Bayley-era Maiden vs. Martin-era Black Sabbath vs. Ripper-era Judas Priest?

Bayley-era Maiden vs. Martin-era Black Sabbath vs. Ripper-era Judas Priest?

  • Judas Priest fronted by Tim "Ripper" Owens

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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    28
Priest and Maiden are my two favorite bands, so that tips the scale in their favor. Sabbath out.

The Ripper and Blaze era were both hugely unpopular with the fans, but few criticized Ripper for his live singing - his stage presence and shadow boxing has received some justified criticism. Blaze on the other hand, is a terrific frontman and commands the stage in a way Ripper never has. Blaze wins the frontman department. But Blaze also was and is vocally inferior compared to Ripper, both in terms of pure singing ability, and his renditions of the band classics on stage. Ripper wins the singing department, both live and in the studio.

Which brings us to the studio albums themselves. I like Virtual XI, The X Factor, Jugulator and Demolition. I like all of them and listen, albeit rarely in their entirety, songs from each album regularly. VXI and Jugulator were both panned by fans and critics alike and detracted from the respective bands previous style, but have qualities that I appreciate and some kickass songs. Virtual XI and Demolition were albums that tanked further, while both respectively tried to cater to the more traditional styles of the bands. Demolition has a few really solid songs, but a bunch of duds as well. All in all, VXI is the superior album even with its dodgy production because it has a more cohesive and consistent set of songs quality wise - Demolition would benefit from having a few songs cut.

Verdict: I can't choose. What outfit would I have like to see live and would enjoy the most? Priest with Ripper, no contest. I catch Blaze whenever I can and will again in the fall, but he is a more comfortable live singer now and has the benefit of singing in a lower tuning. Priest tuned down with Ripper as well, but tuned down further than needed, as Ripper can handle Eb no problem and would do relatively well in standard E tuning as well. Ripper killed it vocally live and the band played excellent setlists with him at the helm and it is one of those "I wish I was a few years older so I could have seen it" things, whereas I'm fine with not having seen Maiden with Blaze.

In a "gun against my head" situation, I'll go with the Maiden albums over the Ripper Priest albums. All in all, this leaves us with a tie. Sorry.
 
I love the two albums with Blaze, so that should be my answer, but I think the best fit (overall) was Tony Martin era. Underrated albums. Then Blaze. Ripper Priest era has some cool heavy riffs and style, but that's not what I want from Priest, even if it's not that far from their style.
 
Blaze on the other hand, is a terrific frontman

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Which part, where he drums an imaginary drum in front of him? Or does an angry monster face? That’s basically his two stage moves.
 
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I mean, there is definitely going to be a bias for Maiden from my side but to be real, the albums with Tony Martin and Ripper had solid music along with them, they were either not received well by the public (as in case of Judas Priest) because of change in vocalist or just simply ignored (Black Sabbath) due to the same reason.

While all three vocalists are really good, you need to be in a particular mood to enjoy the Blaze Maiden albums, while you can blast Ripper Priest and Martin Sabbath albums anytime and enjoy it.
 
Given that The X Factor is my favourite album of all time it's already no contest. No need to point out that VXI is in my top half of Maiden albums. I'll just give an honourable nod to Tony Martin-era Sabbath because Headless Cross and Tyr should be named together with the other great Sabbath classics. Ripper-era Priest on the other hand... well, they made a good song and a good chorus.
 
I love the Blaze era a lot, but I gotta go with Martin-era Sabbath. Headless Cross and Tyr are incredible albums and Cross Purposes is a strong third record (I don’t count Forbidden, it doesn’t exist).

Here’s the thing: Blaze era Maiden is great and I would say better than Di’Anno era Maiden, but it’s not better than Bruce era Maiden.

Demolition is an overhated album from Priest but Jugulator is straight garbage, so Ripper era Priest is not better than Halford era Priest.

Meanwhile Tony Martin’s stint with Black Sabbath is my favorite period of Sabbath’s history, with Headless Cross being the best album released under the Black Sabbath moniker, so he gets the edge here.
 
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“No, no! You’ve got to look mean!”

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I am not saying he doesn’t go crazy-face. I am saying is that he has the ability as frontman to engage with and energize the crowd. The gig I caught in 2008 was electrifying. Blaze grabbed people by the head at the front row, locked eyes and sang into your face. He would knuckle bump and shake hands towards the end of the show. He leaned as far into the crowd while singing that he could without falling. Blaze knows how to demand and command the attention of his fans when he is playing.
 
Blaze-era Maiden: One great and one average album, bad production. Singer good, but not on par with his predecessor.

Martin-era Black Sabbath: poor to good albums, too far off their early signature style, very good singer but no distinct voice.

Ripper-era Priest: one good and one terrible album, singer on par with his predecessor.

I guess Blaze wins.
 
Blaze has the best album of the three, and a followup that, while disappointing, at least keeps the ship in the right direction.

Ripper has the worst album of the bunch and in general his time in the band led to a lot of major creative missteps, moreso than the other two.

Tony Martin was probably the best fit for his respective band in terms of competency as a vocalist and ability to handle older material while also keeping up with what they were doing currently/contributing ideas, but I find he lacks a lot of personality as a vocalist and writer. Those albums are mostly pretty good but feel pretty generic at the same time.

If I were to rank all of them...

1: X Factor
2: Headless Cross
3: Eternal Idol
4: Virtual XI
5: Tyr
6: Jugulator
7: Cross Purposes
8: Forbidden
9: Demolition
 
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