My relationship with Uriah Heep is rather complex. Being one of the bands that were able to cross the Iron Curtain, it is - in my father's generation, at least - oft overrated. Meaning, just because their "Western" albums were being sold on the black market right next to Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, they must be pretty much
homoousian, right? Right?
(to a certain degree, similar thing happened with Abba and Boney M)
My own experience and appreciation had to overcome this inherent over-appreciation that was present all around, as well as the general exaggeration of their importance and competence, while trying to like the band. They tend to be rather silly often, in a way that is somehow altogether unlike the silliness I crave for and appreciate in vintage power metal. I'm learning to respect them less than my immediate region and more than the overall public does. Instrumentally, vocally,
conceptually, I can't really help myself from feeling they are the epitome of a second grade, quite miserably so.
And yet, this is a song about a wizard.
Well, of course it's not really about the wizard at all, these are general hippie-isms, which - somehow - do not trigger people as much as the Theocracy lyrics do, even though they are way cheesier and do not quote thousand-years-old literature... oh well. But to every DnD nerd, this is a beloved, nostalgia-fuelled classic.
Byron is suprisingly tolerable here, I like the melodies, the shift from the purely acoustic shuffle to the mid-section packing some more punch and - probably most important of all - it was covered by Blind Guardian.
And yet it is pitted against Róisín Dubh, which is downright unfair. Not only are Thin Lizzy
the hard rock band that can run with almost the singer-songwriter emotional street-cred and not only did they possess the penchant for producing perfect guitar harmonies - especially since on this album Gary Moore himself was back in the band for a while - but this hard-rock-Celtic-general-folk fusion is just so captivating, so catchy, so unable to be overplayed, so stellar, it just might be the pinnacle of Lizzy's considerable career.
Thin Lizzy, even though I was really tempted to vote for the underdog here.
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Now, first of all, I'd like to stress that most of the Theocracy band (apart from maybe one member, IIRC?) are Protestant and not Catholic. And honestly, it shows - not only would Catholics probably make the message in the art much obliquer and veiled and less obvious - think
Lord of the Rings vs.
Narnia - but also they would probably speak more in riddles, allusions, parables and similes - to find the archetypal virtue even as you might not mention God at all - as compared to Theocracy's almost anxiously obssesive striving for keeping it purely Bible-based and literally quoting the text, with almost a fundametalistic care.
I'm saying this partly because I'd like to stress that I
didn't nominate Theocracy purely because they are "Christian rock" - although I was surely tempted to do so at least once during my nominations; I indeed had an idea to throw purely Christian bands here, and good one to boot - think Mortification's
Scrolls of the Megilloth, Antestor's
The Forsaken, Hope for the Dying's
Aletheia, Extol's
Burial or self-titled... but I decided not to in the end. As such, I merely included Theocracy because I didn't feel like I had enough of the power-prog type there
and I had a hunch they in particular might be reasonably popular around here, music-wise. In fact, in the end I decided to pick them over Seventh Wonder's Breaking the Silence ... and I think I did well (though it's also because BTS doesn't work for me as well when not sequencing into Hide and Seek like on the album).
Also, to everyone who has problems with the lyrics - try to think of me and how many times have I (or will I in the future of this cup) have to overcome some blasphemous, occult or hollywood-Satanist bullshit that is just as cheesy, way more immature and doesn't even take literal quotes from actual texts two thousand years old or older (there is quite a lot of Old Testament here as well). Let's not dwell too deep on the lyrics in general, okay?
(honestly, this irks me a bit - there is a lot of shitty lyrics here and nobody cares, but suddenly,
oh, it's actually the greatest metal lyrics cup! and though we haven't been talking about lyrics the whole time, suddenly we have to mention them... Really, mates, bugger off or I will complain each and every time about some stupid occult bullshit that we'll have here.)
So, like I said above, I nominated I Am because I think it's an absolutely beautiful song, in fact it's on a somewhat different level even compared to the - rather sublime -
As the World Bleeds album and their discography in general.
IF you want to sing about YHWH, "I am that I am", the
capo di tutti capi, you should bring your A-game ... and they did. Matt Smith has an admirable range and flexibility in his voice (fun fact: he also recorded the entire first album of the band by himself, though here by
As the World Bleeds they were a regular band already) and especially the the multi-part harmony section is genuinely awe-inspiring. The sound is tight, the rhythm section packs a punch, there's nice lead guitar galore, the Celtic prancing, the short Dream Theateresque wankery and although it's multi-part and shifts in tempo, it is masterfully crafted - the changes are all really fluent, the song makes sense, it's ridiculously catchy, it's just...
Compared to that, Firewind, whom I actually genuinely like - though it's hard to find a power metal band I
wouldn't like at least somewhat - are unfortunately much weaker. Might be a choice of song as well - the entire
Forged by Fire album is nice and good, but isn't at the top of their discography for me - I admit that the chorus is surprisingly wistful and memorable, the overall slow-burn atmosphere of the track is solid and I am rather partial about the solo, but it stands no chance here, sorry.
Manowar, on the other hand, have definitely had their weaker moment here - and I
like the band, up to
Triumph of Steel at least.
This is not even particularly catchy or cheesy - it's just... pedestrian. Unmemorable and lackadaisical, the crowd barking "BROTHERS OF METAL", please, no. And again, it's not Manowar hate - the band
can (well, more precisely,
could) do much better.
Also, their first album with the nonce on the guitar! What a threshold!
(P. S. - anyone has an idea why this is
Pt. 1? There's no Pt. 2 on the album. Not that I'm complaining, really, I don't think I really need the continuation, it's just weird)
THEOCRACY FOR THE WIN!
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Oh, boy. Not talking about their objective qualities whatsoever, let it be held against me that I listen to Mastodon much more than I listen to Symphony X nowadays. Their particular branch of melodies and riffs - and the overall stoner atmosphere - is somehow harder to overplay for me. And yet, when I was re-playing their discography recently, I was surprised at how much did the
Emperor of Sand drop for me in my list. Apart from Roots Remain and maybe Jaguar God, the album is really pedestrian, hollow and bordering on annoying, with the particular type of choruses and riffs (and general songwriting) they went for there. Sultan's Curse is one of the better songs of the bunch - the main riff is itself better than half the album - but for Mastodon song it's pretty mid-tier.
On the other hand, although I don't like
V - The New Mythology Suite as much as most Symph X fans do (and that fact pissed off
Loosey in the previous cup so much we had an altercation so sever I actually left the forum for a while, which seems rather funny nowadays - like Woody Allen says, "comedy = tragedy + time") - Fallen might be their absolutely best shorter track they ever did. The off-kilter riff, the immaculate melodic flow from the verses to the chorus, the chorus itself... it's pretty much
perfect. Allen is genuinely infectious here and even Rullo is overdoing himself - and he has a pretty high standard himself in general. The instrumental section resulting in the chorus... This is one song I play regularly even when I'm not in a Symph X mood.
Symphony X, no contest (and Mastodon are one of my favourite bands! Heck!)
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I very carefully checked who nominated the Pierce the Veil song so as not to be too offensive to a fellow member of the forum. Youtube 50. Oh, well.
Fucking hell, what is this buggeration? The production and the vocals are godawful, I mean, this is literally not only single-handedly the worst song in this cup so far, but the worst song I've heard in the past month or so at least. It sounds as if you combined Tokio Hotel with
crabcore.
To paraphrase Todd in the Shadows - You know, there's a famous quote (repeatedly attributed to several famous people), saying "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Sometimes it's really hard and inadequate, you're trying to evaluate the atmosphere and authenticity, you may talk about modes used or technical proficiency or lyrics or production... but sometimes it's a relief to simply say "it's an ASS song that sounds like ASS."
I know I might sometimes come across as too curmudgeonly, caustic, ageist or whatever. I might be sometimes too critical, even though my harsh words are sometimes intertwined with the fact I can on some level enjoy even the songs that I'm hating on or the fact I care for the bands in question and would love to see them do better.
But these I just want to see
gone. Completely, utterly gone. This is what's wrong with the world today. I thought this particular trend/genre has already passed, but somehow it became even more annoying in the intermediate years.
Please, treat these fucking embryos to the usual Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
For an intentionally out-there gimmick band like Sunn O))), I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying this "stoned drone with random gurglings", but maybe it's because I'm listening to this after the Veil has already been Pierced and there's blood on the bedsheet. This is more or less a horror music soundtrack - or at least, it's the most charitable approach one can take - and as such, it does have a rather untrivial atmosphere and my reaction was oscillating between "actually cool" and "fuck, that's hilarious" so much I lost myself in the end. Even for a doom metal afficionado (and for someone who listened
way too much to Potmos Hetoimos - especially
Paragon Trisagion - way back when), this is definitely too out there, but it is still
something, so I'm definitely voting for
Sunn O))) here.
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Nice video you have there, Fast Eddie. Very... subtle.
But that aside, I must say I am pleasantly surprised with this. I was never of the mind to go and try out "the band with the Motorhead guitarist and the UFO bassist", but although this song is just as generic hard rock as I suspected, it has a really nice groove going on, it's pleasantly catchy the guitars rip, the production packs a punch... and...
...what the fuck? The vocals are DAVE KING? THE FLOGGING MOLLY DAVE KING? What the fuck is he doing here? Also, I would never guess, because he sounds completely different here, but does a great job all the same.
Iced Earth are once again bringing my favourite album to the table and I'm probably expected to vote for them based on that reason alone, but I'm not really sure. The Melancholy chorus, while catchy af, always sounded a bit too cheesy to me and I don't really like how Barlow sounds on the balladic verse. Also, Watching Over Me is better, kinda similar and close to this very track on the album. I admit that I might have enjoyed this track less than I enjoyed the simplistic Fastway offering.
So, which way, Western man? Hot birds or the insurrection?
Well, since I already voted for Insurrectionist Earth several times in this cup, my support of the Cause is probably duly noted and I'm somewhat inclined to succumb to the sins of the flesh here.
Fastway, surprisingly.
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Ah, another Youtube 50. I had the utmost misfortune to see Five Finger Fisting Sniff opening for ...Maiden, was it? dunno, it's 10 or more years already - and the experience was indeed terrible, though I somewhat warmed towards them in the meantime. Or maybe I haven't and it's just that next to Pierce the Vein with Prince Albert pretty much everything would sound heavenly, even another, only less obnoxious modern core track.
But this is indeed better. The vocals are not immediately vomit-inducing, the production sounds less artificial and even natural sometimes, the overall result is rather catchy, I'm ashamed to say, and I find the way they try to bring out the
pathos rather charming. So, a vet remembrance song, huh? Well, I am a cheap whore and I approve. Overall, it sounds a lot like Nickelback at their most tolerable - and I don't have problem with Nickelback at their most tolerable.
I'm honestly torn between "this is the worst case of flagrant macho sentimentalism imaginable" and "I'm actually somewhat moved by this". I don't know, really, I guess I'll have to give the fingers another sniff and deduce where they were. I really hope this is just an outlier that for some inexplicable reason clicked and not a general trend of losing good taste on my behalf.
Man, besides the fact my wife would probably kill me on the spot if she found out I voted for My Immortal of all things, I still get PTSD from this song since the day it was everywhere and especially on every "I'm so special, running mascara with tears, crying angels" MySpace teenage girl's ringtone.
Which reminds me - have you lot read (or read
of) the infamous My Immortal
fanfic? Its bile-fascination appeal hasn't been mitigated even with the passing years, really, and
"Hi my name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair (that's how I got my name) with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee (AN: if u don't know who she is get da hell out of here!)."
That said, beyond stating the obvious and overlooking the second life of the song, it's really just a somewhat nice piano ballad that on its own would be pretty inoffensive, but has been overplayed and overused, sucking the subtle charm it once may have had right out of it. For what it's worth, I like Dream Theater's homage Answer Lies Within much more.
Also, I would argue that the passion from Amy Lee is more metal than any single element from the other dummies.
That may be true, but while I rather like her voice and don't mind Evanescence in general, the oversentimentalism here hurts her voice a bit, honestly. Well, maybe it's just me.
Also, nobody will convince me it wasn't Amy Lee in particular (and not, for example, Vanessa Carlton) who was seminal in giving us the likes of
Christina fucking
Perri, aka the eleventh curse Moses decided not to set loose upon the poor Pharaoh after all, 'cause that'd be
too cruel.
Since Evanescence seem to be in the risk of winning, I'll go with the sentimental dudebros (or, eh,
ladblokes) here and reluctantly vote for what every woodcutter can only wish he had and that's
Five Fingers.
