Puppies (Re)Discovery EP Roulette V.4 (The Final Art!)

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Elite - The Errant Astray

1. The Dear Hunter - The Bitter Suite III: Embrace
2. Overhaul - The Dance
3. Bent Knee - Being Human
4. Leprous - Stuck
5. Cursive - Some Red-Handed Sleight of Hand
6. Cursive - Art is Hard
7. Pain of Salvation - Wait
8. Overhaul - Detour

First Impression - I'm actually enjoying the vocals on this quite a bit more than the music.

Starting things off with a song you know I like....I like your strategy! This is one of those songs that covers quite a bit of ground in a relatively short time. If a 7 minute song could be considered short.... I think one thing can be said about TDH it is blatantly obvious how much better the guitar tones got on their later albums versus the first couple. Not that this is bad, but I just like the tone better these days. Anyway, not much else to say about this one. Just a good all around song with some good rises and falls and a great mellow section in the back half with some nice bass playing to close out the song. Next we come to one of your songs, The Dance. So never having heard your bands music before, I will say I was pretty impressed. This is some professional sounding music with some good playing and enjoyable vocals. I really like both the heavy and clean guitar tones you have here, much better than that Casey Crescenzo guy, who does he think he is anyway but seriously I do like the choice of tone here. To touch on the vocals a bit more, for the most part I really like them, however I'm not a fan of the vocal effects used in one section towards the end. Just a personal opinion. The rest of the song is good, but perhaps a tad too simplistic. These are just minor nitpicks though. Moving on the Being Human. It's been a long while since I listened to this album and specifically this song. What a beast of a song this is though and Courtney Swain is a hell of a vocalist. Her ability to go from ethereal softer parts to powerful intensity to beautiful falsettos. Then there's the music, there is just so much going on with it. It's chaotic but orderly, intense but beautiful. Let's see, how many other superlatives can I use here.....Anyway, just a fantastic song. Next is Stuck by Leprous. Yay, more Leprous this round! And one of my favorites from Malina! I could pretty much copy paste everything I wrote in Ariich's writeup about the Leprous song he sent. Really it's Einar that stands out here and Baard. Baard's drumming is always very in the pocket, but also inventive. I really appreciate that as a drummer myself. The whole composition of the song is great too. As a side note, I have no idea why Malina is so polarizing among Leprous fans. I think it's a really good album. The haters are just wrong Next we get a pair of Cursive songs Some Red-Handed Sleight of Hand and Art is Hard. Both from The Ugly Organ, which might be my favorite Cursive album, although Domestica is really really close. Red Handed has some really top notch cello playing and Art has a really great groove and some interesting melodies. Not to mention some great varied vocal styles. It all comes together almost sounding jovial and happy, even though it really isn't. Next is Wait from the band's newest album. And it's one of the songs that really harkens back to PoS peak years, but with a bit more of a modern flair, with some cool ambient sections. Then there's the ever present great vocals of Daniel. I find myself liking this song more and more each time I hear it. Then we wrap this EP up with another of your bands songs, Detour. So, remember those nitpicks I had about your other song? Those are all gone here. I like this song much better. Everything here just sounds so much better. There's also a bit of an uncomfortable atmosphere sprinkled throughout the song which works really well with the music and vocals. This song also works really well as the closer too.
Song Score - 8.4/10

First off I want to say thank you for sharing your story with me. Like Ariich and basically everyone else, this was quite personal. I won't go into too many details in case you don't want to share all of this with the class, but I will say that I think most of us have gone through at least 1 or 2 of the things you mention in the story. Especially the whole how do I make a relationship work. I've often asked myself why my wife stuck with me and married me. I was definitely well outside my league when I started dating her (truth be told, I still am), but she is my everything and whenever we have an argument or an issue I feel like this is my failing (because in reality it is), and then I wonder why she still sticks by my side. It's all insecurities if we are being honest with ourselves. I've always believed that if there is love in the relationship and both are willing to work through issues instead of just throwing in the towel you can always come out better and stronger in the end. Then the struggles making music speaks to me on a lot of levels. I've played and jammed with many people over the years. Played some gigs. Met lots of cool people. However, I've never had the opportunity to write and record any music. It's cool that you have been able to do that and I sincerely hope you find some measure of success in that. All told, I think this EP tells the story of you quite effectively.
Story Score 9.5/10 +1 for bonus theme

The flow score is gonna hurt a little bit. If I remember correctly you didn't have a ton of time to work on editing this. There are a few rough transitions (weirdly there is also a missing beat in between the 2 Cursive songs that catches my ear every time), but there are also a few really good transitions (going from Wait to Detour on the drum beat was neat). Overall I think that aspect could have been improved. I also think the various genres weren't mixed as well as they could have been, they feel a little disjointed, but this could be considered subjective (or objective if you are WildRanger )
Flow Score - 7.5/10

Total Score - 26.4/30

[Deadeye21]

Nice one Elite. I wonder if we tackled the same root issue in our lives from looking at the titles.

Who's left, Pup?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Nice one Elite. I wonder if we tackled the same root issue in our lives from looking at the titles.

Who's left, Pup?

Just have yours and Vmadera's left. I'll put those up tomorrow.

[jingle.boy]

Since sharing is caring, and most of you already did, here's my Teenage Wasteland.

While I'm having my final listen, I thought I'd send you the story.  Every word is 100% true.

I had what I thought was a fairly normal childhood.  Parents were both teachers, mom a supply, so she barely worked 50% of the time (ie, on a fairly regular basis, I had a parent at home at least 50% of the time).  Older brother (4 years), house in the suburbs, one dog, neighbourhood friends, did pretty well in school, was in to D&D and video games, played soccer and baseball in the summer / hockey in the winter yada yada yada - a fairly ordinary and unremarkable Canadian childhood. In my latter years of elementary school, I had a core group of 3 other friends … the four of us did everything together - especially road hockey.  So much 2-on-2 ball.  Unremarkable when I look back on it, but in the moment I was quite happy.  After graduating elementary school, my parents (again, both teachers) had the grand idea that the high school in our feeder zone didn't quite have the reputation they wanted, so pulled a few strings to get me into a "better" high-school.  I was quite literally the only person in my Grade 8 graduating class that went to that high-school.  Nice, huh?  13 going on 14 (my b-day is in November), and pulled away from everyone I know, including my three BEST friends, and dropped into a school where I (again, literally) know nobody.

Oh, and then they tell my brother and I that they are splitting up.

It was November 23, 1985, the weekend just days after my 14th birthday.  They sat my brother and I down to tell us they were separating.  It was quite the shock.  This kinda shit happened to other kids, not me.  Quite the influential thing to happen to a pubescent teenage boy.  Nice huh? … Send a 14 year old to start high school with 0 friends, then 2.5 months later, go thru a divorce.

Happy Birthday Kid.

For the next few months, I was really trying to find my place in life.  It sounds so cliche, but it really was the case.  I really didn't know what to do with my (albeit inconsequential) 14 year old life.  No true friends and fucked up family life (relatively speaking).  I wasn't passionate about anything. Music didn’t mean that much to me to begin with (more on that in a moment), and after my parents split, nothing really meant much to me.  I dropped all my sports, I started sucking at school, I had little-to-no friends or interests in life in general.  Everything that had made me happy in life up to that point was gone.  Thinking about it in hindsight, I was breaking … or at least felt a little broken - certainly wasn't soaring or flying like I did in elementary school.  I needed something that mattered to me, but had no idea what it was; no idea what I wanted.  Where would I find (or discover) my "hero"?

Musically speaking, I didn't have much of a path at this point in my life.  Neither of my parents were all that 'in' to music, so I just kinda wandered musically, never really finding anything that I could get truly connected to.  I had to discover things myself, and ultimately ended up on pop stuff like Wham, Madonna, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Cindy Lauper etc...  Sure, there were some bouts of Supertramp, Yes, Halen, but only their pop/fluffy songs that made it on to top 40 radio in the early/mid 80s.

Sometime early in '86, my brother bought a wicked cool stereo with this new CD player thing and speakers the size of a coffee table.  He pumps up the volume, and the first disc he throws in starts with this odd little waa-waa-waa guitar thing, then a god-like voice takes over.

Hey hey mama said the way you move
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove

And then BAM with the music! 





All at once.

Little did I know that music would be that "hero".  Sounds corny, but looking back over the last 36 years, I'm not even being all that hyperbolic. 

I'd never heard a voice or music like that before in my life.  It gave me wonder, appreciation, awe, inspiration, amazement, desire, drive, determination and probably a whole host of other emotions.  It breathed life into me again.  Gave me a purpose. There was a certain magic and power in what I was hearing.   Made me a fan of something.  Nowadays, I don't do anything without music.  If I'm not on a work call, music is on.  I take my music player to Costco when shopping; it's on in the background right now; when doing household chores, I needs me my tunes.  I used to need it to fall asleep (probably would still if not for my wife being pretty much the opposite when it comes to music - drives her nuts "take your headphones out and be part of the family!").  I immediately went on an insatiable exploration of all things rock - Classic, Hard, Glam, AOR.  This was my jam until the late 90s, when I discovered Prog, and branched into more Metal.  I don't have a lot of diversity ... One of my rules of life is to spend time with music I love, and don't waste time with anything else.  So, I love Rock/Metal, and stick with it.  And it all started with Black Dog.  Ironically, that's not my favorite Zeppelin song (not even close), let alone my favorite from IV.

Now, it wasn't all shits and giggles after that.  I still struggled to fit in, had no father figure to guide me, and starting in Grade 10, my mother went back to work full-time, and my brother went off to University.  Which left me very much alone, and to my own devices to monitor, occupy, and motivate myself.  Full transparency, I did a shit job at all three .  I started smoking, and just generally being a little teenage shit.  On my 17th birthday, I started to experiment with drugs - nothing too hardcore, just hash/pot - enough to be routinely flying high (I remember at one point when I was 18, I was baked for 6-weeks straight … every single day).  That, along with the freedom that came with having a driver's license, did avail me a group of friends to hang out with, though still very much a 'nerd' crowd.  School/grades never really did improve, and by the end of high school, my grades were shit, and I didn't get into any University that I applied to.  So, I decided to take a year off from school, worked full-time (night shift at McDonald's cleaning all the equipment - side note, this was a helluva fun gig*) and generally spent a shit-ton of money on dope and booze and pool.  I always knew that this was not the life I wanted for myself (I'd made good friends with a guy who did this as his full-time job, and knew this was NOT going to be my life).  So, after that year, I went back to high-school to begin again.  I was mature enough to feel good in my own skin, befriended some younger (1-2 years) kids, and generally had a very fun semester.  I ended up re-taking four courses (aced them all - 80s and 90s), and upgraded my overall average enough to get into my first University of choice.

So there you have it… my Teenage Wasteland - and I was 'wasted' for a good chunk of it .

* I worked 11pm-7am with one other person - one guy cleaned all the equipment; the other did the floors, tables, windows etc …  This was long before 24x7 was the norm for fast-food restaurants.  The store would close at midnight, the closing manager and crew leave (they never gave a shit about us - it was a different crew pretty much every night), and the opening manager/crew didn't show up until 5:30-6am.  So for about 4-5 hours (more than 1/2 our shift), it's just two of us there, cranking music all night long, and no supervisor to hassle us … really, no one hassled or "supervised" us at all.  Work at your own pace … just get the job done and nobody's the wiser.  Smoked a lot of dope - never did get drunk on the job though, just high.  And listened to a shit-ton of music… the 'ghetto-blaster' came on at as soon as the shift started, and didn't shut off until 6:29am

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-ylhdK8AIzsIX6p4JHMRUbvPDy0cXWPZ?usp=sharing

Teenage Wasteland running order
1 - Happy Birthday Kid
2 - Broken Wings
3 - Holding out for a Hero
4 - Magic Power
5 - Alone (Acoustic Version)
6 - Flying High
7 - To Begin Again

Commentary
First - the motif from more than a couple of these doesn't exactly fit the motif I'm portraying in the story, but close enough.  I also don't want/like to explain the song connections to the story - I'd rather the listener do that.  I mean, it's not like Roger Waters outlined the story of The Wall song-by-song !  But there are a couple of things I wanted to comment on
Happy Birthday Kid - this song will invariably bring my song score down, but it's kinda necessary as it's the flashpoint of my teenage years.  My father wasn't quite the asshole the antagonist from this song is, but he was no saint.
Broken Wings - sure, it's a love song for couples, and the Broken Wings are for the lost love.  But my parents divorcing and father moving out fits the bill to some degree, and *I'm* the one with broken wings that needs to learn to fly.
Magic Power - What can I say about this song? There simply aren't enough superlatives.  This is the cornerstone of my teenage years as it relates to music.  Just listening to it yesterday, I still get goosebumps.  It's my #5 Song of All Time, and the lyrics meant so much to me as a teenager

Are you the one and only who's sad and lonely, reachin' for the top
Well the music keeps you goin' and it's never gonna stop
<guitar goodness>
The world is full of compromise, the infinite red tape
But the music's got the magic, it's your one chance for escape
Turn me on - turn me up - it's your turn to dream
A little magic power makes it better than it seems

I'm young now, I'm wild and I'm free
I got the magic power of the music in me

[Deadeye21]

Just read your write up, Jingle. Well written.

Actually, everyone’s writeups have been great. I’m looking forward to seeing the final writeups for this round.

[Elite]

Thanks for that write-up and for getting around to listen and rating all our EPs for this round. It’s good to see you back, and I hope you’re doing alright and taking care of yourself.

I will post my story/write-up here later, if there’s people interested as well as share the entire EP (I think I actually did share the EP a few page back though? Not sure. I’m away for the weekend at ProgPower Europe and I have nothing to type on but my phone here, so I’ll get back here after the weekend.

This also means I can’t send anything for the final round (yet) as it’s a) unfinished and b) on my PC (at least the songs I intend to put on it). 

[Deadeye21]

I’m away for the weekend at ProgPower Europe

Please go and see Voyager. Trust me!

[Elite]

I’ve seen Voyager, what?, 5 times in my life. They’re fun. They’re also not playing this year’s edition

[Deadeye21]

I’ve seen Voyager, what?, 5 times in my life. They’re fun. They’re also not playing this year’s edition

Oh, I was wrong. They’re at EuroBlast this time.

[Elite]

Yeah I was slightly disappointed that PPE did not book Voyager, VOLA and Soen, even though all of them are touring Europe and even playing very close to PPE this weekend.

[Deadeye21]

Sad,y, looks like the Volager tour is just about over. They’ll be coming back to WA in a week or so.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Deadeye - Searching For A Purpose

Megadeth - 13
The Mayfield Four - Shuddershell
Cael McLeish - If I Were Good Enough...
Ragdoll - Rust
Megadeth - Angry Again
Flying Colors - The Loss Inside
Tremonti - Giving Up
Foo Fighters - Walk
Halestorm - The Steeple

First Impression - This might be your best EP yet!

More Megadeth to start this off. Let me just get out of the way. Dave. Needs. To Stop. Singing. Period......Or whatever it is he is doing in this song. Other than that this song is musically pretty great with a nice buildup with acoustic guitars merging with electric guitars and a slowly building tension. This all finally explodes into a great guitar solo trade-off Next is Shuddershell, by a band I never knew existed, The Mayfield Four. I always wondered what Myles Kennedy was doing before Alter Bridge, but never bothered to look into it. If there's one thing I can say about this song is this is certainly Myles Kennedy singing. Listening to this it seems he was probably highly inspired by singers like Jeff Buckley and J.R. Richards as it seems like he's trying to emulate them both in turns on this song. I'll be honest I don't think I would really go out of my way to listen to this album based on this song. It's a bit too....simple? The songwriting just isn't very compelling and it gets a bit too repetitive. Next we have one of your own songs, If I Were Good Enough. I gotta say I really like your guitar playing on the acoustic here. Nice little bits of flair sprinkled throughout the song. The vocals are also good here and to me improve as the song goes on to become even more compelling. Good job! The next song, Rust, is a weird one. I literally can't find any information on this band. At least not from the usual places I get music info, namely RYM, Prog Archives, and Metal Archives. I mean yeah I found their Bandcamp page. Anyway, I digress. This is actually a pretty cool song. Perhaps a little derivative, but it's a fairly fun ride and doesn't overstay its welcome. Oh more Megadeth next? Angry Again? Why yes I am, angry at Dave's vocals again.... OK, sorry Dave, I'll try not to pick on your voice so much. This song has that classic Megadeth guitar riffing that has a cool and catchy rhythm and groove. This song does lose the plot a bit in that little middle bridge section, but quickly redeems itself with a tasty instrumental section including some keyboards. I don't know, other than the cool groove the verses are kind of meh. Not a bad song, but not quite spectacular. Next we get Mike Portnoy band #44855 or thereabouts. Anywho, I really like the style that Flying Colors employs, slightly pop tinged vocals, with typically awesome Portnoy drumming, groovy guitar licks, and audible bass. The problem is the bass though, I've never been a big fan of Dave LaRue's style of playing. He just doesn't capture my interest at all and sounds flat bored with what he is doing. This is more of a me problem though, because what he does is all technically good, but doesn't move me in any way. Anyway, I do really like Flying Colors and this song is no exception. Next we get a song by Tremonti, Giving Up. It still amazes me that this guy got his start with Creed. Man does Creed suck, mostly because of Scott Stapp. Anyway, this does not suck. In fact most of what Tremonti has done since his Creed days ended has been pretty great (there are some exceptions, like his album A Dying Machine did nothing for me). His riffing is a big part of that. There's actually some cool Thrash-like riffing here that I really like. In fact, I would love to hear Tremonti to a full Thrash metal album. I think he would excel at that. Anyway this is a good song. Next we get Walk, which is one of my favorite Foo Fighters songs. This song just further cements the fact that Dave Grohl is a brilliant songwriter. Actually the whole album this song is from is brilliant. Enough said. Finishing up the EP is The Steeple. Halestorm is one of those bands that I heard the radio singles and immediately wrote off the band as just another crappy modern rock band to throw on the ever growing pile of modern radio rock garbage. This song doesn't exactly change my opinion too much. It's pretty straightforward with recycled riffs and melodies that every modern rock band has used since the late '90s. Lizzy Hales vocals are OK, but not that impressive. At least they are better than the other songs I've heard from Halestorm. All in all they just sound like a band that only has one goal, to get as much radio play for the music plebs as possible. This just isn't my kind of music and not why I love music and play music. To me it's not about selling out to make money and sell records, but that's a story best left for another time.
Song Score - 7.2/10

I have to say I really appreciate you (and everyone else) feeling comfortable enough to share these personal stories with me. I feel truly honored to be privy to those stories. It not only gives me more insight into you as a person, but makes for a compelling story in its own right. It is fascinating to see all sides of the human condition. I can't speak to personally having experienced them all, but you know, I've been around the block a time or two and have seen it all, whether in close friends or acquaintances. For instance I've never had to deal with anger issues. I've always been a fairly quiet guy that tries to maintain peace between everyone. I don't let things get me worked up or bother me too much. I don't say all this to try to shame you, I'm just trying to get across where I'm coming from and how I see things. In the end I'm glad you saw fit to make changes to better your life. That shows signs of someone that wants to take control of one's own feelings and life and just generally be a better person. The songs on this EP actually portray what you have gone through and where you are heading quite well. Even the songs I didn't like so much at least had meaningful lyrics. Just the lyrics on the last three songs alone paint a really clear picture. Really, all the lyrics are spot on for the story you told.
Story Score - 9.5/10 +1 for bonus theme

As far as the way this flows. It's not bad. Transitions are mostly fairly good and stylistically there isn't really anything that is out of left field. Except for maybe your song, since it's all acoustic, where the rest all sit firmly in the hard rock/thrash/heavy metal realm. But it feels more like a ballad in the middle of the album as so many other bands do, so I can't really fault that. Plus it works for the story as far as exposition. There are some issues with drastic differences in production. That plus some transitions that could have been tightened up a bit are what hold this aspect back.
Flow Score - 6.5/10

Total Score - 24.2/30

[Deadeye21]

Yeah, I’m not moving up any in the rankings on that score. At least I got good marks on my story this time.

What I’m learning is the concept album will kill me.

[Crow]

right, actually made some progress on my concept album... i had the idea for this one quite a while ago but finding the songs for it has been a problem 
there's one song i'm absolutely stubborn on using but i can't find the lyrics for it... let's pretend it's the "overture" song and the lyrics don't matter idkkk

update: i threw it together in audacity and it's a minute and a half too long  goddammit. i have a way to fix this but it's not a change i wanted to make, bleh

[Crow]

right, this is as much effort as i have available to make a concept album so hopefully this is good enough 

edit:

I also just read through the story you concocted....this might be just the right amount of sci-fi nonsense to work brilliantly for me. 

ariich, be afraid 

[TAC]

So if Cyril and Ariich each get 45, I have to score a 53 to win.

Mine has so much flow, you're going to need a dam!

[Deadeye21]

I am definitely not submitting this in time.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I am definitely not submitting this in time.

Sure you are, you have another week. I have all the confidence in the world in you!

[Deadeye21]

I am definitely not submitting this in time.

Sure you are, you have another week. I have all the confidence in the world in you!

Yeah, but I don’t even have a concept. Let alone the songs to fit it.

[Crow]

i didn't either, then i made one
self-defeating talk like that isn't gonna make your concept album real 

[TAC]

I am definitely not submitting this in time.

Sure you are, you have another week. I have all the confidence in the world in you!

Yeah, but I don’t even have a concept. Let alone the songs to fit it.

Dude, you need to get yourself a concept.

i didn't either, then i made one
self-defeating talk like that isn't gonna make your concept album real 

 

Exactly!

[wolfking]

I am definitely not submitting this in time.

Sure you are, you have another week. I have all the confidence in the world in you!

Yeah, but I don’t even have a concept. Let alone the songs to fit it.

 

Why don't you pick a few fav songs of yours and see if you can create something around the lyrics to one of them.  Something might pop out and you can just go from there.

Or do a Seinfeld concept album which is about nothing.  Perfect!!

[wolfking]

My album has been sent.

[TAC]

My concept album has been done for a while now, but I had no concept at all, and I was worried. But then the Spotify next 5 thread happened, and I participated and one song in particular played, and then BAM, I knew I could build a concept around that and it came together in about a day. It did take me a week or so to nail the ending though.

[Crow]

i had the general idea of my concept in mind since like round 3 and had picked out two of its songs but i basically threw the rest together and wrote the story in a few hours today

i haven't listened to my album in full yet but i might at some point this week 

it's unsurprisingly way too long again

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Vmadera - Synchronizing with Pain

Prototype - The Way it Ends
Dope - Nothing for Me Here
Machine Head - Beautiful Mourning
Prototype - Illuminatum
Prototype - My Own Deception
Slipknot - Snuff
Prototype - Heart Machine

First Impression - There's a lot I like musically here, but I wonder if the vocals are going to be this EPs downfall
Best EP Title +1 point

Ah the first song here, The Way It Ends, is a Guitar Hero throwback. I love this song! I did get this album back in the day because of this song. Never really explored this band any further, guess I'm going to on this EP The next song here, Nothing for Me Here, I have to admit I wasn't expecting much from this song based on the band name, their genre of music they are classified as, and their band picture (LoL), but I actually really ended up liking this song more than anticipating. It's not amazing or anything, but my expectations were exceeded. There's a cool groove and decent vocals here. There's even a decent, albeit short, guitar solo here. Unexpectedly enjoyable! Next is Beautiful Mourning. I actually have this Machine Head album, but it's buried in storage somewhere and forgotten about. To be perfectly blunt I just do not like this style of vocals. It's similar to a lot of the later era Pantera albums, the "tough-guy, knuckle-dragging, neanderthal, lets-go-fight-everyone" style vocals. Doesn't appeal at all. Gotta say Robb Flynn was much better when he was just playing guitar in Vio-lence. There also isn't much redeeming in the music either. It's fairly standard fair groove metal, with tough guy vocals. A pair of Prototype songs are next and I'm glad I don't have to listen to Robb Flynn's vocals anymore, although if I'm being honest, Vince Levalois isn't exactly a powerhouse singer either, but he's better. Plus the music Prototype is infinitely more interesting. Illuminatum is a great little instrumental intro to the meat and bones of My Own Deception. This has a bit of a Fates Warning meets Thrash metal vibe to it, at least musically. There's a lot of cool little lead guitar flairs and the bass is always doing something interesting, even though it's a tad buried in the mix. Not quite "Jason Newsted and Justice For All" levels, but it could be higher in the mix. This song in particular also reminds me a bit of Nevermore, which isn't a bad thing at all. Even a bit of a Jeff Loomis styled guitar solo in the back half of the song. I also like the way the song kind of slowly eases itself down to the end. This leads into Snuff. Slipknot isn't one of those bands I ever really got into. I always thought their schtick was stupid, I mean why do you need 9 guys to play this kind of music? I mean Rush only had 3 guys and could run circles around this band in a live setting.... Anyway, I digress. I had a couple friends in high school that was all gaga over them when their first couple album were released. I just didn't get it. This song is a completely different thing from the few songs I've actually listened to by this band. It's a bit more melodic, but there just isn't anything too interesting going on with it musically. Not a bad song, but nothing special, imo. So here we come to the last song on the EP, Heart Machine. Now this is more like it! This has a really cool driving riff throughout and it's punctuated by a couple of nice guitar solos. I kind of wish it ended on a more climactic note rather than just fading out. Y'all know how much I hate fadeouts
Song Score - 7.3/10

I kind of want to go song by song for the story portion here as you've laid the groundwork for a basic outline of a good story here. I know this is about your life experiences and I don't want to make light of anything, but at the same time I think this could be turned into so much more. But like you said, you didn't want to get too in depth and personal and I respect that. So I'll just keep this somewhat brief. I can definitely see how The Way It Ends deals with your thoughts on religion and that fear of the unknown. Nothing for me Here was pretty self explanatory. What I really want to focus in on though is My Own Deception, which is a whole other beast. I know you said I didn't have to analyze the lyrics line by line, but I did that anyway. I'm nothing if not thorough.....or at least I try to be, especially after a couple of embarrassing swings and misses about lyrics in my past roulettes (sorry Ariich and Elite and Sacul.....and probably others I'm forgetting about) Anyway I can totally see how this song shows the pain you were in and the dark places that pain took you and that struggle to get out of the darkness. Depression is no joke and can manifest in a variety of ways and can be one of the hardest things to conquer. But then after the heartbreak of Snuff the EP ends on a bit more of a positive note with Heart Machine. Anyway I hope all is good for you now or at least getting better. In the end, there is a good outline for a story here that definitely could have been filled out a bit more, but what is there is good and goes well with the lyrics on hand.
Story Score - 8.5/10 +1 for bonus theme

I do like the way this flows and might be one of the best of the Spotify playlist EPs of the roulette so far. The only transition I had a bit of an issue with was going from Snuff to Heart Machine. Other than that the Dope song was slightly out of place due to the difference in genre. The rest all basically felt like a cohesive whole. Helps when four of the tracks are from the same band
Flow Score - 8/10

Total Score - 25.8/30

[Deadeye21]

I got the lowest score of the round, didn’t I?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I got the lowest score of the round, didn’t I?

Yeah, but you got your highest score yet! And to be clear, everyone sent me some fantastic stuff this round. You all knocked it out of the park with your storytelling.

Here are the newly compiled scores going into the last round. You'll have to check my math, since as Ariich found out, I don't seem to know how to add anymore  Some major changes in the standings. Technically anyone could still win this in the final round.

Standings
Ariich - 27.5, 27.1, 28.6, 28.9 (112.1)
Cyril - 27.7, 30.8, 26.2, 26.5 (111.2)
Jingle - 21.9, 25.5, 27.9, 28.5 (103.8)
TAC - 24, 25.75, 26.7, 26.5 (102.95)
Elite - 25.4, 27, 23.9, 26.4 (102.7)
Wolfking - 25.3, 24.8, 23.3, 26.2 (99.6)
Kingshmegland - 23.6, 16.9, 25.5, 27.3 (93.3)
Vmadera - 21.4, 19.9, 24.7, 25.8 (91.8)
Deadeye - 21.7, 23.1, 21.4, 24.2 (90.4)
Stadler - 19.8, Ragequit

[Deadeye21]

My best work and it’s the worst of the lot. That really sucks.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

My best work and it’s the worst of the lot. That really sucks.

To be fair, this round had some tough competition. Everyone stepped up their game this round.

[ariich]

My best work and it’s the worst of the lot. That really sucks.

Be fair on yourself, you got a near-perfect score for the story.

On the other two aspects, you're not exactly tailoring your EPs to what Pup is looking for - that is to say, Pup clearly said in the OP that for flow he prefers an edited single file rather than Spotify playlists, and by this point in the roulette we should all have a better idea of his musical interests and tastes. Which is a completely fine way to play roulettes by the way, you're certainly not alone in sending things you want to share rather than what the host will like most! It's just unlikely to generate high scores unless you (or anyone else taking that approach - Stadler always does and to some extent so does Pup actually) and the host have highly overlapping tastes and interests.

To be really clear, I'm not in any way having a go at you for your approach - like I said it's completely valid and rewarding in a different way to sending things you think the host will like (which doesn't always work well anyway!).

[Crow]

jesus i didn't realize the gap between 2nd and 3rd was THAT big

you and me, ariich. congrats ariich!

[ariich]

jesus i didn't realize the gap between 2nd and 3rd was THAT big

you and me, ariich. congrats ariich!

I dunno, I love my album and how it ties to my previous EPs, but there's less than a point between us (thanks to my stupid integrity) in a 45-point round, and we're both generally good at concept albums, so this could completely go either way.

But yeah it's unlikely we'll both screw up enough for someone else to win. Let's see though.

[Lonk]

jesus i didn't realize the gap between 2nd and 3rd was THAT big

you and me, ariich. congrats ariich!

I dunno, I love my album and how it ties to my previous EPs, but there's less than a point between us (thanks to my stupid integrity) in a 45-point round, and we're both generally good at concept albums, so this could completely go either way.

But yeah it's unlikely we'll both screw up enough for someone else to win. Let's see though.

I just need to outscore you both by 21 points

[Lonk]

Ah the first song here, The Way It Ends, is a Guitar Hero throwback.

I miss that game, I used to play it so much back then and this song was one of my favorites to play

The next song here, Nothing for Me Here, I have to admit I wasn't expecting much from this song based on the band name, their genre of music they are classified as, and their band picture (LoL), but I actually really ended up liking this song more than anticipating.

This is also from the same Guitar Hero 

Next is Beautiful Mourning.

Guitar hero?

I get what you mean about the vocals though. None of these songs really have great vocalist (though we might disagree on Corey Taylor/Snuff). Prototype is exactly that, great instrumentation with vocals that was subpar. The guitar work is great enough for me to like their music though.