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

Round 1 - both bands were annoying. Trivium losses because they were disappointing for such a big name.

Round 2 - Rhapsody was epic, and I was sure they're winning it (also lol'd at the first minute of the title track :lol: ). But as I continued to listen to Ministry I was grabbed more and more. Scare Crow was amazing. I'm still voting Rhapsody. Ministry took time to take off, while Rhapsody was immediate, and I like good cheese.

Round 3 - the weakest round of the bunch. Angra had some Dream Theater qualities in them. They were better than Sonata Arctica. Twisted Sister is rather plain but very enjoyable and they win.

Round 4 - I had high expectations from both albums. Buckethead was captivating throughout and so was Atheist. It's very hard to give it to Buckethead but I just don't know enough any noodling instrumental albums aside from Liquid Tension Experiment. I also love his writing.
 
Ministry vs. Rhapsody is the matchup with the widest gap between my opinion and the Maidenfans consensus so far. It was a lopsided win for Ministry for me, the invisible hand of Maidenfans made it a lopsided win for Rhapsody.
 
I'm picking Ecliptica. I'm picking it entirely based on nostalgia. Although I've outgrown Sonata Arctica completely, they were a band I got into fairly early in my metal evolution and a handful of their songs, all on Ecliptica, are nostalgic favourites.

I can't listen to Ministry for very long before I tear my headphones off. Rhapsody is terrible, but at least fun.

I actually found myself getting drawn into the Angra album a lot more than I expected. It's encouraged me to go back in their discography when I have time.

As others have noted, Atheist's vocals. Yikes. This one's for Cried. I vote Buckethead.
 
I'm not sure why Ministry is getting so much hate, but okay. It's my kind of high-octane 'rock', and I'm happy I finally heard about it - I definitely prefer it to Nine Inch Nails.
 
Sonata Arctica vs Trivium -- BOAT! RUDDER! STRANGE! MOUNTAIN! Sonata Arctica.
Ministry vs Rhapsody -- Ministry is definitely not my thing, and although Rhapsody is also not my thing, it is a bit more of my thing than Ministry.
Angra vs Twisted Sister -- I can't stand Angra and Under the Blade is one of my favourite early-eighties metal albums.
Atheist vs Buckethead -- I don't think I'll become a technical/progressive death metal fan in this life. Having said that, I don't think I will become a Buckethead fan either. In both cases, I can perfectly hear what fans love about it, but I don't have the patience for either, at least not at this stage of my life. I'll go for Buckethead because he annoyed me a bit less than Atheist this match.
 
Sonata Arctica falls to Trivium in a close defeat. The Finnish band is eliminated from the game, and Trivium will face Pretty Maid in League 16.

Rhapsody crushes Ministry, knocking Ministry completely from the GMAC. Rhapsody will next battle Life of Agony.

In a fairly close battle, Angra dispatches Twisted Sister, a bit of an upset. Twisted Sister will be back, though, but not until League 3.

And finally, Buckethead trounces Atheist. The latter band has been removed, and Buckethead will move on to face Converge. Somewhere, Cried is smiling.
 
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Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve (1995)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 77
League 17 - Match 21vs.
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Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer (2004)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 88
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The_Marriage_of_Heaven_and_Hell_Part_I.jpg

Virgin Steele - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I (1995)

How it got here
List entries: Metalstorm 80
League 17 - Match 20vs.
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HammerFall - Legacy of Kings (1998)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 91
 
Cradle_of_Filth_-_Cruelty_and_the_Beast.albumcover.jpg

Cradle of Filth - Cruelty and the Beast (1998)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Kingdom 69
League 17 - Match 23vs.
White_Zombie_La_Sexorcisto_Devil_Music%2C_Vol._1.jpg

White Zombie - La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One (1992)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 93
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The_Real_Thing_album_cover.jpg

Faith No More - The Real Thing (1989)

How it got here
List entries: DigitalDreamDoor 75
League 17 - Match 24vs.
Hero_of_Asphalt.jpg

Aria - Герой Асфальта (1987)

How it got here
List entries: Metalstorm 92
 
So, Meshuggah. Decent thrash riffing with some atmospheric interludes, but here’s yet another Annoying Angry Dude™️ offering non-melodic bro-yelling for the entire album. No thanks. I guess Metallica was trying to sound like these guys on Load and Reload, but they wound up doing the diet version of their music, albeit with much better singing. Anyway, their competition must be better than this, right? Oh hell no. Pig Terrifyer is just noise, with even worse vocals. The only faint praise I can offer is that each track is mercifully short. Another lose-lose for the listener. Winner: Meshuggah

This Virgin Steele album is more focused and accessible than The House Of Atreus, Act 1 was, and the singing is more controlled. It’s still a bit on the long side, but it’s got consistently good performances and songwriting, and I would definitely listen to it again. Hammerfall has some elements I really like, such as tuneful, lyrical riffing, and a nice classic power metal sound. Unfortunately, like Heavenly, they borrow a little too liberally from other, better bands like Gamma Ray, and their lyrics are pretty awful. And, like Heavenly, they wind up coming off like a really good tribute band rather than their own entity, so it’s hard to take them seriously. Winner: Virgin Steele

Cradle Of Filth roams around between cacophonous noise and pretty good melodic metal, but it has laughably awful vocals. Just terrible. But then we have White Zombie’s record, a hodge-podge of low rent hard rock, random samples that think they’re clever when they’re not, and terrible vocals that manage to be non-melodic yet out of tune all at the same time. No one would have paid any attention to this trash if Beavis & Butthead hadn’t jokingly said it was cool, and that really tells you all you need to know. Sadly, in this pathetic match-up I am forced to pick a winner, so... Winner: Cradle Of Filth

The Faith No More album is really good — a big slab of synthy, slightly funky hard rock that veers into metal in places, and has nice dynamics and finesse. Patton takes on a nasal, high-pitched vocal tone on most of the album, which is jarring next to his other work, but fits OK here. You can tell that the vocals and lyrics were slapped together after the album was already finished, but they work well enough in the end. The Aria album is enjoyable enough, but much like the last one it’s ultimately derivative Maiden worship. This one’s an easy choice. Winner: Faith No More
 
Meshuggah - not for me, parts of it are ok, but I need some hooks in my music not heaviness-by-numbers

Pig Destroyer - terrible

Not keen on either band but Meshuggah have a few elements from the sort of music I would like

Virgin Steele - British Lion must have heard the intro at least as it's ripped off on the first track of their latest album :lol:. I had to check wikipedia on their last album to make sure the singer is not the same guy from Manowar, and the similarity is really stopping me getting into this, but this track is a good bit better than the one in the previous round.

Legacy of Kings - Not a huge Hammerfall fan, all you really need is the debut, but this is probably the best of the follow up albums, them opening 3 tracks are great and then it peters out a bit, but heading the call alone defeats Virgin Steele

Hammerfall march onwards into glory!

Cradle of Filth - I'd have no interest in listening to this but at least it sounds a lot clearer than these bands usually do

White Zombie - another I remember from MTV in the 90s, not this video the other one with a lyric like I am the ripper man. Not good enough for me to develop an interest in but far closer to my tastes than most albums in this game so far.

White Zombie takes this round.

Faith no More - one of the very first albums I ever got into and my favourite album so far to appear in the game. Great track choice as well, not going with obvious ones like Epic or From Out of Nowhere, love the open e riff that kicks in with the keys doing a chord progression:rocker: Other highlights, falling to pieces, zombie eaters, the morning after

Aria - that vocal is a killer, too earnest, sounds like the russian verion of a drunk crooning fly me to the moon. But apart from that the have some ok ideas that they can't manage to transform into any real originality or hooks.

No contest, FNM with the win.
 
GMAC ticket:
Title

LooseCannonFormatting ticket:
Original post still has an unneeded [/spoiler] right at the end :p:p

These matchups look kinda wild!
 
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