Parama's EP-onymous Roulette v4 (Final Round Results)

[Crow]

i only start my writeups on the last listen but i need the five listens to be able to deliver satisfactory writeups, tbh

[TAC]

Well, they're very well done..

[Lethean]

 

I'm pretty sure that Kattelox has been digging my grave since I told him what I was sending.  And part of me was absolutely afraid of that as well, but not afraid enough to not do it, and another part thought that maybe it could be just different enough to be interesting.  (And I know the songs are awesome).  I personally think Angra is very different than the "generic prog metal" tag that gets thrown around, but I also understand they can seem that way on the surface. 

Maybe you're right and the Bittencourt track wasn't the best way to start, but I liked starting with something that got things going quickly rather than the long intros of The Shadow Hunter or Silence Inside.  I knew I wanted to save Almah for last, so the order I chose seemed like the best one.  I almost chose a track called Ego Painted Grey instead of The Shadow Hunter - but everyone loves The Shadow Hunter (me included) and Ego Painted Grey is more of a dark horse and I didn't know if there would be enough time for it to grow.  I did want to send you all 3 singers too.

Glad you enjoyed it.  I sent you another EP in case this one was banned since I was out of town when submissions were due.  I may use it for the next round but I'll go back and review it first and see if I should make any changes.

[Crow]

yeah i kept your PM with both EPs for this upcoming round that i'll use as a default submission if you don't send me anything
puppies is already in too so 2 of the 5 people are good to go already, technically 

[TAC]

I'm pretty much all set. I'm not totally thrilled with the middle, so I'm looking at alternatives. Will definitely send tomorrow.

[TAC]

Looking at the banned list.

What the f'n fuck is Chimp Spanner??

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Looking at the banned list.

What the f'n fuck is Chimp Spanner??

A fairly mediocre post rock/post metal/guitar shreddy one man band

[Crow]

Looking at the banned list.

What the f'n fuck is Chimp Spanner??

A fairly mediocre post rock/post metal/guitar shreddy one man band

yep exactly this
that album is legit the album that killed djent for me, when i realized "oh hey wait this sucks"

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Looking at the banned list.

What the f'n fuck is Chimp Spanner??

A fairly mediocre post rock/post metal/guitar shreddy one man band

yep exactly this
that album is legit the album that killed djent for me, when i realized "oh hey wait this sucks"

In fairness, I do enjoy a few of his songs, but the majority is pretty bland.

[Lethean]

I'm still excited about my results. 

Also - just to clarify - the next EP is due next Sunday, right?  Not tomorrow?

[Crow]

yeah you have a week

[Crow]

Results, Part 3

4th Place: senecadawg2 – Silent Apocalypse Trip

1. Bill Callahan – One Fine Morning

First Impressions:
I don’t know what to expect from this EP in general except that I expect it all to be low key stuff but that’s, like, vague. Callahan’s voice immediately seems like a style of vocals I don’t tend to care for much but we’ll see. I think one issue I have with this is how loud the vocals are mixed compared to everything else. Or actually, no, I think it’s that the guitar is just mixed really low. I can see this working for me if I pay more attention to the lyrics (which I tend not to do so much on first listen) but it also seems like, maybe a bit long for what is essentially one singular mood for 9 minutes. I will say it’s decent Friday night mood music though, haha. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Okay, I really misread what about this would grow on me, huh? It’s not really the vocals, or the lyrics. More just… the mood. If you think of apocalyptic music as like, heavy and pummeling, then this is perfect post-apocalyptic music – quiet, empty, sorrowful. I get similar vibes listening to this that I get from an album like Earth’s The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull – it’s very chill and pretty repetitive where most of the motion is in the tiny details, and I don’t really want to think about it too hard, I just want to soak in the atmosphere and zone out. In that regard it’s really hard to judge this song by itself because I don’t know if actively listening to it and scoring it that way is even fair, because it’s really way more of a mood track that would work well on an album full of mood tracks. And I absolutely do enjoy it a fair bit in that sense. I’m not super confident in my ability to score it or rank it alongside the rest of the songs here, though.

8/10



2. Cigarettes After Sex – Apocalypse

First Impressions:
There’s something about this sparse, low-key groove to the instrumentation I like a lot and I can’t explain why. I’m a bit less keen on the vocals, though I guess the band name is fitting since the dude sounds like he smokes a lot from how rough his voice is despite trying to sound smooth. I don’t really have a ton to say about this one though except that I dig the atmosphere of it a lot, even if it seems otherwise a bit generic? Still. (GOOD)

Final Thoughts:
So on first listen I called this my favorite here and then promptly forgot I had done so and I was planning to come into this one going “hey I think I underrated this one at first” but uuhh no, I did not. The vibe of this one is like. Insanely depressing, even for how “bright” the tone of the melodies are, and that chill bass groove complimenting it. I think it’s mainly the vocals, I like a lot of the melodies here and the low-key delivery fits that mood really well. I dunno, for how basic this one is it makes me feel like, really sad. It’s certainly the song here I feel like I remember the most.

8.25/10



3. Copeland – As Above, So Alone

First Impressions:
This started out chill but then the drums came in and just completely changed the mood of the song. I will say this is the first song of the EP so far that I feel positively towards the vocals. I will say that on their own I would like these drums a lot but I think I prefer the parts of this song without them. Still not bad, might grow on me, don’t feel like I’m getting a ton out of it on first listen though. Oh and the weird glitchy effects towards the end I very much don’t appreciate. (AVERAGE)

Final Thoughts:
Not much about my initial thoughts on this have really changed. The slower bits just work a lot better for the mood the song is trying to deliver, as well as just fitting in better with the rest of this EP. I don’t even think it’s that I dislike the more upbeat moments by themselves, it’s just that they’ve 1. given me something better to compare it with and 2. are so vastly different than anything else on this EP that they stick out like a sore thumb. But like, trying to take this song on its own? I dunno, it’s fine. The piano flourishes, I dig, and I like the vocals themselves, though not so much the effects that they put on them towards the end. And yeah that very last bit just plain sucks, the effect used there sounds so abrupt and, uhh, bad. I don’t really… mind this song but I don’t have much affinity towards it either.

5.75/10



4. Braveyoung – The Weight of Loss is Whole

First Impressions:
Oh this has that 3/4 triplet feel that I’m a sucker for. I can’t even really hear the lyrics of this one at all because they’re both pretty muted naturally and really low in the mix but the mood this one carries I am pretty on board with, yeah. It’s chill enough but also builds up in intensity throughout, even if its peak isn’t, like, massive or anything. It does feel maybe a little directionless though? The ending feels abrupt, at least. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
This is honestly one of the least memorable songs I think I’ve ever heard. I do like the atmosphere of it and the vibe of it but there’s like. Nothing to this song. The one repeating guitar line that vaguely changes chords but only slightly. The muted vocal lines that barely have melody. The guitar leads in the background that get buried under the other guitars. The bassline that could drive some form of melody but gets a bit too buried to be effective. There’s just not a single thing here to really grasp onto. It’s fine to listen to and it does build well as it goes on, like I said before, but it’s just a buildup to nothing and all that really happens is that more layers of sound come in behind the guitar chords without really being distinguishable in any way. What this reminds me most of is Grace Cathedral Park which, kind of does the same thing, but the songs on that album have sections and the guitar leads are mixed loud enough to drive some kind of melody and the end result is that it does work pretty well as chill, zone-out music. This just… I don’t know, I feel like I’m ultimately being kind of harsh, but it doesn’t make me really feel much and it doesn’t stick in my mind, it’s just really hard to care about. A slight bump over the midway line just for a decent build but that’s about all I feel I can give it.

5.25/10


 
5. Bill Callahan – Riding For the Feeling

First Impressions:
Two songs in a row with that same 3/4 triplet feel, huh? I don’t really have a ton to say about this one that I didn’t say about the other Bill Callahan song or about the Braveyoung song, honestly. It’s again a nice, chill, kind of sparse tune, I’m still not sold on his vocals, the lyrics might help this grow on me, etc. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
It also doesn’t help that this song basically completely invalidates the previous one on the basis of doing the exact same kind of thing but with better mixing and better melodies and at least something compelling happening. Granted, I don’t think this is nearly as good as the other Bill Callahan song, the atmosphere isn’t as compelling, simply by basis of actually having more happening and thus failing to hit that empty, post-apocalyptic vibe as well. That being said, it’s still pretty nice. Callahan’s rambly delivery is kind of what makes it work, though I feel the way the first title drop happens comes off a little awkward. But I subconsciously have a desire to sing along to the “chorus” or whatnot of this and I do like the guitar work throughout, it still gets points on the basis of being good “zone out” music even if it doesn’t quite hit the vibe that One Fine Morning nails. So yeah. It’s. Solid stuff, closes out the EP well, I dig it, don’t love it but I’ll probably check out this album anyways on the basis of the other song here so.

6.75/10


 
Overall:

First Impressions:
I feel it’s sort of hard to have much to say about this one on first listen because while nothing really particularly resonated with me I didn’t dislike anything either, and I see this one again being a grower of an EP. I will say that listening to this late at night on a Friday probably helped its initial impression though ‘cause it’s good mood music for that context. It’s certainly going to be a change of pace from most of the other EPs I’ve been sent, too.

Final Thoughts:
I feel like I’ve always kind of made it a point to listen to this one pretty late at night because it’s very much low-key, chill-out music the whole way through and I kind of feel like I need to be in the appropriate mood to appreciate it as such. That being said it does fall off a fair bit after the first two quite good songs and never really fully recovers, but nothing here is really unpleasant to listen to, it just gets a little dull in the middle is all. That pretty much puts it squarely in the middle of the pack here – for one, I’d have to be in the mood to enjoy it, for two, its heights aren’t the highest and I’m only really fully on board for less than half of the EP, but aside from the Copeland song it’s definitely a pretty cohesive listen front to back and I’d say at the very least you accomplished what you set out to accomplish here.

[Crow]

7th Place: Train of Naught – Vegan Yoga Tunes

1. SÂVER – Dissolve to Ashes

First Impressions:
I was expected post-metal and sludge metal stuff, not synthpop!! Haha no but after like 30 seconds the post-metal comes in. Admittedly this is still not as heavy as I was expecting from you but, also, that’s a good thing? I dig the dark atmosphere created here. And the synths make this somewhat unique for the style, though I also can’t say I think they fit in that well? Anyways the proper post-metal riffing kicks in and yeah, that’s a solid enough riff. I think some of the sludgier parts of this don’t really do much for me but they’re more like a natural payoff to the buildup so I don’t think they’re necessarily “wrong” to have. I’m not wild about it but it seems like solid enough post-metal overall, yeah. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Sitting here trying to have something to say about this one but I. Okay. I’m just gonna come right out and say it, I hate that Neurosis is considered the same genre as bands like Isis and Cult of Luna because they really do make very different music and there is a wide gap between how much I like the former and how much I like the latter. And so any time I check out new post-metal I have to worry if it’s more Isis or more Neurosis and increasingly it seems to be the latter of the two – boring, monotone sludge that seems to think being heavy is the only requirement for making good atmospheric metal. Or maybe being heavy and nothing else is the end goal. I was vaguely positive towards this in my writeup above and I think that, in comparison to some of the other stuff here, this is more listenable, but it is boring as hell and completely emotionally dry, too. Uhh. The bass grooves are kinda cool I guess? I barely ever remember anything about this one besides the synth bit and I think there’s a reason why.

5.5/10



2. Herod – Reckoning

First Impressions:
So I did listen to some of this album only a few weeks back and suffice to say, I did not get through it. I remember finding it the same kind of boring monotone sludge that a lot of other post-metal bands seem to have devolved into these days. Like Lo!, basically. Which ain’t a good sign. This song seems to get bored after just a minute of that kind of riffing and switches to being more chill and atmospheric and tolerable after. I do like some of the heavier riffing in the middle too, there's a buildup going on here that the riffing feels like a proper payoff too, but then it reverts back to the very dull downtuned riffing from the start and I kinda lose interest again. I like some of this but on the whole it’s not my thing, really. (MEDIOCRE)

Final Thoughts:
This literally just sounds like Lo! again and you know my thoughts on Lo! pretty well. The entire first minute is kind of a waste of time, a boring, non-melodic sludge riff on loop. The middle section is better, to be sure, and actually has some okay atmosphere it, but it doesn’t have, like, any driving melody to it. There really just isn’t a ton to this song and about half of it I don’t like at all, and the rest is not… bad, but not interesting either.

4.25/10



3. Vorvaň – Of Menace and Favour

First Impressions:
Well immediately I really like the tone of the guitars here. Very textured and heavy as hell. And there’s some drums driving a decent buildup and then… wall-of-sound heaviness without any real distinguishable elements to it, proper traincore alright. It’s kind of wild and frantic which I could like in theory but that’s if there were like, distinguishable notes rather than walls of heavy guitar chugging. Frantic, melodic tech death I can dig, the jagged but usually mid-range chord hammering The Hirsch Effekt like to do works really damn well, this is just… hard to follow and worse off for it. I dig the group chanting bit towards the end, at least? I liked some of this and was more bored by the rest than anything but it’s not terrible. (AVERAGE)

Final Thoughts:
I like that main riff here, it’s both heavy and solidly melodic and that’s, really all I’m asking for here, honestly… Basically the moment the vocals come in the song gets completely dominated by them and loses anything of intrigue, though. There’s basically not a single thing about the song I like until that main riff comes in again, and then that reprise and the group vocals are pretty cool, I dig that quite a bit, but it comes at the end of a song that I’ve had to sit through for over three minutes just to get to an interesting part… I genuinely don’t like a single thing about over half of this song and there’s like, one or two things I like about the rest. It has -a- distinguishable element so it’s better than Herod in that regard, but that’s about all I can say in its favor.

5/10



4. Conjurer – Hollow

First Impressions:
I listened to this album too, actually. Twice, even, I think. Or well, tried to. I remember it also being really boring sludge. And like, so far it really isn’t? Yeah you’ve got the heavy riffs but there’s some melodic flourishes in there, and then it just cuts out to a sparse clean bit outright. I also appreciate how loud the bass is in the mix here, that’s something that often gets lost in bands trying to pull off the whole “sludgy heavy” thing. And this keeps itself fairly diverse, really? A more upbeat triplet groove in the middle I dig. I don’t know if a full album of this would’ve held my interest (well, obviously it didn’t) but this song I like well enough in isolation, yeah. Could still use some more melody though. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Okay, so, as much as this is, by a huge margin, the best-constructed song of this entire EP, I have a hard time really… remembering any of it? I don’t remember any strong melodies. I don’t remember any hard-hitting riffs. I don’t even really remember any moments of atmospheric intensity. I feel like this song is really close to being pretty damn great, though? Like, honestly, raise up the tones of the song by an octave and get out of the boring “gotta downtune everything to be heavy” mindset and there’s genuinely some solid riffing to be had here, I’m sitting here going “if I were to give any other song off this EP another listen, it would be this one” but then at the same time I realize its biggest flaw is that it’s diverse enough that it doesn’t have any real central, grounded theme to it, when I think “what does Hollow by Conjurer sound like?” the closest I can get is that first heavy riff, but that only shows up a handful of times in the song and isn’t really that representative of it either. Ultimately I’m gonna say that this is my favorite here by a healthy margin but I wish it was something I liked more, too. I can actually see something here that would appeal to me. I almost feel it’s partially the weaknesses of the songs surrounding it that impact my opinion towards this one since they do a lot of the same stuff soooo much worse. But I’m also not gonna lie and say this one is reeeally working for me, it’s solid though.

6.5/10



5. Labirinto – Mal Sacré

First Impressions:
Two minutes into this and I really don’t have much to say about this one that I didn’t already say about the previous tracks here, honestly. It’s very standard post-metal. I will say that it least has a better grasp of melodies than some of the other tracks here. It’s also apparently an instrumental, which I’m totally fine with in this genre, a lot of time post-metal growls can sound… not good. Some artists have ‘em figured out but a lot more don’t, in my opinion. I think I’m bored by this one mostly by its proximity to the rest of the songs here and not really being notably distinct. I think on its own it’d maybe fare a bit better and I will say it’s not my least favorite off this EP either but it doesn’t really do much to stand out in the genre either even aside from in the context of this EP. (AVERAGE)

Final Thoughts:
Yeah, I’ve got nothing for this one. It doesn’t have great production, it doesn’t really have either a main melodic motif nor a core “riff” to drive it. The entire first bit of this is just a straight flatline musically. Nothing of interest happens until the tempo change. And the riffing that starts after that, is certainly handily more interesting, if not for just have some rhythm going on besides a straight 4/4. This doesn’t really devolve into boring downtuned sludge at any point either so it almost gets free points on the basis of not being totally useless. But there’s basically two unique musical ideas to this 7 minute song and neither of them are that compelling either.

5.5/10



Overall:

First Impressions:
I’m not super surprised by this considering you know how I feel about this kind of stuff from your submission in my last roulette, but on the whole I wasn’t really too into this one. Even the songs I’d say are “decent” are all on the lower end of that spectrum and the stuff in this genre I do like is a lot more emotionally powerful than anything on display here. Or at least, a lot more musically interesting. I am so, so over post-metal because it, more than any other genre of atmospheric rock/metal, spiraled into devouring its own tail and going absolutely nowhere fast for the better part of this entire decade. I feel like all the bands in the genre saw the original few bands, and took away only the “we gotta play slow and heavy” part of those bands while missing the nuance that makes stuff like Panopticon and Somewhere Along the Highway great albums and this is where we’ve ended up. Not even like, super unpleasant music, just… boring.

Final Thoughts:
I feel bad for inviting you back into the roulette just to kick you right back out again, but, this was consistently and unquestionably my least favorite EP of the entire bunch, the only one to leave me pretty consistently bored with each and every listen. That’s the thing with post-metal, I don’t find it actively unpleasant but I do find most of it boring as hell. There’s only one track here that’s really particularly dynamic and it’s not even that impressive of a track, certainly doesn’t come toe-to-toe with the best metal I’ve received in this roulette so far. I guess there’s technically some differences between other tracks on this EP but they all bore me. And this is definitely less than the sum of its parts, as well, one or two of these tracks on their own wouldn’t score great but having to sit through a half hour of this is just such a drag. Sorry man but I didn’t like this EP much at all, haha.



Current Standings:
1. Puppies_On_Acid
2. TAC
3. Lethean
4. senecadawg2
5.
------------
6.
7. Train of Naught



Song Rankings:
1. Great Leap Skyward – Black Sea of Trees
2. Altar Of Plagues – Earth: As A Womb
3. Angra – The Shaman
4. Cigarettes After Sex – Apocalypse
5. Bill Callahan – One Fine Morning
6. 3 – The World is Borne of Flame
7. Imperium Dekadenz – Dis Manibvs
8.
9. Angra – ØMNI – Silence Inside
10.
11. 3 – The End is Begun
12.
13. Khors – Through the Realm of Unborn Stars
14.
15. Anata – Downward Spiral into Madness
16. Supremacy – Just Before Dying
17. Bill Callahan – Riding For the Feeling
18. Almah – Almah
19. Falloch – Beyond Embers and the Earth
20. Angra – The Shadow Hunter
21. Conjurer – Hollow
22. Thousand Sun Sky – Echoes From Time’s Passing
23.
24.
25.
26.
27. Gürschach – The Night The Sky Rained Nukes
28. Bittencourt Project – O Pastor
29. Copeland – As Above, So Alone
30.
31.
32.
33. Labirinto – Mal Sacré
34. SÂVER – Dissolve to Ashes
35. Braveyoung – The Weight of Loss is Whole
36. Vorvaň – Of Menace and Favour
37.
38.
39. Herod – Reckoning
40.
41.
42.

[Crow]

fun fact: while the worst song is on 6th place (ie. eliminated), 40 and 41 are both on the EP that got 5th place and barely made it through
both the EPs left are 8 songs long and pretty inconsistent, basically
@ariich btw you don't have a color i can carry over from round 1, pick one or i'll give you, like, pink or something. home is yellow but everything else not already used is available 

[TAC]

The color I pick for arrich is Invisible. 

[Evermind]

Bye Train

If you want to ghost-participate in the final part of my roulette, the offer is standing open.

[home]

Now I'm actually starting to feel a little hope...

also this poll makes me np-hard

[ariich]

My favourite colour is purple if that's available, or if not then pink is fine.

Anyway just put me out of my misery.

[Crow]

purple will do!
final results in a few hours probably around whenever i'm eating dinner or so

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

You eat dinner at 3:30? What are like TAC's age or something?

[Crow]

by a few hours i meant at around 5-6 PST

[TAC]

You eat dinner at 3:30? What are like TAC's age or something?

Nothing better than oatmeal in the afternoon. Don't even need to put my teeth in for that.

[Crow]

Results, Part 4

5th Place: ariich – Let’s Groove

1. Bizali – Lucile

First Impressions:
This EP comes in stark contrast to the one I just listened to, in that it’s, like, fun, supposedly? Yeah, that’s a pretty solid groove right there. And the bass carries it on through the verse. She’s a pretty solid singer to, I hear the Bent Knee singer in her voice somewhat but Bent Knee also tends to not be very fun so she’s never really sung like this. It’s definitely a fun enough song though without looking into the lyrics I don’t feel it’s much else than that, and I can see myself getting a bit bored of it after a few listens, potentially. But for now, I like it well enough, yeah. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Mmm, yeah, I guess this song does have a pretty solid groove to it. That’s like… all it has for me, though. I can like more fun, poppier stuff well enough – had a fair bit of it in one of my previous roulettes that scored pretty well. And the groove here is pretty solid, yeah. But I’m just not… really feeling it, unfortunately. I don’t find this catchy, is the big thing. And the subject matter isn’t exactly fun or upbeat either, it’s a bit of a buzzkill really. Like, every element about this sounds fine – the vocals are good, the bass is slick, the synths fit the mood, it at least has a bit of variation. But it unfortunately just doesn’t really do much for me! That’s really all I can say about it.

5.75/10



2. Foxy Shazam – Intro / Bombs Away

First Impressions:
Yeah that intro sure is a thing isn’t it. I feel like I’ve heard this specific melody before once the song kicks in proper, though I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard this specific song. I honestly don’t know why I haven’t looked into Foxy Shazam before, honestly, Oh Lord is a cool song and I dig their really cinematic vibe. They honestly have always struck me as a modern-day Queen, at least from what I’ve heard. This does feel more like an overture than a proper track, I’d say, but it’s a cool tune that I kind of wish you’d used as the opener proper. (GOOD)

Final Thoughts:
What is that motif from? I listened to Oh Lord again a few days ago and it’s still as good as I remember but it doesn’t use that motif so I don’t know why it sounds so familiar. Anyways this just flat rocks. The intro is pretty fun and pretty memorable and it builds up into the main song well enough. The main meat of this is driven by that motif and a ton of energy, alongside some really great and memorable vocals and just a lot of power behind the song in general. The only gripe I really have here is that it’s a bit too short to really feel satisfying – the intro takes up almost the first minute and then there’s basically only two minutes for the rest of the song to play out. It’s a three minutes I enjoy pretty thoroughly front-to-back though so I can’t fault it too much.

8/10



3. Novallo – Give Gravity a Choice

First Impressions:
Isn’t this the song I said I already liked previously when you used it in Puppies’ roulette? I didn’t listen to it a second time so I allowed it but I sort of wonder if I should consider that cheating regardless. I do like this but I also think the piano sounds kind of… cheap? It sounds really fake, whether or not it actually is. I honestly remember liking this more when I first heard it though. I don’t really have a ton else to comment? The vocals are pretty solid, the riffing is pretty fine, it’s not an especially… noteworthy song otherwise though. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Boy this song has taken a weird turn for me. When I commented on your album in Puppies’ roulette I said I liked it a lot. Then my first impression here was kinda mixed and underwhelmed. And then a few listens later I’ve looped back around to liking it a lot. Let me make it clear though that it is absurdly out of place on this EP. Like, I really don’t know why you included it on this EP, but also, I kind of wish the EP was geared more towards how this song sounds rather than the Bizali stuff or the other two Novallo tracks later on, because here we have another track on the EP that emotes well and has some good power to it. The… “chorus” here feels a little understated, I feel, but at the same time I find the melodies memorable so maybe it’s completely fine. There’s also some moments in the back half that really hit hard. It’s not like. A song that has ambition or does anything unique but it’s a cool song with a strong emotional crux that it does enough with to keep me interested in the whole way through. Kinda hard to fault it for that.

7.75/10



4. Bizali – Round Three

First Impressions:
Hmm I’m not so sure about this guitar line, or at the very least, really not digging how every measure ends with that weird harmonic. I feel like every fourth beat an alarm is going off in the song trying to distract me from the rest of the song and it’s doing a really good job at that. Like, I like most of the rest of this, the strings are cool, the groove is solid, the vocals are great. Musically it’s got a bit more going on than the other Bizali song. But exactly one quarter of it irritates the heck out of me and kind of spoilers the other three quarters. (AVERAGE)

Final Thoughts:
Okay, I think maybe I overplayed how bad the harmonic punctuation is, mostly because there are moments where it’s low enough in the mix that it can be ignored. It’s not quite 25% of the song that irritates me. More like… slightly below 20% or so. Not that that’s a great track record. And I snarkily put it that way but considering it’s an ongoing thing throughout the majority of this song it’s hard for me to enjoy much of this at all. I also commented that Lucile wasn’t particularly catchy in any regard. Well, I do find this one catchier… in the worst way, that awful guitar line has been stuck in my head and I’m reeeeally damn sick of it. Yeah, here’s the disappointing case of “otherwise totally fine but unspectacular song gets completely ruined by one stupid decision” again. Also doesn’t help that it again has the same dissonance between how it sounds and what the lyrics are about. Groove the night away while the rich oppress the poor hell yeah. But yeah sorry but I really did not care for this one much and honestly I think this one actively tainted my impression of the other Bizali songs too, which is even worse than just being a mediocre song in its own regard.

3.5/10



5. Bizali – Uh-huh

First Impressions:
Well, this one sure doesn’t have annoying harmonics punctuating every measure so it’s definitely a step up from the last song. I pretty much don’t have anything else to say about the general sound of Bizali at this point so I’ll comment instead that ultimate how much I like these songs is going to come down to how catchy I find them, which will take a few listens to determine, most likely. That’s basically how I rate upbeat, fun tracks. Is this catchy? Does it make me wanna groove along just thinking about it? (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Of the three songs here this one’s definitely the most interesting musically. It’s the only one that doesn’t feel like one constant groove on loop, for starters. The percussion for some reason makes me think of, like, salsa, on the post-chorus bit. It isn’t really that catchy though, and I don’t really like the “uh-huh uh-huh” title drop that happens in the verses, I literally didn’t even notice it until the third listen and then I was like “ohh I don’t like this” the moment I did. This one, yeah, I guess it’s by a decent margin my favorite of the three Bizali tracks, but I’m still not wild about it either.

6.25/10



6. Foxy Shazam – The Only Way To My Heart…

First Impressions:
I’m amused that of the three artists this is the one you sent the least of after I told you I was already familiar with one of their songs. Because, yeah, I do kind of love how bombastic & over the top this one is, quite a bit. I do feel like the delivery of “never let you know” feels a bit flat though. I also love how unhinged it gets by the end, it’s not a very, uh, sane-sounding tune but that’s why it’s fun. (GOOD)

Final Thoughts:
This song is just a massive, lumbering showtune basically. Unapologetically over-the-top and not really taking itself that serious but damn if it isn’t a good, fun time regardless. Also after looking at the lyrics apparently that one repeating line is “let me let you know”. Maybe that’s why it sounded a bit weird to me? I don’t know, that’s still the one thing about this I’m not too wild about, but aside from that it’s pretty cool stuff, yeah. Definitely gonna be checking this album out.

7.5/10



7. Novallo – I Am

First Impressions:
Hmmm not so sure what I think about the synths here,  but I think I don’t really like them. This sort of feels like… techno-metal more than anything though, there’s a lot of electronic stuff going on here mixing with the heavier riffing. Mostly noisier stuff. I dunno, this is fine I guess but I don’t think this fusion of styles is something I really needed or wanted. (AVERAGE)

Final Thoughts:
Okay, I find the chorus of this one decently catchy, or at least the vocals. That’s a positive thing I can say about this song. Iiiiii don’t like much else about this, sadly. Is there even guitar in this one? The entire song uses a synth-tar sound for both the lead guitar and the bass, and the rest of the elements of this song are the percussion (which does at least sound real) and the synths. Also, the bridge can absolutely screw right off. Get your dubstep out of my ears. Get that awful squealy noise out of here. Yyyeeeah sorry but while this isn’t, uhh, terrible or super annoying, aside from the chorus there isn’t really much I have a positive opinion towards.

3.75/10



8. Novallo – White Phoenix

First Impressions:
Ooh oh no not chiptune. Other than that intro this doesn’t seem to be as heavily techno’d as the previous track though. The riffing seems to kind of shoot for “technicality over groove” though, or at least from what I heard it certainly seems that way to me. It’s the kind of djent-ish riffing I can listen to and not be bored by since it’s not just CHUGGA CHUG CHUGA but I also don’t really “feel” it the same way I’d feel a good groove. It certainly makes for a better listening experience than the previous Novallo track even if I’m not totally into it yet. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
So yeah compared to the last one the tones are a lot better and while the intro is pretty awful (seriously, chiptune, one of my least favorite things – it belongs in retro or retro-styled video games and absolutely nowhere else). The chorus is also pretty solid, as straightforward as it is. It’s more in line with Give Gravity a Choice in terms of how it sounds. And there’s some okay groove here, I’m still not wild about the djenty riffing but it’s… amusing, at the very least. I haven’t really though about this song so much, it probably stands out the least of any song here except maybe Uh-huh, but y’know? I’m decently into it, I guess. The abrupt ending doesn’t do your EP a ton of favors though.

6.25/10



Overall:

First Impressions:
So yeah this… isn’t really that cohesive, honestly, yeah, I can see some similarities but they’re all pretty different styles overall. Bizali is the most odd out of the three, being primarily driven by acoustic guitars and funkier grooves. Novallo doesn’t seem super consistent stylistically within themselves either as all three tracks are somewhat different in style though there’s still a core sound there. And Foxy Shazam is wild and good and I probably should’ve already checked them out. And yeah, one of the styles here definitely does more for me than the other two. I also already commented a bit on some of the sequencing but I think it would make decent sense to not have any artist play twice in a row either, if that had even been possible. That’s how I’d sequence at least, but then that could’ve just made it feel more incohesive too so who knows.

Final Thoughts:
Man this one is just. All over the place. A few songs I really like, a few songs I didn’t like at all, a few songs I found nice but not that special. And yeah, I also don’t really feel like these three artists go together at all, like, in the slightest, this is by a good margin the least cohesive EP here, and I think that’s worked against my overall opinion of this one even aside from the songs I’m not a fan of. I feel like you reeeally wanted me to like Bizali but I just, don’t, really, I ain’t feelin’ it. And I don’t think I’d check out Novallo further since I get the impression they’re more like I Am than Give Gravity a Choice most of the time, and they don’t even have a full album out yet anyways, so. Foxy Shazam is almost cheating but you know, I sort of suspect this EP would’ve been cut if you had to replace them and I wasn’t as into whatever you did replace them with, so.

[Crow]

6th Place: home – “It's just a fond farewell to a friend”

1. Frank Ocean – Nikes

First Impressions:
So a big part of why I can’t get too into hip-hop is that it’s a very lyrical genre and I am the type of person who very rarely pays much mind to lyrics. Anyways uuuhh those are some chipmunk’d vocals alright. Is he just gonna do the whole song in that style? The beat here is mostly percussion too which doesn’t tend to work for me, either. Okay finally something other than chipmunk vocals. Yeah man I dunno this felt really dry to me and the annoying vocals don’t help. (MEDIOCRE)

Final Thoughts:
Mmm, okay, maybe I was a tad harsh on this at first. I think some of the lyrics here are alright, at the very least? The bit with the shoutouts to dead friends (?) especially but it all at least… sounds alright, the chipmunk vocals didn’t really end up grating on me much at all surprisingly. Some of the lyrics feel pretty incohesive or all over the place though, as well. I dunno. It’s a nice enough sounding song that isn’t really unpleasant and it’s vaguely memorable but I can’t say I really particularly enjoy much of it either.

5.5/10



2. Frank Ocean – Ivy

First Impressions:
Alright, I like this one more right off the bat. For one the instrumentation is mostly atmospheric guitar bits and the vocals are in a proper register. There isn’t really any rapping in this one period, really. He isn’t a technically great singer but he can emote well enough and that’s what really matters. It sort of mostly just rides one vibe the whole way through, though, aside from a louder/annoying bit towards the end. It’s alright. (AVERAGE)

Final Thoughts:
Aside from the line “I broke your heart last week / You'll probably feel better by the weekend” I don’t know if there’s much here that connects with me. It’s a pretty straightforward breakup tune, from what I’m getting from this one? It also doesn’t really have… any grounded melody to it. The background music is watery and jumbled, it’s clearly meant to give space to the vocals which is fine enough for this kind of music but then the vocals… I mean, yeah, he sounds nice but he doesn’t really have many good melodies, some of the chorus is okay but it’s only even vaguely recognizeable as a chorus too. I just. Don’t really get much from this. And the vocal effects towards the end reeeally sound bad. Meh. Slight positives, slight negatives, I don’t really have much of a strong opinion on this either way, ultimately.

5/10



3. Mac Miller – Ladders

First Impressions:
Gonna feel bad if I hate this because then I’m speaking ill of the dead, huh? The beat of this one I like, kinda funky. His rapping is like, half-sung half-trying to sound forceful and it ends up in this weird in-between space where it’s kind of neither and sounds kind of awkward. This song has an actual chorus at least which I appreciate. Yeah I think the instrumentation of this one is enough to give it a pass, and the chorus sounds fine enough too. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
I forgot how it takes almost a full minute for this song to really start proper, considering the beat is by far the most interesting/compelling thing about this. Miller himself sounds pretty dang bad, though not as bad as he sounds on that… other… song here, we’ll get to that though. The bit with the horns that pops up a few times is pretty dang fun though. And when he’s rapping over the beat he rides it pretty well, still doesn’t sound great but it fits in fine enough. I do feel to some extent I like this song more by comparison to a lot of the other stuff you put on this EP, and like, probably? I’ve heard better in the vein of funky hip-hop too, though, so I’m not, blown away by this, but I don’t mind it.

6.25/10



4. KIDS SEE GHOSTS – 4th Dimension

First Impressions:
Honestly these two are the ones I’m looking forward to the least because I just flat don’t like Kanye West as a person and don’t want to give his music the time of day. He’s at least decent at his delivery, Cudi doesn’t sound as good in comparison. The beat isn’t really my kind of thing, plunderphonics is a style that can go wrong really easily and while it doesn’t sound awful it doesn’t really… evoke any emotion for me. This isn’t actively unpleasant but there isn’t really anything here I like either. (MEDIOCRE)

Final Thoughts:
The beat is okay, I guess. Mostly it’s the whoa-oh’s. And the muted vocals in general. Buuuut there’s a lot about this I don’t like. The weird laughing bit in the middle is eeehh, Kanye  isn’t very interesting, Cudi’s bit has grown on me a little though, I actually feel like he sounds at least decently “intimidating” for lack of a better word and fits the bassy production more. There’s something about that voice clip at the end that I like, take offense to on an artistic level though. It’s short enough that it feels more like a fragment of a song than anything and even the stuff about it I find… okay, comes with a catch, though. Not for me.

4.25/10



5. KIDS SEE GHOSTS – Cudi Montage

First Impressions:
I don’t even really get the title of this one. I’d expect it’d be like, just Cudi here but no, both of them are on here too. Again, not really anything about this production or beat that I like, the chorus here at least is solid? I’m really trying here, man, but this stuff just flat out isn’t for me. (MEDIOCRE)

Final Thoughts:
Okay, actually there’s some bits of this I do like. I like the modulated vocals on the chorus, or I guess what serves as the chorus? And the humming and synths that match up against it, it actually does create a pretty good atmosphere. I don’t like much of anything about the verses though, neither performer is very interesting and the weird guitar line doesn’t work at all. I think the chorus is enough to elevate this a little with a decent atmosphere, cut out the verses entirely and replace them with something better and I could see this being a genuinely good song actually but as it stands there’s about a third to a half of it I don’t care much for and I don’t like the chorus thaaaat much either.

6/10



6. Post Malone – Over Now

First Impressions:
So I’m also decently familiar with Post Malone simply for how popular he’s been in the mainstream recently. A problem I’ve consistently seen with him is that even when his music is good, his content seems to get worse the better the song sounds, like I Fall Apart which could be genuinely good if the lyrics weren’t trash. In this case, well, he sounds more awake than a lot of the other stuff I’ve heard from him & the content, while probably not amazing, doesn’t have anything obviously awful about it either. It probably shouldn’t surprise me that the two most song-shaped tracks on this EP so far are the ones I’m enjoying the most. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Goddammit I’m so conflicted about this one. For one, it’s Post Malone. Who is just the most basic, unlikeable white guy coopting hip-hop culture to repackage and market to pasty-faced teenage white boys terrified of any skin tone darker than their own. That’s not the conversation for this thread though. And second, the lyrical content is just total trash. Third, Malone always sings like he’s half-drunk. So I don’t know why the hell this sounds as good as it does. His singing sucks but he’s got good melodies to work with, the awful content he somehow makes work with his delivery, and the production is pretty damn good, it’s got power, it’s got groove, it’s got atmosphere. I feel reeeeally bad about liking this one, but goddammit, I do. I am definitely not checking out the album, but what the hell, you win this time, Postman.

7.25/10



7. Frank Ocean – Seigfried

First Impressions:
Okay, I am actually pretty into the sparse and atmospheric guitar here matched with some more soulful, emotive delivery on his part. Also I see where the EP title comes from, now. The swell in the middle is pretty effective. Sort of falls apart after that though, I feel, like, any sense of rhythm just kind of disappears. Overall still pretty nice though, sure. (DECENT)

Final Thoughts:
Technically of all three Frank Ocean songs here this one is the one that “sounds” the nicest. It’s guitar-driven and he’s got pretty good vocal melodies throughout. I don’t really find the melodies that memorable though, and the instrumentation feels just a bit too empty, especially since there is clearly meant to be a decent bit of intensity to the vocals here. The only bit that gets some swell is, ironically, the bit where the vocals lose any sense of rhythm and the song basically turns ambient for a bit. I think losing the rhythm kiiind of kills the flow of the song though, it turns the whole thing from a “song” to more of a “poetry recital”. The last little vocal bit at least kind of gets back on track but it’s a little too late to win me back by that point. I dunno. I don’t really actively dislike this one but there was potential for something better here and it doesn’t quite work for me. Probably my favorite of his three songs here but I can’t say I’m won over by any of them.

5.75/10



8. Mac Miller – 2009

First Impressions:
At first was wondering if this was instrumental. When the vocals came in I started wishing it stayed instrumental though, he sounds real bad, geez. Yeeeah I wouldn’t mind this beat on its own but I legitimately can’t even care about what he’s saying when the delivery is just this flat-out bad. There really isn’t much else to this song besides the repetitive beat and the vocals either sooo. (MEDIOCRE)

Final Thoughts:
This song is practically a Shakespearean tragedy. The intro is so dang good, such a pleasant piece of music and a solid emotional climax for this EP as a whole. And lyrically this song is pretty solid too, it’s self-reflective in a way that usually appeals to me. But dear god, most of this is pretty much just unlistenable from how awful he sounds. Barely on the rhythm, barely even melodic, I have to assume he was drugged up as hell when he recorded this. And he basically is just going nonstop for several minutes straight, not that the backing instrumentation is very good either. Sigh. And it’s sooooo long. And it just runs a full minute after the vocals actually stop, which I mean, makes it more tolerable, but. I could see this song being really good if someone else was performing it, and if the beat did more, and if it was shorter, and now that’s a lot of “ifs” to try and salvage a song that, in its current state, I really just can’t get much into at all.

3/10


Overall:

First Impressions:
Not really surprising to you or to me that I wasn’t super into this one. A few tracks I liked, a lot of this annoyed me or was a little boring. I didn’t find most of it actively unpleasant but I didn’t really especially like anything here either. The closest was, amusingly enough, the Post Malone track. I also don’t even know if it’s especially cohesive within itself, or at least, some of the tracks don’t really fit stylistically with the others – Ladders is way too upbeat and fun for the rest of the songs here, and the two Kids See Ghosts songs don’t really have the same general atmosphere as the rest here either.

Final Thoughts:
I never rule 6’d this because, for one, I don’t think it’s the weakest EP here, and it takes a lot for me to really want to rule 6 anything – St. Vincent was genuinely that bad and I stand by that decision. And anyways rule 6’ing in an album roulette is a lot different than in an EP roulette where participants actually have to put in some effort to send me something and I’d like to respect that. That being said. Yeah. There was no way this was ever going to end in anything but a cut. It’s not that I even actively dislike much of this, it’s just that very little of it works at all for me. There’s exactly one song that really makes me feel much of anything and it’s the one that’s a guilty pleasure. And like I said in my first impression this isn’t even that cohesive just inside the genre of hip-hop, I’m at least aware enough to tell that some of these tracks have vastly different goals than others. I will say that aside from, ahem, that last track, I don’t really find any of this unpleasant to listen to, but it’s not winning me over on a genre I’ve never been too interested in to begin with, either. Ehh.



Round 1 Final Standings:
1. Puppies_On_Acid
2. TAC
3. Lethean
4. senecadawg2
5. ariich
------------
6. home
7. Train of Naught



Song Rankings:
1. Great Leap Skyward – Black Sea of Trees
2. Altar Of Plagues – Earth: As A Womb
3. Angra – The Shaman
4. Cigarettes After Sex – Apocalypse
5. Bill Callahan – One Fine Morning
6. 3 – The World is Borne of Flame
7. Imperium Dekadenz – Dis Manibvs
8. Foxy Shazam – Intro / Bombs Away
9. Angra – ØMNI – Silence Inside
10. Novallo – Give Gravity a Choice
11. 3 – The End is Begun
12. Foxy Shazam – The Only Way To My Heart…
13. Khors – Through the Realm of Unborn Stars
14. Post Malone – Over Now
15. Anata – Downward Spiral into Madness
16. Supremacy – Just Before Dying
17. Bill Callahan – Riding For the Feeling
18. Almah – Almah
19. Falloch – Beyond Embers and the Earth
20. Angra – The Shadow Hunter
21. Conjurer – Hollow
22. Thousand Sun Sky – Echoes From Time’s Passing
23. Bizali – Uh-huh
24. Mac Miller – Ladders
25. Novallo – White Phoenix
26. KIDS SEE GHOSTS – Cudi Montage
27. Gürschach – The Night The Sky Rained Nukes
28. Bittencourt Project – O Pastor
29. Copeland – As Above, So Alone
30. Frank Ocean – Seigfried
31. Bizali – Lucile
32. Frank Ocean – Nikes
33. Labirinto – Mal Sacré
34. SÂVER – Dissolve to Ashes
35. Braveyoung – The Weight of Loss is Whole
36. Vorvaň – Of Menace and Favour
37. Frank Ocean – Ivy
38. KIDS SEE GHOSTS – 4th Dimension
39. Herod – Reckoning
40. Novallo – I Am
41. Bizali – Round Three
42. Mac Miller – 2009

[TAC]

Dammit ariich!

[Crow]

The Rivalry Continues...

banned list is updated btw! i probably should put the bands i've ordered stuff from recently on my main banned list also

[ariich]

Looks like I'll need to scrape my way through each round and then scrape a victory over TAC in the final again!

Glad you're digging Foxy Shazam consistently, shame about the other two but no matter. Like I said, I won last time so no need to play it safe this time, so figured I'll just send stuff I love. I personally find these artists go well together as they've all got a lot of groove to their music, but I can see why you wouldn't feel that way.

By the way, I AM is all guitars, just with effects. Quite surprised you disliked it so much.

[Evermind]

home, you should've sent this EP against my power metal EP back then.

[Train of Naught]

Bye Train

If you want to ghost-participate in the final part of my roulette, the offer is standing open.

No thanks.

[home]

This is honestly better than what I expected. Thanks for taking the time with these songs and spending time on the write-ups! It's kinda funny Post Malone got the highest score, I mean I like his music, but he's absolutely not on the same level as artists as Frank Ocean in creativity/musicality. But hey I'm glad something got higher than 7!

And I agree with that it isn't a very coherent EP, but I thought if I get more different artists on it there's a higher chance of you liking at least something

Honestly these two are the ones I’m looking forward to the least because I just flat don’t like Kanye West as a person

Same, but no denying he is at least a creative musician

Who is just the most basic, unlikeable white guy coopting hip-hop culture to repackage and market to pasty-faced teenage white boys terrified of any skin tone darker than their own.

wow... (but not a discussion for here indeed)

legitimately can’t even care about what he’s saying when the delivery is just this flat-out bad.

I actually love his "relaxed" delivery a lot, but hey tastes

[TAC]

EP sent!

[The Walrus]

Congrats Lethean. I was indeed digging your grave. Wasn't expecting Parama to score those anywhere near what he did, so I'm pleasantly surprised as well. Good tunes from a power metal band with some prog elements

[Crow]

On The Shaman yes
On The Shadow Hunter they are more prog than power but maybe
There is like no trace of power metal on Omni though that just sounded like (pretty solid) djent-prog

[The Walrus]

I told myself I wouldn't get into this debate again and I'm going to stick to it. But there's a lot of power metal on the Omni album  Also that's the first time I have ever read 'djent' being associated with Angra, so that's kinda funny to me 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

On The Shaman yes
On The Shadow Hunter they are more prog than power but maybe
There is like no trace of power metal on Omni though that just sounded like (pretty solid) djent-prog

I feel like you might actually enjoy a good portion of the album Temple of Shadows.....maybe...