GREATEST METAL ALBUM CUP - Winner: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son!

Blackout is like being behind the wheel a sports car twisting through a mountain road with the top down in the summer sun.
Reign in Blood is like revving your 2006 Mazda 3 up in the parking lot of your townhouse complex and driving it straight into a wall.

If you prefer the latter, hey, whatever make you happy. :D
I’ve barely ever driven a car so how do I know which I prefer?
 
Reign in Blood is just under 29 minutes in length. Blackout is just under 37. Pretty sure that means that Reign in Blood is the bullet train and Blackout is flying coach in Lufthansa and noticing that the only metal you have the offer of listening to is the Sabbath debut, so instead you fill the nine hours with films instead, which is much more enjoyable.
 
Reign in Blood is just under 29 minutes in length.
Also fun fact about this: Reign in Blood was so short that on the cassette, the entire album was able to fit on Side 1. Since the manufacturers really didn't know what else to do with it, they just threw the entire album onto Side 2 as well. So once you'd come to the end of "Raining Blood", the listener would flip the tape and get blasted by "Angel of Death" yet again. Fucking awesome.
 
Also fun fact about this: Reign in Blood was so short that on the cassette, the entire album was able to fit on Side 1. Since the manufacturers really didn't know what else to do with it, they just threw the entire album onto Side 2 as well. So once you'd come to the end of "Raining Blood", the listener would flip the tape and get blasted by "Angel of Death" yet again. Fucking awesome.
I didn't know that. It is, indeed, a fun fact.
 
Also fun fact about this: Reign in Blood was so short that on the cassette, the entire album was able to fit on Side 1. Since the manufacturers really didn't know what else to do with it, they just threw the entire album onto Side 2 as well. So once you'd come to the end of "Raining Blood", the listener would flip the tape and get blasted by "Angel of Death" yet again. Fucking awesome.

I still think I have that cassette somewhere in the attic of my parents house!

Have 2 cd versions as well, the original one with the fucked up track split that has the final section of Postmortem as part of track 10 and a remastered one that has the correct transition
 
Fun fact: the first two CDs I bought were Piece of Mind and Reign in Blood (simultaneously). I already owned them on cassette (Diesel's flip the tape story is true), but these apparently were the ones it was most important for me to also own on CD.
 
I don't hate Slayer...but I also don't like them. I agree with those that say RIB is full of atrocious solos and annoying vocals, despite the riffing and intensity being quite cool. Blackout, though also not amazing, is more my style, so Scorpions.

Seventh Son, easily. I do like the debut, but it is nowhere near as good.

Now, Seasons in the Abyss, I actually quite enjoy. The songs have more structure, more maturity, it's a solid record. Couldn't care less for Accept and their balls. Slayer.

Last In Line is a killer record and also does not have Ozzy singing. Easily Dio.
 
2 easy votes against Slayer. I actively dislike them but also actively like the two albums they are up against.
I assume that I will vote for Ronald but Blizzard deserves another spin for a balanced decision.
And although its far from a walk over, I'll be voting for the debut over 7th Son. The raw energy of the debut is what I fell in love with 30 years ago and is something I always come back to despite fluctuations of love for certain periods of Maiden. Although its not my favourite, I would probably pick it if I was to be sent into the wilderness with only 1 Maiden album for the rest of my life. And to the Gerbil who reckons Phantom is over rated; what the fuck does over rated even mean? Dont answer that but clean yer lug, bro. Although context is irrelevant if you dont care but for some context, a 17yr old bass player wrote that song. Think about it, man!
 
There is pretty much nothing that Slayer offers to me that I'd be interested in, especially in the world where Kreator (or even Dark Angel) exists. I guess if it was South of Heaven in the third pairing, I might've picked that one over a weaker Accept album, but it's not, so I don't. Even a weaker Scorpions album is an ultimately more rewarding experience. Reign in Blood feels like two pretty okay songs and then a bunch of demos sandwiched in the middle. I guess the beginning to Criminally Insane is interesting as well. That'd be 2 anti-Slayer votes.

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As for the Maiden fight, well, there is pretty much nothing on the debut that would interest me bar Phantom, Remember Tomorrow and maybe Strange World, also Di'Anno's way too rad for this trad, that is, too much punk to me liking and the production and general approach also leaves a lot to be desired. Now, with SSOASS I also have a lot of problems, from the POM -> SSOASS streak I rank it definitely the lowest and a lot of missteps abound (whatever The Prophecy is trying to be, the lyrics here and there (and everywhere), the badly synced keyboard choirs on the title track etc.), but the highs are really high and all the way through the album's much more enjoyable.

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Ozzy, 'cause there's much more ideas, fun and playfulness, catchy melodies and Randy there. The Last in Line is great, but more monotonous. And Dio's roar is absolutely awesome, but as always, once the metalheads get ahold of something really great, they just have to adore it to high heavens in such a way it goes beyond the cliche, it gets ridiculous and unpleasant. So I'm actually glad I can vote against him with clear consicence.
 
full of atrocious solos

I think people are missing the point if they are looking for tasteful David Gilmour style solos in songs called Necrophobic and Criminally Insane. Are they shit solos. Yes. Are the chaotic madness in keeping with the style of music. Also yes. There's also far more effort in the rhythm guitar parts they are soloing over than the average band, Angel of Death for instance 5 solos swapped, 5 seperate rhythm guitar parts.
 
I think people are missing the point if they are looking for tasteful David Gilmour style solos in songs called Necrophobic and Criminally Insane. Are they shit solos. Yes. Are the chaotic madness in keeping with the style of music. Also yes. There's also far more effort in the rhythm guitar parts they are soloing over than the average band, Angel of Death for instance 5 solos swapped, 5 seperate rhythm guitar parts.

I hope people get a good laugh out of the hypocrisy of this post considering what I have said about similar vocals and drumming in tons of other albums :lol:
 
I think people are missing the point if they are looking for tasteful David Gilmour style solos in songs called Necrophobic and Criminally Insane. Are they shit solos. Yes. Are the chaotic madness in keeping with the style of music. Also yes. There's also far more effort in the rhythm guitar parts they are soloing over than the average band, Angel of Death for instance 5 solos swapped, 5 seperate rhythm guitar parts.
It is possible to play chaotic solos and still be on key. See Megadeth for example. It’s a good excuse though for shitty lead players like Slayer has.
 
Fair point, Musty ain't the mae west himself but can bust out a decent solo now and again, and Poland on Peace Sells plays some tasty stuff. Of course Marty is miles above that but I'd argue by that stage Megadeth are musically a fair bit more sophisticated.
 
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