LogFAQs > #970945936

Two songs to start the morning, including one of the three things I'm sure will be the most controversial:

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#248: Novembre - Venezia Dismal (6:02):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqlsOx1qalM

Nominator: Ark [5/17 Remaining]

Initial Score: 53.38
Revised Score: 53.86
Final Score: 54.80 [Upgraded to 55.00] [Upgraded to 55.00000002] [Upgraded to 57.50] [Upgraded to 59.405] [Upgraded to 62.19] [Upgraded to 63.195] [Upgraded to 64.608] [Upgraded to 70.08]

(First Reaction: I was actually looking forward to the Porcupine Tree song, since "Trains" was such a trip. I know songs are open to multiple interpretations, but it felt like everyone was all over the place on that track, ranging from sweet & wholesome to remarkably disturbing. Do all of their songs inspire such varied reactions or is Trains just special that way? Doesn't matter, I suppose, and I could always look into them on my own time if I cared that much.

*getting back to actual topic*

This song started off pretty well, but the demonic yelling after the four minute mark certainly caught me off guard. Especially when the song goes back to normal rather quickly. It feels as though they were contractually obligated to SCREAM during this track, so they just kinda stapled this random section in for the sake of being jarring. It's not bad, but it's so sudden & overwhelming that I can scarcely recall what the other 90% of the song even sounded like.)

The lighter progressive metal that makes up the majority of the song is nice, but it's hard to enjoy when I'm constantly on edge waiting for the screaming to start. Which is odd because I've enjoyed screaming before & also songs that flip between clean and shouty vocals on occasion. It's not like this song is doing something I don't like, I'm just slightly opposed to it here for some reason. I think it's because it's not cleanly implemented into the song: It's a fairly standard song for a good 60% of its runtime, flips out, and then quickly goes back to normal; if the more metal aspects were integrated sooner and more frequently, it wouldn't feel as jarring. Granted, "incredibly jarring" could be exactly what the band wanted to convey with the song, in which case: Well done.

Either way, I wouldn't mind hearing more from the band: The singer's voice isn't bad and I have no objections to the band or the style of music in general. I just don't think this song is quite for me and there aren't any lyrics or moments I'm especially fond of. It's good and I like it, just a bit too randomly jarring.

[Final Thoughts: Not a fan of the musical jumpscare with the screaming, but I kinda like the rest of it.]

[Later: Actually, I don't mind the screaming at all this morning... perhaps I'm in the mood for angry growl shouting? But while I am hesitating a bit, I don't think I want to move this over the wall... I mean, I do kinda like it (and bizarrely I could use more of this type of subdued screaming, where the song is going really hard but the volume is low enough that it doesn't actively hurt &....

...ehh.... maybe I will move this up a bit...]

[The Latest News, Sports, and Weather: Yeah, I'll add a few points to this song's score. It's what I'm in the mood for.]

[Breaking News: Let's go up to the 59 point zone.]

[NEWZ: I've oddly had the first verse stuck in my head today, so I think I'm going to try raising this to the 62 point zone for a while.]

[N3WZ: One extra point.]

[N3W5: I'm back to not being into the growling portion of the song, but I seem to like the rest of it considerably more than usual. Going to try giving one more point?]

[ |\|[-\|/$ : ...Never turn a 1337 translator to max settings, Either way, I think I enjoy the verses to this song enough to go ahead an take it up another tier.]

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-and now for another song where I had to add addition dividers because the way the writeup is formatted confuses me every single time-

++++++ (this is the song with an incorrect nomination, it's going to confuse you whenever you scroll past it) ++++++++

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#XXX [not actually ranked]: Hachigatsu Ni Yuki - Mugen [incorrectly listed as Sorrow's Color]
https://youtu.be/VQkIYpohco0

Nominator: UF8 [X/X]

Initial Score: 56.15
Revised Score: 56.74
Final Score: 52.33

(First Reaction: A more energetic song than I anticipated from the song title. Not a bad song or singer, I might try listening to a few random songs on Spotify later since I randomly found her while trying (and failing) to get anything about this song's lyrics.

*proceeds to get distracted and click a few songs*

"Hachigatsu Ni Yuki - In the trace" is pretty nice. It's got a nice, toe-tapping beat... kinda like the jpop version of "Live - Horse" from last year (though In the trace is not nearly on Horse's level, still quite a nice song to have found).

!The energy in this song is rather uplifting (though it probably wouldn't be if I had a clue what was being sang, judging by the title) and the performance is good enough that it inspired me to check out a few other songs, but I'm not super wild about this track. I like it, but... yeah.

[Final Thoughts: Alright, so this was an "accidental nomination" (the intended song was Sorrow's Color, which is why I kept talking about how this song didn't seem to fit the title...) and it's a fine song. A bit too upbeat for my tastes, but I have positive feelings about it & sometimes kinda like it. Kinda feel like dropping this down a bit though, as it's not quite what I'm in the mood for.

Of course, we could always ditch this song and sub in the one that was always supposed to be here in the first place...]

#247: Hachigatsu Ni Yuki - Sorrow's Color:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5XWc5Z5aOtzKNQpteuY2AJ?si=c9499ef40ec442db

Nominator: UF8 [12/30 Remaining]

Initial Score: N/A
Revised Score: N/A
Final Score: 57.40 [Upgraded to 60.00] [Upgraded to 62.984] [Upgraded to 65.21] [Upgraded to 66.93] [Upgraded to 70.082]

The acoustic guitar playing that opens on this track is much more in line with my current tastes and the other instruments are so on point that I'm not even upset when they come in and replace the guitar. Even the electric guitar solo near the end is enjoyable, so very well done on the instrumentation. Her singing is about the same quality as on Mugen; not one of my favorite vtubers, but good enough to be worth listening to. This is a definite "kinda like" song.

And I think I'll use this song as the one that actually gets ranked. It's blatantly cheating because I didn't know about the link mix-up until after all the Revised Scores were finished, but... I prefer it and it's the track I was supposed to be listening to all along anyway. Also, this is unlikely to be the most controversial decision I make in regards to nominated tracks, so I may as well go all-in at this point.

(Also, it's not directly related to anything, but I'm less into "In the trace" now--though I do still kinda like it.)

[Later: I'm totally here for the sad, quiet guitar playing on this track. Adding it to the Neo Clump.]

[Later: I'm starting to like this more and more. Going to move this up a ways.]

[Later: And a few extra points for this one.]

[Later: A few more points, though I think we're hitting this song's limit.]

[Later: Okay, now I really like this tonight. Going to go ahead and jump it up a tier as well.]

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++++++ (this is the song with an incorrect nomination, it's going to confuse you whenever you scroll past it) ++++++++