FINAL ROUND RESULTS, ranks 4-5--------------------------------------------------------------------------
5th place
Shadow – Shadow Ninja's 'Didn't Bother To Think of a Title' EP1. Novo Amor – Birthplace
2. Kishi Bashi – Carry On Phenomenon
3. PVRIS – You and I
4. PVRIS – What's Wrong
5. Landon Tewers – Ma And Pa
6. Landon Tewers – Findlay
7. Landon Tewers – I'll Always be Proud
8. Novo Amor – State Lines
9. Kishi Bashi – Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!
First impression: The emotional narrative here is quite captivating. It’s very varied, which is exciting although after one listen I’m not sure how well it all fits together.
Final opinion: I’m going to break trend again because I want to talk about flow first. In theory this is a really weird mix of styles that shouldn’t work together, but somehow you crafted an amazing emotional journey out of it. Some of the genre shifts are definitely bizarre, but it all somehow works to fit that implied narrative.
In terms of quality, just as you have all roulette you’ve included some completely different styles all at a really high quality. The Novo Amor and PVRIS songs are my favourites. Novo is really gorgeous indie folk – Birthplace is especially lovely but State Lines is great too. And I’m loving the poppy electro-rock energy in these two PVRIS songs, they kind of remind me of what Halestorm might have sounded like if they’d maintained a higher quality when they went in a slightly poppier direction. The Landon Tewers solo songs are… definitely weird.
But there’s something really captivating about the tension and restrained intensity. I don’t know how much I’d like a whole album of that, but in this small dose as part of the EP, it’s great. And then the Kishi Bashi songs are a lot of fun – Carry On Phenomenon is super catchy and another great one, Philosophize isn’t as interesting but it’s fun and works great as an upbeat closer for the EP.
Music quality score: 8.7
Flow score: 4.2
EP total: 12.9
Roulette total: 70.5Gosh, you’ve had a real rollercoaster this roulette.
To have been dead last in round 2, still joint last in round 4, and then leapt to 5th place by round 6 and still finished there is nothing short of astonishing. You really did send me the most wonderful music of the roulette. I’ve already checked out the Atlas project by Sleeping at Last and I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up really loving it, and I’m excited to see what Cloud Cult are like both live and in studio. The misstep in round 2 is a real shame as on top of sending me two of the best artists in the roulette, everything else was great too and I’m really looking forward to exploring everything (in fairness, including Tom Waits, but that’s because of Tomi). I didn’t really know you much before this roulette, but now I very much hope you’ll continue to recommend me music, in future roulettes or otherwise!
You win the award for: Most Heroic Comeback
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4th place
TAC – Looking Up, Looking Out1. Cloudbreaker – Stargazer
2. Darkaeon – Ark Of the Universe Pt.1
3. Aesmah – Feeding the Eclipse
4. Enshine – Dual Existence
First impression: The middle part of this is solid enough, but the beginning and end are really fantastic. It’s fairly heavy and stylistically consistent, but there’s enough variety too to keep it interesting.
Final opinion: I think this EP was the biggest grower of the round – I didn’t think I was going to love it, but I do. The first track is instrumental djenty prog, and then after that it’s based around melodic death metal I guess, but each artist seems to do something fairly different. I’ll talk about each track in turn. The Cloudbreaker is fantastic, which is impressive as instrumental prog metal is rarely up my street, but this has so much atmosphere and a great energy, and works really well as an opener. The Darkaeon is easily the weakest here, mainly because the vocals aren’t great, and the hooks aren’t especially interesting. But it’s still a good song overall, and instrumentally has some excellent moments. The Aesmah reminds me a little of Be’lakor in the sense of being a newer take on early 2000s melodeath – and just like I did with them, this took a few listens to grow on me but now I love it. But the real crown jewel here is the Enshine, which hits exactly the right spot – the kind of death metal I can only describe as beautiful.
I have to say, the flow is also something that grew on me. The thing that still holds it back slightly is the different production styles, which mean that, despite the songs being broadly consistent in genre, it all sounds a bit different. But actually, the way it ebbs and flows is really good and fits nicely with the loose story you set out – starting atmospheric, going a bit more dense and proggy, then getting heavier and weightier, and finally coming back round to the more atmospheric for a glorious finale as the character comes to terms with his predicament.
Music quality score: 8.6
Flow score: 4.0
EP total: 12.6
Roulette total: 70.6I know I’ve said this to you already, but it’s been really fantastic getting to know you better over the past year, and from playing in each other’s respective roulettes we’ve developed a much better understanding of each other’s tastes and where they overlap. Considering how the last couple of roulettes went (an inconsistent performance in v4 and not even making it past prelims in v5), I’ve been absolutely delighted by how much great music you sent me this time. You sent as much amazing stuff as anyone else – for example, you have more 8.3+ ratings than anyone – and the only reason you “only” came 4th were those couple of slightly weaker rounds early on that knocked you back a bit. And even those I’m looking forward to checking out. Thanks so much for being in this roulette and not being put off by previous ones, and I’m looking forward to our future roulette interactions already.
You win the award for: Most Harsh Vocals
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Final rankings:
4. TAC = 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.1 + 7.7 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 8.7 + (8.6 + 4.0) = 70.6
5. Shadow = 8.0 + 6.9 + 8.2 + 8.1 + 9.0 + 9.4 + 8.0 + (8.7 + 4.2) = 70.5
6= Cyril = 8.1 + 8.1 + 8.6 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.6 + 7.9 + (8.2 + 4.3) = 70.3
6= Luoto = 8.3 + 8.1 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 7.7 + 8.2 + 8.2 + (8.9 + 4.5) = 70.3
8= Train = 8.9 + 8.1 + 7.5 + 8.2 + 8.5 + 8.3 + 8.3 + (8.4 + 3.8) = 70.0
8= jingle = 8.1 + 8.7 + 8.0 + 8.1 + 8.6 + 7.8 + 8.4 + (8.2 + 4.1) = 70.0
10. Puppies = 7.8 + 8.2 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 7.8 + 8.3 + 8.4 + (8.3 + 4.2) = 69.9
11. wolfking = 8.2 + 8.2 + 8.0 + 8.9 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 8.1 + (8.1 + 3.8) = 69.7
12= lonestar = 8.4 + 7.9 + 8.0 + 7.8 + 8.2 + 8.5 + 8.5 + (8.0 + 4.1) = 69.4
12= Elite = 8.1 + 8.5 + 7.6 + 8.1 + 8.1 + 8.3 + 7.9 + (8.7 + 4.1) = 69.4
12= Indi = 7.9 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 7.9 + 8.1 + 8.0 + 8.2 + (8.3 + 4.5) = 69.4
15= Nekov = 8.2 + 7.8 + 8.5 + 8.3 + 8.2 + 7.8 + 8.2 + (8.2 + 4.1) = 69.3
15= romdrums = 8.0 + 8.7 + 8.0 + 8.1 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.1 + (8.1 + 3.7) = 69.3
17. Sacul = 8.1 + 7.1 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.1 + 8.4 + (8.3 + 4.0) = 68.8
18. king = 8.2 + 7.8 + 8.2 + 7.7 + 8.0 + 8.2 + 8.4 + (8.0 + 3.9) = 68.4
19. Tomi = 7.3 + 8.1 + 7.9 + 8.5 + 8.1 + 7.5 + 8.5 + (8.1 + 3.9) = 67.9
20. LordCost = 7.2 + 8.8 + 7.3 + 8.2 + 7.5 + 8.4 + 8.0 + (7.9 + 3.7) = 67.0
21. Lethean = 7.6 + 8.0 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 7.4 + 7.6 + 8.2 + (7.6 + 3.4) = 66.7
22. Stadler = 7.4 + 7.8 + 7.9 + 8.1 + 8.4 + 7.8 + 8.0 + (7.3 + 3.7) = 66.4
Poll
Topic: ariich’s inclusive roulette (v6) – EPic final results! (Read 189235 times)