The Syndicate

I'm only around here for about an hour or two if that in the evenings anymore. I'm fine with just reading when I am able (because, you know, I have no other choice).

Okay, I'm just going to post them here then. But if you find the time I do highly recommend listening through the subs since there is a lot of really great stuff, and discovering music you wouldn't otherwise be exposed to is of course the whole point of this

[mention]Dragon D. Luffy[/mention]
[mention]Epignosis[/mention]
[mention]iaafr[/mention]
[mention]JaggedJimmyJay[/mention]
[mention]Keldeo[/mention]
[mention]Sloonei[/mention]
[mention]speedchuck[/mention]
[mention]sprityo[/mention]
[mention]Texas Cloverleaf[/mention]
[mention]Turnip Head[/mention]

Score reveals for categories 1, 2, and 3 will begin momentarily!

ROUND ONE

1. Troy - Start me off with your epic battle theme song. Give me something powerful and violent that I can blast while clashing sword and spear against my foes.

(Reminder that I haven't spoiled myself for who submitted what until right before posting each entry! This is exciting for me too! )

10th Place



The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldier

...Can't say I enjoyed this one, sorry. Never been a Jack White fan, and his voice here is incredibly irritating. The guitar is okay; the main thing that salvages this track from being a complete nope from me is the drums -- the drums at least held my interest. Not really getting the cat fit too hard on this one either.

4.8


Submitted by: Sloonei

9th Place



Homestuck Soundtrack - Descend

Hahaha there's sprityo with the homestuck eh This is definitely a bit of a different vibe than I was expecting for this category -- it can pass as video game battle music, but kind of dialed down on the intensity. Maybe I'm seasonally biased but I feel like the mood it evokes in me is more akin to a cartoonish Halloween/spooky haunted mansion aesthetic than an epic fight. Catchy though.

6.5

Submitted by: sprityo

I'm here and following, just stuck on the dang phone!

8th Place



Dynasty Warriors 4 OST - Straight Ahead

Yeah, this works. It's a solidly safe category fit, and certainly would work great in the background while I play a combative video game. Its main flaw is that it doesn't go beyond being purely background music, which I guess is the point for game music, but I find myself wishing the music would go anywhere and it doesn't.

7.1


Submitted by: iaafr

I'm here!

nutella wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 9:11 pm (Reminder that I haven't spoiled myself for who submitted what until right before posting each entry! This is exciting for me too! )

I guess that's a huge accomplishment since I used a non-youtube link for one of them.

7th Place



Dream Theater - Overture 1928

Fun fact, Mike Portnoy lives in the town I lived in as a high schooler lol. Anyway. Dream Theater is just fine for this category and this is definitely fun and exciting to listen to, if maybe not the most uniquely engaging. I do appreciate the precision in the drumming and the desire to fit as many notes into one second as possible but other than that it doesn't really stand out that much.

7.8


Submitted by: Epignosis

6th Place



Muse - Knights of Cydonia

Lmao who submitted this xD Not sure if any of you have any reason to be particularly aware of this, but I was huuuuugely obsessed with Muse when I was 14-15, so I have an intimately familiar and complexly nostalgic relationship with their music. And especially with this being one of their more well known and perhaps more cheesy songs, it's particularly hard for me to evaluate from an objective standpoint. It seems like a moderately pedestrian pick for the category, but that the same time that's because it works. I mean anything that's Guitar Hero bait is probably going to be just fine for this category lol -- that riff just makes you want to feel awesome and do some epic moves. Can't say no to this, maybe minus a little on originality.

8.6

Submitted by: JaggedJimmyJay

The Dynasty Warriors theme song makes so much sense.

5th Place



Nothing More - Go To War

This is absolutely speedchuck's sub lol. It's a really great cat fit, with just the amount of cheese I was expecting in musical and vocal style, if maybe a little too much cheese in the lyrics. I feel like this is the Trump-era incarnation of a particular angry vibe present in some early 2000s music. Good beat, and it certainly works for the prompt, but maybe a little bit too easily and I kind of feel like it's nothing particularly special. It holds up really well on second listen though.

8.7


Submitted by: speedchuck

I considered the Attack on Titan theme just to be ridiculous.

For me this was a "survive" category. I never listen to anything that could pass as battle music.

4th Place



Barns Courtney - Kicks

Dang this is catchy as hell. Everything about this is just solidly... cool. Definitely has the intensity and beat to fit the theme. Great sub.

8.8


Submitted by: Keldeo

Hmm do I skip a few songs to get up to date with whatever nutella is posting or do I stay at #7 which is where I am right now.

Top 3 podium placers (in alphabetical order):
Dragon D. Luffy, Texas Cloverleaf, Turnip Head

Hype!!!

Seems like I had a good start.

3rd Place



Delta - Face 2 Face

This is a pretty straightforward cat fit. I can sometimes have trouble finding music of this genre interesting, but I was basically asking for it with this prompt, and this pretty much fulfills what i was going for. It starts out feeling a little cookie-cutter, but the melody takes a unique turn that grabs me, and the bridge/solos/whatever you call that delicious proggy bit is, well, delicious. Them solos are bangin'.

9.1


Submitted by: Dragon D. Luffy

Nice.

This is a band from Chile whose existance I only found about because I really like One Piece. There's this Chilean guy who used to be one of the best AMV (Anime Music Video) makers in the internet, and he usually made them with power metal songs.

The one from this song is one of my favorites:

2nd Place



Blind Guardian - Theatre of Pain

Oh yeah. This is the stuff. The vocal style is not entirely my thing but it's par for the course for this aesthetic, and it does the trick. This isn't something I would choose to listen to, but if it came up on a playlist while I was gaming I would absolutely revel in it. And daaamn that solo is crunchy af.

9.2


Submitted by: Texas Cloverleaf

I'm really enjoying this btw, even if I'm too busy to watch the play by play. I'll be going back to hit each of these.

1st Place



Within Temptation - Our Solemn Hour

This might have been a bit of a pander based on my inclusion of Nightwish in the examples, and that's not a bad thing at all. I never got as much into Within Temptation, but they definitely have a similar sound and it's a sound I love. If I have to listen to metal, it's almost always going to have "symphonic" or a similar qualifier in front of it (that or "folk"). It's exciting and epic while also gorgeously melodic and showcasing vocal talent. This is the kind of thing I can come back and listen to over and over.

9.4


Submitted by: Turnip Head

Awesome job with the first category, everyone!! In a few minutes I'll start category 2, which is an even stronger pool of subs!! Y'all rock.

Time to find out if my little cheating act paid off or not.

If you like the style of my submission, check out The Silent Force and The Heart of Everything by Within Temptation. They are both amazing symphonic metal-ish albums from start to finish. I used to listen to this kind of music in high school and it still holds up, they really know how to write a song.

First round of hiding how little I know of music: successful!

ROUND TWO

2. The Sea - The war is ended and we're off on a journey. For this category, the particular mood/feeling is not as important; just give me a song that is somehow related to the ocean, or some body of water, or sailing or boats or ships.

My main goal was finding things nutella hasn’t heard. We have SUPER compatibility on last.fm. Apparently Jack White is the one artist we disagree on.

Nice job podium gang.

This is neat. I want to do Walrus. I'm probably not alone.

10th Place



Still Corners - Black Lagoon

This is really nice and chill. Very polished modern electronic sound, with beautiful vocals and a good beat. It's not super memorable though, and feels likely to be relegated to background music. Could have worked for the dream category as well.

6.7


Submitted by: Sloonei

Sloonei you suck dude.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:02 pm My main goal was finding things nutella hasn’t heard. We have SUPER compatibility on last.fm. Apparently Jack White is the one artist we disagree on.

Heh, ouch sorry you got 10th twice in a row I didn't want anyone to be last in category 2 though, they were all quite good, so don't feel bad. And I definitely appreciate the intent to show me new stuff!

Epignosis wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:03 pm Sloonei you suck dude.

lmao

Nutella apprently dislikes background music and I'm feeling uncomfortable because I posted like 3-4 lyric-less songs.

Sloonbeard having a rough go.

Dragon D. Luffy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:04 pm Nutella apprently dislikes background music and I'm feeling uncomfortable because I posted like 3-4 lyric-less songs.

Lyricless definitely doesn't equal background. Instrumental music can be really exciting. It's just more background if it doesn't really go anywhere.

Trying to post things nutella doesn't know when nutella has the same taste as you was not a good plan.

9th Place



Mark Knopfler & James Taylor - Sailing to Philadelphia

Ooooh we got some straight up folksy Americana here. I have mixed feelings about these guys (I have a weird thing about Taylor's voice in particular but whatever) but in any case this is a really pretty tune with polished vocals and interesting historical lyrics. It's fairly light on the sea theme and not that musically interesting, but I find it a nice enough listen.

6.8


Submitted by: Texas Cloverleaf

Dragon D. Luffy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:04 pm Nutella apprently dislikes background music and I'm feeling uncomfortable because I posted like 3-4 lyric-less songs.

RIP DDL

Dragon D. Luffy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:07 pm Trying to post things nutella doesn't know when nutella has the same taste as you was not a good plan.

I do fear I wasn't as true to the "originality points" thing as I should have been since I ended up giving some pretty good scores to songs I am familiar with. I tried to be fair about it and balance it with thematic strength but it's hard to eliminate bias

I'm listening to sloons song and really digging it

Turnip Head wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:10 pm I'm listening to sloons song and really digging it

I liked that second one myself.

I liked Sloon's song for this category, I'm putting in my to-check-again list.

8th Place



Banjo-Kazooie Soundtrack - Treasure Trove Cove

Ahahahaha. This is great. Not really what I was expecting for this category and I feel kind of trolled but in such a good way. Makes me want to lounge on a bright blue pixelated beach sipping a mai-tai out of a coconut. The awful synthesized approximation of a steel drum is so beautifully painful and so crisp. Certainly not evocative of a dangerous voyage over Poseidon's raging seas, but hey it was a loose prompt and this made me smile.

7.3


Submitted by: iaafr

iaafr that is fucking great.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:13 pm iaafr that is fucking great.

I prefer great fucking, myself.

Banjo-Kazooie probably makes my console games top ten.