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

Another incredibly easy, yet bizarre round.

Dream Theater again manages to squeak through with a lower quality album due to an even weaker competitor in UDO.

Another easy choice for Ayreon! Insomnium is cool, though. Just nowhere near the quality of the amazing The Source.

Soundgarden is far superior to Bolt Thrower, even if they are only metal adjacent.

I stand with @Lampwick 43 on this one: ACOS does not belong here. We're voting for a single song, not an album. I love that song, and it's vastly superior to virtually everything on Sound of White Noise (except for the vocals), but it does not deserve my vote. Another easy choice for BushThrax!
 
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UDO - not bad, sounds like it could have been off Balls to the Wall, I'd imagine if the rest of the album sounds like that track then the album would be similar to what Firepower is for Priest, giving the fans exactly what they want.

Dream Theatre - riff good, the structure of this track is more to my liking then their usual stuff but they are really hampered by having a singer with such a lack of charisma and passion.

UDO with the win

Insomnium - Intro good, what a kick in the bollix when that vocal came in as otherwise it had been good. What's the story with using that kind of vocal in otherwise normal metal? Can they not find real singers or something? Because I just can't understand why bands would have identikit growling instead of having personality and uniqueness? I'm pissed off now as this track is really good otherwise.

Ayreon - This is too preposterous for me

Insomnium with the win

Soundgarden - I was hostile to grunge back in the day, but in the context of this game it's refreshing to hear a production that sounds like musicians playing with each other. Still not something I'd listen to by choice, but imagine if Insomnium had someone with the passion and individuality of Cornell singing for them.

Bolt Thrower - as in the last round, the quality of the production is miles above what I'd been expecting from such a band. I have less of an issue with this style vocal, in this type of music, as it makes sense in this context, but still beyond the Pale for me.

Bolt Thrower with the win

Dream Theatre - I'm not listening to 23 fuckin' mins. Get real. Intro sounds good but I know what they peddle and it's not for me, I'd listen to a bit more of it if I thought they were up against someone else who I was unsure of, but that's not the case.

Anthrax - I listened to the whole album a couple of times last week as a refresher. It's pretty good, I'm not a huge Anthrax fan but of the albums I have from them (all the old school Belladonna + Turbin albums, plus this and WCFYA) I'd rate only ATL and STD as better. The last three tracks trail off a bit, and the guitar sound isn't great sometimes with proto-Nu Metalisms creeping in, but otherwise it's quite strong.

Anthrax with the win
 
Not only is ACOS automatically disqualified for not being an EP. Even if it were an album, it’s also a covers album, a live album, and a compilation. All merits that I believe are disqualifying. So I will vote against it (I have no problem voting for something inferior that followed the rules).

What boggles my mind is that someone wasted a nomination on it. Plenty of Dream Theater to choose from.
 
Never heard U.D.O. before, and I was shocked by how much I liked the music and songwriting — a nice blend of sweet 80s riffage and power metal sensibilities, infused with the heart of Maiden, Priest, Gamma Ray, and a dash of George Lynch. The songs have light and shade and consistently strong guitar solos — but then the singer comes along and leaves a gigantic skid mark across the entire affair. Holy shit, does this guy sound awful! I might actually prefer a few extreme vocalists to this unmitigated disaster of a vocal performance. Even when he sings clean he’s just warbling around and embarrassing himself. What a shame — it’s like those Blaze Bayley albums where the weakest link in the band is the guy the band is named after. If the vocals had even been passable here I probably would have picked this album, but as things stand I’d much rather listen to a mixed bag Dream Theater album than this one. Sorry, @Kalata, but I have to vote for @The Dissident ’s nominee here. Winner: Dream Theater

The music and songwriting on this Insomnium album are pretty great when it’s not lapsing into blast beats, but once again I’m faced with a glass gargler wasting my time by ruining the whole affair. He’s mixed under the guitars for the most part, and he’s not as annoying as many extreme vocalists are, but every moment I’m listening to this I can’t help but think how much better it would sound with melodic vocals. You can even hear parts of the music where the guitars are carrying what would obviously be the vocal melodies in the chorus, and what great vocal melodies they would have been. But no, they needed to be “cool” and “tough” and growly instead. Whatever. Sorry, @Night Prowler, but @Lampwick 43 ’s nominee takes this in a walk. Winner: Ayreon

I’ve never really liked Soundgarden in general. Chris Cornell is a great singer, and a few of their more digestible songs are pretty good; but Kim Thayil isn’t offering up anything I want to hear, and their particular brand of proggy grunge leaves their songs sounding incoherent to me most of the time. The singer for Bolt Thrower is terrible, but the music is much more to my taste; and on balance I’d much rather listen to that album than this one from Soundgarden. Sorry, @Lampwick 43, but I have to go with @Dityn DJ James ’s choice this time. Winner: Motherfucking Bolt Thrower

Dream Theater: Cool title track, bro, but you’re a live EP with one studio track, so you don’t qualify for this game. While I’d have to flip a coin between listening to this Anthrax album or taking a nap, it’s the only acceptable option here. Sorry, @The Dissident, but @MrKnickerbocker ’s nominee takes this one by default. Winner: Anthrax
 
The alarming thing here is that 6 people have already voted for ACOS despite its blatant disregard for GMAC norms and values
 
I’m honestly fine with an EP being included and think they have their place within best metal albums discussions. Especially since that one’s material never appeared on an actual album.

EDIT: But yeah, ACOS is pretty sus.
 
I wouldn't have any objection to EPs either. Not that it's in the game (it should be) but Surf Nicaragua probably had more impact than any Sacred Reich album, and I'm sure there's probably more examples of similar with other bands.

Haunting the Chapel is another with a big impact. The original Garage Days too, If You Have Ghost and Popestar from recent times. A blind eye could easily be turned to EPs that made an impression.

While we're on the subject, I think protests votes should be only used if you can't decide between albums. I think a fan of a band, for instance in this round Dream Theatre, voting against something they genuinely like is cutting their nose off to spite their face.
 
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