Round 1: The Mutiny Begins!

0 Metal Church - Metal Church
1 Iced Earth - Burning Times +1

1 Paradox - Heresy +1
0 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland

1 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked +1
0 Gamma Ray - When The World

1 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls +1
0 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings
 
My notes: So far, I can't decide between Metal Church and Iced Earth.

The first one sounds more classic and primeval to me. I hear shades of Diamond Head, Slayer, Mercyful Fate, Metallica, and even some Maiden in the way the drums are played. Vocally, I hear Savatage's Oliva and, in some parts, even Klaus Meine.

Iced Earth's Burning Times is very neatly produced. I immediately hear a huge Metallica influence and that Black Album-style sound. That main guitar rhythm is very nice and kept evoking the thought, "It reminds me of some other track."

I finally pinned it down: it reminds me very much of Priest's One Shot at Glory:
 
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0 Metal Church - Metal Church
2 Iced Earth - Burning Times +1

2 Paradox - Heresy +1
0 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland

2 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked +1
0 Gamma Ray - When The World

1 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls
1 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings +1

I feel like DRUMMING is the key in the first match. Metal Church has a really dynamic drum beat going on, though it gets slightly repetitive. Vocals are great and riffing is decent. Burning Times could have been one of my favourite songs but I find the drumming in it, I dare say, a bit dull! Though overall its a better packaged song.

Both Paradox and Holy Terror are Tech Thrash monsters that should have more recognition. I maybe biased towards Heresy, considering its one of my favourite songs of all time but I must say its pretty genius of @Clairvoyant Parchment to nominate The Immortal Wasteland as it has nice galloping parts, good enough to engage Maiden fans.

Match 2 was the toughest for me. First time listening to Mystic Force and though I do like few songs by Gamma Ray, I ain't too big on them. When The World has a nice Flash Of The Blade-like intro, then jumps straight into textbook Power metal, which I felt a bit all over the place. Nice mid-section and solos. Shipwrecked With The Wicked is just an amazing song, its middle part having a bass-drum section reminding me of Death/Control Denied. Really left a good impression on me at first listen!

May sound insane but I'm definitely going for Shadowkings in the fourth match. Not much familiar with Paradise Lost (but will surely check out more of their works) but their style of gothic doom is worth going against the giant For Whom The Bell Tolls. Anything from the first four Metallica albums (especially Ride The Lightning) is golden to me but Bell Tolls doesn't count in my all times favourites for which I may favour another deserving music.
 
1 Metal Church - Metal Church +1
2 Iced Earth - Burning Times

3 Paradox - Heresy +1
0 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland

3 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked +1
0 Gamma Ray - When The World

2 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls +1
1 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings

Only the last one wasn't difficult to pick, though Shadowkings is very good. Shipwrecked was very surprising and cool!
 
2 Metal Church - Metal Church +1
2 Iced Earth - Burning Times

4 Paradox - Heresy +1
0 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland

4 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked +1
0 Gamma Ray - When The World

3 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls +1
1 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a top-three Metallica song for me. Live, it's an absolute monster.

I liked Shadowkings too, just not on the same level. Gamma Ray's When the World is nice, but Mystic Force's song is more adventurous to my ears.

Paradox's Heresy — I hear a strong Metallica influence there.

In the end, I chose Metal Church's song over Iced Earth's Burning Times, but both songs are good.
 
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3 Iced Earth - Burning Times +1
2 Metal Church - Metal Church

5 Paradox - Heresy +1
0 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland

5 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked +1
0 Gamma Ray - When The World

4 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls +1
1 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings

Iced Earth take an easy win over Metal Church.

I've never heard Paradox or Holy Terror before, but both were okay. I'm not crazy about either vocalist but I'll give Paradox the edge.

Mystic Force are also alright, but feel pretty amateurish in both their delivery and production. The song is quite interesting, though. Gamma Ray has better production but is nowhere near as entertaining.

This Paradise Lost song sounds like a bad b-side from an early 90s Metallica album (those verses are surprisingly Hetfieldian). I'll take actual Hetfield and one of their many classics.
 
UPDATE: These are not elimination matches. But after each song is covered, Top 25 will be selected based on the number of votes they received and the remaining shall again go head to head against each other.

Also, should we start the next round tomorrow i.e. on 12th or wait till 13th?
 
4 Iced Earth - Burning Times +1
2 Metal Church - Metal Church

6 Paradox - Heresy +1
0 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland

6 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked +1
0 Gamma Ray - When The World

4 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls
2 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings +2

Putting aside all politics for Iced Earth for a second, Burning Times has always been one of their weakest songs for me. It's not bad, but it just feels so incredibly generic and boring. It feels like what an AI would create nowadays if you had it listen to The Dark Saga a bunch and told it to write a song lol. Despite that, Metal Church does nothing for me and I prefer Iced Earth's style, so easy win for that. Bonus points for Barlow's outro scream!

Heresy is fucking awesome. Melodic German Thrash with some prog elements? Hell yeah! The Immortal Wasteland got really unlucky in this pairing. It's a great song as well, and I would've chosen it over both Burning Times and Metal Church. Unfortunately for that song Heresy is the clear winner.

Shipwrecked With The Wicked has some lovely modal interchange in the verses and I'm always a sucker for that. The instrumental section around the 2 minute mark and onwards is really fun. Haven't heard this song before, but I'm really impressed!
The intro and transition to When The World are heavily inspired by Flash Of The Blade, right? I'm not the only one hearing that? lol Also a bit of The Longest Day in there, which sounds less intentional though. The choir part is great! WTF, there's some To Tame A Land in there as well, is this a Maiden tribute song in disguise? lol
Gamma Ray is fun, but the songwriting style of Mystic Force aligns more with my tastes, at least for those two songs.

Kinda funny how many songs in this round have similar vocal styles to Hetfield. Shadowkings is one of those tracks. To be honest, I've never been a big fan of such a vocal style (the reason I never could get into Trivium's The Crusade for example). It shouldn't be a surprise that I'm not a huge Metallica fan either. There are some tracks I absolutely adore, but overall they're mostly a band whose historic significance I can acknowledge, but one I rarely actively choose to listen to. FWTBT is fun to play along to and jam with friends, but it's not a song I ever really put on to listen to. Also, I really dislike the ending. So, slight win for Shadowkings.

Siddharth said:
UPDATE: These are not elimination matches. But after each song is covered, Top 25 will be selected based on the number of votes they received and the remaining shall again go head to head against each other.

Also, should we start the next round tomorrow i.e. on 12th or wait till 13th?
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Since those aren't elimination matches, maybe there could be a grace period? For example, someone didn't have the time to participate for round 1, joins from round 2 onwards, but also gives their vote for the first round since those wouldn't impact the other rounds. Not until all songs were covered anyway. Though I'd understand if that were too much of a hassle to keep tabs on all rounds, which could lead to votes slipping through and things becoming too confusing. Maybe if someone voted for an older round after the active period they could tag you so that you don't miss it? Just a couple of thoughts, I'm also okay with simply announcing a date and then moving on with the rounds to keep it simple.
 
Vaenyr said:
4 Iced Earth - Burning Times +1
2 Metal Church - Metal Church

6 Paradox - Heresy +1
0 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland

6 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked +1
0 Gamma Ray - When The World

4 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls
2 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings +2

Putting aside all politics for Iced Earth for a second, Burning Times has always been one of their weakest songs for me. It's not bad, but it just feels so incredibly generic and boring. It feels like what an AI would create nowadays if you had it listen to The Dark Saga a bunch and told it to write a song lol. Despite that, Metal Church does nothing for me and I prefer Iced Earth's style, so easy win for that. Bonus points for Barlow's outro scream!

Heresy is fucking awesome. Melodic German Thrash with some prog elements? Hell yeah! The Immortal Wasteland got really unlucky in this pairing. It's a great song as well, and I would've chosen it over both Burning Times and Metal Church. Unfortunately for that song Heresy is the clear winner.

Shipwrecked With The Wicked has some lovely modal interchange in the verses and I'm always a sucker for that. The instrumental section around the 2 minute mark and onwards is really fun. Haven't heard this song before, but I'm really impressed!
The intro and transition to When The World are heavily inspired by Flash Of The Blade, right? I'm not the only one hearing that? lol Also a bit of The Longest Day in there, which sounds less intentional though. The choir part is great! WTF, there's some To Tame A Land in there as well, is this a Maiden tribute song in disguise? lol
Gamma Ray is fun, but the songwriting style of Mystic Force aligns more with my tastes, at least for those two songs.

Kinda funny how many songs in this round have similar vocal styles to Hetfield. Shadowkings is one of those tracks. To be honest, I've never been a big fan of such a vocal style (the reason I never could get into Trivium's The Crusade for example). It shouldn't be a surprise that I'm not a huge Metallica fan either. There are some tracks I absolutely adore, but overall they're mostly a band whose historic significance I can acknowledge, but one I rarely actively choose to listen to. FWTBT is fun to play along to and jam with friends, but it's not a song I ever really put on to listen to. Also, I really dislike the ending. So, slight win for Shadowkings.


Since those aren't elimination matches, maybe there could be a grace period? For example, someone didn't have the time to participate for round 1, joins from round 2 onwards, but also gives their vote for the first round since those wouldn't impact the other rounds. Not until all songs were covered anyway. Though I'd understand if that were too much of a hassle to keep tabs on all rounds, which could lead to votes slipping through and things becoming too confusing. Maybe if someone voted for an older round after the active period they could tag you so that you don't miss it? Just a couple of thoughts, I'm also okay with simply announcing a date and then moving on with the rounds to keep it simple.
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When this round ends, it ends. Period. No voting for any of the matches from previous rounds. Its fine if anyone wants to join mid-game.
 
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5 Iced Earth - Burning Times +1
2 Metal Church - Metal Church

6 Paradox - Heresy
1 Holy Terror - The Immortal Wasteland +1

6 Mystic Force - Shipwrecked With The Wicked
1 Gamma Ray - When The World +1

5 Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls +1
2 Paradise Lost - Shadowkings

Burning Times' heaviness and urgency in the vocal delivery is a clear win (that Halford solo-esque sound, cool solo), Metal Church has the playing but I don't enjoy the vocals.
Paradox's Heresy has some great thrash metal playing, but as an overall approach I'd go with The Immortal Wasteland (galloping, harmony, better verses). Both are nice finds for me.
Shipwrecked With The Wicked has cool riffing and interesting instrumental section (nice mix of the two), but I really enjoy Gamma Ray. I nominated When The World (and the others) at a first thought, I know I could have nominated something different and more interesting, but the song feels epic power metal with a catchy chorus and instrumental section.
For Whom The Bell Tolls is much better for me. All riffs are impactful, classic Metallica vocal lines.
 
Vaenyr said:
The intro and transition to When The World are heavily inspired by Flash Of The Blade, right? I'm not the only one hearing that? lol Also a bit of The Longest Day in there, which sounds less intentional though. The choir part is great! WTF, there's some To Tame A Land in there as well, is this a Maiden tribute song in disguise?
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I guess I nominated it because of the big Maiden influence on the sound and writing.
 
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