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lonestar – Genres Across Japan1. Little Lilith - ThanatoPhobia
2. Little Lilith - LadyBug
3. Li-sa-X Band - One More Chance is Enough
4. Little Lilith - Lullaby
5. Mary’s Blood - Unravel
6. Li-sa-X Band - Just Be My Treasure
7. Mary’s Blood - World’s End
8. Li-sa-X Band - Looking Up To You
First impression: No surprises here, but lots of great stuff with top notch playing and nice hooks. One or two of the artists could be among the best you've sent in the roulette.
Favourite: Li-sa-X Band - Looking Up To You
Least favourite: Mary’s Blood - UnravelFinal opinion: You’ve somehow managed to send equal or better stuff with every round in this roulette, which is an impressive feat. This EP is remarkably consistent. I have a clear ranking of favourites but really all three artists are varying degrees of excellent.
I’ll actually go in reverse order of favourites here and start with Mary’s Blood. To be clear, I like both songs a lot. Of the j-metal bands I’m familiar with, they remind me most of Lovebites, with the strong western power metal influence in the music. Unravel only ended up bottom of the pack because something had to be there, and the melodic hooks don’t capture me as much as the other songs, but there are lots of nice flourishes in the composition and production that make it a pretty great song still. World’s End is more straightforward power metal but it has a strong chorus and some great playing.
As you said in your PM, Little Lillith are j-jent.
As I’ve said plenty of times, I don’t get what all the tussle is over djent - it’s primarily a style of riff. Like any style of riff, it gets boring if that’s all the music is, and I do appreciate that when it rose in popularity there was a whole movement of artists who did that and nothing else. But a bunch of boring musicians obviously doesn’t confer any qualities on the style itself and what other artists do with it. Anyway, rant over. These songs are great! Really poppy and catchy stuff mixed in with the crunchy rhythmic riffs, which is a combination I tend to find really enjoyable and these girls do it well. LadyBug has some less interesting moments in the verses, but then the metalcore stuff brings a really enjoyable intensity.
And finally, the best artist you’ve sent all roulette, Li-sa-X. I’m aware of her from a guest solo she did on Andy Gillion’s Arcade Metal album, so I knew she was an incredible player, but the quality of the songwriting here is a wonderful surprise. I also love the singer, so it’s a shame that she left and the group disbanded after only a couple of singles. I read that the other two formed a new band with another singer, so hopefully that goes somewhere, everything about these songs is just really great - the riffs, the hooks, the performances. I guess I’ll have to just make do with a makeshift four-song EP.
Flow-wise, this is pretty much exactly like Reaper’s EP - a collection of tracks that fit very well together in genre, style and sound. They feel very much like a coherent, curated collection of songs, they just don’t really do anything more beyond that other than the emotive style of Looking Up To You working very nicely as a closer.
Music quality score: 8.4
Flow score: 4.0
EP total: 12.4
Roulette total = 7.8 + 8.0 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.4 + (8.4 + 4.0) = 61.3
Final position: 10thI’ll be honest, I was a little sceptical when you set out to only send - broadly speaking - one type of artist for the whole roulette. I obviously loved some all-women Japanese bands already, but others I’d heard hadn’t hit the mark and I didn’t feel sighted on how many there might be that aligned with my tastes. The first couple of rounds didn’t fill me with confidence either, decent though they were. But expectations never materially affect my judgement, and damn if it didn’t pay off in the end. Sending better and better stuff with each round has seen you steadily climb the rankings and finally jump into the top half right at the finish. As you’ll see from the points graph, you were sat at the bottom of a cluster of people, most of whom you overtook, which is what allowed you to jump up 6 places.
Anyway, really looking forward to digging into all of this!
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wolfking – Remember that Death is Not the End, but Only a Transition1. At the Gates - Under a Serpent Sun
2. Armageddon - Equalizer
3. Obscura - Solaris
4. Orbit Culture - North Star of Nija
5. Septicflesh - A Desert Throne
First impression: This is all very much what I’d expect to get from you, and it’s a solid selection of fairly intense songs. Two of these bands I really feel like I should have heard before.
Favourite: Septicflesh - A Desert Throne
Least favourite: Obscura - SolarisFinal opinion: This was one of the least surprising EPs but it’s a solid one. All the songs are good, some are great, and the styles are consistent with only a few differences in production getting in the way of it flowing smoothly.
At the Gates are a band I feel I must surely have heard before. They’re an iconic part of that 90s Gothenburg melodeath movement but for some reason I’m not at all familiar with their stuff. The song is solid, but not among my favourites I’ve heard from that era. Then again, it wasn’t until the second half of the 90s that In Flames and Dark Tranquillity - the other essential bands from the movement - started producing music that hit the mark for me, so this still makes me want to explore more.
The Armageddon song is more of a modern take on melodic death metal, probably on a par overall with At the Gates. On the one hand, the heavy riffing is less interesting, but the clean vocals and soaring lead lines compensate effectively.
Obscura is another band I’m surprised I’ve never checked out, considering I’ve been sent no fewer than three off-shoot bands/solo projects in my roulettes.
This is pretty much along the lines I expected, and it’s pretty good - ferocious, fast and played with incredible skill. But it definitely falls into the same trap as most technical death metal which is insufficient focus on interesting melodic hooks for me.
The Orbit Culture song I heard (or at least the in-studio live video of it) in Caelan’s bonus round, and it’s really good. Their style is hard to pin down, in this song at least - on RYM they’re described as a mix of melodic death metal and groove metal, and I think that’s probably what it is. Reminds me a bit of Diablo in that regard. Anyway it’s a cool song.
And then saving the best for last, we move on to Septicflesh. Despite the rather unpleasant name, this is right up my alley when it comes to MDM. Heavy, grand, brooding and doomy. The strings really expand the sound and drive the melodic hooks. Epic stuff!
Flow-wise, there are differences in the specific style/sub-genre of each song, but enough commonality that it all works well together and nothing feels out of place. As I said, the only thing that stops this getting a 4/5 lonestar and Reaper’s EPs is that there are some big shifts in production style and volume that disrupt the listening experience a little.
Music quality score: 8.1
Flow score: 3.8
EP total: 11.9
Roulette total = 8.6 + 8.1 + 8.4 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 7.8 + (8.1 + 3.8) = 61.7
Final position: 9thShame you took a dip in the last two rounds because up to that point you were sending me so much top-notch stuff, more consistently great than in my previous roulettes and even giving you a shot at the title. You may not have finished on a high, but at least the EP had some cracking stuff in it too. I’ve actually in the past few weeks worked my way through most of Keep of Kalessin’s stuff and damn it’s just great. I’ll check out every other artist you sent me too, but the ones I’m most looking forward to are Brymir, Wolfheart, Blessed By A Broken Heart and Septicflesh. Great to have you on board once again!
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Buddy – Dark Matter / Star Light1. Sungazer - Threshold
2. The Comet Is Coming - Blood Of The Past
3. Sungazer - The Dark
4. The Comet Is Coming - Angel Of Darkness
5. Harmonix Music Systems - Dalatecht
6. Sungazer - Cytherean
First impression: This felt varied, fusing together two or three distinct genres, but still really cohesive. The inclusion of vocals (and good ones at that) in styles that don’t always have them helps keep it pretty engaging.
Favourite: Sungazer - The Dark
Least favourite: The Comet Is Coming - Angel Of DarknessFinal opinion: Evidently you have a knack for making me really top-notch EPs. It’s a fantastic fusion of jazz and electronica, with some poppy infusions here and there as well to help give it some clear melodic hooks. Sungazer leans more electronic while The Comet is Coming is more jazz, but there is enough overlap of elements of their sounds to strike a great balance between varied and coherent.
Sungazer are for sure my favourite here, all three tracks are just great. Threshold is very jazztronica and it’s excellent, a really great sound and fusion of styles and it sets the tone for the rest of the EP masterfully. The Dark is, yeah, unsurprisingly my favourite of the lot - short and simple, but poppy, catchy, warm and immersive, and she has a great voice. And then Cytherean is the most jazzy of their tracks here, and really helps bring together the different styles covered on the EP. The more mellow vibes are very lush and work great as a closing track.
The Comet is Coming are an interesting band. Obviously I heard another song from them in the bonus round which was pretty cool. Of the three, Blood of the Past is a firm favourite and a really great track. The synths do suggest some electronic influences, but underneath it’s fairly straight up jazz fusion and it’s pretty great. Angel of Darkness doesn’t grab me in the same way. The sound is neat still, but the main motifs the saxophone plays gets kind of grating after a while.
Dalatecht seems to be from a video game soundtrack? I can’t work out if Harmonix Music Systems is even the name of the artist, but anyway it’s a lot of fun. Sort of over-the-top grand and epic at the start, and really enjoyable, and then developing into some poppy electronica in the second half with nice sounds and catchy vocal lines.
In terms of flow, this EP is excellent. Despite some differences in style (the most noticeable being the grandiose stuff at the start of Dalatecht), the tracks generally fit together really well, the ordering works great and the way you edited them into a single file provides very smooth transitions between tracks, making this a great listen.
Music quality score: 8.4
Flow score: 4.3
EP total: 12.7
Roulette total = 8.4 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.0 + 8.1 + (8.4 + 4.3) = 62.1
Final position: 7th (joint)You may not have the highest score but you were the most consistent. Including the EP quality score, all your rounds were within a 0.4 point range, narrower than any other player, and never falling below 8 this time! You seem to do a better job than anyone else of hitting my tastes when it comes to electronic music, which I’m grateful for, but the other styles you covered were all successful too. As a result I'm keen to explore at least something from every artist you sent me.
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Litho – The Luminescent Nocturnal Tango1. James Newton Howard - Noah Visits
2. Deadlock - Dying Breed
3. Nightrage - Hero
4. Nightrage - The Howls of the Wolves
5. Sarah Jarosz - Run Away
6. Sybreed - Ego Bypass Generator
7. Deadlock - Bloodpact
8. James Newton Howard - The Vote
First impression: The songs all sound good to great, though some of the heavier ones seemed so similar to other bands it was a little distracting. I’m not yet sure how well it all fits together, as there are some big shifts in mood and style.
Favourite: Sarah Jarosz - Run Away
Least favourite: Sybreed - Ego Bypass GeneratorFinal opinion: There’s a lot of great music on this EP, both from the melodeath side and from the lighter side. All three metal bands remind me to varying degrees of something else, but that’s not generally a problem. It flows fairly well but while I totally get what you were doing with it, I think I like the idea more than the execution.
The two pieces by James Newton Howard from the film score of The Village that bookend this EP are really nice. Noah works well as a short opener, implying a dramatic element in what is to come. As a closer for what is predominantly a metal EP, The Vote perhaps goes on a little long. I don’t really listen to soundtracks for things I don’t know quite well already (I saw The Village when it came out but recall nothing about the music) and so it’s missing that connection to any narrative. But as a piece of music it’s pretty lovely.
Deadlock are probably my favourite of the metal bands here, and it was a good call to include two full songs from them. Because of Christian Älvestam’s immediately recognisable vocals in Dying Breed, there’s an obvious comparison to Scar Symmetry. But that’s only because it’s actually the same guy, so definitely not an issue, and his sections are great anyway. In general, the music is rich and melodic and both the growls and the female singer are top notch.
Nightrage are also strong. Hero definitely sounds a lot like early In Flames, which is a little distracting because the sound is so iconic, and then there’s a guest appearance from Tom Englund and suddenly it sounds (slightly) like Evergrey.
But despite the lack of originality, it’s still a very solid song, and the acoustic interlude that follows is nice too.
We then step away from the melodeath into some bluesy acoustic folk in the form of Sarah Jarosz. I’m not convinced it quite works in terms of flow, but it’s definitely been good for your quality score as it’s my favourite song here. I can absolutely see the comparison to Monica Heldal - different voice, but big similarities in the composition, melodies and general vibe, and it’s really lovely for all the same reasons.
And finally to our last metal band, Sybreed. There’s actually plenty I like here. The comparison that jumped out to me from the start was Soilwork, especially in the verses and some of the guitar work. The thing that holds it back as the weakest of a generally strong bunch is the chorus. Compared with Soilwork’s big hooks and soaring choruses, the melodies here are pretty uninteresting. But it’s still a decent song overall.
I wasn’t sure about the flow at first, but I’ve mostly come around on it. I like your approach to the ‘light to dark, dark to light’ theme, actually following the lyrics so that you have two darks and two lights in a row, and so on. And most of the transitions work ok in themselves. But I think the differences in instrumentation and style are a little too big to quite work for me - the Sarah Jarosz song is gorgeous but is pretty minimalist and bluesy and doesn’t really fit great in amongst the melodeath. Similarly, the bookends work ok but the closer does go on fairly long. Not huge issues and definitely still a good listen, but they do knock the flow score down a notch or two.
Music quality score: 8.3
Flow score: 3.8
EP total: 12.1
Roulette total = 8.3 + 7.8 + 8.4 + 8.4 + 8.8 + 8.3 + (8.3 + 3.8) = 62.1
Final position: 7th (joint)With the exception of a relative misstep in round 2, you just sent me hit after hit in this roulette. Even including round 2, you still got an average score on a par with the very best first-timers in my roulettes. I really appreciate the time and thought you put into trying to decipher and meet my musical interests (you probably have as much handle on it as I do at this point
). I’m most excited about Haerts, but really I’m looking forward to digging into pretty much everything It’s been fantastic having you on board, and in general getting to know each other musically over the course of our respective roulettes.
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Topic: ariich's DARK TO LIGHT roulette (v8) - Post-roulette updates (ongoing) (Read 91762 times)