Prelim Round Result part 3
Blue Food - Engines
AriichJazz-Funk
United StatesFirst Impression - Most songs here got a HOLY CRAP reaction from me. A couple got a meh..... Needs more listens to digest in full.This album is slick as hell. You mentioned getting in to these guys at the same time as Thank You Scientist. I can see why. There are a lot of similarities, with the exception of Thank You Scientist being more Prog Metal and this being more Jazz-Funk. The underlying progressions and the use of horns is very similar.
I was absolutely floored when I first listened to this album. I was not expecting anything like this. Everything about this I love. The instrumentation is superb and I've always loved horns like this in my music, which is part of the reason I love Thank You Scientist and Chicago so much. There's slick guitar solos, fantastic drumming, a bass player who keeps things interesting throughout, and the vocals fit the music perfectly. These guys seem to have a lot of influences from James Brown, to Jojo Meyer, to various jazz, reggae, and metal acts. They even throw in some random blast beats. Every song is engaging and fresh, nothing seems forced or out of place. And even though I said a couple songs got a bit of a meh reaction out of me on first listen, after multiple listens everything sounds fantastic. The only knock on it is Engine of the World goes on a little too long.
Thanks for sending this, this is something that will scratch the Funk itch I have. Also enjoy taking first place right out of the gates!
Favorite Songs - Tête-À-Tête, Blizzard in a Sphere, Boogiemen
Least Favorite - Engine of the World i guess
9.5/10
Mithras - On Strange Loops
ParamaTechnical Death Metal
EnglandFirst Impression - That's a sweet guitar tone. Impressive.Heavy, dense, atmospheric. But not so heavy that it loses any dynamics. And not so dense that everything is just crushed under a wall of noise. The spacey atmosphere is very well done and really draws me in. It's very similar to what Darkspace does. I suppose this band could be considered the Death Metal version of Darkspace. What really helps with the sound is the guitar tone on the leads. It has this very open spacey tone and helps to create the atmosphere that I love. I also like how the solos are just mindless shredding. They have an emotional melodic quality to them, something that most tech death bands have a problem achieving. I like the way the music goes from a quieter clean melody and then builds and builds to an epic crushing climax or adds layer upon layer until it's crushing beauty completely surrounds you. It's like an emotional ebb and flow. Odyssey's End is a good example of this.
Even though the guitars are probably my favorite part of the instrumentation here, the drums and bass keep pace very well too. And the vocals are very unique in the tech death world. The run from Odyssey's End thru Time Never Lasts has tons of great examples of great drumming and vocal work. Like the machine gun like precision start/stop of the double bass in Howling of the Distant Spaces. The desperation in the the vocals of the same track also fit the lyrics really well. Speaking of lyrics, this album comes across as a concept album to me. The concept seems to be pretty much spelled out in the opening track, but builds to several different themes throughout the album and the lyrics are well written.
This is an incredibly well put together album. Everything about it is unique and I don't think there is another band out there that really sounds like this, especially in the Tech Death arena. The only exception that would be close is Darkspace, but that's only in the way this album uses spacey atmosphere. Plus Darkspace is Atmospheric Black Metal. Everything here is carefully constructed and I think I understand why it took them 9 years to do this album.
Favorite songs - When the Stars Align, Odyssey's End
Least favorite - there isn't really any weak songs here or ones that I don't like. So NO
9.1/10
The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave
Shadow NinjaContemporary Folk
Sweden First impression - Serious Bob Dylan vibes here, which isn't exactly a good thing. The production and vocals are fairly bad in places.After my first listen I was prepared to give this album a 4 and almost rule 6'd it out of the roulette. The Bob Dylan-isms, the bad production and the vocals are really bad in places. Something happened after I decided to give it one more chance. The actual song writing and lyrics caught my attention. Just like Bob Dylan, this guy is a good song writer and has some great lyricism and that aspect really started to grow on me. The problem is he should have stopped at just copying Dylan's song writing style and lyrics. Instead he utilizes the Dylan-esque bad singing too. To me it's not endearing, it's technically just wrong and makes me cringe. Where Do My Bluebird Fly is a good example of cringe worthy singing. Then the piss poor production is just annoying. There's a constant hissing in the background. It gets super static-y when he sings louder. And for an acoustic folk album it's weirdly brickwalled, there seems to be no dynamics. I mean the song Shallow Grave sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom with a potato for a microphone.... The production is what really kills it. I simply don't like poor production in stuff like this. There are certain genre's that should never have bad production.
Sorry for kind of ripping an album you enjoy a new one, but I have to be brutally honest here. And I will have to cut you here. Thanks for joining the roulette.
5.5/10
Cardiacs - On Land and in the Sea
LordCostArt Punk
EnglandFirst Impression - Not sure how to classify this or how to feel about it. Needs more listens for sure.
OK, I really really tried. I think I just don't get it. The majority of the songs here either seem to try to sound like circus music or try to be as annoying as possible. I understand trying to be experimental or avant-garde, but there's a fine line between good and bad (to me) when dealing with those genre's. Diablo Swing Orchestra or maudlin of the Well is a good example of using experimental/avant-garde stuff and making it work well. They flow better. The Zolo-like super jerky rhythms and percussion here just doesn't work for me. The vocals are mostly annoying to me, as is most of the rest of the instrumentation. I feel like my 18 year old self would have been all over this, but these days I just cant enjoy stuff like this.
I somehow got through it 3 times and after that I just couldn't anymore....I know a lot of people like this album, but for the life of me I don't understand why. Sorry to have to eliminate you right out of the gate, but this just didn't work for me.
4.5/10
There you have it! I feel a little bad for having to eliminate 2 newcomers in my Roulette's right off the bat, but sometimes that just the way the cookie crumbles......
Topic: Puppies Crazy Album Roulette (Jingle & Kat Bonus Round...spoiler...Jingle wins) (Read 113174 times)