Puppies Crazy Album Roulette (Jingle & Kat Bonus Round...spoiler...Jingle wins)

[Elite]

I think that's Blindead actually, but alright.

[Crow]

Could be but I don't find that Blindead album "crushing" myself 

[jingle.boy]

Well, scratching out what I believe has zero chance of being Swing of Death, I'm left with

- Melodic and technical. Off putting trigger sounds on the tom drums.
- Sounds like Voivod, Galactic Cowboys, and Tool had a weird 3-way love child
- This artist definitely has a sound and style that they like to stick to.
- The intensity here is basically turned up to 11.....at all times, without let up.
- The melodies! The nearly perfect collaboration of the guitars, bass, and drums!
- Groovy avocados
- This feels sort of forgettable. Kind of a poor man's Symphony X.
- Dream Theater called and wants their early 90's sound back.
- The atmosphere is crushing and comforting at the same time.


I really don't think it's a poor-man's S-X; Swing of Death is very dissimilar to the usual style of music that Lande sings on; I don't hear anything technical or trigerred there either; not sure it's a perfect blend of instrumentation.

My bet is it's all about groovy fruit.

[ariich]

- Groovy avocados

Hi.

[ariich]

My bet is it's all about groovy fruit.

Hey, hands off my groovy fruit.

[jingle.boy]

My bet is it's all about groovy fruit.

Hey, hands off my groovy fruit.

But how can I sex you later??

[romdrums]

I think mine is the Galactic Cowboys, Tool and Voivod one.

[ariich]

My bet is it's all about groovy fruit.

Hey, hands off my groovy fruit.

But how can I sex you later??

Well. Ok then.

But lights off.

[Lethean]

Mine is almost certainly this one: "Dream Theater called and wants their early 90's sound back."

Nonetheless, I loooooove that album.

[TAC]

- The intensity here is basically turned up to 11.....at all times, without let up.

[Puppies_On_Acid]

So I only got 4 of the write ups finished since I've been super sick the last few days. I'll try to get the rest finished tomorrow. Sorry about the delay 

Round 6 Results Part 1

Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites
Parama
Atmospheric Post Sludge
United States
(bonus point band)

First Impression - The intensity here is basically turned up to 11.....at all times, without let up.

So this album is basically a double album with each disc meant to be listened to at the same time. This isn't exactly a new concept, Neurosis did this with their Times of Grace album which was supposed to be listened to simultaneously with Tribes of Neurot's album Grace. It is, however, something that isn't done very often, so it does end up as being fairly unique in sound. It ends up being very dense. My original gripe with this album upon first listen was the relative lack of dynamics. It was full on intensity with no room to breathe. On subsequent listens I've started to pick out various aspects and little subtleties I hadn't noticed before (little guitar leads here, nice atmospheric keyboards there, some cool drum licks everywhere). It started to open up to my ears. The sound spectrum was completely filled up, but there was so many different interesting things going on that there was something new to pick up on each time I listened to this. This music started to live up to the subject matter of the album. With emotionally charged lyrics using the moons of Jupiter as metaphors (or so it seems to me). The album as a whole started to remind me of Echoes From η Carinae that you sent me earlier. Not because they sound at all similar, but because of the way the music makes you feel like you are exploring the dangerous expanse of outer space. Yes the atmosphere is crushing and intense, but so it space... And just like outer space, sometimes this album seems like it wants to kill you.

The only thing I would probably change is the vocals. Those were the one thing that the intensity could have been more varied. The other problem is the density of the album. I need like 2 or 3 dozen more listens to fully unravel this, but I don't exactly have that much time to spare in a roulette.

8/10 + (.5 bonus point) = 8.5/10


Dreamscape - Very
Lethean
Progressive Metal
Germany
(bonus point band)

First Impression - Dream Theater called and wants their early 90's sound back.

There's something about that 90's Progressive Metal sound that I just love. Never mind the fact that most of these bands were just copying either Dream Theater or Fates Warning or Queensryche (the Dream Theater worship is very evident here). The production is way better than most of the metal and rock that is released these days. All the instruments are allowed to breathe and be heard. And let me tell you everyone is on point here. The vocalist could be better, but he isn't bad. I think it's just his tone that I'm not particularly fond of, but that could just be attributed to tastes. He is technically pretty good. I like the prominent use of pianos and keyboards. The patches they use and their placement in the songs and mix are excellent. Even though they may be lacking originality (I mean this is really just Images & Words/Awake worship), the musicianship is definitely up to the task. Sure Wolfgang Kerinnis is no John Petrucci, but he plays some tasty melodic and technical solos and has some good riffs. The star of the show for me is definitely the drummer, Bernhard Huber. He reminds me of a mix of Mike Portnoy and Truls Haugen (apparently I ended up developing a very similar style and approach to drumming as Truls Haugen over my 20+ years of playing drums, as pointed out by one of my buddies that I jam with occasionally, which is how I originally heard about Circus Maximus, but I digress...). The individual songs are all fairly diverse, due in large part to the varied keyboards and drumming. The back half of this album is definitely more original than the first half. So at least they aren't completely copying Dream Theater.

This album ends up being much better than the only other Dreamscape album I've heard (End of Silence) which got a 3/10 from me. I like the style of production used here compared to End of Silence. The vocals are a little better here too, even though the vocals could still use some improvement. Overall a very enjoyable album and one I will likely revisit occasionally.

8/10 + .5 (bonus point) = 8.5/10


Thought Industry - Songs for Insects
Romdrums
Progressive Metal
United States

First Impression - Sounds like Voivod, Galactic Cowboys, and Tool had a weird 3-way love child

You mentioned in the PM you sent me that the production isn't the greatest here. I actually don't mind the production here. It's definitely a 90's style production. The only really weird thing is the almost St. Anger snare drum sound. Like beating on a trashcan lid The songs themselves are actually quite eclectic, hence the comparison to Voivod with their technical thrashy side, Galactic Cowboys with more thrashy sounds and a bit of quirkiness, Tool for their intellectually charged lyricism and going in to some more trance inducing sections here and there. I'd also add some Mr. Bungle/Faith No More for basically throwing in everything here (perhaps too many ideas?), including the kitchen sink and having diverse vocals throughout. Speaking of the vocals, though, I don't particularly like this vocalist. He gets the job done, but none of what he does in particularly impressive or catches my attention. This and the snare drum sound are really the only problems I have here.

On the plus side the guitar riffing is really imaginative and goes in to some pretty heavy hang banging riffs from time to time. This isn't exactly traditional thrash riffs though. They definitely take after the more progressive side of bands like the aforementioned Voivod and Galactic Cowboys. Even throwing in enough technicality to call to mind bands like Watchtower or Spiral Architect. There is so much variety here. While the album is rooted in Proggy Thrash, they tend to throw in other genres at all time, sometimes for just a few seconds like the bluegrassy/folky intro to Daughter Mobius or the Punky verses in the same song. Then there's the almost Industrial sounding Cornerstone. There's also some Speed Metal and classic prog rock bits. One big thing I noticed which really reminds me of Tool, even though they accomplish this in very different ways, is despite the obvious highly technical playing of everyone in the band, there isn't really any blatant noodling or showing off or lead guitar solo spots. It's actually a kind of refreshing change in Proggy metal. Sure there enough time signature changes here to make Dream Theater jealous, but everyone in the band is working towards one common goal.

I don't think this is an album I would revisit very often, mostly because it's more something I would have to be in a particular mood to listen to, but it's definitely a force to be reckoned with.

8.7/10


Oracle - Into the Unknown
TAC
Melodic Blackened Death Metal
United States

First Impression - Melodic and technical. Off putting trigger sounds on the tom drums.

I had no idea what to expect going in to this. I had never heard of the band before and for this round I didn't look up any info on the bands before listening. I wasn't expecting an album with any kind of blackened sound on it from you. Then again, this is so bloody melodic and fun to listen to.

This starts off so good. Great soft acoustic intro that smoothly transitions to fast and melodic. There's blazing solos, blast beats, awesome atmospheric keyboards, piano, nice drum fills, and epic riffs, and this is just the first song. There is also enough technicality to keep it interesting throughout the nearly 60 minute run time. I hear little bits taken from a lot of different bands spread out all over this album. Bits of Dark Tranquility, Mirrorthrone/Weeping Birth, Between the Buried and Me, Woe of Tyrants, Mithras, Scar Symmetry, As Eden Burns, among others, but it's blended together really well. The Liquid Answer has some really fast and awesome drumming. Which is also where I really picked up on the weird trigger sounds on the tom drums. With repeated listens I got more used to it and it didn't bug me nearly as much. The title track here is super head bangable and has some awesome riffs and solos. The inclusion of acoustic interludes is nice and keeps the album from feeling one dimensional. Take From Blue to Black as an example. The song starts off similar to the opening track with a nice spacey atmosphere, but it also goes heavy, and kind of goes back and forth, all in under 3 minutes. That's some dense, yet compact song writing. The song blends perfectly in to 1012. It sounds like there is a subtle saxophone here (could just be keyboards), it sounds nice. The album just keeps going with good song after good song. It never becomes boring. The only thing I might have changed is the last song. It doesn't really feel like a closing track. Other than that this album was fantastic.

9/10

[Lethean]

That particular score probably isn't going to help me climb the rankings, but I'm still pretty pleased with it.  I also agree that the 2nd half is more original than the first, and I generally prefer the second half.  I love that singer's voice though, which helps set that particular album above some other DT-clone type bands for me.  I didn't dislike End of Silence as much as you, but totally agree that Very is way better.

[TAC]

Damn, that was quick!
I'm not even prepared for the next round.


Although I did spend the night listening to my Concept Album. Hoping I can use it. I like it!



The vocals on Oracle are a bit much, but the music really makes it worthwhile.

[Crow]

man, 8/10 and still the lowest in a set of four albums 
hope some other people scored lower than me then 

also yeah the galilean satellites is... a lot. Absent is a particular fave and one I've sent in roulettes before
Also I agree regarding the vocals for what it's worth, they're not especially impressive harsh vocals

also SHELL OF A MAN ad infinitum i think the last track is the weakest by a huge margin

i pretty much already have my next two albums picked out tbh but we'll see if i wanna change one of 'em. i might. dunno if the space theme is gonna continue past this point, i do have a lot of albums i could send for it but then a fair number of other albums i wanna send too 

[jingle.boy]

Dreamscape sounds very intriguing.

[Big Hath]

Oracle - Into the Unknown
TAC
Melodic Blackened Death Metal
United States

a band from my home town!

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Sorry guys, I ended up going to the Emergency Room today (have a fever that decided to shoot up to over 103 or 40C for those of you not in the USA...), which as you can imagine would put a damper on getting these write up finished at the moment. All I can say is they will get done hopefully soon.

[Lethean]

Dreamscape sounds very intriguing.

I sent one song in your roulette which you didn't care for very much, but maybe you would like some of the others. 

[Lethean]

Sorry guys, I ended up going to the Emergency Room today (have a fever that decided to shoot up to over 103 or 40C for those of you not in the USA...), which as you can imagine would put a damper on getting these write up finished at the moment. All I can say is they will get done hopefully soon.

Wow that's really high!  Are you still at the hospital or back home?  How are you doing?

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Sorry guys, I ended up going to the Emergency Room today (have a fever that decided to shoot up to over 103 or 40C for those of you not in the USA...), which as you can imagine would put a damper on getting these write up finished at the moment. All I can say is they will get done hopefully soon.

Wow that's really high!  Are you still at the hospital or back home?  How are you doing?

Back home now. They spent some time getting my fever down and prescribed me some medication to get rid of whatever this is. This whole thing is making me extremely exhausted and I feel like crap. I've tried giving the remaining albums I need to do write ups for another listen to type up results, but I end up falling asleep 10 minutes in  or maybe the remaining albums are just that boring....

[Lethean]

Sorry guys, I ended up going to the Emergency Room today (have a fever that decided to shoot up to over 103 or 40C for those of you not in the USA...), which as you can imagine would put a damper on getting these write up finished at the moment. All I can say is they will get done hopefully soon.

Wow that's really high!  Are you still at the hospital or back home?  How are you doing?

Back home now. They spent some time getting my fever down and prescribed me some medication to get rid of whatever this is. This whole thing is making me extremely exhausted and I feel like crap. I've tried giving the remaining albums I need to do write ups for another listen to type up results, but I end up falling asleep 10 minutes in  or maybe the remaining albums are just that boring....

That's probably it... they should probably all get way lower scores than mine. 

Seriously though, you should probably just take it easy and sleep as much as you need to.

[jingle.boy]

Seriously though, you should probably just take it easy and sleep as much as you need to.

^ This

[Puppies_On_Acid]

OK, I'm finally feeling mostly better. I have a metric butt ton of work to catch up on first. Then I will work on the rest of these write ups. Sorry again for the delays.

Also, thanks for the thoughts of concern from Jingle and Lethean......Spoiler alert......You guys get 10/10 for your albums, everyone else gets -10/10 

[jingle.boy]

OK, I'm finally feeling mostly better. I have a metric butt ton of work to catch up on first. Then I will work on the rest of these write ups. Sorry again for the delays.

Also, thanks for the thoughts of concern from Jingle and Lethean......Spoiler alert......You guys get 10/10 for your albums, everyone else gets -10/10 

Ah c'mon... I deserve better than that!  I mean I'm usually (always) the first person bitching people out for their tardiness, and here I am showing actual compassion and understanding.

[Lethean]

Glad you're feeling better!

[Puppies_On_Acid]

In case you are wondering how the rest of the write ups are going....

[Elite]

okay!

[Crow]

i need to put together at least my greatest hits playlist before i leave for vacation next week, blah 
though at the pace these rounds are going maybe i don't

[Elite]

In case you are wondering how the rest of the write ups are going....

So, not very good apparently?

[The Walrus]

I bet mine went over like a wet fart, again. Pretty sure it's the comment about being stale or a poor man's Symphony X sadly.

[Crow]

i just realized an obvious hole in the banlist i can make a greatest hits album out of that i somehow missed before
time to do it & then totally fail because it's an artist i don't think puppies would like as much as the one i was originally planning but it makes my life easier 

[TAC]

i just realized an obvious hole in the banlist i can make a greatest hits album out of that i somehow missed before
time to do it & then totally fail because it's an artist i don't think puppies would like as much as the one i was originally planning but it makes my life easier 

Well, it seems you have another 3 months to work on it..

[jingle.boy]

I bet mine went over like a wet fart, again. Pretty sure it's the comment about being stale or a poor man's Symphony X sadly.

Actually, I would've put that comment on Arion.  But it could be yours too.   

[TAC]

We may never find out!

[jingle.boy]

We may never find out!

Patience, grasshopper.