Round 1 ResultsRound 1 PlaylistPuppies: Invent Animate – Absence PersistentI guess I didn’t stress this enough in my tastes post, but tunefulness is like…
incredibly important to my enjoyment of music, and this… doesn’t, even try for that. Not only is it pretty much completely devoid of melodies… I’m not sure it even has chord progressions? Every riff in the song is, quite literally, one note. Hammered in rhythmically. With no melodic divergence whatsoever.
It’s devoid of melody, but it’s also devoid of groove, it’s devoid of emotion, there’s nothing here but robotic chugging to produce Loudness and Energy. Which, like… to be fair. There are parts of this that, despite all that, I -kiiiind- of feel – with the clean vocals and the tremolo guitars on top of the 5/16th riffs – but also, like… I’ve heard that before, too?
Even not considering this as djent – which it definitely is, but I digress – it’s just… not interesting to me. I’m bored by it. The only parts I actively dislike are the really downtuned chugging parts, but otherwise it… exists in a mildly neutral, occasionally somewhat compelling state of being. What do I even do with it.
6/10Faizoff: Nine Inch Nails – March of the PigsThe thing is, I don’t inherently dislike Nine Inch Nails – hell, the last time they were submitted in one of my roulettes they scored pretty well – but “industrial” anything is always a hard sell for me. When they lean into more atmospheric, languid grooves, I can usually at least find something to like, but that’s… not what this song is.
On the flipside, what this song
is, is very upbeat and frantic, and I… kind of respect the energy of it, if nothing else? If I need something to pump me up, the distorted screaming and choppy 7/8 guitar groove have got me covered. Which is why, uhh… when the song just, awkwardly stops for the piano… chorus? It completely kills that momentum.
Like, there’s pieces of it I like – the 4/4, moodier “prechorus” is pretty cool, but that’s the only part of this that really feels meaningfully… tuneful, whereas the verses… aren’t, and the chorus barely exists. Mostly, it just feels… sloppy, even by NIN standards. I dunno, just not feeling it.
6/10Dacul: Deftones – Swerve CityRecently I’ve been spinning Knife Prty as it was one of the songs submitted for my upcoming subscriber special grab bag ranking, and I quite like it! Lots of energy, a pretty killer drum line, well-textured atmosphere, just a lot of fun. That’s the kind of Deftones song that works for me.
On the other hand… uhh, what do I do with this? I feel like over half of the song is that one riff, and that one riff is three-fourths the one note repeated ad infinitum. It’s not a bad riff, and the song is short enough that I don’t get tired of it, but… it’s not
that good either? Between that there’s the more expansive, atmospheric moments I tend to like more, and I do, but… I’m not particularly compelled by them, either?
There’s nothing I particularly dislike here, it’s all fine, but out of every song this round, this feels like the one that… does the absolute least, has the least meat on its bones. It’s solid but it’s just completely unremarkable, the bare minimum of an alt-metal song. So much so that I spent a third of this writeup talking about a different song entirely and I’ve spent another third padding out what little I do have to say with fluff like this.
6/10Reaper: Ola Englund – Stars and PoniesYeah, the only thing that caught me off guard about this was the synthy bit at the start, which… I don’t even particularly like, but, compared to what I’ve heard from Ola Englund before, wasn’t what I was expecting. Unlike the five minutes of instrumental prog metal that followed it that were… pretty much exactly what I expected.
Like, yeah, the guitar work is neat! Soulful and shreddy in equal measure. I uhh. What else do I say about this? It’s the most “this is a prog metal” song of this entire bunch, except it’s not even really prog metal, it’s straight 4/4 the whole way through, it just sounds exactly like your everyday modern prog metal band does nowadays so I can’t help but lump it in there.
Mostly what this is is, like, junk food music. It’s, in the moment, pretty fun and pleasant enough to listen to, but it’s completely devoid of substance or personality and the moment it’s over I forget everything that happened in it. I like it fine enough, but as like, background music. Uhh. The one really fast part towards the middle is kinda cool I guess. I dunno, I got nothing else to add here.
6.5/10Lonestar: Marillion – Hotel HobbiesThe funny thing is, neo-prog is never really my thing, but then every time I’m like, forced to listen to it, my takeaway is usually… “oh, this is pretty good, yeah!” I think it’s mostly just… the style of vocals these bands tend to employ that usually turns me off the sound. I can’t describe exactly why, it’s just… not for me.
The real sticking point for me here is the way the song just… stops. It’s supposed to flow into the next song on the album, I get that, but even then, maaaan it’s abrupt. I’d be willing to overlook it if it felt like the song had otherwise come to a natural conclusion, but it… doesn’t, really. It just… stops in the middle of a buildup to what should be a cool climax. It’s a hell of a cocktease.
Otherwise, I quite like a lot of what the song has to offer? ESPECIALLY the rhythm section, which is absolutely on fire here – probably the best bassline of any song in this round and the drums pull a lot of weight too. The guitars roar and shred where they need to, the louder moments have a ton of soul and power, it’s all really good and that’s why it frustrates me so much that it just… so obviously isn’t a complete song. I like it, but… man, I wish I could like it more.
7/10Stadler: The Cult – CeremonyThis is the kind of song that it’s hard to, like… write about, because the entire point is to just turn off your brain and jam along. I enjoy this way more as a passive, headbanging listen than I do when I have to really pay attention to it and think about it, and as a passive listen… yeah this rocks pretty dang hard, doesn’t it?
I mean, the intro is… unusual, for the kind of song it transitions into, but not in a bad way, just like… a cinematic buidup to when the song really kicks in proper. At which point we get a cool rocker about worshipping rock music itself, or something along those lines. I dunno, again, what does it matter what it’s about when the riffs rock this hard, the solos really shred, and the singer’s just throwing himself into his performance.
Like, it’s certainly not a deep song, it’s not really trying to be, and even for as much dumb fun as it is, it’s proooobably a touch long for what it is, but again… I’m nitpicking on what the song isn’t and isn’t trying to be, so. Whatever mannnn. Rock on!
7/10Vmadera: Public Service Broadcasting – If War Should ComeKinda shocked I’ve never been sent this artist before, I’ve known of them for a while and I’m pretty sure they’ve been sent in other roulettes but just not mine? Anyways, it’s a neat concept! Taking historical recordings from the past and setting them to music, in this case… a kind of lightly groovy form of post-rock, I guess?
What this song does well is set the stage for a story to follow – there’s a rising tension throughout, especially with the progression of the audio clips, and more of a groove develops as the song goes on without ever fully simmering to a boil. As far as intro tracks go, it’s definitely doing its job really well.
…which, unfortunately, also makes it feel kind of… lacking? As a standalone track. Less so than the Marillion song because this one at least, ends, but it’s a ton of build that doesn’t really have proper payoff? There’s a loud bit towards the end but even that never quite feels… climactic. I still like this plenty for what it is, I just… always keep expecting a bit more than what I get out of it.
7/10Seneca: Chelsea Wolfe & Emma Ruth Rundle – AnhedoniaMy immediate reaction to this one was “oh so it’s kinda like Casualties of Cool”. Which isn’t… incorrect but it’s not quite right, either? It’s kinda just… low-key folk with a bit more atmosphere than that implies, and it’s… very pleasant! Both ladies have lovely voices, the textures and soundscapes are very pretty, I like it!
I kinda… don’t know what else to say about it beyond that though? Anhedonia, as far as I can tell, is just… another word for depression, or similar enough that it may as well be, which… okay. The song’s not really got any particularly strong hooks and it feels a bit… sleepy and shapeless? It’s just not really memorable in any way beyond how pleasant it is.
I feel like, if this like, went more Chelsea Wolfe by the end, had a bit more fire or a proper climax, it’d work a lot better for me? But I guess that’s not what they’re going for here. I dunno. I like this but I wouldn’t be particularly inclined to check out an entire project of it, if you know what I mean. It’s good in a kind of unremarkable way.
7/10Tomislav: Dead Letter Circus – The MileThis and the Deftones song kinda go hand-in-hand in my mind, namely as pretty straightforward rock songs that aren’t really trying to punch too far above that label, but this one’s just the obviously better one – more energy, more musical ideas, just a lot more compelling on the whole – and, obviously, much more up my alley stylistically.
That being said… I’unno, I get the sense the aim was to be pop more than it was to, like, properly emote, so the end product sounds really cool and pretty fun, but a little… dry? It doesn’t really latch itself in my mind, either, it’s a bit in-one-ear out-the-other, a lot of cool little moments but none of them stick.
Like, the drums are on fire here, the vocals have some moments where they really pop, I like individual
elements of this and I also like it as a whole, I’d probably check out an entire album in this style if it could promise this kind of quality throughout, but somethings holding me back from properly
loving it, too. Maybe ‘cause it’s a bit short and ends kind of abruptly? But it otherwise feels complete. I’unno, it’s a weird one, even after five listens I’m not
quite sure how I feel about it other than, yeah, I dig it!
7/10Litho: Ram-Zet – R.I.P.I see this labelled as “avant-garde” metal and I go… yeah, in the sense that they’re not necessarily doing all the “right” things, but the amount of things they’re doing at the very least makes it interesting in the short term. I kinda get “slightly less weird DSO” vibes from this, actually? It definitely makes me want to at least check out the album – which even some of the better songs here don’t do, so.
But the vocals… man, I dunno what to tell you. The whole nightwish/symphonic metal style of female vocals is generally not my thing, but even beyond that these just feel… strangely underweight even in that regards. No power at all to them. It’s such a weird sound. The harsh vocals aren’t great either honestly but I don’t mind them. Also not really a fan of how disjointed the song feels… there’s like, three fake endings here, I swear.
I should probably talk about what I like though. The riffs go pretty hard, the amount of variety on display is compelling, the instrumental moments in general hit a lot harder than the vocal moments for me, the noodly prog bits that remind me of DT especially tickle my prog brain, there’s a lot of cool Stuff here even if I’m not fully sure it comes together as a great “song”. It’s neat. Not fully sold on it but I’d wanna hear more, yeah.
7/10King: Fleet Foxes – I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint ScarHonestly, in a sea of rock and metal tunes, something that sounds this organic and homespun is always gonna be a little bit refreshing. Maybe I’m overrating it for that reason alone, but at the same time… it also is just, really good?
The energetic guitar rollick is quite compelling, the soaring vocals have a lot of weight to ‘em, I already said it in my first impression but there’s an adventurous spirit to this that I really admire, and an effective loud-soft dynamic created entirely with acoustic instruments, as far as I can tell… it’s, again, really pleasant, but also just makes for a good tune! Maybe not the
most memorable melodically, but ehh, it’s grown on me after a few listens.
The actual lyrics aren’t… quite doing it for me, there’s an undercurrent of… insecurity? Alongside, uhh, love? I think? It’s a bit abstract, and a bit outside what interests
me personally, but ehh, I’m still plenty into the tune itself even beyond that. I dunno, it’s hard to say much about this because it’s pretty straightforward in what it is, I just like listening to it!
7.5/10HOF: Tears for Fears – Woman in ChainsI’m probably one of the few people who likes Shout more than Everybody Wants to Rule the World, or at least it feels that way? But like, Tears for Fears are a good band at their absolute worst and this isn’t their absolute worst, so it’s pretty damn good. And nnnnot quite what I expected from them, but that’s far from a bad thing! I like being surprised!
Listening to this, I actually think of Kate Bush’s Running up That Hill, in that it’s an 80’s pop tune about how difficult women have it in society simply for being born female. I don’t think it’s quite as conceptually strong, but also, I probably like it more, even if they… share a similar flaw, in that neither song ever gets quite as
big as I feel like it should?
Though Woman in Chains goes pretty dang close, there’s a nice build throughout the entire, like, first half, just no proper explosive climax to send it over the top. The instrumentals swell, the vocals get more intense, the drums really kick in, and then it rides on that mood for like, three minutes without ever going past it. …not that I can complain too much, when the mood it’s riding on is, again, really damn good, it’s just not quite blowing me away, is all. But yeah wow a good Tears for Fears song, what a surprise.
7.5/10Luke: Alexisonfire – This Could Be Anywhere in the WorldThis is pretty much exactly what I look for in post-hardcore, which is to say, it doesn’t really do anything to surprise me or even stand out that much but, unfortunately for everyone else here, this is also just. One of my favorite genres in recent years, so this ends up being one of my favorite songs here just by default. Oops.
The lyrical arc is… interesting, if maybe sketched a bit broadly? Kinda just, commentary on how cities are overrun with violence and homelessness and that basically applies to, well, everywhere in the world. Which… yeah, I mean, I know this thing and it doesn’t hit emotionally hard or anything but, that’s so true besties.
Beyond that… well, it’s rock-solid post-hardcore. Cool melodic riffing, a solid if not particularly exceptional chorus, it just makes my brain happy to listen to. I dunno if I necessarily
need to hear more because, again, this is exactly what I expect the genre to sound like, and maybe that’s why I’ve never dug too deep into these guys in the first place, but that doesn’t stop this from being really good, yeah.
7.5/10TAC: Atropas – SnowWhen I first started listening to this round, I got the impression that this would either get better or less interesting the more I listened to it, but it kinda just… staunchly refused to budge much in either direction. It’s just plainly and obviously really good prog metal, without ever really surprising me or blowing me away.
Like… there’s a lot of different parts to it. Big, epic moments, bouts of intensity, calmer, atmospheric moments, even some groovier passages, but none of them feel disconnected or disjointed, it’s all shockingly cohesive, and they even manage to throw in a pretty good chorus, too. This scrappy, no-name band nobody in the entire world has ever heard of sure does know what they’re doing, don’t they?
The only real thing I can knock against this is that it doesn’t really… excite me? Unlike Ram-Zet, this… pretty much just treads familiar ground, only, it does it really well to the point where it’s hard to complain about it? I see that no other track on the album even clears five minutes, which is a bit disappointing, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t just some damn good prog metal, so…
8/10Buddy: Chapel of Disease – Void of WordsI find it kinda funny that, in a round with several late 80’s and 90’s tunes, this 2018 release ends up feeling like the most old-school of them all. Like, the guitar work in this is some classic heavy metal in terms of the riffing and then even older, like, 70’s rock in terms of soloing. One of y’all brought up Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler in-thread and like… yeah, I do kinda hear it in? In that ending solo specifically?
The vocals on this are maybe not quiiiite up my alley, at the very least, the vocal moments of this are the only parts I’m not
fully sold on, but the guitar work dominates so, so much of this song that I can hardly be bothered to care, and there’s so many different little moments to this that I’m still catching new ones I missed on every listen, it’s just… super damn cool, mannnn.
While I’m not quite calling this my favorite song of the round, it’s easily the most exciting and fresh of the entire bunch and probably the album here I’m gonna hop on first because… hell yeah man, it friggin’ rules. Another song I’m not particularly inclined to write much more about because I’m just here to rock along to it.
8/10Ariich: Bend Sinister – Best of YouTHE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST TH- okay but seriously. This song’s probably the closest of the round to being right at the intersection between “stuff I’m currently interested in” and “cool tune I’m really enjoying” so it was pretty much a free win for you. Indie rock with a theatrical flair paired with a longform, progressive song structure? Yeah, uhh, funnel that directly into my ears mate.
Like, yeah, the more I listen to it, the less disparate it sounds, though it does still kiiiind of feel like an overture, but nah, it’s complete within itself and it’s just got so much to love about it! Great build, strong hooks, it all just plain sounds good, it’s even this kind of motivational “things suck but you can make them better” message I’ve been particularly vibing with as of late.
Though all that being said, I do think the slower, straightforward, moodier back half of the song works a lot more than the chaotic, uptempo first half? It’s a chill little groove that’s just really nice to listen to. Yeah, I’m still not sure I’m over the moon for this one but, man, you really know how to hone in on exactly the kinda music I’m looking for, don’t you? So anyways: Congrats, ariich! Great roulette everyone, time to wrap it up.
8/10Standings:ariich – 8
Buddy – 8
TAC – 8
Luke – 7.5
HOF – 7.5
King – 7.5
Litho – 7
Tomislav – 7
Seneca – 7
Vmadera – 7
Lonestar – 7
Stadler – 7
Reaper – 6.5
Dacul – 6
Faizoff – 6
Puppies – 6
One round in the books, I’m gonna hopefully make my decision on how to restructure the rounds by the end of the weekend but round 2 is definitely just gonna be an open round anyways. Try to send within the next 72 or so hours, please!
Topic: Crow's Overdue Roulette v8 - FINAL RESULTS!!! (Read 46985 times)
