Buddyhunter1's Roulette v4: Post-Roulette Updates: Sacul

[Ruba]

Worse than the last tune? I'm screwed.

It was fun while it lasted.

Exactly

You know nothing about being screwed, I didn't use perks. 

[Buddyhunter1]

 

[Buddyhunter1]

So, the top three participants this round all used the ranking swap perk, thus cancelling all three of them out.
If Sacul hadn't used his, he would have dropped down to #4, but since he did, the top three all stay at their original ranking.


---ROUND 2 RESULTS---

1st Place: Sacul (+14 Points) [PERK USED: RANKING SWAP]
Obscure Sphinx - Lunar Caustic

First Impressions: This one had a dark, creepy vibe to it that I enjoyed. Positive first impression, but we’ll see if it sticks.

I’m glad I got this song this round, otherwise it would have been lacking anything that I’d consider truly great. Really, this is the only song I got this round that was both solid from start to finish and interesting enough to make me want to hear more from the artist. It’s got that dark, unsettling, and dirty atmosphere I love in a metal song, accompanied by some deep, thick, downtuned (but not djent-y) guitar riffs that sound great. The vocalist is spot-on as well. The world needs more female harsh vocals, I’m telling you. She sounds awesome, and that creepy break towards the end with just her strained, writhing vocals layered on top of themselves gives me chills. This song kept my attention from start to finish, flowed well, and left me wanting more, in a good way.


2nd Place: Nekov (+13 Points) [PERK USED: RANKING SWAP]
Toundra - Tuareg

First Impressions: This isn’t usually a subgenre that appeals to me that much, but my first listen of this song was pretty positive.

This is some pretty solid post-metal. Like I said, not a subgenre that I’m all that into, as I tend to avoid most instrumental-only bands, but I can certainly enjoy some smaller doses of it. As you’d expect from any decent post-metal track, the guitar and drum performances are great. The song has an enjoyable progression across its eight or so minutes; you’ve got a distinct first section that lasts a few minutes before suddenly bursting into some fantastic riffs that ramp up the intensity and carry the song into sort of an early climax a little past its halfway point. Things then cool off a bit, and you get some soothing, spacious clean guitars and piano that slowly build up to a comparatively small finale at the end. I kinda wish that the big climax of the song was at the end rather than the middle, but hey, this works well too, so I can’t really complain. I’m glad I got to hear this song, though it didn’t exactly leave me wanting to check out more of the artist or anything.


3rd Place: Cyril (+12 Points) [PERK USED: RANKING SWAP]
Slice The Cake - The Holy Mountain

First Impressions: Well, this one comes in like a fucking meteor impact. Thankfully it’s got some quieter parts, otherwise it would just be exhausting.

So yeah, the start of this song is fucking colossal. It’s on par with some Gojira songs in terms of some of the most massive, crushing metal I’ve ever heard, and it’s fucking great. The constant blast beats, the roaring vocals, and THAT. FUCKING. RIFF. all come together to create an amazingly overpowering and wonderfully exhausting first few minutes. But uh, let’s address the elephant in the room. No, not the somewhat-stupid band name. I’m talking about the spoken-word section. Truth be told, I actually did give this full album a single listen a while back, but I hardly remember any of it except for it being heavy as hell and FULL of spoken-word sections. In hindsight, I’m pretty sure that was the reason I didn’t end up listening to it a second time, and this song backs up that theory. To put it bluntly, the spoken-word section here is too damn long. It’s practically half the song, and this isn’t a short song, either. The speaker definitely gives a passionate and dramatic delivery, but to me that doesn’t make up for the fact that I’m just listening to a guy raving on and on about a bunch of stuff that I had much rather have been put into actual lyrics. I was also a bit let down by the ending. After how explosive the beginning is, and how long the spoken-word section was building up to it, I was expecting some huge, bind-blowing finale, and it’s just not really there. The song starts with a bang, and at least by comparison, it ends with a whimper. Contrary to what I said in my initial impression, I think I would have liked this song a lot better if more of its runtime was as unfathomably heavy as the start.


4th Place: Kattleox (+11 Points +22 Points) [PERK USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Omnium Gatherum - Frontiers

First Impressions: Seemed to strike a good balance between heavy and melodic. Some nice guitar work.

This was a nice, relatively straightforward metal track and certainly a big step up from your previous submission. The guitar work is definitely the MVP here. There’s some energetic, fast-paced riffs that I enjoyed a lot, especially when they get complimented with some speedy tapped arpeggios from the lead guitar. The chorus of this song is quite memorable, and a lot of that once again comes from the lead guitar providing the majority of the melody. As far as other specific bits I liked, there’s the short riff that leads into each chorus, the calmer break before the final chorus that reprises that same riff, and the great guitar solo that closes out the song at the end. This was just one of those songs that didn’t ever reach super-amazing heights or anything, but didn’t have any bad parts either.


5th Place: Ruba (+10 Points)
Jinjer - I Speak Astronomy

First Impressions: I was unsure about this one for the first half or so, but it definitely picked up a bit towards the end.

This is another song I thought was good, but not great. There’s some nice technical riffs in the first half, especially during the verses. I’m pretty indifferent to the vocals, but they’re decent. I like how the song goes through a pretty dramatic shift halfway through and pretty much drops all of the motifs from the first half. That doesn’t sound like a good idea on paper, but it ends up adding a good amount of variety to the song without making it feeling disjointed. The climactic verses towards the very end are probably my favorite bits of the song and give it a satisfying ending. Pretty good track.


6th Place: Puppies_On_Acid (+9 Points +18 Points) [PERK USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Skepsis

First Impressions: Well, this is quite a change of pace from what you sent last round! Wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being the heaviest thing I get. Not quite sure what to make of it yet.

Alright, we’ve got a two-parter here, with the first part being instrumental and the second being much heavier. I’d agree with you in saying that the song works better as a whole, as either part by itself seems like it would be pretty underwhelming, but together they compliment and flow into each other quite well. The first part gives me some post-metal vibes, though it’s hard to put my finger on why. The first half of it is a bit repetitive, but it ends with a nice quiet break and a solid finale which sets up and transitions into the second part perfectly. Moving onto the second part, I have mixed feelings about its heavier sections. I like the melody created by the wailing guitars in the background, but the drums and vocals are a bit too one-note for me. These parts have grown on me a bit with repeated listens, though. The ending of the song is great; it reprises the same melody that ended the first part, slowing it down and making it sound even more dreary and hopeless-sounding. I would have liked a bit more of that vibe and less of the more ferocious, angry sections towards the beginning of this part. I’m a bit mixed on this song as a whole, but there certainly were parts of it I really liked.


8th Place 7th Place: jingle.boy (+8 Points) [PERK USED: RANKING SWAP]
Evergrey - The Grand Collapse

First Impressions: Probably the most unique-sounding song I’ve gotten so far this round. Very interesting.

The contrast between the different elements in this song is quite interesting. On one hand, you’ve got some thick, crunchy distorted guitar that chugs along and gives the song a driving, mechanical rhythm, but it’s accompanied by a soft, haunting piano melody, and some softly-sung vocals. These two sides of the aesthetic work surprisingly well together, and create a very dramatic, serious, and somewhat melancholy vibe. The song as a whole is a little on the repetitive side though, and sometimes the distorted guitar can be a bit too basic, just chugging along on the same chord for too long. I think that would bother me a bit less if the guitar was a bit further in the background, instead of being mixed so prominently. That’s a knit-pick though. I liked this one, though I could see myself getting a bit sick of it after a while, and it has actually dropped in the rankings a couple times after repeated listens.


7th Place 8th Place: DTA (+7 Points)
Immortal - One By One

First Impressions: Yeah, I don’t know about this one. Not a subgenre of metal I’ve ever really been able to get into.

All right, we’ve got some good old Norwegian black metal here… hold on, just checking the band’s Wikipedia page real quick… no mention of nationalism, white supremacy, church burnings or other atrocities… okay we’re good. Phew. Anyways, while I love myself some good atmospheric black metal, pure black metal has always put me off, and not just because of its problematic subgroups. Musically, most of it is just too abrasive, noisy, and lacking in anything to latch onto. My first impression of this song wasn’t too great, but it thankfully grew on me a lot. Unlike most black metal, this track’s actually got some pretty killer riffs and tight, technical performances all around. The production’s not bad, either! I’m seeing this classified as blackened thrash by some, which makes sense to me given the higher focus on rhythm. Speaking of which, I like how the song frequently switches up the rhythm to keep things interesting. The super-fast tempo at the beginning isn’t really my thing, but the gallop-y rhythm that shows up after about a minute is nice, and the somewhat slower tempo towards the end is great, though at that point the song starts to feel a bit “meat-and-potatoes metal” to me. Pretty decent track though, all things considered.


9th Place: Stadler (+6 Points +12 Points) [PERK USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Black Sabbath - The Sign Of The Southern Cross

First Impressions: That slow main riff is great, but the song as a whole kinda overstayed its welcome for me.

This was another grower. The entire song feels like it’s based around that slow main riff, and thankfully it’s a fantastic riff; that much was apparent from the start. The track’s also got a surprising amount of atmosphere to it. The main riff already gives it a doomy, vaguely-sinister mood, and the wind-like synth pad / soundscape in the background adds a sense of mysticism and enhances the creepiness a bit. There’s some other cool moments in the song like the effect-laden guitar break around the middle, and the climactic “fade away, fade away” vocal line, which I wish showed up more often. My only complaint about this one is that it feels like it could have been a minute or two shorter. It’s still pretty enjoyable throughout, but I feel like after the guitar solo around five minutes in the song should have wrapped up a bit more quickly, rather than continuing to trudge on for another few minutes. I’d be down to hear more stuff like this.


10th Place: Tomslav95 (+5 Points)
Harakiri For The Sky - Fire, Walk With Me

First Impressions: This felt more monotonous than it should be, but not as bad as the previous song I got from this band.

The sense I’m getting from this band between this song and Viaticum, which I got in my last roulette, is that they have a habit of writing enough material for around five minutes of a song, and then stretching it out to double that length. I think that was less of a problem in this song than Viaticum, but it’s still way too long for how little it changes throughout its runtime. It’s very monotonous with no real sense of progression or flow; you could randomly jump from one point of the song to another and hardly even notice. That said, there’s nothing wrong with any particular part of this song by itself, and it’s got quite a few memorable riffs and guitar melodies. I just wish the band took more care in arranging them into a more well-put-together piece.


11th Place: senecadawg2 (+4 Points +8 Points) [PERK USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Primordial - Gallows Hymn

First Impressions: Not bad, but I wish it progressed more compositionally.

I just found this one to be pretty dull. Not obnoxious or flat-out-bad, just dull. There wasn’t any riffs or melodies that stuck out as memorable, the mood is pretty much what you’d expect from your average doom metal track, and after the intro builds up into the full band, the song doesn’t really go anywhere; it just gives a couple similar-sounding verses and then ends. Needless to say, I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed here.


13th Place 12th Place: Evermind (+3 Points) [PERK USED: RANKING SWAP]
So Hideous - Yesteryear

First Impressions: The clean parts were nice. The heavier parts I’m not so sure.

To give an update to my first impressions: yes, the softer parts are nice and pretty, but the heavier parts just get plain annoying after a while. The vocals and guitar during these parts sound really shrill and grating, which doesn’t really compliment the softer melodies that persist throughout. Those melodies are pretty good, but they’re buried under so much ugly noise that any enjoyment I would have gotten from them is just sucked away. It’s certainly not impossible to mix bright, pleasant melodies with louder, more abrasive instrumentation; bands like Deafheaven have based their whole sound around it. That said, it’s easy to fuck it up and get those two sides to cancel each other out, and I feel like that’s what happened here. Sadly, I struggle to get through a full listen of this one now.


12th Place 13th Place: kingshmegland (+2 Points +4 Points) [PERK USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Karnivool - Goliath

First Impressions: Some tasty rhythms here. I don’t think I’d even classify this as metal, but that might help it stick out this round in a good way, who knows.

I’m trying really hard to put my finger on why this band just isn’t doing it for me. Theoretically, all the ingredients are there - this song’s got some great odd rhythms, solid instrumentation, and a thick, punchy sound, but for whatever reason it just fell flat for me and came across as dull. Even after repeated listens it’s hard to remember much about it outside of that main groove. Maybe I felt like the performances should have been livelier and less mechanical-sounding? Maybe the sound just feels too much like a watered-down version of Tool to me? I’m not all that sure, but whatever the reason, this one never clicked with me.


14th Place: TAC (+1 Point +2 Points) [PERK USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Stormlord - Mediterranea

First Impressions: Sounds like power metal on steroids. Probably not something I’d usually listen to, but we’ll see if this grows on me.

Yeah, this one didn’t do anything for me. When I listen to a song with instrumentation this layered and grandiose, I really need some strong songwriting to come through and support it, otherwise it just sounds like all the effort went into the wrong place. That’s the case with this song to me. It feels like all wall of sound, no substance. It’s very lacking in memorable hooks; the melody that plays on the lead guitar and the strings at the start is the only thing that really sticks in my head, and maybe that little orchestral burst almost three and a half minutes in that kinda gave me some Pirates Of The Caribbean vibes. Oh, and those deep clean vocals that come in towards the end just sound silly as hell. Yeah, probably shouldn’t have sent this one.



Newly banned artists:
- Obscure Sphinx



---THE SCORE SO FAR---

1: Sacul - 26 [PERKS USED: RANKING SWAP]
2: Cyril - 25 [PERKS USED: RANKING SWAP]
3: Nekov - 24 [PERKS USED: RANKING SWAP]
4: Puppies_On_Acid - 23 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
4: Kattleox - 23 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
6: Tomislav95 - 19
7: Ruba - 17
8: DTA - 16
9: jingle.boy - 14 [PERKS USED: RANKING SWAP]
9: Stadler - 14 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]

Tiebreaker

11: TAC - 12 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
11: kingshmegland - 12 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
11: senecadawg2 - 12 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]

Eliminated

14: Evermind - 9 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS, RANKING SWAP]


Sadly, the former champion Evermind has been eliminated. Thanks for participating, and I'm sad to see you go. As far as the other elimination is concerned...



---ROUND 2 TIEBREAKER---

Participants
- TAC
- kingshmegland
- senecadawg2

Looks like we've got a three-way tie. So, here's how this is going to work. All three of you need to send me a song. No theme, it can be anything as long as it's within the rules. No holding back, send me the best thing you can! I'll then rank these three songs, and the top two will remain in the roulette and be able to send for round 3, with the bottom ranking participant getting eliminated. No perks are allowed here; only the quality of the songs will determine the rankings. Good luck!



---ROUND 3: ATMOSPHERIC---

For everyone who's not in the tiebreaker or eliminated, you can start sending for Round 3. The theme this time is "atmospheric". I'm sure everyone has their own definition for that word, but for me, it's anything that conjures up strong mental images of a place, event, or situation just by listening to it. You could send something bright and heavenly, or dark and hellish. You could take this as an opportunity to send something more on the quiet side, or go with something but heavy and atmospheric. The choice is yours!

[The Walrus]

  So happy that worked out for me. Sorry to see Evermind go but with round 3's theme being right in my wheelhouse I hope I can keep doing well.

[King Postwhore]

Oh boy!  Working on it now!

[TAC]

Yikes!

[Crow]

presumably when i do actually use my double points perk is gonna be the one round i score low and thus waste it 

also i generally do not like spoken word stuff myself but slice the cake's is done so well hhnn

[Ruba]

Nice.

I personally find the the second half of I Speak Astronomy bit too repetitive, but I've had one IRL friend, Evermind and now you saying it's great so I guess I'm wrong then. Too bad you didn't like the vocals that much, but you also said you wanted more female harsh vocals and most of their songs have more growls than this one.

[Tomislav95]

I already decided which song to send in case I'm still in. Will send when I get home. P.S. it's fire

[King Postwhore]

Annnnnnddd sent!

[Buddyhunter1]

Too bad you didn't like the vocals that much, but you also said you wanted more female harsh vocals and most of their songs have more growls than this one.

Are all the growls in that song her, too? If so I'm impressed.

[Buddyhunter1]

presumably when i do actually use my double points perk is gonna be the one round i score low and thus waste it 

also i generally do not like spoken word stuff myself but slice the cake's is done so well hhnn

You could see if you can get to the final round without using it

And yeah, I'll probably give that album another spin at some point. Musically it definitely seems up my alley.

[Crow]

nah i'm bombing this round so no worries about me making it to the final round it's fine

[Ruba]

Too bad you didn't like the vocals that much, but you also said you wanted more female harsh vocals and most of their songs have more growls than this one.

Are all the growls in that song her, too? If so I'm impressed.

Yes they are! 

[Evermind]

I was struggling to keep up with all three roulettes going on right now so honestly this is probably for the best. Good luck to the rest of participants!

[Sacul]

Hell yeah . That whole album is very nice and has a great occult vibe throughout and amazing vocals - I'm particularly fond of the last track, it feels like a ritual.

[Nekov]

I like how, even though you don't think it warrants a listen to the whole album, and it was worse than my last submission, it still got second place 

Tough competition with Sacul and Cyril, I like this.

[TAC]

I'm glad I used my Double Points score to turn my 1 point into 2 points! Or I would've been eliminated. Oh Boy!


I sent for the tie breaker what I originally thought to send for Round 2 in the first place. Like I said, I switched at the last minute after listening to the two winning songs in Round 1.

[jingle.boy]

Out of curiosity, did Sacul/Nekov/Parama rank 1-2-3 regardless of the ranking swap?

[senecadawg2]

Sent something fragile

[Buddyhunter1]

Out of curiosity, did Sacul/Nekov/Parama rank 1-2-3 regardless of the ranking swap?

Yeah, I made a note of that above the results.

[TAC]

Buddy, I assume the tiebreaker will be pretty quick. Today?

[Buddyhunter1]

Sorry, I'm going to be pretty busy today. I'll give the three songs a handful of listens tomorrow, and depending on how long it takes for them to sink in, either post results tomorrow or Tuesday night.

If it's more convenient for you, you could send your round 3 song in advance; I just won't listen to it until the tiebreaker's over and I know if you got eliminated or not.

[Stadler]

Holy CRAP. I feel like that guy in the movie that jumps across the chasm and just catches his fingertips on the ledge on the other side...

Dodged a bullet (or just delayed the inevitable??).  HAHA. 

I'll have mine tomorrow.

[TAC]

Sorry, I'm going to be pretty busy today. I'll give the three songs a handful of listens tomorrow, and depending on how long it takes for them to sink in, either post results tomorrow or Tuesday night.

If it's more convenient for you, you could send your round 3 song in advance; I just won't listen to it until the tiebreaker's over and I know if you got eliminated or not.

If I'm eliminated, I just like it to be as quickly as possible.


How about I listen to the songs today for you and let you know how it turns out? Cool?

[King Postwhore]

 


I think you should just axe Tim now.  Lol

[Tomislav95]

Sent round 3 winner
EDIT: BTW I would like to use double points perk

[Sacul]

Sent something very atmospheric, it will prob tank but I don't regret

[Buddyhunter1]

Tiebreaker first impressions:

The cheese was strong with this one.

I liked some parts of this, but as a whole it seemed pretty corny.

Yeah, I don’t know. I can definitely see the appeal here. I’m just not sure if it does anything for me, personally.


Oof. This is going to be a tough one.

[The Walrus]

Tiebreaker first impressions:

The cheese was strong with this one.

I liked some parts of this, but as a whole it seemed pretty corny.

Yeah, I don’t know. I can definitely see the appeal here. I’m just not sure if it does anything for me, personally.


Oof. This is going to be a tough one.

TAC, king, seneca in that order? 

[TAC]

Nope. I didn’t send cheese. I don’t think. 

[Buddyhunter1]

Sent something very atmospheric, it will prob tank but I don't regret

Some of the song titles from this record are A+.

[Ruba]

Sent something very atmospheric, it will prob tank but I don't regret

Some of the song titles from this record are A+.

So it's something from Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness. 

[Crow]

tiebreaker hangman

[Buddyhunter1]

tiebreaker hangman

Probably not, unless people really want one.