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

I'm debating it. Infest was a seminal album for me, and WASP is good, but there's a lot better WASP out there. This album doesn't mean as much to me.
 
I've never had much interest in Alice Chains and this album doesn't do anything to convince me otherwise. Nostradamus by a mile.

Hammerfall have a lot of decent metal ingredients, and are fun on some level, but somehow nothing really shines here, it's all just gets a bit generic and stays that way throughout. I can overlook Rainbow sounding so dated because they sound so much more original and the songwriting sounds so much more creative.

I don't mind Helloween but could could happily skip a good few tracks here. Borknagar have zero fluffy moments and fewer throwaway ones. Moody, and consistent without ever getting dull.

Papa Roach, as I thought, although I forgot how irritating the 'squeaky clean' version of Last Resort is - can't have the F word in there, shit, or any references to self harm or suicide. Which kind of removes a hell of a lot of lyrics. This took me on a major nostalgia kick. I very likely wouldn't have gone back to listening to rock or metal if it wasn't for the nu metal movement forcing guitar music back up to the edge of mainstream, (proper guitar music, that is, not insipid clowns like Coldplay) and this album is a great example, with tracks like Between Angels and Insects getting a lot of radio attention. WASP are pretty decent too, but there's no way The Headless Children has made anything like the impression on me that Infest did.
 
Alice In Chains IMO are the best 90's rock band, period. I use rock just to sum it up since while I'm aware they have traces of metal, alternative and folk on their sound. And while being able to deliver countless masterpieces while cranking up the distortion pedal, when AIC goes acoustic there's where on truly gets to witness how great of a song writer Jerry Cantrel is. I mean we already had living proof of this mastery with the superb Sap but Jar Of Flies only underlines it. Rotten Apple delivers its equal doses of beauty, anguish, depression and genius in a way only these guys can do. Nutshell is a bit softer and works as a breathing moment until the Folk tones of I Stay Away (with some electric guitar lines) uplifts the tension and man... the strings on that chorus are absolutely well placed. No Excuses is perhaps the most well known song from the lot and writes another absolute treaty on how deep on one's soul AIC goes even in their most mellow moments. The sad and mournful dirge that is Whale & Wasp follows and rarely can one listen to something as disturbing as beautiful as this instrumental. And what to say about the mourning folks meet blues masterpiece that is Don't Follow? To close the record Swing On This is more into the regular bittersweet dissonant AIC archetype and perhaps the least great take here but still really good. So there you have it: one hell of a record and if you can get your hands on the version that comes along with Sap don't hesitate because both these Ep's make a really tight combo, showing a slightly different take on AIC's sound and in all honesty they feature some of the band's best material. All of this going against a kinda failed experience by the mighty Priest is a no brainer. And to all people that claim this is not a metal record you're right... it isn't. But it was written by a band most people arguably call metal (I'm not one of the lot but the majority is overwhelming). And would we disqualify Damnation by Opeth or Eternity by Anathema under the same premise? I think not. Easy vote for Alice In Chains.

Look! Another waste of plastic, vinyl, tape or megabytes in another Hamerfall album. Rainbow anytime of the day.

The third clash is an interesting one. Helloween was one of the most influential bands during their first four albums (yes... I absolutely love Pink Bubbles Go Ape as well). Then they screwed up big time with the release of the disaster known as Chameleon to a point that they almost had to pick up what was left of themselves and reboot it from zero. Enters Deris and Kusch and the band goes Power Metal once again but something sounded off... it always sounded a forced return to the Keeper mold. And this bad taste (plus the absence of the absolutely perfect vocals of Kiske) has always haunted me every time I listened to a new Helloween album ever since. There are two major exceptions: the first one is '98 Better Than Raw and the other is Gambling With The Devil. Both albums begin with really strong tracks and regarding the latter Kill It is one hell of a Power/Speed metal track. The band returns to this formula in Paint A New World, The Bell Of 7 Hells and We Unite (the latter seems like something out of Walls Of Jericho). In the meantime they manage to pull some really well composed and catchy radio friendly tune in I.M.E. while Dreambound is your typical Power Metal uptempo track by the band. And although the remainder of the album is forgettable at best (and I never bought in the Deris guy to fill such immense shoes as the ones Kiske left) if we take in account the overall picture Gambling With The Devil is a surpringly good record. Borknagar's sophomore on the other hand goes deep into Norse mythology via Viking/Folk/Black metal and excel while doing so. The hypnotic flanger guitars and epic folk ambiance on The Eye Of Oden sets the tone of equally immersive ambiances like To Mount And Rove or A Tale Of Pagan Tongue. If it's fair to say that post Hammerheart Bathory is one of the major influences from this lot fact is songs like The Winterway or Grimland Domain while exploring that ambiance also venture through some grittier grounds and drink way more from Quorton's earlier works. The Dawn Of The End closes the album wandering through all the aforementioned elements in little more than 5 minutes, serving as the perfect picture of this record. Overall there's a noticeable equilibrium between visceral contained aggression, epic landscapes and melody throughout the entire album. And even sounding amateurish at times fact is that from the composing and creativity perspective The Olden Domain is nothing short of impressive and although Gambling With The Devil is surely an interesting album, Borknagar gets my vote.

Finally we hav... what???...AAAAAAAaahhhhhGGGggg!!! Damn 'roaches!! Bring more insecticide!! Kill 'em... KILL 'EM WITH FIRE!!! :D :D :D
WASP wins (obviously).
 
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