Best Metal Song Tournament (Round 11)

[Vaenyr]

Man shoulda stayed busy cuz what the fuck is this

I stand by it. Eric's falsetto screams are unmatched. No one does them like he does. Unfortunately he chose the stupidest band to front.

And yeah, I stand by what I said about The Odyssey.

 

[Vaenyr]

4 W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children +1
3 Manowar - Blood Of My Enemies

6 Slayer - Raining Blood +1
1 Necrodeath - Red As Blood

6 Symphony X - The Odyssey +1
1 Blind Guardian - And Then There Was Silence

5 Chez Kane - Guilty Of Love +1
2 W.A.S.P. - L.O.V.E. Machine

Blackie Lawless is among my favourite vocalists in the entire Hard rock/Metal arena. Its a shame we don't have much Glam metal songs in the tournament, saying as a big fan of the sub-genre! The Headless Children is a vibe in itself, Blackie's signing shines through, the instrumentals sound so natural and organic. Love it. Wasn't that big after first listening to Blood Of My Enemies but after the recent listen, I will say, its decent.

Necrodeath is actually highly inspired by Slayer and the their influences on this song is obvious. Still, a fine Death-Thrash song. Really dig it's intensity. But on the other hand, we have Raining Blood (...from the lacerating sky!) an iconic song with a great atmosphere and cool main riff!

The 3rd match of this round has been probably the toughest for me in the tournament so far. The Odyssey starts in a grand fashion, then moves into acoustic filled playing before switching into the Metal territory. All the different parts feel coherent and have a good flow, considering I'm hardly into 20+ minutes songs. An additional advantage being, Michael Romeo's soloing being sprinkled here and there. Blind Guardian's song is utterly great as well. I would say it actually leans more on the heavier side of things, yet its tough to deny Symphony X's excellence. Still a great suggestion by @Vaenyr.

Again, love W.A.S.P., especially their self-titled debut. But the instrumentals have a rather laid back approach in L.O.V.E. Machine even though Lawless being again on fire. So in this match, I will give it to Chez Kane's Guilty Of Love. Cool song with a lengthy but, still an engaging instrumental. Actually the leads during the second half of the song reminds me of a Bollywood song due to having similar vibes. Do you guys notice it as well?

Next round starts tomorrow!!

You need to update the points, we wrote our posts at the same time

 

[MrK]

The synths in The Odyssey always remind me of PS2-era video game soundtracks. Something like Final Fantasy XII lol. The prog parts are nice, the vocal sections kinda boring.

You are correct about the cheap-sounding synths, but calling the vocal parts "boring" is slander and proves you didn't listen to the full song. You can't hear the Champion of Ithaca section and then call the vocals boring. Nonsense. I guess if you mean boring in the sense that Russell isn't layered 10 times over himself and mixed into mush so that no single layer is discernible a la Hansi, you're right, though.

What annoys me a bit is that for the most part the song could've been about any other topic and you wouldn't have noticed a difference. The music sounds like (good) prog, but there's nothing tying it to Troy and Greece.

Nah, just because The Odyssey doesn't have microtones and use lyres doesn't make it any lesser. You're not even holding Blind Guardian to the same standard. Their song is about the fall of Troy, but if you strip the song of lyrics what exact instrumentation ties it to Troy and Greece? I really like the Blind Guardian song, but it still just sounds like an epic Blind Guardian song that could be about anything. Let's at least use the same criteria to judge both songs here.

 

[Vaenyr]

You are correct about the cheap-sounding synths, but calling the vocal parts "boring" is slander and proves you didn't listen to the full song. You can't hear the Champion of Ithaca section and then call the vocals boring. Nonsense. I guess if you mean boring in the sense that Russell isn't layered 10 times over himself and mixed into mush so that no single layer is discernible a la Hansi, you're right, though.

The Champion of Ithaca part was nice. The boring parts were the first vocal section with the acoustic guitars, as well as another towards the end. Not sure if it's a reprise, but those didn't work for me.

Nah, just because The Odyssey doesn't have microtones and use lyres doesn't make it any lesser. You're not even holding Blind Guardian to the same standard. Their song is about the fall of Troy, but if you strip the song of lyrics what exact instrumentation ties it to Troy and Greece? I really like the Blind Guardian song, but it still just sounds like an epic Blind Guardian song that could be about anything. Let's at least use the same criteria to judge both songs here.

You misunderstood my point. I wasn't talking about instrumentation itself. I meant more about the choices of harmony, scales and melodies. ATTWS felt a lot more grand and epic to me, fitting to the subject matter and (imo of course) there are sections that sound fittingly Mediterranean. The Odyssey (to me) just sounded like any other prog song. A great song, don't get me wrong. But I didn't find the masterpiece that some of you are hearing in it.

 

[Diesel 11]

Eric's falsetto screams are unmatched. No one does them like he does.

Screams do not a good singer make, and even on that front, have you ever heard of Rob Halford and Matt Barlow, two vocalists with even stronger, more powerful screams?

 

[MrK]

The Champion of Ithaca part was nice. The boring parts were the first vocal section with the acoustic guitars, as well as another towards the end. Not sure if it's a reprise, but those didn't work for me.

My mind is boggled. Those sections are some of Russell’s most beautiful clean singing.

You misunderstood my point. I wasn't talking about instrumentation itself. I meant more about the choices of harmony, scales and melodies. ATTWS felt a lot more grand and epic to me, fitting to the subject matter and (imo of course) there are sections that sound fittingly Mediterranean. The Odyssey (to me) just sounded like any other prog song. A great song, don't get me wrong. But I didn't find the masterpiece that some of you are hearing in it.

I truly hear no difference between the harmony, scales and melodies used in this Blind Guardian song from any other Blind Guardian song. They use the same sonic palette whether writing about Tolkien, Gaiman, ancient history, etc. But hey, at least we can agree that both are great songs.

 

[Vaenyr]

Screams do not a good singer make, and even on that front, have you ever heard of Rob Halford and Matt Barlow, two vocalists with even stronger, more powerful screams?

Of course screams aren't the only thing. Eric's low and mid range blow Halford's completely out of the water. And the higher range too actually. Rob's aren't anywhere close to being as powerful as Eric's. For Rob's style I much prefer The Ripper. I was never a big fan of Rob, so that's the easiest matchup lol

Barlow was phenomenal in the 90s and early 2000s but he lost a lot of power and control. Eric has aged far better. So yeah, listen to Hail And Kill (and please ignore the lyrics...), The Power Of Thy Sword or Black Wind Fire And Steel. I'll take any of those over any of Rob's performances any day.

 

[Vaenyr]

My mind is boggled. Those sections are some of Russell’s most beautiful clean singing.

Tastes and all that. The sections aren't bad, but they sound pretty mundane to me, given the subject matter.

I truly hear no difference between the harmony, scales and melodies used in this Blind Guardian song from any other Blind Guardian song. They use the same sonic palette whether writing about Tolkien, Gaiman, ancient history, etc. But hey, at least we can agree that both are great songs.

Not completely accurate. Wheel Of Time for example has a very different (oriental) vibe to Sacred Worlds, to take two epics from the same album, with both featuring real orchestras. But I guess, just like to you ATTWS sounds like any other BG song, The Odyssey sounds like a bunch of other prog songs to me.

 

[Diesel 11]

So yeah, listen to Hail And Kill (and please ignore the lyrics...)

He’s way too choppy. He doesn’t really sing so much as he expresses with a certain amount of force. Like cool if you like the theatrics but I am missing melody.

 

[Vaenyr]

He’s way too choppy. He doesn’t really sing so much as he expresses with a certain amount of force. Like cool if you like the theatrics but I am missing melody.

Well, that's just one song, one of the more aggressive ones. Take something like Carry On or I Believe. Or one of the ballads like Swords In The Wind or Master Of The Wind (yuuuup lol) to hear his more melodic and emotional side.

 

[Azas]

Matt Barlow is in a league below Halford and Adams. It's not even funny.

 

[The Dissident]

5 W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children +1
4 Manowar - Blood Of My Enemies

8 Slayer - Raining Blood +1
1 Necrodeath - Red As Blood

7 Symphony X - The Odyssey +1
2 Blind Guardian - And Then There Was Silence

6 Chez Kane - Guilty Of Love
3 W.A.S.P. - L.O.V.E. Machine +1

 

[Siddharth]

Round 7 Winners:

Slayer - Raining Blood (8 Points)
Symphony X - The Odyssey (7 Points)
Chez Kane - Guilty Of Love (6 Points)
W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children (5 Points)

 

[Siddharth]

Round 8: In For The Kill!

1. Rainbow - Kill The King
(Nominated by - @MrK)

Vs.

Demon - Night Of The Demon
(Nominated by - @Cat Milk Supreme)

2. Arch Enemy - Burning Angel
(Nominated by - @Siddharth)

Vs.

Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God
(Nominated by - @Cat Milk Supreme)

3. Dream Theatre - Scene Six: Home
(Nominated by - @Vaenyr)

Vs.

The Ocean - Jurassic | Cretaceous
(Nominated by - @Shmoolikipod)

Jurassic | Cretaceous

The Ocean, Katatonia · Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic · Song · 2020

open.spotify.com

4. Summoning - Earthshine
(Nominated by - @Clairvoyant Parchment)

Earthshine

Summoning · Old Mornings Dawn · Song · 2013

open.spotify.com

Vs.

Ahab - The Weedmen
(Nominated by - @Diesel 11)

The Weedmen

Ahab · The Boats of the Glen Carrig · Song · 2015

open.spotify.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------

0 Rainbow - Kill The King
0 Demon - Night Of The Demon

0 Arch Enemy - Burning Angel
0 Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

0 Dream Theatre - Scene Six: Home
0 The Ocean - Jurassic | Cretaceous

0 Summoning - Earthshine
0 Ahab - The Weedmen

(Next round starts from: 17th September)

 

[Diesel 11]

I chose a different Ahab song for you guys to hate this time. “The Weedmen” is their longest track to date at 15 minutes in length. It has some of the slowest passages in the whole discography. But man is it heavy and so atmospheric, and the eventually chorus is big and slow and full of anthemic despair and it’s just so good.

 

[MindRuler]

1 Rainbow - Kill The King +1
0 Demon - Night Of The Demon

1 Arch Enemy - Burning Angel +1
0 Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

1 Dream Theater - Scene Six: Home +1
0 The Ocean - Jurassic | Cretaceous

1 Summoning - Earthshine +1
0 Ahab - The Weedmen

 

[Azas]

2 Rainbow - Kill The King +1
0 Demon - Night Of The Demon

2 Arch Enemy - Burning Angel +1
0 Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

2 Dream Theater - Scene Six: Home +1
0 The Ocean - Jurassic | Cretaceous

2 Summoning - Earthshine +1
0 Ahab - The Weedmen

*
Kill the King all the way. Classic, energetic, in-your-face banger assault.
*
Don't care for Arch Angel (ha ha) or Amon Amarth. Those vocals become boring/tiresome very quickly. But music-wise, I voted for Burning Angel because its intro is basically Megadeth's Hangar 18. The overall guitar work feels very Megadeth-ish as well.

When I attended Maiden's Book of Souls show, there were two guys standing next to me whom I chatted with a bit. They were like, "We came here to see these dinosaurs because, you know, the real music is Amon Amarth." Yeah, right. During the instrumental assault section of Hallowed Be Thy Name, I was jumping continuously and methodically, like a metronome, and those two joined me. I think they were a little surprised by my endurance - or maybe I'm just imagining things. So there's a little grudge against Amon Amarth from my side, haha.
*
I voted for Dream Theater because the composition feels much more varied and lush compared to the other song, although The Ocean's music certainly has the ability to induce a trance-like, thoughtful mood, which can sometimes be a good thing.
In the Dream Theater song, I liked that Egyptian-sounding guitar riff/figure (starting at 2:05) the most.
Overall, I don't have the stamina - nor a real desire - to delve deeply into Dream Theater's discography. Their singer is boring to me, and the music involves too many technical shenanigans for my taste. But that's just me.
*
In the last matchup, I can't say I was particularly hooked by either song. Ahab's song is too long, and I can't agree that its length is justified.
I voted for Earthshine because it's much more melodic and the voice suits me better. Although Ahab's song is also listenable - I can't say it's completely outside my spectrum.

 

[MrK]

3 Rainbow - Kill The King +1
0 Demon - Night Of The Demon

2 Arch Enemy - Burning Angel
1 Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God +1

3 Dream Theater - Scene Six: Home +1
0 The Ocean - Jurassic | Cretaceous

3 Summoning - Earthshine +1
0 Ahab - The Weedmen

Demon have a decent performance here, but come on: Kill The King is an all-timer and pretty much laid the template down for power metal. It's untouchable.

Burning Angel is a fine Arch Enemy song with a cool harmonized riff that does not do what you expect it to do. I don't care for Angela's vocals at all and the main riff is just chord strumming, though. I honestly can't believe I'm the first one voting for Twilight of the Thunder God. It's a classic of the melodic death metal genre, a pummeling ride that basically gives you everything you need (and will get) from Amon Amarth. The chorus is melodic and singable, even though it's growling. It's not even my favorite Amon Amarth song but I do think it's a masterclass in melodic death metal songwriting. The bridge has a killer breakdown for group rowing exercises in the pit and the solo (courtesy of some other guy from Children of Bodom) is a shreddy feast.

The Ocean is a band I've never really dived into yet I seem to enjoy most of what I hear. This song is very much like everything else I've heard from them: good performances, good composition, good mixing....just too long and too melancholic. I do really love the horns and some of the riffing throughout, but the vocals don't do much for me. A good song, but I far prefer Home.

The vibes on Earthshine are really spectacular. It somehow sounds epic and like a bedroom-dwelling pack of faeries at the same time! I love the percussion sounds and the horns, but the song doesn't really go anywhere. The chanting at the end is nice, I suppose. @Diesel 11 - I'm sorry, but Weedmen really does nothing for me. The gurgle growl has no punctuation or momentum and, although the music is solid, it's just too slow for me. I don't have the patience for it. It sure is atmospheric as hell. I would love it if this were playing in a haunted house. The riff that comes in around 5 minutes and the melodic line that follows is cool, but the rest of the song kinda bleeds together.

 

[Diesel 11]

4 Rainbow - Kill The King +1
0 Demon - Night Of The Demon

3 Arch Enemy - Burning Angel +1
1 Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

3 Dream Theater - Scene Six: Home
1 The Ocean - Jurassic | Cretaceous +1

3 Summoning - Earthshine
1 Ahab - The Weedmen +1

"Kill the King" is a classic. "Night of the Demon" is solid.

This Arch Enemy track is really derivative of "Hangar 18", and I don't dislike that. "Twilight of the Thunder God" is of course a classic, but it doesn't have Angela Gossow on vocals soooooo...

Speaking of derivative, we also get Dream Theater's lengthy cover of "Forty Six & 2", this time with sitar! It's a good track with a great chorus but I really wish Russell Allen was singing on it because I cannot take James LaBrie seriously. The Ocean's song is pretty solid too and I'm gonna throw them a bone because they don't have James LaBrie on the track.

The Summoning song is interesting but it very quickly loses me in its folksy black metal repetition. "The Weedmen" fucking rules. Ahab have been wading further and further outside of the 'funeral doom' umbrella but this song was a stunning showcase of the band at its slowest and heaviest. Droste's wailing growls in the chorus are fucking haunting. Love it.

 

[MindRuler]

I cannot take James LaBrie seriously. The Ocean's song is pretty solid too and I'm gonna throw them a bone because they don't have James LaBrie on the track.