Music Banter - View Single Post - Trollheart's Sixty-Second Samplers

Trollheart · 09-26-2022, 06:34 PM

Trollheart’s Sixty-Second Samplers

A new idea I had. Yes, another one, what of it? My favourite music vendor website allows you to listen to sixty seconds of each track off an album before you decide to purchase, so I thought this might be a good way for me to review new albums without having to listen to them all the way through. I mean, there are albums I would not even shell out sixty cents for, and while of course I could go a-Soulseeking, again some of them I just wouldn’t want to bother. But this way I get to hear snippets without having to put my hand in my digital pocket. It’s how I usually decide anyway whether or not I intend to buy an album, and while there’s not a huge amount you can learn from sixty seconds of a track, in some cases this could be a quarter of the song, so you might glean more from it than you might think.

Clearly, I won’t be writing much about the actual songs, and even that which I do could be way off, as songs can change halfway through, and some samples may give me little more than an instrumental intro or whatever, but I’ll do what I can. Each track will be rated 1 - 10, as below, and then the album as a whole will also be rated 1 - 10. You can expect absolutely every genre here, as I am going to take every single album the website puts on its front page (its new releases) and go through them one by one. If I really hate an album after a few tracks I’ll reserve the right not to continue, but in general and as best I can I will try to get to the end of each one. Feel free to comment, add information, ask questions, or send large donations of cash.

Rating system

There’s a difference to my normal rating system here. In addition to numbers from 1 - 10 I’ll be using letters. This is to account for the fact that many of these will be albums I have little or no interest in hearing, or artists I don’t even know, but that, outside of my own personal preferences, they may be good albums in themselves. So I don’t want to give an album a low rating just because it’s a genre or artist I’m not familiar with, or like. Therefore the following suffixes will apply.

A = Artist or genre I’m very familiar with. An A indicates that I should have a pretty good expectation of liking at least some of the tracks on this album.

B = The same, but perhaps to my surprise a big disappointment where I had expected/hoped to enjoy this

C = An album I did not enjoy, but did not expect to enjoy, as I don’t like or have much experience of the genre/artist

D = As above, but one that, to my surprise, I did enjoy.

E= An album I had absolutely no clue whether I was going to love or hate

F= An album I had a reasonable expectation of liking, and did

G= An album I had a reasonable expectation of not liking, and did not.

H= An album I had a reasonable expectation of liking, but did not

K= An album I had a reasonable expectation of not liking, but did

L= Other (who knows?)

The letter ratings only apply to albums, not tracks.

The numerical ratings run as follows:
(tracks)
0: Unlikely to be used much, but this will cover any track which has maybe excessive intro using sound effects or whatever that prevents me from being able to get a proper handle on the track.
1 -2: Hate this after sixty seconds, or less; never want to hear it again
3-4: Not very impressed with this; have no desire to hear any more
5 -6: Meh. Not bad, but I can live without hearing any more
7: Pretty decent; wouldn't turn it off if I were listening to the full track
8: Good. I’m enjoying this and I could certainly stand to hear more.
9: Excellent! Have to hear more of this.
10: I would probably buy the album just based on this track alone.

(album)
1-2: Would not take this album for free, not even if they paid me.
3-4: Pretty poor. Doubt I’d be interested in hearing the full thing.
5-6: Meh. All right, but no particular interest in hearing any more.
7: Pretty good; could possibly see listening to more.
8: Very impressed. Would definitely like to hear more.
9: Really great: have to hear the full album.
10: I’m buying/have bought/will buy this album, and possibly others by this artist.

So an excellent album which I expected to be excellent would rate a 9A or higher, while a disappointment might rate something like a 6B. One I knew I would hate, and did, would be perhaps a 3C while one I expected to hate but did not could be a 7D. Clear? No? Tough. Here we go.

And by the way, in case anyone thinks I’m going easy on myself by choosing an album that is from a genre and artist I know, it’s pure coincidence: I’m taking these exactly in the order they come on the front page, going top left to bottom right, leaving out nothing. It just so happens that I’m lucky this is the first one on the list.

Album title: Saints and Sinners
Artist: House of Lords
Genre: Hard Rock/Melodic Rock/AOR
Nationality: American
Familiarity (artist): I have heard two albums by them.
Familiarity (genre): I’m a big fan of melodic rock/metal and of course AOR, as well as heavy metal and hard rock, so this is right in my wheelhouse.

A word before I jump in: My experience of this band has varied. I’ve heard two albums as I say above, One, 2004’s The Power and the Myth, I was distinctly unimpressed with, however 2012’s Indestructible was a totally different proposition, and I loved it. Will this continue the trend of the latter? Let’s find out.

Tracks
“Saints and Sinners”
It’s straight into it with a rocking beat and a quasi-Maiden riff leading in a lowish vocal that reminds me a little of Jon Bon Jovi and then kicks up just as my sample ends.
Rating: 9

“House of the Lord”
A digital piano leads us in with a real feeling of Tony Banks - could this be the first ballad already? But then the thundering drumbeat belies that, and it’s followed by chugging guitars and a soarway keyboard run as we rock out again.
Rating: 9

“Take it All”
With another soft keyboard intro, perhaps this is a power ballad? But again I’d say no: hard guitars punch up and the tempo, though it doesn’t quite rock as fast as the previous two, is still in a kind of stomping, marching kind of style, and I would categorise this as what I like to call a rock cruncher.
Rating: 9

“Road Warrior”
Trumpeting keyboard arpeggio blasts into a boogie-style rocker which sounds like it has a lot of fun and energy in it.
Rating: 9

“Mistress of the Dark”
Longest track on the album at just over seven minutes, and begins with a suitably long and atmospheric synthy intro - take up most of the sample actually - which reminds me of the opening of Dire Straits’ “Private Investigations”, then a hard rock seventies-style guitar riff kicks in, and off we go!
Rating: 9

“Avalanche”
And surely this is the ballad, with a slow piano line and a soft vocal. Yeah, deffo a ballad, and a damn good one too.
Rating: 10

“Roll Like Thunder”
Rocker whose main melody is a little too close I think to Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”. Meh.
Rating: 6

“Razzle Dazzle”
I must admit, before the track even starts I have my reservations about this, just because of the stupid title. But we’ll see. Well it certainly comes roaring out of the traps with a big growling nasty guitar sound. Could live without the way the vocal is constructed. Not bad though.
Rating: 7

“Dreamin’ it All”
And we keep rocking, though kind of almost more in a metal way - well, to be fair, if anything this sounds glam or hair metal, kind of a late eighties vibe to it, maybe Great White or early Guns’n’Roses, maybe. Gimme a break! I got sixty damn seconds to make comparisons. Overall, not bad but not great.
Rating: 7

“Takin’ My Heart Back”
Another rocker, with the sort of nod to “Kashmir” in the opening riff that a lot of bands seem to use. Kind of more AOR than the rest of the album.
Rating: 8

“Angels Fallen”
Hard, choppy guitar with a nice rising keyboard line in again quite the Bon Jovi line, sort of a slower song with a sense of a semi-ballad about it.
Rating: 8

Average Track Rating: 6.18

Comments: Up until the last few tracks these guys can do no wrong on this album. It’s pretty much gold all the way till about “Roll Like Thunder”, and then it take a dip in quality. It’s not, to be fair, a serious dip, but the high standard is not maintained throughout the album like it is on Indestructible which is a pity. It starts out promising much - and generally, delivers on that promise - but there’s a sense of disappointment and of fizzling out somewhat as we approach the end of the album. It does pick up for the last three tracks, but it never seems to quite regain the excellent quality of the first six. A worthy effort though, and still deserves the highest rating.

Album Rating: 10A

09-26-2022, 06:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Trollheart's Sixty-Second Samplers Trollheart’s Sixty-Second Samplers A new idea I had. Yes, another one, what of it? My favourite music vendor website allows you to listen to sixty seconds of each track off an album before you decide to purchase, so I thought this might be a good way for me to review new albums without having to listen to them all the way through. I mean, there are albums I would not even shell out sixty cents for, and while of course I could go a-Soulseeking, again some of them I just wouldn’t want to bother. But this way I get to hear snippets without having to put my hand in my digital pocket. It’s how I usually decide anyway whether or not I intend to buy an album, and while there’s not a huge amount you can learn from sixty seconds of a track, in some cases this could be a quarter of the song, so you might glean more from it than you might think. Clearly, I won’t be writing much about the actual songs, and even that which I do could be way off, as songs can change halfway through, and some samples may give me little more than an instrumental intro or whatever, but I’ll do what I can. Each track will be rated 1 - 10, as below, and then the album as a whole will also be rated 1 - 10. You can expect absolutely every genre here, as I am going to take every single album the website puts on its front page (its new releases) and go through them one by one. If I really hate an album after a few tracks I’ll reserve the right not to continue, but in general and as best I can I will try to get to the end of each one. Feel free to comment, add information, ask questions, or send large donations of cash. Rating system There’s a difference to my normal rating system here. In addition to numbers from 1 - 10 I’ll be using letters. This is to account for the fact that many of these will be albums I have little or no interest in hearing, or artists I don’t even know, but that, outside of my own personal preferences, they may be good albums in themselves. So I don’t want to give an album a low rating just because it’s a genre or artist I’m not familiar with, or like. Therefore the following suffixes will apply. A = Artist or genre I’m very familiar with. An A indicates that I should have a pretty good expectation of liking at least some of the tracks on this album. B = The same, but perhaps to my surprise a big disappointment where I had expected/hoped to enjoy this C = An album I did not enjoy, but did not expect to enjoy, as I don’t like or have much experience of the genre/artist D = As above, but one that, to my surprise, I did enjoy. E= An album I had absolutely no clue whether I was going to love or hate F= An album I had a reasonable expectation of liking, and did G= An album I had a reasonable expectation of not liking, and did not. H= An album I had a reasonable expectation of liking, but did not K= An album I had a reasonable expectation of not liking, but did L= Other (who knows?) The letter ratings only apply to albums, not tracks. The numerical ratings run as follows: (tracks) 0: Unlikely to be used much, but this will cover any track which has maybe excessive intro using sound effects or whatever that prevents me from being able to get a proper handle on the track. 1 -2: Hate this after sixty seconds, or less; never want to hear it again 3-4: Not very impressed with this; have no desire to hear any more 5 -6: Meh. Not bad, but I can live without hearing any more 7: Pretty decent; wouldn't turn it off if I were listening to the full track 8: Good. I’m enjoying this and I could certainly stand to hear more. 9: Excellent! Have to hear more of this. 10: I would probably buy the album just based on this track alone. (album) 1-2: Would not take this album for free, not even if they paid me. 3-4: Pretty poor. Doubt I’d be interested in hearing the full thing. 5-6: Meh. All right, but no particular interest in hearing any more. 7: Pretty good; could possibly see listening to more. 8: Very impressed. Would definitely like to hear more. 9: Really great: have to hear the full album. 10: I’m buying/have bought/will buy this album, and possibly others by this artist. So an excellent album which I expected to be excellent would rate a 9A or higher, while a disappointment might rate something like a 6B. One I knew I would hate, and did, would be perhaps a 3C while one I expected to hate but did not could be a 7D. Clear? No? Tough. Here we go. And by the way, in case anyone thinks I’m going easy on myself by choosing an album that is from a genre and artist I know, it’s pure coincidence: I’m taking these exactly in the order they come on the front page, going top left to bottom right, leaving out nothing. It just so happens that I’m lucky this is the first one on the list. Album title: Saints and Sinners Artist: House of Lords Genre: Hard Rock/Melodic Rock/AOR Nationality: American Familiarity (artist): I have heard two albums by them. Familiarity (genre): I’m a big fan of melodic rock/metal and of course AOR, as well as heavy metal and hard rock, so this is right in my wheelhouse. A word before I jump in: My experience of this band has varied. I’ve heard two albums as I say above, One, 2004’s The Power and the Myth, I was distinctly unimpressed with, however 2012’s Indestructible was a totally different proposition, and I loved it. Will this continue the trend of the latter? Let’s find out. Tracks “Saints and Sinners” It’s straight into it with a rocking beat and a quasi-Maiden riff leading in a lowish vocal that reminds me a little of Jon Bon Jovi and then kicks up just as my sample ends. Rating: 9 “House of the Lord” A digital piano leads us in with a real feeling of Tony Banks - could this be the first ballad already? But then the thundering drumbeat belies that, and it’s followed by chugging guitars and a soarway keyboard run as we rock out again. Rating: 9 “Take it All” With another soft keyboard intro, perhaps this is a power ballad? But again I’d say no: hard guitars punch up and the tempo, though it doesn’t quite rock as fast as the previous two, is still in a kind of stomping, marching kind of style, and I would categorise this as what I like to call a rock cruncher. Rating: 9 “Road Warrior” Trumpeting keyboard arpeggio blasts into a boogie-style rocker which sounds like it has a lot of fun and energy in it. Rating: 9 “Mistress of the Dark” Longest track on the album at just over seven minutes, and begins with a suitably long and atmospheric synthy intro - take up most of the sample actually - which reminds me of the opening of Dire Straits’ “Private Investigations”, then a hard rock seventies-style guitar riff kicks in, and off we go! Rating: 9 “Avalanche” And surely this is the ballad, with a slow piano line and a soft vocal. Yeah, deffo a ballad, and a damn good one too. Rating: 10 “Roll Like Thunder” Rocker whose main melody is a little too close I think to Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”. Meh. Rating: 6 “Razzle Dazzle” I must admit, before the track even starts I have my reservations about this, just because of the stupid title. But we’ll see. Well it certainly comes roaring out of the traps with a big growling nasty guitar sound. Could live without the way the vocal is constructed. Not bad though. Rating: 7 “Dreamin’ it All” And we keep rocking, though kind of almost more in a metal way - well, to be fair, if anything this sounds glam or hair metal, kind of a late eighties vibe to it, maybe Great White or early Guns’n’Roses, maybe. Gimme a break! I got sixty damn seconds to make comparisons. Overall, not bad but not great. Rating: 7 “Takin’ My Heart Back” Another rocker, with the sort of nod to “Kashmir” in the opening riff that a lot of bands seem to use. Kind of more AOR than the rest of the album. Rating: 8 “Angels Fallen” Hard, choppy guitar with a nice rising keyboard line in again quite the Bon Jovi line, sort of a slower song with a sense of a semi-ballad about it. Rating: 8 Average Track Rating: 6.18 Comments: Up until the last few tracks these guys can do no wrong on this album. It’s pretty much gold all the way till about “Roll Like Thunder”, and then it take a dip in quality. It’s not, to be fair, a serious dip, but the high standard is not maintained throughout the album like it is on Indestructible which is a pity. It starts out promising much - and generally, delivers on that promise - but there’s a sense of disappointment and of fizzling out somewhat as we approach the end of the album. It does pick up for the last three tracks, but it never seems to quite regain the excellent quality of the first six. A worthy effort though, and still deserves the highest rating. Album Rating: 10A __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-01-2022 at 02:35 PM.