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I like both bands in the fourth matchup, but I know Accept much better and probably prefer their sound. But this matchup forced me to go deeper into the actual albumS, and there is no doubt the Symphony X collection has way more depth. Symphony X pretty easily, an album that I have to give a...

I find a lot of how Rammstein presents itself as cringey but there is no denying that track is smooth and glossy without ever not feeling heavy, or straying too far into pop. It goes down real easy. The In Utero song is much more raw and has way more edge, but not quite as fun or catchy. It’s...

Opeth is so good. The combination of power, drama and melody is unmatched by few bands outside Maiden and the depth of creativity and craftsmanship is first-rate. Really one of the only bands to ever force me to overlook my distaste for extreme singing. I am voting for AC/DC simply because I...

I have never heard of Skyclad before. The sample was nothing at like the artwork led me to expect and decidly non-metallic. It had the Celt-folk sound and pub-style vocals reminiscent of the heavier moments from one of my favourite non-metal acts, the Vancouver-based Spirit of the West. I...

Primordial really does fit the name: its easy to picture it as a massive apatosaurus ponderously lurching its way across a prehistoric swamp. It’s got atmosphere and I will repeat what I said about an earlier offering: it does what it sets out to do well. it doesn’t really strike any kind of...

Between the Buried and Me song reminded me of Blue Oyster Cult’s Monsters, with tHe bone-jarring shifts between metal and completely foreign elements. Loved the creativity these guys showed. That said, it sounded more like music for musicians than more accessible populist content. Which is a...

Atlantean Codex had a lot of the elements I like in my music, including Its sonic palette, some good melodies and an epic scope. I’d rather listen to this than a majority of the new music I’ve been exposed to in this game. Where it failed was in its musical storytelling. This song lacked the...

Me: ”What the fuck is this shit? It sounds like a herd of pigs chowing down at the most disgusting slaughterhouse imaginable! What? That’s what it’s supposed to sound like? Umm...OK?” Power Trip was pretty rote metal riffing and grooving with a general absence of melody. So, obviously an easy...

Considering this is Maiden fan site, it’s inevitable. Even if we all have 100 albums we like better than Dance of Dance, it will be rare when those lists intersect 15 times, or enough to win a round. This part of the game is more about exposure. The competition aspect - where two albums face...

The Devin song was good, smart metallic progressive hard rock that had that same soaring quality I’ve heard in a few other examples of his work. He’s someone I could listen to more. But Black Hand Inn is just a real good, fun unself-conscious B Movie of an album with terrific pace, riffing and...

Primordial has a sound that matches the name and I think they do what they do well. What they do is a little icky, not anything I’d listen to for pleasure. Dark Angel isn’t stylistically much removed from Coroner to my ears, but they are less proficient at it. Kinda put the mindless thrashing...

Kill switch Engage is a bit of a miss for me. They try real hard to keep one foot in the realm of modern metal and the other in modern commercial hard rock, but they tend to draw on my least favourite elements of each. I don’t love Coroner, but they are closer match to my sensibilities and get...

If I treated the first matchup like most of the other ones and voted based on the two teaser tracks Samson might have got my vote. But I know that Vice Versa is the most interesting thing on the Samson album and Wildest Dreams the blandest on Dance of Death. Samson was a NWOBHM band that was...

Among Neil's best lyrics and the band frames them so well.

Enslaved did its best for those of us who struggle with extreme vocals, and I, for one, want to thank them for putting the singer in the neighbour's basement when they recorded this. The music was interesting and the composition unconventional. What I thought was going to be the intro actually...

Before listening, I was thinking I'd go for System of a Down over Edguy for just being less genre and more creative and gritty. But listening to the samples, I wasn't feeling it today. I just liked the Edguy song more.

Power Wolf adds an awesome classic metal sound to a power metal template, and it probably deserved a deeper dive than I can give it at the moment. The lack of originality and the cringy lyrics were the only things I had to take points off for on first blush. But Rainbow is Rainbow, and despite...

Def Leppard have evolved into something that I react to like I'm biting into a lemon. But maybe that's because they used to be so good. High & Dry is the perfect marriage of hard rock hooks and NWOBHM crunch. Both the rhythm and lead guitars sound great, the energy is great, the songwriting is...

But I do manage to keep the “thees” and “thous” out of my posts most of the time.

Google offers a pretty broad definition of metal: “a type of highly amplified harsh-sounding rock music with a strong beat, characteristically using violent or fantastic imagery” The Wikipedia article is actually quite interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_music