THE CRUSADE OF EPICS: Results -> A Change Of Seasons wins!

“One Rode To Asa Bay” is raw and amateurish, and it’s a bit too repetitive and meandering, though it does have passionate vocals with a memorable melody. “Ghost Love Score” is pompous and majorly overrated, but it’s a fundamentally better executed song. Sorry, @Dityn DJ James, but I have to go with MrLooserDieserWogger’s nominee here. Winner: Nightwish

“The Glass Prison” has a lot of nice musical parts, but the vocal phrasing is often atrocious, as is the sound of LaBrie’s voice when he tries to project toughness. Meanwhile “Domino” is one of the best Genesis songs of the 1980s, beginning as a warm, catchy ballad with subversively dark undercurrents that eventually curdles into a heavy, despairing nightmare. “The Glass Prison” has a lot more notes in it, but “Domino” is far and away the better executed song, IMO. Sorry, MrKidderDarker, but I would have voted this way even if it weren’t for own-nominee bias. Winner: Genesis
 
I’m not sure why, but I stopped getting updates for this topic. Thankfully most of the rounds I’ve missed have had winners that I would have picked. I’m very likely never going to vote against Symphony X or Opeth, and I’m looking forward to what’ll happen when they eventually fight each other to the death.

Anyway, Round 74 is a no-brainer for me. Nightwish’s best song and the first Dream Theater song I ever heard (and the one that got me into bass playing) are the clear winners here.
 
One Rode to Asa Bay is like play at my funeral kind of good. Perhaps even 30 years later the world isn't ready for it yet, who knows.
 
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Results of Round 74:
Bathory - One Rode To Asa Bay
Genesis - Domino
Nightwish - Ghost Love Score
Dream Theater - The Glass Prison

Between The Buried & Me - Extremophile Elite (Nominated by @Mosh)
vs.
Helloween - The King For A 1000 Years (Nominated by @Saapanael)

Golden Earring - The Vanilla Queen (Nominated by @Forostar)
vs.
The Ocean - Devonian - Nascent (Nominated by @Night Prowler)
 
I don't really like any of the songs in this round.

First match is a no-brainer -- aimless, masturbatory prog alternating shitty extreme vocals with overly saccharine vocal harmonies? Hard pass. Sorry, @Mosh, but @Saapanael 's nominee takes this one by default. Winner: Helloween

"The Vanilla Queen" is pleasant enough, though it's listless and its outro is interminably long. Nothing particularly memorable going on here. "Devonian: Nascent" is more interesting to me musically, though it's also a bit listless in parts, and it has a few bouts of awful non-melodic screaming later on. Gun to my head, I guess in this case the more interesting music counterbalances the periodic vocal offenses enough to eke out a victory. Sorry, @Forostar, but I have to go with @Night Prowler 's nominee here. Winner: The Ocean
 
A really tough vote for Helloween in the first round. I don't really like it, I hate the vocals, and I think a lot of the transitions and production are incredibly low rent. Compared to the incredibly high rent sounding BTBAM...which has no substance for me and is exceedingly random (even for prog).

Easier vote for The Ocean, although the tone of the song is a bit too one note and droning for 11 minutes, it's still preferable to the jammy 70s prog rock of Golden Earring.
 
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Jer said:
I don't really like any of the songs in this round.
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I'm mostly in the same boat.

I have an acquaintance who is obsessed with Between the Buried and Me, and I just don't get it. They're no doubt great musicians, but I've never heard something of theirs where there's something to latch onto. Their music sounds like it has no purpose other than constant movement, which is fine for a section or two but for entire songs (and long ones at that) it gets too grating. In this track, the section at 2:53 is cool, but it is ruined soon after by crappy vocals and more atonal noodling prog.

Conversely, Helloween is pure medieval Zelda cheese... and not in a good way. I've never cared much for traditional power metal (it mostly ends up sounding the same to me with soaring choruses, running double bass, and zero punchiness). Top that off with me really not liking the stereotypical tenor power metal voice with no depth, and this isn't my cup of tea. That said, there are parts of this massive track that aren't bad (almost all of them being instrumental in nature), and unlike the BTBAM track, a key ingredient of music is featured here: melody. This is my clear winner.

I've never heard of Golden Earring before, and this song isn't bad. This isn't normally my jam, but it's a decent song. The outro starting at 6:21 is a neat buildup and is my kind of prog, even with the relatively empty sound. I looked these guys up and apparently they've been around forever; they even more recently released an album called "Tits n' Ass." Haha, like what?! Is this a legitimate prog band or a joke band? I'm confused.

The Ocean is such an interesting concept for a band that I have trouble putting it into words. The six-year-old dinosaur lover inside me lights up whenever I hear their stuff and go on a Wikipedia binge about the ancient world (more on this later). These guys give me Tool vibes in their buildups and often in their releases, which in this case is at 7:00 and this section is amazing. The bass, guitars... tremendously powerful. My only complaint is that I really don't like the screaming, as I find it usually only works well over intense riff-based music (which this isn't). I think it mostly detracts from the massive scope of the music.

Musically I actually like the Golden Earring song a little better since it's less droning, but The Ocean edges it out for me due to its concept and scope. They both have interesting outro sections that gradually develop, which I love.

History time! The Devonian period (or Age of Fishes) lasted for 60 million years and was way before the dinosaurs graced the earth with their presence. Highlights include water, plants, and no people. This is what the earth looked like in the Devonian:

Nostolepis_distribution_Early_Devonian_paleogeography.png


I love how Australia is exactly the same. There's a Risk joke in here, I'm sure of it.

Also can't forget this lil' guy, Dunkleosteus terrelli. Wook at its cute face!
Dunkleosteus2021.jpg
 
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Went with Helloween, as I still can't get into BTBAM, and of course, The Ocean song that I nominated.

Detective Beauregard said:
My only complaint is that I really don't like the screaming, as I find it usually only works well over intense riff-based music (which this isn't).
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Lucky for you, they seem to be going clean vocals only for their new album.


Damn shame IMO as they have one of the best harsh vocalists in the business. Hope it's just a thing for this album and not a Heritage path for them...

Also, here are some other cool The Ocean songs for you to check out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEFGavlQJhQ
 
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Results of Round 75:
Between The Buried & Me - Extremophile Elite
Golden Earring - The Vanilla Queen
Helloween - The King For A 1000 Years
The Ocean - Devonian - Nascent

Helloween - Halloween (Nominated by @Wogmidget)
vs.
Mastodon - The Last Baron (Nominated by @Night Prowler)

Primordial - Last Call (Nominated by @Magnus)
vs.
Tool - Lateralus (Nominated by @Collin)
 
Tough. Really tough.
Voting for Primordial because, well, it's Primordial - and a bloody great song anyway (but the Tool song is something I would have gladly voted for in another match); voting for Mastodon against a huge fave from my youth because a) as a palaeoproboscideanologist I feel I just have to, and b) let's face it, there's more interesting stuff happening there (but less listenable or inspiring).
Tough, in case I haven't mentioned this already.
100% Last, anyway.
 
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This is an easy round for me.

I just don't get Helloween. I find their vocals to be thin and the epitome of cliché power metal, and their music lacks any sort of bite whatsoever. The only reason I voted for them in the last round is because they were up against BTB&M, and at least Helloween has melody.

Now Mastodon? Mastodon is not usually my thing... except when they are. To clarify, pretty much everything from Crack the Skye is exactly my thing. It's the most progressive I've ever heard the band get, and there isn't a weak song on the entire album. The longer ones, like this one, are the best! Yes, it has a bit too many vocals from the "Ozzy" guy, which isn't my cup of tea, but if that riff at 8:19 doesn't do something for you, I'm convinced you aren't human. Everything after this album seemed to be mostly shorter, radio-friendly tracks. Definitely not my thing. This album is their peak.

In Round Two, we have one of Tool's crowning achievements against... a song that I find to be little more than a wall of sound. I'll give credit to the ending harmonic minor riff in Last Call, though, for being very ominous. Still, very easy pick here.

To rank all four properly: Tool > Mastodon > Primordial >>> Helloween
 
The first match is interesting because it’s a battle of songwriting and melody vs. complexity and texture. The Helloween track has poor production and feels cheesier and less refined in general, especially through the messy verses — but the vocal and musical hooks through the rest of the song are undeniable, and the song stays directed and interesting through its full runtime. The Mastodon track has some very interesting musical parts, certainly more interesting than in the Helloween song; but the vocals aren’t great, and the song really just meanders through a lot of samey hypnotic rhythms with a few breaks, rather than feeling like it has a clear songwriting path. A close one, but sorry @Night Prowler, in the end I have to go with @Wogmidget’s nominee here. Winner: Helloween

The second match is also interesting for similar reasons. I enjoy “Last Call” quite a bit, as it’s a true epic that sets a strong mood and has a clear through line to the songwriting, staying interesting throughout. “Lateralus” is more complex and navel-gazing, and feels a bit jumbled early on, though it really starts to pull together thematically and musically as it progresses. Both are worthy competitors, but sorry @Collin, I have to go with @Magnus’s nominee here. Winner: Primordial
 
I usually update when I get a lot of votes or the lead is too big, but this time I'll just leave it until this time tomorrow, when the poll closes.
 
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