First set of results, the rest to come a little later.
RomdrumsSelf - Sophomore JinxFirst Impression - This sounds like something I've heard before, but can't quite put my finger on it. It has a really cool drum groove throughout.
Theme - Caress of Steel represents Neil's second album with the band, and it isn't regarded quite as highly as Fly By Night, CoS could be seen as a sophomore jinx. Lyrically it deals with adjusting to life in the music business.I'm pretty sure I've never heard this band before, but there are tons of similarities to other Alternative Rock bands of the 90's. I hear bits of Our Lady Peace, They Might Be Giants, 311, Candlebox, etc. It really brings me back to growing up in the early to mid 90's. The song itself is pretty enjoyable, with some interesting sounds, angular riffs, creative drumming, and great use of keyboards/piano.
8/10_______
Mutemath - Break the SameFirst Impression - This feels familiar and slightly dance-able 
Theme -Lyrically, I think it ties in quite well to a few different ideas that Neil presents on Snakes and Arrows. Neil, in a sense, laments the dark turn society has taken, pointing out "different fortunes and fates" and "wide eyed armies of the faithful" spoiling for the great spiritual war. Neil also points out that, in spite of that, we hold on, we put on our bravest face, and we get to the business of living our lives. Break the Same shares a similar message, reminding the listener that, no matter the nature of your experiences, we all "break the same", we share a humanity, and maybe we can overcome the differences if we are reminded of that.This familiar for a couple reasons. I've listened to Mutemath's latest album, Play Dead, and this song is better than anything on that album. I like the drumming, the jangly guitars, and the vocals have a ton of passion behind them. Lyrically I think this hits the nail on the head comparing it to Snakes and Arrows. I like it. Everything behind this song just makes it very engaging throughout it's entire 7 minute run time.
8.75/10
KatteloxWilderun - The Unimaginable Zero SummerFirst Impression - A lot to unravel, seemingly a lot of extraneous stuff too.
Theme - Epicness!So this song is fantastic once it gets going. I say that because the song takes roughly a minute and a half before anything interesting happens. I don't mind spoken word in music, but there needs to be an accompanying arrangement of music to go with it in the background to build the mood. Overall the song is about 3 minutes too long. I'm familiar with their previous album, which was good and I've heard a few other tracks from this album. The length of this one holds it back compared to the other songs I've heard on this album already. Having said that, the song as a whole is pretty fantastic. Opethy in places. The heaviest parts remind me of In Mourning, having that Atmospheric Melodic Death Metal sound. There are parts that remind me of Ne Obliviscarus. Lots of great sounds going on and overall a great song. Just a few arrangement issues, that I personally would have changed to make it an amazing song. One standout section is that heavy blast beat section starting at about 9 minutes in, leading to the atmospheric, quiet part. It's just divine!
8.2/10_______
The Comet Is Coming - Timewave ZeroFirst Impression - This is strange. The guy on sax seems to lose his mind toward the end.
Theme - InstrumentalOK, this song starts off absolutely amazing. Great drum rhythms, the keyboards adding nice layers to the overall sound, the way the sax comes in and slowly dominates the music, but continues to let it breathe and transition and evolve. The song then starts to fall apart at about the 3:30 mark. The guy on sax decides to hit the same damn note for nearly 45 seconds and then loses all sense of melody. Nope, do not like. The first 2/3rds of the song was great, then the wheels on the bus fell off, the bus flipped over and off a bridge, and then exploded at the bottom of the canyon. Whoops.
6.5/10
Train of NaughtAstrosaur – Karakoram IIFirst Impression - 
Theme - In the first section of The Fountain of Lamneth they address the mountain they have to climb to get to the fountain of Lamneth. Karakoram is the huge mountain range that divides the western part of China and Pakistan and India. So the common theme is: mountains! Instrumental power trioThis song blew me away on my first listen. It cooled a bit on subsequent listens, but overall it's still amazing. The lead guitar tone is mesmerizing throughout. I like the way the song goes from sludgy darkness to bright and almost happy from section to section. I even hear some Rush-isms in the way some of the sections are composed. Not much else to say about this one. It's just a wonderfully composed song with heaviness blended perfectly with melody. This is rare praise for an instrumental track from me, but it's just so memorable and catchy. Perhaps The Fountain of Lamneth is at the peak of the Karakoram mountains
9.5/10_________
Anna von Hausswolff - Ugly and VengefulFirst Impression - I don't know if this justifies it's run time.
Theme - Epic!This song was hard to get a grasp on. While I was listening to it, I loved it, but afterwards I could never really remember any of it (it started to coalesce during the last couple listens). It might be too long for it's own good, maybe.... The song itself is both beautiful and haunting, disturbing and atmospheric, and even downright scary to a certain extent. This has some similar qualities to bands like Sunn O))), with long dragged out atmospheric sections, that slowly and methodically move from one to the next. It works, though, as a great backdrop for the main attraction here, at least for me. Her vocals.....just wow! They may be few and far between, but they take on so many different emotions, tones, styles, that it elevates the song beyond what it should be. Even though she sounds nothing like him, there is a similarity to late era Scott Walker. Each time I listened to this song I picked out new things that are amazing and for that reason I want to continue exploring this song and the album its from as a whole. And also for this reason I believe this song deserves the score I'm about to give it.
9.5/10
TACNecrophobic - The NecromancerFirst Impression - This feels a bit like Behemoth, I'm not a fan of Behemoth.
Theme - Song TitleThis song got quite a bit better, at least musically as I listened to it more. I'm not a fan of the lyrics or vocals though. Some of the backing vocals are decent though. It still reminds me a lot of Behemoth and as I mentioned in the first impression, I'm not a fan of them. This has a more dynamic approach to song writing, though, and the atmospherics make this a ton better than any Behemoth song. The guitar solo at the midway point is pretty sweet too. Taking everything in to account I can't give it a top score, but it scored much higher than I would have after my first impression.
7/10______
Blatant Disarray - FaithlessFirst Impression - This is like Metallica and Pantera, without the good parts.
Theme - Song TitleThe song starts off well enough, with a decent odd time signature passage, but then it devolves in to Pantera-like tough guy metal. Or maybe Five Finger Death Punch. Pantera had some good songs, but overall not a band I enjoy. FFDP is a band I despise. I'm not in to the whole tough guy, knuckle-dragging, neanderthal music. This is all this sounds like to me. The guitar soloing is ok, though...There's also a decent melodic part about 2/3rds of the way through. The rest of the song just doesn't do anything for me.
4/10
EliteAgent Fresco - ImplosionsFirst Impression - I've heard this band before, I've always thought they were like Haken-lite, but this is more akin to something like The Dear Hunter
Theme - Lyrically written from a personal perspectiveMaybe Leprous is a better comparison for this song. At least vocally. The song structure on the other hand sounds like it came straight from the mind of Casey Crescenzo. I like it. It goes through enough changes to keep me engaged and has the right amount of repetition to hold the song together. Where the piano comes in gradually at the half way point and the song bursts wide open is a really cool transition. I've received Agent Fresco in a previous roulette. As a matter of fact, I think it was you that sent it. Anyway, I like this song better than the other one I heard.
8/10________
22 - Call Me TrimtabFirst Impression - This feels much better than the other stuff I've heard from this band
Theme - Song comes from an album that is inconsistent, similar to Caress of Steel and Snakes and ArrowsI listened to and rated the previous 22 album and this is far and away better than what I heard on that album. It's fun and upbeat, has good vocals, and a catchy chorus (even though I have no idea what the lyrics are supposed to mean....admittedly I didn't look in to them too far). This is stylistically similar to Agent Fresco so it made this a neat little duo of songs.
8/10
CyrilGlass Beach - Glass BeachFirst Impression - Kiss Kiss, is that you? I mean the vocalist sounds a lot like Josh Benash and the overall style/sound has many similarities
Theme - Young proggy band, finding their feet. Personal lyrics.This just screamed Kiss Kiss, from the first time I heard it. Especially the vocals, the slightly quirky nature to the music, the angular rhythms, odd time signatures, strange sounds, etc. I pretty much like everything going on here. The lyrics are very emotional and I like that. There's even some cool lead guitar parts and the band keeps it interesting for the full 7+ minutes. Not easy to do for this style of music. The band seems very talented and knows how to write a good song. I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of the album. I think this will take more time to fully appreciate, but for now...
9/10_________
WRVTH - Calcified to Stone/House of the CentenaryFirst Impression - I love the balance between the lighter and heavier stuff here.
Theme - very focused & refined soundRight off the bat I'm reminded of Laster (mostly because of the light airy-ness of the music and the style of vocals over the top of it) of course that only lasts through the intro part. Some similarities to Krallice come through in the meat of the song. Mostly because of the technicality that is forged with the heavy black metal sound. I really appreciated the drum work on this and found myself air drumming this when listening to it and then decided to sit down at my kit and learn the drum parts. I also get a bit of a Liturgy sound out of this too. It has some odd (for the genre) song writing choices, but I like it. The second half of the song is pretty amazing.
9.25/10
Topic: Puppies' Rush Roulette V.3 (Ultimate Post-Roulette Mega Rundown!) (Read 83249 times)