OK, here they are!
Round 7 Results Part 2BT - This Binary UniverseRomdrums
Ambient Glitch IDM
United StatesFirst Impression - My god this is beautiful.......why is it taking so long to do anything.....holy crap balls it's beautiful....zzzzzzzz.......oooooooh beautiful....And most polarizing album of the roulette goes to..............This Binary Universe! I could not make heads or tails of this, trying to figure out if I loved it or hated it. First of all, the album is long. Second of all, there are sections that seem to go on forever and do nothing. Third, there are parts of this album that don't seem to fit with the rest of it. I'm familiar with BT a little bit. I've heard his stuff on the Tiesto In Search of Sunrise albums. This though is nothing like what is on those albums. This is much more mellow and gives off a sort of cold, sometimes dark, vibe.
The first track, All That Makes Us Human Continues, has quite a long buildup right from the beginning. The buildup is nice, but it doesn't exactly develop in to anything. Also some of the sounds used here are kind of grating on my ears. I thought maybe it was building up to the next track, Dynamic Symmetry, but it doesn't. Speaking of track 2, this one also starts off slowly, but with what sounds like some subtle field recordings. This actually builds in to a proper song and it actually has a really nice melody. Those twinkly bell sounds are pretty nice, but the glitchy acoustic guitar that comes in kind of ruins the mood a bit. This is where I start to have real issue with the album. The glitch stuff just doesn't sit well with me. The soundscapes leading up to those points are so nice and relaxing that when those glitches and loud noises come in it completely pulls me out of the music. The jazzy/lounge sections are nice too, but again they go on too long without a change up, unless you count the glitches. The majority of the album kind of follows this pattern.
I think the final 2 tracks are the best out of the bunch. Not only are they much more dynamic, with more variety (at least The Anhtkythera Mechanism is), but they also use the glitch stuff much more effectively and less annoyingly. It actually adds to the atmosphere. There is a small section in the middle of The Anhtkythera Mechanism that goes a little overboard with the glitchyness. The symphonic part after that is pretty epic though. Good Morning Kaia might be one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Despite its simplicity and relative lack of variety, there's something about it that just speaks to me. The field recordings on it fit perfectly and it does have some nice rises and falls in dynamics. After hearing this song, I thought that this is what the rest of the album should sound like.
7/10
Poison - Native TongueJingle
Bluesy Hard Rock
United StatesFirst Impression - Nothing quite like cruising down the highway in my 79 convertible Trans AM rockin out to music coming through my 8 track.....oh hold on my tape jammed again....Listening to this I kept thinking how much better it would have been if Richie Kotzen sang lead vocals, I've just never cared too much for Bret Michaels. Kotzen's influence is evident all over this album though. It has a much more bluesy rock approach than any of the more well known popular Poison songs do. Richie Kotzen's guitar playing is what really keeps this album from dropping in to mediocrity. Without him I don't think this would be nearly as good. The album starts off well with the intro Native Tongue rolling right in to the barn burner that is The Scream. Fantastic song with some fantastic guitar playing. Stand is a little too generic for the most part, but with another great Richie solo (song saved). Stay Alive kind of follows in the same vein as Stand, but with a little better song writing. Again another face melting solo from Richie. Until You Suffer Some is kind of cheesy, but I like it for some reason. It has a different vibe to all the preceding songs. Again Richie tears it up. This is kind of a theme for this album. All the songs have very different feels and good variety. Some work well, some not so much, but they all are dominated (at least to my ears) by Richie Kotzen. I just love his style of playing. If you were to take out a couple of the songs that don't work for me, you might have an 8/10 album here. If you also put Richie Kotzen on lead vocals and get rid of Bret Michaels, now you might have a 9/10. But that would all be in an alternate timeline/universe....
You sent me a PM asking if I preferred Flying Colors or Winery Dogs. I'm curious what you would have sent if I had said Flying Colors.....
7/10
Dianoya - Obscurity DivineLethean
Progressive Metal
PolandFirst Impression - This bands 2 main influences are Tool and 80's butt rock/hair metal/glam metal.I've got to admit I was a little worried when I looked up reviews of this album prior to me listening to it. I was pretty pleasantly surprised how much I ended up liking this though. The guitar riffs and bass have a very Tool-like sound to them. The overall atmosphere (which is pretty thick) is very Tool-like as well, with a lot of the quiet/loud dynamic that Tool has. The vocals and some of the guitar leads are more Prog Rock though. The drummer is kind of the odd man out. Occasionally he will throw in a cool fill or drum pattern, but 90% of the time he is sitting in the simplest of glam/hair/butt metal grooves. The keyboards that are used occasionally have a very 80's rock vibe to them as well. This is all wrapped in a doomy/atmospheric shell. It's a strange album, if I'm being honest, but I do like it and it all adds up to quite a unique sound. At times it reminded me of the Thought Industry album I was sent last round, only less technical. I wish the drummer wasn't so boring most of the time, but that is the only complaint I have here. Also the lyrics seem to be mostly nonsense, but that could be due to translation issues. At any rate, they don't really bother me because the vocal melodies are very well done.
Some highlights: The guitar solo is Dreamlack is nice and slow and full of emotion and the ending to this song is pretty epic. The whole of Severance is pretty awesome. Turbid Mind and Season Madness is a cool off kilter instrumental track with what sounds like a 13/4 time signature in there. Each song has something that I like though, so I could go on and on here.
Overall, this is another great album being held back by the drummer's inability to innovate a little more. Still a solid album.
8.5/10
URSA - Abyss Between the StarsElite
Doom Metal
United StatesFirst Impression - Best Doom Metal I've heard in quite some time. Rifftastic.This is some good tasty stoner tinged Doom. These guys are definitely trying to channel Candlemass, early Black Sabbath, Solitude Aeturnus, with a just a little bit of Reverend Bizarre and Alice In Chains at their heaviest/doomiest. As far as I'm concerned, they have successfully done that. Nothing but great riffs wrapped in the perfect atmosphere. The whole sound of the album is very open (each instrument is allowed to breathe), but at the same time its crushing. I thoroughly enjoyed every song here. They were all fun to listen to even though I don't think the band was necessarily going for fun. Although the lyrics might beg to differ with some rather cheesy DnD-like subject matter like Dragons, wizards, witches etc etc. Regardless, there are some really cool head bang-able and fun moments all over this album. Like the double bass section in Dragon's Beard that you cant help but head bang with a smile on your face. Then they seem to know how to flow right in to a slower riff heavy section that is equally easy to head bang (albeit slower) to. The song Cave of the Spider King is of particular note here, being the longest song and in my opinion the most epic. It actually starts with a cool dark folk/bluegrass vibe with some thick juicy bass and twangy guitar before erupting in to another awesomely heavy riff fest. This song also has some of my favorite vocals on the album. The guitars also take on a bit of a Type O Negative tone to them here too and they break out with some nice slick solos. It's just an awesome song. Now the only problem with the album that I could see, is it could get a little samey if you aren't a huge fan of doom/stoner metal, but at only 46 minutes it doesn't overstay it's welcome. None of the songs seem overlong (maybe Thirteen Witches if I'm being completely honest).
In the end, it's probably not an album I will listen to a ton, but it does scratch that doom itch I get once in a while in a really satisfying way.
8.8/10
Submotion Orchestra - Finest HourAriich
Downtempo Jazz?
United KingdomFirst Impression - I don't even know how to classify this.Ok I do know how to classify this. It's Downtempo influenced Jazz or maybe Jazz influenced Downtempo? Whatever it is, it's amazing. Right off the bat I could tell the vocals would be something I would enjoy the entire album. They have this very lounge singer vibe to them, similar to the vocals of the Portishead and Saltillo songs I got in my last roulette from TwoSuitsLuke and Sacul. Speaking of which, this is something I would imagine Sacul would send if he were still in the roulette. The main genres here may be Jazz and Downtempo (still debatable), but there are many different styles that show up from time to time, like latin/spanish influenced sounds, classical, trance, and big band/swing. And that's just the first few songs. Track 2, Backchat, comes in with this amazing picked violin sound and some nice horns, what an intro! One of the finest moments of the album and one of the finest songs (but not the best, we'll get to that). This song does overstay it's welcome just a tad, but not enough to really detract from how good the song is, especially with those horns coming in again and again, fantastic. Always is a good head bobbing song and kind of reminds me of some of the Japanese style music in the old Gran Turismo games for some reason. Now I have to admit I was a little worried about this album when I saw the song title Pop and Lock, but my worries were put to rest as soon as the album started and this is a pretty good song too. Suffer Not is a monster of a song. Great vocals and vocal melodies, but repetitive lyrics. Although the song isn't really about the lyrics so much. The song is really about the build up and how it adds new layers as it progresses before it breaks down in the middle and does the build up again, this time with some new instruments. Now on to the best song here, the aptly named Perfection. I really cant describe how this song makes me feel. It's one of those songs that just touches your soul, but is indescribable. It's a perfect way to close the album, with the perfect song. I think the band knew what they were doing when they named this song and then used it to finish off the album.
Everything about this album was fantastic, there is really nothing I could say about it that would be a negative. From the vocals to the awesome lounge sound to the incredible horns (I love those horns!) to the relaxing nature of it all, you have another standout album that you have sent me. You are on a roll!
9.8/10
Scores:
Ariich - 9.5, 7, 7.8, 8, 20.2, 9.7, 9.8 = 72
Romdrums - 7.7, 8.5, 8.7, 9.5, 20.1, 8.7, 7 = 70.2
TAC - 7.6, 8, 9.1, 8.8, 19.5, 9, 7.1 = 69.1
Parama - 9.1, 8.7, 6.7, 8.9, 17.7, 8.5, 9 = 68.6
Elite - 7.8, 7.4, 8.3, 9, 16.2, 9.5, 8.8 = 67
Lethean - 6.8, 7.8, 6.6, 6.8, 21.7, 8.5, 8.5 = 66.7
Kattelox - 9, 9, 9, 6.8, 15.5, 5.5, 9.6 = 64.4
Jingle - 8.3, 6, 8, 7.7, 19.9, 7.2, 7 = 64.1
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