At long last… Round 2 results, 3/3!
HOF
Kip Winger
First impression: It's alright so far, this could grow on me.
Final review: So this one’s a bit interesting. The more I listen to this, the more I feel like this is music I should be really enjoying. And I do enjoy it, but as a whole, I find it merely good, not great. The music usually sticks to a specific kind of mood that I really like, and it feels somewhat complex, too (not in a technical way, just in a well-made way). “Kiss of Life” is probably my favorite song here. It’s slow-paced, but also energetic, and there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on. Together, it all sounds really good. Maybe it will grow on me more at some point, but for now, it’s just on the verge of greatness for me. Same goes for “Broken Open”, which is a mostly upbeat track but with a slow, somewhat ambient intro. The vocals are good, not quite the best in the world, but they fit in really well with the music. I guess it hasn’t grown on me much since my initial impression, but who knows what’ll happen in the future?
Kiss of Life - 7.75/10
Landslide - 7.5/10
Broken Open - 7.75/10
Resurrection - 7.5/10
Roulette score: 7.6
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Sacul
Steven Wilson
First impression: Impressive as always.
Final review: I was going to open this with a joke about how Steven Wilson sounds a lot like “that guy from Porcupine Tree”, but then I saw my first impression and realized the joke would be kind of ruined because of it… Oh, well, now I can get straight to the point. Porcupine Tree is great, and I really enjoyed Steven Wilson’s solo album “The Raven That Refused to Sing”. Now, with the songs sent, there have been mixed results, but considering this is Steven Wilson we’re talking about, that just means they’re all at least an 8/10. I’m having a hard time picking my favorite song out of these four, but it would either be “Harmony Korine” or “Deform To Form A Star”. Harmony Korine has this really eerie but great atmosphere to it. And maybe it’s just because of the music video, but it feels very… sepia, if that makes any sense. As for Deform To Form A Star, it starts off like it’s going to be a minimalist piano ballad, but it turns into something beautiful. I’d say it was the start of something beautiful, but that happened back in 2000 when Porcupine Tree released Lightbulb Sun and gave us songs like Russia on Ice. “Routine” is kind of an interesting one; I really like this song, but I think this song would be better without the female vocalist. Her voice isn’t bad or anything (though it admittedly sounds kind of “generic”, for lack of a better word), but I feel like if it was just Steven singing, it’d add a lot more to the song. But hey, at the end of the day, this is all stuff Steven Wilson made, and Steven Wilson is great. He doesn’t have the midas touch that Dream Theater or Haken have for me, but these songs only serve to make me enjoy him more.
On a side note, I saw a comment on the music video for Routine that said something along the lines of “The feel-good hit of the summer!” and I’ve never simultaneously loved and hated a comment online so much.
Harmony Korine - 8.75/10
Deform To Form A Star - 8.75/10
Routine - 8.5/10
Refuge - 8.25/10
Roulette score: 8.6
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Elite
Wilderun
First impression: The harsh vocals feel unnecessary, but disregarding that, there's some interesting stuff here.
Final review: Conceptually, this seems like an interesting band; it’s heavy metal which has what I assume is “folk” elements. And this is more or less the music I expected from a description like that. There’s some cool stuff, but I do think that, except for one song, the harsh vocals could’ve been removed and replaced with clean vocals and the song would be improved. “The Garden of Fire” is a pretty good testament to that. I get that the music is fast-paced and a little thrashy, but I don’t think that kind of style always requires there to be harsh vocals. But when it’s not doing that, the song is actually rather enjoyable to listen to. However! There is one exception to this rule. “The Means to Preserve” manages to make really good use of harsh vocals. This is probably the best song here, regardless of whether those vocals sounded good, but it certainly makes it better that it does. I feel like that’s all I’ve been talking about, so to attempt to diverge from that topic, I will say that The Means to Preserve has a lot of interesting moments. There’s these clean vocals that kind of remind me of Moonsorrow… but we’ll get to that. Oh, we will… So anyway, this band has grown on me slightly. Far from the best sent this round, but there’s no way it could be the worst. By the way, I don’t have much to say about “The Tyranny of Imagination” that I haven’t discussed already, but The Means to Preserve transitions really well into The Tyranny of Imagination, despite them being on different albums.
The Garden of Fire - 7.5/10
Linger - 7.5/10
The Means to Preserve - 8/10
The Tyranny of Imagination - 7.75/10
Roulette score: 7.7
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Puppies_On_Acid
Moonsorrow
First impression: If anyone ever tells me that The Ministry of Lost Souls "should've been a 4-minute song", I will write a 100-word essay on why you are wrong.
Final review: Alright, after teasing it a couple times in my writeup for Wilderun, I should talk about my least favorite artist for this round… Moonsorrow. Now, I want to preface this by saying that I don’t think they’re bad or terrible or something like that. They’re not bad at all. However, with the songs I was sent, the thing I thought the most was, “Do these songs really have to be 15+ minutes?” Like, is this the equivalent to what a lot of people are thinking when they listen to A Nightmare to Remember? Anyway, the first song is “Huuto”, and this song is actually quite alright despite its length. There’s some good moments from time to time (key word: moments), though the vocals leave a lot to be desired… But yeah, it’s harmless, and I’d even say it’s strong enough to be considered good. But then there’s the other song, “Jotunheim”… I admit that it’s tempting to be really harsh with this one, but considering I think this song is a 6/10 (as opposed to something significantly lower) it’d probably be unfair, or at least it’d give off the impression that I’m confused on what I think of the song. Anyway, Jotunheim is a song that is 19 minutes and 29 second long. And of those 19-and-a-half minutes, I like this choir-type thing they do with the vocals, there’s occasionally a small little thing I liked, and… that’s about it, really. Everything kinda blends together when the song really gets going (aside from this part with this weird and jarring scream, as well as the part where the part with said scream is reprised), and it’s just not that interesting. But I think the thing that frustrates me more about this song is the ending. After 16 minutes, the song stops. And there’s just birds singing. Towards the end, you do hear a flute and a fireplace, but that’s about it. I mean, it sounds nice, but was it really necessary to dedicate the last three-and-a-half minutes of this song to… this?
But you know what, though? If this is the worst artist I get in this whole roulette, then that’s very impressive. At the same time, though… Yeah, it’s my least favorite artist in this whole roulette so far. Despite the roulette score being higher than KISS, I’d rather listen to KISS than listen to Moonsorrow.
Huuto - 7.25/10
Jotunheim - 6/10
Roulette score: 6.6
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romdrums
IQ
First impression: Pretty interesting stuff overall.
Final review: There’s one thing that pops up in my mind when I listen to IQ… Transatlantic. Maybe it’s just me, but this band sounds a lot like Transatlantic in some ways. But hey, that’s not a bad thing! Maybe it would be if this band was awful, but no, IQ is quite good. But to be honest, I’m finding it hard to talk about them beyond that. I think maybe I should’ve listened to these guys a little more (I have listened to every song a few times, but I think I’ve delayed these results for too long now, though), but there’s not much I remember from each of these songs aside from “Sacred Sound”. Which, incidentally, Sacred Sound is my favorite of these songs. Partially because it reminds me the most of Transatlantic, I’m sure, but I do quite enjoy this song disregarding that. The keyboards are especially great, which is generally how it is with the other IQ songs I’ve heard as well. I apologize if this review seems lacking, but that’s about all I have to say. But I will definitely have to check these guys out more, though, they are quite good indeed!
Sacred Sound - 8.25/10
The Road of Bones - 7.75/10
Stay Down - 8/10
The Province of the King - 8.25/10
Roulette score: 8.1
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jingle.boy
Pink Floyd
First impression: I think I'm finally starting to "get" this band.
Final review: So, I have heard Pink Floyd’s music before. And contrary to jingle.boy’s humorous comment in his submission message, my mom did try to get me into them a couple years back with the albums Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. But even though it felt like music that I’d love, none of it really interested me. But now, after really listening to these songs, I think I’m finally starting to like this band. “Welcome to the Machine” is a very interesting song. I’m sure it’s about the music industry or expectations from society or something like that, but when I hear “Welcome, my son… Welcome to the machine”, combined with the almost eerie atmosphere, it feels like there’s just something very tragic about the song. Not that the song sounds depressing, though, but I guess what I’m saying is that I really like the opening lyrics. But even though I really like this song, it does have something that I don’t find particularly enjoyable about this band; the sound effects. At the end, there’s just a bunch of people talking and laughing. I imagine it makes sense in the song’s context, but I don’t really care for its inclusion. Similarly, in “Time”, the song starts out with clocks ticking, and then loud alarm clocks go off with bells clanging. I know, it’s called “Time”, but I’d prefer it if they didn’t use such an annoying sound. But that doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of the song, though. It’s a bit odd, though, it has this quiet and somewhat tribal atmosphere, but as soon as the lyrics come in, it’s all fun and upbeat. And then there’s “Comfortably Numb”, which is my favorite. I’ve heard that people love the guitar solos in this song, and while they are quite good… Honestly, I like everything else about the song more. It has a rather sad atmosphere to it, which makes sense considering the lyrics are rather sad, as well. It is such a pleasure to listen to, though. I’ll have to get into Pink Floyd’s discography now (at least for the albums represented here) and see what I think of the other songs now.
Sorrow - 7.75/10
Welcome to the Machine - 8.25/10
Time - 8/10
Comfortably Numb - 8.5/10
Roulette score: 8.1
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kingshmegland
Muse
First impression: They're a little better than I remember.
Final review: So I’ve actually heard this band before. Not that I was into them or anything, but my mom LOVES Muse (or at least most of their discography). And my dad utterly despises Muse and says the singer “sounds like a dying cow”. But enough about that, what do I think of them? I’d say they’re good with some hints of greatness. “Time is Running Out” is my favorite; the beginning feels a little out-of-place considering what the rest of the song is, but what I like is how emotional the lyrics and vocals are. That can mostly be said for the other songs that I was sent, but it’s especially prominent here. “Resistance” is quite interesting musically. It’s mostly upbeat, with a catchy chorus, but towards the end of the song it changes to something a little different, with an ambient outro. And then there’s “Supermassive Black Hole”, which blends rock and electronic together really well. The vocals are quite different but still good nonetheless. So yeah, Muse is better than I remembered it being, though maybe that’s an odd thing to say as I don’t really recognize any of these songs.
Time is Running Out - 8/10
Resistance - 7.75/10
Madness - 7.5/10
Supermassive Black Hole - 7.75/10
Roulette score: 7.8
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STANDINGS
Cyril: 8.8 + 9.0 = 17.8
425: 8.9 + 8.4 = 17.3
twosuitsluke: 8.6 + 8.6 = 17.2
Evermind: 8.6 + 8.6 = 17.2
Buddyhunter1: 8.9 + 8.0 = 16.9
Sacul: 8.2 + 8.6 = 16.8
romdrums: 8.4 + 8.1 = 16.5
MoraWintersoul: 8.3 + 8.1 = 16.4
TAC: 7.8 + 8.4 = 16.2
kingshmegland: 8.2 + 7.8 = 16.0
jingle.boy: 7.9 + 8.1 = 16.0
Luoto: 8.3 + 7.6 = 15.9
Lethean: 7.7 + 8.2 = 15.9
Elite: 8.1 + 7.7 = 15.8
Nekov: 8.2 + 7.4 = 15.6
Anguyen92: 7.9 + 7.3 = 15.2
HOF: 7.6 + 7.6 = 15.2
Stadler: 6.4 + 8.6 = 15.0
Puppies_On_Acid: 7.8 + 6.6 = 14.4
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Well, that’s a weight lifted off my shoulders! Alright, now is the time to send for Round 3 if you haven’t done so yet. Also, there’s quite a bit to keep track of when making the standings, so if any calculations are incorrect or something like that, please let me know and I’ll be sure to adjust it accordingly.
Topic: Revenge319's relatively normal roulette: Love list complete! (FINAL RESULTS) (Read 61406 times)