ROUND 1 RESULTS
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Clortho
Marah in the Mainsail – Bone Crown (2017)
First impression: The full album definitely feels more balanced, which I think is probably a good thing although it just means I need to readjust my expectations for further listens. But I really like what I’m hearing and there’s a nice range of influences.
Final opinion: The title track was my initial favourite in the prelim, and it may have been overtaken, but for the full albums this is comfortably my number 1 and a 9/10 right off the bat. It’s fantastic. The album's core sound is a bit like early Mumford & Sons (which I love), but grander, bleaker and with some of the theatricality of The Dear Hunter (which I love even more). Narratively and musically, the title track was clearly quite intense. A lot of the rest of the album is lighter in tone and more folksy, and it makes it a really nicely paced album that accentuates the darker moments. This album is just consistently great all the way through.
Rating: 9/10
Score: 10 + 2 bonus = 12 points
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Nekov
North Atlantic Oscillation – Fog Electric (2012)
First impression: A bit different to what I was expecting from the prelim song, but this is lovely stuff. Consistent tone throughout, but good variety of styles and ideas, and a great overall sound.
Final opinion: It wasn't too obvious from Expert with Altimeter alone, but the band's core sound has a lot in common with Porcupine Tree and Anathema, particularly their late 90s to early 00s periods. They do it really well though and it never sounds derivative to me. They also incorporate more recent stylistic ideas from those bands and others including nice use of electronic sounds. Empire Waste I especially like, and has a great Radiohead vibe. The album is full of gorgeous music and nice variety of tone - if it was all as pretty as the prelim song it might have got boring. But the rich soundscapes that I loved in the prelim song are very much present throughout. There are one or two relative dud moments (the whole of Interval in particular is not very interesting) but overall this is a great album.
Rating: 8.5/10
Score: 9 + 1 bonus = 10 points
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Train
Keor – Petrichor (2018)
First impression: This is pretty exciting stuff. Really well-crafted, and with some cool additional influences that weren't really present in the prelim song.
Final opinion: Yeah this is a really great album overall, slightly held back by the last song. Let's start with the great. The SW/Opeth/Devy sounds that were up front in the title track are present throughout to varying degrees, but Keor has brought them together in a pretty unique and interesting way, and also brought in a lot of other ideas. Nest of Evil is more in Haken-esque prog metal territory, with shades of DT in the guitar solo. Snivel by the Pond is wonderfully atmospheric and fairytale-like, sounding like a collaboration between Martin Grech and Danny Elfman. Terence returns to the core sound which helps bring coherence to the album, and it's another great song with a fantastic chorus. But the closer, Abyssal Bloom, unfortunately, just doesn't live up to the same quality. It's epic in style but the riffs are a bit boring and the vocal melodies arguably even more so. It's long as well, and so the album does end on a bit of a downer. If it had finished stronger, this probably would have been a 9/10.
Rating: 8.5/10
Score: 8.5 + 1 bonus = 9.5 points
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Cyril
Actor | Observer – Pareidolia (2018)
First impression: The prelim song was good, but I don’t think it’s the best one you could have sent. Wasn’t 100% sure about the opener, but there’s some absolutely superb, punchy and sometimes surprisingly epic music on here.
Final opinion: OK so I do get your choice of prelim song, which represents the album well. As a whole it’s all solid, but it's really strengthened by two songs in particular. I might have felt it a bit cold and angsty were it not for the amazing two-punch of Reuptake and In Your Ways in the middle. Reuptake isn't as heavy or shouty as some songs on the album but it feels angrier, like it's underpinned by a deep fury. In Your Ways is more sorrowful, starting delicate but building hugely to something quite intense and epic. As post-hardcore goes, these two songs are up there among some of the best stuff Thrice has produced, which is really saying something. There are other strong songs as well of course (the last few songs are really good), but those two lift the album from very good to excellent.
Rating: 8.5/10
Score: 8 + 1 bonus = 9 points
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Seneca
Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger in the Alps (2017)
First impression: Hmm, this will take a few listens I think. There's lots in here that really appealed to me about the prelim song, but a lot of it also feels less immediate and I haven't got under any of the intricacies, so I'm not yet sure how I feel about the album as a whole.
Final opinion: Funeral is probably still the best and most touching song, but the rest is very good too, and there are some other standouts as well such as Killer, Georgia and Would You Rather (though the sudden appearance of Connor Orberst's distinctive voice did catch me by surprise on first listen). Lyrically, the album is consistently excellent and most songs have everything I loved about her writing in Funeral - thoughtful and touching. Musically speaking, some songs are definitely a bit less interesting, although even the weaker ones are pretty good. Overall, a really moving album that I’ll definitely be adding to my collection.
Rating: 8/10
Score: 7.5 + 1 bonus = 8.5 points
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Tomi
Baroness – Purple (2015)
First impression: The aspects of the prelim that I was less keen on definitely apply throughout the album, but actually seem to work fine on the whole. Or at least didn’t really bother me. Sounds like a strong collection of songs.
Final opinion: I should start by saying that I'm still not very keen on the production, and I do think it holds the album back a little. But only a little, as it's still pretty great, and once I get settled into the album it doesn't bother me really. Almost every song has melodies and chord progressions that are really warm and engaging, and there are some cracking choruses. I guess I can sort of see your Mastodon comparison, but it's not that strong a link to me - I like Mastodon just as much but I find this quite a bit more tuneful. Very nice stuff.
Rating: 8/10
Score: 6.5 + 1 bonus = 7.5 points
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Luoto
Maraton – Meta (2019)
First impression: Stylistically, this is broadly what I expected from the prelim although there some surprises too, including some more intense stuff. I like it and there are some really good songs, but it didn’t sound as interesting, at least on first listen.
Final opinion: As you rightly pointed out, the album is richer and more intricate than the prelim song, though the tone and general style is very much along the same lines. The album starts on the more poppy side - the opener has a great groove and a strong Muse vibe, and Blood Music I wrote about for the prelim. After that, though, there's lots of cool rhythmic complexity from track 3 onwards, which ends up giving the music more of a Leprous vibe. Some tracks are definitely less interesting, but none are bad and some (like Altered State) are heavier and give the album a bit more variety. Some other highlights for me are the Body Double chorus and the moody vibe of Manifest Content which is perfectly accented by the 7/8 time signature.
Rating: 8/10
Score: 6 + 1 bonus = 7 points
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Katt
Casiopea – Asian Dreamer (1994)
First impression: I enjoyed this a lot. I did wonder if I might find it a little on the samey side, but as the album goes on there’s some nice variety and different moods brought in. Hopefully knowing that will help me enjoy it even more on further listens.
Final opinion: Really fun jazz fusion and I'm not sure why I've not heard these guys before. The album may be long, but as it's basically a compilation of re-recorded tracks, it works really well as an intro to the band. As I said in my first impression, I initially thought it might drag, but there's enough variety to keep it enjoyable right through to the end. Nice mix of guitar-driven fusion, some slightly more experimental stuff, and more traditional jazz that at times manages to achieve a pretty convincing big band jazz sound despite (as far as I can tell) not having any real horns.
Rating: 8/10
Score: 5.5 + 1 bonus = 6.5 points
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Evermind
The Reticent – On the Eve of a Goodbye (2016)
First impression: Excluding the song I already know, the rest of the album seemed to start a bit… unconvincing maybe? I really wasn’t feeling it at all at the start, but damn if there isn't some great stuff later on.
Final opinion: I really want to like this album more because there are some great songs on it, some powerful moments, and the nature of the album is quite intense and moving. But I find the quality quite mixed. It’s a really emotional album overall, but there are times where it feels a bit tonally inconsistent, which takes me out of the narrative. Now I’ve gotten to know it, the early songs are pretty decent but still don’t feel that convincing to me, and are the main culprits of that tonal inconsistency. The Girl Broken seems like a mix between upbeat Iron Maiden and brutal death growls and I struggle to get into it. The album gets much stronger from The Comprehension onwards and is mostly really good from there. The run from that through to The Apology is great, as is The Decision, and damn the climax in The Day After gives me goosebumps, it’s that heartbreaking.
Rating: 7.5/10
Score: 5 points
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Puppies
Spirit Adrift – Divided by Darkness (2019)
First impression: This is all pretty good, but nothing really stood out to me (apart from the song I already know). Possible I just need to get to know the other songs better, but this felt like it might be a bit run of the mill.
Final opinion: I went on a similar journey with this as I did with the prelim song, and definitely found it more enjoyable on further listens. Once I accepted that the band's general sound is quite derivative, the songs all grew on me and I find them very enjoyable. And actually there are some different ideas too - the opener is a bit more Dio style, the title track is Sabbath-esque, and Born Into Fire has much more of a stoner rock/Mastodon vibe. The last two tracks are more atmospheric, with some more modern sounding moments that work really well. So definitely a solid album overall but not quite enough to reach that coveted 8/10.
Rating: 7.5/10
Score: 4 points
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Scores after Round 1:
Clortho = 12.0
Nekov = 10.0
Train = 9.5
Cyril = 9.0
Seneca = 8.5
Tomi = 7.5
Luoto = 7.0
Katt = 6.5
Evermind = 5.0
Puppies = 4.0
Topic: ariich’s roulette 5.0 – The End (again (the actual end this time (really))) (Read 58248 times)