Round 1 Results
Nekov Agnes Obel - "Familiar"
Even after a couple listens, after this song had lost some of its luster, it remained my favorite of the round, as it remains now. The vocal effects make the lyrics almost incomprehensible, but they play really well together, and the overall mood of the song is pretty captivating, despite its relative simplicity. The strings add a lot too. I really don’t have much more to say about it, except that this came completely out of left field and I’m really glad you took the chance on it. 8.5
Romdrums and Stadler Temple of the Dog - "Call Me a Dog"
My heart sunk a little when I first saw this one, given that I’ve never heard a Pearl Jam or Soundgarden song that I liked. Boy was I wrong, and glad of it! This is actually really good. Bluesy and soulful just how I like it, with excellent musicianship to match. The guitar solo is great, as are the vocals in the the build up. 8
Puppies_on_Acid Mew - "She Spider
This is Mew song I enjoyed most, in this round. I enjoyed its upbeat pace and tone, and I felt that I got more bang for my buck, so to speak. I especially liked the dynamic shift at about 1:20, where things just kind of burst into life. I found myself wanting to dance whenever this song came on, and I’m definitely going to be checking out the album. Thank you! 7.5
Tomislav95 Midlake - "Roscoe"
This is pretty typical for me, to not really enjoy a song like this very much until I’ve heard it a few times, which is interesting given that there aren’t a ton of details to dissect. I think I just need to simmer with this kind of music for a while before I can get on board. But I did eventually come around and I’ve come to enjoy the subtlety of its peaks and troughs. 7
Sacul Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - "Spider Monkey"
This one reminds me of a darker, dreamier Tori Amos, or perhaps Loreena McKennit would be a better comparison. It’s nice to listen to, and I really like how hushed it is, as I said in the first impression. I also like the lyrics: "moments like a rainbow-colored sky, how they come and go…" The gradual crescendo is quite effective for me. Overall though, this is a good outing for the spider theme—the mood and instrumentation is very dark and spidery. I’d like to check out more from Beth—what would you recommend? 7+1 for theme
FlyingBIZKIT Nine Inch Nails - "Reptile"
Pretty much everything about this song grew on me, listen after listen. Even the drilling sounds have grown on me! There’s something interesting to me about the contrast between of the obviously inhuman music and the animalistic lyrics (talking about blood, caress, impurity, etc.) which I won’t pretend to understand just yet but do strike me as an interesting balance. Anyway, this was never going to be my favorite song of the round, but it did surprise me over time and ended up being solid. I’m curious to check this album out. 6.5
Leathean Katatonia - "The Promise of Deceit"
As I said in the first impression, I’ve heard a fair bit of Katatonia’s music and I generally enjoyed it, but never really wanted to come back, so I was excited to give them another try here. Turns out it’s about what I remembered. I enjoy the deliberate, marching (maybe even trudging?) way that the song moves forward. There’s nothing rushed about it at all. My biggest complaint though, after listening to it a few more times, is that it seems to be missing a memorable climax. Its deliberate, marching quality ends up leading me… I’m not sure where? 6.5
Cyril Mew - "Comforting Sounds"
The last couple minutes of the song are lovely, in a happy ghost kind of way. And overall, the song as a whole is lovely too. Still, I prefer the shorter, faster “She Spider” by a bit. There’s something imbalanced about the build up and climax, to my ears at least, like maybe the first few minutes don’t do enough to “earn” the exquisite climax, if that makes any sense. Still, overall, one of the better songs this round. Will definitely be checking this album out, as I said for the other Mew song. 6.5
wolfking Eden's Curse - "Black Widow"
This one didn’t make a strong first impression on me, apart from the line from which the song gets its title, which has been stuck in my head now for a few days. Which is interesting, considering that I wasn’t initially a fan the vocals as a whole. I think its the way he enunciates the verses which put me off at first. Anyhow, I eventually came around to them and ended up enjoying this song a bit more than I was expecting. It’s not doing anything really astonishing, but it’s solid and engaging enough to make me enjoy repeat listens. 6.5
Evermind David Gilmour - "Where We Start"
Unfortunately, although I found this song to be solid and inoffensive, it never really gripped me. The guitar playing was really tasteful and skillful, and the lyrics were well written, as I expected, but at the end of the day it felt to me like a Division Bell b-side, which isn’t something I’m really craving these days. I do think it’s better than the average song though, and I think that’s all down to the mood of the piece. Gilmour is just so good at constructing mood. So good in fact that even when I find the song less than stellar, by his standards, it’s better than most. 6
Ariich The River Empires - "Theon, the Fox"
I commend you for being the only person to send a fox song (you and a couple others were battling for that extra point). Like I said in the first impression, this one has a fun, summery energy to it, and that really distinguishes it from the rest of the songs this round. However, it also sounds to me like pretty generic outing for the indie folk genre. I tend to enjoy that genre, and this song is no different, but “enjoy” isn't a very tall hurdle. I do quite like the brass and percussion in this one (is that a xylophone I hear? Chimes?), and it is pleasant, but I was never really wowed. 5.5
jingle.boy and kattelox Nightmare - "Serpentine
This song, more than any of the others, didn’t grow or diminish with repeated listens. I pretty much feel the same way that I did when I first heard it: lukewarm. There’s not much of anything to complain about, and I enjoy the song well enough, but no more than any one of a hundred other songs in this genre. I wish I could be more positive, I really do, but this song doesn't jolt me the way I'd like it to. 5.5
Buddyhunter1 David Maxim Micic - "Daydreamers"
Strange one this, because there are some moments that I really enjoy. The problem is that those moments are concentrated in the middle of the song and sandwiched between 4 minutes I don’t like and a conclusion I don’t much care for at all. I’m not a fan of the vocals in either section, which sound to me like a poor man’s Devin Townsend. All that being said, the middle section has a lot of things I quite like, including the mewling cat sounds that you mentioned when you sent the song. Clipped out of the song, I would’ve given that quirky mid-section at least a couple more points than the song as a whole. 5
TAC Claim the Throne - "Fury Entwined"
I was surprised to hear this one from you. It almost reminds me of Nightwish in certain parts, Myrath in others, early Anathema (Death-Doom) in others, and then relatively generic death metal in others. Maybe I'm imagining some of that, but what results is a mixed bag, to put it nicely. None of it bothers me, I’m just not a fan of the way it’s blended together. 4.5
LordCost - Vennart - "Spider Bones"
This is a really strange one for me. It seems at once to have a lot of things going on but also nothing really memorable, if that makes sense. The biggest issue I had getting into this one is the fact that it feels distant to me. As if lacking immediacy. I mean that both literally (I feel like the production is layered in such a way that everything sounds slightly more distant than it might otherwise) and figuratively (the music doesn’t grab me by the gonads). I know that probably sounds like nonsense and that’s on me for not articulating it well, but the best comparison I can think of is Oceansize. Like, the music is solid—in some places its really good!—but somehow I have a hard time attaching to it. 4.5
Ruba The Cardigans - "I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to be Nicer"
So I initially enjoyed this song a good bit, but that didn’t last very long. Not even until the end of the second listen, in fact. It’s still okay and one of the more theme-appropriate submissions, but I enjoyed it less and less with each subsequent listen. It’s just a bit too repetitive for my liking, and it’s gotten to the point where it feels like the longest song to listen to, despite actually being the shortest. 4
Standings
Nekov 8.5
Romdrums 8
Stadler 8
Sacul 8
Puppies 7.5
Tomislav 7
FlyingBIZKIT 6.5
Lethean 6.5
Cyril 6.5
wolfking 6.5
Evermind 6
Ariich 5.5
jingle.boy 5.5
Kattelox 5.5
Buddyhunter 5
TAC 4.5
LordCost 4.5
Ruba 4
Poll
Topic: Seneca v3 results (Read 75929 times)
