All in all a pretty successful round, I was pretty loose with the definition of alternate takes but there was a lot to like here:
Round 6 Results:HOF
Fernando Perdomo - "Amicable"
What a fantastic song. From jump I loved the mix, it's very lush and easy to get lost in. The song has a nice slow groove and that solo just flat out kicks ass, the tone is out of this world. I enjoyed this so much I'm going to start exploring Fernando's music this afternoon.
5 + 1Elite
Jeff Buckley - "Eternal Life - Road Version"
I love Jeff Buckley's Grace so when you sent this I was little bit apprehensive that it would taint my thoughts on the original. As much as I love Grace I actually never took the time to listen to the live/road/demo versions of his material but this has changed my mind on that. This version is very different, the energy and tone change is pretty staggering here. I love it, in fact I went back and forth with the album version and I don't really know which version I like better. This song fucking rocks, I love it and I wish Jeff had brought a little more of this energy to Grace.
5 + 1Sacul
Anathema - "Sunset Of Age"
I took a listen to the original first and it was good, although the mix is a little hard to get through. This version off "Falling Deeper" is much better though. There is a lot more depth and maturity to this track, the strings are gorgeous and the song seems to breathe a lot more while adding a bit more emotion to the piece. The original song came off as fairly one note in it's tone where as this has some more life to it.
4.5 + 1Kingshmegland
Elton John - "Madman Across The Water"
It's been forever since I've heard this album and I don't remember this song at all but I'm glad you sent it in. I feel like this was Elton in his prime during this era (80's to mid 90's Elton was pretty damn good too). The song is masterfully composed and the performance is equally as good. I went back to check out the original and I really liked it too but I think this version edges it out just slightly. There is a different tone to this song compared to the original.
4.5 + 1senecadawg2
David Gray - "L's Song"
Fantastic tune. I'm familiar with a couple of David Gray songs and I've always enjoyed his voice and his ability to stand out from the singer/songwriter crowd. This song has a good drive behind it while still maintaining that stripped down approach, it'd go over well in a small intimate setting as well as a large concert hall. I need to check out more of David Gray's work.
4 + 1wolfking
Helloween - "Victim Of Fate"
I'm kind of surprised I liked this track as much as I did. I saw the hair on the guys in the youtube photo and thought "here we go" but I was wrong for judging early. The vocals are top notch here (that note he hits a little after the 4 minute mark *chef's kiss*) and the guitar playing is pretty killer. I took a listen to the original (I think it was the original on Spotify) and I really liked this version more. One thing I wanted to add is that this song is a grower, it started with a 3 base score and multiple listens went up to a 4. Nice pick
4 + 1jingle.boy
Jordan Rudess - "Ytse Jam"
I love Jordan, there isn't much I can say about his playing that hasn't been said already. He is phenomenal but one of the biggest complaints I have with him, especially in a solo context is he shows no restraint and just overplays as much as possible. I get it, I'd probably do the same if I had the same technical prowess but his millions of notes become one note. Surprisingly that isn't the case with this song. Because the original has a lot of energy his playing matches that perfectly and his embellishments work well here. I'm taken back by how much I like this version because I remember sampling his DT covers record and I hated it lol.
4 + 1Lonestar
The HU - "Song of Women (feat. Lzzy Hale of Halestorm)"
I was a little caught off guard by the vocals at the start but when Lzzy starts singing it brings it all together for me. This is a fantastic song, it's rich and mixed beautifully. Lzzy's voice compliments the song immensely and while I’m still struggling a bit with the other vocalist I think it'll grown on me.
4 + 1Stadler
Wicked Lester - "She"
I listened to both versions of this song and I can't tell you how much more I like this version is over the one on "Dressed To Kill". The flute, horns, vocals everything works better on this version. I've tried many times to get into Kiss and never could (aside from the unplugged album which I love) but if you can point me to an album that's more like this I think it might just click.
4 + 1Vmader00
Eric Clapton - "Old Love"
When I saw this song come up I kind of rolled my eyes. I'm not a fan of Eric Clapton, I think he is largely overrated as a guitar player and I think 90% of his songs are occupy the blandest space of the adult cotemporary genre. This song is a rewarding listen though. It's a good track, almost great even. I like the loose feeling of the track and solo. The song captures the mood of the unplugged session perfectly. This was another grower and gained a half a point after more listens.
4 + 1Luoto
In Mourning - "Black Storm - Live at Z7"
Should've saved the aggressive first impression for this track
. Right off the bat the performance is pretty great. I'm always impressed by singers that can maintain that level of power in their voice in a live context. When the song started I was a little concerned that it was going the same thematically through out but there are some good dynamics here without being overwhelming. You weren't kidding about the solo, it kicks a lot of ass.
3.5 + 1TAC
Sia - "Chandelier"
I'm a sucker for these style of covers although sometimes they don't work as intended. I think this song comes close to missing the mark if it wasn't for Sia's voice. The piano melody isn't very interesting but her voice carries the song through. While her vocal performance is amazing it's also a little over-the-top, I feel like I'm watching an episode of "The Voice" with the vocal theatrics.
3.5 + 1Cyril
Black Country, New Road - "The Place Where He Inserted The Blade"
I really like the music within this song but when the singer came in with those dead-pan style vocals he lost me immediately. It gets slightly more tolerable as the song goes on but is moreorless a distraction all the way through. I do like the composition, it has this stage play vibe thing going on that is interesting to listen to. I saw this album get posted a lot in the "What album have you been listening to?" thread so maybe I need to give it a full run-through sometime to get more context.
2.5Tomislav95
Within Temptation - "Ice Queen"
One one hand the performance is pretty good with some interesting instrumentation and arrangements, on the other hand I was over the lead singers voice about 30 seconds into the song. Don't get me wrong she is very talented by that style of upper register singing with her timbre just really grates on my ears. This one was the toughest to rank of the bunch, it bounced around from a 1.5 to 3 but I'll give it a 2.5 in the end.
2.5 + 1Deadeye21
Ed Sheeran - "Bad Habits (feat. Bring Me The Horizon"
I've been lukewarm on Ed Sheeran's material from the last couple of releases. Bad Habit's is ok so I was hoping this song being a collab would make Bad Habits more interesting. I think it misses the mark, there isn't a good marriage of ideas here. It seems like nu-metal paint-by-numbers applied to a song that wasn't that great to begin with. The riffing is uninspired, the vocalist isn't particularly memorable and it seems like a poorly executed cash grab of a popular song at the time. I did check out some of Bring Me The Horizon's other work and it was pretty good, Teardrops slaps pretty hard but they dropped the ball here.
2 + 1Puppies_on_Acid
Moonsorrow - "Taistelu Pohjolasta"
There is no shortness of aggression to this track, it slaps you right in the face. This song is a struggle because of how hard it goes as long as it does. I'm an old man, I need some relief in there and the song just doesn't give it to you. For what it is the song isn't awful and under the right circumstances I can see myself listening to it but I don't see that happening often.
2 + 1Scores so far:Vmader00 - 30senecadawg2 - 30jingle.boy - 29.5Lonestar - 29Kingshmegland - 29Elite - 28Sacul - 27.5Stadler - 26wolfking - 26Tomislav95 - 25.5Luoto - 25.5TAC - 25HOF - 25Cyril - 23Deadeye21 - 23Puppies_On_Acid - 21
Topic: ReaperKK's Roulette v. It's been 10 long years....jingle.boy jingle.won!!!!! (Read 55019 times)