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

Will start trhe listenfest. I'm leaning towards Papa Roach in the last pair already, though. WASP are pretty good, but I've given Infest a lot more play time. **gets all nostalgic**
 
This Alice in Chains album is completely soulless and boring as all hell. I gave up after three songs. Nostradamus on the other hand is probably Priest's most underrated album and it has several amazing songs on it, such as Future of Mankind, Alone and Nostradamus.
Hammerfall's album starts surprisingly well but soon it falls to the bottomless pit of bland cheesiness. There's also something I don't like about their vocalist. Rainbow aren't great here, but about half of the album is good and that's enough for now.
Gambling With the Devil is one of Helloween's best albums of this century. It's pretty experimental and has one of Deris's best vocal performances. Final Fortune and Paint A New World are definite highlights in their discography. The album is a bit too long though.
Borknagar's album was better than I expected, but it's boring and really stood no chance here. It would've had my vote against AIC.
Infest, as my nomination, would win against anyone by default. This album has several songs on it that played a part in my journey to get into metal and rock (and rap!) in general. The first half of this album is one of the strongest streaks of songs ever for me. W.A.S.P.'s The Headless Children is a great album, one of the best that I've discovered in this game. It's a shame that these two albums had to face each other.
 
Jar Of Flies is a strong EP. “Nutshell”, “I Stay Away”, “No Excuses”, and “Whale & Wasp” are all great, and the other tracks are still good. Quality stuff. But Nostradamus is a criminally underrated album full of very good to great songs, and it’s an album I come back to more often than I come back to the Alice In Chains EP. Sorry, @phantomoftheicarus — you nominated a worthy opponent, but I have to go with @Night Prowler ’s choice here. Winner: Judas Priest

I like some of the stuff Hammerfall does with their rhythm guitars, and there are other passages here and there that stand out; but the singer’s voice on this album is thin and grating, and my god these guys are so derivative. I’m not sure I heard a single original idea on this album. I’m not a big fan of Rainbow, but their debut is a solid album with a number of high points, and it would be hard to accuse them of a lack of originality. Sorry, @Kalata, but your hidden gem sounds like cubic zirconia to me. Winner: Rainbow

I don’t really like Helloween, especially Deris-era stuff. His voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me, and I’m generally not fond of Weikath’s songwriting quirks. I’m also always painfully aware while listening to them that English is not their primary language — things always feel a bit off. That said, there’s some cool riffage on offer here, and some other catchy bits that I liked, but I can’t say there’s a single song that I enjoyed all the way from start to finish on this album. Meanwhile, Borknagar continues to improbably hold my interest. The music and atmosphere are great, and the black metal vocals are less offensive than most. File this in the incredibly slim “Black Metal albums I might actually grow to like” folder. Sorry, @Night Prowler, but @Magnus ‘s choice wins out here. Winner: Borknagar

Papa Roach: No thanks. If I ever wanted to listen to nu-metal with rapping I’d much rather pop in one of Linkin Park’s first two albums. There’s some OK riffage here at times, but the songwriting isn’t very good, and this all has the air of a whiny trust fund kid trying to sound “cool” and “street”. Yuck. Sorry, @KidInTheDark666, but W.A.S.P. wins by default. Winner: W.A.S.P.
 
  1. Nutshell is better than everything on Nostradamus Vote: AIC
  2. Rainbows debut may be spotty in places, but overall has some absolutely stellar Blackmore and Dio moments. Hammerfall I haven't explored too much but I prefer the Rainbow track. Vote: Rainbow
  3. Not super familliar with either, Helloween is the better one here. Vote: Helloween
  4. W.A.S.P.'s fourth album is amazing, and I've never got into Papa Roach. Vote: W.A.S.P.
 
Jer said:
It’s jarring as a native speaker to constantly hear weird grammatical choices, unintentionally(?) cheesy word selection, and sometimes strange pronunciation. It throws me out of the song.
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I find it endearing and fun and it makes me laugh, and I think that's all good. But you do you, as per always.
 
Borknagar pulling ahead a tiny bit! Will they grind it out? Will HammerFall have one of the worst GMAC rounds yet?
 
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