---ROUND 6 RESULTS---Congratulations to Cyril for correctly matching every single first impression with their corresponding song.
1st Place: Ruba (+14 Points)
Wilderun - Ash MemoryFirst Impressions:
This style of metal often comes across as cheesy and lacking in substance to me, but thankfully, the songwriting here seemed to be good enough that it didn’t feel that way.Now this was the kind of song I was hoping to get this round. It sure as hell feels “epic” to me, not just in its song length, but in its songwriting and sound as well. A lot of bands will slap an orchestra on top of a lackluster song and expect it to sound like a grandiose spectacle, but for me, if the songwriting doesn’t support that level of instrumentation, it’ll just fall flat (see: that Stormlord song I got in round two). This song has the larger than life instrumentation, but it also has a slew of fantastic melodies that are effectively reprised throughout the entire song and synergize with the massive sound to create something that makes you feel like you’ve been transported directly into Middle Earth. The song doesn’t waste any time throwing those melodies at you either; you’re hit with several of them in less than two minutes. It also helps that underneath the folky guitars and orchestra, the core metal instruments cut through cleanly and don’t get buried in the production. So yeah, the sound here is great, but can it hold up across nearly twenty minutes? The short answer is yes. The song’s broken up into four different parts, and how they’re structured works incredibly well. The first and last parts are more melodic, the second part is considerably calmer, and the third part is the heaviest. This works great flow-wise and also gives the song a good amount of variety, which definitely helps for a piece this long. I already mentioned how the first part introduces a bunch of fantastic melodies right out of the gate. The second part does a great job at recontextualizing some of these melodies with a calmer, folkier instrumentation. The third part is a little unmemorable compared to the others, but it’s still decent. Lastly, the fourth part is one hell of a finale and ends the song on a high note. I already got The Garden Of Fire from this album in my last roulette, which I enjoyed, but I liked this song even more. Considering that’s already over half of the album that I think is good, I’ll most likely be picking this one up in the near future.
2nd Place: jingle.boy (+12 Points)
Ayreon - Into The Black HoleFirst Impressions:
There were parts of this I liked, but it might be a bit too slow-paced for me.Initially, it seemed like the odds were stacked against you this round. At just over ten minutes, this was the shortest song this round by a decent margin, just barely meeting the minimum length requirement. Secondly, it’s an Ayreon song, a project I’ve been historically indifferent to. I’ve heard a handful Ayreon songs over the years, and while I’ve enjoyed some of them, I’ve never been a fan of the endless guest vocalists and the cheesey rock opera shtick that everyone seems to love about it. Give me the more maturely-written and atmospheric Guilt Machine album any day of the week (Cyril will back me up on this). Luckily for you, this might be the best Ayreon song I’ve heard. It’s pretty much devoid of all the problems I usually have with the project; most notably, it’s only got one vocalist, and it’s freaking Bruce Dickinson. His vocal performance here is unsurprisingly great, and thank god he isn’t forced to share the spotlight with like, five other people. I wish more Ayreon songs had only a single vocalist. The instrumentation here is pretty great as well, between the main synth line that channels The Final Countdown, the spooky, 2001-eseque ambiance during the quieter parts, and the heavier parts which hit surprisingly hard, especially that crunchy riff that comes in after the first couple verses. There’s some nice wailing guitars between the verses in this section too. Lastly, I’ve got to mention the outro, which features a killer keyboard solo and some awesome wailing from Bruce. If I had one complaint about the song, it’s that the last half of it starts to drag a bit; I’m not sure if it needed that last calm verse after the first keyboard solo. Overall though, this was a great song and a pleasant surprise. I still wouldn’t say Ayreon’s really my thing (I gave The Human Equation a full listen the other day, and yeah, no thanks), but I’m glad you decided to send this.
3rd Place: Kattleox (+10 Points)
IQ - Without WallsFirst Impressions:
I get the feeling you all really want me to listen to this album. Another grower for sure, but I feel like this has more potential than the others I’ve heard so far.This was a solid prog rock epic, though I definitely enjoyed some parts of it more than others. The softer, moodier sections in the beginning and middle are pretty great. This band does quiet and dark quite well, if this song and The Road Of Bones are any indication. That said, this song did leave me wanting a bit more of that, as most of the piece is much louder and less focused on atmosphere. The few minutes sandwiched between the two quiet sections are probably the weakest point of the song. They aren’t bad, but they felt a bit generic to me, and I can’t say I’m a big fan of the vocals here. They feel a bit flat to me, and his voice has a somewhat nasal quality to it that I don’t really like. Thankfully, the entirety of the second half of the song is pretty enjoyable. There’s an intense buildup leading into the finale, which culminates in a crazy instrumental climax that is incredibly satisfying. The finale itself sounds suitably epic and climactic, with some heavenly choir mellotron (FINALLY) and a triumphant synth melody. I’m surprised this song isn’t even an album closer; it sure as hell feels like one. This song didn’t quite reach the levels of say, a good Dream Theater epic to me, but it was still an enjoyable musical journey.
4th Place: Cyril (+8 Points)
Hacride - To Walk Among ThemFirst Impressions:
The quantity was certainly here, but I don’t know about the quality. For how long this song is, the music feels pretty basic.As much as I wanted to like this song, it just feels overwhelmingly average to me. None of it is bad per se, but the vast majority of it is very unmemorable. This song was in dire need of some stronger and more numerous hooks, be that melodies, riffs, grooves, or all of the above. As it is, I can only think of a couple parts of it that stood out to me, even after repeated listens. The groove that comes in around the five minute mark is quite nice, and I’d say the few minutes or so after it comes in are probably when the song’s at its best. The outro riff is very badass and at least gives the song a strong conclusion. The song flows fine, it doesn’t feel overly-long, and it’s by no means difficult for me to sit through, but man, it just leaves so little of an impact. That’s an improvement from some other songs this round, but I’m still left a little disappointed.
5th Place: Nekov (+6 Points +12 Points) [PERK USED: DOUBLE POINTS]
Eric Gillette - LostFirst Impressions:
This was a risky move, my friend. This reminds me a lot of Transatlantic, and also reminds me why I never had any interest in getting into them.This was the longest song I got this round (and I presume the entire roulette), and it’s quite a mixed bag. It starts off very promising, with a flashy, Dream Theater-esque intro that immediately kicks the song into high gear. Then the vocals come in, and the first major dip in quality occurs. The verses and choruses that the song alternates between here feel incredibly sappy to me. The soft vocals, the musical theatre-esque piano, and the melodramatic lyrics just don’t do it for me, at all. This part of the song also goes on for much longer than I would like, which unfortunately won’t be the last time I say that in this write-up. Thankfully, the part after this is much better. The instrumental section from around 9 to 12 minutes is easily the best part of the song for me. There’s some great soloing here, and some epic-sounding keyboards here that give this section a strong dramatic mood. If the song had ended right after this, I might have given it a more positive review, but there’s still a whole ten minutes afterwards, and man, does the song lose me completely in that time. A shockingly large percentage of that second half is spent on a slow, heavy riff that monotonously plods on for what feels like forever. It’s repetitive, it’s boring as hell, and the semi-aggressive vocals on top of it are super corny. The song would have been much better off had this entire section been cut, in my opinion. As for the ending, it’s alright. Not the worst part of the song or anything, but not as good as the intro or the middle. It works well for the song’s mood, but it hardly redeems the more tedious and bloated sections from earlier. There were definitely some highlights in this song, but it gets seriously bogged down by its more mediocre passages, and I’d say it’s at least five minutes longer than it needed to be. With some pruning, this could have been pretty enjoyable to me, but as-is, I’m probably not going to return to it.
7th Place 6th Place: Tomislav95 (+4 Points) [PERK USED: RANKING SWAP]
Thy Light - ...And I Finally Reach My EndFirst Impressions:
Despite being one of the shortest songs this round, this might have been the hardest to sit through.Very rarely do I come out and say that I think a song is flat-out bad in these roulettes. A lot of songs don’t do much for me, but I usually attribute that to a gap in personal tastes or the vibe just not really resonating with me. I feel like this song, however, is an exception. I think it’s just bad. It’s very repetitive and monotonous, with very little progression until the last few minutes. That might have worked if this song were around half its length, but at over thirteen minutes, I can’t help but zone out after just a few. It’s entirely instrumental except for some intermittent screaming in the left channel, and I must say, those screams just sound silly as hell. They don’t sound tortured or evocative to me, they just sound like some crazy guy who wandered into the recording studio while the band was performing. Between those silly screams and the cheesy, cheap-sounding synths, the vibe here feels almost comical to me. That’s not inherently bad; I’d say the same about Ghost and I think that band is great. That said though… given the name of the song and the album it comes from, and the sounds of choking at the end… I highly doubt that vibe was intentional. I believe the band was genuinely trying to create something dark and depressing, and assuming that’s the case, holy shit did the execution fall flat on its face for me. That’s an even bigger problem than the song being just boring. This song isn’t disturbing in the slightest. It isn’t dark. It’s just silly. There’s nothing else noteworthy here besides the atmosphere, and since the atmosphere fails at its intentions spectacularly, so does the entire song, for me. Yeah, this uh, this Thy Light song… it’s NOT GOOD.
6th Place 7th Place: Sacul (+2 Points)
Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn Pt. 1First Impressions:
A wide variety of different ideas and influences, packed into a single sprawling epic that was… interesting, but probably not something that will end up doing too well.Look, I know the best song I got last round was an instrumental, but let me make it clear that instrumentals are usually at a disadvantage for me, especially when they’re nearly twenty minutes long. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single instrumental over twelve or so minutes that I seriously enjoy, and this song unfortunately didn’t change that. It’s definitely interesting, I’ll give it that. It honestly feels like a classical piece performed with more modern (well, relatively speaking) instruments, rather than a typical progressive / psychedelic epic. Classical music isn’t really my thing at all, but I at least admire the ambition here. A lot of the instruments sound pretty dated, especially the synths, but they do give the song a unique atmosphere. There’s some nice Gilmour-esque lead guitar in some parts, and I definitely can’t fault the song for not having a lot of variety. It’s got some good moments; I particularly like the crescendo around the six minute mark, where it feels like the piece finally begins in earnest after a long build up. On the other hand, some of the more whimsical and folky sections with the woodwinds just sound silly to my ears. The section with the chanting towards the end also goes on for way too long. As a whole, this song was just a bit too far removed from what I usually enjoy listening to. I admire taking the risk, but unlike your other risks so far, this one didn’t quite play out.
Newly banned artists:- Wilderun
- Ayreon
---THE SCORE SO FAR---1: Sacul - 80
[ALL PERKS USED]2: Cyril - 76
[ALL PERKS USED]3: Kattleox - 66
[ALL PERKS USED]In Danger4: Ruba - 64
[PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]5: Nekov - 61
[ALL PERKS USED]
Eliminated6: Tomislav95 - 59
[ALL PERKS USED]6: jingle.boy - 59
[ALL PERKS USED]8: DTA - 36
[ALL PERKS USED]9: Puppies_On_Acid - 34
[ALL PERKS USED]10: TAC - 31
[ALL PERKS USED]11: Stadler - 18
[PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]12: kingshmegland - 17
[PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]13: senecadawg2 - 12
[PERKS USED: DOUBLE POINTS]14: Evermind - 9
[ALL PERKS USED]...and jingle.boy and Tomislav95 finally reach their end. Thanks for playing!
---ROUND 7: SEMIFINAL (OPEN)---The end is nigh! This is the second to last round, and the round that will determine who will make it to the final round! Well, to be frank, Sacul and Cyril are mathematically guaranteed to make it in. So this round's just a formality to them, which I'm fine with, since their performance so far should be rewarded. That leaves one more spot open though, and depending on how the scores turn out this round, it could be either Kattleox, Ruba, or Nekov. So, everyone still has a chance of making it to the finals!
This is another open round. It's also the last round perks will have any effect in... and the only one who has one left is Ruba. So I'll just assume he's activating it unless for some strange reason he tells me not to.
Good luck!
Poll
Topic: Buddyhunter1's Roulette v4: Post-Roulette Updates: Sacul (Read 45597 times)