FINAL ROUND RESULTS, ranks 20-22--------------------------------------------------------------------------
22nd place
Stadler – The Singer Not The Song1. Van Halen – In a Simple Rhythm
2. Sammy Hagar – Swept Away
3. Van Halen – Take Me Back (Déjà vu)
4. David Lee Roth – Tobacco Road
5. Sammy Hagar – Psycho Vertigo
6. David Lee Roth – Big Trouble
7. Van Halen – Blood And Fire
First impression: This was a bit more varied than I expected, and the guitar work is nice. It’s all perfectly enjoyable, but perhaps a bit middle-of-the-road to my tastes.
Final opinion: I’ve never bothered to check out Van Halen before, despite them being very famous, and to be honest this doesn’t change my mind at all. None of it is bad, and instrumentally it’s pretty nice and there is some cool guitar work throughout, but I still wouldn’t call it very exciting. And vocally, I just find it really, really bland I’m afraid. Of the VH and DLR songs, honestly the only one that interests me really is Take Me Back (Déjà vu), which is solid, but the rest, nah. The one saving grace that kept this above a 7 was the Sammy Hagar tracks, which are so much better than everything else here. Psycho Vertigo in particular has a fantastic groove to it, but both tunes are really good and have some nice vocal lines, so I’ll be checking his solo stuff out for sure.
The flow here is pretty good, if nothing special. It’s a pretty straightforward selection of songs really, and the ordering works well enough although the different production styles between some of them (particularly the DLR) is very slightly jarring.
Music quality score: 7.3
Flow score: 3.7
EP total: 11.0
Roulette total: 66.4Somebody had to come last, but that doesn’t make you any less valued. You’ve been such a great sport all roulette, despite never managing to get away from the bottom few places after a fairly weak first round (which was unfortunately replicated in the final round). I’ve been really glad to have you in for the whole thing this time, especially because it allowed you to try out different things, with a handful of really good successes. I’m not sure our tastes are ever going to align that much when it comes to classic rock, but you’ve sparked a new interest in me to give Dio and Tull another chance, you’ve introduced me to Michael Schenker and Sammy Hagar who I’d like to check out some more, and best of all that Panic Channel album which I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying based on the songs you sent me.
You win the award for: Most Sporting
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21st place
Lethean – The One You Are Looking for Is Hidden from View1. Diabolical Masquerade – Spinning Back the Clocks
2. Diabolical Masquerade – Soaring over Dead Rooms
3. Diabolical Masquerade – The Enemy Is the Earth
4. Diabolical Masquerade – Recall
5. Diabolical Masquerade – All Exits Blocked
6. Diabolical Masquerade – The Memory Is Weak
7. Diabolical Masquerade – Struck at Random / Outermost Fear
8. Diabolical Masquerade – Sparks of Childhood Coming Back
9. Diabolical Masquerade – Old People's Voodoo Seance
10. Diabolical Masquerade – Mary-Lee Goes Crazy
11. Diabolical Masquerade – Something Has Arrived
12. Diabolical Masquerade – Possession of the Voodoo Party
13. Off the Cross – The Silence
14. Pantheon I – Ascending
15. October Tide – Losing Tomorrow
16. Diabolical Masquerade – Not of Flesh, Not of Blood
17. Diabolical Masquerade – Intact with a Human Psyche
18. Diabolical Masquerade – Keeping Faith
19. Long Distance Calling – The Nearing Grave [outro]First impression: This seems like a bit of a mixed bag. There are some great moments but it doesn’t sound as consistent or coherent as I’d like.
Final opinion: Eesh, yeah this is definitely a mixed bag. On the weakest end, unfortunately because it dominates the non-banned music here, is Diabolical Masquerade. Not that it’s all bad at all, the first two tracks here are pretty cool in fact, although they’re so short they end up feeling insubstantial. But the 7th movement tracks I find genuinely irritating, and the rest are all only decent. Thankfully, the other three non-banned songs are all strong and manage to salvage a decent overall score. The Silence and Ascending in particular are both excellent, crunchy, moody songs and Losing Tomorrow has a atmospheric gloom to it. The best song is probably the Long Distance Calling, which is fantastic, but because they’re a banned artist, that doesn’t contribute to the quality score here.
The flow here isn’t terrible, but it’s the weakest of all the EPs. It’s actually the Diabolical Masquerade tracks that run sequentially on the album they’re from that seem to fit together least and have the most jarring transitions between them. I do like the idea of the theme, all side projects or guest performances with Katatonia members on vocals, and the rest of the songs have a consistency of tone and approach that could have flowed really nicely had it not been for those pesky DM tracks.
Music quality score: 7.6
Flow score: 3.4
EP total: 11.0
Roulette total: 66.7Your journey in the ranking chart could be described as The Rise and Fall of Leathen.
After a shaky first round, you were quickly rising up the ranks in that first half, but sadly lost the momentum. I’m so glad you played again though and am really grateful for the amazing music you sent me – I’m especially excited about Borknagar and Solefald, both of which I can see me really getting into, but you’ve also made we want to check out more Green Carnation, Long Distance Calling and Arcturus. I’m also really interested to check out Off the Cross and Pantheon I from your EP.
You win the award for: Most Attempts to Change My Mind
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20th place
LordCost – Metalcore Leftovers1. Norma Jean – Hive Minds
2. Underoath – Paper Lung
3. Car Bomb – Gratitude
4. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Mouth of Ghosts
First impression: One of these artists I’m digging a lot more than I expected. Overall, there’s some really good, crunchy stuff, but the quality isn’t consistent.
Final opinion: Apparently I’ve heard some Dillinger Escape Plan before and didn’t like it much, but I don’t really remember it. I also saw them supporting System of a Down many years ago and thought they sounded terrible. But the song here is cool, probably my second favourite on the EP – it has a great atmospheric build up and the heavy payoff at the end works well. All four songs have a chunky intensity to them that I’m quite enjoying, and the first two tracks have grown on me. The Norma Jean is great, and as heavy as it is there’s a nice groove going on. The Underoath I wasn’t too keen on at first, but have come around on somewhat (particularly the second half). The big dip still is the Car Bomb song though, it has the metalcore heaviness but without the emotionality to make it feel convincing.
In terms of flow, this feels pretty similar to Stadler’s EP really. It’s a good selection of songs from a similar style (to each other, obviously, not to Stadler’s
), and the ordering is nothing special but it works well enough.
Music quality score: 7.9
Flow score: 3.7
EP total: 11.6
Roulette total: 67.0While Shadow might officially have the widest range of scores, I still think you reclaim your title of Most Inconsistent because it’s definitely been a roulette of ups and downs. Not that you can really tell from the graph – two weak rounds out of the first three made it really hard to catch up again. But just like last time, while some of the stuff you sent me didn’t hit the mark, you found some absolute gems as well (which I’m really thankful for), and almost nothing in between. The Arcane was one of my favourites of the whole roulette, and the Fjokra and Mad Lollipop were thrillingly bonkers. The Mercury Tree and EP artists were the only ones to land in the middle, and have enticed me enough to want to hear more.
You win the award for: Most Inconsistent
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Final rankings: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 161152 times)