---ROUND 2 TIEBREAKER RESULTS---
1st Place: kingsmegland
Southern Empire - Goliath’s Moon
First Impressions: I liked some parts of this, but as a whole it seemed pretty corny.
I wasn’t super into this one, but hey, it ended up being my favorite of the three. Instrumentally it’s pretty good, aside from some really goofy-sounding synths in the verses… not sure what they were thinking there. Some of the funkier-sounding guitar and bass lines are a nice touch. On the more negative side, the lyrics are fucking awful. Like, really bad. Even for prog concept album standards. Lyrics don’t usually matter to me as much as the instrumental (which another of these write-ups will exemplify), but man, I’d be lying if I said they didn’t hamper my enjoyment of this song at least a little bit. As far as particular sections of the song are concerned, the choruses have a ton of energy and are definitely the highlight. I could have done without the quieter middle section of the song; I found it to be pretty boring. As a whole, the song was alright, but the lyrics could have used a rewrite or two. Or three. Or being thrown into the trash bin and never spoken of again.
2nd Place: TAC
Testament - Throne Of Thorns
First Impressions: The cheese was strong with this one.
Ooh boy, more cheese! I just can’t take the vocals here seriously. At best they sound like someone putting on their best James Hetfield impression, and during the more spoken-word bits they sound absolutely ridiculous. The “lyrics” during those parts are pretty laughable, as well. Compositionally, this song’s passable, but really uninteresting. The riffs could have been a lot stronger, the chorus is really weak, and nothing really sticks out to me as being particularly noteworthy. Some of the instrumental sections are alright; the guitar solo in the middle is decent. Outside of that, I’m struggling to think of things I liked, so I’ll just leave it at that.
3rd Place: senecadawg2
Jason Isbell - Cover Me Up
First Impressions: Yeah, I don’t know. I can definitely see the appeal here. I’m just not sure if it does anything for me, personally.
I mentioned earlier that lyrics don’t usually matter to me in a song as much as the instrumental and the other aspects of the vocals. It’s likely for that reason that singer / songwriter music has just never appealed to me whatsoever. I can appreciate good lyrics, and this song definitely is great in that department. That said, if the rest of the song does nothing for me, it’s not going to click with me, which is a problem for songs like this where the lyrics essentially are the whole song. I’m not saying this song should have had more elaborate instrumentation, as it likely wouldn’t have worked here; I’m saying that music where the musical composition isn’t the focus just doesn’t appeal to me. 95% of this song is just vocals and some minimal guitar work, and I didn’t particularly like either. The vocal melodies are solid, but the texture of his voice isn’t really my thing. There are some extremely subtle instrumental additions towards the end of the song, which is a nice touch, but even then the instrumentation doesn’t reach a point that’s engaging to me. I’m happy this song moves you so much, and I can certainly see how it would, but I’m sad to say it’s just not for me.
No new artists banned.
---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]
In Danger
11: TAC - 12 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
11: kingshmegland - 12 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Eliminated
13: senecadawg2 - 12 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
14: Evermind - 9 [PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS, RANKING SWAP]
Well, I don't think any of us expected that two of the former champions would be the first to go. Thanks again for playing and for sending what you were able to send.
And with that, TAC and kingshmegland are off the hook... for now. Send in your atmospheric submissions for round 3!
As a reminder, two more people will be eliminated after this round!