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

Once again, here’s some better songs to represent this awesome Nightwish album:





Disclaimer: I love Opeth far more than Nightwish, but this is one of NW’s best vs an average-at-best Mikael offering.
 
LooseCannon said:
I'm not entirely sold on this particular Nightwish track, either. I don't think it's a top 15 song by them. Or top 50.
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Yeah it’s one of my least favorites on the album. Still great though, although the ending from End Of An Era is way better.
 
Three Finnish contestants, almost makes me feel patriotic! :D Anyways, Amorphis and In Flames were quite rough both of them, Amorphis perhaps less so, so voted for that. The name and the album cover of In Flames also continue to disgust me.

After a 9-hour workday, I couldn't bring myself to listen to a whole song by Wardruna. I listened to Tyr, and it got so creepy that at 4 mins I had to turn it off. Surprisingly, Amorphis was a bit creepy in the same way, and was almost turning it off too, but it got better near the end. Voted for that, because at least I could listen to the whole song.

I had heard the Nightwish song time and again, but listened to it now anyway. It wasn't half bad, almost wanted to go on listening to the album, although there is something in the Nightwish sound that I don't resonate with. I was so surprised that the Opeth song was only 5 mins, did they cut off the end by accident or what happened??? Opeth is Opeth, but Nightwish was better.

I really, really, really dislike Kiss lyrics. Having lived in an environment where women's decisions on who they don't want to sleep with are usually respected, this type of attitude feels very alien to me, and makes my skin crawl. I have heard at least some of the songs on this album, so fortunately I didn't have to listen to any now. I don't much like Savatage either, but at least it's not Kiss. And by voting them I may make MindRuler happy again. :)
 
At a certain point of their catalogue Amorphis became as competent as boring to my ears. Under A Red Cloud falls completely under that category. I know it's unfair (and IMO negative) asking bands to keep playing the same stuff throughout the span of their careers but fact is that with the passing of time Amorphis lost that raw, medieval feel to it and watered down their Mellow Death Metal roots a bit. Don't get me wrong... the folk elements are still all over the place and so do some shards of rougher metal. But I believe Amorphis over modernized their sound, losing ancient mythological mystic. Of course that there are some really cool songs here like The Four Wise Ones and some passages in Sacrifice, Dark Path and especially Trees Of Ages (my favorite from the lot) still remind us of their early Folk/ Mellow Death ambiance. But overall this is a quite different experience regarding the likes of Tales or Elegy. And I understand why people like this incarnation of the band as much (or even more) as their previous classics: with the exception of some la la la chorus the whole thing is well composed and nicely performed but it simply does not work for me. On the other hand I won't say once again how huge of a record Whoracle is (Oops! I just did it) so I'll obviously go with In Flames.

Then we have a really unexpected appearance on this game as far as I'm concerned (although by now nothing should surprise me regarding the "metal" label among people). I'm talking about none other than Wardruna: the Norseman that became famous for composing the soundtrack for the well known TV series Vikings. And what Ragnarok brings to the table is 100% Nordic dark folk composed with a sense of ambiance that I don't believe any good music fan stays indifferent to. The first two tracks are especially gloomy and claustrophobic (especially Urur) slowly bouncing to the pace of war invoking drums. One can also find lighter and more gracious passages like Isa or Odal while some others like Wunjo dive even deeper into the absolutely folk driven musical essence of this album. Ragnarok is indeed a great Dark Folk record featuring some spine chilling passages, let there be no doubt about it. And I'll go as far as saying I like it a tad bit more than Tales as an album. But then again it appears completely out of its element in this game. So I'll go with the other Folk inspired record that happens to mix it with metal and give my vote to Amorphis.

More Nightwish? My only wish is that it stopped. Watershed is far from being my favorite Opeth album but Hex Omega alone is better than everything Pseudo-Disney-Metal bands ever did.

Kiss's debut vs Savatage. With all due respect to both bands I have zero interest in these records. Coin flip... Savatage it is.
 
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Very surprised to see KISS not doing too hot. That KISS debut is a bluesy, sleazy hard rock classic. Cold Gin, Deuce, 100,000 Years, Strutter, Black Diamond, Let Me Know... All classics in my eyes. Also Lamia made a good point, almost all the lyrics on the album have a sort of rape-y undertone to them, which may make some uncomfortable. I'm not excusing it, and even by 1970s standards it's bizarre to see sexism that blatantly and confidently on display.
 
I had to listen to both albums to make my choice, but I've made it. I find Amorphis to be far more fulfilling than In Flames. I've been tentatively supporting In Flames a bit, but now it is time to put my support behind a challenger, which has put out a really, really compelling record.

Also, Amorphis, Wardruna is very, very bleh to me.

Nightwish over Opeth any day of the week and twice on Sundays. I like Nightwish. I don't like Opeth, easy choice.

I was looking at KISS for awhile, but really, it's a very samey record with only one true all-time KISS classic song, Strutter. And Lamia makes a good point about how the lyrics leave you feeling like you need a shower. Savatage.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
I hesitate to call for @Detective Beauregard because I think he will vote incorrectly, but so it shall be.
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Amorphis was pretty good. So was In Flames. The similarities in style doesn’t make the choice any easier.
Hmm… While I liked the atmosphere of the Amorphis-album a lot, In Flames seemed to feature more interesting and engaging songwriting, so I’m gonna go with them.
Gonna revisit both albums for sure, though.

Wardruna was a strange experience. I (think) I understand what they’re going for, and I can’t deny they manage to conjure up a powerful atmosphere, but it probably isn’t engaging enough for me.
I can’t say this Amorphis-album grabbed me as much as the other one, but it definitely wins this match-up.

Compared to the other albums of the Tarja-era, "Century Child" is middle-of-the-road for me – not as good as "Oceanborn" or "Once", but definitely better than their debut, and probably "Wishmaster" as well. But as I absolutely adore Tarja, I’m still gonna vote for Nightwish – also because Opeth simply hasn’t managed to grab me yet. This album is decent and certainly varied enough, but I’m just kinda… indifferent, I suppose.

Never cared much for KISS – still don’t.
Savatage was a little better, but only just – still, they get my vote this time.
 
@Magnus : aren't you voting anymore? Is it a boycott due to people's dislike of extreme metal? If so abstaining makes things even more difficult. #VoteForTrveMetal #ExtremeMetalMatters #MakeMetalUndergroundAgain :D :D :D
 
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