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

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Meshuggah - ObZen (2008)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Shmoolikipod
League 11 - Match 13vs.
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King Diamond - The Eye (1990)

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Maidenfans Nominators: @DJ Dityn James
Previous Rounds:
League 12: Defeated Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II 17-10.
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Vried - Milorg (2009)

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Maidenfans Nominators: @Perun
League 11 - Match 14vs.
Kreator_-_Enemy_of_God.jpg

Kreator - Enemy of God (2005)

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Maidenfans Nominators: @Black Wizard
Previous Rounds:
League 12: Defeated Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here 14-13.
 
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Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier (2010)

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Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin
League 11 - Match 15vs.
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Bruce Dickinson - Balls to Picasso (1994)

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Maidenfans Nominators: @Forostar
Previous Rounds:
League 12: Defeated Bloodbound - Nosferatu 24-3.
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Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers (1984)

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Maidenfans Nominators: @matic22
League 11 - Match 16vs.
Porcupine_Tree_-_In_Absentia_%28album_cover%29.jpg

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002)

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Maidenfans Nominators: @Lampwick 43
Previous Rounds:
League 13: Defeated Sepultura - Roots 17-9.
League 12: Defeated Satyricon - The Shadowthrone 15-11.
 
Maiden vs Bruce is clash of the titans, and I’m glad at least one of those albums will be knocked out cause neither really belong here. I have soft spots for both but they’re also pretty mid tier. Leaning toward Bruce because there’s plenty of Maiden already, but I’ll think about it.
 
This Meshuggah album has some cool riffs and occasional moments of nuance, but fuck those non-melodic screamy vocals. The King Diamond album has more textured songwriting, better vocals, and is more up my alley in general. Sorry, @Shmoolikipod, but I have to go with @Dityn DJ James ’s choice here. Winner: King Diamond

The second match-up has crappy non-melodic vocals for both nominees, so this is going to come down more to the music itself. Vreid has some range in their sound, with light and shade, and some simpler and more challenging sections. It also has a great mood to it that I appreciate. The Kreator album has a lot of great thrash on offer, but its range is a lot more limited. Both of these are very strong albums if you ignore the vocal element, but in the end I think @Perun ‘s nominee is a little more to my taste. Sorry, @Black Wizard. Winner: Vreid

This third match-up is actually really interesting — dead average Iron Maiden vs. below average Bruce Dickinson. Both albums have a few excellent tracks (e.g. “Laughing In The Hiding Bush”, “Sacred Cowboys”, “Tears Of The Dragon”, “Isle Of Avalon”, “Starblind”, “The Talisman”, “Where The Wild Wind Blows”) and a number of OK to good ones, but there wasn’t an obvious choice at first glance. I actually had to go through and rate Balls To Picasso song by song and compare it against my Final Frontier rating to determine a winner. Sorry, @Collin, but @Forostar ’s choice squeaked this one out in the end. Winner: Bruce Dickinson

This Deep Purple album is a perfectly reasonable slab of hard rock, with decent songwriting and strong performances, but it’s up against a truly great, if not particularly metallic album from Porcupine Tree. Sorry, @matic22, but @Lampwick 43 ‘s nominee takes this one. Winner: Porcupine Tree
 
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obZen! We've already had Meshuggah here earlier with Destroy Erase Improve, but this album is more modern whereas DEI is like proto-Meshuggah.
This album is a headache, a barrage of pummeling riffs and drums with little going on melodically. Very shiny sound compared to DEI, and considering the music. The shouting vocals by Jens Kidman are just as core to the Meshuggah sound as the focus on rhythm and the chugging, and they
"work as part of the music" to use a popular excuse...
The way I feel about this album is the way I feel about other Meshuggah albums: The songs are stylistically cohesive, so it's very easy to look at the album as an... album, and not a collection of songs. Compare that to Powerslave or something, Aces High isn't like Rime. I like this, I feel this way about Thorns and Dreamweaver as well, and they have been some of my biggest discoveries from this game!
 
I can see the appeal of the Meshuggah chugging, but there was not enough melody, texture or variation in that song. Not for me.
King Diamond, the singer, is silly, but the music is more my style.
 
Vried charged across the speakers with some fire, quickly slipped into a cacophony, and then pulled itself back up. There is some interesting variation there under the bad vocals. Kreator is structured more in line with my tastes, other than the bad vocals. Thrash bad vocals over demonic bad vocals give Kreator a slight edge in a pick-em matchup.
 
Tears of the Dragon is one of my all-time favourite songs and after years of not liking Picasso so much, I've come around to appreciate the effort being made here to do something new without jumping on any of the bandwagons that were gathering speed in that era's music world. The Tribe of Gypsies sounds fantastic and for the most part this album features one of the world's best metal vocalists singing really well.

The star of the Final Frontier has dimmed around here in the decade since it was released, but for me the proggier experimentation has stood up over time. Whereas Picasso is Bruce trying on different clothes to see which ones might fit, Frontier stretches Maiden's boundaries, but never abandons them. And, as such, it seems more true. Plus, I have always liked Frontier's more simplistic retro songs more than most seem to.

Two flawed, but still very much worthwhile albums. Frontier gets my vote as a whole, but also for more consistency on a song to song basis: Picasso has more misses.
 
The last matchup was interesting for me. Perfect Strangers holds two of my all-time favourite Purple songs (Back Door and the title track) where In Absentia carries Trains, which may not be metal, but is one of all-time favourite songs period.

I own both, but neither are albums where I can say I know every note by heart; the match demanded a full relisten.

I love Gillan's whiskey-soaked voice on this, Ian Paice is such a monster and Blackmore and Lord give the band such an unmistakeable identity. But most of the songs showcase a group of old pros plowing through familiar territory with authority, but bringing nothing really new or inspiring to the table.

In Absentia demands patience, but it is patience that is rewarded; its riff-based heaviness and fiery solos are given that much more power by the cold calms, and ethereal vocal parts that frame them. It's extraordinarily thoughtful, perfectly produced and thoroughly original. As an album, this one is an easy winner.
 
mckindog said:
Tears of the Dragon is one of my all-time favourite songs and after years of not liking Picasso so much, I've come around to appreciate the effort being made here to do something new without jumping on any of the bandwagons that were gathering speed in that era's music world. The Tribe of Gypsies sounds fantastic and for the most part this album features one of the world's best metal vocalists singing really well.

The star of the Final Frontier has dimmed around here in the decade since it was released, but for me the proggier experimentation has stood up over time. Whereas Picasso is Bruce trying on different clothes to see which ones might fit, Frontier stretches Maiden's boundaries, but never abandons them. And, as such, it seems more true. Plus, I have always liked Frontier's more simplistic retro songs more than most seem to.

Two flawed, but still very much worthwhile albums. Frontier gets my vote as a whole, but also for more consistency on a song to song basis: Picasso has more misses.
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This is a pretty good assessment overall. TFF may be Maidens proggiest effort, but the short rockers are among the best of any era, so it’s pretty well balanced in that regard. Retrospectively, some of the shorter songs hold up better. Bruce is the weak link though.
 
Meshuggah - not for me

King Diamond - opinion given before

King Diamond with the win

Vried - the blast beats are a turn off, vocal not my cup of tea but better than most in that I can hear words and understand on first listen that the gist of the song is something to do with Norwegians and ships:lol: Decent melody riff in the midsection

Kreator - opinion given before

Kreator with the win

Iron Maiden - The only flaws on this record are in the first few tracks. The Final Frontier portion of the song is a great, upbeat AC/DC style catchy song, and the Satellite 15 section is a good idea and a risk worth taking but it goes on too long. El Dorado is an other wise excellent single, but they really should have gone with backing vocals on the chorus or even Bruce doubling the vocal in a lower octave, particularly given it was the lead single from the album. Mother of Mercy's chorus is the weakest moment on the album, and the part after "I'm a soldier of war" where you can hear the guitars three different reverbs/delays decaying at different times sounds awful. The rest of the album is great, and the 4 really long songs are phenomenal

Bruce Dickinson - opinion given before

Iron Maiden with the win

Deep Purple - I don't have this album but am familiar with the track from Bruce covering it with Dream Theatre, a fucking great track.

Porcupine Tree - Intro sounds like Tull or Battle of Evermore, nice overall sound when the bass kicks in, solo has a vibe like Stairway, banjo section is a bit out of left field, the better track of the 3 from these that have featured

Deep Purple with the win
 
Never liked the guitar sound of Meshuggah. When the vocals come in, I had to turn it off.
Disturbing artwork too, I must admit it goes along with the music. Sorry @Shmoolikipod
The Eye is one of the Big 5 albums of King Diamond. King's voice is an acquiered taste but once you get used to it, you know it's perfect for this kind of music. Great leads by Mr. Andy LaRocque too. One of the most underrated guitar players ever.

You all must know by now black metal isn't my thing (to put it politely) so Vreid won't win this battle. Sorry @Perun
This Kreator song is catchy and melodic so definitely liked by me and an easy vote.

Bruce vc Bruce. :oops: This must be the most difficult pair to pick one.
Coming Home is one of my favorites of The Final Frontier which ironically sounds alot like Bruce Dickinson solo stuff. Beautiful vocal lines.
Balls To Picasso isn't one of Bruce's best solo outputs but it's still far from being bad. Tears Of The Dragon isn't only the best song on this album, it's one of his best solo songs. If I have to be really honest, I'm going to vote for Iron Maiden because it's strong all the way through and on Balls To Picasso there are a few flaws. Sorry @Forostar

I'm not familiar with Porcupine Tree but I like what I hear but I'm going to vote for Deep Purple. Sorry @Lampwick 43
 
I've heard maybe 3 Meshuggah songs in my life and man, they're not my style. There's a sort of false brutality to them and those palm muted riffs always make my laugh at how silly they sound. I've given my opinions on this King Diamond outing elsewhere but I'll have to vote for it again. The Trial is a great track.

Had no idea Vreid was composed of Windir members, that's really cool. I only listened to Alarm but I liked it enough to want to check out the full album later. Kreator, however, has been a sort of mainstay in my thrash listening since about 2013. Pleasure to Kill and Extreme Aggression still sound fresh today. Their newer works ala Enemy of God and Phantom Antichrist are also quite good. Vote goes to Kreator there.

Bruce's solo work has just never gripped me, I don't know what it is. The Final Frontier has actually grown on me over the years although it probably still occupies my bottom 5 or 6 Maiden albums. Opening track and Starblind rule. Vote to Iron Maiden.

I'm vaguely familiar with Steven Wilson and to a lesser extent Porcupine Tree although the only thing of his I've ever listened to were his Yes remasters (which werent anything special I thought, and he doesn't play on them obviously). Trains was ok. This softer kinda modern whiny rock doesnt do a whole lot for me and the singer pissed me off. Also I audibly groaned when the dudes started clapped ahaha jesus christ man, I'll pass. I use to listen to the Perfect Strangers album a lot. Back Door, Mean Streak, and Hungry Daze rule. And the breakdown in that title track is absolutely insane. One of the hardest breakdowns (I'm not even kidding) in heavy music of Deep Purple's type. Just expertly done.
 
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