Well here we go again, the penultimate round comes to a close and you're all one step close to this 18-month ordeal coming to an end. This round was a bit of a 50/50 split in terms of quality, but as always I've got new leads to check out, and albums to spin. Buckle up and start readying those roulette winning, final round submissions...
LithoJazzoSphere: Brad Paisley - Time Warp So yea, you really ARE throwing everything, and the kitchen sink at me now. Out of desperation, or a sense of what I like, who knows!? Part of me feels like you are tapping into that side of my tastes that likes high energy, guitar focal songs, with a sense of novelty, or a gimmick (not quite sure that fits, but we'll go with it). These types of songs can definitely appeal to me, I guess I'll use something like Hocus Pocus by Focus as an example. By that I mean, oh here's that weird song with the yodelling, but also it's sick
This is no Hocus Pocus though. Never heard of Brad Paisley but clearly he's cornering the market on a bluesy hoe down, and I can appreciate a good solo virtuoso guitarist (I was just listening to Eric Johnson). It's what I imagine a drug fuelled, psychobilly line dance would sound like. But do I like it. It's fine, and there are elements I like but it's just a bit too much on the country side for me, if I'm honest.
6.5/10Buddyhunter1: Carpenter Brut - Roller MobsterSynthwave is not a genre I can't say I'm really into, or even fully understand
however, I can appreciate good music when I hear it (even if you guys test me with some of the stuff you send
). I did check out this bands latest last year, as I was apparently checking out nearly every new release going! It was alright I guess, but not enough for me to save the album in any playlists for further listening. I'm not sure if their latest was considered a strong release or not?
Anywho, it is nice to be reminded sometimes that something that I don't think is for me, maybe IS for me. This is my main takeaway here, maybe I should listen to a bit more of this sort of thing. It has a nostalgic feel for me and transports me to a time of 80s movie soundtracks and video games. I don't think the song is particularly strong, on it's own, and it feels like it's over before you really know it. In summary this has an appealing sound in some ways, but isn't supporting a particularly great song, as far as I'm concerned.
6.5/10Kingshmegland: Rise Twain - Golden Golden left me feeling uncertain on what to write after that initial listen. Well the good news is, I developed a better grip on what it is that I liked about it. Mainly it's that guitar tone and style. Like some of the other songs in this round, once I was able to work out who it reminded me of, I sort of 'got it' more. I don't know if you are familiar with John Frusciante and much of his solo work, but this has parallels with his work on the album Shadows Collide with People, in terms of the guitars. Vocally this is also pretty good, and the guy has a hell of a set of pipes on him. The final bit that swung it for me was obviously that outro guitar solo, it's not overly long or technical but it has soul and takes me somewhere.
7/10Evermind: Ultar - Azathoth Azathoth definitely feels different to the bulk of what you've been sending in this roulette so far, and I think easily your most metal, albeit a kind of post-metal with black metal screeches. I know you've mentioned that you’ve moved away from metal, especially in the last few years. I'm not sure if this actually metal that you have been listening to recently, or an attempt to just appeal to that side of my tastes. This is probably the biggest grower of the round, as I was pretty unimpressed (or maybe just more impressed by the other submissions) to begin with. The harsh vocals work and when this song goes hard, it does just that. There is some really pummelling double bass, which i love. Initially I said that Azathoth had a fairly good build, but no pay off. Well I still kind of stand by the final statement, but I appreciate the build way more. The calmer instrumental bits remind me of MONO, although it could possibly be a similar band, I can't quite pinpoint it. This song just kind of ends, and left me feeling a more epic end would've considerably increased your score.
7/10Nick_z: Lantlôs - Lake Fantasy Nick, I reckon you've had a frustrating ride through this roulette. You've sent lots of music which is on the cusp of what I love, but never quite hitting the bullseye. There's no doubt we've got similar tastes, but I'm a fussy bugger, so there's that. Turns out I'd heard this album before, last year, although I'm not sure where the recommendation came from. Did you post about it in the albums thread? I talked about this needing better vocals in the first impressions, and I do feel this is the weakest part of the song for me. But, also I do love the production on the drums. It took a few listens to realise who this reminded me of, and it's VOLA. Weirdly, once I connected this song to who it reminded me of, I liked it more. I'm far from a huge VOLA fan but I definitely like them, and if anything this is probably better than most of their songs.
7/10Ariich: Dog Fashion Disco - Struck By Lightning Dog Fashion Disco are a band I've definitely tried before, including their latest release last year (which didn't leave much of an impression). In my head they sit alongside bands like Moron Police (maybe due to the shared ridiculousness of the band names), are a bit quirky, don't take themselves too seriously and have a pop tinge to their music. Looking at their albums I heard Adultery (based on a DTF recommendation I'm sure), Erotic Massage and CULT CLASSIC. Erotic Massage is really good, so I'm surprised I've not checked out more, but anyway, just a bit of a background on my experience with the band.
Struck By Lightning has that 'show tunes' feel, but with some rocking guitars alongside it. I love the vocal melodies throughout this, as they are quite catchy. I do love something I can sing along to, and I feel with more listens that's what this would deliver. I also really appreciate all the different instruments we've got playing here, including the Hammond organ (I think) and funky bass. With the amount of listens I gave this, I don't think it had quite finished growing on me, but I still enjoyed it and have added more of their albums to one of my playlists.
7.5/10Wolfking: Dark Tranquility - Punish My Heaven Sorry you were lacking much hope going in to this round, but it goes to show that just because I've heard a band and not delved further, it doesn't mean I think they're trash. Dark Tranquility are a band I've been aware of ever since I discovered melodeath, so close to 20 years. Clearly they've been a chink in my melodic death armour, as this is great! I know that out of all my metal head friends, there's only one who listened to them a bit, back in the day. Due to this I was never really exposed to them, and I guess whatever album I checked out by them, likely back when I discovered In Flames, left me feeling that they weren't anywhere near as good. About 2 years ago I started a deep dive into all the death metal classic albums I'd never heard. Along the way I started adding classic thrash and melodeath albums I'd not heard as well. One of those albums was The Gallery, so I had actually heard this song before. On to the song itself, and I will admit I don't remember it being this good first time around.
Firstly wow! That opening is baddass. I think it's fair to compare this early album to their peers In Flames, as plenty of comparisons can be drawn. It's rare now that I really find melodeath that I love, that I don't feel I've heard before, but this feels like an album I could really get into. The main selling point is 100% in those riffs, and guitar in general, but the vocals are pretty on point for me as well. '95 was kind of the dawn of good melodeath, so these guys were ahead of the game compared to many, and I'm sure the other Dark Tranquility I've heard didn't sound this good!
8/10TAC: Autonoesis - Moon of Foul Magics Holy Riff Fest Batman! Moon of Foul Magics had me from the get go, and with each shift in style I loved it even more. My initial thoughts, based partly on the album cover, was that this was going to be similar to Blood Incantation or something, which is fine by me! The riff at the start (that comes in around 0:55) is thrashy as fuck, and I love it. I can't describe exactly why (shocker) but it's just such a good riff. Even though this is some good ol' extreme metal, it has so much melody running through it. We have black metal style vocals, some blast beats in the drums so that's another genre ticked off.
We get a nice slowed down section before it changes again, and surprise surprise, another great riff.
Then it shifts gear and has this beautiful melodic section. It's actually what I really look for in extreme metal, something that changes it up a bit, and stands out from the regular assault, of most extreme kind.
The melodic guitar work, as I mentioned, really reminds me of the new Worm EP. There are what I would describe as flamenco style guitar playing before the proper guitar solo starts. And that solo! The tone, the production of everything else in the background, that style of playing, yea it gets me going. This takes us to the last two, sprint to the finish, minutes. It perfectly rounds of the song with more sublime riffage and breakneck drumming.
Tim, did you have this in your back pocket the whole roulette, waiting to use it at the end to steal the win, as that is now looking likely.
The great thing about this song is (I may have mentioned
), is that it hits so many elements of different metal genres!
This song is so good that I've really struggled to hold off listening to the whole album, especially as it's a '22 release, and I'm conscious if the while album is this good I'll have to revise my list. Now I've posted results I will do a listen and post thoughts in the 'What Album' thread.
9/10Standings: TAC - 67.5
Buddyhunter1 - 66.5
LithoJazzoSphere - 65.5
Evermind - 65
King - 64.5
Wolfking - 64.5
Nick - 64.25
Ariich - 63.5
So it turns out the only real movement this round is Tim taking the top spot, after Buddy has kept it warm for so long, and Kade has moved up a spot. I think it's brought the scores a bit closer together as well. Really, anybody could still win this thing. Rich, you'd have to really pull off something spectacular, but it's not outside the realms of possibility.
Topic: Twosuitsluke's Second Roulette v. Final Results Part 2 (Read 65647 times)
