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

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Korn - Korn (1994)

How it got here

List entries: Rolling Stone 30, Loudwire 39
Maidenfans Nominators: n/a
League 5 - Match 15vs.
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Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier (2010)

How it got here

List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin
Previous Rounds:
League 11: Defeated Bruce Dickinson - Balls to Picasso 18-5.
League 10: Defeated Nightwish - Dark Passion Play 16-8.
League 9: Defeated Slipknot - Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses 24-2.
League 8: Defeated Megadeth - Endgame 24-7.
League 7: Defeated Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen 20-5.
League 6: Defeated Slayer - Show No Mercy 21-10.
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Symphony X - The Odyssey (2002)

How it got here

List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Lampwick 43, @LooseCannon, @Midnight, @MrKnickerbocker
League 5 - Match 16vs.
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Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

How it got here

List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin, @Mosh
Previous Rounds:
League 6: Defeated Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers 18-13.
 
I have no stake in the first game. I'll listen to the samples and decide.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that No Prayer For the Dying needs to go out this round. One of the least good Iron Maiden albums and it has no business here. Horror Show is the last of that beautiful 90s run by Iced Earth, before Jon Schaffer was a seditionist (and I encourage you to ignore that when considering this, his most apolitical album). Incredible fast tracks like Wolf and Jack, a great epic in Damien, something interesting and progressive in The Phantom Opera Ghost. This one's a killer, and to this day, one of my two favourite Iced Earth albums.

The Final Frontier needs to be put out, but Korn won't be able to do that.

The Odyssey is a bit uneven, but man, do the songs that whip do just that. The song The Odyssey is just amazing. My thoughts are here, sourced from the Symphony X thread:

The Odyssey (2002)

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1. Inferno (Unleash the Fire) - A little more rockish than anything from V. Not quite a return to roots for this band, but Russell's leaning far more heavily on a rougher more rock vocal, and I'm not sure I like it. Romeo's riffs are fairly wankish in this track. The lyrical content seems to be about evil dragons, which makes sense given the name. Nice gallop into the middle section, though. I feel like it recovers somewhat by the end. 7/10.

2. Wicked
- I really enjoy the vocal style on this. It has a sense of wickedness about the murmur, and a great chorus. I like that this one seems to hit the next level quite nicely, with building crescendos towards that great chorus. Like the ghost of a witch ensnaring our hero. I like the symbolism of "following a star west" that seems to give the song's protagonist an almost magi-like quality. Solid instrumental, really like Romeo's solo, love the last "she saaaaaaiiaaaaaiaaaaid" at the end too. 8.5/10.*

3. Incantations of the Apprentice
- Interesting faux-horn intro, nice build at the beginning. I really enjoy the keys on this track, Pinnella has found a way to make them sound completely unlike anything else they've used before. Lyrics on this one are very straightforward, an apprentice trying to learn magic, and learning the wrong stuff. I think maybe the interplay is a little too familiar to Wicked, and without such a great chorus. Short instrumental section that isn't terribly interesting, but isn't bad either. 7.5/10.

4. Accolade II
- Normally, when I see a song's sequel, I get pretty trepidatious towards it; song sequels are what people do to cash out on other successes (Unforgiven III, literally both Something Wicked albums). What we get here is a gorgeous re-imagining of The Accolade, with new layers added on. I listened to them back-to-back for this comparison, and while the music has many of the same calls, it is so much more mature and evolved. Pinnella gives the Accolade theme stellar new tiers. The lyrics follow on with the son of the first hero, and Russell belts out an incredible performance on the track. The chorus is chilling and simple and so earnest. A little shorter than the original Accolade, but I believe that's because the band has learned to tell the same style of tale with the complexities compressed and made more evident. This shows how SX has progressed into a titan of prog. 10/10.*

5. King of Terrors
- This song has a level of cruelty to it, a violent edge. Based on the tale of The Pit and the Pendulum, by Edgar Allen Poe, it gives us a new dimension to this band. The aggression and fear in this reminds me of some of the tracks off Horror Show (specifically Jack) and is absolutely going to make it to the playlist I use when I personally need to find that certain aggression. While raspy Russell isn't usually my favourite, he hits something closer to a snarl here in the choruses and it really suits the song's subject matter. Great fucking song, with a killer clean chorus. The instrumental really cleans up. Pinnella murders the keyboard with violence, it sounds like the last spiraling heartbeats an anxious heart pumps as fate comes near, while Rullo's bass just hammers home. Really good shredding from Romeo too, I find the guitar sounds less neat here, more rough, like he plucked Dave Mustaine's rig for a solo. One last thought, in the original tale, the protagonist is saved by the French army. The protagonist here is not given such a reprieve. 9.5/10.*

6. The Turning
- Dragons, pits, witches, wizards, and now werewolves. I am being forcibly reminded of Horror Show again. Good chorus, though, the "save my soul, losing control" part is really good. However, I think it is a little too similar in terms of tone to the previous song. It's still a good track, but it's one of the weaker on the album. 7/10.

7. Awakenings - I like the atmospheric opening, it's quite pleasant and it gives the idea of floating in a dream. Pinnella's piano is a perfect accouterments to Russell hitting soulful, meaningful notes on every word on the opening choruses. I love the way that the nightmare sequence is hinted at by slightly off-key piano - that's a brilliant little bit of musical foreshadowing that shows the maturity of the songwriters. This song is nothing more than a progressive Wasted Years - a warning against lamenting the past and celebrating our future. A grand instrumental section, too, but I think this one levels out at 8/10.

8. The Odyssey

Part I - Odysseus's Theme / Overture - We are introduced to the King of Ithaca via instrumental. His march is triumphant and martial - as it should be. Odysseus, let us not remember, is the ally of King Agamemnon, one of the victorious heroes of the Trojan War. This journey into lietmotif is positively Nobuo-esque and would sound just at home on the soundtrack of any JRPG from the early 2000s. The Odyssey's Overture, by comparison, is mourning and a mounting crescendo, perhaps a fitting way to tell the tale of a great wandering hero. One of literature's greatest journeys is ahead of us. The Trojan War has ended. The city has fallen. Paris and Hector, Achilles and Ajax are dead. Odysseus wants nothing more than to return home.
Part II - Journey to Ithaca - The King of Ithaca is in prison. He has been away forever, it seems, almost twenty years. And now he is ready to tell us the story of how he ended up captured by Calypso. The way the King's lament is written are nothing more nor less than the most beautiful lyrics written by Symphony X.
Part III - The Eye - Wicked and cruel keyboards from Pinnella and savage bass from Lepond pull us into a hurricane that savaged the Ithacan fleet and forced Odysseus off course. The Eye doesn't refer to the eye of the hurricane, though - no. It refers to the Isle of the Cyclopes. The one-eyed beasts that trapped and ate Odysseus's loyal sailors and soldiers. They were greedy and wanted to plunder the cave for its wealth, only to be trapped and killed. Eventually the surviving Ithacans escape and are given a magic bag...what is inside? Riches? Or something else? A great rock song here, Russell uses his voice to give the greed and aggression and fear of the Ithacans true life.
Part IV - Circe (The Daughter of the Sun) - A cacophony of music represents the opening of the bag. What was inside? The winds, save the west wind. The King was blown off course to Aeaea and he visited the titular Circe, who entranced him with her magic. The ethereal and enchanting keyboards are perfect here, Pinnella is the true standout of this track to date. The confusion and mystification of Odysseus is caught up gorgeously, though his will overcomes hers...and then she entrances him for a year, eventually gifting him knowledge home
Part V - Sirens - The first challenge was the sirens, the call of which would lure men to their death. Again cruel and haunting, the rolling guitars and bass and drums evident of a violent storm being surpassed. Short, but effective.
Part VI - Scylla and Charybdis - Next, the hero meets Scylla and Charybdis; the latter a whirlpool that can destroy any ship, the other a six-headed monster. He does so, but they ignored the final advice - his surviving sailors, as the music grows into a dark crescendo while all seems clear, consumed the holy cattle. They were slain, and only our hero remains, now bound to Calypso as his lover. Yet...Odysseus is not yet out of tricks. He eventually begins to tell his amazing tale...as his music returns, he is freed by Calypso, granted treasure and wealth, and finally...finally...after twenty years...returns to Ithaca.
Part VII - The Fate of the Suitors / The Champion of Ithaca - We return to a softer tune, for a heartbeat, before we crash into a battle. Why, when Odysseus was away, suitors tried to convince his bride that the Hero of the Trojan War had died. That one of the many misadventures he encountered has claimed his life. Russell catches the indignation of Odysseus as he sneaks into his kingdom as a simple beggar. It's time for one last battle. Triiiiumphant Champion of Ithaca! My god, that's stellar. Yet his fury is relentless; he kills another generation of Ithaca's finest men for their greed, as he killed the previous generation at Troy and on his Odyssey. Finally, Athena helps Odysseus restore balance and reclaim his throne, wife and heir, and bring the final battle of the greatest war of mythology to its end. We return to where we started in Part II:

Seems like forever that my eyes have been denied
Home - I'm finally home
I've been twenty years away from all I ever knew
I have returned to make my dream come true
Enough to make me weep. 11/10*. Triumphant, beautiful, engaging, climactic, and powerful. The best Symphony X song to date.

Final Score: 86%
* this song was added to my "Greatest Hits" playlist that stays on my phone at all time. A globally recognized mark of excellence.
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Alright...I've been preparing for this one...

Don't love either of the first two matchups, though the heavier flourishes throughout the Accept album are nice. Unfortunately, Udo's voice isn't my favorite, so I'll throw a vote to Dokken

I really don't want to finish this round, and this is the first reason. Sure, Jon Schaffer's a piece of shit, but Horror Show is a vastly superior album to NPFTD. I await the travesty as I vote Iced Earth, without a second thought.

The Final Frontier is not a great album and should be gone. But it should not lose to KoRn. Iron Maiden.

SYMPHONY X have the better album here, plain and simple. I love DT, too, but The Odyssey is a much better song than the title track of SDOIT and in half the time. The metal is more metal, the ballads more epic and soulful, the melodies simply wonderful. These two albums contain what I consider to be the single greatest tracks by either band (The Odyssey and The Glass Prison), but whereas the Glass Prison is a standout on its album, The Odyssey is one of many. I have no doubt that I also await a travesty here.
 
Both albums in the last match are far more worthy than anything else in this round. Shame they’re pitted against each other.
 
Symphony X and Iced Earth deserve the win so much it’s not even funny. Horror Show is a bulldozer of an album and truly among the best ever made. Fuck Jon Schaffer. And also this album was one where Barlow got a lot of creative control and it definitely has his best performances.
 
The production threw me off the first time I listened to it, but it's been growing on me. I still need to hear half the album, though.
It’s certainly got weaker production than The Dark Saga and Something Wicked This Way Comes, but I think a large part of that has to do with how much shit they threw together on the record. It’s not nearly as straightforward as they were. Also, I can attest that as an owner of the CD (a Christmas present, just before Schaffer made an ass of himself), the production becomes one of the many positives about the album. It’s not perfect, but it works, and the imperfection manages to sound awesome, if you get what I mean. Crank that shit as loud as you can and it punches you so hard, god it’s awesome.
 
as an owner of the CD
Out of curiosity, which version do you own? Wikipedia says there was a 2-CD version of this album that relegated Transylvania to a bonus track, and Dragon's Child actually ends instead of just slamming into Transylvania.
 
If you vote Symphony X I’ll update my ‘like’ to a ‘love’. :p
I actually haven't heard The Odyssey at all, but I have it on my list of albums I need to listen to soonish. Only reason it is undecided is Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence is one of my least revisited Dream Theater albums, and I believe The Odyssey might be strong enough to earn the vote. Hopefully I have time to listen to it before the deadline.
 
Out of curiosity, which version do you own? Wikipedia says there was a 2-CD version of this album that relegated Transylvania to a bonus track, and Dragon's Child actually ends instead of just slamming into Transylvania.
That’s what I had, too. Transylvania was never part of the original release, it was bonus disc material.

I think it fits the theme, but I don’t consider it part of the album.
 
Dokken is probably best known for their later, cheesier fare like “In My Dreams” and “Dream Warriors”, but the band’s second album, Tooth And Nail, is the one that’s full of fire and great songs. From the perfectly haunting intro “Without Warning” to the blazing title track, to the driving “Don’t Close Your Eyes”, the slow burning “When Heaven Comes Down”, and the funky “Turn On The Action”, there’s a varied stream of great deep cuts. And that’s before you get to the sweet commercial singles like “Just Got Lucky”, “Into The Fire”, and contender for greatest metal ballad ever, “Alone Again”. Even the lesser tracks like “Heartless Heart” and “Bullets To Spare” are still strong, enjoyable songs. Don Dokken sounds great, George Lynch is on fire, and even Mick Brown stands out in a number of places. Jeff Pilson’s major contributions are in the songwriting realm, but what great contributions they are.

Tooth And Nail is probably the best album from the so-called “hair metal” category because the songwriting and performances simply outclass the competition.

Compare this to Accept’s Reckless & Wild from a couple of years prior and there frankly isn’t much of a comparison. Yes, Accept clearly had a big influence on power metal, and there are some nice guitar passages, but the songwriting just isn’t very good, and neither is Udo Dirkschneider’s voice. To me this contest would be a no-brainer, even if I hadn’t nominated the Dokken album.

(Tooth And Nail full album playlist)
 
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However, there is no doubt in my mind that No Prayer For the Dying needs to go out this round. One of the least good Iron Maiden albums and it has no business here. Horror Show is the last of that beautiful 90s run by Iced Earth

I cannot agree with this. Horror Show is probably my favourite IE but IE has a shit ton of musical weak points. As with any IE, the riffs are stock and the solos are bad. There's so much going in a single "rocker" Maiden song such as Public Enema, that's just non-existent in the typical Iced Earth song.

At least Horror Show has a proper bassist in comparison to their other stuff. IE is still a drummer and a soloist short of being even competitive to any Maiden.
 
Dokken - A band that were before my time, I am aware of the name but couldn't tell you any hits or the likes. This track is way more metal than I was expecting, I had anticipated sub-Every Rose Has It's Torn quality material, solos are good but I was expecting that as I knew the guy is a well respected guitarist. It's pretty much a Ram It Down (the song) vibe.

Accept - opinion given before

Dokken with the win, due to novelty of being new to me, both are realistically in the same ball park quality wise

Iced Earth - Musically okay, vocally is just pub band impressions of Hetfield and Halford (on the backing vocals), but miles better than the vocals on the other album that's been in the game

Iron Maiden - opinion given before

Iron Maiden with the win

Korn - I pressed play just for the laugh, and had forgotten this gimp used to play the bagpipes in his sequined adidas cacks and whiteboy dreads :lol: What a fuckin' travesty of a band. If these knock out a good Maiden album (an album that beat Show No Mercy too) you can all fuck off out of the Hall, and the forum should probably disband.

Iron Maiden - opinion given before

Iron Maiden with the win

Symphony X - Not really my cup of tea but this track seems way better than the other album, although there is a bit of wimpy falsetto about riding through stormy skies and I did hear a dragon mentioned. Keyboard solo lets them down as well.

Dream Theatre - gave it a few mins as a courtesy, no disrespect intended to the nominators, I have a couple of DT albums, I've given them a try and I know it's just not for me, so I'm not going to sit here for 10 mins

Symphony X with the win, both bands are much of a muchness to me, what I've heard of Symphony X so far has sounded like a poundshop Dream Theatre but the track in this round has a bit more balls to it.
 
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I've only listened to the track in question, but there's loads of Hetfield style ending every word in -ah, yeahs and ooohs
 
I have never thought of that, but to me, there's hardly much in common between the two. Not to mention that Hetfield can only dream of Barlow's range and power.
 
It was only a first impression listen, as are all my comments (unless it's an album I know), I'm writing them as I'm listening, he's definitely not a bad singer at all, maybe pub band was an unfair term. Maybe if they stay around a few rounds and I get more exposed my opinions will change, there's definitely been a few like that, Crimson Glory for example, that got a few uncharitable bitchy comments from me on the first listen yet I was buying the album after they got through a few more rounds :lol:
 
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