Well, my god, there were some fantastic songs in this one! Let’s waste no more time than I already have through the sicknesses and get to the writeups!
Transatlantic - Black As The Sky
Sent by jingle.boy
Here comes a band that should be no stranger to me, yet I barely know outside of that one 75 minute song. My first impression was “music to adventure to” because I was playing Jedi: Fallen Order at the time and the song met the feeling of exploration and discovery that the song was accompanying. Listening to the song again outside of that, it feels exactly as adventurous to me. The upbeat tone of Neal’s keyboards make me want to explore! The jovial nature of the song as a whole makes me want to get up and go and adventure! I love that you sent the live version of this as well, meaning I got to watch these guys having a lot of fun with it! Everything here is great. I love that everyone gets to sing a bit in that bridge. I love the tone of the song, I love everything about it. You win this round.
5
David Maxim Micic - Where Is Now?
Sent by Buddyhunter1
This is great! A lot of amazing, upbeat instrumentation here with vocal melodies that really hook me in. I love the sound of the violins throughout and that bass tone is amazing! I love the way that the vocals are almost used more as an instrument unto their own more than they are used for lyrics. That scathing solo is really cool! My original impression seems a little un-PC, having seen the rest of the names on this song and knowing that most of these people likely aren’t natively English speakers, but with my comments about how the vocals are used in mind, I still don’t know if it’s necessarily unfair not knowing if these are actual words being sung. This is a mega impressive ride and I can’t wait to revisit this one again!
5
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing
Sent by Sacul
Pretence: I don’t know Jack about Steven Wilson. Like I just looked him up to find out that I’ve already enjoyed two songs from him in round one. I just know he’s pretty highly regarded. As I approached this song, I thought “this might be a bit pretentious for my liking”. I’m glad to say, I don’t think that opinion holds. The piano melody that opens the track gives a fading hopeful feeling with its changing minor/major ending chords. The lyrics are nothing short of bleak. The atmosphere of this track is immense, It’s masterful how well it can build around one rather simple motif. The instrumental section is very impressive, I especially love that flute flourish and it’s really cool how we get to the last two minutes of the song before we hear a guitar at all, which actually really drives that climax. This is just brilliant.
5
For All We Know - Take Me Home
Sent by kingshmegland
From the first time I heard the intro, I knew this was gonna be something special. I was right. This song pulls off a lot in 6 minutes. I stand by my first impression of this song, the vocal harmonies on this song are superb, with the chorus of this one being one of my favourite moments of this whole roulette. I love that the verses are a little more laid back as it lets that chorus shine even more when it does come in! I love the drama of the bridge and how it carries on into the instrumental section. This whole song puts me in a great mood and it definitely deserves a higher spot on this list. The only thing that doesn’t really do it for me is that the solo feels like it barely kicks in before it’s all over and we’re in that “should I move ahead” section and I would’ve loved one more chorus to take it out.
4.75
Rainbow - Fire Dance
Sent by Stadler
Sometimes, the old ways are the best. That Hammond organ sound slaps! The vocals are great, the drumming is in fine shape. The only thing I don’t super love is that I think the guitar is a bit buried until just before the solo. Being Blackmore, I want him up front always. But man, this song is just great beyond all of that. Love it!
4.75
Soen - Opal
Sent by Vmadera00
Great riffing the whole way through, there’s a lot of different paths this song goes down and they’re all good! I dig the vocal approach too, staying kinda low and restrained during the verses and letting it come out more for the later sections. I love how the second pre-chorus is all instrumental, because that riff piqued my interest the first time around so getting a full serving of it the second time is a real nice touch! I like the way the more dramatic, heavy riffing is playing around with the intro in a few different ways. The clean jamming in the second half makes for a really cool change too. The only thing I wanted that wasn’t here was a proper guitar solo with those heavy riffs, but that’s just me. Great song!
4.75
Enchant - Look Away
Sent by HOF
I do like a good bit of bass stabbing to grab my attention from the start of a song. Vocals sit on this one beautifully, the guitar tone is beautiful. That chorus sticks in my head too. I love the appearance of the distorted guitar in that bridge before it breaks down into an absolute ripper of a guitar solo! There’s not a lot I can really say about this one, it’s just really good and I love it a lot. Great performance from everyone all around on this one. The outro solo is pretty amazing too and I’m so glad the song has the decency to let it play out in full because fading solos is a real pet peeve.
4.75
Angel Dust - Bleed
Sent by wolfking
Wow! That vocalist! I’m constantly hearing 3 different people in there and yet it stays totally original too, how awesome! Onto the song, I love it too. That intro build is really cool, reminds me of Edguy a bit. I love that the piano motif keeps cutting in too and that nice heavy bass synth effect in the verses is killer. Great soloing too, I like the way it stops for that title line to come in strong! This song is short, it works well for it, but I already wanna hear more of this guy.
4.5
VOLA - Stone Leader Falling Down
Sent by romdrums
I love that intro. All soaked in effect and trippy as hell, and then it just slaps you in the face with heaviness! By the time the vocal kicks in, I’m sold. This is ballsy and I love it! The few hits of really heavy vocal hit me just right, I love that djenty bridge riff offset by the keyboards. This is GREAT!! Could’ve easily been much longer than this, added more sections. This one whets my appetite very nicely, but I want more and I want it now!
4.5
Dead Letter Circus - The Mile
Sent by Tomislav95
Punchy! This makes its presence known pretty quickly and then develops from there nicely. I like the note choice from the singer here, utilising that falsetto to emphasise the second half of each line. It’s a fairly short song all up, which I think works in the song’s favour. Nice and driving rock with a bit of prog to it for good measure.
4.5
Gogmagog - I Will Be There
Sent by TAC
Gogmagog feels like a band that isn’t quite the sum of their parts when you see the amount of mega talented people that are on this song. Di’Anno, Gers and Pete Willis are great talents that can play some real cool stuff and here comes this real simple, poppy song. But damn, this works for me! This reminds me of Brian May’s version of Since You’ve Been Gone, which I love. Di’Anno’s usual punk voice feels very right on this song, the main lead motif is pretty rockin’ even if it is simple. This actually really makes me want to investigate Gogmagog further to see if they did something with a little more substance, but what's here is thoroughly enjoyable.
4
Pineapple Thief - Demons
Sent by senecadawg2
I do like it when bands go a bit more laid back and put out songs with more of an acoustic approach and that’s what I get from this. A little bit of electric guitar highlighting the lead lines, sure, but there is a whole lot of acoustic guitar and bass underlying this too. The vocals are great, the whole vibe of this one is great. The real atmospheric section after the second chorus is my favourite section of the song for sure, but the whole thing rocks!
4
Between the Buried and Me - Voice of Trespass
Sent by Revenge319
That intro is really great and I love how the jazzy nature carries over into the verses. The acoustic solo is great and it stays on point while it stays here. Then the harsh vocals start… I actually really like his clean vocal here and that little half-distortion thing he does during his scatting a little further into the song, but when he goes for the full harsh vocals here, it really doesn’t hit me right. It’s a bit of a shame too because instrumentally this is really cool. I think the cymbals get in the way a little during the first bridge section though, at least for my ears. There’s a lot to like here! The composition as a whole is super complex and pulled off really well. I love the “we are hollow” section too and the riff that follows it is pure gold! It’s an enjoyable whole, but I wish he used his cleaner style a lot more.
4
Voices From the Fuselage - Meteorites
Sent by lonestar
Simply put, the vocals are easily the highest point of this song for me. The instrumental is all decent, actually I really like a few of the instrumental passages, but it’s really the vocal that holds me throughout a lot of this. That section with the autotune-robotic effect is one of the best things in this roulette for my money and the way it breaks into that next heavy bridge from there is awesome. But it feels like this song kinda dangles the carrot there and doesn’t get that good again for me. What is here, I really like, but I kinda want to hear more of the somber ballad moments that this presented than the heavy. Production wise, the drums sound a little programmed to me, and I feel like the guitar tone could’ve been a little stronger during the more rhythm-forward moments. I do like the sound of the bass, the lead guitars and the mixture of acoustics and clean guitars they use throughout. Solid song, I’m keen to check out more, but I really want to hear more of those ballad moments.
3.75
Fair to Midland - Say When
Sent by ReaperKK
This song is really intriguing. With a start like it had, I thought this was going ti be very restrained all throughout and never really hit it’s stride. I was very wrong. The way that this song is structured puts all the elements together by the halfway point, but leaves a whole lot of room to keep building out and out and unravelling as it goes along. The vocal is really well suited to the sound of this song, I love the orchestral elements in the background, but I feel it’s a little short. Or at least the main body of the song feels that way. The last minute and a half is taken up by a really strange outro that I truly don’t understand and kinda drags the song down. I’m assuming this is an interlude piece to wherever the parent album goes from here, or is a coda to the album or whatever, but attached to this song, it’s a real head scratching “WTF were they thinking here” moment.
3.75
Spirit Adrift - Angel & Abyss
Sent by Puppies_On_Acid
I’m sorry to say it Puppies, but my reaction to this is very similar to your first impression of my 2nd EP in your Roulette. The clean riff that sets off our verses reminds me a lot of Snuff by Slipknot, which is super cool, but it’s during these sections that this vocalist just doesn’t hit my ear right. Still, once he’s hitting those heavier chorus, I’m all in for it. The song kinda goes in and out of the clean and heavy for a while and it’s doing it well enough, but then with about 2 and a half minutes left is when this thing really kicks into high gear. That bridge section is perfect for this vocalist, the riffing gets really good and then the soloing starts! Oh my good, yes! Add into a few really nice harmony guitars and this whole thing closes out with a bang! I want more THAT! I love that little Ozzy-esque laugh as the song starts to fade away too. Those 2 and a half minutes work for me so much better than much of the 4 minutes that precede it, so I think I have to mark this lower than the merits of that section deserve.
3.75
Leprous - Third Law
Sent by twosuitsluke
I have always enjoyed Einar’s voice in the guest appearances he’s made with Haken and Voyager, but I’ve never come around to Leprous. A lot of this one feels very weird as is the genre, I suppose, but I don’t know how well this song really worked for me. All that said, the chorus of this song is fairly awesome and was stuck in my head for a fair while after hearing this fir the first time. I feel like I need to point out that the weirdness of this one is what’s getting me. I think the performance on this song as a whole is pretty great, the drumming especially, but I don’t know that this is the most ideal song for the first time listener. I’m intrigued to hear something a little more straightforward, so it’s still done it’s job. I don’t know, this just sits weird for me.
3.5
Pain of Salvation - RESTLESS BOY
Sent by Elite
Ok, I thought these guys were a heavier prog band, but this feels a lot more suited to modern rap that you’d hear on a commercial radio station. And the intro vocals are all vocoded, which is interesting. This really isn’t what I expected from these guys at all. But as it goes along, I find myself enjoying it! The really heavy double bass and vocal pattern is actually really cool. It’s certainly interesting, but I hope they don’t quit their usual sound.
3
The score so far…
1. HOF - 15.75
2. Sacul - 15
3. kingshmegland - 14.25
4. Revenge319 - 14
5. Tomislav95 - 13.75
6. TAC - 13.75
7. jingle.boy - 13.5
8. Vmadera00- 13.5
9. wolfking - 13.25
10. romdrums - 13.25
11. senecadawg2 - 13.25
12. Buddyhunter1 - 13
13. lonestar - 12.75
14. ReaperKK - 12.75
15. Puppies_On_Acid - 12.75
16. Stadler - 12.25
17. twosuitsluke - 12.25
18. Elite - 11.5
Topic: Deadeye21’s Song Roulette - Round 9 Results (Read 66933 times)
