ariich’s inclusive roulette (v6) – EPic final results!

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Yeah, I'm down too.

[Indiscipline]

By all means!

[Sacul]

I'm happy to report back here as I work through each artist, if people are interested!

*raises hand in interest*

[ariich]

Ok cool, there's way too much for me to be able to do anything detailed, but I'll post my album ratings and a couple of thoughts on each artist as I work my way through.

EDIT: I'll do my first one tomorrow, one I've given this last Thy Catafalque album another listen.

[ariich]

Ok some thoughts on what I've checked out so far, approximately in order of checking them out.

Evan Carson (Evermind - round 1)
Just the one album, and it's amazing (4.5 stars). All the good stuff I said about the songs you sent applies to the full album, it's really creative, interesting and engaging music. Love it.

Monica Heldal (Katt - round 1)
I've ended up loving Boy From the North even more than the selection of songs you sent (4.5 stars). There's just something about the vibe of the music that's gorgeously consistent but sufficiently varied that works really well for me, and it suits her voice perfectly on that album. The One In The Sun is slightly less amazing simply because some of it doesn't quite suit her voice so well (particularly the more energetic tunes), but it's still great (4 stars).

Clarence Clarity (Train - round 2)
Both No Now and Think: Peace are fantastic (4 stars x 2), both have some weaker tracks, but some amazing ones too and the quirky glitchy groovy pop music is just really, really cool. I tried his newest one, Dead Screen Scrolls, which is an ambient one and I found a bit boring (3 stars).

Daydream XI (jingle - round 2)
I told you already but I checked out Circus and it is indeed a great album (4 stars) - the songs you sent are probably the best (along with Collector of Souls) but it's all really nicely done prog metal with a bit of theatricality to it. The Grand Disguise is maybe a smidgen less good, but similarly great for the same reason (also 4 stars).

Valis Ablaze (romdrums - round 2)
Stylistically I can see why people might see this band as a TesseracT ripoff, but honestly they're just really really great at it, better than Tesseract are (except Altered State) because the melodic hooks are stronger and there's a bit more emotionality to it. Render is definitely my favourite (4.5 stars) but Boundless and the Insularity EP are also excellent (4 stars x 2).

La Dispute (Cyril - round 1)
This is pretty much what I expected from the selection of songs you sent. Panorama is great (4 stars), it has the emotional intensity but also a nice diversity, there's something very compelling about how the different elements are balanced. The other three albums are all still good, but the "spoken" style vocals get a bit wearying after a whole album of it and it's a style I find it hard to really get into (3.5 stars x 3). However, I'm loving King Park even more now, it's such a powerful song.

Aeternam (lonestar - round 1)
These guys are great, stylistically exactly what I expected from the songs you sent and of pretty much the same quality throughout. Their first album wasn't as strong as the rest (3.5 stars), but every album they've done since has been absolutely top-notch proggy melodic death metal (4 stars x 3).

Thy Catafalque (Buddy - round 1)
As you've already observed in my RYM, I'm finding this an incredibly consistent band/project. As I said, I imagine over time I'll get to know the albums better and will be able to pick out favourites and maybe some I'll end up liking less, but right now everything from Tűnő Idő Tárlat onwards (which is all that's available on Spotify) is sounding really excellent, a weird and enticing blend of Hungarian folk-infused avant-garde metal with occasional other influences thrown in (4 stars x 7).

[The Walrus]

Pretty much what I think about OITS as well. So happy you like Boy From The North so much  Hard agree on that Evan Carson record too, it's really cool stuff.

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Boy From the North is about as close to a 5 star album you can get without actually being a 5 star album. It's fantastic!

[The Walrus]

Boy From the North is about as close to a 5 star album you can get without actually being a 5 star album. It's fantastic!

Suck on that, Indi! 

[Buddyhunter1]

I'll have to give Tűnő Idő Tárlat a listen - I actually haven't heard it (or anything before it) yet.

My rankings for the albums I have heard would likely be:

1: Sgurr
2: Regenteg
3: Roka Hasa Radio (the 19 minute track is sooooo fucking good)
4: Naiv
5: Meta
6: Geometria

[ariich]

Boy From the North is about as close to a 5 star album you can get without actually being a 5 star album. It's fantastic!

Suck on that, Indi! 

I'll have to give Tűnő Idő Tárlat a listen - I actually haven't heard it (or anything before it) yet.

My rankings for the albums I have heard would likely be:

1: Sgurr
2: Regenteg
3: Roka Hasa Radio (the 19 minute track is sooooo fucking good)
4: Naiv
5: Meta
6: Geometria

I'd probably agree with Geometria being at the lower end so far, and Sgurr being one of the strongest. I'm also really like Naiv a lot so far. I wasn't sure about Meta on first listen but loved it on second. And yeah Roka has some less interesting bits but some of it is amazing, particularly the epic.

[Buddyhunter1]

Meta definitely has some highlights - the opener is one of their best and Siraly (the second track) is great as well. The 21 minute epic is a bit overcooked but I like it too. The rest of the album is kinda meh and why I rank it towards the bottom. As a whole it also kinda just feels like a weaker version of Regenteg, like they reached a dead end with that sound. Which makes sense considering the two subsequent albums have been in a bit of a different direction.

[Crow]

i'd say

1. Sgurr
2. Roka Hasa Radio
3. Rengeteg
4. Meta
5. Tűnő Idő Tárlat
6. Geometria

tho tbh the last two i have barely ever returned to. tuno has such awful production/general sound it's a bit harder to listen to and geometria is just kinda dull.
i checked out naiv but it was just. more of the same

[Indiscipline]

Boy From the North is about as close to a 5 star album you can get without actually being a 5 star album. It's fantastic!

Suck on that, Indi! 

Touchè, on Evan Carson as well.

You didn't send me the whole album though 

[The Walrus]

Boy From the North is about as close to a 5 star album you can get without actually being a 5 star album. It's fantastic!

Suck on that, Indi! 

Touchè, on Evan Carson as well.

You didn't send me the whole album though 

>> <<

[jingle.boy]

I agree completely on your assessment of DXI.  The Grand Design (song), is ACOS-level God-tier though.

[ariich]

Good morning nutters, here are some more updates. I'll try and keep these a bit more frequent, but keep in mind if I find artists like Thy Catafalque who have a lot of albums and I'm liking all of them, it could take a while.

Blindead (Elite - round 1)
Happy to say that the songs you sent were indeed represented of the album Absence, which really is a great album (4 stars) and better than what I'd previously heard from them. I decided to give Affliction another listen to see if I liked it any more, but my opinion is the same (3.5 stars) I also gave Ascension a couple of listens too, but that wasn't as strong either and the new singer is a lot less interesting (3.5 stars). So they might end up being a one-hit wonder for me but that's ok, I'm really glad you got me to discover this album!

Area (Indi - round 1)
The songs you sent seem to have given a very good overview of this band - I checked out both the albums they came from and my opinion is much the same. Lots of really cool ideas, so ahead of its time in some ways, and really digging the jazzy mix in with the "experimental rock" stuff. But ultimately there's just a bit too much stuff that doesn't work for me - a little too out-there perhaps - so I enjoyed both albums a lot but didn't love either. (3.5 stars x 2).

Subsignal (jingle - round 1)
You chose a really good selection of songs and I've found it interesting how it's translated into my views on the albums they're from. Their first two albums had probably my favourite songs in your submission, and they're good albums but don't quite tickle my fancy (3.5 stars x 2) - B&M for the most part doesn't have super interesting melodies to my ears, and Touchstones has a handful of really great songs but is quite bloated as an album. But Paraiso is easily my favourite and really excellent (4 stars). The songwriting is tighter, the melodic hooks are stronger, and it more consistently has a warm, emotional richness to it that only pops up occasionally on the other two. I also checked out their fourth album Beacons to see if they continued to improve, but that was a bit less exciting again (3.5 stars).

Rise Twain (king - round 1)
Just the one album here, and I don't have a lot to say because my feelings on it are pretty much identical to the songs you sent. You definitely picked some of the best on the album, but it's all great really and there are other highlights too (like Oh This Life), just lovely emotive rock music all round (4 stars).

Van Der Graaf Generator (LordCost - round 1)
So I wouldn't normally have bothered with an artist I rated lower like this, but after you mentioned the other songs on Pawn Hearts I was curious to check it out. And yeah, they're definitely stronger - still innovative and unusual, but more coherent and with no annoying sections. But as a whole the album still ends up being good but not great (3.5 stars).

[Indiscipline]

Area (Indi - round 1)
The songs you sent seem to have given a very good overview of this band - I checked out both the albums they came from and my opinion is much the same. Lots of really cool ideas, so ahead of its time in some ways, and really digging the jazzy mix in with the "experimental rock" stuff. But ultimately there's just a bit too much stuff that doesn't work for me - a little too out-there perhaps - so I enjoyed both albums a lot but didn't love either. (3.5 stars x 2).

Amazing sex music though 

[ariich]

[jingle.boy]

I 100% agree with your assessment of Subsignal. If you have the wherewithal, you may find their last release - La Muerta - a nice listen. I was pretty disappointed with Beacon; La Muerta was a large improvement, and imo is their most consistent album start to finish.

[ariich]

I 100% agree with your assessment of Subsignal. If you have the wherewithal, you may find their last release - La Muerta - a nice listen. I was pretty disappointed with Beacon; La Muerta was a large improvement, and imo is their most consistent album start to finish.

Ooh, I didn't think I'd bother but I'll add it to my list in that case.

[Elite]

Alright, cool! I still think Affliction > Ascension, but the latter is a great album as well I think.

[The Walrus]

I 100% agree with your assessment of Subsignal. If you have the wherewithal, you may find their last release - La Muerta - a nice listen. I was pretty disappointed with Beacon; La Muerta was a large improvement, and imo is their most consistent album start to finish.

Ooh, I didn't think I'd bother but I'll add it to my list in that case.

La Muerta was the second album I heard by Subsignal and it's still my favorite.

[Nekov]

Paraiso is a really good album. I love the quasi reggae break in A New Reliance, that's my favorite part of the album.

[Lethean]

My tastes in Subsignal are slightly different, but to me all of their albums are great so I don't really "disagree" with someone having Paraiso as their favorite.  Beacons is my favorite and maybe Touchstones next but they're all close and all great.

[LordCost]

Lemmings is definitely my favourite, don't know why I read that many people don't rate it as the best of Pawn Hearts or say that it was a grower for them.

[ariich]

I 100% agree with your assessment of Subsignal. If you have the wherewithal, you may find their last release - La Muerta - a nice listen. I was pretty disappointed with Beacon; La Muerta was a large improvement, and imo is their most consistent album start to finish.

Ooh, I didn't think I'd bother but I'll add it to my list in that case.

La Muerta was the second album I heard by Subsignal and it's still my favorite.

Update: So yep I agree, another 4 star album for me, really nice stuff!

Anyway, more updates for me which completes what I'm checking out from round 1.


Eternal Storm (Luoto - round 1)
Yeah Come the Tide was pretty much what I expected, very high quality melodic death metal much like the songs you sent from it (4 stars). I also quite liked the older EP, From the Ashes, but it wasn't as strong really (3.5 stars).

Lazerhawk (Nekov - round 1)
I ended up checking out all four of their albums as I really like their synthwave/electro-pop sound but some songs and albums are more exciting than others. The two albums that work really well for me are Dreamrider and Visitors (4 stars x 2). Skull and Shark also has some great songs (including the ones you sent me), but it's really long and has quite a lot of filler, and then the first album Redline is solid but not as interesting to me (3.5 stars x 2).

Blut Aus Nord (Puppies - round 1)
I wanted to give these guys a go as the three songs you sent me were all so different, so I checked out the two albums that the ones I liked most were from. Neither quite works for me. On 777 Sect(s), Epitome II is still awesome, but most of the rest just doesn't really do it for me, it's very dense and heavy and discordant and not quite to my tastes (3 stars). I also tried Hallucinogen which was much better - a lot more atmospheric and melodic and quite interesting, but still not quite what I'm looking for (3.5 stars).

Edge of Reality (romdrums - round 1)
I gave In Static a couple of listens, and my general feeling towards it is very similar to the songs you sent from it - it's very entertaining but a bit all over the place. And while for 20 mins that was still enough to warrant an 8/10, a long album of it gets quite wearing - everything is enjoyable but there's never any focal point. I don't mind that approach at times (for example, on Haken's new album I enjoy the Messiah Complex suite in balance with the more coherent song-writing for the rest of the album) but when a whole 70 minute album is like that, I just find it hard to get into (3.5 stars).

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Sacul - round 1)
I gave a listen to all three albums you sent songs from. The earlier two, Push the Sky Away and Skeleton Tree, are nice but bar a handful of songs don't quite do it for me, which I thought might be the case (3.5 stars x 2). Ghosteen though is much more my cup of tea. It's a bit overly long and maybe drags a little, but the whole sound and emotion throughout the album is amazing, so the length doesn't stop it being really great still (4 stars).

The Plot in You (Shadow - round 1)
The songs you sent were all from Happiness in Self Destruction, so that was my obvious starting point and is a really excellent album somewhere on the cusp of metalcore and post-hardcore (4 stars). It seems to be much less popular, but I also really dig their latest album Dispose as well, the poppier, synthy elements working quite well for me (also 4 stars). I also went back and tried Could You Watch Your Children Burn but unfortunately that felt much less engaging and a bit angsty for my tastes (3 stars).

Atlas Pain (TAC - round 1)
Both What the Oak Left and Tales of a Pathfinder are pretty much exactly what I expected based on the songs you sent, really melodic and energetic folk metal that's fairly cheesy but not overly so and just really very enjoyable (4 stars). Their first EP was also ok, but most of it was just slightly less good versions of songs from their first full-length (3.5 stars).

Solution .45 (wolfking - round 1)
Damn these guys really do just sound like Scar Symmetry had carried on in a similar style and quality, I dig it a lot. All three albums are top notch (4 stars x 3). Nightmares in the Waking State: Part I is probably marginally the weakest of the three because there's not as much in the way of great melodic hooks, but it's still a solid punchy album and works well alongside Part II.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Happiness in Self Destruction is really an amazing album all the way through; there are really only a few songs that feel a bit boring (Mind Controlled, Living Your Dream), and they're not bad or anything.

I've tried Dispose several times, and man... I just cannot get into it. It feels like Landon's mixed his voice way into the background a lot of the time which is a bizarre choice as it's the best feature of the band. And I guess it's supposed to be in a bit of a poppier direction, but I just can't find anything to grab on to in most of the songs. And I don't have an issue with a style change, I like Landon's crushingly heavy EP about a robot killing humanity, I like his whisper songs and his weird half-joking rap songs, I like his solo pop songs and pretty much anything else he's done. Dispose just doesn't work for me.

I'll probably give it another try sometime, as I have in the past.

Solution .45 really is just an incredibly solid group. I kind of liked some of the most recent Scar Symmetry album (from like 5 years ago or something) too, but they're definitely missing something without Alvestam.

[Sacul]

I only know those three albums but I'd agree that Ghosteen has the better atmosphere. Sad it drags for a bit but when it hits, it does it hard.

[ariich]

A short break from our regularly scheduled programming for some Cyril post-roulette action. It wasn't in the format of the usual roulette, instead he sent me four full albums and one song.


The Protomen - Act II: Father of Death (Cyril - post-roulette)
This is really cool stuff. Pretty theatrical rock opera that brings in a number of different styles and influences and does it with a lot of charisma and energy. Most rock opera is either basically just a concept album all sung by one person, or involves a ton of guest vocalists for the different characters. I really like the fact that this is a rock opera band, with a number of band members singing who each have distinct and good voices. Works really well. Anyway, highly enjoyable stuff!
Rating: 8.4

Inter Arma - The Cavern (Cyril - post-roulette)
This is also very cool. I mean, a 45 minute song is quite a lot to take in, and I'm glad you didn't send it during the roulette. But essentially it's a concept album in a single track, and it's good stuff - post/sludge metal with a good balance of intensity and melody, and a performance and sound that makes it pretty immersive.
Rating: 8.1

An Isolated Mind - I'm Losing Myself (Cyril - post-roulette)
Good news - I don't hate it! Bad news - I don't much like it either, probably for the reasons you thought I'd hate it. The general sound is actually pretty good, and there is some really good stuff at moments. But it's mostly just too dissonant and hectic for my tastes, and I just can't get into it at all.
Rating: 6.5

Liturgy - God of Love [just the song] (Cyril - post-roulette)
Ok so this song is good. I don't love it - something about the sound just lacks of a bit of punch and impact on me for some reason - but there's an interesting intensity to it and some very atmospheric melodic stuff going on behind the intense stuff that makes it quite engaging. It interested me enough to want to check out the album though, which I did, and yeah most of it is definitely less interesting. I don't mind the interlude stuff too much, it's a nice breather although some of it is pretty meandering. But a lot of the other heavy stuff I find a bit messy and not very enjoyable.
Song rating: 7.6  (Album: 3 stars)

Joliette - Luz Devora (Cyril - post-roulette)
Interesting submission, not sure I've ever heard any hardcore music in Spanish before. They have a pretty cool sound, and if you'd chosen a good selection of songs for the roulette it could have scored high 7s, maybe scraped an 8. But a full album of it gets quite wearing - the main issue being there's very little in the way of either hooks, atmosphere or emotional resonance. I don't necessarily need all of those, but I do need at least some!
Rating: 7.2

[Crow]

these are all about what i expected

[ariich]

Glad I could meet but not exceed expectations.

[Puppies_On_Acid]

If you want to hear some more Liturgy, check out their album Aesthethica, it's interesting, to say the least. It includes the worst song of 2011 (possibly of the decade) followed directly by one of the best songs of 2011 (Glass Earth and Harmonia respectively) 

Or maybe just check out those 2 songs. 

[The Walrus]

Pup I'm still waiting for that writeup on my other EP I sent you but it's okay if you never listened to it         

[Puppies_On_Acid]

Pup I'm still waiting for that writeup on my other EP I sent you but it's okay if you never listened to it         

I don't think you want me doing a writeup for that EP 

[wolfking]

For Aeons Past is where it's at for S.45.  The other two are good and honestly find it hard to choose which one I like more.