Mirrors) and finally acceptance (Idle Words).

The instrumental Version of Final Hour kicks off the 2nd half which is literally his final hour. He is visited by a Priest (God's Mercy) , attempts reconciliation (Tragic Reconciliation), and is left alone with his final thoughts (his Road leads To Desolation), and finally he enters The Waiting Room Of Death, which closes with some harsh vocals claiming his soul.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

[Crow]

Congrats ariich!

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

So first things first. I couldn't decide between 2 album titles for the bonus point so I gave half a point to 2 albums. So without further ado, the final results in ascending order of the final score.

FINAL RESULTS!!!

Sixth Place

Lethean
The Polar Vortex
Genres - Gothic Metal, Power Metal, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal
Countries of Origin - Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States

First Impression - This is powerful stuff

Tracklist
1. Sonata Arctica - Caleb
2. Mindfeed - Mother
3. Spheric Universe Experience - So Cold
4. Superior - Ultra
5. Charon - Colder
6. Angel Dust - Bleed
7. Madsword - Time in the Ice
8. Kamelot - EdenEcho
9. Sonata Arctica - Broken
10. Darkwater - Tallest Tree

The way this story played out and how the second half in particular finished actually hit me in a way I wasn't really expecting after reading your explanation of the story. In a nutshell, a man has a rough time growing up. Hated by his father, unwanted by his mother, as depicted in the opening two tracks. He was a broken man and eventually fell in with the wrong crowd, particularly one person who was the leader of this group of people. Even though this man took care of our protagonist, he was bad news. Our protagonist found himself helping in an uprising. Years later the world, as people had known it, had been destroyed because of this uprising. In the track Time in the Ice, our protagonist regrets his part in it and finds someone who could help him to move on to another world to start over. He fell in love with someone in this new world (EdenEcho) who unbeknownst to our protagonist escaped the same way he did, but she left him because he wouldn't open up to her about his past. Years went by and just when he thought his life could be no more empty (Broken), she came back, determined to help him get over his past and find peace together in this new world. Something about the particulars of this story just pull at me emotionally and I'm not really sure what it is. Something about how down to earth the story starts and then it takes this fantastical sci-fi turn of being able to traverse to another world where one can live forever. And despite being able to live forever, our protagonist just wants to have the companionship and love of someone close to him, more than anything else.

The songs themselves are sort of a mixed bag. The album starts off quite well with the trio of Caleb, Mother, and So Cold. You can really hear the emotion of our protagonist in the first 2 songs in particular. So Cold has some really cool melodies, but the vocals are a little distracting at times. Ultra is a really polarizing song for me. The music is good throughout most of it, as is the vocals, but the song gets really repetitive after a while. There just isn't enough going on to justify its six and a half minute run time. Colder takes a turn to some more Gothic oriented metal. I never was a fan of just straight Gothic Metal. It's mostly too bland for my tastes and this song is no different. The vocal melodies are nice enough and there's even a cool guitar solo, but the rest of it leaves a lot to be desired. Bleed brings us back in to some more awesome riffage and head bangable music. Even though it sounds like the vocalist is trying to do his best to sound like Dio, I still find his vocals enjoyable. Then again I like Dio, so..... Plus that vocal melody in the chorus is just awesome! This song was a real grower, because I didn't really like it on first listen, and now it's one of my favorites on the album. Time in the Ice is another favorite. I'm not sure how I never heard of Madsword before, because this is pretty awesome Prog Metal. The vocals don't do much for me and the keyboards get a little cheesy at times, but the music is top notch. Reminds me a lot of Empty Tremor. EdenEcho really helps push the story forward and is a pretty good symphonic power metal tune to boot. Broken didn't really do as much for me as the other Sonata Arctica song, but it's not a bad song. The vocal melodies sound a little bland throughout the song and the music seems a bit uninspired. Tallest Tree on the other hand is a great song. I remember listening to this Darkwater album years ago and then forgetting all about it. So thanks for bringing it back to my attention with this song. Great melodies and great emotional singing. Also a wonderful way to finish the album and story.
Album Score - 15.8/20

The way this album flows even without any song edits is actually really good. There weren't any noticeable cuts or awkward transitions. The story despite really speaking to me, was a little scattered and probably could have been more focused, but it was still coherent and understandable. The music all ties in really well together with the odd song out being Colder. It just didn't live up to the quality of the rest of the songs here.
Flow Score - 7.5/10

Total Score - 23.3

Fifth Place

Romdrums
Collapse of Our Godforsaken Existence
Genres - Djent, Melodic Death Metal, Post Rock, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, Synth Pop
Countries of Origin - India, Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States

First Impression - A pretty stellar second half, marred only by a not so stellar first half

Tracklist
1. Jolly - Guidance One
2. Skyharbor - Dim
3. Foes - Beautiful Fiction
4. Shattered Skies - You Will Know My Name
5. Jolly - Guidance Two
6. Darkane - Godforsaken Universe
7. Darkane - Ostracized
8. Stealing Axion - Parallel Futures
9. Jolly - Guidance Three
10. Under Sanction - Live Here When I Die
11. Romdrums - Invisible Sun
12. Stealing Axion - Collapse
13. Jolly - Guidance Four
14. Stealing Axion - Dreams Reversed
15. Darkane - Existence Is Just a State of Mind
16. Under Sanction - An Iteration So Blatantly Sound

I'll just come right out of the gates and say the first half is dragged down by Darkane. I'm not at all in to this band. The vocals are annoying to me and so is the music. Then there's the production which in my opinion is pretty bad. The 3rd Darkane song is better and serves the second half pretty well, but it's still not something I would ever come back to. RYM and Metal Archives has them listed as Melodic Death Metal, but I just don't see it. They sound more like more of a type of Groove metal, and not a very good one. Anyway, on the more positive side, I really like the story you have laid out here. It's not really a happy story, but it could be a story of triumph over evil, possibly. The story seems to be left intentionally vague on the outcome. Either that or I missed something, which is entirely possible. Either way I like the way you intertwined the Guidance tracks with the rest of the songs to tell the story.

As for the songs not by Darkane, starting with Skyharbor's Dim, I actually enjoyed this mostly. I remember hearing some Skyharbor back when they first started and had Daniel Tompkins on vocals. I know I liked it, but never came back to them for some reason (probably just fell through the cracks). This guy on vocals is definitely competent enough, but is no Daniel Tompkins. The music goes through a few different movements and is fairly interesting throughout with some great melodies and atmosphere. Beautiful Fiction has a pretty cool catchy chorus and some neat drum work, but the rest of the song doesn't do much for me. I feel like this is a band that I would need some time to sit down with the album and get the full context. I will probably circle back around to this band at some point. You Will Know My Name is very Djenty Prog Metal, but with some interesting 80's pop style keyboards. I find the combination intriguing. Reminds me a bit of Haken's Affinity album. If they were to eliminate the Djent from the song it probably could have benefited. I do want to quickly mention a couple of redeeming qualities of the Darkane songs. There are some interesting guitar solos and the slower parts are kind of OK. Moving on, Parallel Futures kind of sounds like a less heavy Meshuggah with clean vocals at times. They have the poly-rhythm drums patterns down pat along with the heavy guitar chugging, but then they have these melodic guitar leads underneath clean singing. I guess overall I can say it's pretty decent. There is cool stuff going on, but like Foes I think I may need to hear the album as a whole to truly get it. Live Here When I Die is where things become much better in my opinion. I really like this song. It's a sort of mix of Post Rock with Electronica. It kind of reminds me a bit of Long Distance Calling's Trips album. I have to give you props for sending me something you personally did. Invisible Sun is one of my favorite Police songs and you took it in a whole new direction. Sounds like if Depeche Mode did a Police cover. No idea if that's what you were going for, but that's what I hear. I really like the synths used here and the drums are cool. The vocals in the beginning aren't that great to me, but they get better in the second half. Really enjoyable cover, thanks for sending this. Collapse isn't quite as interesting as the first Stealing Axion song, but it's still enjoyable enough. Dreams Reversed on the other hand is a whole other story. This song is really really good, a nice slow burner. It's like if Dream Theater went Djent. I love the bass tone here (that low growly tone). The slow buildup is quite nice too. The last Darkane song, as I said earlier, is the best of the 3. With it's much more memorable riffs and less annoying song structure. Still dislike the vocals. The final track, An Iteration So Blatantly Sound, is a completely different beast from the first Under Sanction track. This one has a nice buildup and unlike the other one, vocals. I don't think this one is as strong, though. The vocals kind of detract from the music a bit here. The music is still pretty powerful and I like the way it ends.
Album Score - 14.7/20

Lyrically this all works and flows really well. As I said above the use of the Guidance tracks helped out a lot here. Your transitions are also almost all spot on. Some of the music I had a problem with, mostly Darkane just didn't work or fit for me musically. The story also flows well.
Flow Score - 8/10

Total Score - 22.7

[Crow]

Congrats ariich!
Also, damn, I must've scored at least 26/30 if I outplaced romdrums

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Congrats ariich!
Also, damn, I must've scored at least 26/30 if I outplaced romdrums

To be fair, I enjoyed the majority of all of the Concept albums. Some more so than others.

[Crow]

yeah i'm just surprised that i didn't show up in the first post there with how far behind i was before this round score-wise
Elite has to outscore ariich by 5 points to win, though, which I find unlikely.
TAC needs 5.4.
I need 7.4 
and i thought ariich's album was pretty good so i doubt it scored that low

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Fourth Place

Elite
Reflections of Death & Life – A Restrospective
Genres - Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Shoegaze
Countries of Origin - Faroe Islands, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

First Impression - There was one band I was worried about going in to this, but it fit surprisingly well

Tracklist
1. Huntsmen – Bury Me Deep
2. Huntsmen – Pyre
3. Ancestors – Gone
4. Ancestors – Through a Window
5. Khemmis – Isolation
6. Hamferð – Frosthvarv
7. Electric Wizard – We Hate You
8. 1914 – Passchenhell
9. Hamferð – Hon Syndrast
10. Huntsmen – The Barrens
11. Khemmis – Above the Water
12. In Flames – Dialogue With the Stars
13. Have a Nice Life – I Don’t Love
14. Khemmis – The Bereaved
15. Ancestors – The Warm Glow

The first 6 tracks here are all phenomenal and all work extremely well for the concept of your album. They all evoke this idea of relaxing and reflecting on life. In the case of this album our protagonist is sitting in reflection of the sad life that he has lived and realizing he has nothing left to live for. He reflects on the loss he has had to endure, the tragedies of wars he fought in, his futile attempts to live a happy life. The second half of the album shows him coming to grips with the fact that he just does not want to live anymore and eventually taking his own life. Cheerful stuff! The fact of the matter is, it's all told beautifully. The majority of these songs here have aspects of them that are just beautiful musically. Sad music is often coupled together with a sense of beauty. Songs like Gone and Isolation both have these beautiful melodies even though the lyrics are more depressing. Both Ancestors and Huntsmen seem to have perfected doomy sludgy song writing. Keeping it interesting, without overdoing it with having songs going on for too long with extended bits that don't go anywhere or get boring. Khemmis is a whole other beast. Still firmly in the Doom metal genre, but taking a way more traditional doom approach, similar to bands like Candlemass and Pallbearer. There are some tasty guitar solos spread throughout their songs, great riffs, and fantastic song writing. The lyrics also fit perfectly. Hamferð is yet again similar, but different. They are doom metal with a bit of a death metal approach. They remind me a bit of an early Swallow the Sun. Their songs have this power to them that is perfectly counterbalanced by the beautiful lighter parts driven by piano. Electric Wizard was the one band I was worried about going in to this. I've sampled some of their songs years ago and never really cared for them. I still don't think I will further check out the band, since I don't particularly care for their style as much, but this song fits fairly well lyrically, with another painful memory of our protagonist. Musically it's a bit of an outlier. 1914 has more of a blackened doom metal approach. You had mentioned in your PM that this was kind of a centerpiece of the album, showing the root of the protagonists issues and his anger and hatred for life. Musically there's some really cool stuff going on here, bu the song goes on a tad longer than it should have. The final 6 tracks are almost as phenomenal as the first 6 (the middle 3 being the weakest). Starting with The Barrens (that second half!) we get a great buildup to the grand finale with the final 2 tracks The Bereaved and The Warm Glow. What a fantastic way to end the album, both musically and lyrically. The Have a Nice Life track coming across almost like a surreal dream and while I'm still on the fence about whether or not I really like this track, it's fitting. But as I said, those final 2 songs, just wow. Ending on the highest of high notes.
Album Score - 17.2/20

The flow is actually done pretty well for not doing any editing to the songs. There are a couple of rough transitions, but nothing truly terrible. The lyrical connections throughout are really good and keeps the story moving and coherent. Musically it all works really well too. The vast majority is rooted in Doom Metal in some way, with the exception of 2 songs (Dialogue with the Stars and I Don't Love), but even those work well in context.
Flow Score - 7.5/10

Total Score - 24.7

Third Place

Parama
The Fall of Troy | Les Voyages de l'Âme
Genres - Atmospheric Black Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Psychedelic Metal
Countries of Origin - Canada, Greece, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States

First Impression - It's both epic and a bit of a mixed bag at the same time

Tracklist
The Fall of Troy
1. Oak Pantheon - Climb
2. Usurpress - Ships of Black Glass
3. Headspace - In Hell's Name
4. The Earth and I - She Abandons the Grey
5. An Abstract Illusion - Skeletons of Light

Les Voyages de l'Âme
1. Hail Spirit Noir - The Mermaid
2. Anciients - Ibex Eye
3. Oak Pantheon - Enormity
4. Piah Mater - Earthbound Ruins
5. Extremities - The Inward Eye

I like the way this concept album was laid out. Two separate but interconnected stories is a nice touch. Or I guess it could be looked at as a story and its sequel. The first part, The Fall of Troy, reminds me a bit of a book series that I read a while back called The Castes and the Outcastes. I like how the story begins with Climb. The lyrics seem like it's told from the perspective of the oppressed lower classes of this city. They see a way to overthrow the oppressive upper classes. Musically this is really great, sounding similar to Agalloch in a lot of ways (folky and atmospheric), but with more Post Metal and a bit more traditional Black Metal. Ships of Black Glass is a great follow up and the perfect song stylistically to present the next part of the story. It's this dirty sounding sludgy Death metal, but with some old school prog rock tendencies. Musically I don't think I've heard anything quite like this before. It's quite an interesting song. The song depicts the uprising of the lower class as war breaks out in the city. They want to change the old way of oppressive rule. They even bring in outside help from other nations in the world that are sympathetic to their cause. In Hell's Name tells the story through the eyes of one of the soldiers fighting for the upper class. As he fights for the only way of life he has ever known, he begins to question his faith. This song has a great build up and the music and lyrics really depict the soldiers thought process really well as he fights on and struggles with his own possible wavering faith. I've never really been the biggest fan of Damien Wilson in Threshold (I always preferred Andrew McDermott) and other projects I've heard him in, but this is the best he's sounded in anything I've heard him in. Plus the ending of this song is pretty epic. She Abandons the Grey is just a fantastic piece of music. I love the vocals. It takes a very post rock approach to the song writing, going back and forth from heavier louder sections to lighter more beautiful parts. In some ways this band reminds me of Rolo Tomassi and Oathbreaker, but they definitely have their own sound. Story wise, this shows the tide of the battle turn heavily in favor of the rebellion as they storm the castle and strike down the queen as the king flees. The last song in part 1 is from the kings perspective as he goes back to his dying queen. He watches her die and in his despair kills himself to be reunited with her in death. Musically this is a tour de force. It's like all the best parts of In Mourning and Wintersun boiled in to one, with some black metal aspects similar to Negura Bunget and Windir. Even some of the melodies reminds me of Caligula's Horse and Haken. It's epic, beautiful, heavy, and atmospheric. This is a band that I really want to check out further.
Part 1 Album Score - 18.4/20

The second part of this 2 part epic is a bit more of a mixed bag for me musically. The story is great, the tale of one of the soldiers that fought in the war in the first part making the long journey home with the men he commanded and the hardships they endured. Losing men to various forces of nature and other calamities until it's only the commander finishing the journey by himself. I mostly want to talk about the music here. Starting with The Mermaid. This may not be the popular opinion on the DTF boards, but Hail Spirit Noir just isn't as great as I've heard them made out to be. I like the way this song starts. It has a very Deep Purple vibe to it, and they have some distinct Oranssi Pazuzu (a band I love) similarities too. The biggest issues I have are the vocals and the length of the song. The vocals aren't terrible, but just don't work too well for me, the clean nor the harsh. The song is also just too long for what it is. Now make no mistake, there are some really cool parts. The whole intro is pretty nice and that keyboard section right about halfway through is pretty rad. The song does also go through some interesting changes, but by about 7-8 minutes in I'm ready for it to be over. Ibex Eye on the other hand is a much more interesting song, but still not a good as anything in Part 1. These guys take a very Mastodon (Crack the Skye era) approach. I can appreciate this, because I've been waiting for Mastodon to do something noteworthy since that album...so anything that sounds similar is welcome in my book. I'm glad you included a second Oak Pantheon song on here. This one takes quite a bit of a different approach to Climb, but you can still tell it's the same band. I love that melodic guitar lead that starts at about 3:30, this also sounds similar to Mastodon, but that's about the only thing that sounds similar to Mastodon here. Again the biggest similarity is Agalloch. The only thing that holds this back from being as good as Agalloch is their respective ability to weave the various parts of the song together without it feeling stitched together. Agalloch had an otherworldly ability to do this, while Oak Pantheon still needs a little work. Besides that the song is super enjoyable. Piah Mater is next with what you called an Opeth clone. I actually think they sound like Enslaved way more. Especially their Isa through Axioma Ethica Odini era. The guitar tone and sound, the vocals, both harsh and clean, the chord progressions. Then again the Opeth similarities are there, but I think that's to be expected since Opeth and Enslaved both followed a similar career path in changing styles. The difference being Opeth was grounded in Death Metal and Enslaved was grounded in Black Metal. This is a good song nonetheless. The Inward Eye took me a few listens to really get in to, but boy when I did it became my favorite song of Part 2. I mean it was easy to enjoy the saxophone used liberally throughout, but who doesn't love a good sax in their metal. I think the length and the varying parts just took a while to coalesce in to something magical for me. Also the vocals were a bit a of a turn off on first listen. I grew to love them though and even found myself singing along to most of the song. I also like the way it finishes telling the story. Great song choice to end this monster of a concept double album!
Part 2 Album Score - 17.2/20

Total Album Score - 17.8/20

For not doing your usual song edits this flows extremely well. I'm not even going to make a big stink about the fade outs. It all works well together. The only song musically that may be a little out of place is In Hell's Name, but it's still a great song and it isn't that far off genre-wise. The story is extremely well put together and thought out and the lyrics really reflect that.
Flow score - 9.5/10

Split bonus for Album Title - .5
Bonus for Favorite Song - 1
Total Score - 28.8

[Crow]

Yeah I'm more than satsified with that 

man, if I hadn't sent The Antlers I bet I'd have won this whole thing (unless ariich's album just scores like a perfect score lol), ahh well, can't complain about this 

and favorite song is she abandons the grey then? that's kinda funny since it was about the last song I put on the album, honestly the original concept album was just gonna be the disc 2 story too so I'm glad I made it a double one

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Second Place

TAC
The Sixth Commandment (The Final Day)
Genres - Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Power Metal, Progressive Metal
Countries of Origin - Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden

First Impression - This flows surprisingly well and is fairly diverse to boot (considering the genres involved)

Tracklist
1. Let It Be Written - You Shall Not Murder
2. Karnya - Flooding Blood
3. Branch Arterial - My Curse
4. Scarlet Host - Altered State Of Denial
5. Euphoreon - Mirrors
6. Fractal Cypher - Idle Words
7. Frosttide - Final Hour (Instrumental)
8. Golden Resurrection - God's Mercy
9. Absolute Priority - Tragic Reconciliation
10. Mask Of Prospero - This Road Leads To Desolation
11. Lost Domain - ...In The Waiting Room Of Death
12. Before The Dawn - Deliverance

So the songs on this album are all so good, I don't even really want to talk about the story. Although the story is pretty good too, so I will give a few of my thoughts. First of all beginning and ending the album with instrumentals works really well here. And using an instrumental to begin the second half works well as a transition between the lead up to this man's execution and then his final hour. In the end I think the man found peace and accepted his fate, at least that's my interpretation.

On to the songs themselves. First off you have the band Let It Be Written, which I had never heard of before and I couldn't find much info on them either. Nothing on Metal Archives or RYM and basically nothing on Last.fm. No matter, this is a pretty cracking way to open the album. Great riffs, a great solo, and a song title fitting for the concept of the album. Flooding Blood is a great song for showing how broken this man is, his internal thoughts and the lead up to the murder. The music is a fantastic blend of Power and Progressive Metal with great melodic solos and some fantastic singing (he has great range and lots of styles at his disposal). Then a keyboard solo from what sounds like Falling Into Infinity era (or I guess really any era) Derek Sherinian (I looked, it's not him). There are a lot of obvious Dream Theaterisms in this song too, but they all work for me. My Curse from Branch Arterial is another awesome song. This is another band where I could find almost no info. This song reminds me a lot of The Great Discord's first album, which is a good thing. The vocals are very similar, as is the music. Scarlet Host's Altered State of Denial is more melodic Prog Metal. This is a really good song, but the vocals feel slightly buried in the mix. Actually the overall production of the song is kind of weak (I know, I'm extremely anal about these things). With better production this would easily be on par with the Karnya song. Mirrors on the other hand is quite awesome. That lead guitar melody is really cool (it reminds me of something Joe Satriani would do) and the symphonic keyboards add a lot of atmosphere to the song. The background choir vocals are nice too. The lead vocals are a little overbearing at times, but not enough to ruin the enjoyment of the song. Idle Words started out as the weakest song on the album for me, but it has since grown on me. I didn't like the djentyness of it mixed with the other songs of the album at first, but it doesn't really bother me anymore because there is a lot more to this song. I especially like the second half with the jazzy stuff. The lyrics are also really fitting for the concept. I love the instrumental take of Final Hour. I listened to the other version out of curiosity and I think it was wise to use the instrumental version. It has this grandiose epicness to it. It reminds me of Equilibrium's Mana, but not quite as epic or nearly as long, but there's still some great keyboards and melodies and several movements it goes through. God's Mercy was a great choice for representing the priest visiting this man on death row. And while I believe this is my least favorite song on the album (vocals don't grab me and the majority of the music is fairly pedestrian), it still serves it's purpose to drive the album forward. Plus it has a cool Yngwie-esque guitar solo in the back half. Tragic Reconciliation is yet another good Prog metal song. This time reminding me of Queensryche in places and a little bit of Rush (mostly in the phrasing in the guitar solos). To me This Road Leads to Desolation and In the Waiting Room of Death work well hand in hand. This was a great way to close out the album along with Deliverance. The first two definitely have this sense of panic, dread, acceptance, fear, regret, and whole slew of other emotions as the main character is lead to the figurative gallows. They are both great songs, but I think the Lost Domain song is my favorite on the album. It definitely tugs at your emotions. The keyboards/pianos in the beginning are perfect. Both styles of vocals are also very welcome here. Fantastic choice for the end of the story for our main character. Deliverance is a good way to end, signifying the man drifting off to sleep in death.....and the end.......or is it....?
Album Score - 17.5/20

This album flows really well, not just in the transitions between songs, but lyrical cohesiveness, musically, and even vocally. It really sounds like someone like Arjen Lucassen or Devin Townsend could have put something like this together in to a concept album with a whole bunch of guest vocalists.
Flow Score - 9.5/10

Split bonus for Album Title - .5
Total Score - 27.5

AND THE WINNER! (to no ones surprise)

Ariich
The Fall and the Flood
Genres - Alternative Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock
Countries of Origin - Australia, Sweden, United States

First Impression - Great story telling and music that is both fitting and works well as a whole

Tracklist
1. Vangough - Thy Flesh Consumed
2. Dream the Electric Sleep - Black Wind
3. In Flames - Bullet Ride
4. Soilwork - The Ride Majestic
5. Novallo - Give Gravity a Choice
6. Vangough - Infestation
7. Soilwork - Death in General
8. In Flames - Only For the Weak
9. Dream the Electric Sleep - Culling the Herd
10. Soilwork - The Ride Majestic (Aspire Angelic)
11. Twelve Foot Ninja - Deluge
12. In Flames - Swim
13. Vangough - Between the Madness

This is quite the ambitious undertaking. A lot of thought went in to this, it seems. You even used the different bands as different characters in the story you constructed. I like that. The story isn't exactly original, but it is told a bit differently than the traditional "Ruthless new disease nearly wipes out mankind" story. Starting in order of the tracklist, the first character we are introduced to is The Disease (Vangough). The song titles alone for the Vangough songs work well to tell the story of the disease. From where it begins (even though Thy Flesh Consumed and Between the Madness are instrumental), it has this sinister vibe to all their tracks. It even takes on a bit of a sentient quality in Infestation. Almost like it's taunting humanity, trying to take control or exterminate for it's own nefarious purposes. The next character we are introduced to is The Dying (Dream the Electric Sleep). This is one of infected and is suffering and he refers to the disease as The Black Wind. This poor sod (and others infected) is opposed by the next character The Righteous (In Flames), who believe the ones infected only have themselves to blame for not being pure, believing the infected to be evil and cowards for not becoming like the righteous and they eventually convince the Dying that they are right. The Righteous believe themselves to be impervious to the disease (or are they just lucky?). Next we have the Scientist (Soilwork), who thinks he has a cure, but it requires killing all those who are already infected, but he is conflicted on this solution because of the moral implications. Then you have The Hopeful (Novallo), who thinks that mankind doesn't need to resort to a purge to save themselves. Long story short, after humanity tries unsuccessfully to eradicate the disease, they finally resort to the purge, which introduces us to the last character, The Storm (Twelve Foot Ninja) which does exactly that, purges all who are infected. This eradicates the disease but mankind is left decimated and under the rule of The Righteous.....Kind of a depressing ending, even though they got rid of the disease.

So the music here mostly fits really well. The Vangough songs aren't my favorites musically, but they work within the context of the album as a whole. Thy Flesh Consumed being my least favorite of the Vangough tracks, although it works well to convey the sinister nature of the disease. That instrumental break in Infestation is really cool. The Dream the Electric Sleep tracks are both really good, especially Black Wind. The music is fantastic and the emotional quality of the vocals/lyrics fit really well with the story. I really like the In Flames and Soilwork tracks, being the style of Melodic Death Metal that I gravitate towards most. The In Flames tracks being used as The Righteous, these holy ones or priests, reminds me a bit of Rush's 2112, where when the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx come in and Geddy basically screams their vocal lines. It shows how brash and loud these "religious" figures are and how oppressive they are to those they believe to be beneath them or insignificant. Not sure if that's what you were going for, but that's what I got out of it. The Soilwork track Death In General has a really cool intro and I've always liked Bjorn Strid's clean vocals. The Novallo track isn't the most interesting here, but it works well story-wise, and it isn't a bad track. The only track that I actually disliked was the Twelve Foot Ninja song. This song to me was kind of bland and the vocals were not good (they reminded me too much of typical radio rock). Musically it just did nothing for me. I like the way this album ends with Swim and Between the Madness. These two songs are a great conclusion to a really good concept album.
Album Score - 15.9/20

You executed the flow of this album almost perfectly. I particularly liked how you added in these spoken word news clips giving updates of what the disease was doing to the world at large. This helped immensely with the flow of not only the story, but the album as a whole. The way you got the tracks to flow from one to the next was also done superbly. The various bands also, mostly, worked well together. The only 2 outliers being Novallo and Twelve Foot Ninja.
Flow Score - 9/10

Total Score - 24.9

Ariich - 9.5, 7, 7.8, 8, 20.2, 9.7, 9.8, 7.9, 18.5, 24.9 = 123.3
TAC - 7.6, 8, 9.1, 8.8, 19.5, 9, 7.1, 9.9, 14, 27.5 = 120.5
Parama - 9.1, 8.7, 6.7, 8.9, 17.7, 8.5, 9, 4.8, 17.6, 28.8 = 119.8
Elite - 7.8, 7.4, 8.3, 9, 16.2, 9.5, 8.8, 8, 18.4, 24.7 = 118.1
Romdrums - 7.7, 8.5, 8.7, 9.5, 20.1, 8.7, 7, 7, 17, 22.7 = 116.9
Lethean - 6.8, 7.8, 6.6, 6.8, 21.7, 8.5, 8.5, 7, 17.2, 23.3 = 114.2
Kattelox - 9, 9, 9, 6.8, 15.5, 5.5, 9.6, 9.5, 16.7 = 90.6
Jingle - 8.3, 6, 8, 7.7, 19.9, 7.2, 7, 9.3, 15.9 = 89.3
Evermind - 8.2, 7.5, 8.5, 6, 21.5, 9.4 = 61.1
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

[Crow]

Conriich argrats!

I'm satisfied with taking the highest score of the album round, if nothing else 

[Lethean]

Congrats Ariich!

And Parama for having the highest scoring concept album.

I'm relieved that mine wasn't an embarrassment. In all seriousness - very glad you got some enjoyment out of it.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

and favorite song is she abandons the grey then? that's kinda funny since it was about the last song I put on the album, honestly the original concept album was just gonna be the disc 2 story too so I'm glad I made it a double one

It was actually Skeletons of Light. I forgot to mention that in the write up.

[Crow]

Ahh, nice 
I wasn't super huge on that album as a whole (don't get me wrong it's good but not consistently good enough to be a fave) but Skeletons of Light is the real big standout

in other news, as soon as stads puts up his next results i think it'll finally be my turn to roulette it up in here 
been spending the past hour working on my rules & banned list. the banned list is, as ever, too big

[ariich]

Yay!

Glad you liked it dude. Yeah musically the Novallo and TFN were slightly out of place with the rest, but they fit well lyrically and I really like both so.

The In Flames tracks being used as The Righteous, these holy ones or priests, reminds me a bit of Rush's 2112, where when the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx come in and Geddy basically screams their vocal lines. It shows how brash and loud these "religious" figures are and how oppressive they are to those they believe to be beneath them or insignificant. Not sure if that's what you were going for, but that's what I got out of it.

I hadn't specifically thoughts of the 2112 connection (but that's a good shout), but in general yeah I did have that in mind which was why I felt In Flames could work for the character.

Thanks for having me Pup, this was a really ambitious but awesome roulette and I'm glad I was able to introduce you to some music that you loved!

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Yay!

Glad you liked it dude. Yeah musically the Novallo and TFN were slightly out of place with the rest, but they fit well lyrically and I really like both so.

The In Flames tracks being used as The Righteous, these holy ones or priests, reminds me a bit of Rush's 2112, where when the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx come in and Geddy basically screams their vocal lines. It shows how brash and loud these "religious" figures are and how oppressive they are to those they believe to be beneath them or insignificant. Not sure if that's what you were going for, but that's what I got out of it.

I hadn't specifically thoughts of the 2112 connection (but that's a good shout), but in general yeah I did have that in mind which was why I felt In Flames could work for the character.

Thanks for having me Pup, this was a really ambitious but awesome roulette and I'm glad I was able to introduce you to some music that you loved!

Yeah, ambitious is a bit of an understatement. I think I burnt myself out on running roulette's for a while with this one, but it was fun. And I'm still having fun participating in other peoples roulette's. I think the next time I run a roulette it will most likely be a mini-roulette of EP's, similar to what Parama has planned for his.

You are right though, I did get a ton of awesome music from you and everyone else that participated.

[Crow]

i actually like the concept album idea enough that my last round is gonna be something similar, though with a much shorter length limit 

but yeah really as soon as stads puts his results up and bolsters gives me the go-ahead i'll put my roulette up and y'all can both send me some crap. ariich actually has a free pass on the prelims for winning my last roulette but everyone else has to fight to the death

puppies can we do hangmang for jingle and katt's albums?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

i actually like the concept album idea enough that my last round is gonna be something similar, though with a much shorter length limit 

but yeah really as soon as stads puts his results up and bolsters gives me the go-ahead i'll put my roulette up and y'all can both send me some crap. ariich actually has a free pass on the prelims for winning my last roulette but everyone else has to fight to the death

puppies can we do hangmang for jingle and katt's albums?

Sending Absu in the first round 

And yeah I'll do a hangmememememes once I have them both. Assuming they are still sending them. Last I heard they are....Jingle? Kat?

[Crow]

oh yeah i should put absu on the banned list, thanks

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

oh yeah i should put absu on the banned list, thanks

I suppose I really should start putting together some rough ideas and concepts of EP's to send you. No Absu, I promise.