My Own Bracket (Shove It) Bracket • Page 35

Rubicon

 

That closing stretch of Gore - Phantom Bride - Rubicon is phenomenal

 

Rubicon

 

Tomorrow we’ll start a one day b-sides round and we’ll start a wild card bracket on Tuesday.

The b-sides round will have one winner which will advance to the championship bracket. I’m not going to have the b-sides runner up advance to the wild card bracket since we’ll already have a nice even number from the album brackets.

 

Phantom Bride.

 

Rubicon

 

Phantom Bride

 

Phantom Bride

 

Not sure whether I'm gonna vote cause these are definitely the two best, but it's really too close to call.

Rubicon - perfect, triumphant encapsulation of the shoegaze-influenced sound they've been exploring heavily since SNW

Phantom - very different from almost anything else they've released, but a wildly successful experiment and one of their best (and Cantrell's guest appearance is icing on the cake)

 

Some more comments on Gore, since it seems to be their most polarizing release to date:

The production holds it back more than any of their other releases, IMO. "Acid Hologram" and "Geometric Headdress" especially get handicapped by the incredibly muddy mix, since they rely on intricacy and layering while also being loud. They might've jumped "Phantom" and "Rubicon" for me if produced competently.

"Hearts/Wires" is enjoyable, but I ding it for feeling too much like a blatant retread of S/T (especially Minerva and Battle-Axe) without bringing anything superior or new to the table.

The 3-track sequence from "Pittura" to "LMIRL" had me excited at first because they're exploring some cool 90s influences. But sadly, I skip these a lot now, because the songwriting just isn't that strong. Cool ideas stylistically; lackluster execution.

The title track is one of my favorite bangers from them. The interplay between spacey verses and shit-losing choruses is something they haven't tried much otherwise, but works perfectly here.

 

I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, I just find this album really boring. I can't listen to it without losing interest.

Anyway my vote is going Phantom Bride.

 

Current Totals:

Phantom Bride - 5
Rubicon - 4

 

Phantom Bride

 

Normally I feel like people on this site are acting like babies when it comes to complaining about production, but Gore is one of the only cases where I have to agree. All of the songwriting finesse I expect from Deftones is there, but the songs just sound so oddly washed out. I feel like the title track is the worst offender - it’s a song that should just absolutely rip but instead just kinda lies there.

“(L)MIRL” is still the unsung hero of this record though, so sad it got KO’d so early.

 

Phantom Bride

 

I have some meetings this morning so I’ll start this next round when I get out of them - probably in the 11:30 - 12:30 ET range

 

I guess I'll vote ...

These two are neck and neck for me. Both fall behind Prayers/Triangles, Hearts/Wires, Gore, and (L)mirl for me. I'll give the nod to Phantom Bride because the beer (and the can) is awesome.

 

I'm one of the biggest babies here then, haha, but glad others can see the problem when it's this glaring. I'd speculate that less glaringly bad production still influences people's opinions of records without them explicitly realizing it, but I'm extremely sensitive to it and always notice, so it's hard to put myself in others' shoes.

That's the one I feel strongest about being a great idea with poor execution. It has the vibe of something I'd eat up, but to be blunt - it's just super boring and goes nowhere, to me.

 

Final Totals:

Phantom Bride - 8
Rubicon - 4

Phantom Bride is hereby the winner of the Gore bracket!

B-sides round will begin soon

 

Can't Even Breathe.

Oh am I early?

 

B-Sides Round:

Please vote for your favorite of the following tracks:

1) Can't Even Breathe
2) Teething
3) Crenshaw Punch / I'll Throw Rocks at You
4) Lovers
5) Black Moon
6) Teenager (Idiot Version)
7) Smile

----------------------

As previously discussed, this round will only contain b-sides of original material.

I realize that Smile does not fit the bill here, but @currytheword requested it and I'm a man of the people.

Whatever track gets the most votes will advance to the championship bracket. The runner-up will not advance to the wild card bracket.


Voting begins now and will run until tomorrow morning.

 

Lovers

 

Lovers

 

Lovers

 

Smile :)