More Round 4 results.
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TAC
Fates Warning
First impression: Pretty good stuff. Strange, I thought they had a "z" in their name…
Final review: Alright, I need to do a better job at these hints in my first impression; between this and the Spock’s Beard hint, I think I’m making it look like I don’t know some obvious things… I do know the whole story behind “Fatez Warning” appearing on the credits of Images & Words, so sorry if I worried you or anything, TAC. Anyway, onto Fates Warning… They’ve taken some time to grow on me, but I think they’re quite good indeed. Compared to Queensrÿche and Dream Theater, their music is softer, but it still has that progressive metal feel to them, and there are some heavy and energetic parts in the music. The intro to “Nothing Left to Say” showcases that metal side very well. It’s a two-minute instrumental intro before the vocals come in, and there’s a lot to enjoy in that time. That’s not to say the rest of the song is bad, either. I quite like the softer parts, and I think Fates Warning works really well when trying to fuse those two elements together… which they usually end up doing, so that’s good. Of the two songs, I think I prefer Nothing Left to Say. “The Light and Shade of Things” is pretty good, too, but based on some comments earlier in this thread, it seems people generally love this song. And I personally don’t get the hype, but I can say it’s a good song… just not that good. The chorus is pretty great, but there’s not much else that really stands out to me. I'd be willing to give more songs from these guys a shot, though; I quite like their sound overall.
Nothing Left to Say - 8/10
The Light and Shade of Things - 7.75/10
Roulette score: 7.9
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Anguyen92
Soundgarden
First impression: Not sure how much I like this particular style, but this is alright.
Final review: Well… I’ll get one thing out the way right here: If after reading this, you wish to send something completely different from your previous submissions next round, Anguyen92, I don’t blame you. Now, before I make it sound like I hated this or something, I do want to clarify this, as well: I consider Soundgarden to be a better submission than both Switchfoot and Black Stone Cherry, so in terms of Anguyen92’s line of submissions, this is a step in the right direction. I guess I’m just not particularly fond of this style of music, even though I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something that I’d really enjoy. Although if you were to put Alter Bridge in the same general category as something like Switchfoot, maybe that’s the one band I need to explore, because I did enjoy that one… Okay, I should get to the songs themselves now. I do enjoy these songs, but they never seem to go beyond the level of “pretty good” for me. I think the most consistently good song is “My Wave”. It’s got a nice energy to it, it’s instrumentally interesting throughout, and while the lyrics aren’t anything too great, they don’t bother me much. There are some awkward lyrics here and there in a couple other songs, but not so much here. “Like Suicide” is kind of interesting… The lyrics are supposed to be really poetic, I feel, but it comes across as kind of weird. Although if the song’s about what I think it’s about (killing a bird to put it out of its misery), I suppose that only makes sense that it has that blend of poetry and awkwardness. “Burden In My Hand” is another one of the better songs, mainly because of this more “uplifting” aesthetic it has to it. Lyrically, it’s more on the human/depressing side; not that it’s a problem, just that it contrasts the more upbeat music. Soundgarden’s style of music certainly isn’t the type I’m used to, but it has been at least somewhat interesting giving something like this a shot.
Outshined - 7.5/10
My Wave - 7.75/10
Like Suicide - 7.5/10
Burden In My Hand - 7.75/10
Roulette score: 7.6
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Puppies_On_Acid
Arch / Matheos
First impression: I'm gonna need more listens to see if this does anything for me.
Final review: This one is… a very hard one to discuss. All the elements of this band are done very well, and it certainly seems like the kind of music I should really be into. Like, thinking about its various qualities, there’s not really anything that I could complain about (except maybe “Kindred Spirits” going on for a bit too long). The music is well-composed, it sounds good to listen to, the vocals are good and suit the music well... There really isn’t anything I can think of that this group doesn’t do well. But unfortunately, Arch / Matheos just doesn’t do anything for me. There’s some interesting stuff here and there, and I don’t not enjoy this music, but I guess I only like it on a superficial level. And I wouldn’t say this is the same problem that I had with The Ocean back in Round 1; with that band, I know I’ll probably enjoy them a lot given time, their music is just so dense that it’ll take a lot of time to really digest it all. I don’t get that feeling here; this band here just does nothing for me. It is a shame... I feel like if it clicked with me, that I’d really like it. Who knows, maybe in the future I’ll come back to these songs and I might finally “get” them. But for now, the only thing I really like from this group just come from the more objective qualities about them; so I guess this is an example of a band that I respect more than I personally enjoy.
Vermilion Moons - 7.5/10
Wrath of the Universe - 7.75/10
Tethered - 7.5/10
Kindred Spirits - 7/10
Roulette score: 7.4
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Lethean
Threshold
First impression: For the most part, I don't think the vocals go too well with the music.
Final review: The vocals are what I have the most to say about, so I’ll get that out of the way first (though I’ll probably end up talking about all the other elements I want to get to anyway). Ever since my first listening, the vocals have grown on me. I just think that in some songs, a different vocalist, or at least a different vocal style, may have been more fitting with the music. “Light and Space” and “Phenomenon” are consistently on the heavier side, and I think the softer vocal style might not be the best choice. It’s not even that I think the singer’s bad, I think on its own, his voice is pretty great! It’s just not particularly suitable for the music here… which is why “Pilot in the Sky of Dreams” is really good. It’s more melodic in comparison to the other songs (at least when there’s singing), so the vocals truly shine here. That being said, the other songs are still pretty enjoyable. “Pressure” leans into that heavier side a lot, but it’s a fun song nonetheless, and my favorite parts actually tend to be the vocals. I’ve talked a lot about the vocals, but what about the instrumentation? It’s really good. Light and Space has a great intro, and there’s various parts of Phenomenon and Pilot in the Sky of Dreams that are very enjoyable. The last song here, “Snowblind”, is good as well. There’s a new vocalist on this one, as the old vocalist, Andrew McDermott, is now… gone… but he sounds just as good, and his voice and style of singing is pretty similar, too. So I was a bit conflicted on the vocals at first, but they’ve grown on me and I can safely say that Threshold is a rather enjoyable band.
Light and Space - 8/10
Phenomenon - 8/10
Pressure - 8.25/10
Pilot in the Sky of Dreams - 8.5/10
Snowblind - 8.25/10
Roulette score: 8.2
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Luoto
Fireproven
First impression: Advanced proggy Amorphis.
Final review: Yeah, I don’t know what exactly I was thinking the first time I listened to these guys. There are some traits they have in common with Amorphis, but they’re a lot more different than I first thought. That being said, I would classify Fireproven as “advanced” and “proggy” at least! “The Tower” is a bit different from the other songs, in that it’s a softer, more symphonic song. There’s still some metal aspects, though, especially with the harsh vocals. It’s quite a good song, but the really good stuff lies within the songs from “Omnipresence”. It leans towards a much more metal side, but there’s a lot of moments with the keyboards that really add a lot to the songs. I also really like the darker mood these songs have. My favorite is “New Born Truth”, which has a really great intro, especially with how it leads into the first verse. Overall, it’s very enjoyable. “As Above, So Below” kind of feels like more of the same, though it’s not quite as great as New Born Truth. It does have a cool keyboard solo around halfway through the song, though. I like the three songs from Omnipresence, and I think Fireproven’s other stuff would be worth checking out if their music is generally this good (or better).
The Tower - 8/10
New Born Truth - 8.5/10
As Above, So Below - 8/10
18 Hells - 8/10
Roulette score: 8.1
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kingshmegland
Barock Project
First impression: Adding this to the list of artists that were a lot better than I expected.
Final review: I should’ve known better at this point than to not expect much from a kingshmegland submission. Have Rush and Mile Marker Zero taught me nothing? Now, of these three bands, this one would be my “least” favorite, but that’s not saying much, because I really like this band. I think what really stands out to me about the music these guys make is that it generally just has this positive, happy vibe to it. In a lot of situations, I could listen to this and it’d lift my spirits, even if just a little bit. And I quite appreciate that in music, as it’s seemingly uncommon these days. The only other thing I can think of that’s consistently uplifting is the Haken album “The Mountain”. Going back to Barock Project, though, my favorite is a tie between “Gold” and “Ashes”, though if I had to pick one it’d be Gold. It has more of that positive energy I enjoy so much, and there’s not really a single part of the song I don’t enjoy (even if the vocal-only intro is slightly underwhelming). Probably the best part is around 5 minutes in, where there’s a constant tradeoff between the guitar and some kind of brass instrument, and then the quieter piano section after is lovely as well. Ashes has a little less of that uplifting mood, but it’s there in places (like that awesome fast-paced piano solo and the guitar/bass section that follows right after it), and the more “serious” mood (for lack of a better word) works just fine. The other songs are quite enjoyable, too, though I don’t have much to say about those (although “I Call Your Name” has a lot of really pleasant vocal parts). I very much want to listen to more of this band, I think this band is just pleasant in both its style and its quality.
I Call Your Name - 8/10
Gold - 8.5/10
Ashes - 8.5/10
Happy To See You - 8.25/10
Roulette score: 8.3
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The last batch of results will hopefully come sooner than later, though I’ll be honest, a couple of these writeups will be pretty hard to make, so I hope I don’t end up keeping everyone waiting for too long.
Topic: Revenge319's relatively normal roulette: Love list complete! (FINAL RESULTS) (Read 61512 times)