The Greatest Metal Song Cup - Part II, Round 2, Matches 124-129

What is your favourite song in each match? Vote in all six matchups!

  • MC5 - Kick Out the Jams

    Votes: 3 18.8%

  • Rudra - Avidya Nivrtti

    Votes: 13 81.3%

  • ----------------------------

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Deep Purple - Burn

    Votes: 10 62.5%

  • Rammstein - Sonne

    Votes: 6 37.5%

  • ----------------------------

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Mötley Crüe - Live Wire

    Votes: 5 31.3%

  • Extreme - Play With Me

    Votes: 11 68.8%

  • ----------------------------

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • AC/DC - Highway to Hell

    Votes: 9 56.3%

  • Mercyful Fate - A Dangerous Meeting

    Votes: 7 43.8%

  • ----------------------------

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Slayer - War Ensemble

    Votes: 11 68.8%

  • Linkin Park - Papercut

    Votes: 5 31.3%

  • ----------------------------

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Running Wild - Conquistadors

    Votes: 9 56.3%

  • Sabaton - Rise of Evil

    Votes: 7 43.8%
  • Total voters
    16
  • This poll will close: .
Malmsteen writes boring riffs to solo over and this song is no different. I’ve never really listened to his albums, so it’s cool to hear Jeff Scott Soto back in his early days of singing high. He sounds great for the time, even if the song and melodies are unremarkable. Same goes for Warlock, who have no catchy riffs or vocals here. Doro even sounds like Geddy Lee occasionally. I’ll toss a vote to Malmsteen for inspiring Michael Romeo to write far better songs and cause I like Soto.

Bloodbound….what is this?! Holy Maiden worship! It’s actually really great. Catchy across the board and fun as hell. It borders on Maiden pastiche and the drum production is incredibly weak (or a drum track), but I still had a blast listening to it. Primal Fear has much better production, but is pretty standard, if quality, power metal. The lead singer sounds like Teutonic James LaBrie a couple times. The harmonized bridge groove and solo are impeccable, though. The choice of making every chorus a double chorus ruins this for me. Nosferatu takes the win.

Despite having some great parts, Hellrider is a bit of a mess. The transitions are awkward and so are some of the vocal melodies and layering. Blood Star was a surprise! Great to hear more female vocals. Despite some awkward transitions, it’s a catchy tune with a solid metal instrumental. I’ll throw them a vote, as Priest will have drastically better songs in this game.

La Villa Strangiato is such a fun instrumental, but Tom Sawyer is just too iconic and catchy.

Roswell 47 has some cool melodic guitar work and two cool vocal wails. I’ll take that over Carcass’ dropped chord chugs and puke grunts.

Night of the Demon just fucking slaps. It’s awesome from start to finish. Sounds like Dio singing a Ghost song. Love it. I need to listen to this album! Cloven Hoof is also fun in a proto-Judas Priest (or probably contemporaries of) kinda way. Still fun, but Demon gets the win here for sure.
 
Rush is my favorite band of all time but one thing that makes it difficult is that every studio recording sounds weak compared to the version from Exit Stage Left.

Particularly Xanadu and La Villa Strangiato and Jacobs Ladder but pretty much all of them (except possibly Spirit of Radio).

And Red Barchetta is crazy brilliant both live and studio.
 
One of the mightier Malmsteen songs vs a weaker Warlock track is no contest.

Bloodbound is bloody Maiden worship at beasty best but I went with Roaring Ralf. Primal Fear

Hellrider is frickin´ far from Priests best songs and it misses that elementary extra to beat the surprisingly slapping Blood Star. I might check that band out!

A Rush battle again! Yummy Yes! Tom Sawyer is one of their most wellknown songs but I went with a personal favourite: La Villa Strangiato! Lifesons solo! :wub:

The next battle, a dazzling Diesel one, is not really my cup of tea but I went with the lesser of two evils and the more melodic enyoable Carcass track.

And last but certainly not least we have Perun vs...Perun in a NWOBHM battle.
Both songs are quite different in style and I could have gone with either of these two but picked Cloven Hoof here. I wouldn´t be sad if Demon went to the next round too.
 
I'm generally not keen on Malmsteen (see what I did there), and "I'll See the Light Tonight" felt pretty soulless. Neither of the musicians in Warlock can obviously match Malmsteen when it comes to pure skill, but "True As Steel" just had much more warmth and charm than its counterpart. I'm going with Warlock.

The next match is between two decent power metal tracks, both of which are perfectly enjoyable, though not particularly impressive or original. I'm honestly fine with either progressing, but as a whole I think I liked "Unbreakable" a bit more, so Primal Fear it is.

I used to love "Hellrider", but listening to it now after quite some time, it... doesn't hold up as well as I remembered. The middle part is the definite highlight, but the verses and chorus are a bit messy. Like the two songs in the previous match, "Going Home" is a pleasant experience, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not completely sold on the vocals, but if I have to go with my gut feeling, Blood Star gets my vote.

"La Villa Strangiato" has many cool parts, but it's not my favourite Rush song. Tom Sawyer is a classic for a reason.

The Diesel-matchup is once again very close; I really liked both tracks - "Roswell 47" for its melody and epic feel, and "Corporal Jigsore Quandary" for its interesting riffs and tempo changes. I'm repeating myself, but I really won't mind no matter how this one turns out - both songs deserve to progress. Voting for Hypocrisy because they're currently losing.

I can't remember when or why, but I've definitely heard "Night of the Demon" before. Great song, and possibly the best chorus in the entire round. The vocals fit perfectly as well. "Laying Down the Law" is pretty good too - the solo is great - but it doesn't reach the same highs. Demon it is.
 
For everyone interested in checking out Blood Star the quality sounds a lot better on Bandcamp than Spotify, enjoyable enough reckon I'll probably buy it
 
I originally discovered Primal Fear with this particular track in a "greatest metal choruses" youtube compilation and fell in love immediately. I'm a bit sad that Unbreakable pt. 2 is losing, but Nosferatu is certainly a great track and a worthy opponent too.
 
"I'll See the Light Tonight" is a surprisingly awesome song. I've never thought too highly of Jeff Scott Soto before but man he sounds fucking awesome in this song. It's also kind of incredible how similar this track really feels to what Symphony X would eventually write. And then we have Warlock, which is basically Accept with a genderbent Udo. It's not a bad song, but it's also nothing to write home about. Yngwie takes this one handily.

I really was not expecting much from Bloodbound, but once you get past Black Sabbath bells and the Steve Harris quiet intro this song goes fucking hard. Fucking awesome. The chorus is killer and that dual guitarwork is great. Primal Fear are okay but it's really no competition.

Neither of the songs in the third match-up blow me away, but Blood Star are a little more competent than Judas Priest this match.

Another tough Rush matchup! Both tracks feature Peart fully in his element and both have incredible drum fills. "La Villa Strangiato" is an awesome instrumental but damn, "Tom Sawyer" is just perfect. The synths sound so fucking good.

No matter which track is the loser I will be sad after this matchup. On the one hand, you've got Swedish melodeath truth-seekers Hypocrisy. For those unaware, that's Peter Tägtgren's band, and he's doing the vocals. You may know of him with his work with Till Lindemann or his industrial band Pain, but he's also basically the Swedish version of Andy Sneap, having produced albums with bands such as Amon Amarth, Sabaton, Children of Bodom, Immortal, Septicflesh, Celtic Frost, Amorphis, etc. I've only heard one full album of theirs, Abducted, which is where "Roswell 47" comes from. From the moment I first heard this track I fell in love with it. The riffs are awesome, the vibe is immaculate. You can kind of tell that this track was inspired by Carcass, check out "Buried Dreams" from Heartwork and you'll see what I mean. I'm not the biggest fan of Tägtgren's vocals but those screams are amazing. For me the cherry on top is the silly lyrics: They say the weather balloon crashed, but we know it's bullshit. We have the right to know what really happened in Roswell '47!

On the other hand, you've got the Scotland Yard pathologists quietly and sloppily slipping remains out the back door in an attempt to make a cheap buck - Carcass. This is one of the first extreme metal songs that I ever fell in love with. The pummeling drums, the decrepit vocals, and the fat and dirty guitar riffs. The whole of Necroticism has some of the best riffs in metal history coupled with one of my favorite guitar sounds on any album ever. I also love how Jeff Walker trades vocal duty with Bill Steer, something that they would stop doing after this album. And I love the places this one goes! It's pretty rip-roaring at first, before shifting paces and eventually succumbing to a slow descent into bloodlustmord. It's awesome.

Picking one of these over the other is excruciating and I can't even go with the one currently losing because the poll is tied right now. Overall I think Carcass have to take it though. I've had more history with this song and I like the vocals more.

Demon was really interesting and I loved the guitar work. Final chorus went on too long but it was still better than Cloven Hoof, who were aight but not quite as intriguing.
 
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That Blood Star song going up against Priest and winning is very cool. Kinda figured Priest would win by default due to name recognition (albeit Hellrider isn’t their best).
 
DJ James said:
That Blood Star song going up against Priest and winning is very cool. Kinda figured Priest would win by default due to name recognition (albeit Hellrider isn’t their best).
Click to expand...
The group it's in is pretty weak in my opinion, so I think it's got a shot of getting to Part III.
 
Steel isn't true as Warlock falls to Yngwie Malmsteen. Primal Fear's broken by the vampiric attack of Bloodbound. The Hellrider is going home as Judas Priest comes up short against Blood Star. Tom Sawyer successfully navigates around La Villa Strangiato in Rush-off Part II, Electric Boogaloo. It's not an alien, it's a hoax, as Carcass overcomes Hypocrisy. Like it or not, Demon has their night as Cloven Hoof fails to lay down the law.





Part 1, Round 18, Matches 103-108​


Play In Round
Match 103​
Dave Lights Division​
Helloween - I Want Out
vs.​
Helloween - Dr. Stein​
Popoff 500
Nominators​
Best Music Art 100​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links​

Play In Round
Match 104​
Death on the Road Division​
AC/DC - Shoot to Thrill
vs.​
Queen - Great King Rat​
Popoff 500
Nominators​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links​

Play In Round
Match 105​
Death on the Road Division​
Kansas - Carry on Wayward Son
vs.​
KISS - I Love It Loud​
Popoff 500
Nominators​
Popoff 500​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links​

Play In Round
Match 100​
Death on the Road Division​
Cult of Luna - Waiting For You
vs.​
Birds in Row - I Don't Dance​
@Night Prowler
Nominators​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links​

Play In Round
Match 101​
Dance of Death Division​
Rainbow - Tarot Woman
vs.​
Ozzy Osbourne - I Don't Know​
Popoff 500
Nominators​
Popoff 500​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links​

Play In Round
Match 102​
Dance of Death Division​
Nightwish - Last Ride of the Day
vs.​
Luca Turilli - Kings of the Nordic Twilight​
@Kalata
Nominators​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links​
 
For the Helloween off, I just can't stand Dr. Stein. It's an annoying attempt to bring in some jazz fusion. Do what you want, but it's I Want Out by default, almost.

Shoot to Thrill is a great, standard AC/DC song, as far as standard AC/DC songs go. I like it enough, but I always forget it exists. Great King Rat is a really interesting piece, and clearly a kick-off point for some of the more proggy stuff that came after. Queen.

I Love it Loud kinda stinks. Carry on Wayward Son is overdone, but you can see where certain power metal aspects got some chorus inspiration. Kansas.

I Don't Dance had some okay riffs but annoying screaming? Negative, ghostrider. Waiting For You wasn't special, but was pretty decent background music. Cult of Luna.

Rainbow with one of my favourite songs by them, really showcases Dio's talents, great guitar work from Blackmore, hell yeah. I Don't Know is a middle of the road Ozzy song, definitely not one I turn too off that album.

Last Ride of the Day is basically the epitome of lesser Nightwish. It's fine without being memorable, and comes from an album that was a creative stretch and also heralds their current, less good direction. Kings of the Nordic Twilight is hammy but it's fun, and I'll be chuckling about it for days. Luca Turilli.
 
I Want Out vs. Dr. Stein - Dr. Stein is annoying af, the most overrated Helloween song by far. Annoyingly stupid happy power metal song. I Want Out is a classic.

Shoot to Thrill vs. Great King Rat - Neither song should be here, but AC/DC's is better.

Carry on Wayward Son vs. I Love It Loud - Neither song should be here, but the Kiss song really sucks.

Waiting For You vs. I Don't Dance - Both songs were nominated by myself, but it's not a tough choice. I Don't Dance is a great song, but Waiting For You is a classic and probably the best post-metal song ever.

Tarot Woman vs. I Don't Know - These two going against each other is a good joke by LC. Tarot Woman is much better.

Last Ride of the Day vs. Kings of the Nordic Twilight - Not really into Turilli's solo stuff and I actually like Last Ride of the Day, albeit with Floor.
 
The first time I ever got pulled over I was accidentally doing 55 in a 35 while listening to I Want Out. One of those songs that just kinda takes control whenever it comes on (I have learned to be a safer driver since this incident).
 
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