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

Dityn DJ James said:
The Ultimate Sin is probably the most underrated heavy metal album I know. I think it easily outclasses his first three with tight songwriting, PHENOMENAL playing from every member (especially Jake E Lee), and an unparalleled atmosphere.

I mean come on, it's fantasy tinged hair metal, what's not to like. Fool Like You, Shot in the Dark, and the title track feature some of the greatest guitar work ever featured on an Ozzy album. Special props to Fool Like You, my 2nd favorite Ozzy song behind Waiting For Darkness, for having one of the BEST opening guitar passages I've ever heard in a metal track. Jake E Lee's tone and presence just KILLS on this album. I'm just so hooked to his playing and his tone. He immediately captures my attention on this album and never lets go. Great album through and through, other standout tracks include Secret Loser, Never, Thank God For the Bomb, and Killer of Giants.
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So true, @Dityn DJ James ! My favourite from Ozzy. Great artwork too.
 
Dityn DJ James said:
The Ultimate Sin is probably the most underrated heavy metal album I know. I think it easily outclasses his first three with tight songwriting, PHENOMENAL playing from every member (especially Jake E Lee), and an unparalleled atmosphere.

I mean come on, it's fantasy tinged hair metal, what's not to like. Fool Like You, Shot in the Dark, and the title track feature some of the greatest guitar work ever featured on an Ozzy album. Special props to Fool Like You, my 2nd favorite Ozzy song behind Waiting For Darkness, for having one of the BEST opening guitar passages I've ever heard in a metal track. Jake E Lee's tone and presence just KILLS on this album. I'm just so hooked to his playing and his tone. He immediately captures my attention on this album and never lets go. Great album through and through, other standout tracks include Secret Loser, Never, Thank God For the Bomb, and Killer of Giants.
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It's also my favorite Ozzy album (in all honesty I only really like this one and the first two). Not that it's that better than Blizzard and Diary but overall it's as you said: way tighter. But the majority of stuff here is somewhat out of the "hair metal" dome. The title track is heavy as hell while Never and Fool Like You have that Blizzard feel to it, Killer Of Giants is that huge and dark as hell song. In the case of other hard rocking songs such as Secret Loser, Thank God For The Bomb and Lightning Strikes... yeah they're a couple of hair metal traits here and there but still really good songs overall.
 
Again, I get the sonic parts of Opeth, it has some cool music, but I just can't do the vocals. Amorphis.
Discharge is not designed for LC, I find it too aggressive and loud and ugh. Amorphis.
Ozzy over Opeth.
Riverside was far more interesting than a Savatage album that I liked a lot more before the GMAC.
 
Anyway, it's Opeth all the way. And I love Amorphis, but Deliverance is a stellar, misunderstood album. Like I've said recently in the Opeth thread:

JudasMyGuide said:
MrKnickerbocker said:
I very much feel the strain in the songwriting on the former album, and the subsequent release on the latter.
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You and others (at least Mosh I think) keep repeating this - and I would know, having collected everything Opeth-related on this forum, but I just don't get it. Deliverance is not an album that'd be strained or trying to hard or whatever.

I agree with you that Wreath might sound a bit My Arms, Your Hearse-like, as if they tried to channel that approach and atmosphere, but with the technicality and tastiness of that Lopez lineup. Some of the (quasi-)"wall of sounds" there are actually downright haunting (the part from about 5:45 owards, the passage at 9:07-9:14 with those really weird and eerie backing choirs - my favourite moment), some parts are just great in general - the no-nonsense intro, which sounds really hectic and oppressive, the part after 8:32, which sounds like the variation on the Leper Affinity closing riff (inter-album continuity, eh? Talking about that one, that aforementioned part 9:07-9:14 actually also reminds me of that latter part of Blackwater Park (at about 8:05-8:13-ish) which is cool. Makes you feel it's all part of a greater whole).
Oh, and the ethnic percussion.
Although I love the piece, I admit that as a whole it doesn't need to be everyone's favourite, being more of a hodgepodge of some cool parts and horror atmosphere. But it's also really the only one, which makes me think about how people might form their opinion on an album based on the opening track alone. Could it be so? That the opener (and such a long one like this at that) is this sort of a calling card which taints the whole album experience?

Cause no-one's going to convince me the title track is forced and a result of a lack of inspiration. No-one even thinks so, right? It may be overplayed live, but it's for a reason. And you might not have it in your top ten (not quite sure I do anymore), but it's a classic. A Fair Judgement might be one of their best metal songs without growls and is pretty beloved on this forum. For Absent Friends is a cute, jazzy interlude and it doesn't count, Master's Apprentices have the rest of that "dudebro" moments from Blackwater Park (especially the main riff in the title track there?) with the absolutely crushing marching opening and the freakiest and creepiest use of happy mood on an Opeth song ever. Maybe they didn't have to go back to the heavy and leave it at that, sort of Symptom of the Universe-like, but then again, the a capella growls are funny.

And BTPISIO... man, I get that a lot of people either don't get or don't like the track, but don't tell me it's not inspired. The so-called "underwater goblin screaming", the jolting "rise to submission" chorus (such a cool part), the circus section (BTW - I absolutely hate the overused circus/clown etc. theme in music, both lyrically and musicall, but here it's pretty underhanded and pleasant). Oh, and I absolutely hate silence at the end of the album and "hidden tracks" afterwards, but this here, although completely unsubstantial is really, really cool. One of the creepiest closings to an album ever. Really freaked me out the first time, makes me uneasy each time after.
This is not a spent band doing pro-forma numbers. There's creativity, there's catchiness, there's masterful work with atmospherics. It's an attempt at creating a completely different closer than BWP was and it succeeds.

All I'm saying is "this album was forced by ... someone? (fans? studio?)... Michael had no heart in it, only wanted to make Damnation, it sucks as a result" - I don't know where this comes from. It's a colourful, playful album with each track unlike the other, in fact as a whole it flows better and feels more cohesive and enjoyable from the beginning to the end than Blackwater Park. That one had Portrait and Dirge and the easy-to-overplay Drapery (I love all three, but rank them below anything off Deliverance) and doesn't go down as well, IMHO.
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One of the better metal albums in general, in fact.

As for the rest, the second time around Amorphis do get the vote, although in general I guess I prefer Cloud to Lakes (however "blasphemous" that sentiment might seem to some of the tr00 fans)

Then it's Opeth again - I praised Watershed again and again, its charm seems to not really come across to many people here, that's really sad. I have a possible 2-3 pages long post in the back of my mind about that album once I get to it. Ozzy is really good, but none of his albums give me this really stellar, outstanding vibe, not even Blizzard and I like that one much more.

And sure, Riverside, because I really like that band and I can't really enjoy Savatage.

Oh and by the way:
Jer said:
Nope, I generally hate them with a passion. I’ve never heard a piece of music with harsh vocals in it that couldn’t have been improved by either removing them or replacing them with melodic vocals. Over the years I have encountered a handful of examples where the extreme vocals were so low in the mix as to become percussion, or so whispered or otherwise muffled that they became inoffensive — but I’ve never heard any that I’ve genuinely liked.


He’s like a power sander taken directly to my eardrums. Absolutely atrocious.

The extreme vocals I’ve been able to tolerate are on In Flames’ The Jester Race, where they’re hiding way under the guitars, and Aegonia’s The Forgotten Song, where they’re more like a husky whisper. And honestly, the pig squealing on the Amputated album from the GMAC didn’t bother me much, either.

I was also able to tolerate Mikee Goodman’s vocals on Primal Rock Rebellion’s Awoken Broken, but I was informed by a connoisseur that those belong to some other category of crappy vocals, and aren’t technically extreme.
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It seems like I'm no longer the one with the most boomer preferences around here :D Now, I really don't like growls all that much and especially not if they're across the whole album - the times when I was able to enjoy your given death metal album are long gone (and honestly, I didn't even enjoy the vocals then, I just withstood it because of the guitars/whatever).

And I was branded as an "elitist" around here because I said I don't consider them on par with actual singing - I still stand behind that. Yes, it requires technique, yes it is expressive, yes, it can even vary somewhat, but the expressiveness is limited, the technique is more appreciated by the brain than the heart and it works better as a seasoning of sorts than the main course. You can imagine pretty much anyone listening to a whole album of acapella singing performances. Only someone seriously disturbed would be willing to listen to a whole album of unaccompanied grunts. It's an ingredient best used sparingly, that's why I'm really glad that in the Best Band game the vocalist isn't a growler.

But there are bands that convinced me they do indeed have their place. Especially in contrast with the softer stuff and to enhance the atmosphere. Those bands were Opeth and Swallow the Sun. Pity it doesn't work that way for you, because really, I don't even listen to metal much anymore, but I can't help but still perceive a lot of Opeth's work as an epitome of beauty in music of sorts. Not kidding.
 
Amorphis over Opeth. Was tempted to vote for "Under the Red Cloud" in its previous match, and I'm still not keen on Opeth, although I liked this more than "Orchid". I feel like I keep waiting for a big payoff that never quite seems to come. Oh well. As for the vocals, I don't think they're bad or anything, but I can probably name a number of harsh vocalists I'd rather listen to.

Amorphis (again) over Discharge. This Amorphis-album isn't as good as "Under the Red Cloud", but I despise everything about punk.

Ozzy over Opeth. This one was actually much closer than I would've expected. I've never felt Ozzy's solo career comes even close to his time in Sabbath, but as far as his discography goes, "The Ultimate Sin" is one of the better albums, and also contains one of my favourites among his songs, "Killer of Giants". "Watershed", on the other hand, I remember from a previous match in the tournament, and revisiting it I must say it's definitely the best I've heard of Opeth so far. It feels much more cohesive than their other albums. I might give it another listen soon and see if I finally "get it", and if I do, I'd happily retract some of my earlier statements, but for now, I'm voting for Ozzy.

Riverside over Savatage. "Second Life Syndrome" is an album with quite a bit of cool stuff going on. "Gutter Ballet" has decent music - too bad the band has an incredibly annoying vocalist.
 
Amorphis overcomes an early surge from Opeth to move on. Obviously, Opeth is still in the game!
Amorphis quite easily defeats Discharge, removing them from the GMAC. Next up for Amorphis is Stratovarius - the Battle of Finland!
Opeth holds out against Ozzy. Sharon's husband is back in League 2.
Riverside, at the last moment, squeaks past Savatage. Savatage returns in League 3.
 
Deliverance is a quite average Opeth album with two great songs (A Fair Judgement and Master's Apprentice) but it's more than enough to get my attention over modern Amorphis.

Tough match... Discharge is one of the Hardcore acts that influenced various genres of metal beyond any estimation. HNSNSN is (IMO) their best album and one full of highlights. Really dig this one but as a metal act I gave my vote to Amorphis' Tales.

The Ultimate Sin is my favorite album by the Ozman solo. To be fair apart from this one I only like the first two but songs like the title track, Killer Of Giants, Fool Like You, Never or Secret Loser are simply too good. Easily picked Ozzy over a boring Opeth record.

Riverside's sound is quite intriguing and interesting, dwelling in a really distinct form of prog without reinventing the wheel. Really liked what I've heard unlike the predictability of Savatage.
 
karljant said:
Well... coming next: Tool's 10000 Days, Annihilator's Alice In Hell, Bathory's The Return, Megadeth's Endgame, At The Gates' At War With Reality, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, and two of my nominees: Sabbat's debut and Realm Of Chaos by (as someone said it before) Bolt Motherfucking Thrower.

This thing's stacked! :ok:
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The albums by Annihilator, At The Gates, Bathory and Sabbat are four of these:
Magnus said:
Five great albums
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The fifth is Sentenced's North From Here, which, being a fucking masterpiece, will most probably be eliminated immediately :D
 
Magnus said:
The fifth is Sentenced's North From Here, which, being a fucking masterpiece, will most probably be eliminated immediately :D
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Curiously enough Amok is the only album I really liked from Sentenced. The previous two sound a bit like a poor man's At The Gates and all the following are really mellow boring snoozefests. But nevertheless, depending on its adversary, it is possible it gets my vote.
 
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