Buddyhunter1: Pendulum – CrushTheme: NoneFirst Impressions:I actually listened to a few tracks off this album earlier this year but, I didn’t get very far. I don’t know if I even got this far. Regardless of how much I like this song I already don’t plan to go back to this album. This seems more like a rock-oriented song with electronic elements than anything, pretty immediately. I get why you’d send this after your last song, though. It’s got that same upbeat energy to it and it’s more vocal-centric than some other stuff I’ve heard from the artist (which I think is true of the Anamanaguchi song too?). I don’t think this has the same
vibe necessarily but I do find it solidly enjoyable.
It’s pretty fun and upbeat though in this case I wouldn’t say it sounds as fresh as its most obvious comparison in this roulette.Final Thoughts:Immediately I will say that this is probably the catchiest song of the round for me. Though the verse melodies more than the chorus, honestly. One of the melodies in the verses sounds like How Far I’ll Go from Moana, a movie I’ve never watched and a song I’ve only heard a handful of times. Being compared to Disney is, for the record, not a bad thing. This album predates that movie by quite a bit, anyways.
The guitar riff this song is built on is solid even if it’s a bit… one-note? It’s got energy to it even if most of the phrases are just hitting the same note over and over. I guess it’s all the elements complimenting the guitars that give this a sense of energy. The drums are also pretty straightforward with a pretty common groove but they work fine. The synths are a bit more active and melodic. The whole sound is basically a pump-up anthem.
And there’s the random clean bit at the end that… well, I like it on its own but it feels like, instead of having a climax, the song decided to just fizzle out for no real reason? Like if this was a clean bit that was followed up by some huge final chorus or at least some kind of heavier riffing, it’d be a great bridge, but it’s… the outro. Anyways, it’s not a huge gripe as I can maybe see what they were going for there, even if I’m not sure I agree on the direction taken.
Anyways, I like this to some extent but it feels… too shallow for me to really get into, overall. It’s not as good as I remember The Fountain being (which I haven’t gone back to relisten to), it’s just a solid and energetic rock tune that doesn’t really aspire to be much more and isn’t really going to keep me coming back to it either. Can’t say there’s any real problems with it besides the weak ending but even ignoring that I don’t think this would’ve gotten a higher score regardless.
Reward:
ariich: Everything Everything – To The BladeTheme: NoneFirst Impressions:Well my first impression is obviously of the vocalist, and I’m not so sure about his voice… especially that falsetto doesn’t sound great, but this tone doesn’t do much for me in general and WOW that kicked in real suddenly. Alright, well, he sounds a bit better when there’s music accompanying him, and I’m digging this guitar work too. I don’t really feel like much else has come into the song in the minute and a half since the first post-chorus though? The drumwork is solid too, I guess.
This song doesn’t have the same mixing problems several others this round do, but right now I’m kind of wishing it did ‘cause I’m not huge on the vocals here, even if the rest is pretty solid.Final Thoughts:Actually the vocals are mostly fine except his falsetto is just. Not good. Flat out. Stop doing that dude, you don’t have a good falsetto, just accept that, move on, and don’t sing in such a painstakingly nasal and weak high pitch, god. He sounds fine otherwise though. The vocal melodies in general are pretty good.
The way the song kicks in is honestly really cool though, not even any buildup to it, it just hits hard. The kind of moment that feels like it should be accompanied with an audible “slam” sound effect. Of course the song only gets one chance to do that but it uses it well. The chorus itself is pretty good too, really. I feel like his falsetto sounds better on the chorus for whatever reason? The verse after the first chorus he still doesn’t sound great but the chorus actually sounds fine, maybe because it’s even higher-pitched and he’s basically full-on belting instead of this middling low wail.
Enough about the vocals. That guitar riff is groovy as hell and the drumwork is energetic and interesting to match it pretty well. It makes that post-chorus probably the most exciting part of this entire song. The part without the falsetto is the best part, go figure. Nah, but I do dig it a lot. It certainly sounds a lot more lively than the rest of the song’s relaxed groove and makes for a good contrast.
Overall I think there’s elements here that do work well, but the song really feels like it could use a better singer, or at least a singer who knows his range well. I’ll shut up about the falsetto, I promise. It’s got solid groove and energy, it’s pretty structurally simple but doesn’t really get boring or feel overly repetitive. It’s not one of the best rock tunes this roulette, for sure, but it’s still pretty solid stuff. Would be better without the fals- no, I said I’d stop. That’s really my only major problem with this though.
Reward:
Bolsters: Emma Louise – Atlas EyesTheme: NoneFirst Impressions:I’m genuinely surprised you didn’t just send a troll entry with a bonus theme for the guaranteed qualification since you really easily could have, but I mean, I appreciate getting an actual song and all. There’s a pretty nice soundscape going on in this one though, driven a lot by the drums and the twinkly guitar lines. And the vocals are pretty solid too. There’s a lot of, like, weird samples in the background I’m not as keen on though but ehh they’re buried enough to not bother me too much. I don’t know if it feels like the song ever really… goes anywhere? It does have a bit of a climax towards the end but most of the time feels like it’s just running on at the same general level.
Pleasant and kind of neat little song, I can point out little nitpicks here and there but it’s still overall solid.Final Thoughts:Part of me wants to not even bother with this writeup because it literally doesn’t matter, you had a low, low bar to clear this round and this vaulted way over it anyways. But nah, we’ll give this an honest shot. This isn’t your best song so far, but it isn’t your worst either. It’s perfectly average for a Bolsters entry.
I’m still pretty hung up on the samples. I don’t understand what they add here. They’re just… there, sometimes. Primarily after the choruses, it seems like. It’s fine to have some empty space without voices.
Voices. The vocals. She’s a pretty good singer. I don’t get the sense from this song that she has a powerful voice, since the delivery here is pretty restrained throughout the song, even during its loudest moments she’s still cooing gently with a silky smooth voice and probably staying within a single octave tonally throughout the entire song, or so it feels. Not the most impressive or dynamic performance, I guess, but it’s more than sufficient and I like her voice.
The instrumentation, too, it’s basically a post-rock song if you strip away the vocals. Heck, that’s probably why the samples are there to begin with, it’s a very post-rock type of thing to put in samples for no goddamn reason because GY!BE did it and everyone likes them, right? But I mean, yeah, there isn’t any real melodic hook to this like with the Mree song, just a lot of atmosphere and texture that’s all pretty dreamy. It’s a very nice-sounding song.
It’s a very nice-sounding song. I think that summarizes this entire thing up pretty well. Aside from the samples there’s nothing here I really have to complain about and it’s all generally in the ballpark of the kind of sound I like out of this kind of dream-pop or whatever you call this. Doesn’t resonate with me especially strongly but I’ve at least liked it well enough on every listen I’ve given to it, even if I don’t feel it’s particularly deep or memorable.
Reward:
Elite: Ørkenkjøtt – Livets FrøTheme: Foreign Language Prog MetalFirst Impressions:Alright, end us off on a high note. One of only two metal notes, at least? Please? Vocalist vaguely reminds me of Einar though not quite as high-pitched. I see this wanting to explode into a metal song though it seems to be taking its time to get there. Lots of interesting & kind of off-kilter melodies going on with the guitars on this one, too. It got metal for a moment then backed off to an acoustic guitar bit. Oh and now it’s fast. Hello, fast. You’re suspiciously absent from a lot of this round. The kind of choppy guitar sound isn’t necessarily my favorite, but. There’s definitely a kind of Opeth sound to bits of this too, especially the moments where the heavy & clean guitars are playing at the same time.
I don’t think this is immediately standing out as especially interesting or amazing (or as unique as I’d like) but I like the overall sound and it stays interesting & dynamic the whole way through regardless.Final Thoughts:Uhh, I’m less thrilled by this one than I want to be, I think. It’s the one metal track this round (of the two, so, low bar) that actually has an interesting overall sound to it. I feel like I’ve heard the first section of this done better by other bands though. Spires, a band I’m always less into than I want to be, has a similar kind of sound going on, with kind of off-kilter melodies and generally midtempo metal, though also driven a bit more by the bass in their case, while this is more guitar-driven for sure.
The pacing of this song is weird as hell, though. It takes its sweet time getting to the first really heavy moment of the song and it feels like the song should naturally build off that into something more, but the song decides it’s had enough of that tempo and just abruptly changes into a completely different song. There’s really nothing in common between the first and second half of this song; even the guitar tones sound different, they’re choppier and the riffing is a lot more jagged.
And to be clear, I like the second half of this song more than the first half. The riffing here doesn’t quite have the tone I’d want (it feels too… crispy? choppy? a bit lacking in power?) but the riffing itself is pretty cool, the scale they’re using here is pretty interesting and leads to some notably strange melodies in the chord hits between the faster chugging. The way the song shifts between a 6/8 feel and 4/4 feel smoothly is also pretty cool. I feel like it does end a bit abruptly though… like that guitar lead at the end feels like it should evolve into a more fleshed-out solo but instead the song just… dies out.
I feel like this is a case where I want to like the song more than I do, especially since in this round, something this prog and metal really feels needed. It doesn’t feel like a stellar example of such, but I do still enjoy it a solid bit and there’s elements of this I could see really working for me if the songwriting in general felt more cohesive. As it stands it’s a pretty decent prog metal cut though.
Reward:
Bonus:
Puppies_On_Acid: Hopesfall – To BloomTheme: NoneFirst Impressions:For some reason I recognize this artist & album cover though I don’t think I’ve ever listened to them? Or if I have I don’t remember it. This definitely has post-hardcore vibes but the mixing is absolutely baffling, you can hardly hear the vocals! Even the growls. The music itself seems… solid, the riffs aren’t bad at all and there’s a solid balance of melody in there. It’s not the djent-y side of post-hardcore anyways, so that’s good. There’s also no real hook here so I don’t know if I’m going to find it that memorable? But I mean, it’s a solid sound, I don’t see this getting anything lower than a 3 just on style alone.
A sound I generally like and it seems like a solid example of it but poor mixing really doesn’t flatter this one.Final Thoughts:If y’all want to see how stupendously cheap and free it is to get high scores with post-hardcore in this roulette, look no further than this song. All my initial gripes still hold up – the mixing is baffling and the overall sound is a touch muddy, a touch lacking in memorability. It’s not an amazing example of the genre – hell, most of the songs on last year’s Cursive album that I listened to just yesterday are better, and most of the other bands I’ve been listening to recently impress me more than this – yet I mean, I still do like this a lot and I hear some potential in this sound, for sure.
For one, while I wouldn’t call this or post-hardcore in general “metal” it’s still got a nice, heavy sound – probably as heavy as or heavier than either of the actual metal songs I got in this round, honestly. But that heaviness doesn’t come at the expense of melody – there’s some –core-ier riffs in this but they don’t lack for melodic flair and often there’s another layer of guitar leads playing off them – really, there seems to be at least one lead guitar throughout the majority of this on top of the riffing itself, which I really appreciate.
The memorability factor does take a hit here for me – I still don’t really come away from this with a good grasp of how it sounds other than “well it sounds like post-hardcore”. There’s no chorus or even verse that I can find, it’s a long string of different moments that are strung together solidly and cohesively enough. It’s actually vaguely prog at points? Or at least some of this has shifting time signature stuff going on, even if it’s not really given much focus. It’s an element that keeps it interesting, at the very least.
Anyways, yeah, overall? Pretty solid stuff. The weakest round winner to date, for sure, more due to its lack of memorability that I feel is almost essential to the genre, but the overall sound of this one appeals to me more than anything else in this round did. It’s not especially emotionally resonant, hell, I can barely make out the lyrics, and when I looked them up they’re… a bit incomprehensible, honestly. I don’t know if I’m going to find something particularly interesting when I check out this album, but I’m at least glad I heard it.
Reward:
Round Winner Bonus:
Current Standings:Bolsters: 32; +2 in the final round
Elite: 31; +2 in the final round
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Evermind: 27
Puppies_On_Acid: 27
ariich: 26
Dacul: 25
TAC: 24
Nekov: 24
Buddyhunter1: 24
Train of Naught: 21
Topic: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Final Results) (Read 62184 times)
