Board 8 > [VGMC] Day 16! WaltzMedi2/FestAPandM, SunaGin/Mephisto, Shutoko/InheritStars

(+) Yeah! (+)

Waltz of Meditation Part2
Suna Gin
Shutoko - Spiral Maze

Waltz of Meditation Part2
Suna Gin
Inherit the Stars

cool day, match 2 the closest for me

Waltz of Meditation Part2
Suna Gin
Inherit the Stars

God, I love how Waltz dances around - pun intended. I mentioned when it was Buzz in the Grotto's turn that I love it when "chiptune" style music manages to capture feelings of more traditional music despite the limitations.

FestA is pretty decent, but like most fast paced music of this ilk, some stuff works better for me than other stuff. Still above average overall, but doesn't grip me quite like Waltz does. I never know how to talk about songs like this because I swear they move quicker than my brain can process sjfkakaka

Geez I forgot how much of a banger this one is. The clicking of castanets(?) and the violin are both so good and I love how idunno, it just sounds like a very "old school" Japanese song. Feels like something that would have been in an anime I watched as a kid, I guess?? Oh yes, and I can't forget the fucking awesome acoustic guitar. So sexy.

There's this small part in the intro of this Dragon Poker song that reminds me of the Smash 4 theme. It's only like five seconds long, but it really stuck with me and kind of sold this song to me as a bit of a "vocal led battle" music. Very rousing! I really really love this one, wow, but Suna Gin does more for me personally (look man, most things against an acoustic guitar are a bit of an uphill climb) Jesus is this really a poker game??

Holy fuck the texture and ambience of this shit is unreal. I love whatever the fuck shit the piano is doing in the intro. Koshiro is honestly and consistently one of the greats. Well, I'm picky about his battle themes for Etrian evidently, but we don't have to talk about that. Spiral Maze may be a bit slow at the start, but it really does spiral out - for the second time today the pun IS intended - and evolve. Ugh a good build up is so rewarding.

I laughed when I saw this composer because I just listened to one of their other songs right before listening to this set. O.O Inherit the Stars is a song I know I rate highly but I always forget what it sounds like because I'm never like in the mood for it and listening to it again, yeah it does do a lot of stuff I like. There's a sense of danger, a badass rhythm, trumpets, and is that my beloved guitar?? Oh yes. Oh yes it is.

Holy fuck today is pretty good. Even my least favourite song was good enough to save. I feel like I haven't liked all six songs this much in like a week.

Waltz of Meditation Part2
Kanashimi no Mephisto feat.Mahoushoujo Ran & Mahoushoujo Akane
Inherit the Stars

6 good songs today, though my decisions ended up being easy. Festas exuberant guitar and Suna Gins soothing strings are both very nice to listen to. I predicted Shutoko to win bracket B but I dont think it will, it only gets good after around 3 minutes of buildup.

Voted I'll Save You All My Justice. Love that PC-88 sound.

you know the deal

pandemonium
suna gin
inherit the stars

Waltz of Meditation Part 2
Suna Gin
Abstain

Whole pack of bangers today. Will be happy seeing any and all of them prosper this round

Waltz of Meditation Part2
Suna Gin
Inherit the Stars

FestA of PandemoniuM
*abstain*
Shutoko - Spiral Maze

ONGEKI bright MEMORY - FestA of PandemoniuM
[-Aka-] - Suna Gin
7th Dragon 2020-II - Shutoko - Spiral Maze

MATCH 1

Waltz of Meditation Part 2 is really nice for the first 30 seconds. Definitely my favorite part of the song. It has this emotion to it that almost feels like longing. I like 0:48 too. Reminds me of 70's/80's prog rock bands. Rush in particular comes to mind. The rest of the song doesn't feel all that special to me, but I still like it.

Festa of Pandemonium brings a little too much pandemonium at times with the frantic and chaotic notes, but I like it the most when it's just steady, solid guitar soloing, which feels like most of the song, at least when I take the song in as a whole.

MATCH 2

I like how Suna Gin reminds me of older Japanese pop songs. This song's really good as a whole, but I especially like the chorus. The dual vocals are great, at times acting as a call and response, at other times harmonization, and even as a duet. And the violin acts a nice glue to all of this.

Kanashimi no Mephisto is also really cool. Though, I feel like Suna Gin sounds more special to me. Mephisto feels more like something that sounds better on paper than when listened to for me.

MATCH 3

Shutoko has a really cool dramatic introduction with the piano, and it only ramps up from there, culminating in a great climax to the song. I only wish the climactic part lasted a little bit longer, but definitely a cool song.

Inherit the Stars also has a nice dramatic flair to it, but stylistically, it's less my thing compared to Shutoko.

Suna Gin > Shutoko - Spiral Maze > Kanashimi no Mephisto feat.Mahoushoujo Ran & Mahoushoujo Akane > FestA of PandemoniuM > Inherit the Stars > Waltz of Meditation Part2

ONGEKI bright MEMORY - FestA of PandemoniuM
[-Aka-] - Suna Gin
Daemon x Machina - Inherit the Stars

Waltz of Meditation Part2 [ ]
FestA of PandemoniuM [ ]
Suna Gin [=]
Kanashimi no Mephisto feat.Mahoushoujo Ran & Mahoushoujo Akane [=]
Shutoko - Spiral Maze [=]
Inherit the Stars [=]

ONGEKI bright MEMORY - FestA of PandemoniuM
Dragon Poker - Kanashimi no Mephisto
Daemon x Machina - Inherit the Stars

Kanashimi no Mephisto > FestA of PandemoniuM > Suna Gin >> Inherit the Stars > Shutoko - Spiral Maze >> Waltz of Meditation Part2 (5TH STAGE - HELL FIRE)

Match 2 was good. I liked FoP.

FestA of PandemoniuM
Suna Gin
Inherit the Stars

Today's match 1 is EASILY one of the most painful I've endured yet.

Waltz of Meditation is such a good track, such an innocent and happy-sounding track that sounds like SNES-era Kirby and brings back nostalgic memories.

And Festa just comes in, with none other than MAOKI YAMAMOTO and his pal, working their signature J-fusion magic on me and throwing me in a loop of sadness and regret with what I'm about to choose for this matchup. This is still no GEOMETRIC DANCE, but man does this hits all the cool and satisfying chords and style and- GAH.

Suna Gin is really good, it's a fun yet ethereal ballad with very nice vocals, violin and guitar. I could easily see this fitting in a 90s anime series/film as a credits song, I really adore the vibe it has.

Mephisto definitely sounds oriented towards being for an anime series opening, it's got that good upbeat, slightly dramatic energy to it that sells itself well enough to me. The piano stings help keep that momentum going and also keep it interesting instead of sounding stale so quickly. Really neat song!

Man, you could easily mistake Spiral Maze for a Etrian Odyssey late-game dungeon with how impactful the percussion goes as well, as well as how intense the synths sound. Around 3:00 is when that energy picks up even more with the e-guitar, and the sudden drop-off with the piano is certainly a magical moment.

I never knew that Inherit the Stars was the missing member of the Ace Combat family, this has all the dramatic, energy-packed orchestra going for it and everything! That trumpet is rightfully taking charge of all the other instruments, this sounds like prime fighting music between two skilled enemies who are not going out without a fight. Very good indeed!

What an actually stacked day, I'm shocked to see a six-pack like this!

FestA of PandemoniuM
Suna Gin
Inherit the Stars

FestA of PandemoniuM
Suna Gin
Inherit the Stars

Writeups will come later tonight.

FestA of PandemoniuM
Abstain
Shutoko - Spiral Maze

Waltz of Meditation Part2
Kanashimi no Mephisto feat.Mahoushoujo Ran & Mahoushoujo Akane
Shutoko - Spiral Maze

okay im voting too late to say my full opinions on each oopsieeee

Waltz of Meditation Part2: Not a fan of the first 48 seconds, mostly because it doesn't feel like an intro to a song, but rather an interlude or something like that. It gets cooler after that though. Nice melody and some of the synths used are pretty neat. Not a bad song overall.

FestA of PandemoniuM: Here's another one that I'm not a fan of the intro, with excessively random notes. It gets better from the 23 second mark with some really cool e-guitar work. Kind of a mixed bag, but it's mostly good fusion stuff.

Suna Gin: Big fan of the instrumental on this one, especially the violin and acoustic guitar. The vocalist is nothing special, but she does a good enough job to not detract from the composition. Good song.

Kanashimi no Mephisto: Nice instrumentation, and the vocals work pretty well. Only thing is I think it drags a bit without enough variation and the melody is fairly weak. Still a decent song.

Shutoko - Spiral Maze: Pretty cool buildup and very cool synths. This also uses the same chord progression as Daredevil, which is funny considering it's up against the Ace Combat clone. The payoff for the buildup isn't as strong as I'd like it to be, but it still does a pretty good job. Very good song. Kinda surprised that a fairly ambient piece with no real melody would win this match tbh, but I'm not complaining too much.

Inherit the Stars: The acoustic guitar and trumpet make this piece. Good melody and the slow section followed by the active chorus is a very enjoyable structure to me. My only issue is that they just replay the song after it ends like it's supposed to be a loop. Makes it feel awkward, but that's an irrelevant complaint when it comes to this contest. Very good song regardless.

Not the strongest day, but there was nothing bad today.