Walrus HeaL DeaLs in Rock and Metal

HeaLnDeaL

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Here's the results of the first 3 cats. I'll attempt to post up write ups later but we'll see. Hope to do my next reveals next Sunday at the same time, 2 PM Eastern.

Texas sent me songs doing the first reveal so I'll try and rank his first 3 songs over this next week and edit scores accordingly. Also, as an edit, Rodan should have zero meaningless podium points, not 1. He used to have a podium prior to a reveal but then a late sub snyped him.
 

HeaLnDeaL

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Cat 4 Comments and Scores
Sketch Up
6.2
Rise Above by Black Flag

Lyrically and vocally uninspired. I don't hear any particularly technical aspects. It's a shame because I really liked SketchUp's first 3 songs.


Flamestar
6.8
This is My War by 5FDP

Lyrically insipid, I've warned of my strong aversion towards 5FDP. Basic beat is fine. It "sounds" nice and like it could be good rock. But don't be fooled. This is just generic good sounding stuff with no meaning behind it.


Texas
6.9
Murder City Nights by Radio Birdman

I'm not entirely sure what is technical about this. It sounds like a generic rock song as well… sorry texas :c It's not bad but I don't get the appeal. As a consolation prize, pls take the esteemed ranking of 6.9.


Myzozoa
7.0
These Days by St. Vincent

Static in the recording is mildly distracting. Rhymes in the lyrics sound quite forced and don't fit in. I agree with myz that the vocals and guitar are pretty technical but myz says it is an emotional performance and I don't feel it. It's all the same notes so the emotion seems washed over with sameness for me. "Beautiful voice" =/= "emotion" for me. Some moments of her slower cadence near the end work well for emotion I guess... Hard to judge this one.

Granny Pie
7.0
Run Away by Sunstroke Project

The instruments are great. The vocals are poppy but not awful and there's still some rock/jazz. The dancing and the video makes me facepalm so hard. Overall it seems way too serious for a normal granny sub.


Rodan
7.1
The Seer by Swans

I see it all I see it all I see it all I see it all I see it all I see it all I see it all I see it all bang noise bang noise bang noise. Really, for a 30 minute song this is very repetitious and predictable and I couldn't get into it. There's some hidden gem moments but overall they weren't worth enough compared to the dragging of other moments. Not a bad song, just not for me.


Asek
7.2
Spectes des Mouse by Mouse on the Keys

Jazzy piano time? I don't have much to say. It certainly sounds like a very technical song. It was engaging to me on the first listen but lost a of oomph on consecutive listens.


Knights
7.3
The Finish Line by Michael Angelo Batio

Some very solid, technical guitar playing. It seems to be an exploration of riffs and the technical capabilities of a guitar rather than an attempt to make a cohesive song. In other words, it's show off music. I wish the drums weren't so passive. There's some variation but it doesn't excite. Still, a very technical song.

tcr
7.3
How Blue Can You Get by B.B. King

For a live performance this is pretty amazing. I'm not the biggest blues fan so rip there though :/ Definitely a song with some strong technical elements. Strong ending.


vonFiedler
7.4
American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Alright it's definitely a well known classic and probably deserves to be one. Ugh… this is so hard to judge. I like the vocal style and the back and forth in cadence/vocal speed. There's no single highlight moment in the song but it blends well. It's… a simple song for this cat though.


Walrein
7.6
Perfect Pillow by CHON

This sounds nice and I'm glad it's only 3.5 minutes because it's not the kind of niceness that would work longer. Nice shifts happening, but sometimes I feel like the shifts happen too fast. Nice song, technical ability is obvious. Hard to rate though.


Steven Snype
7.7
No Man No Cry by Jimmy Saxx

For not having an ounce of rock/metal thiswas surprisingly engaging for me. My exposure to sax is limited so I don't know how this truly ranks within its field but it sounds pretty cool to me. Mildly generic at times but good.


Soviet
7.8
Marquee Moon by Television

Is this some 70s version of pre-shoe gaze? Overall it seems more repetitious to me than "technical" as a lot of the sounds don't seem that hard to pull off. But it's a nice kind of repetition. I enjoyed the song, wish it was maybe just a minute or two shorter but it's good. Nice clean sounding song.


DLE
7.9
Forced Entry by Leprous

Lyrics are hit and miss for me throughout the song but I like how it builds up. An engaging 10 minutes at least, minus the one slow part in the middle.

Hmm I never imagined DLE would submit something like this. It's certainly energetic and different than most songs submitted. I dig the contrasts within the vocal styles and speeds. It sounds mildly emo but not at the same time and it confuses me. Hmm.


EpicUmbreon29
8.3
Serpent Eats the Ground by Revo

Maybe it's just Blazade's operatic metal is rubbing off on me, but this is just a really interesting composition. I'm really not sure what genre this technically is but it sounds fairly rock-y at some parts at least. I probably like the first half more than the second but at least the last minute is solid as well... Sadly since I played the game this is from, Epic doesn't get his +.5 bonus.

LG
8.3
Firing Squad by Power Trip

Well this is pretty brutal. Pretty loud and fast and it's also… short and sweet. Lyrics are less cheesy than I was expecting too. Hmmm… this is hard to judge. I can only say good things but when it comes down to it I just feel like it fits low/mid 8s and I don't know why.


Aladyyn
8.4
Destroying the Cosmos by Vektor

Not as good as the previous vektor submitted in an earlier cat but still a great sonic exploration… vocal style is a bit off for me but the music is stellar.


Old Greg
8.6
Learning to Live by Dream Theater
Ah, some Dream Theater. This song was a refreshing change of pace after listening to so many 7-ish songs in a row. It has… more contrast (as opposed to slow build up) within its structure than what I'm used to in Dream Theater but I think it works well. Lyrics are cheesy as hell but I'd rather have this with cheesy lyrics than the majority of the songs submitted for this cat.


Blazade
9.1
Blut Im Auge by EQUILIBRIUM

Blazade has ended his curse and submitted a song with p nice lyrics. Some of the vocal growls are a bit too intense for me but they meld extremely well into all of the sounds. There's the typical blazade orchestral influences but I really like how they work with the raw vocals.


Slurmz
9.2
Dunkelheit by Burzum

Love the atmosphere of the song and the static actually works really well. It's not super complex but I find a refreshing technical component in masking the sounds just enough to make them mysterious but not too far to make them unrecognizable. The dual language component is also interesting.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmIF-vHjMkg
 

HeaLnDeaL

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Yo fam, I'm alive and ready to do another HeaLnReveal this weekend. Might be juggling this alongside hosting a fast survivor, so details will come soon. I've graded most of my cat 6s forever ago though. Sorry for the delay!
 
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HeaLnDeaL

Let's Keep Fighting
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Mx shubaka17 EpicUmbreon29 Blazade Hys Granny Pie and the banned slurmz who I can't tag but talked to on discord.

Yo, you all have missing songs that's preventing me from going forward. Pls sub so I can do the next cat pls and ty : )

Hoping for a reveal before the end of the month, but that's dependent on getting those subs =]

Everyone else, if you want to change a cat 7-10 song, you still can.
 

HeaLnDeaL

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VuvuzelaBzz has joined the Walrus late, but I have graded his cats 1-6.

VuvuzelaBzz said:
1. Super Group: Eaten by Bloodbath — The "super group" status of Bloodbath stems from Dan Swanö(Edge of Sanity), Peter Tägtgren(Hypocrisy), Jonas Renkse(Katatonia) and Anders Nyström(Katatonia). The quality and variety of Peter Tägtgren's harsh vocals is among the very best and both he and Dan Swanö are renowned for their ability as producers for extreme metal.

2. Something New: Crater by Earthside — "A Dream in Static", the album this song is from, was released in 2015 and is one of the best progressive metal albums of the decade. "Crater" is one of the album's highlights, featuring an excellent vocal performance by Björn "Speed" Strid of Soilwork fame.

3. Moody: Iter Impius by Pain of Salvation — "Iter Impius" is part of a concept album and in it the protagonist of the album's story wakes up after having cryogenically frozen himself in hopes of being able to become immortal and rule over Earth for eternity, only to find that mankind has destroyed itself.

4. Get Technical: Stargazer by Rainbow — An early heavy metal epic featuring Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio at the peak of their abilities.

5. Vices: Wake Up by Mad Season — Mad Season were a side-project of Layne Staley, the lead singer of Alice in Chains. "Wake Up" was essentially Layne trying to convince himself to end his long-term addiction to heroin, which would eventually take his life.

6. Contrast: Shuriken by Twelve Foot Ninja — Twelve Foot Ninja are a band known for genre-hopping between contrasting types of music within the same song. In "Shuriken" they transition between a couple styles of acoustic segments and heavier chugging guitar segments before ending the song with a mix of the latter and dubstep effects.
1. It starts out with a good, one note song lyrically and stylistically but gets boring and predictable… until the middle of the song when things change up. I mean, still one-note in terms of lyrics, but that musical shift is easily the best part of the song.
Score: 8.1

2. Starts out really nice and teeters between speedy and eerie. I like the vocals when they really push it towards a scream, but the "normal" vocals seem a bit boring without a lot of variation. Lyrics aren't bad but they don't really draw me in either. Instruments are something I can get behind all the way around, nice and proggy without being too repetitive.

Score: 9.0

3. Piano sounds really pretty, but vocal style is too one-note to draw me in. Lyrics seem quite cliché like typical power metal… and at the end the song sounds like a slightly moodier version of power metal. Guitar solo is the best part, but it's the typical sad guitar solo.

Score: 7.9

4. Sounds like typical dad rock/power metal. It's not bad, but it doesn't reach anything entirely creative or especially technical. Granted, I know it's pretty amazing for it's time... but well I'm not of that time, sorry :c

Score: 7.8

5. Dem Layne Staley and Alice and Chains chills. It's a voice that does so much.Lyrics are somber and beautiful. The song cranks up at just the right moment.

Score: It gets a 9.0 because of late game podium cap, but probably would have gotten a three-way tie for second and a 9.1 if submitted earlier.

6. There could be higher tonal or volume contrast, but instead it has some stylistic contrast. Everything blends together really well though, almost too well and makes me want more contrast. Lyrics aren't amazing butthey offer me enough. Vocal quality interesting... Overall, I just wanted a bit more, but it's a song that gets me interested at the least.

Score: 8.1


This means Vuvuzela is now in 5th place. Here's a look at the updated spreadsheet:



If there's anymore late comers interested, you may join in, but for cats 1-6 your score will be capped to keep you out of all of the previous podiums (meaning your song will never score higher than the third place song for a given cat) as a small late penalty to compensate for your advantage in already being able to see how I graded the competition.
 

HeaLnDeaL

Let's Keep Fighting
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Hullo, I'm still waiting for certain people to sub for remaining cats who told me they would sub ;-;

But, I'd like to take this intermission to make what I'm calling a "Walrus Impact Report." Basically, I just want to give credit to people who have submitted Walrus songs that I ultimately decided to buy and add to my music library (or other albums relating to songs/artists submitted). I'm someone who rarely buys music but I bought more that I usually do this year, and specifically in the last 5 or so months.

Aladyyn

"My Requim" was a song that caused me to go into massive research on the band and singer, and in early November I took the plunge and decided to buy two copies of the album (Tree of Eternity's Hour of the Nightingale); one for me and one for a friend. Aleah Stanbridge's vocals are just so perfect, RIP so hard ;-; It's an album that I regularly have playing in my car, especially for passengers who dislike the heavy vocals of my other CDs. Great album and its an utter shame that it hasn't gotten more recognition. While "My Requim" is definitely a great song, I also really like the closer "Gallows Birds." (Really, the entire album is great though with no weak points).

Da Letter El

I talked to you earlier about this in the year, but my introduction to Deafheaven through you (both outside and furthered inside of this walrus) prompted me to buy their newest album, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love. During the early listens, I praised "Canary Yellow" to the highest degree but was left a bit disappointed in songs like "Near" and "Night People." Since then, these songs have grown a lot on me and I love them all.

Your submission of Deafheaven's cover of Mogwai's "Punk Rock/Cody" also prompted me to do research into Mogwai during the category of this submission. Ultimately I concluded that Mogwai's version was better and I began listen to their discography here and there on youtube. A few months ago I decided to buy Magwai's 1998 Come On Die Young and it's been a frequent CD in my travels. There's so many amazing points on the album, from the most lyrically infused "Cody" to "May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door" to "Christmas Steps." For someone who's proclaimed in this Walrus multiple times that I like analyzing lyrics, I'm surprised how much I like the album despite it's overall lack of vocals.

Lord Gaius

I've been listening to the few Ragana songs on youtube for a while but at the end of last month I finally discovered their bandcamp page... and after a few days of thought... I decided to purchase their entire discography; all 5 of their albums. The simplicity and brutal vocal delivery of your submission "Somewhere" is still a highlight, but I find myself gravitating the most to their Wash Away album for it's title track as well as "Alive." Overall I really like that their style usually divides their songs into two distinct parts that still jive well together, adding contrast and separating lyrical or instrumental stages of the song. Definitely a great band I look forward to seeing what they do in the future! They definitely deserve more recognition.

As a sidenote, after all our talks regarding Mastodon's newest stuff... I ultimately did not buy Emperor of Sand but I did buy their EP Cold Dark Place. I know we disagreed on our personal preferences of these two releases, but I still appreciate your talks all the same and I appreciate both works a lot but felt that the newer breath in the EP better represented the new spark I wanted to put into my music collection moving forward.

---

Thanks to everyone for submitting such amazing songs and letting my exposure to cool music grow!
 

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