Some more random Round 4 results.
Kingcrow - The PersistenceEvermind
Progressive Metal
ItalyFirst Impression - This didn't really impress me much, it's fairly methodical and plodding. Needs more listens I think.This started off well enough with some cool riffing and nice keyboards, but the majority of the songs are all pretty similarly constructed. They all stay in a mid to slow tempo, don't offer any real variety, and don't stray very far from what the first track brought to the table. The vocals seem to have no life to them, the singer sounds disinterested in what he's doing or the lyrics or both. The only exception to this would be the song Night's Descending, but that's because Daniel Gildenlow is doing guest vocals here and he can make most music sound interesting. The song is still slow and doesn't do much, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the rest of the album wasn't the same. Some variety in tempo, rhythm, some technical flourishes, wouldn't kill them would it?
The album isn't completely terrible though. Some of the tracks taken one at a time can be good, but a whole album of this gets a little boring.
6/10
Sine - RuhepolKattelox
Ambient
No idea where they are from 
First Impression - Deep Forest goes straight Chillwave and doesn't know when to stopDeep Forest like downtempo being held up by a foundation of extremely relaxed chillwave should be a recipe for success right? Well, not entirely. There are parts that are phenomenally well done. Like the opening track Wolke 7's nice guitar melody or the chilling synths in Samsara. It definitely makes for a relaxing experience in those instances. None of the songs here are particularly offensive, in fact each song taken individually is anywhere from decent to excellent. There are two major problems I have with this album, though. First, the album is far too long. If you chop about 20-25 minutes of the least quality material here, you may have a 7.5-8/10 on your hands. The second problem is the production, it is way too loud. None of the instruments have room to breathe. It starts to get a little fatiguing after about 15 minutes. Fix this issue along with the first and you have yourself a 9-9.5/10. There are tons of great ideas here; the layered use of field recordings, the use of vocals as an instrument, the brief uses of spoken word, the variety of instrumentation, the beats, etc, etc. It's just too bad they are all drowned in bad production. We aren't talking Death Magnetic levels of terrible production here, but still it could be much much better. I'd definitely be interested in hearing something else by these guys if they fix these issues.
6.8/10
Maestrick - Unpuzzle!Jingle
Progressive Metal
BrazilFirst Impression - Dream Theater meets Angra at Michael Romeo's circusThis album start off with an absolute barn burner of a track. 1 part Dream Theater, 1 part Brazilian power metal influence, with a dash of Symphony X and cheesy keyboards. Lots of fun instrumental breaks and technical playing. It's a fun song, with ridiculous lyrics (like the rest of the album, sort of like Systematic Chaos & Black Clouds and Silver Linings era Dream Theater). The rest of the album does change things up quite a bit. I have to give the band an A for experimenting with different styles of prog metal and different tempos. It doesn't always work, but for the most part they keep it interesting. Like Aquarela has some beautiful melodies, but the lyrics and vocals are super cheesy and come across as disingenuous. Pescador is an interesting change of pace for the album. I like the flute, but it doesn't really fit well in the album. The lyrics are in Portuguese, so I asked a friend of mine who is from Brazil about the lyrics and he said they don't make a lot of sense and are pretty cheesy. Anyway, the song Puzzler reminds me a lot of something Diablo Swing Orchestra or Unexpect would do and is a cool short track. The rest of the album has both ups and downs and it's the inconsistency (and super cheesy lyrics that most of the time make no sense) that keeps this from getting a higher score. The final track, Lake of Emotions, is a 20+ minute "epic". There's a lot of good ideas here, but they don't really mesh them together very well. It feels a bit disjointed. It's not a terrible track, and the good ideas sound great while they last, but it has no business being over 20 minutes long. Condense the best ideas of the track down to about 10 minutes and now we are talking.
Overall this is a band that wears their influences on their sleeves, but tries to make something of their own to stand up with their influences. Perhaps on their next album they can accomplish this better.
7.7/10
In the Presence of Wolves - Thalassas
Romdrums
Progressive Rock
United StatesFirst Impression - Between the Buried and Me and mid era Thrice meet at a Rush concert, then make some music.This is exactly what I have been looking for in music, and I didn't even know it. This, along with the Blue Food album, has been one of the most fun albums I've heard in a while. They take a lot of stuff from Post-Hardcore and the type of Prog Rock/Metal that Between the Buried and Me have been doing and fuse it together in to a....I don't even know what to call it, but I like it. They have a great idea of how to write memorable melodies and guitar solos. There's a lot of great bass lines, with a very late Rush era Geddy Lee bass tone and vibe, and some Rush like guitar solos (especially in the opening track). There's even some guitar solos very reminiscent of Paul Waggoner, like the solo near the end of Hypoxia. I really think if BtBaM and Rush got together and hired a post-hardcore/emo style vocalist, this is almost exactly what it would sound like. There's a lot of variety here, but it's a consistent style, with some random outbursts of creativity. The album starts off strong, but seems to get stronger as it goes on. The music pretty much speaks for itself here, there isn't much more to say about it. It's an awesome album and will get many more listens. I also have no idea how these guys aren't more well known...
9.5/10
Topic: Puppies Crazy Album Roulette (Jingle & Kat Bonus Round...spoiler...Jingle wins) (Read 102681 times)