ROUND 1 RESULTS!!!!
HOF
Fernando Perdomo
Flying to Utopia
The Light
Smile
Sonja
Amicable
Arturius
4 pointsThis one is a bit of a mix. I find most of the music quite nice, and, on The Light especially, I think it’s great. That main riff with the bend? Just really sublime. My issue with the vocals remains, unfortunately. And I agree with you actually, I think he’s got a pretty nice voice, it’s the vocal melodies themselves just really don’t work for me at all. The instrumental tracks are pretty nice, but I think they’re less interesting musically than the vocal tracks, and the synth on Arturius I unfortunately find really grating.
So yeah. I like parts of this a lot, and other parts of it not much, which averages out to something that I’m ok with overall.
Stadler
KISS
Only You
Under the Rose
Shout Mercy
4 pointsSo yeah, my first impression still pretty much stands. Musically, Only You and Under the Rose are enjoyable enough, if not particularly exciting or ambitious, but the vocals really let it down. The melodies seem pretty underwritten, and the delivery feels uninspired. The big choir-y section in Under the Rose is actually a pretty cool idea, even though it doesn’t totally work for me, and nothing here is
bad or unpleasant to listen to, it just doesn’t leave much of an impression either. Shout Mercy is more what I was expecting from KISS, pretty rocky and fun and it’s my favorite of the three. I don’t know if it’s the same guy singing here, but if it is, this grittier rock vocal style definitely suits him a lot better. The vocal melodies still aren’t doing much for me, but the delivery’s a lot of fun.
I basically dared you to send this band, so I appreciate you being a good sport and doing it anyway.
And as I said in my earlier post, low scores here don’t indicate dislike. I’m no convert, but I can rock out to Shout Mercy at least.
Evermind
Iamthemorning
Freak Show
Os Lunatum
Lighthouse
5 pointsThis actually has grown on me a little since I wrote my first impression, Lighthouse especially, but it mostly still stands. It’s perfectly competent, well-performed music, with nothing in particular that I find offputting, it just doesn’t really strike any chords with me. As I said though, Lighthouse has grown on me, and I like the main melody and it’s a really cool moment when Mariusz comes in.
Puppies_On_Acid
Negură Bunget
Cunoasterea Tacuta
Dedesuptul
Hora Soarelui
6 pointsThis is a very interesting submission. It’s got some elements that tend to turn me off in black metal, the sort of mushy production where vocals disappear behind the instruments, there’s a lot of musically adventurous stuff happening here that improves it for me. The harsh vocals are ok, but they’re not great and those sections tend to interest me the least, but even though the clean vocals are pretty odd, I actually enjoy them most of the time when they show up, and the music is really engaging, especially when it stops riffing and roaring and just goes into weird, bass-driven flute-y sections. I’ll also say, even though not every bit of this appeals to me, the way the compositions are put together is really exciting; it kind of reminds me of maudlin of the Well, where you really never know what’s going to happen next. Hora Soraelui is probably my favorite of the three songs here.
Buddyhunter1
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Sleep Is Wrong
Powerless
6 PointsYeah, so this is definitely pretty strange. It’s all over the place, with weird melodies, abrupt changes, and an overall sense of unease. There seem to be two main vocal styles here, a deep, harsh nearly-growl and a falsetto. The former I really really like, but the latter unfortunately I find a bit offputting most of the time. I really love Sleep Is Wrong, as all of the disparate elements work together to great effect and the first vocal style seems to be predominant here. Powerless doesn’t do as much for me, it seems too long for the ideas used, and I find the falsetto bits to be kind of grating. There are still a lot of good things there (the heavy “POWERLESS”, and the weird downtuned-sounding bass part) but to me it doesn’t exactly come together to a cohesive song and pulls the score down a little.
TAC
Euphoreon
Zero Below the Sun
The Grand Becoming
7 pointsTAC, if you don’t listen to Wintersun, you should, I think you’d really like them.
This is just really good, hard-hitting metal. It’s not groundbreaking, really, but if you execute something well you don’t need to be. I don’t usually get into solo sections that much, but the solo in Zero Below the Sun made me scrunch my face in the universally understood symbol for ‘listening to disgusting guitar work.’ (might have been a keyboard though? Can’t really tell) Some of the vocal sections are surprisingly catchy for being entirely growled (ZERO BELOW THE SUN) and honestly I’m entirely convinced Jari isn’t doing them, although I do think they could have done with a bit more variety as they can feel a bit monotonous by the end.
I think The Grand Becoming isn’t as strong as Zero Below the Sun, and both songs suffer a bit from running longer than the ideas in them justify, but it’s still really enjoyable music overall.
wolfking
In Flames
Moonshield
Artifacts of the Black Rain
Embody the Invisible
Jotun
Episode 666
7 pointsI have no solid reason why I’ve never listened to In Flames. The only thing I can think of is that I dismissed them years ago before I got into harsh vocals, and just never revisited that decision, because frankly this is exactly my kind of music. Great riffs, ferocious vocals, good songwriting, just nice all around. From what I recall of In Flames lore, The Jester Race is generally considered their best or one of their best, but I actually like the Colony song Embody the Invisible the most of the five here, though they’re all enjoyable. Unfortunately, all of the songs also suffer from sound issues. I don’t know if it’s an upload artifact or the production, but there is some serious mush going on here, which makes it harder to listen to. Honestly, absent that issue, this would be an 8 easily or maybe a 9. It’s choice stuff.
ariich
Cyril
Actor | Observer
Actor | Observer
Reprieve
In Your Ways
Reuptake
The Devil You Know
In Your Ways
Dilettante
On Your Laurels
Pareidolia
Dilettante
8 points
7 points
(i wanted so badly to have these not be on different lines but i've spent so long messing with the formatting and i just want it to end)
Since these two submissions are from the same artist and also have two songs in common, I’m going to talk about them together. Stylistically, this group is exactly my kind of thing; I love the way that these sorts of post-hardcore/metalcore band use an aggressive sound to put across something very emotional and how it compliments the softer side of their music instead of really contrasting with it. And I love the screamed vocals here, I think they’re pretty much perfect for the style. As I mentioned in my first impressions though, a lot of the clean vocal sections seem lacking to me. In Your Ways (a song you both sent, interestingly) kind of exemplifies this the most; it’s got a really nice buildup at the start, but when it gets to the chorus the melodies don’t seem to hit as hard as they should. One song where the melodies really do work for me, though, is in Pareidolia; the fragile almost-crying tone in the ‘maybe that’s why she asked’ is perfect.
Pareidolia is my favorite song out of the ones you guys sent (probably number 3 in the round overall); even though I wasn’t sure about the vocal/lyrical style at the start, it turned out to suit the song perfectly, and then the clean sections into the furious finale to the spacey ending are amazing. This song bumps Cyril up to 8 points instead of 7, even though Reuptake and On Your Laurels - the two unique full songs in Rich’s submission - I would rate higher than The Devil You Know or the two common songs.
I did consider giving you both the same score just to be an asshole and let the debate rage on though.
romdrums
22
Inspec
Staying Embodied
You Are Creating
Call Me Trimtab
8 pointsAs I said in my first impression, this is a really energetic and surprisingly varied submission. The first song, Inspec and the Call Me Trimtab have a Mew-like feel to them that I really like, with the fast tempo and high-register vocals but have some surprisingly heavy riffing as well, You Are Creating has a really cool Strokes-style swaggering groove, and they pull it all off really well. No one instrument is taking the spotlight here, but they’re all extremely tight and all have something interesting going on if you listen. The vocals are one of the big assets here for the most part, soaring over the music and taking a lot of different moods across the four songs, although some of the harmony sections (like the chorus to You Are Creating and in the second half of Inspec) don’t quite work for me, which pulled the score down a bit.
I think you said in your message that the band had broken up recently? If so, that’s a real shame because there’s a lot of talent here and some great songs.
The Walrus
Enya
Caribbean Blue
Wild Child
Orinoco Flow
Dark Sky Island
8 pointsI’m vaguely familiar with Enya via cultural osmosis, but outside of Only Time (which I really like), I don’t know that I’ve ever listened to any of her music. It’s beautiful, gentle, ethereal stuff. I know I’ve Devin Townsend mention that Enya was a big influence on him, and I can definitely hear that in the way she builds soundscapes out of her voice. Caribbean Blue and Wild Child are wonderful, lush songs that are really just a joy to listen to. Orinoco Flow, I have to admit, doesn’t really work for me, the quirky staccato instrument and vocal approach just get a bit of a shrug from me, but…
Dark Sky Island is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. It’s my favorite song of the round, and would easily be a 10 by itself. It’s the song that made me break my self-imposed ‘only listen to roulette songs during scheduled roulette listening’ rule because I wanted to keep hearing it. Orinoco Flow is a bit of a miss for me, but overall this is a fantastic submission.
Elite
Brutus
Fire
Carry
Horde V
Sugar Dragon
9 pointsYou don’t have to worry about sending me bad stuff yet, because I really like this. When I first listened through these songs, I really had no idea what the fuck was going on. It’s metally? But the vocalist sounds vaguely like Bjork, and half the time her vocal approach is just sort of yelling? But damn, I really got into this. The music is fast paced and hard-hitting, the vocals are compelling and emotional, and it’s really not like anything else I’ve listened to. It’s not my favorite submission of the round, but I think it is the one I was always most interested to listen to again, because it fascinates me. Fire and Carry are my favorites of the group (Carry especially), but Horde V and Sugar Dragon have a lot of good in them as well.
Luoto
Astronoid
Resin
Tin Foil Hats
Air
9 pointsThis is an odd mix of styles that somehow manages to feel coherent. It’s got the cascading guitars, frenetic drumming, and production style I tend to associate with black metal, but then it’s got Mew-style vocals and there’s a sort of post-rock-y feel to a lot of it. I think the production actually works to the benefit of the music here, building a sort of ethereal atmosphere that the songs sit in. The songs feel almost peaceful somehow, even though the guitars and drums are really tearing it up most of the time. I know I’ve been picky throughout these writeups on vocals, but I gotta say these are just really working for me, they act almost as instrument or a texture, but they stand out when they need to and the melodies are lovely.
Sacul
Refused
New Noise
The Refused Party Program
Tannhäuser / Derivè
Servants of Death
9 pointsI was not at all expecting the brutality of this. The riffs are punishing whenever they’re not groovy, the vocals are throat-tearing and relentless, and the quieter sections in between are both unexpected and perfectly placed to build the tension before the onslaught unleashes again. It’s surprisingly musically inventive, too, with the violin section at the beginning of Tannhauser and the accordion wtf section at the end.
Honestly, I just really fucking like this. The only bits that don’t exactly work for me are the kind of spoken bits that crop occasionally in between furious outbursts, but they don’t detract much from the overall effect. Servants of Death is a bit less good than the other three songs, but it’s still great and has an enjoyable groove to it.
Tomislav95
Arcane Roots
Indigo
Belief
Half the World
10 pointsI don’t know what kind of music this is, but I love it. Progressive indie rock is the best term I have for it, which is a thing I don’t even think exists. It’s adventurous and exciting musically, moving from lush atmospheric synths to some pretty heavy riffs, but nothing ever feels out of place. Since I’ve talked a lot about vocals in these writeups, I really need to mention these here, because they’re nearly perfect as far as I’m concerned. The melodies are wonderful, the delivery is beautifully sincere and emotional and even though his voice may not be the strongest in the conventional sense, it suits the music and melodies perfectly. Belief is my favorite song of the set, and is number 2 overall.
STANDINGS
Tomislav95 10
Elite 9
Luoto 9
Sacul 9
Cyril 8
The Walrus 8
romdrums 8
TAC 7
wolfking 7
ariich 7
Buddyhunter1 6
Puppies_On_Acid 6
Evermind 5
HOF 4
Stadler 4
Send for round 2! So I realized I didn't mention anything about submission deadlines in the signup rules. What does everyone think about three days from the time results are posted? I wouldn't kick people out or anything after that point, I'd just go ahead and start listening to whatever I have, and if you get in late your songs may just not get as many listens. Does that seem fair? Too aggressive? I'd like to keep this on a pretty quick timetable so we don't have huge lulls, but I don't want to rush people either since some of you exist outside of this forum. Let me know what you guys think!