FINAAAAALLLLL RESULTSTAC: Dawn of Silence - Lead Wings
A very 'okay' song on all levels.
I can't say much about this song that I've also felt about some of your past submissions, it's simply a melodic metal song that doesn't resonate with me. The vocal melodies are made to be anthemic and fun to sing along with, but it doesn't stick with me. I just have a hard time saying anything about something that I don't actively like or dislike that much, and it's all just average.
5/10
Bolsters: The Naked and Famous - I Kill Giants
Pleasant listen, but nothing that excited me all that much.
The song I just feel all there is to it is this pleasant feeling that I get off some TV commercial song, where I don't engage in any of the music, any of the lyrics, but I simply just kind of let it pass by. I will take out one or two key elements in the song and latch onto them but beyond that don't get any more out of future listens. I'm missing the depth on one end and then the emotional engagement on the other end. All in all it's perfectly 'ok'.. but can't say any more.
5.75/10
Puppies: Deathspell Omega - II
This song seems a bit too all over the place on first impression, let's see how it unfolds over the next few days.
And it's definitely still kind of all over the place, riff after riff after riff, different tempos around every corner, not that many common recurring themes. It reminds me of Death in that sense, though more relentless and aggressive. The vocals are give or take, I don't think they're as powerful as they could be. I'm not that big of a fan of deathmetal vocals to begin with when I compare it with the likes of post-metal and metalcore. Johannes Persson has to be my all-time favorite harsh vocal frontman. There's many good moments, my favourite being the section that starts around 9 minutes, and it stops at 10 minutes when it abruptly breaks into the fast main theme once again. Oops, I guess I lose focus during this song all the time because I can't fully wrap my head around it. I want to like it more than I do, because there are some really cool riffs. But that's really what it feels like to me, a collection of good and not as good riffs, but I'm missing more of a coherence.
7/10
home: BROCKHAMPTON - J'OUVERT
Not doing all that much for me, I think this kind of mood doesn't excite me much in this genre.
So there is quiet a lot going on here for a song with a run-time under 4 minutes. Cool busy lower end production, smooth lines, and.. a super high energy angry rapper. I never liked it much in rap when there is too much anger channeled through the vocals, especially in that more emo approach. BUT this is just a fraction of the song, and it is catchy and very groovy at the same time. I can vibe with it, I could see myself getting into the album if it shares the same overall vibe.
7/10
Kattelox: Arcturus - For to End Yet Again
Great composition, ambitious tune, I think I like it?
If any chorus has been stuck in my head this round it would be this one. I got very skeptical after the first listen, because I'm normally not into overblown theatrical and dramatically superfluous stuff, but maybe those are wrong descriptors here. Maybe it's just a really well-done, subtle, emotionally driven tune with the ability to switch between different moods seamlessly. I am really into this spiritual quiet mid-section, I don't know any music quite like that section. I'm actually pretty sure I wouldn't like a whole album like this, sounds like a lot to take in, but based on this song I'm very satisfied.
8/10
Evermind: Evan Carson – Otriad
Pretty greyt first impression
I try to avoid obvious first impression messages but I chuckled at this one cause my sense of humor is terrible. I think Jim Grey fits this song, and probably this artist's music perfectly. The vocal melodies and rhythms are really cool, it's very prog but it's not too technical for my tastes. It's very Haken-y. I can't say a bunch about it other than it's catchy AF and very well composed. Some of the second half sounds more Lindsey Stirling influenced, with some more modern instrumentation combined with the violin. Maybe could do with a less overblown / epic ending, but that's just nit-picking at this point.. very good song.
8/10
ariich: Caravan Palace - Wonderland
Quite a lot of diversity for a band I that thought had a pretty straight-forward sound.
From the beginning through the first minute I was pretty certain this would be the round-winner without any contest, it is such a fun song. It feels weird to say that coming in only at 3 minutes, it does seem like there is a bit of redundancy to it, with the “all up in the (
)” repeating quite a lot. But like I thought at first, the music around it is so dynamic and they're not scared to keep experimenting to build upon previous bars. I can't NOT love it, it's too damn infectious, I need to hear this album now too.
8.25/10
Elite: Swans - The Sound
Beautiful beyond my expectations, this will definitely take more listens to fully grasp though.
I'm a bit familiar with Swans, i've listened to The Seer, To Be Kind, The Glowing Man, and.... this album! That was 2 years ago, and I remember I was very focused on studying during that. I always knew that their music was very slow in its progression, but I don't remember at all how beautiful the vocals were. Very angelic vibe, and a very recognizable sound. THE SOUND. I've also grown more patient over the years and am getting more used to longer song compositions, so that helps. And when the song hits it really HITS, so much heavier than I remember it like in my head. I recently listened to the album “My Father Will Guide Me...” recently and there I already found out that I actually could like these guys more. This is a solid effort, definitely going to dive into Soundtracks for the Blind soon.
9/10
Cyril: Midnight Odyssey - From a Frozen Wasteland
Now that's a freaking journey.
This really couldn't have been any other song could it. What a unique and monstrous tune. I would always be scared to tackle a 20+ minute song, but when I heard that all of the intro was an isolated, reverbed vocal passage I knew I would be in for something special and most of all super epic. The tone of the vocals themselves is not super exciting, it does border a bit on that 'fantasy cheesy' tone that you hear in prog-power music, but the reverb does wonders at making the overall sound more ethereal and mysterious. In the middle it becomes really drony, kind of reminds me of Om. I can also hear some Devil Doll in the piano passage coming after that. But it really does keep building and does get better all the way through the end. I didn't really expect to like this as much as I do, but it really is a hell of a journey, and a great way to end the roulette!
9/10
Sacul: Gorillaz - Empire AntsCompletely different from what I expected from this band.Man, I've been listening to some Gorillaz lately and was actually pretty surprised about how much I liked it since I last checked them (when Humanz came out). But this came completely out of the left field. I've never listened to anything from this album. The use of synth is so authentic but it still sounds innovative and futuristic. There's a really cool groove laid over it. And the build into this section is smooth as well. It's one of the most pleasant things I've listened to in recent years, and I keep wanting to just loop this the whole time, it's so damn catchy. Perfect build. Perfect usage of the Little Dragon guest spot.
9.5/10
Final standingsSacul: 61.75
Evermind: 61.75ariich: 61.25
Puppies: 60
Kattelox: 58.75
Elite: 57.5
home: 56.5
Cyril: 53
Bolsters: 52
TAC: 46
I'm going to the bar tomorrow after work to celebrate my win/mourn my loss (more likely), hopefully results are up in the next ~20 hours
I purposely did not look at the standings before compiling my final scores because I didn't want to subconsciously manipulate anything to avoid a tie, I knew it would be somewhat close with Sacul's ridiculously high score..
Sorry buddy, we're not done here yet. What shall we do? In my view, there are two possible scenarios:
1.) Declare both Sacul and Evermind winners (is this allowed @Bolsters?)
2.) Have a final tie-breaker. If we do this, let's do 1 album per person. No themes, nothing longer than, say, 75 minutes though.
To the other 8 troopers, thank you for participating, hope this roulette was somewhat okay. I found out roulettes are a bit too overwhelming for me nowadays and I'm not likely to host another one, but I'm glad to have received some great music and one or more artists from each one of you that I'm curious about checking out!
Topic: Big Big Train of Daftness Roulette! POST-ROULETTE CEREAL HOURS (Read 28336 times)