Best Metal Song Tournament (Round 8)

Are you enjoying my style of putting songs against each other?

  • Total voters
    9
Round 5: The Punishment Due!

1. Saxon - Bloodletter
(Nominated by - @Siddharth)


Vs.

King Diamond - Loa House
(Nominated by - @MindRuler)



2. Metallica - Creeping Death
(Nominated by - @MrK)


Vs.

Megadeth - Holy Wars…The Punishment Due
(Nominated by - @MrK)



3. At The Gates - Cold
(Nominated by - @Shmoolikipod)


Vs.

In Flames - Man Made God
(Nominated by - @Vaenyr)

open.spotify.com

Man Made God

In Flames · Colony · Song · 1999
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com


4. Ayreon - Day Seven: Hope
(Nominated by - @Azas)

open.spotify.com

Day Seven: Hope

Ayreon · The Human Equation · Song · 2004
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com

Vs.

Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (2005 Version)
(Nominated by - @Azas)

open.spotify.com

Sleeping Sun - 2005 Version

Nightwish · Highest Hopes-The Best Of Nightwish · Song · 2005
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com

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0 Saxon - Bloodletter
0 King Diamond - Loa House

0 Metallica - Creeping Death
0 Megadeth - Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

0 At The Gates - Cold
0 In Flames - Man Made God

0 Ayreon - Day Seven: Hope
0 Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (2005 Version)
 
Fun Fact: The guitar solo in Cold is played by Andy LaRocque (of King Diamond). So that makes not one but two songs in this round with LaRocque's playing on them.
 
1 Saxon - Bloodletter +1
0 King Diamond - Loa House

1 Metallica - Creeping Death +1
0 Megadeth - Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

1 In Flames - Man Made God +1
0 At The Gates - Cold

1 Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (2005 Version) +1
0 Ayreon - Day Seven: Hope


- Bloodletter is one of Saxon's hidden good songs, their typical driving force is cool, the chorus is not that effective, but the whole song grabs you. Great harmony, energy and soloing. Loa House music is great (big fan of the tempo, riffing, drumming), but the vocals are not interesting enough (some parts are), especially the chorus.
- Holy Wars' riffing and vocal lines are there, but Creeping Death is probably the best thrash metal song, and the parts are legendary now. Plus it's more catchy.
- In Flames' Man Made God is such a cool thrash instrumental, it's melodic (plus acoustic part for an even better mix) and sounds glorious. Good new find.
*if Bruce's new solo album sounds like this, it'll be great.
- Ayreon's Hope is nice (fun melody, old school vibe), but it's not Sleeping Sun (it deserved to be an album song). Tarja's voice shines, the nostalgic vibe is strong.
 
I'm legitimately serious about my match. Both Creeping Death and Holy Wars could win this entire game and being pitted against one another in round 1 seems impossible.
 
MrK said:
I'm legitimately serious about my match. Both Creeping Death and Holy Wars could win this entire game and being pitted against one another in round 1 seems impossible.
Click to expand...
Let´s hope it will be a tie so they both get many points and go through to next phase of the tournament.
 
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MrK said:
I'm legitimately serious about my match. Both Creeping Death and Holy Wars could win this entire game and being pitted against one another in round 1 seems impossible.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't it be a rather fair fight? Look how Disposable Heroes destroyed Sacrifice in the earlier round. Again, these are not elimination matches.

And @Azas, a good deal of your songs are ballad-like. So couldn't really find a proper match for them.
 
2 Saxon - Bloodletter +1
0 King Diamond - Loa House

2 Metallica - Creeping Death +1
0 Megadeth - Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

2 In Flames - Man Made God +1
0 At The Gates - Cold

2 Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (2005 Version) +1
0 Ayreon - Day Seven: Hope

I chose Saxon over King Diamond. Saxon's riff instantly reminded me of "2 Minutes to Nervous Breakdown" because of Siddhart's "The Best Songs Torture Game." Good, upbeat heavy metal. Diamond's song felt very intense, with production that wasn't particularly likeable to me. Overall, a good song, but it didn't stand out enough for me.
*
Stepping out of the closet I: I wanted to nominate Megadeth's "Holy Wars" myself - the song was on the primal list, but then I chose to go on an adventure with this game and pick some more recent songs that meant something to me now. Also on that list was another Megadeth song, "Tornado of Souls," but I was wise and cruel...

Stepping out of the closet II: In this matchup between Metallica's "Creeping Death" and Megadeth's "Holy Wars," I chose Metallica because my top three Metallica songs, in no particular order, are "Creeping Death," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and "Master of the Plaster Caster." I couldn't take a piss on "Creeping Death" because it's essential and primal Metallica to me. Also, this song is a beast live...

Megadeth's "Holy Moly and the Rising Sun," obviously, is a great song and one of my very favorite Megadeth songs (top 1–3), but when pressed against the wall, I'll go with Metallica.
Rust in Peace is a monster of a record, though.
*
"Man Made God" over "Cold" because it's gooood. Maidenish at times, and yes, even Bruce-ish. I like it.
*
In the self-destruction match between Ayreon's song and Nightwish's, I chose "Sleeping Sun" because it's impeccable and goosebump-inducing. Flawless Nightwish song, IMO.

I discovered Ayreon's "Day Seven: Hope" only recently, as I started delving into their discography. This song clicked with me on the first listen. I sense very high energy and huge potential for audience interaction in a live concert. To me, this song, like Avantasia's song, is one of those songs that speaks about dreams and life itself.

The biggest flaw of this song is that it's so short, almost like an interlude between longer pieces. It should have been at least 4 or 5 minutes long, with the crescendo part much longer. I can imagine what this song could cause live if the band really believed in it and made it one of their hymns. This is an engage-with-the-public kind of song...

Also, this song obviously isn't big, bad metal - more like progressive or even art rock? But, like I said, I included it because it's one of my recent discoveries. One little but shiny diamond. At least to me, it IS.
 
2 Saxon - Bloodletter
1 King Diamond - Loa House +1

2 Metallica - Creeping Death
1 Megadeth - Holy Wars... The Punishment Due +1

2 In Flames - Man Made God
1 At The Gates - Cold +1

2 Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (2005 Version)
1 Ayreon - Day Seven: Hope +1
 
So theres only 2 songs in this round that I actually know off the top of my head an I'm gonna have to listen to each one 5 times to see which I prefer. Goooot iiiiittttt.
 
Ok, I listened to Holy Wars again, great song, better than most I've heard in this game so far. Then I put on Creeping Death. 2 bars in and we have our winner. We're talkin 8 outta 10 vs 9 outta 10 here but much like an Olympic record, the difference between 8 and 9 can be massive.

Total dick move puttin these two against eachother. Love it.

Thing is, do I vote for the best song or do I vote for Holy Wars in order to ease its deserved passage into the next round?

What's so civil about democracy, anyway?
 
2 King Diamond - Loa House +1
2 Saxon - Bloodletter

2 Megadeth - Holy Wars... The Punishment Due +1
2 Metallica - Creeping Death

2 At The Gates - Cold +1
2 In Flames - Man Made God

3 Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (2005 Version) +1
1 Ayreon - Day Seven: Hope

I am a Saxon hater. I like "Princess of the Night" and that's about it. This Saxon song has some solid riffing but I just don't really get Biff Byford as a vocalist. I know they're the "working class NWOBHM band" but idk I think they belong in a pub. "'LOA' House" is basically a retread of "Arrival", but it has some good moments in the hook and my GOAT Andy LaRocque is ALWAYS a WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two juggernauts in the second match but I think this one handily goes to Megadeth. "Creeping Death" is great, don't get me wrong, but it's one of those chunky Metallica songs that could use a little smoothness to it. There are a couple songs on Ride that are better, and plenty more on MoP that crush it. "Holy Wars..." is basically Megadeth's "Hallowed Be Thy Name". Possibly the best thrash riff of all time, diverse and complex in sound, I get fucking hooked from the beginning and they never let up 'til the end. Also features Marty Friedman, who is 1,000x better than circleKirk Hammett.

"Man Made God" is a cool instrumental, but "Cold" is a fucking classic.

This Ayreon song isn't metal and I don't know what it's doing here. "Sleeping Sun" probably isn't either but I like it way more. Beautiful song. Not used to this version as much as the original but it's really strong. Cool pick from Azas. Although I have a friend who's apparently in a shipwreck community who complains that this song is always overlaid on Titanic videos lmao.
 
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3 Saxon - Bloodletter +1
2 King Diamond - Loa House

3 Megadeth - Holy Wars... The Punishment Due +1
2 Metallica - Creeping Death

3 At The Gates - Cold +1
2 In Flames - Man Made God

4 Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (2005 Version) +1
1 Ayreon - Day Seven: Hope

Interestingly, King Diamond is among my favourite acts overall. But Bloodletter by Saxon is like a hidden Metal gem. The riffs, the vocals, the solos, the everything! Its just a perfect song. Biffy's delivery is menacingly on point here. He seems to be playing a character in the song which he executes very well, specially how he changes his tone each time during the verses.

Match 2 has to be one of the toughest in the entire tournament (more on that ;) ). Both brilliant songs but I will go with Holy Wars... The Punishment Due. The main riff is iconic, the change in the dynamic throughout the song, specially in the beginning of the "Punishment Due" section is great. Both Marty's and Dave's solos are awesome and Nick's drumming is remarkable as well. Creeping Death is among my favourite songs by Metallica and happens to be iconic in every aspect. Its just that Holy Wars happens to be my favourite song in Metal, that's all.

3rd march is actually hard. Pretty nice of @Vaenyr to pick a song displaying In Flames' musical prowess, which is rather isn't discussed much and not to mention, I have always adored the Colony album of theirs. Cold is, as already said, a classic. LaRocque's soloing adds a cherry on top of an already Thrash-influenced solid song with a nice clean passage in the middle.

Again, both the songs in the 4th match are good pieces of art but I just can't look upon either of them as proper Metal songs, let alone the "Best Metal Song" as they say. I will go with Sleeping Sun. Never really understood the appeal for Nightwish, but their brand of operatic vocals with symphonic orchestration mixed heavy chords is done pretty well here.

Next round starts from: 2nd September
 
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Some guy upscaled the Seattle '89 video using AI, ahaha. At this point, AI's gonna get you no matter how far you run... :D As for me, I think it looks pretty competent. (Posting it as a kick-ass advertisement for the song, not for the AI.)

Mustaine1.jpg
 
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