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

Skid Row - Skid Row vs. Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn

Not too enamored with either. Skid Row has memorable singles in '18 and Life' and 'Youth Gone Wild', but is bland otherwise. As the Palaces Burn is the clearly superior record playing wise but the songs are likewise mostly forgettable and I dislike Randy Blythe's vocals greatly. They take this one on the strength of their rhythm section and that killer guitar sound, though.

Baroness - Red Album vs. Naked City - Torture Garden

Torture Garden is a weird one. I quite like the hardcore elements here, it could actually work as a pretty good experimental rock/metal album had they not bothered with the random bits of jazz thrown in and kept it fully instrumental. The vocals turn this from challenging into impossible, unfortunately. Red Album was consistently decent, to the point I ended up finishing the entire album. Some pretty good riffing and drumming. Vocals aren't the greatest. I'm not sure about the replay value but it left a good enough impression that I'll probably revisit them.

Living Colour - Vivid vs. Manowar - Hail to England

'Cult of Personality' is a great track, but the rest of what I heard from Vivid did not leave strong impression on me. Some cool moments here and there, but nothing too memorable. Hail to England, on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. It offers everything I appreciate about classic heavy metal. Excellent momentum, punchy riffs, good vocals. I actually like the unpolished production as well, adds an element of rawness to the sound. Vivid is much superior lyrically and I didn't expect that I'd be voting in favor of a Manowar album in this game, but Hail to England it is.

Isis - Oceanic vs. Eyehategod - Take as Needed for Pain

I actually listened to Oceanic last year but I couldn't recall anything from it so I had to revisit it. It's definitely up my alley sound-wise with its atmospheric aesthetic and use of dynamics. It becomes dragging at times, but some there's some really cool stuff going on. Great guitar sound as well. Take as Needed for Pain sounds like Black Sabbath on heroin. The songs are far too derivative though, limited range of creativity in the songwriting here. Oceanic takes it easily.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
Laid to Rest is a fantastic song imo. Are you sure that you can't remember its chorus or main riff?
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The majority of songs in Wrath are great. But truth be told it's the only LOG album I find to be memorable. Nevertheless, for the remainder of their catalogue (and as I stated before), they were quite intelligent while renting the ground left vacant once Pantera disbanded.
 
I haven't listened to Lamb of God enough to know their music well, but I have noticed you keep mentioning them as the next Pantera. Honestly, I can't see how they are more similar to Pantera than any other band in the same genre.
 
Match 1:
I’m not really a fan of glam rock/metal, save for very few bands. That being said, I do like Sebastian Bach’s voice, and I can’t honestly say anything bad about Skid Row's music – catchy choruses and decent riffs; I could easily have the album spinning in the background while doing other stuff. When I’m actively listening, however, I guess I’m just not hooked enough. “Youth Gone Wild” is the absolute highlight here, however.

Lamb of God sits a little bit better with me, at least initially. “Ruin” is a great opener, with some interesting time changes, but the songs sound very similar, so the albums ends up blurring a bit together. I’ll give them points for consistency, and for being completely focused on the kind of music they want to make.

I don’t think either band will end up claiming regular playtime with me, but in this case I’ll toss a vote for Lamb of God.


Match 2:
Baroness is a mixed bag. The opener, “Rays on Pinion”, has a buildup that drags on for far too long, and once the song gets going, I’m not that blown away. Stuff like “Wanderlust” fares a little better; that song in particular flows nicely between heavy riffing, decent melodies and mellower passages. I’m not entirely convinced by this album either, but it’s not bad at all.

As for Naked City… The riff that last the first 15 seconds is nice, and that’s about the only positive comment I can muster. What a horrible mess.

Baroness didn’t blow me away, but there’s no chance in hell I’ll vote for Naked City.


Match 3:
First time ever listening to Living Colour; “Cult of Personality” is a great song, no doubt. Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn’t quite reach the same level – might be the elements of funk, which I’m not a fan of. Much like Skid Row, I won’t complain if this album is put on as background music, but I can’t see myself get in a mood where I’d actively pick it up.

I have a confession to make: I’ve always had a weak spot for Manowar. Be it their cheesy lyrics, their bombastic, over-the-top songs, or Eric Adams’ soaring vocals, I just can’t help but love them. They have made at least a couple of records I rank higher than “Hail to England”, but it’s still an album I absolutely enjoy from start to finish.

So there’s no real contest here – Manowar gets my vote.


Match 4:
Isis’ biggest strength is definitely their songwriting; their biggest weakness is the vocalist. I absolutely don’t mind harsh vocals, but this dude doesn’t even sound like he’s trying to find a proper direction. It’s a shame, really, because I do like the music.

Eyehategod is silly, and not in the fun way. Their vocalist isn’t any better than Isis’, but “Take As Needed for Pain” doesn’t contain decent enough material to make up for it. At least I didn’t find much memorable about it.

Isis wins alone on the strength of their songwriting.
 
Ariana said:
I haven't listened to Lamb of God enough to know their music well, but I have noticed you keep mentioning them as the next Pantera. Honestly, I can't see how they are more similar to Pantera than any other band in the same genre.
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+ Pantera was a paradigm shifting band that sounded nothing like anything else. LoG was one of hundreds of cookie cutter American metal/hard rock bands that came in the early 00s.
 
Ariana said:
you keep mentioning them as the next Pantera
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Oh... but I don't think they're the next Pantera by no means! IMO Pantera is the original stuff and way better. What I said was that LOG became the most successful band (sales and media attention wise) from the zillions of Groove Metal bands that took the Pantera recipe after they disbanded. And, even taking in account that all those bands are light years from Pantera's quality (LOG included) if people don't notice the glaring similarities (in every damn instrument and composition) it's not my problem. :p
 
I think I get the point, the sort of guy who was listening to Pantera and crushing empty beer cans against his head in the 90's is the same sort of guy who was listening to LOG and crushing beers cans against his head in the 2000's.
 
Interesting geographical bias in Living Colour vs Manowar: 8/11 Living Colour voters are North American and 8/9 Manowar voters are European (including Turkey).
 
srfc said:
I think I get the point, the sort of guy who was listening to Pantera and crushing empty beer cans against his head in the 90's is the same sort of guy who was listening to LOG and crushing beers cans against his head in the 2000's.
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beer-goooooooood-napster.jpg
 
I got some good feedback from that last joke so i have to admit that meme of brodudes crushing cans was ripped off from another forum :lol:
 
A lot of the north american posters are talking about Living Colour as if it was a big hit. I was aware of the group* but not the track, but that could be an age thing as it would have been out just before I started getting into music, but I'm wondering how much of a geograhical bias is involved. I definitely see an age bias, older posters dismissing new stuff, and younger posters calling stuff generic when it was bands who were originators in their day.

* I don't want to sound racist but I confused them with Fishbone as I thought Rocky George was in them :facepalm:
 
The Flash said:
Any examples of this?
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I think most of the old school stuff so far has been called generic, but vh 2 was years before who it's been lumped in with, fire down below was 89 but it's not too far removed from early Riot which was the 70's, first skid row was not generic back then. I imagine when wasp, motley and gnr appear we'll have similar comments.

And I'm not having a go a people for those comments, my own comments are just as biased.
 
srfc said:
I think most of the old school stuff so far has been called generic, but vh 2 was years before who it's been lumped in with, fire down below was 89 but it's not too far removed from early Riot which was the 70's, first skid row was not generic back then. I imagine when wasp, motley and gnr appear we'll have similar comments.

And I'm not having a go a people for those comments, my own comments are just as biased.
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I don't think originators should be held immune to criticisms of being generic or derivative for their latter era albums. You didn't name them but Accept is a glaring example, you may hold them to be originators of the classic heavy metal sound, but the album of theirs in the game came out in the 2010s. Much of the material on Skid Row is textbook glam metal stuff and the album came out at the tail end of the glam metal era, in 1989. So it also isn't really immune to the criticism of being derivative. The Van Halen comparison I can't comment on, I seem to have missed that comment.

I've checked and Fire Down Below is actually 1981, not 1989, so your criticism does hold water in that case.
 
Are people actually using “bias” here the way I usually interpret it, as in “prejudice?”

Or is it more like “predisposition?”
 
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