ROUND 7 RESULTS
TAC
Falls of Rauros
New Inertia
Memory at Night
-7 points
This is really cool stuff. The calmer instrumental bits in particular I find to be sublime. The songs move through different styles pretty seamlessly, from the calm to pretty heavy, although they never go into a full-on black metal bludgeon and the instrumentation stays really melodic throughout which I really like. I do think they should have titled the balance a bit more towards the soft sections, as the heavier ones can get a little monotonous. Also, weird complaint, there are some sections in New Inertia where the bass is just way to fucking loud. It’s strange. It happens a bit in Memory at Night as well, but it’s not as noticeable. I would have given this 7 points, btw, if not for the dark alliance with the Walrus.
The Walrus
Ages
Burn Them
Illicit State
Spawn of the Tyrants
0 points
Yeah, I like this pretty well. It’s got a lot of the elements I like about black metal, but leaves out some of the ones that bug me, particularly the production. It’s still got a wall-of-sound-y guitar and drum assault, but the instruments still come through clearly, and the vocals are distinct. I think the songs could probably be a bit stronger; they’re good fun, but it does feel like they’re missing something to really push them over the edge, apart from the main riff and vocal line of Illicit State, which is really strong. I would have given this 7 points, btw.
HOF
King’s X
Summerland
I Can’t Help It
Pretend
Charlie Sheen
Life Going By
4 points
I’ve been aware of King’s X, but not really familiar with them beyond Dream Theater’s Lines in the Sand (which I didn’t really dig). Musically it’s pretty nice, sitting somewhere close to grunge without ever going into it and there’s a pretty nice tonal variety in the songs, but nothing is really compelling to me on its own, and vocally it’s just not really working for me at all. The more soulful style used on Summerland and Pretend is interesting as an idea, but the way it’s used isn’t really working for me, and the more harmony-driven approach on the other songs feels a bit repetitive and the melodies aren’t very strong.
Stadler
Mother Love Bone
Stardog Champion
Bone China
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns
5 points
I can definitely see a lot of the foundational elements of grunge here. The downtempo, kind of sparse and subdued instrumentation, which I generally dig, and it works pretty well here. I’m struggling with the vocals, though. There are definitely moments where they work, but most of the time that sort of overly nasal style is just offputting to me, and it sort of holds me back from getting much out of the music.
Buddyhunter1
Obscure Sphinx
The Presence of Goddess
5 points
To be honest, nothing much about this is grabbing me. Nothing about it is bad, there are some nice riffs and ideas, but melodically I’m not really finding a lot to hold on to. It’s not a bad listen, but not much about it sticks with me afterwards.
Cyril
Exist
Writhe
If or When
5 points
This feels math-y and death metal-ish. Deathmath? Mathdeath? I guess they just call that tech death. This kind of really technical stuff can be hit or miss for me; here, I like the vocal sections pretty well. I don’t think the clean vocals are that good, but the harshes are quite good and they seem to show up more. They really lose me in the noodlement sections, though. They don’t really seem connected to the rest of the songs and I don’t think they’re all that interesting just on their own merits.
Elite
Ben Folds Five
One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
Philosophy
Song for the Dumped
The Last Polka
5 points
My impression of Ben Folds in the past has always been that he’s a very talented musician who has no business being a singer, and that’s kind of what I’m getting from this. Musically I really like most of this; there’s a nice bit of a variety in the songs and I think having the piano as the lead instrument is really cool, but man, his voice is just not good. There’s no power in it and I don’t think he’s got an interesting enough timbre to overcome it.
Puppies_On_Acid
Moonsorrow
Jotunheim
7 points
Yeah, this is fairly epic. It’s mostly fairly heavy, but the music still feels pretty melodic, and there’s a lot of variation throughout the song, from acoustic bits to a capella and it all feels like it naturally flows together. The vocals aren’t exactly my style (the harsh ones, I mean), but they work pretty well in this context and I’m generally enjoying them. I would have given this 8 points or so, but this is really a 16 minute song with like 3 minutes of bird noise at the end. Now it’s fair to observe that most songs these days don’t have enough bird noise in them, but this feels excessive.
Tomislav95
Elliott Smith
Ballad of Big Nothing
Baby Britain
Angeles
Sweet Adeleine
Waltz #2 (XO)
7 points
I wasn’t really into this at all on my first listen, but it’s really grown on me a lot since then. His voice isn’t particularly strong, but it works perfectly with the songs and the melodies suit his quiet, subdued delivery. I’m not crazy about everything here; the melodies on Sweet Adeleine don’t do much for me and the chorus feels a bit too bombastic, but I’m really enjoying most of it. Waltz #2 is probably my favorite of the five songs.
Sacul
Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man
Mysteries
Tom the Model
Spider Monkey
Funny Time of Year
7 points
This one is sort of similar to Elliott Smith, both in terms of general style and also my initial reaction and subsequent warming to it. There’s a lot of variety here, from the quiet, 50s-esque style of Mysteries to the understated ominosity (I thought I just made this word up but it turns out it’s real) of Spider Monkey. A lot of the melodies are pretty subtle and it took me a while to get my head around the vocals, but now they’re really working for me. Funny Time of Year is bit weaker than the other three songs I think, but it still has some nice moments.
wolfking
W.A.S.P.
Arena of Pleasure
The Heretic
My Wicked Heart
7 points
For whatever reason, I assumed this group was more of hair metal band, but it turns out they’re just a metal band, which was a nice surprise. The production on these songs make everything sound huge, which adds a really great touch to the overall atmosphere they’re making. The vocalist has a great, snarly metal grit in his voice that really makes the songs for me; although the instrumentation is appropriately heavy and well performed.
Luoto
Swallow The Sun
When a Shadow is Forced into the Light
Stone Wings
Here on the Black Earth
8 points
This is some pretty nice melodic death-ish metal. I think the thing that stands out to me the most is the variety of vocal styles, from deep cleans to Agalloch-esque growls or more traditional death metal roars, and they’re all done really well. There’s a great brooding atmosphere in all of the songs here, which makes the heavy moments a lot more impactful when they come up. My only real complaint is I think When a Shadow is Forced into the Light takes a bit too long to really get going.
Evermind
David Gilmour
Red Sky at Night
On An Island
Faces of Stone
8 points
There’s really no good reason why I haven’t ever listened to Gilmour’s solo stuff. I’m not crazy about Pink Floyd outside of The Wall, but I like his voice and obviously he’s a fantastic guitarist. Red Sky at Night is a really nice instrumental, and I’m a fan of saxophone in just about any context. The other two songs are about what I would expect from Gilmour, kind of spacey, atmospheric rock with pervasive but never overbearing guitar presence. Faces of Stone also brings in the sort of quirky instrumentation reminiscent of the more theatrical parts of The Wall, which is something I tend to be a big fan of.
ariich
Petter Carlsen
Spirits In Need
One of Those Days
A Simple Reminder
Cornerstone
Home
9 points
OK, this is exactly my kind of music. He’s got a beautiful voice and a really smooth delivery that feels effortless. There’s a good bit of focus on acoustic guitar like a lot of indie music, but there’s a lot of electric guitar and piano as well that adds a lot of variety and texture to the songs. Spirits in Need builds to a really great climax, and Cornerstone is a great instrumental that builds from a fantastic distorting guitar line. Spirits in Need is also my favorite song here, although they’re all pretty strong.
romdrums
Toto
Rosanna
I’ll Supply The Love
Fahrenheit
Stop Loving You
30 points
This is just really great pop rock. Great vocals, great catchy melodies, a lot of variety in instrumentation and tone, just nice all around. Rosanna is fantastic, I’ll Supply the Love is a ton of fun although it maybe gets a bit too repetitive near the end, Stop Loving You has a really nice ballad-y chorus but kind of funky, upbeat verses. Fahrenheit has a pretty cool instrumental approach, although I don’t think the melodies there are as strong as in the other three songs. I would have given this 9 points, by the way, but The Walrus felt strongly it deserved more, and he pulled TAC into his vortex of degeneracy as well.
STANDINGS
romdrums 69
ariich 53
Luoto 51
Tomislav95 51
Buddyhunter1 47
Evermind 45
Sacul 45
The Walrus 43
HOF 43
Puppies_On_Acid 42
Elite 42
Stadler 41
wolfking 40
Cyril 40
TAC 27
Looks like anybody could still win at this point, send for round 8 everybody!
Topic: SN's Homestuck roulette: jpeg hero (final results) (Read 57429 times)
