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

Midnight said:
I liked it enough to vote for it!

I thought the standout songs were The Mighty Masturbator (Pandemic kicking in nearly gave me a heart attack) and Deconstruction. Praise The Lowered is also a nice piece of metal lo-fi.

What albums could I try next?
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Those are my faves too :D

Devin's discography is very varied and encompasses a wide range of metal (and non metal on occasions)... Empath and Infinity are said to be closest to Deconstruction on the crazy part. Empath is generally like the culmination of his works according to some people.

The SYL albums, especially Alien, and Physicist (which is literally SYL under another name) are the heavy extreme stuff. Ziltoid is also heavier, and Dark Matters is like a Ziltoid concept album and is really stupid. But still heavy.

Ghost is ambient quiet feel-good, Ki is quiet with bursts of aggression, a very signature sound and I regret not nominating it.

Accelerated Evolution, Ocean Machine, Terria and Synchestra are what I think of as the "classic" sound, popish and layered.

Addicted is poppier metal, and though I haven't heard much of them, Epicloud, Sky Blue and Transcendence are supposed to be even more pop happy.

Bottom line is that you can't go wrong with any of them (except for the pure ambient noise albums The Hummer and Devlab maybe...)
 
Shmoolikipod said:
Bottom line is that you can't go wrong with any of them (except for the pure ambient noise albums The Hummer and Devlab maybe...)
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I second that, apart from arguably those two, I still insist that you might not like a given Devin album, but your money is pretty much always well spent. Well, maybe I wouldn't really recommend Punky Bruster or those first two or so SYL albums - at least not for the uninitiated.

Even Dark Matters, which kinda sucks is still worth giving a listen to. Or two.

I particularly highlighted Ghost, because it was an album that completely suprised me, I had it in the background and it made my day really beautiful and it genuinely fascinated my friends (who have some wildly differing musical tastes) when they were over playing board games and me and wifey played it for ambience.
I mean, it was a background music they actually explicitely noticed and asked about.

Oh and how Mosh wrote (about Ziltoid)

Mosh said:
The album was entirely self recorded and produced. The drums are programmed by a program called EZ Drummer and all the other instruments and vocals are performed by Townsend (with some exceptions) and he also did the mixing on his Mac laptop. This is fairly common now, but in 2007, when the album was made, this was much more novel. It definitely sounds like a self produced album, but it's still very impressively made and sounds better than a lot of professionally made albums. It's a true solo album in every sense of the word.
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Let me just say that yes, Devin's ability to do a whole album on his own surpass anyone bar Roy Wood (Boulders ftw!), yes, even Rundgren, IMHO.
 
Midnight said:
What albums could I try next?
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a) If you want easy listening and poppy get Addicted, Epicloud (5 stars) and Sky Blue (3.5 stars)
b)The nearest thing you'll get from generic prog here is Ocean Machine (5 stars) Accelerated Evolution (3,5 stars) or Transcendence (3 stars)
c) "Devinized" Prog rock with a kind of bright and relaxed feel to it: Terria (5 stars) or Synchestra (4 stars)
d) If your thing is more challenging all over the place stuff listen to Infinity, Empath and Physicist (5 stars)
e) Stripped down stuff like the bluesy/ country weird approach of Ki (3.5 stars) or the 100% chill out record that is Ghost (3 stars)
 
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Shmoolikipod said:
Those are my faves too :D

Devin's discography is very varied and encompasses a wide range of metal (and non metal on occasions)... Empath and Infinity are said to be closest to Deconstruction on the crazy part. Empath is generally like the culmination of his works according to some people.

The SYL albums, especially Alien, and Physicist (which is literally SYL under another name) are the heavy extreme stuff. Ziltoid is also heavier, and Dark Matters is like a Ziltoid concept album and is really stupid. But still heavy.

Ghost is ambient quiet feel-good, Ki is quiet with bursts of aggression, a very signature sound and I regret not nominating it.

Accelerated Evolution, Ocean Machine, Terria and Synchestra are what I think of as the "classic" sound, popish and layered.

Addicted is poppier metal, and though I haven't heard much of them, Epicloud, Sky Blue and Transcendence are supposed to be even more pop happy.

Bottom line is that you can't go wrong with any of them (except for the pure ambient noise albums The Hummer and Devlab maybe...)
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Kind of agree on almost everything. Physicist may have 2 tracks that are absolutely SYL (Death and The Complex) but the remainder as Dev himself said are Speed Metal pop songs. Although being really uptempo and multilayered the melodies are absolutely pop rock and it's that mixing that makes the album so challenging (that and the megatons of reverb, layers and effects).

Regarding SYL all the albums are quite different:
  • Although fitting the same category than City music wise, SYL's debut is quite different in it's delivery and effect: this is an absolutely over the top, frantic, fast just for the fucking sake of being fast with lots ridiculous sarcastic humor all over it.
  • City on the other hand is serious business: a multi layered industrial metal manifest on paranoia and one of the most crazy, pissed off records I've ever listened to.
  • The self titled record is the one I usualy say people who don't like SYL or Devin's bands but like Thrash/ Death should listen to. It's the one he was less involved into since he was more into his other band at the time. Also my least favorite SYL record.
  • As for Alien I believe it's the 2nd placed beyond Deconstruction when it comes to musical schizophrenia. I mean it's not as dense and complex as Deconstruction but on the other hand it's way heavier, angrier, darker and instead of being an academical satire it depicts Devin's ghosts (past and present) haunting them in the flesh (the man stopped taking his bipolar disorder medication while writing this shit!). It was the record where he decided he could no longer do SYL because it affected him and he felt really bad composing music with such a negative vibe.
  • Problem was he had a contract with Century Media and had to make another record so The New Black was made and one can easily listen that it's way less angry and intense than any other SYL record. And in the few songs where it gets fast and brutal it's filled with comic undertones (You Suck, Decimator, The Long Pig and finally the studio version of the hilarious Far Beyond Metal). Plus there are some tracks that are out takes and demos from his solo projects and are too soft to be on a SYL album (like Monument and the excellent Fucker). Curiously enough my favorite Strapping song is Almost Again: something that is filled with blast beats and fast bass drum hertas shouldn't bear 1/10th of the sentimental impact this thing makes you feel.

P.S. : @Midnight listen to Punky Bruster. The music is 2 notes punk rock but screw it: the dialogues and concept will make you roll on the floor laughing.
 
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Be'Lakor squeaks past Dream Theater. Lots of Dream Theater left, but none right now. They're back in League 6.
Rush easily overcomes Ayreon, who are back in Match 14.
Devin Townsend falls short against Bolt Thrower. The Canadian is back once more in League 6.
Atlantean Kodex carries on by defeating Anthrax, who are still alive in the Match 3.
 
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King Diamond - Them (1988)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 73, Metalstorm 81
Maidenfans Nominators: n/a
League 7 - Match 13vs.
Testament_-_The_Formation_of_Damnation.jpg

Testament - The Formation of Damnation (2008)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Black Wizard
Previous Rounds:
League 9: Defeated King Diamond - The Eye 17-9.

League 8: Defeated Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery 21 -10.[/TD]
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Ayreon_-_Dream_Sequencer.jpg

Ayreon - Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer (2000)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Night Prowler, @Spambot
League 7 - Match 14vs.
Queensryche_-_The_Warning_cover.jpg

Queensrÿche - The Warning (1984)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Poto
Previous Rounds:
League 8: Defeated Megadeth - Dystopia 16-15.
 
WakingTheFallen.jpg

Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen (2003)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Black Wizard, @MrKnickerbocker
League 7 - Match 15vs.
The_Final_Frontier_cover.jpg

Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier (2010)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin
Previous Rounds:
League 11: Defeated Bruce Dickinson - Balls to Picasso 18-5.
League 10: Defeated Nightwish - Dark Passion Play 16-8.
League 9: Defeated Slipknot - Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses 24-2.
League 8: Defeated Megadeth - Endgame 24-7.
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Dissection_stormofthelightsbane.jpg

Dissection - Storm of the Light’s Bane (1995)

How it got here
List entries: DigitalDreamDoor 85, Metal Kingdom 72
Maidenfans Nominators: n/a
League 7 - Match 16vs.
Perfect_Strangers_%28Deep_Purple_album_-_cover_art%29.jpg

Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers (1984)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @matic22
Previous Rounds:
League 11: Defeated Porcupine Tree - In Absentia 18-5.
League 10: Defeated Buckethead - Colma 13-7.
League 9: Defeated Ensiferum - Iron 17-8.
League 8: Defeated Avantasia - The Wicked Symphony 22-9.
 
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Unholy Confessions and Second Heartbeat are some of my favorite songs of all time, but realistically I'm not expecting Waking the Fallen to get more than 5-6 votes against The Final Frontier.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
Unholy Confessions and Second Heartbeat are some of my favorite songs of all time, but realistically I'm not expecting Waking the Fallen to get more than 5-6 votes against The Final Frontier.
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I don’t like A7X much but I’ll vote for them over one of the countless Maiden albums here. I may vote against all Maiden albums except PS, TXF, BNW, and TBOS, but it’ll depend on the competition.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
Unholy Confessions and Second Heartbeat are some of my favorite songs of all time, but realistically I'm not expecting Waking the Fallen to get more than 5-6 votes against The Final Frontier.
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Yeah, it’s unfortunate. I love that whole record. It’s vastly superior to TFF. Don’t care for Avenged at all otherwise, but it’ll no doubt lose to a mostly average Maiden record just like Dark Passion Play did.
 
Waking the Fallen is probably the only Avenged album that belongs here. I don’t mind throwing it a vote against TFF. I was a lot more into Avenged around the time TFF came out, so the two albums are pretty closely associated for me
 
This first match-up is the toughest one in the round for me. The music on this King Diamond album is consistently great, and the only weaker parts come from King’s polarizing high-pitched vocals. There’s something about hearing him shriek “grandma” across several different tracks that gets a bit old. That said, he has some really cool vocal harmonies spread around throughout the album too, and his high-pitched wail fits really well in a lot of parts. Then we have a really strong and consistent Testament album, which also has great music throughout, though it doesn’t cover as much musical range as Them does. Chuck Billy’s vocals are generally serviceable thrash singing, with one track that unfortunately flirts with extreme vocals. And the production’s better, but that’s to be expected with this album coming out 20 years after its competitor. I don’t know, I could really go either way here. My head says King Diamond but my gut says Testament. Since one of them was a list nominee, I guess I’ll go with pro-MaidenFans bias and pick @Black Wizard ’s album this time. Winner: Testament

This Ayreon album is weird. High concept sci-fi with cheesy lyrics, spacey synths, and limited guitars, and a couple of bizarre detours into Beatles territory later on. I like the ambition, but I’m not too sure about the execution. It does create a great sense of atmosphere, though. And here it’s up against The Warning, arguably the most overrated album in the Queensrÿche discography. I almost never listen to this one because it’s got so much half-baked filler on it, but “Take Hold Of The Flame” is great, and there are a couple of other solid tracks in it too. I don’t know, I’m not really happy with either option here — but sorry, Night Spambot, I’m going to go with metal bias and pick @Poto ’s choice here. Winner: Queensrÿche

This Avenged Sevenfold album is a soulless blend of Blink-182, Metallica, Maiden, and nu-metal with alternately whiny and coarse singing. Pretty annoying and pointless from my perspective. Sorry, Black Wizzerbocker, but as much as I’d like to vote against @Collin ‘s middling Maiden album, I can’t do that in good conscience here. Winner: Iron Maiden

This Dissection album is more pointless, blast-beaty extreme metal with a few nice musical sections peppered throughout. Not worth wading through the sewer to get to the good stuff. @matic22 ’s nominee takes this one by default. Winner: Deep Purple
 
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Jer said:
This first match-up is the toughest one in the round for me. The music on this King Diamond album is consistently great, and the only weaker parts come from King’s polarizing high-pitched vocals. There’s something about hearing him shriek “grandma” across several different tracks that gets a bit old. That said, he has some really cool vocal harmonies spread around throughout the album too, and his high-pitched wail fits really well in a lot of parts. Then we have a really strong and consistent Testament album, which also has great music throughout, though it doesn’t cover as much musical range as Them does. Chuck Billy’s vocals are generally serviceable thrash singing, with one track that unfortunately flirts with extreme vocals. And the production’s better, but that’s to be expected with this album coming out 20 years after its competitor. I don’t know, I could really go either way here. My head says King Diamond but my gut says Testament. Since one of them was a list nominee, I guess I’ll go with pro-MaidenFans bias and pick @Black Wizard ’s album this time. Winner: Testament

This Ayreon album is weird. High concept sci-fi with cheesy lyrics, spacey synths, and limited guitars, and a couple of bizarre detours into Beatles territory later on. I like the ambition, but I’m not too sure about the execution. It does create a great sense of atmosphere, though. And here it’s up against The Warning, arguably the most overrated album in the Queensrÿche discography. I almost never listen to this one because it’s got so much half-baked filler on it, but “Take Hold Of The Flame” is great, and there are a couple of other solid tracks in it too. I don’t know, I’m not really happy with either option here — but sorry, Night Spambot, I’m going to go with metal bias and pick @Poto ’s choice here. Winner: Queensrÿche

This Avenged Sevenfold album is a soulless blend of Blink-182, Metallica, Maiden, and nu-metal with alternately whiny and coarse singing. Pretty annoying and pointless from my perspective. Sorry, Black Wizzerbocker, but as much as I’d like to vote against @Collin ‘s middling Maiden album, I can’t do that in good conscience here. Winner: Iron Maiden

This Dissection album is more pointless, blast-beaty extreme metal with a few nice musical sections peppered throughout. Not worth wading through the sewer to get to the good stuff. @matic22 ’s nominee takes this one by default. Winner: Deep Purple
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Where exactly did you hear Blink 182 on Waking the Fallen? I would get this complaint about some of their other albums, but this?
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
Where exactly did you hear Blink 182 on Waking the Fallen? I would get this complaint about some of their other albums, but this?
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Some of the drumming, the song-songy chorus bits, the pop-punk elements in the sound. They’re just covering it up with more screaming and blatant Maiden cribbing than usual on this one.
 
THEM is a masterpiece
Queensryche is classic
Sevenfold isn't a great album but it's better than TFF.
A few strong, very strong songs on the Purple album but overall I prefer Dissection!
 
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