Elite: PreHistoric Animals - Burn the Ground
Impression: I really had no idea what to expect here… I definitely like what I’m hearing, though, particularly those melodies that really convey a strong sense of rising (I don’t know how to describe it better).
This is a song where I’m probably not going to be able to go into much detail for the writeup. It’s just, in my opinion, a really strong prog song. I’m a particular fan of the vocal element here. The melodies, both verse and chorus, are really catchy, and convey this sense of an almost constant buildup that runs through the whole song. There’s also some strong instrumental work, particularly from the rhythm section.
Stylistically, the result is almost a hybrid between prog and modern alternative rock, which I think is pretty cool. This is just a very solid piece.
Score: 8.0 out of 10.
romdrums: Periphery - Lune
Impression: I really like a lot of the vocal melodies here. I don’t think the singer’s style is the style best-suited to them, but he does at least a decent job.
Periphery, I understand, is a pretty big name in prog metal these days, but I have to admit to having never heard any of their songs. I understand from your PM (and from knowing that they’re associated pretty heavily with djent) that this isn’t really their usual style. But however accustomed they are to doing music like this, this is a pretty strong effort.
I really like songs like this, where there is a strong emphasis on slower-developing emotional melodies with plenty of dynamic range between heavier and softer parts. This one is generally a pretty well-executed example of the style. One particular highlight is the pairing of the heavier guitar riffs with the “woah oh oh” parts late in the song. I can see this being a strong album closer.
The one noteworthy downside here is mentioned in the impression. The singer’s tendency toward a core-type style of vocals is not, I think, the best style for this type of emotional song, and I think it would be better if he had adopted a different style. But it never detracts too heavily, and the overall song is still pretty strong.
Score: 8.0 out of 10.
Stadler: Michael Schenker Group - But I Want More
Impression: I’m interested by some of the complexity of this song, though I think it’s overall again something that’s not quite my style. Strong finale, though.
Once again we have something in a style that I’ve sort of expressed a lukewarm general attitude toward, but have had some stuff succeed in: 70s/80s hard rock. So, is this another success story, or do we have something that’s going to fall into that lower echelon again? In this case, it’s probably somewhere in the middle.
I definitely like this song more than most songs in this style, mainly because I like that there’s a lot going on here that still comes together pretty well. There’s a lot of tempo shifts, shifts in mood, etc., all run through by enjoyable guitar work.
The limiting factor here is that I don’t connect particularly strongly to the vocal performance. I’m not crazy about the singing style here, and the vocal melodies don’t particularly stand out to me. The instrumentals are quite good and this song is strong enough to make me at least interested in hearing more from the band, but it’s not going to reach the upper tiers of the round.
Score: 7.5 out of 10.
Nekov: Jakub Zytecki - Satya’s Diary
Impression: I am not particularly a fan of the style of growling used on this one. There’s a lot of other stuff going on here, though, so we’ll see how well that catches me.
The overriding feature of this song, for me, is actually not (contrary to the impression) the relatively brief growling part. That’s what stuck out to me on first listen, but, well, it’s a first impression and those sometimes change. The overriding feature is the attempt to combine technical parts with more melodic ones. I’m certainly impressed by a lot of the technical guitar work on this one, but technicality is not something I primarily come to music looking for.
Fortunately, this song has some of what I do look for. There are some interesting vocal parts on this one, and a really good melodic guitar solo. The final two and a half minutes are particularly strong. Once the song switches over to the piano-driven quiet part and the subsequent buildup into the finale, it goes from something that I think is a bit uncertain of what its exact identity is, into a pretty impressive emotional work.
To address the vocal issue: I’ve indicated both before and during the roulette that I’m much more likely to be well-disposed to harsh vocals than in the past, and that is true. However, that does not mean that I think it is usually the right vocal style to use, or that I will like all styles of growling. In this case, I’m just not crazy about the way this guy’s growls sound. They sound a little… phlegmatic? Anyway, it’s a short section that I don’t like, which obviously is an obstacle to my enjoyment of the whole song, but not a totally insurmountable one.
Overall, this song feels like it’s trying to be a lot of different things, and it does each of those things pretty well. While it never really feels cohesive, and spends more time than I’d prefer on the parts that I’m less interested in, the really strong finale brings it up somewhat in my estimate, and makes me at least interested in hearing what else this artist can do.
Score: 7.5 out of 10.
Puppies_On_Acid: Ihsahn - On the Shores
Impression: There is a lot of interesting stuff going on here musically… but I think the vocal performance here is bad in several places, actually.
Just going to paste what I said in my writeup for Nekov’s here by means of introducing this topic: I’ve indicated both before and during the roulette that I’m much more likely to be well-disposed to harsh vocals than in the past, and that is true. However, that does not mean that I think it is usually the right vocal style to use, or that I will like all styles of growling.
I’ll try to describe this as best as I can. The type of growls I think are best are typically those that sound thick and menacing, not thin and agonized. That doesn’t really capture it, but it’s an attempt. Anyway, the growls on this song are of a type that I really don’t like. There are points where it actually just sounds to me like he lost his voice partway through the take but decided to leave it on the record anyway. Especially the part at 4:45.
I’m not going to belabor it, but I wanted to try to explain my point of view, since the vocals are a major factor in the scoring for this song.
Musically, there’s a lot here that I find pretty interesting. As I’ve said before, I like longer songs that flow between a lot of different sections, and this achieves that pretty well, musically. I like the symphonic elements, and the big, epic sound of a lot of the riffs. The saxophone is an interesting touch, as well. This is a song that I could see myself getting very much into if I liked the vocals even somewhat better. So the result is not going to be a bad score (no surprise huh), but on the overall scale of this roulette, where I haven’t outright disliked anything, it will unfortunately be at the bottom tier.
Score: 7.0 out of 10.
Sacul: DARKSIDE - Heart
Impression: This song is kind of quirky in a way I’m not sure I’ll be able to get fully into. At least it has one particular groove that I like.
This song is very… bouncy. And that gives it this very quirky vibe, like a sort of hipster coffee shop type thing. There’s a certain kind of hipster-coffee-shop-adjacent sound that I can enjoy, but when we go into the full thing, that’s a little harder for me.
The struggle here is that there are a number of elements here that I like. The softer guitar part in the middle is a pretty nice section, and the guitar groove that follows it is the one referred to in the impression, and I really do like it pretty well. Overall, the parts where the guitar takes the lead are the best parts of the song, in part because I’m not crazy about the vocal performance as a whole, it’s a little too consistently high-pitched for me.
Overall, this has some stuff that I like when I listen to it, but is just not something that I really see myself coming back to.
Score: 7.0 out of 10.
Tomislav95: Emancipator - First Snow
Impression: There’s a lot of stuff going on here, and while I like the core melodic concepts, I don’t care for a lot of the extraneous stuff that’s been added in.
Very risky sending me two songs in this sort of instrumental atmosphere-focused style in a row. Of course, it did pay off last time, but, yeah, what I said about not liking a lot of these type of songs very well still applies.
In the better ones of these songs, what typically happens is that there are a couple of themes that I find pretty nice, and that makes the listening experience pretty decent. That’s the case here; the main themes are pretty good, especially the second one. But two solid themes in a song like this is not really enough to rise into the upper echelons of a round for me. It’s also necessary to have something else going on. In the case of the Maybeshewill song, it was a really excellent vocal section that boosted that one up.
In this case, we have a lot of samples, none of which really adds anything for me, and some of which are a little on the annoying side, I must say. Overall, I think the song would definitely be better without them. But even then, it just wouldn’t be a favorite for me, unfortunately. I hope I made clear enough earlier that this style of music is a big risk, and you’re not too surprised by the outcome.
Score: 6.5 out of 10.
Standings:
Evermind - 27.5
Cyril - 26.5
jingle.boy - 25.5
TAC - 25.5
Lethean - 25.0
Tomislav95 - 24.5
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Kattelox - 24.0
Stadler - 24.0
Elite - 23.5
Sacul - 23.5
Nekov - 23.0
romdrums - 23.0
Puppies_On_Acid - 22.5
Evermind steps out to a commanding lead in hopes of finally winning a 425 roulette, but it will end in tragedy when I meh Beyond the Bridge and Cyril unexpectedly gets a perfect score on the EP I'll hate!
Okay, so as much as a part of me would like to try to run a 13 EP round, my rational side says that's insane don't try that you're already slow as hell. So I'm not going to try that.
I said previously that the top six would be safe. I think six is a good number of EP's to work with, and there's a nice even cutoff after #6 (and then a tie at #7), so I am going to stick with that. Evermind, Cyril, Chad, Tim, Lethean, Tomi, you're in! Send me your EPs as soon as you have them ready. The standard rules for EPs apply: 40 minute maximum, substantial use of at least 3 different artists. The scores will be out of 20 points.
As for everyone else, thank you so much for playing. Even in a short roulette where you ended up on the losing end, I think I've gotten stuff from all of you that I'll be interested to check out in the future, so that is much appreciated. And if any of you has prepared or want to prepare an EP that you want me to hear, please send it to me! I want to hear them! After I have delivered results on the final round, I will do a writeup on any EPs sent in by eliminated participants.
Topic: 425's Third Roulette v. Fell and rose and tried... (Read 32771 times)
