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

Midnight said:
I feel sorry for you. India might be "a hellscape" (to quote @LooseCannon), but may I remind you that the deepest circle of Hell is frozen?
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For me it’s simple. When you’re cold you can always put more clothes on, or start a fire, even when your furnace is broken. When you’re hot there’s a limit to how many clothes you can take off, and if your A/C is broken you’re fucked unless you want to find some pond to immerse yourself in for the rest of the day. Plus, sweating stinks, in every sense of the word.

So I’ll take the cold, thanks.
 
The only thing that had lemons and salt in it I can recall drinking was a shot called Kalashnikov. I recall it was a mix of tequilla and absinthe set aflame and you had to bite a lemon slice with cinnamon and salt before you drink the whole thing.
 
Motörhead defeats Dream Theater in extra time, and will advance! I don't remember against who, let's just get to League 7!
 
I prefer the dream theater but I can’t be mad about this result
 
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My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans (1993)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @karljant, @Magnus
League 7 - Match 1vs.
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Power Trip - Nightmare Logic (2017)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Whooten
Previous Rounds:
League 13: Defeated Katatonia - Brave Murder Day 13-8.
League 12: Defeated Amputated - Wading Through Rancid Offal 23-3.
League 11: Defeated Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar 22-4.
League 10: Defeated Coheed and Cambria - No World For Tomorrow 12-10.
League 9: Defeated Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare 14-10.
League 8: Defeated Stone Sour - Stone Sour 14-7.
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Alter Bridge - AB III (2010)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @The Dissident
League 7 - Match 2vs.
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Atlantean Kodex - The Course of Empire (2019)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Perun
Previous Rounds:
League 12: Defeated Death - The Sound of Perseverance 16-10.
League 11: Defeated Therapy? - Troublegum 16-10.
League 10: Defeated Dream Theater - Distance Over Time 14-8.
League 9: Defeated Satyricon - Nemesis Divina 18-6.
League 8: Defeated Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage 21-2.
 
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Anthrax - Persistence of Time (1990)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @karljant, @Travis The Dragon
League 7 - Match 3vs.
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Megadeth - Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! (1985)
How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 85
Previous Rounds:
League 17: Defeated Evanescence - Fallen 22-6.
League 16: Defeated Helmet - Meantime 22-2.
League 15: Defeated Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn 20-5.
League 14: Defeated Fear Factory - Demanufacture 19-3.
League 13: Defeated Grand Magus - Triumph and Power 12-10.
League 12: Defeated Between the Buried and Me - Colors 21-5.
League 11: Defeated Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant 17-9.
League 10: Defeated Dark Millenium - Diana Read Peace 15-8.
League 9: Defeated AC/DC - For Those About to Rock 18-6.
League 8: Defeated Powerwolf - The Sacrifice of Sin 15-6.
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Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @matic22, @Shmoolikipod
League 7 - Match 4vs.
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Tool - 10,000 Days (2006)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Spambot
Previous Rounds:
League 8: Defeated Devin Townsend - Ziltoid the Omniscient 14-8.
 
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Got the Time is catchy af and I really like it, but it's not really representative of the album as a whole (it's a Joe Jackson cover, for crying out loud), so I'll allow myself to add for example this one here

 
So, just a little analysis of League 8.

7 new albums won matches in League 8, with 25 carrying on.
One of those, Killing Is My Business, is from League 17, the last survivor of that league now that Faith No More is gone. (-1)
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow survives from League 15. (NC)
Tales From the Thousand Lakes, Tales From the Twilight World, and Dance of Death are holding on from League 14. (NC)
Only Nightmare Logic has survived the gauntlet from League 13. (-1)
4 albums from League 12. (NC)
4 albums from League 11. (-2)
5 albums from League 10. (-2)
6 albums from League 9. (-1)

I think the albums that carried on are fairly representative of Maidenfans. It probably would have been moreso if Sabbat made it.
 
This My Dying Bride album has a lot of elements that I would normally enjoy — atmospheric soundscapes, violin, mostly clean vocals. But it brings in unnecessary growling too often, and the songs just plod and plod. Parts of every song are cool, but things just drone and meander and repeat, and then the growly shit comes in and I have a very difficult time continuing to care about what I’m listening to. In fairness, I haven’t liked very much doom metal in general — Fvneral Fvkk’s Carnal Confessions and Sorcerer’s The Crowning Of The Fire King are the only ones that have really clicked with me so far — so I’m not too surprised by my response. The Power Trip album has bad vocals, but at least the music consistently holds my interest. So, sorry karljagnus, but I have to go with @Whooten ’s choice here. Winner: Power Trip

Alter Bridge is hit and miss for me. I like a lot of what they do with the heavy riffs and mildly progressive bits and anthemic songwriting, but there’s something about the choices Myles Kennedy makes with the melodic lines in his vocals that doesn’t always work for me. That said, this album is pretty strong, and has some great tracks like “Isolation” and “Fallout”, and I should probably spend some more time with it. Meanwhile, we have Atlantean Kodex again, who offer epic songwriting aspirations without the technical follow-through, and who have lasted way longer in this game than they’ve had any right to, due to mostly weak competition. Sorry, @Perun, but I’d rather go with @The Dissident ’s nominee this time. Winner: Alter Bridge

More Anthrax. These guys almost always come off like a B-list band to me, so I don’t know why they’re often venerated at the level of a Metallica or Megadeth. The singer isn’t very good, often getting near the note but not on it, and he just sounds amateurish most of the time. The thrash riffage is usually solid and occasionally cool, but the songwriting fails to impress. I wouldn’t turn this off if someone else turned it on, but I’d never put it on myself. Compare that to the first Megadeth album, where Dave is also a weak vocalist, but at least he has some snarly charisma — and listen to the guitar licks and songwriting on tracks like “The Skull Beneath The Skin”, “Chosen Ones”, “Looking Down The Cross”, and more, and it’s pretty clear who’s the real deal in this match-up. Sorry, Travis The Darljant, but the list entry is the superior one here. Winner: Megadeth

This last match is the most interesting one of the round. Both albums are from artisans who lurk at the fringes of the mainstream and have very recognizable sounds. Both bands are prone to musical excess and have both rabid fans and vocal detractors. The Devin Townsend album has that rich, booming, layered white noisy sound that’s one of his trademarks, and it flirts with pop, industrial, and metal sounds throughout. The Tool album has that hypnotic, progressive, meandering, distant-vocalled vibe that they’re known for, and it even has an easter egg extra track that you create by laying one track over two of the others, which is undeniably cool. Both albums are strong, and I would be fine with either one advancing — but in the end I think the Devin Townsend album is a little more uneven than the Tool album. So, sorry Shmatic22likipod, but I’m going with @Spambot ‘s choice on this one. Winner: Tool
 
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