Board 8 > I rank 164 non-VGM songs [ranking]

(+) Yeah! (+)

142. Koerner, Ray, & Glover Titanic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEuBnGo8Ly0
@Snake5555555555
2.5 / 5.5 / 4 / 2.5 / 3
35

This is another example of might be higher if I could focus on lyrics. Titanic clearly comes from that 1960s era of Bob Dylan-esque folk its rambling and runs on a bit too long, but it has a lot of personality. The guitar work is fairly simplistic, but not in a bad way the focus is meant to be on the lyrics. (Sorry!)

141. He Is Legend - Everyone I Know Has Fangs
https://youtu.be/kqBdpeFi4E0
@Bane_Of_Despair
3.5 / 3.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4
35

I think this song almost gave me a panic attack! Thats normally fine I tend to like music that simulates mental unwellness. The ending in particular is reeeeeally intense (TRY TO CATCH MY BREATH IF YOU JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE) and it works with the rest of the song, which is still intense but just shy of losing it. Pretty neat track, even despite the low ratings.

Yeah that's fine I was just aiming to give you a good bit of variety, I like the storytelling quite a bit.

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Variety is always appreciated!

Man there is one particular song I nominated that I thought for sure you would not like. Seems it has (almost, thus far) managed to avoid the bottom 25 though so maybe I was wrong? My ability to predict rwlh taste continues to be basically zero, apparently.

I guess even if you don't like the song as a whole I could see you maybe REALLY liking the first 20 seconds or so, so maybe that counts for something? I don't, I guess we'll see.

For the record, I am talking about 1, 2 Fanclub. Here's a bunch of pointless text just so you can't tell whether I was talking about a song with a long or short title. (Do not highlight if for some reason you want to preserve the MYSTERY. Also I added a bunch of extra words behind the spoilers so you can't tell from the length in case that matters.)
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140. Night Verses - Vice Wave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wI0Qz4art4
@NFUN
3.5 / 3.5 / 3 / 5.5 / 2
35

I like the overall production quality. Vice Wave feels very alive, maybe more than anything else so far on the list. There are lots of moving parts loud distortion, frantic drums, quieter guitar, a voice saying A man is like a computer. Not much to say about this one but it was fun to revisit it for this writeup!

139. Kamelot - Burns to Embrace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms7oU9LQ55o
@Drakeryn
4 / 4 / 2 / 4.5 / 3
35

This singers voice is very cinematic. I love the overall cadences and notes he brings to this song. Also really solid drumming throughout. Generally a well put together song.

138. Kamasi Washington - The Next Step
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ2bkIfHDl4
@cakophon
2 / 1 / 6 / 7.5 / 1.5
36

The Next Step has the highest score in anything yet, a 7.5 in Appreciation. It also has the largest discrepancy between bottom and top ranking. I felt bad ranking this one low. I love how it shows off Washingtons sax skills, and I love how the song is constructed in such a way to showcase them. What really hurt it was how it didnt maintain my focus throughout. Im pretty sure its the longest of all the nominations, which isnt inherently bad, but I struggled to really keep interest throughout. However, I can certainly appreciate the song and the skill of the musicians involved.

137. Hidetake Takayama - Go With
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ0zgF7aUak
@dowolf
5 / 3.5 / 5 / 1.5 / 3
36

Some big chords all throughout, good at drumming up emotive responses. Go With fits into the category of songs that make me nostalgic for life in a big city. I could picture myself listening to this late at night, watching the lights swim by as I drive.

Really, no one gave you a song over 15 minutes? That's very kind of us

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That's because I said 15 minutes was the cutoff!

went with some risky out-of-the-norm picks in my vain attempt to gauge rwlh's tastes

They're all still alive!

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136. Cloud Cult - There's So Much Energy In Us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd5E097ZpdI
@ZaziGuado
3 / 2 / 5 / 6 / 2.5
37

The low rating correctly indicates that I wasnt super into this, but the relatively high Appreciation score was because the song was very big and emotional and I felt like the band did a good job at conveying that. I got exactly what I expected from this song: wistful dreamy pop-rock.

135. Aqours - Jump up HIGH!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NziEaNeMekE
@Arti
4.5 / 3 / 2 / 8.5 / 1
38

Speaking of getting what I expected, heres another Love Live song that has all the positive qualities of Sing & Smile!! My comments about the vocal layering and production quality still apply, but this time Appreciation is virtually off the charts. This song excels at what it sets out to do, and everything exists in service of that goal. Pretty impressive!

Cloud Cult, and the Light Chasers album specifically, helped me through a really rough time in my life. There's So Much Energy In Us was the hopeful anthem that ended such a personally influential album. I never would've discovered Cloud Cult when I did if not for user LockesRagnarok submitting a Cloud Cult song for Board 8 Song of the Week. He may not come to the board anymore (that I've noticed), but I just want to say I'm grateful for him and SotW because I still consider Cloud Cult my favorite band ten years later.

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ZaziGuado posted...

Cloud Cult, and the Light Chasers album specifically, helped me through a really rough time in my life. There's So Much Energy In Us was the hopeful anthem that ended such a personally influential album. I never would've discovered Cloud Cult when I did if not for user LockesRagnarok submitting a Cloud Cult song for Board 8 Song of the Week. He may not come to the board anymore (that I've noticed), but I just want to say I'm grateful for him and SotW because I still consider Cloud Cult my favorite band ten years later.

I could easily see someone having a deep personal connection to that song. The dreamy positivity is very compelling! I was trying to find a video game song that checks off that particular category for me, and while this isn't really the same thing at all, I'm linking it anyway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHTKD0B59Yg

134. Next to Normal - You Don't Know/I'm The One
https://youtu.be/yx9z1Fdz1j8
@Raka_Putra
5 / 4.5 / 2.5 / 3.5 / 4
39

One of my big things with music is I try to judge songs independent of the context, but I struggled to do that here. I looked up what this musical is about and I didnt get any of that from this song. I was still able to pick up on the high emotions of the song, as these three people sort of circle around each other with their own complicated feelings. The male lead (the second person to sing) has one of those classic male Broadway tenor voices; he makes me sit up and take notice every time he comes into the song.

133. Toby Fox - Kiwi Blast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3wuSl7wUww
@DoctorJimmy133
6 / 4.5 / 2 / 4 / 3
39

lol look at these scores. This screams guilty pleasure song. Its exactly what Id expect from toby fox, and in that respect its somewhat underwhelming. But its also enjoyable, as evidenced by the above average Emotion score. A song like this really plays to my love of game music, as this could easily fit into a game as a battle theme.

Aww, well that's understandable. Showtunes are typically hard to separate from the context and this is a pretty context-heavy one, but I still enjoyed it due to how emotionally charged it is and the interesting interplay between the three characters.

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132. Toto - Jake to the Bone
https://youtu.be/8hftXMa1564
@SuperbVEVO
3 / 2.5 / 5 / 7.5 / 2
40

Scores are all over the place for this one. The song is somewhat repetitive, but then around 5:45 it really kicks into high gear with this big rock and roll energy. I would have likely scored it higher if there was more of that in the song, but I did Appreciate its sort of rollicking path to get to the big payoff.

131. Avenged Sevenfold - A Little Piece of Heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZJRLkILb68
@pyresword
3 / 3 / 7.5 / 3.5 / 3
40

I described this in my notes as evil ska carnival. A Little Piece of Heaven differentiates itself from the thirty or so other ska nominations with the carnival style and a dark tinge. I wasnt super sold on the primary singer (although Im more into him now on this relisten), but I liked the unexpectedness of the female vocals and the interplay between her and the male singer. Theres a lot of Unconvention here, and thats even disregarding the lyrics, which I already said I dont normally pay attention but these seem very interesting!

"Interesting" is certainly one way to describe the lyrics of that song.

I find the vocalist of the band a bit hit or miss myself but I do really like him in this song.
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130. Peter Gabriel - Mercy Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LJUIIESgpQ
@MetalmindStats (3 remaining)
4.5 / 5 / 3.5 / 4 / 3
40

This was the only link I had to replace. Not because the link went down, but because the link provided was very low quality and it was affecting my enjoyment of the song. For comparisons sake, the ultimate score for Mercy Street is 40. With the original link, it was 17.

Peter Gabriel is so good at setting a musical scene. From the start of the song theres this captivating and lush soundscape thats like dreaming. His voice and all the effects he gives it (echoes, harmonies) add to this, like, elixir of dreaminess.

Summary: I didnt love this, but I love talking about it.

129. Rishloo - Just a Ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuqUBALfsL4
@NBIceman (2 remaining)
5 / 2 / 6.5 / 4 / 2.5
40

I got serious classic rock vibes from this song, which doesnt really make sense to me (maybe NBIceman has insight into that?). This is another song that evokes a very strong dreamy quality. I like how it layers a bunch of different things on top of each other vocals, guitar, bass, drums. I mean, every song does that to some extent, but the mixing here feels very on point.

128. Rehab - Welcome Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJAJbvoigI4
@azuarc (3 remaining)
1.5 / 2 / 7 / 9 / 1
41

Real question: why does this song start out like The First Noel?

Anyway this is a song that for me gets by entirely on Unconvention and Appreciation. Its a song about Normal People and that generally doesnt excite me, but its very effective at what it sets out to do, and its also quite unlike anything else that was nominated. So points for that!

127. Metallica - Dream No More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqIQvE5R1tU
@Snake5555555555 (1 remaining)
2.5 / 5 / 2.5 / 3.5 / 7
41

This sounds like a fairly run of the mill Metallica song, which actually works out in its favor because I generally like Metallica! Im not too familiar with their modern stuff boy does James Hetfield sound different throughout this. I guess thats inevitable, given age.

Anyway, Dream No More has high Obsession because the song is very catchy. Despite low scores in other areas, I do enjoy listening to it.

126. My Chemical Romance S.I.N.G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6Kiw_PuyI
@azuarc (2 remaining)
4 / 5 / 3.5 / 5 / 3
41

Is My Chemical Romance one of those bands its cool to hate? I always lumped them together with Linkin Park in my head. This song is deceptively . . . earnest? Not at all cynical, both in terms of the lyrics (from what Ive paid attention to) and the instrumentation. It seems like its meant to be inspirational, which surprised me based on (clearly inaccurate) ideas I had about the band.

125. Joe Hisaishi - A Journey (Dream of Flight) ~ Nahoko (The Encounter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxffuwMS2v8
@pyresword (2 remaining)
5 / 4 / 3.5 / 5 / 3
41

what is this RATATOUILLE

Then it gets all Russian folk dance! This is a song that kept me guessing. It starts out lovely and slow, then gets more energetic at the halfway point, then sort of bounces back and forth between them. Neat pick!

I got serious classic rock vibes from this song, which doesnt really make sense to me (maybe NBIceman has insight into that?).

What kind of insight do you mean?

Is My Chemical Romance one of those bands its cool to hate?

I think they were for a while, but opinions seem to have shifted in recent years. Personally, I'd put Black Parade right up there with some of the best rock albums ever.

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NBIceman posted...

What kind of insight do you mean?

You know the song better than I do, so I thought you might have an idea why it felt "classic rock" to me. I'm not the best at articulating musical thoughts!

rwlh posted...

This was the only link I had to replace. Not because the link went down, but because the link provided was very low quality and it was affecting my enjoyment of the song. For comparisons sake, the ultimate score for Mercy Street is 40. With the original link, it was 17.

Oh my bad, sorry. The official video's the version I've always listened to, and other than it not beginning the song until almost 30 seconds in, I've never been able to tell it had any particular problems. I'm glad you at least found something to enjoy, though, especially after replacing my bad link.

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No worries! I wasn't saying that to shame you - just wanted to comment on the interesting score discrepancy.

124. Native Construct - Chromatic Aberration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ZXHsAoaN0
@FL81 (3 remaining)
2 / 0.5 / 9.5 / 8.5 / 0.5
42

Wow at these scores. I dont think any other song has such a spread!

Lets start with the low end. I could not focus on this at all, hence low Immersion, and it didnt stick with me at all, hence low Obsession. But in terms of scope, this is a song that does lots of interesting things: odd time, different musical styles, constantly shifting in tone and instrumentation. Its a shame its not a song I can really get into, because theres a lot to really sink my teeth into here, and with such a beefy runtime (twelve and a half minutes), I imagine the right listener wouldnt get bored easily. Unfortunately, thats not me, but I do respect what the song does!

123. Tears for Fears - Mad World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZvPSpLxCg
@MetalmindStats (2 remaining)
3.5 / 5.5 / 4 / 3 / 5
42

I like Tears for Fears a lot, particularly what Ive heard from Songs From the Big Chair. I dont really think Mad World is anything all that special. However! The Gary Jules version is amazing and goodwill from that cover carries over to the original. I would say the Tears for Fears version goes different places and isnt as effective to me, but I love the cover so much that it doesnt bother me. This is kind of a weird writeup because its not actually about the song itself, but OH WELL

I was expecting Chromatic Aberration to be either my best or worst scoring song! (Given that it's the latter, I'm surprised it lived this long!)

I was definitely going for the unconventionality with that one lmao

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122. Herbie Hancock - Perfect Machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJq9_EqcwQU
@-hotdogturtle-- (3 remaining)
4 / 4 / 5 / 4.5 / 3.5
42

I really like the sounds here. Herbie Hancock is always a good time for me; I never quite know what to expect from his songs. This starts out sort of like FM synth and gets even more futuristic as it goes along, with distorted vocals and keyboards. It feels like its out of the 80s and yet timeless in a way.

121. Black Keys Fever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trk7P-9QDyc
@Drakeryn (1 remaining)
4.5 / 4 / 4 / 3 / 5.5
42

Mmm yes this song has those delicious Black Keys signature drums that I love so much. Im not super into the rest of the song, but those drums are enough to give it extra points. Also I like the organ-keyboard riff all throughout, thats very catchy.

120. Ludwig Van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor "Pathetique" - 1st Movement
https://youtu.be/79gzdskOGu4
@Haste_2 (2 remaining)
5.5 / 2 / 6 / 5 / 2.5
42

It was weird rating these classical nominations, and to some extent the jazz ones too, because my default is always oh this must be a 10 in Appreciation because its classical music. I had to really fight that impulse: Appreciation is, like the rest of the categories, subjective and based around my own experience. It still feels weird placing such an acclaimed piece of music so relatively low (were still technically in below average territory). I do love piano, and there were parts in this where I felt especially captivated, like around the 3:00 mark.

119. Leslie Wai Paradigm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IZpsi9I8kU
@MasaomiHouzuki (3 remaining)
4 / 6 / 3.5 / 5 / 3
43

Nice club music. I liked it more before the dubstep (Im not opposed inherently to dubstep, but I thought it changed up the song in a way I wasnt as into). Its still good at maintaining my interest and generally providing an enjoyable time.

You know the song better than I do, so I thought you might have an idea why it felt "classic rock" to me. I'm not the best at articulating musical thoughts!

Ah. Well, if you were more of a lyrics guy, I'd say it was due to that, because a lot of the writing on that album kind of has the classic rock feel of, like, straddling the line between self-indulgence and actual poetic profoundness. Failing that, though, I imagine it just has something to do with the overall general sound of the vocals.

Rishloo definitely takes some influence from, like, Zeppelin and Bowie, but so do a ton of other bands, and it's not as evident as the Tool and Karnivool sound that's also in there. So I wouldn't say it's necessarily a deliberate thing.

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NBIceman posted...

Ah. Well, if you were more of a lyrics guy, I'd say it was due to that, because a lot of the writing on that album kind of has the classic rock feel of, like, straddling the line between self-indulgence and actual poetic profoundness. Failing that, though, I imagine it just has something to do with the overall general sound of the vocals.

Rishloo definitely takes some influence from, like, Zeppelin and Bowie, but so do a ton of other bands, and it's not as evident as the Tool and Karnivool sound that's also in there. So I wouldn't say it's necessarily a deliberate thing.

Cool, thanks for the insight. Sometimes I notice "connections" or similarities in music that aren't there. It felt like some of the melodies were indicative of something like, say, Boston, but it's probably just a coincidence.

118. Mori Calliope - Dead Beats
https://youtu.be/6ydgEipkUEU
@Murphiroth (3 remaining)
3 / 5.5 / 6.5 / 1.5 / 6
45

So I expected this to be super cringey, and while I dont love her voice, its surprisingly mostly fine? I like the lyrics and the production quality. The song misses the mark for me because I dont really think its either cute or badass (and I think its going for both at once), but the overall presentation is somewhat unique. And its very catchy!

117. ilkae - argus eyes
https://ilkae.bandcamp.com/track/argus-eyes
@Flamander (2 remaining)
5 / 1 / 7.5 / 7 / 2
45

This was a frustrating song. On paper it seems like something I would normally really like, but I was just incapable of focusing on it, like, at all. I listened to it at least five times, with minimal success. Its got a nice dreamy mood, odd time, glitch elements all things I often enjoy but for whatever reason I majorly struggled with focusing on it. Pity.

this is very late but i feel like i should point out. part of why i nominated the brainscapes one is because it reminded me of SKY TOWER's main ostinato. and i know you are a fan of pokemon mystery dungeon sky tower. but given how poorly it performed i now wish i had nominated something else to fulfill the same role! there's certainly other similar things i like that you would've liked more
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116. Basement Jaxx ft. Linda Lewis - Close Your Eyes
https://youtu.be/l77fmzxGJmc
@Place (3 remaining)
5.5 / 4 / 6 / 3 / 4
45

This is one of those songs I expected to like more than I did. I think for me the vocals and the instrumental backing didnt go together all that well, which is a shame because hearing them each separately would probably be a strong experience for me! I do like the cuhlooose your eeeeyes part of the chorus, its very heartfelt and ethereal, and I like the funky guitar in the background.

115. STAYC - So Bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMe1c4UegBY
@PumpkinCoach (2 remaining)
5.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 5 / 6
46

Fairly standard pop, which is enough to net it a score of 46. Very catchy, slick production. Im always interested when these international songs blend English with other languages.

114. Mushvenom, Miranni, Khundi Panda, Munchman - VVS (feat. Justhis)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZInUHwmzN8
@PumpkinCoach (1 remaining)
5.5 / 3.5 / 2.5 / 6 / 5.5
46

My comment for this is hits me right in the POP. As with the prior song (also one of PumpkinCoachs nominations), this is fairly standard pop. I did enjoy the different rappers and vocalists, which mix things up throughout the somewhat lengthy runtime. Also I always laugh at the sudden English GOT A NICE RING TO IT. VVS goes on a bit too long for me, but there are still positive aspects I enjoy.

113. Hiromi Uehara Quartet - Caravan (Live at XI Festival Internacional de Jazz San Javier 2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzokNqymimc
@sergiocornaga (3 remaining)
5.5 / 1.5 / 6.5 / 5 / 5
47

Low Immersion sadly drags down this song. One thing Ive learned from this topic is I often have a hard time with this sort of abstract jazz music, where it sort of flows from section to the next with minimal melody, particularly when it comes to my focus. I can appreciate a song like this, but I struggle to focus on it. Which is a shame, because theres some neat things here. The live performance gives the song a sense of intimacy. I really like the unique-sounding guitar, and the at-times rapid but measured percussion.

glad you enjoyed those, and yeah vvs is slightly bloated by nature of the competition show it came from. i prefer the version with just mushvenom and miranni from the battle, even though i like all the verses in the final studio version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q1aBQwa4E8

also if i may, have some more justhis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMTblJbmam4


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PumpkinCoach posted...

also if i may, have some more justhis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMTblJbmam4

Listening to this, it strikes me that Justhis is a very versatile rapper. He goes from whispering in to practically screaming in IndiGO to spitting incredibly fast bars in Gone. He's very compelling to listen to in all of these excerpts: rapidfire and focused. I had never heard of him before.

Woah, can't say I was expecting that out so soon! Or that Rozart mix would still be alive somehow.

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Place posted...

Woah, can't say I was expecting that out so soon! Or that Rozart mix would still be alive somehow.

This ranking was full of surprises. I was challenged on some of what I thought were my musical tastes, in both positive and negative ways. Some of it shook out like I expected. Some of it...well, you'll see.

112. Within Temptation Supernova
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3nb_r18ug0
@Drakeryn (ELIMINATED)
6 / 6 / 2 / 4.5 / 5
47

This is like a mixture of catchy pop and intense metal. It is incredibly catchy. I like the singer. Low Unconvention hurts it here, but I could see myself listening to this again (hence the above average Emotion score).

And we have our first elimination! I feel bad for Drakeryn they were almost the first to go out in my first VGM ranking, and yet they had a top ten song that kept them in play. I appreciate Drakeryn nominating for me even though our tastes might not be the most compatible in the world. :)

111. Taylor Swift - exile (feat. Bon Iver)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA
@OrangeCrush980 (2 remaining)
4.5 / 5 / 4 / 4.5 / 6
48

I wasnt feeling this until the counter-vocals came in. I love the interplay of the different stories the song tells, a sort of he-said-she-said structure. I especially love when Swift comes in with the response of I gave so many signs - its pretty impressive how the song encapsulates this story so effectively. Also the line youre not my homeland anymore, so what am I defending? is very good.

As an aside, why is it a film theyve seen before? That doesnt seem to work as thematically as some of the other lyrics. Oh well.

Spreadsheet is updated! For reference's sake, this is what your data will look like after you've been eliminated:



Scores in descending order by priority, followed by total. Bottom row is averages. So if you're curious what your average Unconvention score, you can check the spreadsheet and find out! Remember, it's Emotion, Immersion, Unconvention, Appreciation, and Obsession.

I was gonna say "at least you liked one of my songs" but not even top 100 lol, oh well!

I see all my music is very conventional which actually checks out, I just like catchy tunes and don't have a huge range.
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It's "conventional," but only to me. Another listener might feel differently.

You're a real trooper. I assume I'll see you in my next ranking topic!

Actually, I'm pretty sure you nominated the top character when I ranked game characters (Martin Walker). Kind of funny how that works out.

110. Bring Me The Horizon - Kingslayer ft. BABYMETAL
https://youtu.be/fKyXvNkGQKc
@Murphiroth (3 remaining)
3 / 5 / 5 / 6 / 5.5
49

I find the main singers voice a huge turnoff. HOWEVER, this song is salvaged by the presence of BABYMETAL. With their cutesy Japanese vocals interposed across intense metal, theyre a real treat, and they turn this fairly unappealing track into something really solid! Its a genuine delight to hear them sing kingslayeeeer and I dont why. But I love it!

109. Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4mJXcQaRU
@GavsEvans123 (3 remaining)
4.5 / 5.5 / 2.5 / 6.5 / 5.5
49

Boy this song is catchy. I file it under the generally not for me but it does some interesting things. The singer has a voice like a rock clattering inside a tin can; its not quite like anything else nominated for this topic. The chorus is deceptively chorus as soon as it came time to do the writeup, it instantly nestled itself in my head.

hope you're ready for a bunch of writeups

108. Arrested Development - Mr. Wendal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_bcVFjFNrc
@MetalmindStats (1 remaining)
4 / 4 / 6.5 / 5 / 5.5
50

The lyrics here are a little too on the nose for me, but I genuinely enjoy the calm rapping. I also love the keyboard plinkety-plonketies at the bridge. They make me smile. :)

107. Deep Forest - While the Earth Sleeps
https://youtu.be/2Zs61WLuHRQ
@SuperbVEVO (2 remaining)
4.5 / 5.5 / 5.5 / 5.5 / 4
50

Super New Age power! I tend to like this sort of New Agey type music, with big chords and world instruments and Peter Gabriel basically losing his mind. The bridge is great, when most of the song drops out, then Gabriel comes back in and leads the song to the chorus. Very nifty.

106. Daidai Myao - YAMINABE Catfood!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk3SPhkUd6w
@UF8 (3 remaining)
5.5 / 3.5 / 6 / 7 / 3
50

Theres a lot going on here (maybe too much?). Record scratches, xylophone-esque melodies, electronic woodwinds, a constantly changing meter, dubstep, brief chiptune. This is not a song that wants for ideas. Honestly, my favorite part is the hilariously abrupt ending. Makes me laugh every time.

105. The Octopus Project Truck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apMCNOSIMVE
@PIayer_0 (3 remaining)
6 / 6 / 4 / 5 / 4
50

Cute and catchy chippy rock. Despite loving chiptunes, songs like this, which blend chip with rock instruments, are often hit or miss for me. Truck at least has a very nice melody and does a great job at evoking a really nice happy atmosphere. I love how carefree it is its a song that doesnt particularly if I like it or not, its going to be happy no matter what. :3

104. Danny Chan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgECnV15V6M
@handsomeboy2012 (3 remaining)
4.5 / 6 / 2.5 / 5 / 7.5
51

With a score of 51, this is the first song to officially make it to above average status. Congratulations!

I said I normally didnt go for sappy vocal ballads, but I also said I was open to attempts to prove me wrong. This song does a few things I dislike (oh look, its the second verse, better add a drumbeat), but the instrumental backing is really lovely, and Danny Chan is clearly a very talented singer he brings an understated quality to things. So while I didnt outright love this, I still found things to genuinely enjoy about it. Thanks!

103. Kenny G & Denny G - Shangxin Dao Heshi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJHtS9B4hL0
@Raetsel_Lapin (2 remaining)
6 / 6 / 4 / 5.5 / 4
51

It feels weird to put this song so far above Kamasi Washington, solely because I know Kenny G isnt treated as a serious musician in the same vein a lot of the time. But I found the sax here very hypnotic. I like how it flows alongside the serious, moody keyboard. Also I have no idea who Denny G is. Google tells me hes a rapper, and Im pretty sure theres no rap in this song. Does he play the mandolin-esque instrument? Or the keyboard? Or is he another saxophonist? The mystery DEEPENS

102. Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas - Chase the Light!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdYms5pRwS4
Kikoman589 (3 remaining)
3.5 / 4 / 6.5 / 7.5 / 4.5
52

What might be apparent by now is that Im not super into metal. But this is the kind of metal song I can get behind, solely because of the contrast between the screaming vocals and the happy backing. It makes for a really impressive dynamic, and remarkably the two aspects complement each other well. This was a cool find!

101. Pain of Salvation - RESTLESS BOY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkU564tyD5M
@TheArkOfTurus (1 remaining)
5.5 / 4.5 / 6 / 5 / 5
52

There are some cool bits of...asyncopation, I think its called? When the beat doesnt follow the meter properly? I also enjoy the build from contemplative rock to more aggressive metal, then back down again for the last few seconds. I was never quite sure where this song was going to take me, and I like that.

64 songs down, 100 to go! Here's everyone who still has all four songs in the top 100:

Collen
GameBopAdv
kaonashi1
Not_an_Owl
paulg235

A number of folks have only lost one song so far. Still anybody's game!

I'm glad you at least didn't hate that particular track, though to be honest it wound up selected due to time constraints. I really wanted to nominate a heavily sax focused song that I felt certain neither of us had heard, but I didn't have much time to research... I just kinda Googled "best saxophonist" to get to Kenny G and then spent an hour clicking through his channel, in search of something new to nominate.

That was the best I found, though I'm positive there's better in the category of sax songs neither of us have heard before... just hard to find them.

(I've always assumed Denny G was a Chinese artist inspired by Kenny G because I hear Kenny is big in that country, but looking back, I see no real reason I should have jumped to that conclusion.)
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rwlh posted...

This is kind of a weird writeup because its not actually about the song itself, but OH WELL

That's understandable - it seems like I'm unusual for preferring the original over the Jules cover, though even I think the latter more effectively channels the song's emotional potential. Roland Orzabal himself also said something similar in an interview I recently watched, for what it's worth.

rwlh posted...

Bring Me The Horizon - Kingslayer ft. BABYMETAL

This is definitely not my type of song, as I am ironically not a metal fan, but I've recently grown to like it thanks to another online community I'm in. Nonetheless, I largely concur with your comments, except that I merely find the lead singer's voice pretty generic, which I suppose makes the difference.

rwlh posted...

The lyrics here are a little too on the nose for me, but I genuinely enjoy the calm rapping.

Agreed here; this isn't a song I necessarily love, but it's one I like that followed my theme and that I was curious to hear your take on. This is also about where I expected Mr. Wendal to fall, though I was hoping to have more than one song in the top 100! Ah well.

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The tone of the Mad Worlds strikes me as a bit different too. The Tears for Fears rendition still feels like a pop song, regardless of the lyrical content, whereas the Gary Jules version is pretty unabashedly slower and sadder. That said I can easily see someone preferring the original, because it brings something different to the table.

One of the things I've learned from this ranking (I may have said this before!) is I seem to have a low threshold for metal in general. A lot of the metal nominations place low on Unconvention, for example, because to me they tick off a lot of the same boxes. Kingslayer was more unique in the presence of BABYMETAL, which I was grateful for.

MetalmindStats posted...

I was hoping to have more than one song in the top 100! Ah well.

Here's a spoiler, read at your own risk!

The next elimination is not you.