by: Todd Betzold

We get to meet the final eight groups competing on The Sing-Off for a chance at $200,000 and a Sony Music recording contract.

This week, the eight groups we didn't see last week will perform tonight with only six moving on to the next round. They get the night started by all getting together on stage and singing "Sing" by My Chemical Romance.

Up first for the night are the men of Dartmouth Aires from Dartmouth College. We get to see the brotherhood of the group, including a story of one of the members whose mother had a stroke recently and the group rallied around him and now he is here singing for his mom. They'll be singing "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder. This is a very high-energy performance. They had some choreography going on and were all over that stage working it. I think mom will be proud. An excellent start to the show.

Coming in from Arlington, Texas, we have Pentatonix. The group added some new additions to take them to the next level...will it work? They take on Katy Perry's song, "E.T." This was a decent performance. I enjoyed the fact they had a few different people come out as the front person during the performance, unlike a lot of the groups that have a single front man the whole performance. It was, however, kind of a more lackluster performance to me.

Escaping danger in Liberia, this group, Messiah's Men, comes in from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The men were refugees in Liberia who joined together to sing to help them get through the terrible times...now they are on stage to show off their talents. The gospel, Afrocentric and soul singers bring us "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield. They have great harmony together and have a good performance, but I wanted to see more from them. It seemed too subdue to me from what I was expecting of them.

The final group of the first round, Sonos, comes in from Los Angeles. Working together for three years, they have put out a record and toured the country, but they need that help to kick them up to the next level. Singing "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak, they start out on a slow beat, but kick it in a little into the song. They have some good effects and some good harmonies, but it lacked the appeal I was hoping for as well. Seems like better groups last week then this week, so far.

It's now time to see which of those four groups will be singing for the final time on stage. Dartmouth Aires and Pentatonix are safe for another week, leaving Messiah's Men and Sonos. Dragging it out as much as possible to finally find out Sonos is safe and Messiah's Men will be headed home.

Then a little impromptu performance from last year's champions, Committed, before starting the second round of groups for the night.

Starting it off is a mixed of rising solo artists from Nashville, we get to see The Collective. Another group featuring a performer from last season, Jeremy Lister, who goes back to Nashville and forms a new group to try it again. I don't like this idea because you had your chance once...anyway, let's see how they do. "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele is their song of choice and they did an awesome job. For being solo artists, they did an amazing job as a group. The front woman, Ruby, was sexy and smooth as a performer....solid.

Up next is the youngest and biggest group on the show, Soul'd Out, from Wilsonville, Oregon. They claim to be the real-life Glee, so those are some big shoes to fill. Can they do it? "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" from Hair is what they sing and do a good job at singing it. Started out slower and good, but they kicked it in in the middle. It was very enjoyable, but not Glee-like yet.

From the young kids to the older gentlemen, North Shore from Boston is the next group we get to see. The struggling artists sing "Runaround Sue" by Dion and bring the old school styles to the stage and I liked it. It was fun and upbeat, which I love to watch. Good vocals and a great bass in the group. Performance was great to me.

The last group of the night is the Deltones from the University of Delaware. We got to the history of the group and shed some tears with them to see how much they love each other....these are true families. They choose to sing "Feels Like Home" by Randy Newman and a great choice it was. It was a slow song, but the backups were in great harmony and the front woman had an amazing tone. This performance I enjoyed, even with the slower song.

Time again for one of the groups to go home. The first two groups safe are North Shore and The Collective. That leaves us with Soul'd Out and Deltones. Some final words before Soul'd Out is sent home. That leaves us with twelve remaining groups as we head into next week.

The Sing-Off airs Mondays at 8/7c on NBC.

(Image courtesy of NBC)

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