DJ James
A coma stole my name.
I think the Bleeding is good. Stripped, Raped and Strangled is probably my favorite CC song.No The Bleeding???
I come alive in the darkness!
GREATEST METAL ALBUM CUP - Winner: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son!
- Thread starter LooseCannon
- Start date
I come alive in the darkness!
Lampwick 43
Barstool Warrior
Paul Gilbert was quite enjoyable, and Skid Row just doesn't really do much for me.
I don't mind Slipknot, but it's more of a song by song basis for me. This album doesn't have anything that I love. I'm a bigger fan of Stone Sour, truth be told. Baroness is getting the vote.
I couldn't make it through more than 2 songs on the Cannibal Corpse album, so Living Colour it is.
Both albums in the last match are enjoyable in their own way. I gotta go with Pantera, though.
I don't mind Slipknot, but it's more of a song by song basis for me. This album doesn't have anything that I love. I'm a bigger fan of Stone Sour, truth be told. Baroness is getting the vote.
I couldn't make it through more than 2 songs on the Cannibal Corpse album, so Living Colour it is.
Both albums in the last match are enjoyable in their own way. I gotta go with Pantera, though.
Ariana
Black-and-white leopard
That was the rule, but LC also said we could nominate other rock albums and he would decide whether to include them.
Meanwhile, the non -Maidenfans rankings also include stuff that is not on the website, like Deftones.
Paul Gilbert's guitar driven album can't stand up to Skid Row. Gilbert has another album in the game, coming up very shortly in Match 16.
In at least a moderate upset, Baroness continues going deep as they beat a challenge from Slipknot. The American nu metal band returns in League 9.
Living Colour continues pushing deep, defeating Cannibal Corpse's only GMAC album easily. Angra's next.
Pantera's first GMAC album ends Isis's streak at two. It'll be a clash of lesser albums from greater bands, as next up for Pantera is Motörhead's No Remorse.
In at least a moderate upset, Baroness continues going deep as they beat a challenge from Slipknot. The American nu metal band returns in League 9.
Living Colour continues pushing deep, defeating Cannibal Corpse's only GMAC album easily. Angra's next.
Pantera's first GMAC album ends Isis's streak at two. It'll be a clash of lesser albums from greater bands, as next up for Pantera is Motörhead's No Remorse.
Heavenly - Virus (2006) How it got here List entries: Metal Kingdom 49 | |
| League 15 - Match 13 | vs. |
Rage - Black in Mind (1995) How it got here List entries: Metalstorm 72 Previous Rounds: League 17: Defeated Body Count - Body Count 10-7. League 16: Defeated The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity 17-5. |
Riot - Thundersteel (1988) How it got here List entries: Metalstorm 26 | |
| League 15 - Match 14 | vs. |
Down - NOLA (1995) How it got here List entries: Metalstorm 84 Previous Rounds: League 17: Defeated Avantasia - Moonglow 11-7. League 16: Defeated Napalm Death - Scum 14-8. |
Rhapsody - Power of the Dragonflame (2002) How it got here List entries: Metal Kingdom 33 | |
| League 15 - Match 15 | vs. |
Virgin Steele - The House of Atreus Act I (1999) How it got here List entries: Metalstorm 94 Previous Rounds: League 17: Defeated Aria - Игра С Огнём 15-3. League 16: Defeated Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2 12(ET)-11. |
Paul Gilbert - Fuzz Universe (2010) How it got here List entries: Metalstorm 47 | |
| League 15 - Match 16 | vs. |
Helloween - 7 Sinners (2010) How it got here List entries: Metal Kingdom 84 Previous Rounds: League 17: Defeated Heavenly - Dust to Dust 14-4. League 16: Defeated Godflesh - Streetcleaner 15-7. |
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Heavenly is like the foreign-born bastard child of Billy Corgan and Michael Kiske fronting a pretty good Gamma Ray tribute band. It’s painfully derivative and borderline plagiaristic at times — like a patchwork of musical ideas barely altered from their influences’ actual songs — but it’s pretty well executed, and the riffing and soloing in particular is quite strong. Rage just sounds like a high-end garage band to me, with a singer who can’t quite sing trying to write power metal that doesn’t really suit his voice. And the lyrics and phrasing are pretty bad at times. I don’t like rewarding Heavenly for their methods, but they have the better album here. Winner: Heavenly
Never heard this Riot album before, but it’s pretty great early power/speed metal. The singer is over the top and the lyrics are cheesy, but the music is good stuff. Much more enjoyable to me than the very uneven Down album. Winner: Riot
Rhapsody again. I love Luca, but I hate Fabio, and this is some seriously cheesy shit right here. There are some great instrumental parts, but the rest I’ve heard done better elsewhere, especially in Luca’s solo work. The Virgin Steele album is more ambitious and goes a little easier on the cheese, and I like its more traditional riffage vs.the overall Rhapsody package. Winner: Virgin Steele
This Paul Gilbert album fares a lot better on the songwriting front than the last one did, and it has more immediate appeal to me in the riffing and soloing. The title track is great, the Bach cover is great, and there are a lot of other high points through a first listen. I will definitely come back around to this one. The Helloween album, while entirely competent for what it is, doesn’t really step up to this challenge. Winner: Paul Gilbert
Never heard this Riot album before, but it’s pretty great early power/speed metal. The singer is over the top and the lyrics are cheesy, but the music is good stuff. Much more enjoyable to me than the very uneven Down album. Winner: Riot
Rhapsody again. I love Luca, but I hate Fabio, and this is some seriously cheesy shit right here. There are some great instrumental parts, but the rest I’ve heard done better elsewhere, especially in Luca’s solo work. The Virgin Steele album is more ambitious and goes a little easier on the cheese, and I like its more traditional riffage vs.the overall Rhapsody package. Winner: Virgin Steele
This Paul Gilbert album fares a lot better on the songwriting front than the last one did, and it has more immediate appeal to me in the riffing and soloing. The title track is great, the Bach cover is great, and there are a lot of other high points through a first listen. I will definitely come back around to this one. The Helloween album, while entirely competent for what it is, doesn’t really step up to this challenge. Winner: Paul Gilbert
srfc
Ancient Mariner
Heavenly - very generic riff and sound, piss poor build up, very cliche ridden with no edge, the choir backing vocals sound alright reminds me a bit of Hell, chorus sounds like literally any other power metal chorus
Rage - scooped guitar sound ain't great, vocals competent, as if to prove my point chorus might as well be the one from Heavenly
Rage with the win but both c-list
Riot - same criticism as I've levelled at a few bands before, it's ok, not bad, but if I want to listen to stuff like this Freewheel Burning is better.
Down - a few tracks on this album are to my tastes and a few aren't, I like this one and the one from the first time they appeared, not quite enough on the album to get me to buy it but it was a better album than I'd expected
Down with the win, purely because mixing southern rock with groove elements has more going for it in terms of originality than Riot have.
Rhapsody - is that the same riff as the heavenly song? I wonder do European metal bands realise how ridiculous songs about dragons are? Yngwie Malmsteen called, he told me the joke format of "x called and he wants his y back" is almost as cliched as this song.
Virgin Steele - this is the first song from these that doesn't obviously sound like Manowar straight away, quite good and 90's sounding, not sure about the "ah ah ah" part
Virgin Steele with the win.
Paul Gilbert - opinion given last round, it was for a different album but it still holds water
Helloween - opening riff is a complete rip off of Rainbow's Light in the Black. Rest of the track is not too bad, but it's really just a shadow of earlier stuff. The key change chorus made my skin crawl
Going to give the vote to Helloween as I don't have the attention span to appreciate instrumental music. But it doesn't have a lot going for it
Rage - scooped guitar sound ain't great, vocals competent, as if to prove my point chorus might as well be the one from Heavenly
Rage with the win but both c-list
Riot - same criticism as I've levelled at a few bands before, it's ok, not bad, but if I want to listen to stuff like this Freewheel Burning is better.
Down - a few tracks on this album are to my tastes and a few aren't, I like this one and the one from the first time they appeared, not quite enough on the album to get me to buy it but it was a better album than I'd expected
Down with the win, purely because mixing southern rock with groove elements has more going for it in terms of originality than Riot have.
Rhapsody - is that the same riff as the heavenly song? I wonder do European metal bands realise how ridiculous songs about dragons are? Yngwie Malmsteen called, he told me the joke format of "x called and he wants his y back" is almost as cliched as this song.
Virgin Steele - this is the first song from these that doesn't obviously sound like Manowar straight away, quite good and 90's sounding, not sure about the "ah ah ah" part
Virgin Steele with the win.
Paul Gilbert - opinion given last round, it was for a different album but it still holds water
Helloween - opening riff is a complete rip off of Rainbow's Light in the Black. Rest of the track is not too bad, but it's really just a shadow of earlier stuff. The key change chorus made my skin crawl
Going to give the vote to Helloween as I don't have the attention span to appreciate instrumental music. But it doesn't have a lot going for it
karljant
Ancient Mariner
First match presents us a somehow generic with delusions of grandeur record against a really solid metal album by Rage I already gave my two cents before. Easy pick.
Then we have Riot years after their peak trying to be heavier by sounding somewhat like a mid 80's Priest clone. Although it doesn't sound bad we all know that this isn't where the band really nails it. NOLA is an absolute classic and for the reasons I gave in prior matches this is an easy win for Down.
In the third match we get one band showing us everything epic heavy/ power metal should be and other everything it shouldn't. Easiest win of the round for Virgin Steele.
Finally 2 boring records in their own different way. Gilbert's one is way more guitar solo virtuoso oriented stuff than the previous round one and therefore less enjoyable. As for 7 Sinners I've already stated how much of a snoozefest the album is. Flip coin: Helloween.
Then we have Riot years after their peak trying to be heavier by sounding somewhat like a mid 80's Priest clone. Although it doesn't sound bad we all know that this isn't where the band really nails it. NOLA is an absolute classic and for the reasons I gave in prior matches this is an easy win for Down.
In the third match we get one band showing us everything epic heavy/ power metal should be and other everything it shouldn't. Easiest win of the round for Virgin Steele.
Finally 2 boring records in their own different way. Gilbert's one is way more guitar solo virtuoso oriented stuff than the previous round one and therefore less enjoyable. As for 7 Sinners I've already stated how much of a snoozefest the album is. Flip coin: Helloween.
Last edited:
KidInTheDark666
What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine too
Looks like a very good round. I might even give all of the albums a full listen.
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
Well I mean, it’s got a 97% on the Metal Archives and I liked its material more than I did the other songs I’ve heard from them.
Lamia020281
Educated Fool
For some reason, it seems I've voted for power metal pretty much all the way here. Never properly listened to that stuff before, or even heard it that much. Maybe not entirely my thing, but I did like it somewhat.
Heavenly repeats itself a bit, but it's ok. Singing sounded a bit vague, but I did like the actual singer's voice. Despite the fact that these are Corona times, and the name of the album is what it is, Heavenly wins. Rage sounded really bad on my computer speakers, put on headphones, sound got better. It was all right, but didn't make a big impression on me.
Riot was quite action-packed and all right. Down left me a bit cold, the beginning of the song was quite slow to warm up, and the style of singing was weird.
Rhapsody was fast and fun, Virgin Steele quite groovy and not bad, but somehow not my cup of tea.
Paul Gilbert was already familiar to me from the previous round, it gives 7 minutes worth of guitar-playing. But Helloween out of all the bands I've listened to for this Cup so far has been one I could consider adding to my play list. There's something a bit alien to me about the power metal sound, I don't know what it is, but if I were to add a band, I think this would be it.
Heavenly repeats itself a bit, but it's ok. Singing sounded a bit vague, but I did like the actual singer's voice. Despite the fact that these are Corona times, and the name of the album is what it is, Heavenly wins. Rage sounded really bad on my computer speakers, put on headphones, sound got better. It was all right, but didn't make a big impression on me.
Riot was quite action-packed and all right. Down left me a bit cold, the beginning of the song was quite slow to warm up, and the style of singing was weird.
Rhapsody was fast and fun, Virgin Steele quite groovy and not bad, but somehow not my cup of tea.
Paul Gilbert was already familiar to me from the previous round, it gives 7 minutes worth of guitar-playing. But Helloween out of all the bands I've listened to for this Cup so far has been one I could consider adding to my play list. There's something a bit alien to me about the power metal sound, I don't know what it is, but if I were to add a band, I think this would be it.
karljant
Ancient Mariner
Ok... Glad you and Metal Archives liked it. It's like everything: Classic Rock gave it a 5 out of 10. Both good and bad grades are worth little to me.
Last edited:
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Riot is criminally underrated, including on this forum. Fire Down Under is their masterpiece, but ThunderSteel is pretty great too. Not derivative, they are derived from by many of the bands in this game. And they have the BEST* album covers.
by BEST I mean hilariously ridiculous
Lampwick 43
Barstool Warrior
Heavenly
Down
Rhapsody
Paul Gilbert
Down
Rhapsody
Paul Gilbert
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
I must say, Heavenly was NOT what I expected based on the album cover! I figured It would be yet another death metal entry. The track started strong but kinda devolved into more generic-sounding power metal. Rage isn’t much different, though it does seem to have a bit more of a raw, edgy feel, which gives it the edge for me.
Voting for Riot in the second matchup for the reason stated above. I already like them quite a bit.
Evidently I just don’t like Rhapsody. Virgin Steele with the easy win for me.
I have kept voting against Paul Gilbert in matchups so far, he seems to be cropping up a lot, though I hadn’t heard of him before. I’ll vote for him here as I have never really loved Helloween and they have bigger albums on the way, I’m guessing.
Voting for Riot in the second matchup for the reason stated above. I already like them quite a bit.
Evidently I just don’t like Rhapsody. Virgin Steele with the easy win for me.
I have kept voting against Paul Gilbert in matchups so far, he seems to be cropping up a lot, though I hadn’t heard of him before. I’ll vote for him here as I have never really loved Helloween and they have bigger albums on the way, I’m guessing.
I just don't get Rage. I've given the band a few solid listens and now I've listened to this album two or three times over the past months, and I'm still just wholly ambivalent. I don't love Heavenly either but I'll go with it.
Riot. They aren't derivative, they're originators.
I'm discovering that I really don't like Rhapsody. Virgin Steele.
The last one, Helloween bleh. Paul Gilbert is at least interesting to me, if not great. Fun little guitarist.
Riot. They aren't derivative, they're originators.
I'm discovering that I really don't like Rhapsody. Virgin Steele.
The last one, Helloween bleh. Paul Gilbert is at least interesting to me, if not great. Fun little guitarist.
CriedWhenBrucieLeft
Meme Only Account
Haven't heard of Paul Gilbert? 
KidInTheDark666
What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine too
Completely new name for me too. That album was pretty good tho, but it can't beat Helloween.