Evermind's Third Roulette v. Final Round Results

[senecadawg2]

Get it!

[Evermind]

Round 7 Results:

jingle.boy: Daydream XI – The Circus of the Tattered and Torn

Grab your chickens and watch me suffer

First impression: I kept waiting for the song to take a wrong turn, and it just never happened. This might be up there with the best songs I’ve got in this roulette.

I don’t know where to begin with this, because most of coherent thoughts about this song are in the realm of intense adoration and bewilderment that I somehow didn’t know this album existed until you had to shove it down my throat—I remember you recommending it to me back in 2017, and what a fool was I to let the streaming platform I use stop me from delving into this. I don’t know if the album is of a similar quality at all, but this song is a top notch progressive metal number. It’s absolutely freaking fantastic.

I was very skeptical about this when I saw the sheer length of this song, but this doesn’t feel like 15 minutes at all, more like five. And the structure itself is pretty simple—two extremely adventurous verses, two choruses, a few instrumental sections, a spoken word in the end and the big ending wrapping up the story. But everything in this song feels like it took years of writing, because every note is just instinctively correct. I don’t know how they did it, but everything in this song is just right. It’s impressive as hell.

I also assume there is a couple of recurring melodies in this song from the rest of the album, seeing how this song performs as the ending to the whole story—and if so, they’re woven into this song exquisitely well, because they don’t ruin its flow and integrity at all. If I had to guess, it would’ve been the last vocal section that closes the story (because hey, that’s how a lot of concept albums are made), and also perhaps the chorus melody which is also played on guitar several times throughout the song (I would guess it’s featured somewhere in the intro). I obviously don’t know if that’s the case, but you can be sure I’m going to find out pretty soon—this album is now very high on my list to check out.

This song essentially does what The Perfect Element and Beyond the Pale do for Pain of Salvation albums, what Finally Free does for SFAM, what Orvam and Hegaiamas do for Need albums, what Memento Mori does for The Black Halo—you get what I mean. This song is incredible. I don’t know if you’re going to make it, but even if you’re eliminated, you went with the biggest band I can imagine.

9.5/10

Kattelox: Equilibrium - Unbesiegt

Blow that number, okay, bye

First impression: This was pretty much on the level with my expectations, which were moderately high. Saved the best for the last, did you?

This was a somewhat safe pick, although I’m not sure you knew that at the moment—and holy shit, does that round brings back some of the memories of my teenage years. My best friend was really into that kind of music, intense instrumental sections and growls—Equilibrium, Children of Bodom, Ensiferum and so on. I didn’t really get into both Equilibrium and Children of Bodom—the growls were too much for me—and with Ensiferum, I’ve never got into them too, until I went to their live gig I think five years ago, which kinda changed my opinion on them. But I distinctly remember liking Mana, a song from this very band, because it had no vocals.

Well guess what, apparently tastes change, and I find myself smiling at the sheer energy and fun this song projects. Unlike a few others in this round, this feels like a celebratory song of sorts, the cheerful keyboards give it this ring of epicness and wackiness, and while the guy is screaming over it all, the song never loses that cheerful sense. I can easily imagine crowds dancing a roundelay to this. This is like folk songs sung at the campfire, death metal version—someone probably sat on the minstrel’s lute and he’s pissed, singing this instead.

You were stumbling like a blind man in this roulette, and I find it ironic that you finally find your ground with this song in the last round before the elimination—but this was pretty great.

8.5/10 + 1 for winning the round theme

TAC: Euphoreon - Mirrors

Euphoreon singer delivers the final line of Mirrors, live, 2019

First impression: I’m fairly sure this is the top contender for this round’s bonus point for now—but the competition is fairly tough up here. You guys sure know some fantastic growly songs.

First off, this song, while similar to the Equilibrium one, has a completely different atmosphere. Unbesiegt was exultant, celebrating in its feeling; this one is contemplative and way more serious. The instrumental work here is fantastic, and so is the vocal work; it’s obvious that a lot of time and vocal tracks went into this song. The singer uses a curious approach to his vocals: not only his growls are very clear and easy to understand, but it appears that he’s recording each line or two separately and then mixes them into the song—kinda like Hansi Kursch does his vocals for Blind Guardian. This, in turn, adds a nice touch to the song, giving the listener a feeling that the growls never end, that the singer is always there—where in truth, he’s just launching his next line when the growl from his previous line hasn’t died yet.

This song is like a train on a full speed, it just goes on and on and on, never stopping, never slowing, never changing its pace—and I like it, I like it a lot. I think I like it just a bit less than Unbesiegt, but this is still great. I’m still amazed how good the singer is at enunciating things—I’m way worse with my usual speech patterns—and he’s growling those subtle, intricate lyrics like nobody’s business. On that note, I also liked the lyrics a lot. This is such a well-rounded submission.

8.5/10

Luoto: Wormwood – The Universe is Dying

You die! Blue sea of my waiter! TOOTHY MAW!

First impression: Alright, after all the super-high-intensity-growl songs this was refreshing, and hey, I was sure this round won’t be a problem for you of all people.

Okay, Mr. Expert on the Growly Songs Evermind Will Surely Like, I get it, I get it. You’re fucking good at this. I’m sure you will get past the elimination point, and I’m curious as hell what you’ve got prepared for me, because I think you’re the only one who hasn’t missed the mark even once in this roulette. Each one of your submissions was at least decent, and this one isn’t an exception—in fact, it’s damn good.

This song, once again, capitalizes on the things that make this kind of songs work for me—solid, deep growls, amazing instrumental work including tremolo-guitar-sounds, mixing the heavier moments with the lighter, ambient ones, amazing artwork and freaking solid lead guitar line. There’s nothing that makes me go “wow, this is incredible”, but there’s also nothing to criticize in this song—it simply works, and works well. It may lack an edge to ascend into the “great” territory, but it’s certainly good.

7.5/10   

senecadawg2: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – If We Were Vampires

It’s knowing that this can’t go on forever
Maybe we’ll get forty years together

First impression: Uh… my expectations for this were probably a bit too high. Sounds nice enough, I guess.

This is an interesting song. On one hand, it’s nice enough to draw my attention, and it certainly does its job; on the other hand, I don’t feel a connection with it, as I do with some other acoustic-guitar-driven singer-songwriter ballads. It’s pleasant enough, and the vocal melodies are pretty good, but there’s nothing that tugs at my heartstrings in it. The subject is nice, but—and honestly, that’s probably going to come out wrong—if you’re lucky to get forty years together with your beloved, then perhaps you’re in a pretty good place. Of course it would suck to live after one of you have died—that’s why they have that thing in fairytales where a couple lives happily ever after and dies together on the same day—but I don’t know. It’s an interesting point to raise, sure, but I can’t quite relate to it.

There’s not a lot to say about the song itself—it’s a nice guitar ballad that doesn’t quite grab me. The lyrics, however, are worth a few more sentences, especially since you used your Wordsmith ability for them. First off, the lyrics are pretty good for the subject they’re talking about, but it’s the subject itself that instills the doubt in me. Second, and this is totally my pet peeve, he uses the most overused rhyme in every love song ever: together / forever. This is an equivalent of a rhyme “blood (кровь) and love (любовь)” in Russian language, and it irritates me to no end. Whenever you use a together / forever (and, in some cases, never or ever) rhyme, your beautiful lyrics lose their beauty for me. I mean, it’s a legitimate rhyme, but because it’s such an overused one, I can’t really take it seriously anymore.

I guess it would be fair to say I didn’t quite connect with this song as much as you did. It was still a nice song, though.

6.5/10

Puppies_On_Acid: Darkest Hour – Tranquil

LAW! HELLO! THE WHISPER IS BEHIND MYSELF!

First impression: I feel this song suffers from the abundance of the full-on growly songs in this round—not quite as memorable as some of the other entries on the first listen. Great guitarwork though.

This is a straight-forward death metal song without any additional twists like keyboards or layered vocals or anything else—this is pretty much speed death metal stripped down to the bone. Each fully-growled song in this round had its own distinctive feature—Equilibrium had that exultant mood, Euphoreon had the unique vocal performance, Wormwood had the slower pace and ambience, and this one has a superior guitar work. Seriously, while most of the song is your usual growly death metal, or at least it is for me, the guitar work here is excellent. Fabulous riffing during the parts with growls, and the ending takes it to another level entirely with almost no technical playing whatsoever—just some simple tricks to elevate the song.

So yeah, the song itself wasn’t great—nothing too bad, but kind of not that memorable—, but the guitar playing was—and due to the fact that said guitar playing plays (huh) such a huge part in this song, this ended up to be pretty good in the end. Definitely not up to the level of some other entries for this round, but still, this was serviceable.

6.5/10

wolfking: Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder

*instrumental intro* COCK! *instrumental intro continues*

First impression: This was on par with my expectations. As far as this kind of songs goes, there are at least three songs in this round that seem to do the same job better.

I am kind of familiar with this band—I tried to listen to them when I was 14. And also I was familiar with Silent Night, Bodom Night due to that misheard video, so I had a good idea what to expect from this album. This song met my expectations, and did not exceed them.

I might be wrong, but it feels to me that Children of Bodom—at least during those years—were trying to achieve edgy sound just for the sake of being edgy. This whole song sounds just a bit fake, it reeks just a bit of “trying too hard” attitude, especially in the moments when the singer goes with his “it’s so fucking hard”, suddenly switching from rip-ass screams to Metallica-inspired cleans even with the trademark Hetfield’s “yeah” in the end. The musicianship is there, of course, and there are some good moments too. It may seem I’m too harsh on this song here—I actually liked some of it. It’s just, compared with the other growl-fronted, high-intensity songs in this round, this one feels inadequate.

6/10

Sacul: The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize??

Do you?

First impression: This is the most vanilla song in this round. I expected more from such a, uh, famous band.

The “uh, famous band” of course is the remark about how this band spawned the whole Six Roaming Owls thing, but honestly, this is the most vanilla ballad ever. It has this airy, dreamy feeling that’s executed well, the elated feeling which I suppose fits the song’s subject—but you know, the moments where you’re fully at peace don’t always make for the best song material, and while this ballad projects this feeling well, in the end it suffers for not being emotional enough. It’s just a very flat, very safe, very uninteresting song.

I know that sucks to hear, especially if you care about this song, or if it speaks to you on another emotional level—but this was just a nice short listen, a nice happy song, without anything else. It’s not very deep, and it fails at one thing the ballad should do—tug on any of your emotions. This song is just… there. There’s nothing else to it.

5.5/10

Indiscipline: Cynic – How Could I

Freedom and reason shine through

First impression: I considered turning this song off halfway into it, but there was too many people on the commute to comfortably reach for my phone, and besides, it improved in the second half.

Look, if nothing else, I admire that you tried to stick with the themes, and while, clearly, the growls aren’t your strong suit, you actually went with it. I won’t lie—the first half sucks balls. The growls are pretty strong, but the way they’re written into this song, mixed with the clean, detached, robotic vocals… let’s just say this sucks balls, to put it mildly. The first two or three minutes of this song are honestly awful—but then it swiftly transforms into a different beast, letting the instruments guide it, and that’s when it gets good. The vocals are still there for some of that, but now they’re in the background instead of taking that front seat and driving the song; the guitars are driving the song instead, and the result is way better.

My one complaint about this song would be that the instrumental section ends too soon, I would’ve liked another minute or two of that. I mean, my main beef with this is that the growls suck, the clean vocals suck, but you’ve got to focus on the positive things, right? So I really liked the instrumental aspect of this song, and I positively dislike the first half—but huge props to you, and all folks who also did that, for sticking with the theme.

5/10

LordCost: The Dillinger Escape Plan – Mouths of Ghosts

Action without beating anyone, go Frey!

First impression: I don’t remember almost anything from this song, except that it had this nice instrumental break somewhere in the middle. I hope it’ll unfold with the subsequent listens.

This one was actually quite alike Dreams and Bridges—there are some good moments drowned in mediocrity and sometimes even general unpleasantness of the rest of this song. I feel like this kind of songs is something you like, and there’s obviously nothing wrong with that, but for me it just mostly doesn’t work. The instrumental part is very good here, to be honest, with the ever-present bass line, fantastic frantic keyboards and very good drumming, keeping the tension on the level and never letting go—and honestly this is why this song is not going to get an awful score, the instrumental part pretty much makes this song, taking more than a half of it. It’s really good. The rest of the song, however, isn’t.

The heavier part occupying the last two minutes of this tune is, well, not atrocious, but not something I would willingly listen to. I don’t really like the singer’s voice, I don’t really like the melodies here, and I honestly don’t like anything about this section. It’s like it’s just on a different wavelength with my musical tastes, although I have to admit it does feature a few lines similar to growls in the end. The ending basically killed this song for me. This is something I don’t say very often—this song would’ve been better off as an instrumental.

5/10

Tyrias: Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind

We’re about to align…
DOOR!
LAY LOW!

First impression: This was quite good… until the vocals kicked in.

With all the reputation Converge has on DTF, I expected to be truly atrocious and non-redeemable at all, but hey, this is, in fact, only partially atrocious. The instrumental part is actually pretty good. It’s technical, but it’s still atmospheric—at least during the verses. The vocals are horrible though, it’s like they just found a drunk homeless person around the corner and asked him to sing the lines while he was throwing up. They’re also buried in the mix, as if whoever mixed this thought “fuck, these vocals are bad, better mix them low enough”. The instrumental part also stops being good and descends into a shitshow on the chorus—complete with the grating vocals.

Why would you send this? I’m genuinely curious. I can’t believe that someone who sent me Solstafir and Oh Hiroshima also sends me this, but I guess that’s DTF, I should’ve anticipated how broad your tastes were. This fits the round theme—I guess I was really asking for this—but this doesn’t fit my tastes at all. And what really hurts, the beginning was actually quite promising. I can’t believe this song has 300000 views on YouTube—are they that popular? Because that mostly sounded like shit, the instrumental intro excluded.

4/10

Stadler: Motorhead – One Track Mind

When you contemplate to go to a live concert on a Monday night but the venue is across the town

First impression: Eh, the way the lyrics are written here was pretty much the only thing I liked about this.

Not sure if the round theme is to blame, but this was definitely the worst song of the round, and probably your worst submission in the whole roulette. Not only it once again suffers from a plodding pace, but I’m not even sure if the singer here can indeed sing, he sounds more like he has a sore throat and just shouts his raspy vocal lines into the mic. It’s kind of like that Converge song I’ve got, only a bit more low-key and in the spirit of the older heavy metal.

And this is not bad per se, but it’s just too dull to make any lasting impression. And, well, alright, the vocals are pretty bad. The only thing that stood out to me is the lyrics—I liked how they were constructed to feature one, two and three as the song went on. Otherwise, this is something I don’t ever want to return to.

4/10

[Evermind]

Scoreboard:

Luoto: 56.5
TAC: 53.5
LordCost: 48.5
Puppies_On_Acid: 48.5
wolfking: 47.5
jingle.boy: 47.5
Indiscipline: 46.5
senecadawg: 46.5
Kattelox: 46.5
Sacul: 46
Tyrias: 44.5
Stadler: 41

[Evermind]

Stadler, I knew what I was getting into when you signed up, and honestly, I was so glad you did so. Even though none of your submissions lived up to the hype generated by the excellent MSG song you sent me in Round 1, I still enjoyed this glimpse of the past you provided me. I’m kind of a youngster—not what someone would call a millennial, I suppose—but I’m still young compared to a lot of you regular DTF GMD crowd. I don’t know if that’s difference in our age, or if you just enjoy different music than I, but most of your submissions missed the mark—and I’m usually very tolerant towards older stuff, hell, if you asked me my favourite bands I would name Dire Straits, Pink Floyd and Dio-era Rainbow among the newer stuff. Unfortunately, besides MSG, you didn’t do too well here. Here’s your ranking (the bands I’m going to check out are bolded):

1.   The Michael Schenker Group – Desert Song
2.   The Allman Brothers Band – Nobody Knows
3.   Glen Campbell – There’s No Me… Without You
4.   Heart – Wait for an Answer
5.   Slash ft. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators – Driving Rain
6.   Mountain – Nantucket Sleighride (for Owen Coffin)
7.   Motorhead – One Track Mind

Tyrias, you remain a mystery to me. How can you like brilliant stuff like Solstafir and Oh Hiroshima and at the same time send songs like Guro Von Germeten and Converge to me is baffling. I didn’t expect you to participate, but I’m glad you decided to do so—and even though you are eliminated here, it says something about your excellent music tastes that you sent two of my favourite songs from the whole roulette. You really didn’t care about any of my tastes or requirements, and just went with your heart on the most of the submissions—and for that, I salute you. Here’s your ranking (the bands I’m going to check out are bolded):

1.   Sólstafir – Miðaftann
2.   Oh Hiroshima – Aria
3.   Cloud Cult – There’s So Much Energy In Us
4.   Patrick Watson – Lighthouse
5.   Angus and Julia Stone – I’m Not Yours
6.   Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
7.   Guro Von Germeten – Here We Have It All

Sacul, you know you and I are pretty incompatible when it comes to music—except for the chill, quiet songs. I’m surprised you didn’t decide to capitalize on that, or I guess you did, except some of your chill stuff didn’t quite work out. I know we’re not that alike when it comes to music, and I’m surprised you sent me a lot of great stuff this time around, and I’m definitely grateful for that. You do you, and in case you didn’t know that—you rock, man. I may not like everything you threw at me, but it doesn’t cancel the fact that you’re awesome and your tastes are great. Zantera / Sacul music started out as a joke, but you’re doing justice to the whole brand. Here’s your ranking (the bands I’m going to check out are bolded):

1.   Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn
2.   Goldfrapp – Stranger
3.    BADBADNOTGOOD – Confessions
4.   Cosmo Sheldrake – Come Along
5.   Giles Corey – Blackest Bile
6.   The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize??
7.   Linda Perhacs – Winds of the Sky

[Evermind]

The Tiebreaker:

Indiscipline, seneca and Katt, you guys have to send me a song. There is no theme. The length limit is 10 minutes. Two of you will continue to the main competition, and one of you will not. Send at your earliest convenience!

Go ahead and send your songs!

[The Walrus]

I've been granted the kiss of life and just barely have a shot at making it back. No way! Awesome. I'll send you something this evening. Really happy you liked Unbesiegt - I was scrambling to find something you'd like and remembered that track from years and years ago when I was briefly into that style of music. Heck yeah.

[Crow]

tbh i don't even like cynic's first album much (production is trash) but traced in air is genuinely great & you'd probably like it more since it's a lot less growly and more melodic in general

also shut up if we were vampires is great 
i remember liking that six roaming lips song a decent bit but i don't even remember what it sounds like

also ev you are absolutely a millennial, millennials are all like mid 20's to mid 30's now 

[Evermind]

I thought millennial was a term that's applied to folks who were born right around 1999 and 2000 and later—but if that's wrong, I guess okay, I'm a millennial alright.

[TAC]

Cool. Glad you liked the song.

Have to make a Greatest Hits now. I had considered the same one I used for Puppies, but I ended up blowing his roulette on it. I like it a lot, but we'll see. Will probably spend tomorrow on it.

[Crow]

1981 to 1996 seems to be the accepted birth range for "millennials" at the moment, so 

[Evermind]

1981 to 1996 seems to be the accepted birth range for "millennials" at the moment, so 

I mean sure, whatever.

Cool. Glad you liked the song.

Have to make a Greatest Hits now. I had considered the same one I used for Puppies, but I ended up blowing his roulette on it. I like it a lot, but we'll see. Will probably spend tomorrow on it.

You lost that extra point by a narrowest margin. Can't wait to see what you come up with for the Greatest Hits round! You and Luoto, you guys are the most consistent with your submissions so far.

[Luoto]

I'm not that big on Wormwood but I figured you might like them, even though there aren't a lot of clean vocals. There's an Eluveitie-ish track on that record too.

As for the Greatest Hits round, I've had a band in mind for a while

[senecadawg2]

hmmm, not what I was expecting. I thought your gripes would be with the music, not the words.

[Evermind]

Well man, sorry about that. Just got to be honest about this whole thing.

[senecadawg2]

No hard feelings. I wouldn't want you to lie about it 

[senecadawg2]

sent

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Glad I'm still in this. I won't be able to send for the greatest hits round until tomorrow evening at the earliest. More than likely Monday sometime.

[Sacul]

Thanks for having me, and for the kind words, I'ill have more interesting things next time for sure 

[TAC]

Stadler, I knew what I was getting into when you signed up, and honestly, I was so glad you did so. Even though none of your submissions lived up to the hype generated by the excellent MSG song you sent me in Round 1, I still enjoyed this glimpse of the past you provided me. I’m kind of a youngster—not what someone would call a millennial, I suppose—but I’m still young compared to a lot of you regular DTF GMD crowd. I don’t know if that’s difference in our age, or if you just enjoy different music than I, but most of your submissions missed the mark—and I’m usually very tolerant towards older stuff, hell, if you asked me my favourite bands I would name Dire Straits, Pink Floyd and Dio-era Rainbow among the newer stuff. Unfortunately, besides MSG, you didn’t do too well here. Here’s your ranking (the bands I’m going to check out are bolded):

1.   The Michael Schenker Group – Desert Song
2.   The Allman Brothers Band – Nobody Knows
3.   Glen Campbell – There’s No Me… Without You
4.   Heart – Wait for an Answer
5.   Slash ft. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators – Driving Rain
6.   Mountain – Nantucket Sleighride (for Owen Coffin)
7.   Motorhead – One Track Mind

Evermind, Stadler is the same age as your father!

In fact, he might even be the same age as mine!

[Stadler]

Well, I accept that outcome with humility.   It's always tough to catch on to what it is exactly that one likes about a song, so I certainly tried to capture that magic, just failed.   It is what it is though.

[Indiscipline]

I apologise with my tiebreaker mates for the delay, but I'm literally sending from the bus.

It may not be the song I need, but it's the song I deserve.

Parama, about Cynic's first album, check the 2004 remaster!

[The Walrus]

I apologise with my tiebreaker mates for the delay, but I'm literally sending from the bus.

It may not be the song I need, but it's the song I deserve.

Parama, about Cynic's first album, check the 2004 remaster!

You sent before me? WTF is this world coming to?

I'm still waiting to hear back from Evermind before I send mine.

EDIT: Sent something totally rad.

[Evermind]

All three songs are in, going to listen to them now and then a few more times later in the day. Results coming in the evening, the rest of you folks, get your Greatest Hits compilations ready.

Have a hangman btw:

senecadawg2: __________ _____ ___ - _______o_
Indiscipline: M______ M___'_ _____ ____ - ______o__
Kattelox: ____ ___o - _o_o_ _____

Letters guessed: MO

Luoto waits 2
Bolsters waits 3

[Luoto]

M

[Bolsters]

O

[Evermind]

Updated above!

[wolfking]

I might be wrong, but it feels to me that Children of Bodom—at least during those years—were trying to achieve edgy sound just for the sake of being edgy. This whole song sounds just a bit fake, it reeks just a bit of “trying too hard” attitude, especially in the moments when the singer goes with his “it’s so fucking hard”, suddenly switching from rip-ass screams to Metallica-inspired cleans even with the trademark Hetfield’s “yeah” in the end. The musicianship is there, of course, and there are some good moments too. It may seem I’m too harsh on this song here—I actually liked some of it. It’s just, compared with the other growl-fronted, high-intensity songs in this round, this one feels inadequate.

6/10

errr.....okay.

[Luoto]

That album has both Downfall and Towards Dead End, which I bet would've scored a point higher. But yeah, saying the song sounds "fake" is kinda funny considering the album is a classic and pioneered an entire style of metal.

[wolfking]

That album has both Downfall and Towards Dead End, which I bet would've scored a point higher. But yeah, saying the song sounds "fake" is kinda funny considering the album is a classic and pioneered an entire style of metal.

Interesting thoughts.  I tried to send Bodom Night but was rejected so the title track has always been a top cut from that album. 

And yes, Hatebreeder and Reaper are classic albums if you ask me.

[Evermind]

Yeah, I mean... this is probably my prejudice against them—which I didn't quite realize I had—talking. I may try and listen to the whole album to see if it works better for me.

[wolfking]

Yeah, I mean... this is probably my prejudice against them—which I didn't quite realize I had—talking. I may try and listen to the whole album to see if it works better for me.

Why is that?

I'm not worried about the score or anything, they were just comments I really didn't expect I suppose.

[jingle.boy]

Thankfully I've got a couple of days to figure out a band for greatest hits. I'm literally racking no my brain trying to think of an act I have with more than a few albums that isn't banned. I might have to look back to the days before you were born.

[Evermind]

Yeah, I mean... this is probably my prejudice against them—which I didn't quite realize I had—talking. I may try and listen to the whole album to see if it works better for me.

Why is that?

I'm not worried about the score or anything, they were just comments I really didn't expect I suppose.

That's a good question, and I'm not sure I know the answer.

I think it may have something to do with my original dislike of growls, and I think Children of Bodom was pretty much the first band with harsh vocals I was introduced to, and well, when I say "introduced to", I mean I've listened to a song or two about ten or twelve years ago, don't even remember what songs they were.

I also think it may have something to do with our live concert culture—Children of Bodom are pretty big here, and there is usually that one guy in the crowd that will have that Children of Bodom (or Manowar, they're pretty big too) huge patch on his jacket and he's usually drunk and goes provoking a moshpit on any concert, usually it's a power metal band like Helloween or Avantasia. I know that sounds stupid now that I'm thinking about it.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I already had the image of the band in my head, and this song actually sounded pretty much as I expected it to sound, confirming this not quite favourable impression of the band I had.

[wolfking]

Fair enough.  If you've got preconceived ideas going into it though, it's probably going to struggle no matter what.  No biggie mate.

[wolfking]

Jeez, 30 minutes of music from the same band across 3 albums.  Now that is a challenge.