ariich’s inclusive roulette (v6) – EPic final results!

[ariich]

As I said in the round rules:

• Theme or concept is entirely optional, though in my experience it can be helpful in articulating a narrative flow of some kind, so it's entirely up to you.

So for anyone who includes a story or theme, I wouldn't expect it to affect the /10 score for music quality at all. Certainly not consciously anyway (I can't really control any subconscious reaction I might have but I'd expect this to be very minimal if it happens at all). As I say, it could help with flow (a /5 score), but even then probably only slightly - a well constructed EP can have a great flow purely based on the music even with no explicitly defined theme or narrative.

[Elite]

Unfortunately I don't have time to come up with a big story or theme.  You'll be getting a few random songs, that's it. 

Rite... I mean, this isn't a concept album round, so I hope the "story" that anyone tags along with their submission isn't factoring into the score.

#NotLikeIHaveAChanceOfWinningAnyway

From the OP:

Theme or concept is entirely optional, though in my experience it can be helpful in articulating a narrative flow of some kind, so it's entirely up to you.

[Buddyhunter1]

No solid theme or concept for mine. The sequencing of the music should do that job for me.

[Indiscipline]

I focused on theme and concept. I know, but honestly that's the funny part of EP crafting for me.

The songs are bound to score between 7.9 and 8.1 anyway 

[Elite]

I focused on throwing together some heavy shit, because I thought that would be fun. Oh boy, he's gonna love this one!

[Buddyhunter1]

I was potentially going to send some heavy shit this round but the coin toss picked Elder instead. My EP has a distinct lack of heavy shit.

[Stadler]

I was potentially going to send some heavy shit this round but the coin toss picked Elder instead. My EP has a distinct lack of heavy shit.

I think you'll do fine with The Elder.  It's one of my favorite Kiss albums.

 

[King Postwhore]

I was potentially going to send some heavy shit this round but the coin toss picked Elder instead. My EP has a distinct lack of heavy shit.

I think you'll do fine with The Elder.  It's one of my favorite Kiss albums.

What a Dark Light you've shined on Buddy.

[ariich]

ROUND 7 RESULTS

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Elite – Ancestors
1. The Last Return
2. Bounty of Age

First impression: This is good... but it feels like something is missing.

Final opinion: Cyril sent me an album of theirs after my last roulette and I gave it a 7.5, and half my review of that is exactly what I feel here: "This seems to be one of those artists that I feel as though I should like more than I do. They definitely tick a lot of boxes - post-ish metal with a good sense of atmosphere and a reasonable amount of variety of sounds - strings, synths, etc." This time around, The Last Return is definitely a more interesting song and has some great moments and does push the score higher, but overall I come away with the same feeling.

Score: 7.9

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Cyril – Sparrows
1. Repose
2. Worship Song
3. Fifth Helena Drive
4. An Honest Coward

First impression: This is... pretty full on.

Final opinion: Ahh this so nearly works for me but just doesn't quite, or at least not enough of it does. Repose is crushing and has a really great intensity and balance to it, and it's my favourite here. Fifth Helena Drive is half awesome, half meh.  And then the other two have their moments (some cool moody atmospheric stuff in Honest Coward) but overall don't really do it for me, and the heavy moments, while aggressive, for some reason feel somewhat insubstantial.

Score: 7.9

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LordCost – The Mercury Tree
1. Sympathesizer
2. Exhume the Worst
3. Permutations

First impression: There's a lot going on here, haven't got my head around it yet.

Final opinion: Man, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here, but it's not very easy to digest. The first song is really cool in a lot of ways and has some nice melodic hooks, but the way it shifts the tempo is kind of unsettling – I guess that's the point!  Exhume is the most accessible but still has its quirky side, and is a really cool song. Permutations, I like it and appreciate the experimentation, but I do find it a bit dense and difficult to properly get into.

Score: 8.0

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Stadler – Michael Schenker Group
1. Girl from Uptown
2. Victim of Illusion
3. Lost Horizons

First impression: I'm liking this but it could have been even better with more interesting vocals.

Final opinion: So I'm definitely digging this more than the UFO, although again it suffers from the last song being awesome but the other two being less exciting. The first two are still good, don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the main riff in Victim of Illusion for example, they're just a little run-of-the-mill. Lost Horizons is fantastic though, a really strong classic Maiden vibe that they pull off very convincingly. I think all the songs could have been more exciting if the singers had more character, but they're talented at least and the songs are very enjoyable. 

Score: 8.0

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Shadow – Angels and Airwaves
1. The Adventure
2. Breathe
3. Heaven

First impression: Nothing mindblowing but a nice poppy energy to it.

Final opinion: At first I wondered why the vocals sounded so familiar and had such a "late 90s pop punk" vibe to them. It really does sound like if Blink-182 had gone in a more poppy direction. I'm not sure I completely love the result, but it's still good and these are a really nice set of songs. Nice poppy vibes with a kind of upbeat feel to them. Basically, what I said in my first impression is how I still feel.

Score: 8.0

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wolfking – Malpractice
1. Maze of Inequity
2. Symmetry
3. Deadline

First impression: Might have benefited from punchier production, but it's still very solid.

Final opinion: Yeah so overall I'm finding this really nice, if not really mindblowing or anything. My favourite thing about it is the guitar work, there's just a lot of really cool stuff going on throughout, even underneath the vocals which gives it quite a busy feel that works nicely. The vocals aren't the most exciting, but they're good still. Regarding my comment on the production, in a technical sense it's completely fine, but I really do feel like a bit more of a fat, punchy sound could have made these songs that bit more exciting. Still, good stuff.

Score: 8.1

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romdrums – The Panic Division
1. Silver Rings
2. Graveyards
3. Photograph
4. Through the Dark

First impression: Nice blend of retro and modern.

Final opinion: You said that this reminds you of 80s pop rock, and I can definitely hear that in most of the songs. But at the same time, it also has a more modern alt-rock sound to it as well, often blending the two together nicely. It's all pretty straightforward really, but all four songs are really nice and there's a fun mix of styles and influences across them.

Score: 8.1

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Indi – KBB
1. Hatenaki Shoudou
2. Antarctica

First impression: Not the sort of thing I'd often go for, but very nice all the same.

Final opinion: I'm not generally super-hot on instrumental prog, but occasionally it can excite me. In this case, it definitely suffers at times (as much of the genre does) from sounding like it should have vocals but they're missing. Hatenaki Shoudou definitely has that, Antarctica less so. Thankfully, though, the music is enjoyable enough that it doesn't matter too much. The violin in particular adds a really nice, unique flavour to it all, and some of the synth and piano work taps into my love of Japanese video game music as well.

Score: 8.2

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Lethean – Green Carnation
1. Leaves of Yesteryear
2. A Place for Me
3. Pile of Doubt

First impression: I may have some catching up to do.

Final opinion: The only thing I know of this band is Light of Day, Day of Darkness, which I listened to a couple of times years ago and liked but didn't love – from what I remember it was just a bit bloated for my tastes and felt like a novelty. It's really nice to finally hear some more normal songs from them, and they're great. The new one is my favourite of the three, there's a big doom metal vibe but with a strange warmth to it that makes it really engaging. The other two are excellent as well though.

Score: 8.2

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Nekov – Pendragon
1. As Good as Gold
2. Paintbox
3. The Freak Show

First impression: Like a punchier version of something that did quite well last round.

Final opinion: As you probably gathered, this was a reference to Arena from the last round. It's definitely in a similar mould of neo-prog, although this has a slightly crunchier edge (particularly in the newer song) that works well. On balance, I very slightly prefer the Arena songs as I just loved the theatricality of it, and I found the melodic hooks slightly stronger. But this is still great stuff. There's a nice upbeat use of synths that balances well with the more dramatic storytelling going on. 

Score: 8.2

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Luoto – Anthriel
1. Chains of the Past

First impression: Nothing unusual, but nicely done and gets better and better throughout.

Final opinion: This band gets described as prog power metal, and yeah I guess I see that, but melodically and stylistically it seems to draw heavily from neo-prog roots, just slightly more riff-driven perhaps. The song starts decent, but it gets pretty great as it goes on, particularly as the first chorus ends and it switches wonderfully from major to minor key into that really cool acoustic section, and then the whole middle of the song is pretty excellent. Similar to the Pendragon above, there's a nice mix of theatrical storytelling, upbeat prog and good melodies.

Score: 8.2

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Katt – Tycho
1. Awake
2. Montana
3. L
4. Dye

First impression: Simple and really rather nice.

Final opinion: I've no idea why, but for some reason I thought Tycho's music would have more going on. So that first listen where I discovered it was actually a chilled-out blend of downtempo electronica and post-rock was really rather pleasant. It's just slightly backgroundy perhaps, and I might have liked a bit more going on, but it is quite lovely and the sound is really top-notch. I can definitely see this being really great music to have on while I'm working (as it already has been this week).

Score: 8.2

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Train – The Weeknd
1. In Your Eyes
2. Blinding Lights
3. Hardest to Love
4. After Hours
5. Until I Bleed Out

First impressioxn: This is more straightforward than I was expecting, but still great.

Final opinion: Normally when you send me something poppy, it has a strange quirk or edge about it, so I was kind of surprised when stylistically speaking this turned out to be fairly straightforward synthpop, albeit with a nice R&B influence in there. It's a great sound, and there's enough infusion of different ideas (the aforementioned R&B, the use of horns, etc.) to make it seriously cool and incredibly catchy. 

Score: 8.3

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Evermind – Beyond the Black
1. Hallelujah
2. Unbroken
3. When Angels Fall

First impression: You undersold this.

Final opinion: So, you described this as power metal, although it's probably closer to what I think of as symphonic metal, not that I necessarily completely understand the difference between the two. But more importantly, you didn't think it would do well, but seemed to hope that I'd at least enjoy the catchiness of it. So yeah, definitely undersold. The songs do have fantastic hooks, sure, but also I love the folky element, and both the female singer and male harsh vocals are pretty great. Hallelujah in particular really sold it to me with its fantastic energy.

Score: 8.3

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Sacul – Nils Frahm
1. For
2. Momentum
3. More

First impression: Beautifully ambient.

Final opinion: I don't always love electronic music this ambient and delicate – sometimes I can just end up finding it a bit boring. But there are a handful of artists (so far) who I think can pull it off an incredibly immersive way, and it seems like Nils Frahm could be another one of them. The production is perfect, which is an important part of it, but its also pretty lush harmonically. For and More are my favourites and are really beautiful, but I also appreciate the minimalism of Momentum as a break in the middle.

Score: 8.4

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Buddy – Elder
1. Sanctuary
2. Thousand Hands

First impression: This is such a great sound!

Final opinion: I can definitely see your comparison to Mastodon here – proggy and pretty indulgent stoner metal. It's not an easy style to get right (there's hardly an abundance of bands like this rated high in my collection) but like Mastodon, these guys manage it for a few reasons. Firstly, the sound is huge and really engaging. Secondly, there's enough melodic hook in there to keep it accessible. And thirdly, the instrumental work is very slick and highly entertaining. At the risk of upsetting you again, I'm not the biggest fan of the singer (sorry!), but actually the vocals work really well for the style and the sound. All in all, really excellent. 

Score: 8.4

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Jingle – Hemina
1. Before
2. Nightlives
3. With What I See
4. Moonlight Bride

First impression: I suspect this was a good call.

Final opinion: I've no idea what I would have thought of the classic rock you were initially going to send, but you're smashing it on the prog-metal front this roulette. Overall, I don't find this quite as thrilling as the earlier two you sent, but it's still fantastic. The intro track was a great inclusion as it's a great opener and really epic. Nightlives is pretty straightforward prog metal in style, but it's an excellent example of it and I love how the singers' voices meld together. With What I See is solid, if less exciting, but then Moonlight Bride comes swooping in with some completely unexpected sexy sax that just works so well, and again utilises the female backing singer really nicely.

Score: 8.4

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king – Abel Ganz
1. Obsolescence, Pt. I: Sunrise
2. Obsolescence, Pt. II: Evening
3. Obsolescence, Pt. III: Close Your Eyes
4. Obsolescence, Pt. IV: The Dream

First impression: Proggy, upbeat (mostly), oddly life-affirming.

Final opinion: Ah this is really lovely – as far as good old prog rock goes (not metal), I think this is the best stuff I've received all roulette. A lot of it reminds me so much of Moon Safari, who I love. They have an incredible knack for writing music that's gorgeously upbeat without being cheesy, and these guys seem to do something similar. There's also a nice, more dramatic edge as the music goes on, which helps keep it dynamic and fresh. Great stuff, can't wait to hear the album.

Score: 8.4

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Puppies – Wretched
1. Cimmerian Shamballa
2. On the Horizon
3. Part I: Aberration
4. Part II: Beyond the Gate
5. My Carrion

First impression: Excellent stuff in a genre I'm not often enthralled by.

Final opinion: Technical death metal is not a big genre for me, I think because I often find it, perhaps unsurprisingly, a little too cold and lacking in feels. Cyril has tried it a few times, with some success on two occasions (Irreversible Mechanism and Monotheist) but less so with the rest he's sent me. This is right up there and could well be my favourite (unless the Allegaeon from last round counts). The heavy songs are intense and yeah, a little cold, but still pretty exciting and balanced. And then the instrumental stuff in the middle is really melodic, has such a great variety of influences and styles, and includes some classical and acoustic material that is gorgeous. Really excited to hear what this album is like as a whole.

Score: 8.4

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lonestar – Ninjaspy
1. Shuriken Dance
2. Londe Aresahnim (Forgotten Voices)
3. Nihivas (Slowly Surfaces)
4. Skaingkh (The Skank)
5. Shivu Vars Aiyohme (Breathe Deep Peace)
6. Thera Arhto Shisho (Shift In The Balance)
7. Go Gyo No Kata I. Chi (Earth)
8. Go Gyo No Kata II. Sui (Water)
9. Go Gyo No Kata III. Ka (Fire)
10. Go Gyo No Kata IV. Fu (Wind)
11. Go Gyo No Kata V. Ku (Void)

First impression: Wonderfully insane.

Final opinion: This music is completely mental. Their bandcamp says "For fans of Gojira, Devin Townsend, Dillinger Escape Plan, System of a Down, Mike Patton, Meshuggah, Rancid, Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Deftones" and that kind of gets it across I suppose. This sort of music is pretty risky for my tastes, but somehow it just works soooooo well, it's just incredibly entertaining and yet there's a level of underlying sincerity to it that somehow seeps through. The riffing is massive at times and has a great groove to it, and there are enough hooks to get me grinning like a loon.

Score: 8.5

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Tomi – Goldfrapp
1. Annabel
2. Drew
3. Stranger
4. Clay

First impression: Really gorgeous.

Final opinion: I've not heard anything about Goldfrapp for years, but vaguely recall a couple of their trip-hoppy sort of songs from the early 2000s. You explained that they just do whatever they want stylistically, which is something I massively admire, and I have to say that on the album these songs come from at least, they obviously hit on something pretty great. This type of beautifully melodic, sad folk music is right up my alley. Clay is less exciting than the others but I really appreciate its inclusion as it's slightly more upbeat, otherwise this might have felt slightly TOO melancholy.

Score: 8.5

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TAC – Suotana
1. Land of the Ending Time
2. Thousands of Forestes
3. It Means

First impression: Epic – might be your best yet.

Final opinion: Damn, you are on such a great run right now. I can sort of see your comparison to Children of Bodom (a comparison that keeps coming up in this roulette, I guess it shows how influential they were) because of the hyper-melodic music done in a heavy style with vocals somewhere between death and black metal. But you noted it's more epic, and I agree – to be slightly geeky about it, harmonically-speaking early Bodom was always very classical/neo-classical, whereas these guys are much more cinematic and, at times, romantic. The result of this is that it feels a lot grander and more emotive.  Love it.

Score: 8.7

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[ariich]

Scores after Round 7:

1= Katt     = 8.5 + 8.0 + 9.0 + 8.1 + 8.6 + 8.1 + 8.2 = 58.5
1= Evermind = 9.0 + 8.1 + 8.7 + 8.2 + 8.1 + 8.1 + 8.3 = 58.5
3= Buddy    = 8.1 + 8.2 + 8.6 + 8.6 + 7.9 + 8.2 + 8.4 = 58.0
3= TAC      = 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.1 + 7.7 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 8.7 = 58.0
5= Cyril    = 8.1 + 8.1 + 8.6 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.6 + 7.9 = 57.8
5= wolfking = 8.2 + 8.2 + 8.0 + 8.9 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 8.1 = 57.8
5= Train    = 8.9 + 8.1 + 7.5 + 8.2 + 8.5 + 8.3 + 8.3 = 57.8
8. jingle   = 8.1 + 8.7 + 8.0 + 8.1 + 8.6 + 7.8 + 8.4 = 57.7
9. Shadow   = 8.0 + 6.9 + 8.2 + 8.1 + 9.0 + 9.4 + 8.0 = 57.6
10. romdrums = 8.0 + 8.7 + 8.0 + 8.1 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.1 = 57.5
11. Puppies  = 7.8 + 8.2 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 7.8 + 8.3 + 8.4 = 57.4
12. lonestar = 8.4 + 7.9 + 8.0 + 7.8 + 8.2 + 8.5 + 8.5 = 57.3
13. Nekov    = 8.2 + 7.8 + 8.5 + 8.3 + 8.2 + 7.8 + 8.2 = 57.0
14. Luoto    = 8.3 + 8.1 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 7.7 + 8.2 + 8.2 = 56.9
15= Elite    = 8.1 + 8.5 + 7.6 + 8.1 + 8.1 + 8.3 + 7.9 = 56.6
15= Indi     = 7.9 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 7.9 + 8.1 + 8.0 + 8.2 = 56.6
17= Sacul    = 8.1 + 7.1 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.1 + 8.4 = 56.5
17= king     = 8.2 + 7.8 + 8.2 + 7.7 + 8.0 + 8.2 + 8.4 = 56.5
19. Tomi     = 7.3 + 8.1 + 7.9 + 8.5 + 8.1 + 7.5 + 8.5 = 55.9
20. Lethean  = 7.6 + 8.0 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 7.4 + 7.6 + 8.2 = 55.7
21= Stadler  = 7.4 + 7.8 + 7.9 + 8.1 + 8.4 + 7.8 + 8.0 = 55.4
21= LordCost = 7.2 + 8.8 + 7.3 + 8.2 + 7.5 + 8.4 + 8.0 = 55.4

It's all very close at the top. Seriously, don't focus too much on the ranking graph this time, the "points below leader" graph is far more revealing about just how many people have a shot at winning this. I've absolutely no idea what's going to happen next!

Remember, click to enlarge.

[The Walrus]

Scores after Round 7:

1= Katt     = 8.5 + 8.0 + 9.0 + 8.1 + 8.6 + 8.1 + 8.2 = 58.5
1= Evermind = 9.0 + 8.1 + 8.7 + 8.2 + 8.1 + 8.1 + 8.3 = 58.5

*looks at what I sent for EP*



Come what may, I am proud of how I've done in this roulette. Heck yeah. Curse you round 2

[Crow]

not super surprised by this not doing fantastic but i'm still only .7 behind the leaders anyways so 

[Buddyhunter1]

Hot fucking damn. It really is anyone's game now. Don't let me down, EP!

At the risk of upsetting you again, I'm not the biggest fan of the singer (sorry!), but actually the vocals work really well for the style and the sound.

Oh no, in this instance I totally understand. The band at least seemed to be aware that the vocals are far from their strongest aspect because they hardly show up at all on that album. Then they apparently forgot about that on their latest album because now they're way more prominent and somehow sound way worse despite the vocalist not changing...

[King Postwhore]

Yeah!  It's a fantastic album Rich.

[Buddyhunter1]

Also Cyril, welcome to the "8+ points all roulette except for a 7.9 in one round" club  

[Crow]

i'm just glad it wasn't an 8.1

[ariich]

*looks at what I sent for EP*

Well, that's the case because he beat you with symphonic metal, so...

Come what may, I am proud of how I've done in this roulette. Heck yeah.

Honestly, I've absolutely loved having every single person in this roulette, you've all sent me at least some amazing music and you've all brought something different. I'm going to try and reflect that as I go through the results posts for the final.

Curse you round 2

I think Shadow surely has a great claim to this statement.

Also Cyril, welcome to the "8+ points all roulette except for a 7.9 in one round" club  

Yeah. We're now down to just 4 people who haven't gone below 8.0, who are oddly spread out across the top half of the table: Katt (joint 1st), Ev (joint 1st), wolf (joint 5th) and rom (10th).

[Indiscipline]

Very glad you enjoyed that, even though you had to go and ruin my 7.9/8.1 streak 

[Elite]

Damn, under 8!

EP is done, you'll get it quite soon.

[Elite]

EP Sent. I hope I don't have to change anything

[Crow]

i'm so ready for the Ultimate EP Round of EPness

[Lethean]

Really glad you enjoyed the Green Carnation songs.    It took me a while to figure out which ones I wanted to send.

[jingle.boy]

king – Abel Ganz
A lot of it reminds me so much of Moon Safari, who I love.

*swoons*

[King Postwhore]

Cyril,  wait until you see the name of one of the bands I picked for my EP.

[Crow]

Six Roaming Owls? 

[Evermind]

My EP is something that Rich probably won't enjoy, but I enjoy it immensely so yeah, congrats whoever.

You're still getting it on Sunday though.

[Sacul]

Oh that's nice! Yeah I wasn't that sure about Momentum but wanted to include something a bit more organic. As you said, Nils Frahm has a very immersive sound, I love him. Since you dug More, I highly recommend you this performance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aln6DztAsMQ), he goes absolutely wild when playing live.

I've got like half my EP made already, will send later.

[Crow]

My EP is something that Rich probably won't enjoy, but I enjoy it immensely so yeah, congrats whoever.

hell yeah power metal

[Evermind]

My EP is something that Rich probably won't enjoy, but I enjoy it immensely so yeah, congrats whoever.

hell yeah power metal

It has like one metal song and only because I thought I should kinda spice things up

I'm really worried about the flow but it works in my head so I guess it'll do

[ariich]

EP Sent. I hope I don't have to change anything

You're all good. No banned artists (*cough* Train!) and within the length limit (*cough* lonestar!).

i'm so ready for the Ultimate EP Round of EPness

It's gonn' be EPic.

[Nekov]

Arena is more theatrical for sure, and you didn't even get the really theatrical songs last round 
Anyways, that's a good score. Given how well everyone else is doing I don't think I stand a chance but it has been fun.

EP has been sent. History will judge me

[King Postwhore]

Six Roaming Owls? 

Lolol. You'll have to wait and guess!

[Elite]

The Flaming Lips then

[Crow]

hey ariich if you increased the length limit you'd get an even better version of my EP probably

[wolfking]

Damn.