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jingle – Vandroya1. Why Should We Say Goodbye?
2. Beyond the Human Mind
First impression: While this sounded pretty straightforward stylistically, it had a warm sound and some great tunes.
Final opinion: So yeah there isn't really anything particularly unique or unusual about these songs, which are fairly straightforward prog/power metal. There’s not even a hint of them being a Brazilian band, they just sound like most European bands in the genre.
Performances are competent but, other than the vocals, nothing special. But despite all that, it's a very good illustration of the fact that it's not necessary to do anything unusual to write great songs. The first one is fairly short and simple but it’s incredibly catchy, with a great chorus and really top-notch vocals. The second song is proggier and more intricate - some of the early sections aren't as melodically engaging, but they work well to build towards and support some great melodies in the later parts of the song.
Score: 8.2
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nick_z – Lacrimas Profundere1. The Kingdom Solicitude
2. Father of Fate
3. Like Screams in Empty Halls
4. After All Those Infinities
5. A Sip of Multiverse
First impression: Moody, punchy, good hooks - sounds like a safe but solid start.
Final opinion: This is another of those submissions that didn't really change much from my initial impression. Punchy melancholic metal with good vocal melodies is always likely to go down fairly well with me, so it was a fairly safe bet, although I'm not sure it does much to really excite me beyond that. But regardless, every song here is strong, and there are some great touches - one thing in particular I'm really liking is the way that many of the heavy sections have acoustic/clean guitar or piano accompanying the distorted riffs. It's a simple idea but they use it to great effect and it really adds to the gothic vibe. Very nice stuff.
Score: 8.2
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TAC – Circus of Fools1. Eris (To The Fairest One)
2. Relentless Abnormality
3. From Dusk Till Dawn
First impression: Well, it’s punchy and epic and the gothic style is vibing well - let’s see how well the melodic hooks settle in with subsequent listens.
Final opinion: This is another of those submissions with metal that mixes harsh and clean vocals, although this time with a male/female split between the two. The overall sound is terrific - heavy and melodic and with some great use of real strings to give it a big gothic vibe. The melodic hooks have settled in well on the whole - not all of them are that interesting but there's enough that are, and in the right places, to make it all work. For example, Eris doesn’t really do much for me in the melody department, but there are still some good hooks in the riffs which have a great groove to them. Meanwhile, the next song delivers some great vocal lines with a really cool, dark gothic style. And then the last song brings in some great synth work. Seems like each song has slightly different strengths, so I look forward to exploring their stuff.
Score: 8.2
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luke – Deafheaven1. You Without End
2. Honeycomb
First impression: Lush and immersive, I can totally see why you sent me this.
Final opinion: I told you this already but, for the wider group, I originally heard Sunbather years ago and didn't get on with it at all. But as part of my recent exploration of things I previously rated low, I gave it another go and found myself liking it quite a bit. I didn't love it though - I enjoy contrasts in music, but something still felt clashing between the harsh moments and the gentle ones. That seems much less so in these songs. I gather that some fans liked that facet of their music, and therefore disliked this as a change in direction, but it's much more up my alley. Not wholly in love with some of the moments with black metal screams over pretty post-rock, but others work well - especially when the music builds up to a bigger sound. Overall, this is really lush and rich and there are quite a few absolutely gorgeous moments spread throughout the two songs.
Score: 8.2
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Sacul – Kendrick Lamar1. For Free? - Interlude
2. Alright
3. The Blacker The Berry
4. Mother I Sober
First impression: First track was an… interesting choice, but after that it improved immensely and I'm glad my first listen was with earphones.
Final opinion: Alright so let’s address that first song first of all. I get that it’s metaphorical and maybe even pretty profound in that. It’s just… really quite annoying to listen to.
Partly the lyrics, but also his weird scat-jazz delivery. Not awful, but not my thing. The rest of these songs, though, are excellent. Like, really great. You said it was outside of my comfort zone and I understand why, considering rap-based genres (hip hop, grime, etc) aren’t a major feature of my collection. But I’m not sure that’s really right, and I’m already a fan of some stuff like Stormzy. It’s more that there’s not been much where I’ve rated whole albums that highly. This guy definitely has potential though, based on these songs, if the quality is usually this high. His vocal style took a little getting used to initially - sounded more like punk rap stuff I’ve heard (like The King Blues) than what I’m used to from hip hop, but quite quickly I found myself thinking it works really well for the style. And crucially, the music itself has a lot of groove and charisma with a range of influences brought in, to good effect. Both musically and lyrically, these songs are thoughtful and engaging, and Mother I Sober especially is very emotionally affecting and really justifies this being part of the heavy theme.
Score: 8.3
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Luoto – Slow Fall1. Melancholy and Witchcraft
2. Across the Cold
3. Everything Left with Nothing
First impression: The overall sound is among the least surprising submissions of the round, but there are some nice touches that help it stand out.
Final opinion: Oh look, Luoto sent high quality melodic death metal from Finland that I’ve never even heard of.
And oh look, it turned out to be a real grower. You’re some kind of wizard when it comes to that, as I’ve told you before. The core sound here is very unsurprising, but that’s not a criticism, as they execute it very well - MDM with a nice full sound, tight playing and a lovely melancholic approach which you know I tend to be a fan of. What really helps it stand out a bit, though, is the use of clean vocals which they do in quite a varied way, tailored to the style of each song. The chorus in Melancholy and Witchcraft is gorgeous and perfectly fitting to the title (and it’s definitely my favourite here), Across the Cold has a gravelly and epic chorus, and the female vocals in the last track - while not technically anything special - offer a more accessible symphonic metal feel that works well.
Score: 8.3
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Litho – Draconian1. A Phantom Dissonance
2. Dishearten
3. Sleepwalkers
First impression: This immediately ticks a lot of boxes for me - grand, rich and melancholy.
Final opinion: Not sure if me playing in your roulette has helped, but you’ve definitely hit the ground running. The melancholy death/doom metal sound that’s dominant here is something that appeals to me when done well, and this is done well. The sound is big, the melodies are sorrowful, the instrumentation is intricate without going over the top. It all comes together best in Dishearten, which is my favourite of the three - great, emotive vocals, beautiful melodies and a really great use of piano and sustained guitar notes in places - the climax at the end is especially fantastic. The first song is also excellent, while the last is the weakest of the three - it’s still very good and has a gorgeous atmosphere that permeates throughout, but melodically it’s a little less engaging.
Score: 8.3
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Evermind – Avatarium1. Moonhorse
2. Girl with the Raven Mask
3. Lady in the Lamp
First impression: A lot of the vocal style is something I’m more used to hearing in other genres, and the effect is kind of captivating.
Final opinion: As I said earlier in the thread, on first listen I got quite an indie/pop/soul vibe from a lot of the vocals in this, especially in the first song and, to some extent, the last one as well. While that feels less the case now, I do still think that the effect is there. And what hasn’t changed at all is that the combination of those soulful vocals, the core doom metal sound and the folk influence is incredibly captivating. I like that there’s some variety, and each of the songs brings something a little different while being tonally coherent. It really is the vocals though that carry this along with the generally very strong songwriting. Instrumentally, these songs are nothing special really, and indeed the guitar solo in Lady in the Lamp is kind of weak to the point of being distracting. And yet the richness of the main motifs and vocal melodies - and the gorgeous delivery of the vocals - mean that it doesn’t really matter too much because the overall effect is so great.
Score: 8.4
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Buddy – Obscure Sphinx 1. Void
2. The Presence Of Goddess
First impression: This has a really big sound that’s very immersive and right up my alley.
Final opinion: The way this two-parter builds is just fantastic. It’s definitely the slowest starting submission, taking a good 7 minutes to really kick in. Melodically, some moments aren’t super engaging in themselves, but the way the songs develop creates such a gloomy rising tension. And when it gets there and the choirs come in, it’s some of the most epic music I’ve heard. It has the qualities I would expect of good post-metal/atmospheric sludge metal (not that I fully understand the difference between the two) - particularly in the way it builds atmosphere and has quite hypnotic aspect to it - but also expands on it with very grand musicality and rich instrumentation, not dissimilar to the gothic style of some of the other submissions this round. I was pretty sure from the start this would score well, yet still I’ve liked it a little more with every listen.
Score: 8.4
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soupy – Seven Spires1. Gods of Debauchery
2. Fearless
3. Gods Amongst Men
4. Lightbringer
First impression: Wasn’t immediately convinced, but this quickly won me over with good hooks and a cool mix of styles.
Final opinion: This turned out to be a real sleeper hit, almost a scaled up version of my first impression really. Clearly I liked it at first - I enjoyed the range of influences, the absolutely epic vibe and some strong hooks particularly in the riffing. But I wasn’t immediately totally sold on the combination of power metal music with black/death metal vocals, which I thought might lean a little too cheesy and put a limit on how much I enjoy it. Not so, as it turned out. Similar to a couple of the other submissions this round (Saiseiga and Once Human), the vocalist is amazing and her power and charisma with both clean and harsh vocals is incredibly engaging. Of the three though, this is the one where I find the music most thrilling. If anything, that power metal style - once I got used to the contrast - makes it very melodically enjoyable and provides a great counterbalance to some of the harsher sections. And of course, going all-out pop metal in Lightbringer is great fun and again indicates a band that brings different styles into their music.
Score: 8.4
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wolfking – Keep of Kalessin1. Warmonger
2. Kolossus
3. Ascendant
First impression: Punchier and more riff-driven than I might have expected, intense but not overbearing, and hella epic.
Final opinion: This was another sleeper hit, even more so than Seven Spires. As is evident from my first impression, I liked it immediately, but I didn’t expect it to be right near the top of the scores until maybe my third listen. Possibly it’s helped by being slightly different to a lot of the metal submissions this round, which have favoured a more gothic and/or doomy vibe. But the punchy, thrash-influenced riff-driven style is super enjoyable, and there’s a subtlety to the melodic approach in the choruses that makes it less immediate but ultimately that bit more exciting when it settles in. When I first thought about ratings and rankings, this and Crow’s submissions were the ones that excited me the most. All three songs are cracking and have such a huge sound, but if I had to choose a favourite it would be Kolossus. That song is just such a beast, with its intense verses, atmospheric middle section and epic choruses (well the whole thing is pretty ludicrously epic really). Can’t wait to give the album a listen.
Score: 8.6
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Crow – Birds in Row1. Noah
2. Cathedrals
3. Trompe L’oeil
4. Rodin
First impression: You’ve gone with a different approach to most, and it starts a little slowly, but once it got going it really hooked me in.
Final opinion: This round had some great sleeper hits, but this one I can’t even really get my head around. I liked it early on but I definitely wasn’t thinking “round winner right there”. These songs make use of features that wouldn’t normally be my preference. For example, on the loose spectrum of hardcore to post-hardcore, I tend to gravitate towards the latter where you’d typically find more melodic vocals in addition to the harsher stylings. Similarly, I’m not generally keen when music lingers so long on each chord. And yet, these songs are an amazing example of how my preferences are rarely dealbreakers. The whole sound is just great and there’s an almost hypnotic approach such that when the chord does change, it feels that bit more impactful. It helps that the backing music is very melodic and immersive, and there’s a wonderful contrast between that and the desperation of the vocals. It’s also perfectly paced. Just as one style or idea feels like it might be on the verge of wearing thin, the next song or section does something different. You pretty much always have a good first round in my roulettes, and yet you’ve somehow surpassed all the previous ones with this.
Score: 8.8
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Scores after Round 1:
1. Crow = 8.8
2. wolfking = 8.6
3. Buddy = 8.4
3. Evermind = 8.4
3. soupy = 8.4
6. Litho = 8.3
6. Sacul = 8.3
6. Luoto = 8.3
9. luke = 8.2
9. TAC = 8.2
9. nick_z = 8.2
9. jingle = 8.2
13. Glasser = 8.1
14. Vmadera = 8.0
14. romdrums = 8.0
16. Stadler = 7.9
16. Puppies = 7.9
18. lonestar = 7.8
18. Elite = 7.8
20. Reaper = 7.6
20. seneca = 7.6
22. HOF = 7.5
23. king = 7.3
24. faizoff = 7.2