OK, first I'll reveal all of the impressions.
1: I don't listen to anything like this but I really like it
(The Walrus, ATTLAS)2: To be honest I don't have any strong feelings about this
(Luoto, Be'Lakor)3: Seems like it would be right up my alley
(Evermind, Portishead)4: Riffs are good, vocals are there
(Elite, Obsidian Kingdom)5: At times a bit chaotic but the quieter moments are really nice
(ariich, The River Empires)6: Heavy, but not as heavy as I expected
(Sacul, Converge)7: The harsh vocals aren't really working for me
(wolfking, Omnium Gatherum)8: I would play this video game
(Buddyhunter1, Anamanaguchi)9: Part of this strongly reminds me of another band I really like
(Cyril, Mithras)10: This avoids the shortcomings of [tributary genre]
(romdrums, we.own.the.sky)11: Interesting stylistically but not as much musically
(TAC, Tribulation)12: Hogarth?
(HOF, Talk Talk)13: This should be my kind of thing but it's not doing much for me
(Puppies_On_Acid, Enslaved)14: I could see how the vocal style might be a turn off but it's working for me
(Tomislav95, mewithoutYou)15: Great guitar work
(Stadler, Deep Purple)And now let's do some results.
Elite
Obsidian Kingdom
Oncoming Dark
Through the Glass
Cinnamon Balls
The Polyarnik
Answers Revealing
Last of the Light
4 pointsUnfortunately my first impression of this hasn’t changed much. The riff at the end of Oncoming Dark is amazing, Through the Glass has some pretty cool moments, the ambience of The Polyarnik is nice, but I just don’t get what they were going for with the vocals at all. The clean vocals aren’t very interesting either in delivery or melody, and the harsh vocals are kind of actively offputting. The music is pretty good, but outside of a few standout moments it’s not really enough to overcome the vocals.
Evermind
Portishead
Mysterons
Sour Times
Roads
Glory Box
5 pointsI swear I’m not giving all your submissions 5 points just to fuck with you.
I enjoy a lot of trip-hop, so this seems like the kind of thing that should really appeal to me, but for whatever reason it’s just not really hitting me. Musically I dig the sparseness of it and the atmosphere, but that really relies on having the vocals to carry it, and the vocal melodies here just don’t really do anything for me. I do actually like her voice and style a decent bit though.
TAC
Tribulation
Melancholia
Strains of Horror
Lacrimosa
5 pointsLike I said in my first impression, stylistically I find this pretty interesting. The sort of gothic tone, echoing vocals somewhere between death and black metal, the classic style guitar work, it’s a pretty interesting sound. And though it has grown on me a bit since my first listen, ultimately my opinion hasn’t changed too much. I enjoy listening to it, all the sounds are pretty nice and well-performed, but nothing stands out too much either, and none of the songs make much of an impression on me after I finish listening to them.
wolfking
Omnium Gatherum
The Second Flame
Gods Go First
Frontiers
Living In Me
5 pointsSo this is some pretty standard melodic death metal. Musically it’s quite good and the guitar work is enjoyable to listen to, but I find the singer’s harsh vocal style really strange and kind of offputting which makes it hard to get much out of the music (which I do actually think is quite good). Interestingly, I think the clean vocals that appear very briefly in The Second Flame are fantastic, I really wish he’d done that more often. His idiosyncrasies do seem a bit toned down on Frontiers, which is my favorite song of the bunch.
Stadler
Deep Purple
Lick It Up
No One Came
Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
6 pointsI’m pretty sure the only Deep Purple I’ve heard up until now is the Smoke on the Water riff, but this is probably about what I would have expected from them; pretty enjoyable hard rock. Lick It Up and No One Came both fit this mold, the songwriting and melodies don’t really stand out to me, but they’re fun and the vocal performance is great. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming is definitely my favorite track here though, and kind of breaks from the mold. The guitar work is amazing, both the acoustic at the beginning and the electric solos throughout. The rockier parts are actually the weakest parts of the song, the moody sections with a more restrained vocal performance and the emotive guitar solos really carry the song.
So, mixed impressions, but if your goal was to impress me with Blackmore, you can consider this a success.
Puppies_On_Acid
Enslaved
Ethica Odini
Neogenesis
6 pointsThis is another one that has grown on me. The vocal style in Ethica Odini is a bit odd but I’m pretty into it now, and musically both the heavier and softer sections are really good. The clean vocals I’m not so hot on; the melodies aren’t very interesting and they just don’t really seem to add anything to the songs, but they don’t come up that often and the song is still pretty enjoyable overall. Neogenesis is more of a mixed bag, though. The clean vocals still don’t work, and the sort of staccato riff and barked vocal section just doesn’t do anything for me at all. On the other hand, the long instrumental/guitar solo sections are really great. If I did awards like Rich did in his roulette, I’d give you the ‘Mixed Feelings’ award.
Sacul
Converge
Concubine
Fault and Fracture
Hell To Pay
Dark Horse
Eve
6 pointsYeah, so I’m being a little tricky with some of the first impressions this round. Obviously this is pretty heavy, but the guitars and vocals seem to be very treble-y for the most part so it’s not the crushing onslaught I was expecting. This is probably the main drawback here for me; the fuzzy, phone-speaker-style effect on the vocals really lessens the impact of the songs, even though I really enjoy the frenetic energy of the music. I should also note this these effects seem to be mostly confined to the
Jane Doe tracks; Dark Horse, my favorite track here, is fantastically ferocious and most of the vocal effects seem to be absent, and Eve has a totally different vibe going, a sort of plodding, ominous build where the more sporadic appearances of the effects actually works really well.
HOF
Talk Talk
Happiness is Easy - 1997 Remaster
Ascension Day
Wealth - 1997 Remaster
7 pointsThis is a really interesting submission, and I think is probably one of the ones that grew on me the most. At first it didn’t make much of an impression on me, maybe because a lot of it is really understated, but further listens really brought out a ton of depth that wasn’t immediately apparent (to me, at least). What I love is how restrained and subtle a lot it is; there’s a burst of acoustic guitar, here’s a trumpet, but don’t let them overstay their welcome, now they’re gone. There are tons of little licks and sounds that hide in the background. Steve Hogarth (I’m convinced it’s him) does a great job with the vocals, but he’s not oversinging and he’s not anywhere he doesn’t need to be. The drumming is tight but doesn’t draw attention to itself. The keyboarding in Wealth is just beautifully subtle all the way through.
The only real issues here are that I think Wealth goes on maybe a little too long, and just when Happiness is Easy seems like it’s going to go into a great chorus, those damn kids show up and start singing. I’m sure they’re nice kids, but they can’t sing at all. Get ‘em outta here.
romdrums
we.own.the.sky
Ikigai
Transmissions of Static
This Space Between Us
7 pointsThis feels like it’s a mixture of post rock and post metal, but it manages to avoid the major shortcomings of both; the former tends to feel a bit repetitive and the latter like songs that someone just forgot to put vocals on. These songs move from typical post-rock guitar cascades to some pretty heavy riffing and are pretty varied throughout, and every change feels like a natural progression from the last one. There’s nothing here that stands out quite enough to bring this up to an 8, but it’s still a really enjoyable style that can function as background music while also being interesting enough to work as a focused listen as well.
Luoto
Be’Lakor
Countless Skies
The Smoke of Many Fires
7 pointsThis is another submission that grew on me a lot over the round. Initially I was pretty ambivalent towards it, especially the vocals, but the music really opened up on subsequent listens, and while I’m still not
crazy about the vocals, I think they work well enough for what they do, particularly on The Smoke of Many Fires, where they’re almost melting into the guitar riffs at times. There’s quite a lot of variation here instrumentally, from piano to heavy riffing to quieter almost post-rocky sections, and the unpredictability of the song structures makes it an engaging listen.
Cyril
Mithras
When the Stars Align
Howling of Distant Spaces
On Strange Loops
7 pointsIn case you’re curious, the band this reminds me of is Alchemist, in terms of the tribal chanting style of the vocals. The artwork even looks kind of like Alchemist, weirdly. I think you said this was the submission you were least sure about, and I guess I can see why, but it’s mostly working for me. The robotic drumming, deep monotone vocals, and guitars form a unique sort of cacophony that strangely manages to be enjoyable music. I think it could do with a bit more melody to soften it some and break up the onslaught, but this is still an interesting and definitely unique submission overall.
The Walrus
ATTLAS
Ryat
November
A Ray of Light
Half Light
8 pointsThis is like the more relaxed brother of Anamanaguchi. I’m not even completely sure what kind of music this is since I don’t listen to anything that’s particularly comparable, but I really enjoy it. The gently blooping synth melodies of the first two songs create a calm, relaxing atmosphere, and Half Light is some very nice synthy pop music. I don’t actually have much to say here other than that I’m enjoying this a lot.
Tomislav95
mewithoutYou
Torches Together
January 1979
Julia (or, ‘Holy to the LORD’ on the Bells of Horses)
Another Head for Hydra
In a Sweater Poorly Knit
8 pointsLike I said in my first impression, I could see how this dramatic sort-of-talking vocal style might not work for some people, but I’m enjoying it pretty well and I think it fits really well with this kind of punk-ish/post-hardcore music. There’s also a surprising amount of variation here, in terms of music and vocals as well, going from the declarative style to screams to very smooth, clean singing. I see there are several albums represented here, so I don’t know if this is indicative of the way they’ve developed over time, but it makes for a great listen. Julia is my favorite song in this group, and I think it’s probably my favorite song of round 2 altogether. You are really cleaning up in this roulette so far.
ariich
The River Empires
The River Empires Theme I
Overture in Thales Summer
Three Tigers
From Outside the Cellar
Theon, the Fox
8 pointsThis is just some really lovely music. It definitely feels very indie, but there’s a lot more going on musically than is typical with a lot of indie stuff, and the song structures are much more inventive and unpredictable. The vocal harmonies and piano in Overture are beautiful, I love the banjo in From Outside the Cellar, the instrumentation in general is quite varied and interesting, and the vocals are (mostly) perfect for the music.
Like I said earlier, I was a bit tricky with the first impressions and yours was specifically about the song Three Tigers, where there are few sections that seem to have half a dozen different things happening at once, and initially it didn’t seem to work together too well and just came across as kind of noisy, but on further listens it’s grown on me quite a bit and I really enjoy it now. The only real drawback for me is the chorus of Theon, the Fox (the ‘billy goat’ section), where the vocals just sound
really thin and don’t have enough power to them. It’s a minor complaint though, given how well I think the vocals work throughout the rest of the songs.
Buddyhunter1
Anamanaguchi
Lorem Ipsum (Arctic Anthem)
Endless Fantasy
Sunset By Plane
Space Wax America
8 pointsOh hell yes. This is incredibly fun, upbeat, joyful music. I’m usually not too into music that leans heavily into video game-y sounds, but they manage to make really engaging songs with it. The melodies are good, the bloopy synths are great, the energy is ridiculous. The one song with (significant) vocals is a bit less good than the others and the ending section of Lorem Ipsum seems unnecessary, but altogether I really enjoyed this.
STANDINGSTomislav95 18
The Walrus 16
Luoto 16
Cyril 15
ariich 15
Sacul 15
romdrums 15
Buddyhunter1 14
Elite 13
TAC 12
wolfking 12
Puppies_On_Acid 12
HOF 11
Evermind 10
Stadler 10
Send for round 3! Also, since no one said anything about the proposed 3-day limit for sending, you can now consider it to be in effect.