Author Topic: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Final Results)  (Read 61849 times)

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Offline Crow

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Hangman!)
« Reply #315 on: October 24, 2019, 09:07:34 PM »
Round 2 Comparisons

Song ratings compared to last round, listed in order of Round 1 rankings.

v ariich
v Bolsters
v Buddyhunter1
^Nekov
v Train of Naught
v Dacul
v Puppies_On_Acid
^Evermind
v TAC
^Elite

Yeah, definitely a weaker round  :lol
One or two songs here I still don't feel very familiar with yet either which mostly suggests I'm just not super into them but also don't hate them either.
One song in particular I was very meh on at first but it's grown on me a lot. As with round 1, the round winner was kind of obvious upon first listen.
I don't think there will be any 0's or any 5's this round. There will almost certainly be at least one 1, though, so we can finally have an example of each score.

Other fun numbers: Based on my current ratings & the associated themes, half the players would end up with the same exact score at the end of this round. This is subject to change of course.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2019, 09:19:37 PM by Cyril »

Offline Elite

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #316 on: October 25, 2019, 01:15:53 AM »
I’m getting at least a 0 :corn:
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Crow

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #317 on: October 25, 2019, 01:19:59 AM »
i retroactively changed Infant Annihilator to a -2, actually.

Offline Nekov

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #318 on: October 25, 2019, 06:11:58 AM »
Nice
When Ginobili gets hot, I get hot in my pants. 

Offline TAC

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #319 on: October 25, 2019, 06:15:33 AM »
Worse than next to last week place. Eliminated.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Buddyhunter1

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #320 on: October 25, 2019, 07:35:33 AM »
I agree.
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Offline Evermind

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #321 on: October 25, 2019, 08:11:39 AM »
Next time I'll send Arch Matheos and get V
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline Nekov

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #322 on: October 25, 2019, 04:10:49 PM »
 :corn
When Ginobili gets hot, I get hot in my pants. 

Offline Crow

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #323 on: October 25, 2019, 04:22:05 PM »
tonight after work, yup  :corn

Offline TAC

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #324 on: October 25, 2019, 04:28:03 PM »
It IS after work.  :corn
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Crow

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #325 on: October 25, 2019, 04:28:58 PM »

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #326 on: October 25, 2019, 04:33:06 PM »
It IS after work.  :corn
Silly east coasters, thinking nothing exists west of Pennsylvania.  :loser:
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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #327 on: October 25, 2019, 04:41:03 PM »
:corn corn :corn corn :corn

corn corn cron corn!!1!1!!1 cron :corn corn
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Crow

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #328 on: October 25, 2019, 04:55:09 PM »
:corn evermind is the round winner :neverusethis:

Offline TAC

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Hangman!)
« Reply #329 on: October 25, 2019, 04:56:23 PM »
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Crow

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #330 on: October 25, 2019, 08:36:03 PM »
i may or may not finish tonight, tbh. i'm trying to write results and some of the more middling songs this round are kind of demotivating me, though i only have the good ones (or i hope they're still good :P) left to do, so i might get back to it later tonight

TAC still gets a 0 for being pushy about results while also nagging me to make an EP  :corn

Offline TAC

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #331 on: October 25, 2019, 08:39:21 PM »
That guy's an asshole. :metal
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #332 on: October 25, 2019, 09:06:33 PM »
That guy's an asshole. :metal
More like a TAChole......amirite? Eh? Eh? :neverusethis:
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Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

Offline TAC

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #333 on: October 25, 2019, 09:10:06 PM »
That guy's an asshole. :metal
More like a TAChole......amirite? Eh? Eh? :neverusethis:

You sure are, Puppies on ASSid. :neverusethis: :neverusethis:
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline King Puppies and the Acid Guppies

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #334 on: October 25, 2019, 09:45:53 PM »
:metardica:
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King's Photoshop powers are akin to a three year old cutting faces out of photographs with the edge of a dull spoon and pasting them in place with garden shovel full of Gorilla Glue.
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Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #335 on: October 25, 2019, 10:53:34 PM »
Round 2 Results
Round 2 Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7zrr4vohCO4E47Gs7MavUM

TAC: Morbid Angel - Invocation Of The Continual One
Theme: Pre-2000's Death Metal

First Impressions:
The first song on my playlist and the longest one sent so far too. And the one I’m most worried about, in all honesty. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pre-2000’s death metal album I liked. Some early Opeth comes close but I’ve never been wild about it, and this is very clearly much more raw than that. Though after the first two minutes it moves a bit more towards a riff-driven style I can get more into, though I don’t know how likely it is I’ll ever get past the growls on this one.  It just seems to fall victim to a lot of issues that older death metal has for me – very muddy and rough production, an overall sludgy and monochrome tone. There’s not much semblance of melody to be found here at all, though at the very least the riffing and solos at the very end are kinda cool. I expected to struggle with this one going into it, and I got basically exactly what I expected, but we’ll see if it has room to grow on me regardless.

Final Thoughts:
Of every theme on the bonus list, I had this pegged as the absolute hardest one for me/most unlikely to result in a pleasant experience. A lot of the pre-2000’s themes in general, really, but this one especially, because death metal as a genre is already something I’m not super into on its own and my perspective is that death metal didn’t get good production in general until around the mid 2000’s.

There’s definitely stuff about this where I can see the appeal – there are some good riffs here, and the soloing is definitely impressive, even if it’s kind of “mindless wank” most of the time. But.

Okay, I need to immediately draw a comparison. To Edge of Sanity’s Crimson. This song reminds me of that album in a lot of ways. It’s got a long and winding, somewhat progressive structure to it, really muddy and sludgy production, and it has a lot of the same problems that album has for me. There’s recurrent themes and there’s a progressive undertone to it in structure, but the way every segment is tied together is unfathomably sloppy and it ends up feeling less like the song develops over its runtime and more like it just jumps around haphazardly. And when I’m already not hugely into the core sound, that lack of direction just ends up making it even more impenetrable.

To at least take the time to be positive for a bit, I do think some of the grooves on display here are pretty good, even if they are a bit monochrome. I can idly bob my head to a large chunk of this song and enjoy it on that level. There’s a bit around the 8-minute mark, too, that has a nice melodic sound to it and an actual sense of atmosphere that builds into a pretty cool riff and solo. The last few minutes in general, being purely instrumental, flow pretty smoothly and ends the song off satisfyingly, even if it’s kind of a mess to get to that point.

There’s definitely a lot more I like here than Infant Annihilator, it’s visibly a step above that one for me, but it’s still kind of a slog to sit through each time and I can’t imagine wanting to return to this song or check out anything from this band in the future, either. At least it isn’t a complete and total failure?

Reward:
Bonus:



Buddyhunter1: Kvelertak - Nattesferd
Theme: Foreign Language Black Metal

First Impressions:
My previous experiences with this band: 1. I don’t like this at all, these vocals are unlistenable. 2. I dig these specific songs but a full album of this doesn’t do it for me. So, I mean, this definitely has a chance to impress me since they’re two for three with me so far. Also yeah don’t worry about these guys qualifying as black metal between the guitar tones and the vocals and my previous experience all, I already have them slotted away as such. This seems to be a bit more melodic in tone than what I previously remember from them, which was more riff-based than anything. Honestly I kinda get Iron Maiden vibes off the riffs and leads, and especially the solo. Am I wrong to think that? I’m not a huge Maiden fan but I know some of their stuff. It’s not necessarily a style that’s ever going to do exceptionally well with me, but it’s a pretty fun one regardless.

Final Thoughts:
I just don’t know how else to put this other than say that hard rock/”heavy metal” of this variety just generally isn’t my thing. It’s a fun, rockin’ tune, absolutely. That’s the defining characteristic of this song, and this band in general. I think the guitar leads are pretty nice throughout, and the riffing is solid too.

The vocals… I don’t mind them, but I’ve never quite gotten why “black’n’roll” really needs to be a thing, I just always feel like the vocals are mismatched here. I don’t know why, the tones and riffing style really isn’t super far removed from a black metal sound. And it doesn’t sound awful. Nothing about this sounds awful. Nothing about this really even sounds mediocre. It’s all super solid. It’s a solid song that just evokes next to no reaction from me.

It goes like… long intro of bass and guitar… all the vocal bits… guitar solo, outro, done. That’s about all the song has to it. It feels too simple to really have a ton of depth to it. I feel like I’m barely familiar with it yet I feel like I know every note at the same time. It’s weird too, I do remember being more into the two songs I was sent by these guys last year. I haven’t gone back to relisten to them since then, though, and I wasn’t too into that album either.

I don’t know what to say about this song. This writeup is kind of a mess because I just have nothing to comment on here, really. It’s just not for me. I was originally considering giving this a slightly higher score but this song probably evokes the least positive feelings of any song here, despite a relative lack of negative feelings. I’m really frustrated by this song, and this band. I’m probably just putting them on the banned list outright, next time. This would probably be amazing live, though.

Reward:
Bonus:



Dacul: The Comet is Coming - Blood of the Past
Theme: 2019 Jazz

First Impressions:
You’re two for two so far on sending stuff from albums I listened to like, a week or two ago, haha. I didn’t actually finish this album at the time but maybe I just wasn’t feeling it, either that or this sound just isn’t for me, hard to judge yet. I guess so far, my thoughts… the lead performances are pretty solid and impressive on a technical level, and it’s got an okay slow groove to it, but it all comes off a bit… dry to me. I also can pin this up as an example of a bad spoken world section (or at least one I do not like at all) in contrast to the good example from last round. It’s a kind of industrial sound overall too… something I’m also generally averse to. Dunno, on first listen I’m just not feeling the vibe of this one, though it’s not unpleasant to listen to either.

Final Thoughts:
I think ultimately what brings this one down for me is specifically the spoken word bit, with the rest of it being… kinda cool, in a sense? The repetitive groove is a bit unchanging and a bit too straightforward to get into on its own, but the sax playing is great and full of energy. There’s a bit of atmosphere to the song as well, layers of synths and organs coming in in the background of the sax just going wild. The first three minutes are all pretty dang good, basically. Even the quiet bit and the synth solo during it are kinda neat.

And like, the instrumentation during the spoken word section is pretty solid too – it’s definitely got a lot less going on, to make room for the spoken word bits in the front of the song. There’s a sense to build of it, thought it’s definitely a bit subtle.

I just. Do not like anything about the spoken word segment at all though. It’s over 2 minutes long, her voice is very unappealing to me and doesn’t escalate in any way, it’s very flat and monotone. I’m not even really paying much attention to the words said, honestly, but am I really missing anything?

The stuff that comes after, it’s pretty fine. The instrumentation tries to pick up for a bit but doesn’t really have any momentum to go off of. The song ends with an extended breakdown and I’m a fan of the sax wailing that comes in here alongside the drums kind of going wild too, sounds like something that could be on Blackjazz honestly. This whole song, sans the spoken word, probably wouldn’t feel that out of place on Blackjazz, though it’s not as intense as that album tends to be.

This has at least grown on me a little, and if the song was just the first three minutes and then the last minute and a half it’d be getting a much higher rating, but the overall package I just don’t really think I’d want to come back to very often.

Reward:
Bonus:



Puppies_On_Acid: Quo Vadis - Silence Calls the Storm
Theme: None

First Impressions:
Hmmm two older death metal tunes in a row. That’s a rough start alright. Though this one immediately gets a favorable comparison for a few reasons; being much more melodic, having a nice fretless bass sound, possibly being instrumental? Ahh, no, but the growls seem fine, especially in comparison to the last song, so yeah whatever. It also gets positively compared to Infant Annihilator by virtue of being tech death-y without being just pure wank. Gorod probably would’ve done better by virtue of having a more modern sound but that album is banned so, oops. I also wish the bass was more prominent here. Digging the quiet break towards the end though, it’s a fun little reprieve. Maybe I need some time to get familiar with the melodic hooks here but this seems. Solid. You’re likely to get a pass due to positive comparisons to other stuff I’ve already been sent, but I also don’t see this one blowing me away either.

Final Thoughts:
Technical Death Metal really is a tricky genre for me. I don’t really much of anything in the genre from pre-2010’s, in part due to production, but also in part due to intent. Generally I see the genre as “fast tempos, faster playing, heaviness for heaviness’ sake”.

This song definitely kicks off immediately with some awful sounding chugs that immediately color my first impression, but it develops into… well, basically exactly what I expect a tech death song to sound like. Colorful melodic guitar lines, heavy riffing, fast tempos, the prominent bass has been a trend I’ve noticed a lot too. A lot of bands in the genre seem to mix the bass rather high, and I’m all for that because I do love to hear it. This has some solid melodic hooks to it and a dynamic enough approach to its sound, too.

But it all just sounds exactly the same. I’ve probably heard that galloping riff or something similar to it in another tech death song. All these melodic guitar noodling leads are interchangeable and don’t really evoke any emotion in me. It’s a rather cold sound that knows what it’s doing well, but what it’s doing is just not something that particularly interests me.

Even the quiet break seems almost a little cliché, though maybe it was innovative at the time this was made, I don’t know. I do like it, it’s one of the better sections of the song – a great bassline, a kind of playful vibe to it, some actual warmth to the overall sound of the song, doesn’t feel super out of place.

I just don’t see much that makes this stand out from what most tech death bands have been doing for the past decade though, and I’ve probably listened to more of the genre than I really should have. Would this have done better than the Gorod song? Dunno, I didn’t go back and relisten to it, but that Gorod album had a lot of the same problems. Interchangeable melodies and riffs, a lack of emotional depth, etc. I think after this last listen I could see myself being inclined to be more charitable towards this one that I was originally planning to, since really only the very start is awful, but if I compare it to literally anything else I’ve given a 3 or higher to it does kinda pale in comparison, too. It’s not bad. It’s not something I’ll be returning to, either, but. Solid, but not for me.

Reward:



Train of Naught: LENIO - Weight On A Scale
Theme: None

First Impressions:
No real clue what to expect with this one but my impressions take a turn for the positive really quick and the loud bit that starts at like :45 is the first thing this round so far that’s really impressed me. I get a CHON-y sort of vibe from some of the guitar lines but wrapped up in more of a post-hardcore sound and structure. Which is probably better than a straight up CHON-type math rock sound anyways, I have one album of that and that’s all I really ever needed of that sound. I think the one thing that’s letting this down for me right now is the production coming off a bit flat/muddy, and maybe a lack of any really strong vocals, but it’s nice. A sound I both quite like and feel is a bit muted at the same time, though I could see this growing on me even despite it being an early favorite.

Final Thoughts:
Of all the songs in this round, I feel like this one has ended up, for better worse, as the least memorable to me. I listen to it and every time I go “oh, this is pretty nice!” Which is weird, since this really is right up my alley in terms of sound. The production doesn’t really bother me that much and the texture of the sound makes up for it, and then the riffs and guitar lines are all pretty solid stuff.

I think it’s the vocals, mostly. They have very little presence and very little power. Like, there’s a “whoa-oh” type bit in the song that is just the most pathetic-sounding thing when it should be triumphant and cathartic. His voice isn’t unpleasant, not at all, it’s very warm and gentle, and that works in the quieter parts, but he just can’t sell the heavy parts as much.

I also feel this one’s a bit lacking in motif or direction. There’s one repeated guitar line I can pick out and the whoa-oh bit gets repeated like, twice, but other than that there’s no real structure to how this one progresses.

I’ve spent like 5 minutes trying to figure out what else to add here but I don’t really think there’s much else to say. It’s a bit disappointing overall because I feel this song just lacks impact and has kind of turned me off of wanting to look into this band further, too. It’s not at all bad and there’s aspects of it that do work but I highly suspect I’m going to forget it exists by the end of the roulette.

Reward:

Offline Crow

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Comparisons!)
« Reply #336 on: October 25, 2019, 10:54:23 PM »
ariich: Arkentype - Rosetta
Theme: 2019 Prog metal

First Impressions:
Hmm, I’m trying to pin down a specific comparison for this sound but having trouble coming up with an obvious one. I guess comments, then. Not really a fan of this vocal style in general, not an especially bad one but it usually feels flat to me emotively. The song seems a bit more riff-driven than anything and the janky, djent-without-the-tones type riffs are better than djent-with-the-tones riffs but they still don’t really feel like they have a ton of groove to them either way. Feels like they need a bit more oomph to hit as hard as they should. The guitar solo towards the end is pretty nice though. The song gets a surprise blast of intensity right at the end too, alright. I feel like I’m reacting to this more than I’m enjoying it and that I should be enjoying it more than I am, I dunno what to say. Fundamentally nothing wrong with it and it’s the kind of thing that’s most obviously up my alley but at the same time it isn’t really standing out much either.

Final Thoughts:
Hmm, this one snuck up on me a little, I think. It’s not exactly a fresh sound by any means – it’s that standard djent-prog that’s been big for a lot of the decade, with mid-low register vocals that generally don’t do as much for me as higher-register vocals, but I dunno. There’s something about it that just feels natural, the grooves hit home decently well and there’s some decent power to the chorus.

And the way the song escalates throughout is pretty strong too – starts off mellow, picks up the tempo a bit after, and when the heavier riffs hit towards the middle the growls enter to join them. The ending I realize now is a reprise of an earlier bit of the song but it ramps up the intensity a bit further with it too and caps things off with another heavier moment and chorus, so it does end on a satisfying note.

It’s not necessarily a song I find especially memorable regardless – the closest comparison I think I can draw is the Phi record from last year, which had a very similar aural quality to this one, though that one also had a layer of atmosphere to it that I did like, even if I never ended up blown away by it either. There really isn’t a ton to comment on regarding this one though, I feel. It was never in consideration for being a favorite, but I’ve casually enjoyed it on most of my listens this round too. Solid stuff.

Oh, and it doesn’t get the bonus point because Spotify and Youtube both agree it was released in 2018. If it was on a 2019 album I probably wouldn’t have noticed this, but…

Reward:



Bolsters: Carly Rae Jepsen - No Drug Like Me
Theme: 2019 Pop

First Impressions:
Realistically I should probably ban Emotion since I did listen to that album one time but it wasn’t really my thing. This again seems to be going the downbeat synthpop route which I’m more into than the glittery, bright synthpop I most know her for, which, yes, you know I have a type, I’m not gonna complain that you’re playing into it. I don’t really think the chorus on this one is very strong though, it’s a bit janky rhythmically and the melody isn’t very strong, and it’s kind of drowned out by the bass too. She sounds a little breathy here too, I don’t know if she’s always like that but it’s maybe a bit much for me. It’s nice for what it is but I don’t know if it’s quite working for me in the way that similar stuff has in the past.

Final Thoughts:
Well, crap. It got pretty well stuck in my head after like, my third listen or so? I’m not even really sure why. The chorus melody genuinely isn’t that sticky, and there’s nothing about the production that really speaks to me either. Yet I find the chorus really memorable nonetheless?

The prechorus is probably the best part of this though, really. That bit’s got a great melody and some really lush production backing it up every time it happens. It creates a great build into the chorus and makes the chorus feel more impactful by giving the listener a bit of room to breathe between the verse and chorus.

I still stand by my comments that she sounds kind of breathy and the vocal rhythms are awkward, but then I have to follow that up by saying that it never really bothered me much on relistens either? There’s not much to this besides the standard verse-chorus structure, barely even a bridge to speak of between the last two choruses.

I still can’t say I’m utterly in love with it since it does have some kind of glaring flaws to my ears, and it’s not the best of the brighter pop stuff you’ve sent me, but y’know, I enjoyed this one a lot during this round, I can’t really complain much.

Reward:
Bonus:



Nekov: Dredg - Cartoon Showroom
Theme: None

First Impressions:
I’ve gotten something from this album before in my first roulette but I wasn’t super into it there, if I recall. I since did get El Cielo, which is… good, but very overrated, a handful of really good songs but a lot of just okay stuff and a kind of janky flow. Anyways this song though. I like the atmosphere it has and I like the soulful performance, pretty immediately. I do expect it’s gonna have The Loud Part at some point, though, because otherwise it’s gonna feel like it peaks early and then doesn’t go anywhere after. And well. It kinda starts to get there but then feels like it cuts off before it get to that part. Okay. I like the general vibe and sound of this one but it really feels incomplete and unsatisfying by the end.

Final Thoughts:
Same as last round, the top 3 this time have basically been locked in since the start with nothing really happening to change my opinion in that regard. This one wins me over mostly by the vocals, which sound a lot better than I remember him sounding on more of El Cielo. He’s got enough power to belt when he needs to but there’s a more dynamic approach to his vocals than just going all-out with every note during the louder parts, which just makes it more interesting than a flat “loud” performance, and he can sell the quieter parts well too while also surprising me when he does raise his voice there. It’s just a really compelling vocal performance.

The instrumentation is basically a side-show to the vocals here, but it ebbs and flows to match what the vocals need to be singing over. A quiet, kind of playful but kind of somber guitar line for the louder moments, layers of instrumentation for the louder chorus, little flourishes of tremolo guitars to keep things interesting. It’s not much of a band tune admittedly – no drums, and I don’t think there’s a bass guitar here either, the piano seems to be providing the bassline the whole way through. Besides that I don’t hear a ton other than some touches of organs and strings, I think? Just enough to create a lush layer of atmosphere without detracting from the main elements driving the song.

I still do stand by my impression that the song could use a bit more of a proper ending, the build there is pretty solid but I can imagine the song feeling more satisfying overall if there was a moment where the drums and bass kicked in and the chorus got reprised over that, or something like that? I don’t know. Maybe the next track on the album pays off that build and I’m complaining about something that’s only present in isolation, I don’t really know yet, but I think I’ll be finding out when I do check out this album.

It’s a good song. It’s made me interested again in a band that I had already kind of tapped out of a while back, which isn’t something that happens every day either. I don’t think it’s as good as the best songs of El Cielo, but it’s definitely above average compared to a lot of what’s on that album. This one’s maybe a touch borderline for the rating so I’m just gonna give it the higher one because I feel I’ve been too negative in the rest of this round.

Reward:



Elite: Look to Windward - Vad Åsken Sade
Theme: Foreign Language Prog Metal

First Impressions:
The intro of this is pretty striking but following that it starts giving off pretty straightforward prog metal vibes. Some of the riffs seem kinda djenty, some seem a bit more in line with the prog-power type vibe, there’s some kind of unusual synth vibes coming off this one, the lyrics are definitely very much in English so I can’t exactly call it a foreign language track, the growls show up for a bit. There’s a vaguely jazzy instrumental break that I can dig, even if it feels like it kind of goes nowhere. I also think it compares positively to the previous song I listened to by virtue of being a bit more interesting & having better vocals, so it’s got that in its favor too. Another one where I come away from my first listen liking but not really loving this, though again I see room for it to grow on me.

Final Thoughts:
I can’t give this the bonus point because I’ve only found evidence to suggest this song has English lyrics at some points & the rest of the lyrics I can’t make out just seem kind of incomprehensible overall but I can occasionally pick out words that do sound pretty English to me. I was considering having the joke of that bonus be “well if you send it in any language that’s a foreign language to you it’ll count” but that’s just a stupid loophole and you all know what I mean with the theme anyways.

I guess that highlights basically the biggest problem I feel this song has, anyways. The vocals do not have much presence at all, I almost wonder if this would’ve been better served as an instrumental and having something else replace the vocals. The clean voice is nice but it’s mixed so low it doesn’t feel like it has much power, and the harsh vocals are just completely incomprehensible (and also mixed super low, someone really wanted the instruments loud I guess, it’s almost as bad mix-wise as East of the Wall’s 4th album).

Absolutely everything else about this though I do love. The harsh and noisy tones that are ever-present in the background, the variety on display in terms of riffing and melodies and all the different song segments that fit together so effortlessly and flow naturally. It’s the way I like my prog metal – doing enough to always keep me interested without ever feeling like a complete mess. It does kind of again fall into the trap of seeming to lack any recurring motifs or themes, or at least I’ve had trouble picking out any, but the smooth overall flow to the entire song lessens the issue to me and ends up making the whole thing feel rather relistenable, I definitely want to keep spinning this one, maybe more than even the round winner, just to pick out all the different things happening here.

It’s not without flaw and it doesn’t evoke excessively positive emotions in me, but it’s been one of the highlights of the playlist every round and definitely much, much better than what you sent last round, hah.

Reward:



Evermind: Oh Hiroshima - Aria
Theme: None

First Impressions:
Didn’t quite know what to expect off this given the lack of theme and only vague familiarity with the name but it seems like we’re getting some nice post-rock type stuff with kind of ethereal group vocals and some lovely strings. First impression is pretty damn positive, actually, this is very lovely stuff and I can only hope it has some climax to pay it o- YEP, there it is, right as I was typing. I honestly kind of get some Oceansize vibes off this which is unquestionably a good thing, though I almost kind of wish it was longer. It’s one of those cases where the sound isn’t necessarily that fresh, but it’s just done really damn well and works all the better for it.

Final Thoughts:
This is outright one of the simplest songs in the entire round, yet its simplicity is kind of why it works as well as it does? A basic guitar arpeggio pattern, low-key drums with enough texture to keep them fitting the mood without sounding sparse, some really effective vocal melodies, a bit of a buildup throughout with little elements popping in every now and again, loud part at the end, that’s really the entire song at its core.

I find it relaxing to listen to stuff like this as long as it does have the emotionally resonant edge to it that I find a lot of similar stuff is lacking. You can dick around for 10 minutes with pleasant and dreamy sounds and whatnot and then do that for an entire album and you’ve made a perfectly listenable album with no distinctive flavor to it.

Granted, maybe this song doesn’t necessarily have a ton of distinctive flavor to it either. I could see many bands making this song and doing it just as well. I don’t think that discredits how well this band has made this song, though, and I can only really gripe about wishing it was a bit longer (and maybe having, like, a bit more nuance to the instrumentation too, but ehh, nitpicks.)

Reward:
Round Winner Bonus:



Current Standings:
ariich: 10
Evermind: 9
Dacul: 8
Bolsters: 8
Nekov: 8
Puppies_On_Acid: 7
Buddyhunter1: 6
Train of Naught: 6
TAC: 6
Elite: 5
« Last Edit: October 31, 2019, 10:38:08 PM by Cyril »

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #337 on: October 25, 2019, 11:11:50 PM »
Scores in first post updated.
Banned during the roulette list updated.
Bonus themes sheet updated.

There's still a lot of bonus themes left, and I guess I recommend trying for them but uhh. A lot of bonus themes haven't been doing so hot, haha. This is not convincing me to keep doing bonus themes in the future.

I'd like to have submissions no later than 8 AM PST on 10/27 (Monday). If I get all submissions by Sunday night I'll start listening to them then, hangman will start as soon as I have everything, etc.

Right now we're on track for there to be 8 rounds total (6 left) before the finals, based on the current standings. This is obviously subject to change if needed, but there's still plenty of roulette to go and plenty of room for anyone to catch up.

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #338 on: October 25, 2019, 11:19:03 PM »
also, katt, just listened to the song you sent before you had to drop out of the roulette, it's pretty good stuff, would've scored top 3 easy in either of the rounds for far I think. not gonna say what artist it was or ban them or anything but i'll be holding on to this to check out the album after the roulette if they don't get sent, i see at least one person on my RYM friends list has rated it pretty highly too, so  :corn

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #339 on: October 25, 2019, 11:32:17 PM »
That didn't do nearly as well as I had hoped. I love that album. I think it has great melodies throughout and a lot of original ideas that were way ahead of it's time in the Tech Death genre.

Time to find something better.
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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #340 on: October 25, 2019, 11:41:56 PM »
I agree that it sounds ahead of its time, but that's not necessarily a good thing when now in 2019 most tech death bands are doing roughly the same thing  :P

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #341 on: October 25, 2019, 11:50:40 PM »
Sending Spectral Lore :neverusethis:
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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #342 on: October 26, 2019, 12:01:36 AM »
whatever joke you're trying to make is a little lost on me i think  :P

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #343 on: October 26, 2019, 12:16:17 AM »
whatever joke you're trying to make is a little lost on me i think  :P
Eh, you'll see. I just PM'd you. :corn
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King's Photoshop powers are akin to a three year old cutting faces out of photographs with the edge of a dull spoon and pasting them in place with garden shovel full of Gorilla Glue.
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Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #344 on: October 26, 2019, 12:23:54 AM »
i came, i saw, i rejected

also y'all please don't send me 20 minute songs i didn't set a length limit but, be reasonable, okay?  :lol

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #345 on: October 26, 2019, 12:25:23 AM »
I figured unreasonable was Night of Day Day of Darkness territory..... :lol


Edit - Sending Sol Omega and the Murder of the Universe instead.
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Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #346 on: October 26, 2019, 12:27:05 AM »
if 10 people all sent 20 minute songs i'd have over 3 hours of music, which means that results would take about two weeks  :P

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #347 on: October 26, 2019, 12:49:39 AM »
 :rollin Just found a song I'm happy with..........it's on your secondary banned list....




Found another......also on the banned list.  :mehlin Apparently I'm out of material  :laugh:
aka Puppies_On_Acid
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King's Photoshop powers are akin to a three year old cutting faces out of photographs with the edge of a dull spoon and pasting them in place with garden shovel full of Gorilla Glue.
Quote from: TAC, definitely not King
Thes sng is are sounds rally nece an I lyke tha sungar

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #348 on: October 26, 2019, 01:00:49 AM »
i check out way too much music, i know  :lol

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Re: Cyril's Roulette v6 (Round 2 Results!)
« Reply #349 on: October 26, 2019, 03:59:38 AM »
Okay, won the round, my work here is done I suppose :)

I'll send something today, just need to decide if it's Arch Matheos or not.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.