senecadawg2 - Kampfar - "Ophidian"
Early Impression - "There was an intriguing element teased near the end that might have made it stand out more if it was employed earlier, but as it is I'm not sure this has enough interesting ideas to score higher."
This is a challenging one to write about. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, it just feels like the template guide track for a melodic black metal tune before tweaking and filling out the arrangement to make it more unique. It's pretty well-produced, which always tend to be a worry in this style. And the bass is at least audible, which can be another frequent concern. It even starts out sounding a bit like Behemoth, but not nearly as heavy. Even the music video for it has a very Behemoth flavor to it with the imagery.
Behemoth is actually a salient jumping point to briefly discuss a dichotomy which has blurred a lot over time, but used to rankle me, and is relevant to this band and others this round and likely beyond it. Depending upon the release, they would alternate between a mixture of black and death metal influences. I've generally considered myself more of a death metal than a black metal fan, often because it used to be more common for it to have lower-tuned, heavier guitars and more massive-sounding production, which comports with me more. But black metal often has the potential for more melody and atmosphere, which appeals to a separate angle of my preferences. Melodic death metal, in its best forms, manages to at times bring together the best of both worlds for me.
But back to Kampfar, unfortunately, on successive listens none of the riffs or even the melodic vocal line stuck with me. In the latest plays and checking out a few live videos I've gotten familiar enough with this selection that I can feel a bit more of a spark slowly emerging, and maybe this one will keep growing on me after the round is over, but I don't think there's quite enough to make it leapfrog anything else yet. There are a few choral stabs that pop up near the end, but they're so brief that they just don't deliver on making it feel very epic. The hi-hat barks at 2:15 which transfer to ride accents later are kind of an interesting pattern, but it's a minor detail in the scope of the track. It just seems like they came up with the basic riffs and structure and stopped there before ornamenting it with anything that would make it stand out more.
Score: 6.75/10
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Puppies_On_Acid - Woe of Tyrants - "Break the Fangs of the Wicked"
Early Impression - "I feel like I'm turning into Luke in feeling like I've heard all this before, and I'm perhaps not as into it as I used to be."
So I don't know if you noticed that I'd already rated this on my RYM (and even have it on my obscure metal RYM list, but it's been so long since I've heard it and I didn't remember it well), but here's the flip side where sometimes an old rating is more of a ceiling for a band for me. I used to listen to a truckload of this more technical stuff in the mid-late 00s, so I guess I have a baseline level of nostalgia for it, but it also isn't what I typically reach for these days. It's all very well-played, and they've put some thought into the arrangement, with some very tight composition and execution, particularly with how the tom fills often sync up the transitional guitar riffs.
But there's a combination of two things that hold it back for me. One is the thin production, which is probably influenced by Necrophagist or similar, and tries to emphasize the razor-sharp precision of all of the speedy riffing and soloing. I really have to strain to hear any bass in the mix - it's all low midrange from the guitars. This is then compounded with the emphasis on flashiness. That can work with the right band, but there has to be something extra special for it to work, and I'm just not finding it here. It's pretty much at 10 the whole time, without much variation or contrast. If I think back to it, I can remember there was a flurry of notes, but nothing particularly memorable stands out. There are harmony guitar riffs all over the place, which I do tend to like, but they mostly go in one ear and out the other.
Ultimately, it's fine, and if I get in the right mood and have worn out Quo Vadis, Blooshot Dawn, Inferi, Arsis and such maybe I'd put this on again, but lately it just feels like more style over substance for me, and I'm not quite as enthused about this sound as I used to be. This is probably coming across overly negative, I do actually like it, I just don't enjoy it as much as the other entries. Which I know isn't much of a consolation prize, but well, it has to happen every round.
Score: 6.75/10
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Vmadera00 - Black Anvil - "As Was"
Early Impression - "This band has an interesting sound, but the song doesn't really start getting good until the last minute or two, which might not be enough to save it."
I wanted to like this band more, as they have a rather intriguing and unique sound, kind of like Type O Negative trying to play melodic black metal. The production is solid, and I enjoy the reverb and mild chorus-laden sheen over everything. But unfortunately, not a lot really stuck out as being noteworthy other than a few small details. The rhythm guitar part using thirds rather than power chords at 1:49 is a cool choice. The bass tone is pretty nice. I think I have an addiction to offbeat China cymbal sections, like at 3:44 or 6:08. I was trying to figure out where they were going with the "happy" section at 4:06 - I was half-ready for them to launch into a cover of "Paradise City". And then the best part of the song starts at 4:40, with a more interesting riff. 5:47 is my favorite moment, which sounds like a sped-up descending chromatic Type O Negative riff. And I love the discordant ending with two guitar tracks ringing out with feedback at slightly different pitches. But overall it's just not quite enough to compete with the stronger entries this round.
Score: 6.75/10
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Buddyhunter1 - Gallowbraid - "Oak and Aspen"
Early Impression - "There are some cool ideas here, but it sounds like a home demo."
It didn't hit me until quite a few listens in, and this might have made for a more fun early impression, but I had a late epiphany based on the intro that this is effectively a black metal cover of "Dust in the Wind". I don't know if I feel clever for realizing it now or dumb for that taking so long to strike me.
One of the things that tends to irk me about a lot of black metal is that so much of it is poorly-recorded, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes just by circumstance, which might be the case here. I learned when I did a bit of research that this is effectively a one-man-black-metal project (just outsourcing the drums, and some vocals on another track), and it sounds like it. It's not as raw-sounding as it could be, but it definitely doesn't come up to the level of polish that I tend to prefer. Most notable is first that the acoustic guitar at 3:18 is out of tune, which nettles me. Even the piano at 0:18 sounds like it could use a retuning, though it's not quite as rankling. And then secondly, when the drums are played faster, like the double bass at 5:41 and other spots, while I kind of dig that it doesn't sound triggered and clicky like many bands struggle with, it's just not mixed that well, and everything turns to mush there.
There are some interesting ideas here and there though, like the acoustic guitars in the intro, the guitar harmony at 6:36, the guitar melody at 7:20, and the acoustic guitar + tremolo electric line at 10:43. And most importantly, the clean vocals are really cool, sounding kind of Woods of Ypres-y. In spite of my qualms with everything else, those alone might make me check out the rest of the album, and probably saved the song from being at the bottom of the rankings, but I can't justify placing it any higher due to its flaws.
Score: 7/10
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Tomislav95 - Brymir - "Ragnarök"
Early Impression - "These guitars just aren't heavy enough for me, but it did have a really nice minute or two towards the end."
I was not surprised to see that this was another Finnish melodeath band, they definitely have more of that Insomnium sound, but are more symphonic, and unfortunately, fluffier. The main issue is that there is just no weight or power to the guitars. It's an issue throughout the song, but the worse offender is the verses such as at 0:56. It's just way too brittle a tone for me for this style of music. The bass is almost inaudible as well, which doesn't help.
Also, the vocal choral patch is fine, but the symphonic aspect is also fairly weak, being quite noticeably fake and just coming from a keyboard. It's especially obvious at 1:56 when it almost completely buries the band. In general I'm not a huge fan of overtly symphonic metal, I prefer it when it's a bit more subtle and complements the other instrumentation rather than being a focus for its own sake. It can be a fine line, as some later entries will demonstrate, but this song is a bit on the wrong side of that line.
In spite of this, I dig the sections starting at 3:34, which have a more fun symphonic black metal-esque vibe, and then segue into a really cool guitar harmony bit, which both almost single-handedly save the song from being at the bottom of the rankings. Another bright spot is that the harsh vocals are pretty powerful and solid. But in the end, it's not enough to compete with everything else.
Score: 7/10
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Stadler - Motörhead - "One Track Mind"
Early Impression - "This is more laid-back than I was expecting, and I'm not sure this is my kind of thing, but these tones are classic."
You seem to have a knack for sending me songs that upon first listen I worry I'm not going to like, but then over the course of the round manage to worm their way up the rankings higher than I would have expected, often because they lack some of the more glaring errors that lower submissions tend to have.
So obviously I've heard of a fair amount of Motorhead lore over the years, and I've sampled enough songs to have a general idea what they're about, but just never bothered to check out any full albums, suspecting they're probably not really a band for me. I'm still not sure they are, but I'm definitely a bit more open to them than I used to be. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or if people are starting to figure it out from my writeups, but for male voices I generally tend to prefer lower registers, or if they're more mid or upper-pitched, to at least have some power and grit to them, and Lemmy does fall kind of in the middle of that. His bass tone is also quite rightly legendary, and I'm sure is at least indirectly an inspiration to some of the other dirtier bass tones I've liked in this round and earlier ones. The drumming is also pretty solid, with some nice triplet fills and such, and I always enjoy more unique sounds like the rototoms as shown in the music video for this song.
I've been a fairly casual fan of more classic rock-styled bands, but Thin Lizzy was always one of the better bands of that stripe, so having Brian Robertson aboard on this track was probably a wise choice, although it seems he left the harmonies behind with Lizzy. I didn't even have to look to tell this is a classic Les Paul into Marshall tone, just with more chorus and reverb than I was expecting based on Motorhead's reputation, but that's quite all right with me. I like some of the slide moments such as at 2:46, though I wouldn't have minded more of them.
Overall this is a bit on the simple side of what I normally prefer, as it's easy to see how this would be quite easy to pull off live in a power trio format, but for what it is it's fairly effective, with a nice groove to it. I could potentially see them having songs I'd like even more, so while I'm not over the moon about this particular one, I am a bit more interested in hearing more from them than I was before.
Score: 7/10
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Lethean - Morrow - "Embers"
Early Impression - "This feels like trying to get lunch by eating samples at Costco. You get a taste of a variety of different flavors, but still leave hungry."
This is a really hard song to evaluate. I can't figure out whether it's a post-rock song trying to be metallic, or a black metal song trying to be more atmospheric. There are a lot of individual elements that are really alluring, but they don't quite add up to the sum of their parts.
The most intriguing texture is the muted string pizzicato that opens the track, with some kind of held reverb function that somehow lets it sustain. I'm not sure I've heard a sound quite like it before. The cello also sounds splendid, though I wouldn't have minded a bit more of it. But I can't make my mind up about the guitar sounds. There are many spots where they're pretty texturally varied and have a lot of shades of nuance. 4:05 is a great example where it's constantly oscillating in and out of feedback and is a rather potent sound. The solo at 6:01 is nice and subdued as well, with a good mixture of muted and sustained phrasing.
But there are moments where it sounds like the song is trying to get heavier, but the tones just don't work for those types of parts. 3:11 is a good example, they're attempting to build with some muted chugs, but there's no power to the rhythm guitars. The bass doesn't help either, as while it has a nice midrange timbre that is useful for other parts (5:23 is a cool passage), it doesn't really reinforce the guitars in those parts. I wish I could merge this song with the guitars from Amenra last round, since they each have elements that the other lack. And when it gets faster, like at 7:14, it becomes kind of a chaotic mess, with the mixing making everything sound like mud. Maybe that was their intention, but it's just a bit hard to listen to for me, though I do like the independent guitar melodies panned to either side there - I just can't savor them quite as much as I'd like to contrary to if it was engineered more clearly. I did listen to the song on Bandcamp as well, and the issue is also present there.
Additionally, the drumming is most interesting in the quieter portions with the subtle ride and snare ghost note work. Further, the acoustic guitar passage at 8:28 is certainly my favorite section of the track. I like how they keep the sound of fret movement squeaks in - there was a time when it was in fashion to edit those out, which tended to vex me. I also really love the ethereal synthesizer patches at the end over the record crackle, especially the shimmery mid-register of it that comes in at 9:52 (it might be an overdriven electric piano, it's difficult to tell). It was hinted at around 4:49, but I had wished it was louder in the mix then.
Score: 7/10
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HOF - McStine & Minnemann - "Distant Bodies"
Early Impression - "The drumming is as great as I hoped it would be, but it's unknown if the other elements will grow on me."
So Marco Minnemann is one of my favorite drummers, and pretty much everything he's playing here is the highlight of the track. I was worried at first that the middle section and ending of the song were too happy-sounding for me, but it grew on me over time, and was kind of refreshing in contrast to most of the other songs in the round. And the intro and third quarter or so are a bit darker, so it's not oppressively happy. Many listens in, and I still can't tell what I think of the vocals. I didn't like them at first, but I suppose at this point I'm neutral on them.
There are quite a few piquant guitar tones in this song, such as at 1:54 and 3:35. Those are the types of tones that would fall flat in the average metal song, but you can really get away with them in this type of tune. Even the fuzz bass at 1:07 is delightful. The clean guitar passages at times were giving me Polyphia vibes. This is different enough from what I typically listen to that my interest is piqued to hear more later at some point, particularly because there are clearly a lot of albums Marco has played on that I haven't made time for yet.
Score: 7.25/10
Topic: LithoJazzoSphere Roulette V1: Variety & Reciprocity (Post-Roulette Playlist) (Read 112969 times)