ariich’s roulette 5.0 – The End (again (the actual end this time (really)))

[The Walrus]

Erase me, daddy Thanos

[ariich]

In terms of the five people surviving, it's a pretty nice even split of heroes and villains, in keeping with the name of the roulette.

EDIT: Of course, people might have different interpretations of who's a hero and who's a villain.

[Crow]

Soon I'm gonna be

Dead

[The Walrus]

Soon I'm gonna be

Dead

[ariich]

ROUND 5 RESULTS

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Luoto
In Mourning – The Storm is Building Up
Tracks: 1. Colossus; 2. From a Tidal Sleep; 3. Fire and Ocean; 4. Below Rise to the Above; 5. Black Storm; 6. The Poet and the Painter of Souls; 7. The Art of a Mourning Kind; 8. The Black Lodge

First impression: Not heard the band before but been meaning to check them out for a few months. They sound excellent.

Final opinion: You really are on a roll! I've been interested in checking these guys out since I noticed the DTF thread that had "FFO Insomnium" in the title. But I decided to hold off as I had other stuff to check out, plus a roulette coming up. Very much a brand of melodic death metal that's right up my alley - powerful and heavy, but atmospheric and with some gorgeous harmonies and good use of clean vocals. The song from the new album sounds brilliant, as do the songs from The Weight of Oceans. The songs from the album in between sound really good musically - the production is kind of odd, but things like that are more noticeable in a compilation so might work better on the album. The older material sounds solid too, a little less exciting but still strong. Great stuff all over. Congrats on further strengthening your lead.

Approx rating: 8.5–9/10
Score: 10 points

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Clortho
Blue October – “Bad Language Warning”
Tracks: 1. Into the Ocean; 2. Calling You; 3. Hate Me; 4. Inner Glow; 5. What If We Could; 6. X Amount of Words; 7. Somebody; 8. Dirt Room; 9. The Worry List; 10. Bleed Out; 11. Things We Do At Night; 12. I Want It; 13. Home; 14. The End; 15. I Hope You're Happy

First impression: Alternative yet accessible. Very catchy at times. Surprised I've not even heard of this artist before.

Final opinion: You should get an award for most inconsistent - top two or bottom two but nothing in between. Thankfully you're back on form with this one. Literally never heard of these guys, but I'm loving them. Accessible but quirky, and just really enjoyable all round with some bloody good choruses. Lots of variety of styles (within a general sort of punky alt-rock genre) but very consistent in both quality and sound, such that it works really well as a compilation with no obvious albums it's drawn from being stronger than the others. I'll definitely be taking some time to delve into all these albums once the roulette is over.

Approx rating: 8.5/10
Score: 9.5 points

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Puppies
Depeche Mode – Angels With Silver Wings
Tracks: 1. Behind the Wheel; 2. A Question of Lust; 3. Policy of Truth; 4. Never Let Me Down Again; 5. A Question of Time; 6. Stripped; 7. Enjoy the Silence; 8. Walking In My Shoes; 9. Precious; 10. Home; 11. It's No Good; 12. Blasphemous Rumours

First impression: There was one dud here, but otherwise I liked it quite a lot more than I thought I might based on what I knew of this artist.

Final opinion: The only Depeche Mode song I really knew before this was Everything Counts, which is fine, but never interested me enough to check them out properly. Turns out they're great! The only song that hasn't really clicked for me is A Question of Lust, but the rest are fab. There's a lovely moody vibe to their music that I hadn't appreciated before, or expected really. I can definitely hear the influence on Ulver's Assassination of Julius Caesar and, aside from the vocals which are definitely not as interesting as Garm's, most of what I love about that album I really like about these songs too. Thank you for getting me to check them out!

Approx rating: 8/10
Score: 8.5 points

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Cyril
The Physics House Band – An Evening With The Physics House Band
Tracks: Literally their entire discography in chronological order, wtf.

First impression: Not entirely my normal thing, and not quite sure about all the song choices, but I love the energy and there’s some cracking stuff.

Final opinion: I was perhaps a little misleading with the first impression, but then you played fast and loose with the rules so no regrets. As you know (and I pointed out in the last round), instrumental prog isn't an easy sell for me, but these guys do it great. Really dynamic, surprising, mostly serious but with a certain playfulness - quite jazzy in approach even if not especially jazzy musically. Top notch playing, and I like the overall sound - it's kind of big but not in your face. Not all the tracks are great, and so I do think you probably could have refined this a bit, but it's not often an entire 3 album discography can fit on a disc so I can see the attraction. And the music is mostly excellent so you got away with it.

Approx rating: 8/10
Score: 7.5 points

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Nekov ft. King
Kyte – “Hope You Have Insulin For All This Sugar”
Tracks: 1. These Tales of Our Stay; 2. Designed for Damage; 3. Scratches; 4. Secular Ventures; 5. Each Life Critical; 6. Friend of a Friend; 7. Fake Handshakes, Earnest Smiles; 8. Aerials

First impression: Nice groove and vibe, a warm sound and some gorgeous moments.

Final opinion: Your best submission since round 1, this is great indie with some lovely synth pop thrown in. Quite catchy and poppy at times, which combine nicely with real post-rock vibes in the way some songs build up and down. It's also another good example of a nice variety of styles but enough consistency and good song ordering to make this work really well as a compilation. The opener isn't the most exciting overall, but it has a great crescendo and works wonderfully as an intro. I'm particularly digging some of the memorable choruses, especially in Friend of a Friend and Aerials, which I note are from the same album and so this will probably be my starting point to check out.

Approx rating: 8/10
Score: 7 points

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Tomi
Woods Of Ypres – “I Just Hope You Won't Hate This”
Tracks: 1. Intro: The Looming of Dust in the Dark; 2. Allure of the Earth; 3. Your Ontario Town is a Burial Ground; 4. Distractions of Living Alone; 5. I Was Buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery; 6. Shards of Love; 7. Finality; 8. Alternate Ending

First impression: Atmospheric and moody. Wasn’t sure at first but once I got into the vibe I found myself liking it a lot (and possibly helped by the songs getting stronger).

Final opinion: Congrats - I don’t hate it! This was the second compilation I listened to, and at that point I thought it could end up ranking high, so its placement here is down to the strength of the round. You're not the only one to go chronological, and I think it works well here. I do think the overall quality is higher once it gets a few songs in, partly helped by the stronger production in the last album or two especially, but the early songs are still good and the flow of it is an interesting journey through the band's albums. The music is very melancholy and the lyrical themes even more so, which could have been overbearing but it's consistently tasteful and quite delicate at times. Looking forward to checking these albums out.

Approx rating: 8/10
Score: 6.5 points

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Evermind ft. Lucases
Frequency Drift – Why Waste Time Say Lot Word When Few Word Do Trick?
Tracks: 1. Dead; 2. Electricity; 3. Run; 4. Wave; 5. Driven; 6. Nine; 7. Crows; 8. Come

First impression: This went in some surprising directions. Production not always the strongest but some wonderful moments.

Final opinion: This band sounds quite hard to pin down, but very interesting as a result. The production isn't always great - the guitars are a little weak sometimes, and the vocals occasionally sound a bit detached from the accompaniment. I think it's mainly in some of the older material really because some of it sounds great. The singer herself is really good, if it was even the same one throughout, and a lot of the music has strings and wind instruments featuring prominently in really nice and/or unusual ways. A lot of my favourite moments are when they move away from rock and create some really cool sounds, like Eastern or medieval stylings. They sound like a really unique band.

Approx rating: 7.5/10
Score: 6 points

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Train ft. Elite
A Swarm Of The Sun – “Don’t Put Tipsy In My Compilation Title Pls”
Tracks: 1. The Woods; 2. Lifeline; 3. This One Has No Heart; 4. Refuge; 5. Infants; 6. The Nurse; 7. Incarceration

First impression: Atmospheric and moody. Consistently good throughout, though never seems to quite get going.

Final opinion: On reflection, I don't think I was right to say that it never gets going, because actually there are some wonderful tracks or parts of tracks. The only thing holding it back for me is that I find the compilation inconsistent. Lifeline and Incarceration are genuinely amazing. The Woods works great as an epic opener, and has some cracking bits. The rest is varying degrees of decent but none of it excites me much, and a couple of tracks just seem to plod along a bit. I'll definitely be checking out at least a couple of the albums though but I’m not in a rush to explore them all.

Approx rating: 7.5/10
Score: 5.5 points

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Katt
Kings of Leon – When the Walls Come Down
Tracks: 1. California Waiting; 2. Velvet Snow; 3. Taper Jean Girl; 4. Knocked Up; 5. McFearless; 6. Arizona; 7. Manhattan; 8. Notion; 9. Cold Desert; 10. Coming Back Again; 11. Work on Me; 12. Waste a Moment; 13. Over; 14. Wild; 15. WALLS

First impression: I wouldn't say I love all of this, but it's definitely made me want to check out a couple of the albums represented here.

Final opinion: You sent me Come Around Sundown last time, and I liked it quite a bit but didn't love it, awarding it a 7.5. Feels about the same here overall, although there's a lot of variation and so there's some real potential. Like Tomi, you've gone chronological and I like that journey. Problem here is that I don't find the early material interesting, so it starts a bit of a drag. It gradually gets more interesting, and then where I really do get into it is at the songs from Only By the Night. I really like all three, and I'm also aware that this is the album their two big hits are on. The next two tracks are less interesting again, but then the songs from Walls also stand out as pretty great. So that's two albums you've made me very much want to explore, just the rest of the compilation doesn't really do it for me.

Approx rating: 7.5/10
Score: 5 points

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Seneca
Bill Callahan – “You Need More Country”
Tracks: 1. Drover; 2.Spring; 3. One Fine Morning; 4. Ride My Arrow; 5. Too Many Birds; 6. All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast; 7. Riding for the Feeling; 8. The Ballad of the Hulk

First impression: Somewhat similar to previous submissions of yours, but I don’t think I find it as interesting.

Final opinion: I do feel a little bad about placing this last, but from quite early on I was pretty sure I would. Which isn't at all to say that I don't like it. Between the music and the lyrics, he seems to often paint quite an evocative picture. I especially like Drover, which has quite a dark emotionality to it, and kind of wish there was more of that. The rest is pleasant and thoughtful, some of it’s very good but some of the songs are a little dry and I don't generally find his voice very interesting. Compared with Jason Isbell from the last round, Callahan’s singing doesn't fill me with feelings in the same way. Interested to hear an album though, and will probably check out Apocalypse as that seems to have my favourites from this collection.

Approx rating: 7/10
Score: 4 points

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Scores after Round 5:
1. (=) Luoto                      = 7.0 + 7.0 + 11.0 + 10.5 + 10.0 = 45.5
2. (^) Clortho                    = 12.0 + 10.5 + 4.0 + 4.5 + 9.5 = 40.5
3. (^) Puppies                   = 4.0 + 11.0 + 9.5 + 6.0 + 8.5 = 39.0
4. (v) Tomi                        = 7.5 + 5.5 + 8.0 + 11.0 + 6.5 = 38.5
5. (^) Cyril                        = 9.0 + 6.5 + 6.0 + 8.5 + 7.5 = 37.5
--------ELIMINATED:--------
6. (v) Evermind ft. Lucases = 5.0 + 9.5 + 10.0 + 6.5 + 6.0 = 37.0
7. (v) Train ft. Elite            = 9.5 + 8.5 + 9.0 + 4.0 + 5.5 = 36.5
8. (=) Seneca                    = 8.5 + 4.5 + 8.5 + 8.0 + 4.0 = 33.5
9=(=) Katt                        = 6.5 + 6.0 + 5.5 + 9.5 + 5.0 = 32.5
9=(^) Nekov ft. King         = 10.0 + 4.0 + 6.5 + 5.0 + 7.0 = 32.5



A toast to the fallen heroes (and villains)! A look through your scores shows how you all sent me some great stuff - every one of you sent me at least two albums/artists that I rated 8/10 or higher, as well as a bunch of stuff that I rated lower but am still really grateful to have discovered and some of which I'll explore further. Thanks so much for taking part, and for introducing me to so much cool music.

So that just leaves two heroes (Squirrel Girl and Moomintroll), two villains (Lex Luthor and Garfield - yes he’s definitely a villain), and one anti-hero (Venom). Good luck! Back to normal album submissions for the next two rounds.

[The Walrus]

That's about what I figured. What surprises me is that the songs from Only By The Night and WALLS got your interest. That's really cool. Based on that, I think you will actually really enjoy Only By The Night, so I would go check that out whenever you have some time. WALLS is their most contemporary and stripped down sounding. I don't really like their first two albums much at all - those songs are, save a couple others, the only ones I like from them. But everything from Because of the Times through the present is just *chef fingers*.

Thanks for letting me play, this was really fun! I always love sending more than one song from a given artist especially when I can show how they've changed over time.

[Crow]

I honestly have literally nothing planned past this round because I wasn't really going into this expecting to get past round 5 especially after how the points looked last round. Oops

Glad you liked it anyways! I considered cutting back some tracks but then I'd really have to figure out how to address the flow since at least their first two discs are all basically one long piece each

Am I ever going to get cut before right near the very end in any of your roulettes? Who knows

Am I ever gonna send anything that scores outside the 7.5 to 8.5 range? Absolutely not

[ariich]

That's about what I figured. What surprises me is that the songs from Only By The Night and WALLS got your interest. That's really cool. Based on that, I think you will actually really enjoy Only By The Night, so I would go check that out whenever you have some time. WALLS is their most contemporary and stripped down sounding.

Yeah I can hear that from the songs you included from Walls. Look forward to hearing them both.

Thanks for letting me play, this was really fun! I always love sending more than one song from a given artist especially when I can show how they've changed over time.

I honestly have literally nothing planned past this round because I wasn't really going into this expecting to get past round 5 especially after how the points looked last round. Oops

That'll teach you!

I mean, it was bloody close. I wasn't sure it was likely you'd get through after round 4 either, but then the scores around the middle were all really close so I was also fairly sure it'd mostly come down to this round in some cases.

Glad you liked it anyways! I considered cutting back some tracks but then I'd really have to figure out how to address the flow since at least their first two discs are all basically one long piece each

Yeah to an extent, I think it definitely would have been doable but as you say would have required some figuring out. And it all worked out fine in the end anyway. Kind of curious to listen to all three in isolation - haven't really paid attention to the divide, particularly between the first two, as I've been listening to each compilation as a whole.

Am I ever going to get cut before right near the very end in any of your roulettes? Who knows

Am I ever gonna send anything that scores outside the 7.5 to 8.5 range? Absolutely not

True, during the roulettes themselves, you've never scored outside that range, which is damn consistent. With post-roulette submissions, you've managed to get as low as 6.0.

[Crow]

There's a reason that was a post-roulette submission
Also the second one starts and ends with mobius strips

[ariich]

Fair point.

But then your post-roulette submissions have also included some of the best stuff you've sent me, particularly Caligula's Horse and White Ward.

[Crow]

Caligula was I think something I just didn't have enough rounds to send
White Ward was me not knowing how you'd react

I'm looking at the scores and just going "Congrats Luoto!" because that's a big lead lol

[ariich]

I'm looking at the scores and just going "Congrats Luoto!" because that's a big lead lol

Yeah but you said that to Clortho after round 2.

Also, there are only 5 players but still a big spread of scores in each round (think I'll make it 5-10 from now on rather than 4-10 - EDIT: changed my mind) which means large movements can happen very quickly.

EDIT: Oh and the final is out of 20.

[Crow]

Making it 5-10 makes the spread smaller 

Also no bonus points in this round? Just noticed that

Are there bonus points for anything past this?

Anyways I might just go screw it and send you W**f***** next just to see how you react

[ariich]

Making it 5-10 makes the spread smaller 

Yeah sorry I meant that as an aside. But it's still a very big spread for just 5 players.

Also no bonus points in this round? Just noticed that

Are there bonus points for anything past this?

Yeah that was just for the greatest hits round, think I mentioned it at the start of the round. I realised I wasn't going to feel confident about ratings for compilations (and indeed I've posted them but only as approximate ratings) so didn't think the bonus points would make sense.

Bonus points back as normal for next two rounds. Everything same as it was for rounds 2-4. Then final completely different as it's concept albums.

[ariich]

Actually screw it, I'll stick with my original plan of keeping it to 4-10 points (plus bonuses) to make it more dramatic and give everyone who isn't Luoto a fighting chance.

[Sacul]

Damn, cut so close . I'll send you the Greatest Hits I had sent Ev, I think it'll be up your alley.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Glad you liked Depeche Mode. I actually debated leaving Question of Lust off the compilation, but ultimately left it in because I thought the album would be too short  Shows what I know 

I'll find something shortly for the next round.

[Crow]

Man, now I have to make a concept album too, that sucks

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Sent

[Crow]

okay, sent. here's hoping for A Place

i don't really have any expectations of winning this one so i'm just gonna continue the trend of "sending you things i spun obsessively since your last roulette"

so,

Anyways I might just go screw it and send you W**f***** next just to see how you react

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

okay, sent. here's hoping for A Place

i don't really have any expectations of winning this one so i'm just gonna continue the trend of "sending you things i spun obsessively since your last roulette"

so,

Anyways I might just go screw it and send you W**f***** next just to see how you react

I actually almost sent that. I sent a different 2019 album instead.

[Crow]

L*****?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

L*****?

[Crow]

gonna be a fun hangman trying not to guess each others' albums

i could see ariich going either way on that one too. i honestly wasn't as into it as i originally expected i would be unfortunately

[Evermind]

Damn, cut so close . I'll send you the Greatest Hits I had sent Ev, I think it'll be up your alley.

Yeah, maybe if I sent yours we'd still be in, but I didn't like them.

Oh well. Thanks for the fun roulette!

[ariich]

Damn, cut so close . I'll send you the Greatest Hits I had sent Ev, I think it'll be up your alley.

Sounds great.

Man, now I have to make a concept album too, that sucks

Considering you've more than once promised/threatened to send me one whether you reach the final or not, I imagine it won't be too much of a hardship.

Damn, cut so close . I'll send you the Greatest Hits I had sent Ev, I think it'll be up your alley.

Yeah, maybe if I sent yours we'd still be in, but I didn't like them.

Oh well. Thanks for the fun roulette!

And thanks for really embracing the sidekick rule, I'm really pleased with how that went and how it added to the variety of what you sent me with some good success (particularly Portishead)!

[Crow]

yeah i was totally lying about planning to send one if i didn't reach the finals it's a lot of work

concepts are hard. EPs where i don't have to think about concepts and can just throw a bunch of songs together are easy

[ariich]

For sure, but like I say, it doesn't need to be a story concept, it can be a thematic one. And you can use a bit of music I already to know to help with the flow/narrative, to make it a bit less hard.

[Crow]

Got it, 50 minutes of el drugstore

[Elite]

How the hell have you never heard In Morning? Damn, that’s another thung I could have easily sent

[Train of Naught]

Shame.. I sent them because they’re one of the few holes in the banned list of bands that I love and also think are consistently great. I really wanted to send Hypno5e but 70 minutes wasn’t enough. It’s an interesting concept for a round theme but very limiting in my case because most of my latest obsessions are new bands with 1 or 2 albums out.

Good luck to the rest! Train = Dethroned & Uncrowned

[Crow]

for what it's worth i don't think hypno5e would've done well with ariich 
could be wrong there though because TASTES but based on the read i have on him, nah

[Train of Naught]

I disagree, I think he'd like some of it at least. And I think this round would've been great for it since that was always a band I had a hard time sending single songs of, since it wouldn't represent their whole sound. The closest they come with that is probably the title track off Acid Mist Tomorrow, which I think I've sent to you

[Crow]

make the greatest hits and send it to him then

[ariich]

Or recommend me an album of theirs to check out post-roulette, and I'll report back!