GREATEST METAL ALBUM CUP - Winner: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son!
- Thread starter LooseCannon
- Start date
karljant
Ancient Mariner
RIP in advance
Tie in Match 8? Will anyone come and be the hero!
Ah good @Lampwick 43 is online, I know he'll vote.
Lampwick 43
Barstool Warrior
A little over an hour left? Yeah, I can squeeze my votes in before the deadline. Listening now.
Lampwick 43
Barstool Warrior
Bewitched, Children, and Ozzy are all easy decisions. The last match is the toughest; I really enjoyed what I heard from that Riot album (the first 3 tracks), but I'm still going to have to go with Persefone.
Bewitched defeats Deafheaven fairly handily, giving Deafheaven the dubious award for being the first band with multiple albums to be completely eliminated from the Greatest Metal Album Cup. Bewitched will move on to face Sentenced in League 16.
Ophelia is also fully eliminated from the game, losing to a minnow in Children of Bodom. However, they aren't the only Korean band in the game.
Black metal pioneers Darkthrone are dethroned by Ozzy. Don't worry, we'll see Darkthrone again much later on - in League 4.
And finally Persephone squeaks through to become a minnow, barely beating Riot. Riot will return in League 15.
Ophelia is also fully eliminated from the game, losing to a minnow in Children of Bodom. However, they aren't the only Korean band in the game.
Black metal pioneers Darkthrone are dethroned by Ozzy. Don't worry, we'll see Darkthrone again much later on - in League 4.
And finally Persephone squeaks through to become a minnow, barely beating Riot. Riot will return in League 15.
Skid Row - Skid Row (1989) How it got here List entries: Metal Rules 82 | |
| League 17 - Match 9 | vs. |
Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn (2003) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 86 |
Baroness - The Red Album (2007) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 83 | |
| League 17 - Match 10 | vs. |
How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 91 |
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Living Colour - Vivid (1988) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 71 | |
| League 17 - Match 11 | vs. |
Manowar - Hail to England (1984) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 87 |
Isis - Oceanic (2002) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 72 | |
| League 17 - Match 12 | vs. |
Eyehategod - Take As Needed For Pain (1993) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 92 |
Naked City is awesome, John Zorn is one of my favorite musicians. Even though it’s here as a Metal album, it was more part of the grindcore/hardcore punk/noise movement in NYC in the late 80s. This album in particular is quite noisy, I recommend their self titled debut for something more accessible. The other strange thing is that most of these guys are Jazz musicians. Bill Frisell in particular is better known as a jazz guitarist and is one of the most influential musicians in modern Jazz. He actually visited my college last year for a master class. Naturally, I asked him to talk a bit about Naked City and he clearly didn’t want to talk about it. His answer was more or less “Zorn really liked that music but it wasn’t really my thing.” Zorn also had close ties with Mike Patton and was involved with Mr Bungle.
Here’s a taste of what Frisell normally does:
Zorn, meanwhile, has done more straightforward Metal albums that are a little less punky. His recent work is less famous but probably closer to the stuff people listen to around here:
Here’s a taste of what Frisell normally does:
Zorn, meanwhile, has done more straightforward Metal albums that are a little less punky. His recent work is less famous but probably closer to the stuff people listen to around here:
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
Skid Row - Skid Row vs Lamb Of God - As The Palaces Burn
LOG are fine, but not very interesting. Skid Row’s debut kicks ass. It’s got some biting rockers like Sweet Little Sister and Youth Gone Wild, and then touching ballads like I Remember You and 18 And Life. Easy vote.
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Baroness - The Red Album vs Naked City - Torture Garden
I think overall Baroness are more deserving of taking the win here, as the album is much more concrete in scope and execution, but I’ve voting Naked City just for the sheer novelty of it. The incorporation of jazz to the grindcore material, and the wackiest vocals I’ve ever heard — and I’ve listened to a lot of wacky death metal vocals — man am I onboard.
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Living Colour - Vivid vs Manowar - Hail To England
I just heard Cult Of Personality on the radio today and was reminded of how brilliant that song is. The other cuts I heard from this album are pretty solid. Do not care about Manowar whatsoever.
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Isis - Oceanic vs Eyehategod - Take As Needed For Pain
Two sludge metal albums to round things out. Eyehategod were fine. I really liked the concept of Oceanic though, and I think it would work great as background music. May come back and listen to the full album sometime in future.
LOG are fine, but not very interesting. Skid Row’s debut kicks ass. It’s got some biting rockers like Sweet Little Sister and Youth Gone Wild, and then touching ballads like I Remember You and 18 And Life. Easy vote.
—————
Baroness - The Red Album vs Naked City - Torture Garden
I think overall Baroness are more deserving of taking the win here, as the album is much more concrete in scope and execution, but I’ve voting Naked City just for the sheer novelty of it. The incorporation of jazz to the grindcore material, and the wackiest vocals I’ve ever heard — and I’ve listened to a lot of wacky death metal vocals — man am I onboard.
—————
Living Colour - Vivid vs Manowar - Hail To England
I just heard Cult Of Personality on the radio today and was reminded of how brilliant that song is. The other cuts I heard from this album are pretty solid. Do not care about Manowar whatsoever.
—————
Isis - Oceanic vs Eyehategod - Take As Needed For Pain
Two sludge metal albums to round things out. Eyehategod were fine. I really liked the concept of Oceanic though, and I think it would work great as background music. May come back and listen to the full album sometime in future.
Jer
'Til Tomorrow
I hadn’t actually listened to the entirety of Skid Row before. While the three main singles are great, and there are a few other cool riffs here and there, most of the rest of the album is insipid filler. Lamb Of God offers an album of more consistently interesting music, but the vocals really suck ass. While I’m generally more inclined to reward consistency, I quite honestly couldn’t imagine myself ever wanting to listen to Lamb Of God again, but I might give Skid Row another chance. Maybe sitting through all these other albums with terrible vocals has finally exhausted my patience for it. Winner: Skid Row
Baroness has pretty consistently interesting music, but again, the vocals aren’t very good. Naked City, on the other hand, is unlistenable tripe — it sounds like a college student’s performance art project gone completely off the rails. And I’m saying this as someone who owns and enjoys three Mr. Bungle albums. While Mr. Bungle goes on a lot of random tangents, those meanderings ultimately sketch out something resembling a coherent song; but Naked City comes across as just noise. Definitely the worst album in the competition so far, and that’s saying something. Winner: Baroness
The Living Colour album is pretty good. The singles are all strong, as are a couple of deeper cuts, and none of the songs are bad. Corey Glover sounds great. Vernon Reid’s lead playing isn’t always to my taste, as his style leans toward the sloppy and “outside”, but he has some cool riffs and nice melodic parts here. Meanwhile, the Manowar album is low rent in every sense of the word — terrible production, silly lyrics, and mostly weak songwriting. It has some decent parts, but I can’t imagine wanting to listen to it again. And while I can appreciate high-quality cheese when it’s served appropriately, Manowar is just offering up week-old Velveeta here. Winner: Living Colour
The Isis album is pretty schizophrenic — the music wants to be chill alt-rock instrumentals with bursts of heaviness, but then here comes Yet Another Nonmelodic Screamy Metal Guy
to ruin the whole affair. There are a couple of spots where the vocals go melodic and it works so much better, in particular the song “Weight” where the annoying angry guy takes a powder and we get melodic female vocals instead. Then we have the Eyehategod album, which is about as stupid as the band name sounds. At first I thought that Yet Another Nonmelodic Screamy Metal Guy from this band might be slightly less annoying than the one from Isis, since this one had some punk rhythm and delivery that I thought I might be able to latch onto; but by the end I think I found him more annoying, because at least the Isis guy would shut up for extended periods of time. Also, every song on the Eyehategod album sounds almost exactly the same, which is a big problem. While this matchup is a lose-lose situation for the listener, it’s not too hard to choose between the two. Winner: Isis
Baroness has pretty consistently interesting music, but again, the vocals aren’t very good. Naked City, on the other hand, is unlistenable tripe — it sounds like a college student’s performance art project gone completely off the rails. And I’m saying this as someone who owns and enjoys three Mr. Bungle albums. While Mr. Bungle goes on a lot of random tangents, those meanderings ultimately sketch out something resembling a coherent song; but Naked City comes across as just noise. Definitely the worst album in the competition so far, and that’s saying something. Winner: Baroness
The Living Colour album is pretty good. The singles are all strong, as are a couple of deeper cuts, and none of the songs are bad. Corey Glover sounds great. Vernon Reid’s lead playing isn’t always to my taste, as his style leans toward the sloppy and “outside”, but he has some cool riffs and nice melodic parts here. Meanwhile, the Manowar album is low rent in every sense of the word — terrible production, silly lyrics, and mostly weak songwriting. It has some decent parts, but I can’t imagine wanting to listen to it again. And while I can appreciate high-quality cheese when it’s served appropriately, Manowar is just offering up week-old Velveeta here. Winner: Living Colour
The Isis album is pretty schizophrenic — the music wants to be chill alt-rock instrumentals with bursts of heaviness, but then here comes Yet Another Nonmelodic Screamy Metal Guy
to ruin the whole affair. There are a couple of spots where the vocals go melodic and it works so much better, in particular the song “Weight” where the annoying angry guy takes a powder and we get melodic female vocals instead. Then we have the Eyehategod album, which is about as stupid as the band name sounds. At first I thought that Yet Another Nonmelodic Screamy Metal Guy from this band might be slightly less annoying than the one from Isis, since this one had some punk rhythm and delivery that I thought I might be able to latch onto; but by the end I think I found him more annoying, because at least the Isis guy would shut up for extended periods of time. Also, every song on the Eyehategod album sounds almost exactly the same, which is a big problem. While this matchup is a lose-lose situation for the listener, it’s not too hard to choose between the two. Winner: Isis
karljant
Ancient Mariner
At last an heavy weight board reaching genres all over the place. My personal taste aside, fact is all these albums are huge influences to zillions. That being said here's how it goes for me:
I'm far from being a Lamb Of God fan but I'm pretty aware As The Palaces Burn is a landmark in the Groove Metal genre. These guys fed on the seeds Pantera planted and carried the torch in the absence of the masters of the genre like no band ever since. One can state they're a bit too derivative when it comes to their blueprint (one of the reasons I'm not a fan) but that works for more tan 99,9% of the bands out there.
Skid Row's debut on the other hand was hugely forced to be a Hard Rock/ Glam Metal prone album by Bon Jovi's influence on the band. Of course one could already spot these guys' huge potential namely in songs like Youth Gone Wild and 18 and Life. But it wasn't until the following album when Bach and company's shackles were broken and they injected a lot more of Judas Priest and even some Punk Rock in their recipe and released arguably one of the best Heavy Metal/ Hard rock albums ever made that Skid Row reached his full potential. And if it was Slave To Grind on this face to face no Lamb Of God album would have the slightest chance.
Now this is a hard choice! Naked City is a daring project I'm a fan of for a long time. Torture Garden was their first record I listened to and I was already a huge fan of bands featuring two of the the band's members (Zorn for his participation in Painkiller and Patton in Faith No More... both ground breaking and immensely talented musicians) and must say that besides the schizophrenic and absolutely anti easy listening ambiance of this thing it is immensely addictive and a rush of adrenaline and fresh air.
Regarding Baroness this is a band I followed since day one and although I think Red was somewhat of a step down (since their first two EPs are above everything the band has ever produced) it's still one hell of an album Songs like Rays Of Pinion and Isak are absolutely ingenious and a signal the band could also excel exploring their new found sound. The following two releases were a bit "meh" though with the band rebounding some years later with the greatness of Purple. So I'll give it to Baroness by an inch.
Remember when Manowar wasn't a parody of themselves and backed up their Spinal Tap visuals with great songs? Well, Hail To England was released during that period. Although not being a Manowar fan the band rightfully became a landmark in Heavy Metal during the 80's bearing great tunes such as Kill With Power or Blood Of My Enemies. Manowar went and delivered a handful more of high quality records before they imploded in a huge mass of cheese somewhere during the mid 90's. Is Hail To England their best album? I don't think so... I think it comes right behind the Fighting The World, Kings Of Metal and Triumph Of Steel spree (the later being my favorite). But was it a definite all time record in the genre during the 80's? Absolutely.
As for Living Colour it's quite easy to pinpoint their qualities: a) they're all excellent musicians b) they're excellent composers c) spearheaded the Funk Metal rise in the late 80's alongside bands such as Faith No More, Mr Bungle; RHCP and Primus and d) when Callideoscope is your least good record you know you're a powerhouse of a band. Vivid is for many the band's greatest record ever filled with amazing songs like the famous Cult Of Personality and Which way To America. I'm more of a Stain guy but Vivid's undeniable immense quality, innovation and impact makes it somehow easy to decide here.
Eye Hate God was one of the first bands to bring The Melvins' sludge effect to Metal/ Hard Core (alongside Neurosis who took it to a whole new level... we'll talk about them in a no time). Their compositions still had that Core meets Stoner traits while adding the noise/ depressive bitterness of the Sludge genre. And that's pretty much what Take As Needed For Pain offers. This record and Dopesick became references in the genre and although Eye Hate God is not my cup of tea I must give these guys props for being such an influential act.
Isis on the other hand was the first heir of the new found sound Neurosis were developing since 1992's groundbreaking Souls At Zero. Unlike Eye Hate God, Isis' sophomore offers us a less considerable amount of the Sludge factor and mix in calm and even psychedelic soundscapes letting dissonance create bittersweet melodies. Besides being one hell of an album Oceanic was a huge influence on the 2000's wave of the so called Post Metal movement that gave us absurdly amazing bands such as Cult Of Luna, Rosetta, Minsk and Russian Circles and gets my vote on this one.
I'm far from being a Lamb Of God fan but I'm pretty aware As The Palaces Burn is a landmark in the Groove Metal genre. These guys fed on the seeds Pantera planted and carried the torch in the absence of the masters of the genre like no band ever since. One can state they're a bit too derivative when it comes to their blueprint (one of the reasons I'm not a fan) but that works for more tan 99,9% of the bands out there.
Skid Row's debut on the other hand was hugely forced to be a Hard Rock/ Glam Metal prone album by Bon Jovi's influence on the band. Of course one could already spot these guys' huge potential namely in songs like Youth Gone Wild and 18 and Life. But it wasn't until the following album when Bach and company's shackles were broken and they injected a lot more of Judas Priest and even some Punk Rock in their recipe and released arguably one of the best Heavy Metal/ Hard rock albums ever made that Skid Row reached his full potential. And if it was Slave To Grind on this face to face no Lamb Of God album would have the slightest chance.
Now this is a hard choice! Naked City is a daring project I'm a fan of for a long time. Torture Garden was their first record I listened to and I was already a huge fan of bands featuring two of the the band's members (Zorn for his participation in Painkiller and Patton in Faith No More... both ground breaking and immensely talented musicians) and must say that besides the schizophrenic and absolutely anti easy listening ambiance of this thing it is immensely addictive and a rush of adrenaline and fresh air.
Regarding Baroness this is a band I followed since day one and although I think Red was somewhat of a step down (since their first two EPs are above everything the band has ever produced) it's still one hell of an album Songs like Rays Of Pinion and Isak are absolutely ingenious and a signal the band could also excel exploring their new found sound. The following two releases were a bit "meh" though with the band rebounding some years later with the greatness of Purple. So I'll give it to Baroness by an inch.
Remember when Manowar wasn't a parody of themselves and backed up their Spinal Tap visuals with great songs? Well, Hail To England was released during that period. Although not being a Manowar fan the band rightfully became a landmark in Heavy Metal during the 80's bearing great tunes such as Kill With Power or Blood Of My Enemies. Manowar went and delivered a handful more of high quality records before they imploded in a huge mass of cheese somewhere during the mid 90's. Is Hail To England their best album? I don't think so... I think it comes right behind the Fighting The World, Kings Of Metal and Triumph Of Steel spree (the later being my favorite). But was it a definite all time record in the genre during the 80's? Absolutely.
As for Living Colour it's quite easy to pinpoint their qualities: a) they're all excellent musicians b) they're excellent composers c) spearheaded the Funk Metal rise in the late 80's alongside bands such as Faith No More, Mr Bungle; RHCP and Primus and d) when Callideoscope is your least good record you know you're a powerhouse of a band. Vivid is for many the band's greatest record ever filled with amazing songs like the famous Cult Of Personality and Which way To America. I'm more of a Stain guy but Vivid's undeniable immense quality, innovation and impact makes it somehow easy to decide here.
Eye Hate God was one of the first bands to bring The Melvins' sludge effect to Metal/ Hard Core (alongside Neurosis who took it to a whole new level... we'll talk about them in a no time). Their compositions still had that Core meets Stoner traits while adding the noise/ depressive bitterness of the Sludge genre. And that's pretty much what Take As Needed For Pain offers. This record and Dopesick became references in the genre and although Eye Hate God is not my cup of tea I must give these guys props for being such an influential act.
Isis on the other hand was the first heir of the new found sound Neurosis were developing since 1992's groundbreaking Souls At Zero. Unlike Eye Hate God, Isis' sophomore offers us a less considerable amount of the Sludge factor and mix in calm and even psychedelic soundscapes letting dissonance create bittersweet melodies. Besides being one hell of an album Oceanic was a huge influence on the 2000's wave of the so called Post Metal movement that gave us absurdly amazing bands such as Cult Of Luna, Rosetta, Minsk and Russian Circles and gets my vote on this one.
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karljant
Ancient Mariner
If you liked the wacky effect of Naked City perhaps you'll also like Painkiller featuring John Zorn's sax, Bill Laswell's bass and former Napalm Death's Mick Harris on drums.
karljant
Ancient Mariner
Yup... It has a way more "metallic" and "sober" sound though still sounding great. Zorn's one hell of a musician.
Skid Row vs Lamb of God -- Skid Row. Not a big fan, but the two classics from this album are classics with a lot of memories for me and I can't stand Lamb of God.
Baroness vs Naked City -- Yeah, I get it, I'm sure Naked City is a profound artistic statement that pushed the boundaries in every conceivable way and stands monolithic in the history of whatever deconstructivist thing it is that it did, but I had to turn it off eight minutes in because I just couldn't fucking take it anymore. It was a stressful experience until then and I don't ever want to go through this again. And I know I like grindcore, but I also hate freestyle jazz with a passion. Baroness, though not particularly exciting, wins this one.
Living Colour vs Manowar -- I saw Living Colour supporting Alter Bridge some years ago, and I think they're a really likeable band. Something I can enjoy, no doubt. But they stand no chance against the album that has Each Dawn I Die, Army of the Immortals and mostly, Bridge of Death, a song that should be hailed as an eternal, immortal classic if only people overcame their anti-Manowar bias.
Isis vs Eyehategod -- Neither is the sort of album that I would describe as my favourite music ever, but they are both enjoyable. I'm going for Isis, because everything they do they do with a high degree of competence.
Baroness vs Naked City -- Yeah, I get it, I'm sure Naked City is a profound artistic statement that pushed the boundaries in every conceivable way and stands monolithic in the history of whatever deconstructivist thing it is that it did, but I had to turn it off eight minutes in because I just couldn't fucking take it anymore. It was a stressful experience until then and I don't ever want to go through this again. And I know I like grindcore, but I also hate freestyle jazz with a passion. Baroness, though not particularly exciting, wins this one.
Living Colour vs Manowar -- I saw Living Colour supporting Alter Bridge some years ago, and I think they're a really likeable band. Something I can enjoy, no doubt. But they stand no chance against the album that has Each Dawn I Die, Army of the Immortals and mostly, Bridge of Death, a song that should be hailed as an eternal, immortal classic if only people overcame their anti-Manowar bias.
Isis vs Eyehategod -- Neither is the sort of album that I would describe as my favourite music ever, but they are both enjoyable. I'm going for Isis, because everything they do they do with a high degree of competence.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Skid Row's debut pales in comparison to their second album, Slave to the Grind, but is still far more memorable and fun than Lamb of God. Also, Bach is an incredible singer that's too good for hair metal. Lamb of God's album did nothing for me. Some solid playing here and there but I finished it and literally couldn't remember a second of what I had just heard.
I've never gotten into Baroness because the vocals are pretty mediocre at best, but the music is solid stoner metal jams. Fuck Naked City. Holy hell. It's like putting my ear up to the wall of a rehearsal space and listening to the band next door, which is actually just a group of people who have never met before playing their instruments at full volume in completely different genres. Fucking atrocious. Sometimes experiments should be left as experiments and not expected to be taken seriously as "music".
I don't think Vivid lives up to the promise of the opening track/single, but that song alone is better than Manowar's entire album (which is also recorded poorly). Easy vote for Living Colour.
I couldn't make it through the full album by Isis (who have really shitty vocals that never even attempt to find a key) or Eyehategod (who have really shitty vocals and boring music). I don't honestly care in this one, but I'll for Isis because at least their songs had some nice atmosphere and heaviness.
I've never gotten into Baroness because the vocals are pretty mediocre at best, but the music is solid stoner metal jams. Fuck Naked City. Holy hell. It's like putting my ear up to the wall of a rehearsal space and listening to the band next door, which is actually just a group of people who have never met before playing their instruments at full volume in completely different genres. Fucking atrocious. Sometimes experiments should be left as experiments and not expected to be taken seriously as "music".
I don't think Vivid lives up to the promise of the opening track/single, but that song alone is better than Manowar's entire album (which is also recorded poorly). Easy vote for Living Colour.
I couldn't make it through the full album by Isis (who have really shitty vocals that never even attempt to find a key) or Eyehategod (who have really shitty vocals and boring music). I don't honestly care in this one, but I'll for Isis because at least their songs had some nice atmosphere and heaviness.
I always understood Skid Row to be one of the better glam metal bands, as well as one of the few bands from that movement to go beyond the typical glitter glam/empty blues rock stylings of that time. Perhaps that is better displayed on the frequently acclaimed Slave To the Ground, but this album ain't it. 18 and Life is fantastic. Good lyric, great guitar solo, nice dynamic range, but the rest of the album is just late 80s trite. Even Youth Gone Wild is pretty good, especially compared to the rest of the album. A classic example of a young inexperienced band having a few great songs and being rushed into the studio by over-eager label executives to milk out 25 minutes of mediocrity before the glam metal fad ends.
Lamb of God is an appropriate competitor. Like Skid Row, they came out at a time when a certain subgenre of Metal was really trendy in America and record labels were scrambling to sign bands and pump out music before it was too late. Also like Skid Row, Lamb of God was one of the more enduring bands from that time and probably had more musical talent to offer. Chris Adler is a phenomenal drummer and the guitar work is really good on here. You also get Devin Townsend producing, although frankly this isn't one of his better production jobs. Guitar sound is great, everything else is fairly muddy.
This is tough. The songs on the Lamb of God album are more consistent and there's some really good riffing, but it quickly becomes samey. Most of Skid Row is below average, but the "hits" are more memorable and interesting than anything on the Lamb of God album. Musically the two bands are pretty equally matched.
Ultimately I am going with Skid Row because the album is less tedious overall and has several stand out songs. Lamb of God is technically more consistent but nothing really stands out. Both are bland albums, but one has a couple memorable songs. Very low bar, but Skid Row manages to pass out with its nose across the finish line.
Lamb of God is an appropriate competitor. Like Skid Row, they came out at a time when a certain subgenre of Metal was really trendy in America and record labels were scrambling to sign bands and pump out music before it was too late. Also like Skid Row, Lamb of God was one of the more enduring bands from that time and probably had more musical talent to offer. Chris Adler is a phenomenal drummer and the guitar work is really good on here. You also get Devin Townsend producing, although frankly this isn't one of his better production jobs. Guitar sound is great, everything else is fairly muddy.
This is tough. The songs on the Lamb of God album are more consistent and there's some really good riffing, but it quickly becomes samey. Most of Skid Row is below average, but the "hits" are more memorable and interesting than anything on the Lamb of God album. Musically the two bands are pretty equally matched.
Ultimately I am going with Skid Row because the album is less tedious overall and has several stand out songs. Lamb of God is technically more consistent but nothing really stands out. Both are bland albums, but one has a couple memorable songs. Very low bar, but Skid Row manages to pass out with its nose across the finish line.
Skid Row had more going for them than your average hair band, but I never really delved too deeply into their discography. I’m not going to today either because the posted song is clearly more enjoyable to me than the competition. Lamb of God cuts a good metal groove and the vocals aren’t as repulsive as many of its ilk, but it didn’t stand out enough to inspire me out of going with my lazy first impression.