Gah, this will be hard!

Voting for this round was surprisingly easy for me. My hardest match was, by far, The Greys vs Planet Smasher.

I speak of the Ocean Machine and Terria brackets. Disappointed Bad Devil lost to Truth, though, considering Truth sounds like an intro track compared to rest of the album (in my opinion at least).

I picked Mountain over Earth Day in the Terria quarters, so I had no difficulties picking Deep Peace here. Bastard over DOM wasn't a hard choice for me either. And I love both Truth and Bad Devil, but both less than Noisy Pinkbubbles. I'm hoping the Group Two semis will be super-difficult.

Just over two days left on this round, and the matchups are very close. Go vote!

Behold, the wall of polls! http://devymadness2013.blogspot.com/

Voting will close on Saturday at 1:00 PM ET.

The Death of Music, Truth, Kingdom and Deep Peace won the automatic bids for Group 1, and Group Two saw some stunning upsets. Two #7 seeds and two #6 seeds advanced to the semifinals. But which ones? Read on.

Group Two Semi previews
DTB, DTP and ZIltoid lovers rejoice!
Accelerated Evolution: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/382077131c9f4
#1 Deadhead vs #4 Depth Charge: I really can't see any song beating Deadhead, and I love Depth Charge.
#2 Storm vs #3 Suicide: Storm narrowly beat Sunday Afternoon; I like Suicide in this one.

Synchestra: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/60dd6f721c9f4
#1 Triumph vs #5 Notes From Africa: Can Notes From Africa pull off the upset? I think it's possible. Maybe I just like it more than most. But it will be difficult, seeing as it barely got past Vampira.
#6 Judgement vs #2 Pixillate: This one isn't even close for me, but the upset express keeps chugging along.

Ziltoid The Omniscient: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/384409241c9f4
#1 Color Your World vs #5 By Your Command: The only two songs in the entire round to win by virtue of shutout go head to head. And I love both of them.
#2 Hyperdrive vs #3 The Greys: Planet Smasher couldn't quite pull off the upset over the slighted favorite. Hyperdrive stands in The Greys' way next. Who's got it?

Ki: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/315065df0c9f4
#1 Ki vs #4 Heaven Send: I would've taken Lady Helen over Ki, but since Heaven Send won, my money's on Ki.
#6 Trainfire vs #7 Disruptr: Where did this come from? Never in a million years would I have foreseen Disruptr beating Coast, but it happened.

Addicted: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/013ea75e0c9f4
#1 Supercrush vs #4 The Way Home: I'm pulling for The Way Home here. Otherwise, Supercrush might go unchallenged.
#7 Addicted vs #3 Numbered: Another surprising upset run by Addicted, but can it get past Numbered? I doubt it.
_______________________________________
Group Three Previews
The Ghost's Deconstruction just got Epicloud(er). Would you like some Ass-Sordid Leftovers with that?

Deconstruction: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/676257ad0c9f4
The Favorite: The Mighty Masturbator. Heavily.
The Challengers: Any song can win on any given day; this bracket reminds me a lot of Ziltoid.
The Lovable Underdog: Pandemic got an 8-seed? Shitty.

Ghost: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/c19d81111c9f4
The Favorite: I'm going to throw Blackberry into the ring.
The Challengers: Ghost and Feather come to mind; Kawaii is a sneaky 6 seed.
The Lovable Underdog: Infinite Oceans upon infinite parallels. Fractals in infinite reality, each cascading, gliding in an infinite slaughter.

Epicloud: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/5a6e5f4a79f05
The Favorite: Grace.
The Challengers: Kingdom 2.
The Lovable Underdog: I like True North a lot, and I feel like it should've been higher than an 8-seed. Have fun with Grace...if it makes it that far.

Epiclouder: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/601ae81b79f05
The Favorite: It's really hard to tell, but I think Happy Birthday is going to be the favorite.
The Challengers: All of them.
The Lovable Underdog: Woah No, also coming in at an 8-seed.

Ass-Sordid Leftovers: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/8792dadcdcbf4
The Favorite: Om (original)
The Challengers: Don't even get me started; this has the makings of a clusterfuck.
The Lovable Underdog: Consciousness Causes Collapse makes The Hummer's only appearance as the #10 seed. How far can it go?
_______________________________
Group One Winners
Ocean Machine: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/8e994cc71c9f4
#2 The Death of Music

Infinity: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/53278c861c9f4
#4 Truth

Physicist: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/9c90f8d51c9f4
#1 Kingdom

Terria: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/711dd9151c9f4
#2 Deep Peace

Three more days of voting, and there's a lot of voting to be done. GOGOGO!

http://devymadness2013.blogspot.com/

I'm quite surprised Infinity is getting so few votes. I've always thought it was one of the 'big ones' along with OM and Terria.

Also, Synchestra deserves more lurb. Alwyaz.

I've been expecting Ghost to get a lot more votes than it has. Oh well.

Go Infinite Ocean!

I'm hoping The Way Home can make a comeback, and I really want to see Trainfire beat Disruptr and make it to the finals, knowing full-well that Ki will slaughter it. And I can't believe Judgement is on the verge of making the Synchestra finals! Never would've guessed that.

I'm going to extend voting up to Sunday at around 1 PM ET since Saturday happens to be my girlfriend's birthday and I wouldn't be able to put together the next round anyway.

For what it's worth, her favorite Devin album is a tie between Ki and Ghost.

Behold, the wall of polls! http://devymadness2013.blogspot.com/

Voting will close on Saturday at 1:00 PM ET.

We have arrived to the finals for Accelerated Evolution, Synchestra, Ziltoid, Ki, and Addicted. The cinderella in all this is Trainfire, stealing the hearts of millions as it reaches the finals despite being a #6 seed. Elsewhere, Color Your World fell to By Your Command in the Ziltoid semis. Which songs will get the automatic bid to Devy Madness? Only you can decide.

Meanwhile, the last group of albums are in their quarterfinals. The tournament picture will look much clearer after this round. And with 25 matches this round, there's plenty to pick from.

Group Two Finals previews
DTB, DTP and ZIltoid lovers rejoice!
Accelerated Evolution: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/382077131c9f4
#1 Deadhead vs #3 Suicide: My two favorites on my 2nd-favorite Devin album facing off in the final? Oh god.

Synchestra: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/60dd6f721c9f4
#1 Triumph vs #2 Pixillate: This one is anyone's game; I'm taking Pixillate because it is my rainbow AND my sun.

Ziltoid The Omniscient: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/384409241c9f4
#5 By Your Command vs #3 The Greys: I would think The Greys will win, but BYC dismantled Color Your World.

Ki: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/315065df0c9f4
#1 Ki vs #6 Trainfire: The only way this final would be any better for me is if Winter made it over Ki. Still a great choice and a tough decision.

Addicted: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/013ea75e0c9f4
#1 Supercrush vs #3 Numbered: The Way Home should've beaten Supercrush, so now it's up to Numbered.
_______________________________________
Group Three Previews
The Ghost's Deconstruction just got Epicloud(er). Would you like some Ass-Sordid Leftovers with that?

Deconstruction: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/676257ad0c9f4
The Favorite: The Mighty Masturbator. Heavily.
The Challengers: Any song can win on any given day; this bracket reminds me a lot of Ziltoid.
The Lovable Underdog: Pandemic got an 8-seed? Shitty.

Ghost: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/c19d81111c9f4
The Favorite: I'm going to throw Blackberry into the ring.
The Challengers: Ghost and Feather come to mind; Kawaii is a sneaky 6 seed.
The Lovable Underdog: Infinite Oceans upon infinite parallels. Fractals in infinite reality, each cascading, gliding in an infinite slaughter.

Epicloud: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/5a6e5f4a79f05
The Favorite: Grace.
The Challengers: Kingdom 2.
The Lovable Underdog: I like True North a lot, and I feel like it should've been higher than an 8-seed. Have fun with Grace...if it makes it that far.

Epiclouder: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/601ae81b79f05
The Favorite: It's really hard to tell, but I think Happy Birthday is going to be the favorite.
The Challengers: All of them.
The Lovable Underdog: Woah No, also coming in at an 8-seed.

Ass-Sordid Leftovers: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/8792dadcdcbf4
The Favorite: Om (original)
The Challengers: Don't even get me started; this has the makings of a clusterfuck.
The Lovable Underdog: Consciousness Causes Collapse makes The Hummer's only appearance as the #10 seed. How far can it go?
_______________________________
Group One Winners
Ocean Machine: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/8e994cc71c9f4
#2 The Death of Music

Infinity: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/53278c861c9f4
#4 Truth

Physicist: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/9c90f8d51c9f4
#1 Kingdom

Terria: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/711dd9151c9f4
#2 Deep Peace

Two days left on voting for this round; if you haven't voted yet, you totally should. I know I still have to.

http://devymadness2013.blogspot.com/

I'm extending the vote deadline to 7 PM ET Saturday since I have other stuff going on tomorrow. Also, I just noticed that I errantly placed Angel twice in the polls; the #7 seed should be Hold On instead of Angel.

Behold, the wall of polls! http://devymadness2013.blogspot.com/

Voting will close on Wednesday at 3:00 PM ET

The home stretch of the album tourneys! Just two more rounds before the main bracket is announced. But there's some work left to be done, and there's still a #7 seed and a #10 seed running around. Get to it!

In other news, there were some unexpected upsets in the Group 2 finals. Previews and results can be seen below.
_______________________________________
Group Three Semifinal Matchups
The Ghost's Deconstruction just got Epicloud(er). Would you like some Ass-Sordid Leftovers with that?

Deconstruction: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/676257ad0c9f4
#1 Mighty Masturbator vs. #5 Poltergeist: I'm still taking MM by a landslide, but Pandemic put up a couple votes against it. We'll see...
#3 Deconstruction vs. #7 Juular: Deconstruction is now my new dark horse pick to win this title after its dismantling of Stand. But nothing ever bothers Juular.

Ghost: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/c19d81111c9f4
#1 Feather vs #5 Texada: I feel like I would like Feather better if it were split into two songs. Texada gets my vote, but I don't expect the board to agree.
#2 Blackberry vs #3 Ghost: I really like this matchup. I consider these two songs as the true titans of Ghost, so we'll see how this one plays out.

Epicloud: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/5a6e5f4a79f05
#1 Grace vs #5 Liberation: I'm surprised Liberation made it past Save Our Now, and even though I love that song, I'm still picking Grace.
#2 Where We Belong vs #3 Kingdom: It's looking more and more likely that Kingdom will in fact get two bids to Devy Madness. It can effectively seal the deal by beating Where We Belong. But Where We Belong is fierce. And amazing.

Epiclouder: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/601ae81b79f05
#1 Happy Birthday vs #4 Socialization: Well, Happy Birthday scraped past my 2nd-favorite Epiclouder song. But can it beat my favorite? Rise to glory!
#2 Heatwave vs #3 Quietus: Tossup. Who's got a coin?

Ass-Sordid Leftovers: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/8792dadcdcbf4
#1 Om (Christeen) vs #4 Man: Man took out Punky Bruster's lone representative, and now it appears to be the odd man out against the surviving (and way better) OM.
#3 Processional vs #10 Consciousness Causes Collapse: Now here's a cinderella story; we have The Hummer's lone representative, which was one of the last three teams to make this field, making it all the way to the semifinals of the Ass-Sordid Leftovers. Now here's the question that's on everyone's minds: Can it go all the way? I'm not sure. My predictions call for a Christeen demos matchup. But there's a lot of support for The Hummer. Not to be confused with any other connotation of the word "Hummer."
_________________________________________________
Group One Winners
Ocean Machine: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/8e994cc71c9f4
#2 The Death of Music

Infinity: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/53278c861c9f4
#4 Truth

Physicist: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/9c90f8d51c9f4
#1 Kingdom

Terria: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/711dd9151c9f4
#2 Deep Peace

Accelerated Evolution: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/382077131c9f4
#1 Deadhead

Synchestra: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/60dd6f721c9f4
#1 Triumph

Ziltoid The Omniscient: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/384409241c9f4
#5 By Your Command

Ki: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/315065df0c9f4
#6 Trainfire

Addicted: http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/013ea75e0c9f4
#1 Supercrush

Go Liberation!
As far as Epiclouder is concerned, my votes are from Socialization and Quietus, but then they happen to be within my top three favorites on that release (Woah No! was third).

Hoping Consciousness Causes Collapse gets more votes, as well.

Two days left on this round! I'm going to start working on the bracket one week from today, and hopefully get the big tourney started by next Thursday.