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

I don't know which surprises me more: that somebody else also nominated Spinal Tap or that nobody nominated Cowboys From Hell.

Voted for Spinal Tap, Pantera, Amon Amarth and Symphony X (still need to listen to Divine Wings in full, Deezer only has their last 2 albums. Also, Divine Winds sounds waaay better.)

@LooseCannon 2 days seems fine, but I think next one should last 3 days. We don't want people voting drunk and/or hangover. Or do we?

Also, I like how you rile up expectations for upcoming rounds, while trying to calm things down. True, majority will say that in next leagues will be best albums metal has to offer, but there will also be some oddballs and harsher words will definitely be thrown around.

I noticed some major bands already had several albums in the game while others had none, meaning either there is bulk of those coming or they slipped through the cracks (I'd be happier with the latter).
 
Spinal Tap - Don't get me wrong, the film is absolutely hilarious, but it is not an affectionate look at metal. This should maybe be in a greatest comedy album thread, shocked to see it here, never mind two! nominations.

Unleash the Archers - decent stuff again

Unleash the Archers with the win

Pantera - I'm sure everyone on here is familiar with Cemetery Gates so it's no big deal that the great intro is not included in the music video. an album that I haven't listened to in a very long time but I'll probably rectify that soon enough. As well as the featured track and the title track, songs like Domination, Heresy and The Art of Shredding immediately come into memory's view.

Scorpions - opinion given before

Pantera with the win

Amon Amarth - no comment in light of recent debate, if you read my last few posts then it wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out what my opinion is :lol:

Iced Earth - This track benefits hugely from not having corny lyrics sung in a overly hammy way, there's some very good parts in this track but for the most part it's overly long and poorly arranged, the anti climax in particular is disappointing

Iced Earth with the win

Neurosis - waited for 2 and a half minutes for something to happen, because Symphony X does nothing for me and I really didn't want to give them the vote, but this is quite bad

Symphony X - opinion given before

Symphony X with the win
 
I did not listen enough to IE/AA albums and I like both bands so I won't vote. I wanted to vote against Spinal Tap but looks like it's not necessary.

Pantera and Symphony X FTW
 
Apex is my favourite find in this game. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that since they have so much in common with Iron Maiden and I’m supposed to be expanding my horizons, not confirming how limited they are. Also, is it weird that Spinal Tap’s mockeries are often better than what they are roasting?

Amon Amarth was a hit with the book club. It’s a narrow window of people who can identify with the musical representation of unwashed barbarians dropping axes into random people’s skulls. But moms who spend their days driving SUVs from school to practice to rehearsal while picking gluten out of little Emma’s sandwich bags and listening to Jessica go on and on about her spin class instructor can relate. I didn’t even try spinning Iced Earth for them. I mean, Stu Block, am I right?

Sad to see really good Scorpions losing to any level of Pantera. Kids these days. And their kids, too.

Divine Wings might even be better than Divine Winds and that’s saying something. A Mighty Wind though, now that’s the real thing.
 
(Now with inline spoilers to protect the egos of hypersensitive extreme vocal fans!)

I already commented on the Spinal Tap album, though I’d like to say that comedic elements in music are a completely valid value-add. The hilarious acerbic puns in Skyclad songs, or the rampant parody in The Dead Milkmen’s Beelzebubba, or the cutting satire of This Is Spinal Tap only make the end product more enjoyable, not less. I’ve also seen others cite the influence of an album on the art form or on the culture itself as a sign of greatness, and the Spinal Tap album clearly meets that bar. But I do genuinely enjoy the songs and think the songwriting is consistently strong even before considering the humor value. Meanwhile, Apex has a lot of flash, with great guitar work and clean singing (though the unnecessary extreme vocals that pop up here and there are a hindrance), but the songwriting is where it’s lacking. The vocal lines aren’t that memorable, and there is some pretty blatant Maiden, Helloween, and Gamma Ray worship going on throughout. If we’re going to talk about greatness, we should consider how many people are still going to care about these albums in 10 or 20 years. While I can guarantee that This Is Spinal Tap will still be considered a classic that far down the road, does Apex really make enough of an impression to still stand out that many years later? I guess we’ll find out together. Sorry, @LooseCannon, but I have to side with Jermbot’s nominee here. Winner: Spinal Tap

More Pantera. Well, hey, at least the vocals are half sung on this album, which is better than their later material. The lyrics are dumb, and the screechy/screamy half of the vocals is terrible. Dimebag’s a good guitarist, but the songwriting is consistently weak, just milking a riff past its expiration date and then punching in a strong solo while the vocals continually disappoint. So many people hold up “Cemetery Gates” as some kind of classic, but I don’t hear anything to get excited about here — the verses are fine, but the chorus is just a bunch of annoying Zakk Wylde pinch harmonics and a completely forgettable vocal line. No sir, don’t like it. The Cornfed Dissidick’s nominee wins by default here. Winner: Scorpions

Hadn’t heard this Amon Amarth album before, and the music is a mixture of cool traditional heavy metal riffage with less interesting black metal fast-strumming. The growled vocals are fucking awful, of course, and drag everything down to the point where I can’t get into it at all, which is a shame. There’s a good album trapped in here, waiting to get out, but it’s unlikely that it ever will. Sorry, Night Perun, but I’m forced to side with @LooseCannon ’s mediocre Iced Earth album yet again. Winner: Iced Earth

Hadn’t heard this Neurosis album before, and it’s pretty interesting. Full of atmospheric build-up and queasy grooves, most of the album consists of songs nearly 10 minutes long or longer. Not sure exactly what genre this is, but it’s doomy, noisy, and maybe vaguely industrial. The vocals are unfortunately almost all screamed, but the noise elements of the music partially cover that up so it’s not quite so abrasive. Not sure that I heard any particularly great songs here, but the album built an effective, oppressive atmosphere and it wasn’t boring. Still, Divine Wings (or is it Winds??) is more up my alley, so this is an easy call for @Lampwick 43 ’s choice here. Winner: Symphony X
 
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Niall Kielt said:
What is wrong with you people? I nominated VXI as a joke. How the actual fuck is it still in the game? Too many tone deaf sycophants around here. Where all the Maiden Haters at? Has it put out any of @Jer s nominations yet?
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Well it put out a bloody masterpiece by Borknagar*, among other things.

*It was so good even @Jer liked it, despite the vocals. Shame on you man.
 
Good Comedy or Unleashed boredom? I guess I'll go with the former: Spinal Tap.

Like it or not CFH is a classic album and absolute cornerstone in metal history. Of course the album lacks some coherency and even sense of direction (Primal Concrete Sledge, Medicine Man, Psycho Holiday and Clash With Reality) but on the other hand to come up with fresh and (by now) legendary songs such as the title track, Cemetery Gates, The Art Of Shredding, Heresy or amazingly well crafted speed/ power metal ones like Shattered and The Sleep (still retaining lot of traits from the band's previous album Power Metal yet in a much more polished and mature fashion) makes this album really shine. On the other side, while giving its due respect to Lovedrive I don't like the least anything Scorpions did post Uli Jon, so I vote Pantera.

Let's see... competent yet absolutely boring generic heavy/ power metal versus competent yet somehow predictable mellow/ Viking metal? Amon Amarth.

Finally we have this Divine wings or winds of whatever thing against the game changer that was Through Silver In Blood. Now these dudes along with Crowbar got some lessons in Sludge from The Melvins and company to forge both band's revolutionary sounds. And while Crowbar continued with its doomy core version, Scott Kelly and company in the early 90's changed the band's sound into something much stranger and oppressive. The songs are slow repetitions in progressive fashion in order to create atmosphere, a really dense one to be fair. Plus the band developed a mid saturated frequency distortion perfect to boil your brain. So it's fair to dub these guys the creators of what was to be so called "Post-Metal". And although I like some early albums by these guys a lot (Souls at Zero and the following are great examples) as much as I adore some later stuff (A Sun That Never Sets is simply my favorite and their last one Fires Within Fires is almost as good) I must admit that, even being masters at what they do, sometimes these dudes' compositions are so claustrophobic, so dense and hopeless it's too much for me. And that's precisely where Through Silver In Blood puts all its money on. Although Purify and Locust Star are kind of an exception (but still are hard as fuck listening experiences) almost everything else is so opaque, uncomfortable and bleak I can't help but avoid it. So don't get me wrong. This is indeed a classic record from a band I revere but much too murky and depressive for my taste. And that's not Neursosis' problem.
 
I think I'll run the next round as a 2 day round, which will have it finish up NYE, but I suspect we'll be OK. If that one lags I'll do a 3 day for the next one and then back to our regularly scheduled program.

Obviously, Archers.
Cowboys From Hell is the only Pantera album that I really like, and the Scorpions are good here, but not as great.
Iced Earth but I was severely tempted to vote for the best Amon Amarth album.
I listened to all of the Neurosis album, and I totally get why it's got a few list nods, but my heart belongs to Russell and friends.
 
Zare said:
One of the greatest metal tracks ever


On the time tag of 0:23, listen to the guitars and the bass, they are both playing melodic parts, and then the heavy riff after it, again in the manner of Chuck does not anchor, it plays a melody....putting clean vocals over this would imply melody in that vocals and that would be a fucking mess.

This is why Death is far more valued than Control Denied even if that one has a "proper" vocalist. Chuck knew what he was doing with his voice.

Another example


Listen to the guitars carry the tune, and the vocals just emphasizing.
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"but ugh its extreme and growly so we can't listen to these bands" :lol:
 
Not trying to resurrect anything, but I felt this deserved a response now that I’ve had a chance to listen to the examples:

Zare said:
On the time tag of 0:23, listen to the guitars and the bass, they are both playing melodic parts, and then the heavy riff after it, again in the manner of Chuck does not anchor, it plays a melody....putting clean vocals over this would imply melody in that vocals and that would be a fucking mess.
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Rush does this kind of thing all the time with melodic vocals and it’s not a mess. Also, if it was truly so busy that another melodic element would detract from things, you can drop melody without going extreme. Spoken word or monotone singing would also work fine here.

Zare said:
Listen to the guitars carry the tune, and the vocals just emphasizing.
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Again, nothing demands the harsh vocal here, and in this case I think a melodic vocal would also fit in just fine.

I get it — if you like harsh vocals, then they work in these instances. But if you don’t like them, there’s nothing I’m hearing in these situations that would suddenly make them desirable or necessary.
 
mckindog said:
Sad to see really good Scorpions losing to any level of Pantera. Kids these days. And their kids, too.
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It’s shameful really. “Cemetery Gates” is a good track, admittedly, but Lovedrive should win based on “Coast To Coast” alone. Arguably Michael Schenker’s finest moment. It’s OK though. There is a record of who voted for Pantera, so those of us with good taste can all discount their opinions in the future. :p
 
Jer said:
Again, nothing demands the clean vocal here, and in this case I think a harsh vocal would also fit in just fine.

I get it — if you like clean vocals, then they work in these instances. But if you don’t like them, there’s nothing I’m hearing in these situations that would suddenly make them desirable or necessary.
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Fixed ;)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Jer
Jer said:
Not trying to resurrect anything, but I felt this deserved a response now that I’ve had a chance to listen to the examples:


Rush does this kind of thing all the time with melodic vocals and it’s not a mess. Also, if it was truly so busy that another melodic element would detract from things, you can drop melody without going extreme. Spoken word or monotone singing would also work fine here.


Again, nothing demands the harsh vocal here, and in this case I think a melodic vocal would also fit in just fine.

I get it — if you like harsh vocals, then they work in these instances. But if you don’t like them, there’s nothing I’m hearing in these situations that would suddenly make them desirable or necessary.
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Rush is not metal and they use a different soundscape. Spoken word or monotone singing have no power, sustain or groove in them. I get that it's hard to envision vocals without melody, but asking for removal of extreme style in favour of speech is akin to requesting replacement of a whole drumset with a triangle. Yes, the triangle does keep beat but that's the only thing it does. Even when you strip melodic part the human voice remains an instrument, whose texture and timbre you can use for rhythmical effect.

Now here's another perspective of things - I've watched the video Yax posted about voice tutor reacting to HBTN live and the impression she had with Bruce just belting out wherever, whenever, while keeping his pronounciation, feel and everything. A lot of vocalists don't have his talent and aren't able to pump out and modulate the way it's required, all the fucking time. From the soundscape standpoint metal requires a great amount of air pushed out from lungs - because drums pump it out, and amps pump it out. Without going into further derail, if both power and melody are a top talent thing for the 0.1% then I'd rather have power without the melody than vice versa if we're talking about metal. It fits better.

And then you also have the tunings and the bass-baritone range requirement for the vocalist.

In the end, I don't tolerate typical power metal shrieking, high pitched extreme vocals, falsetto, screamo types, any of that. It may be just a difference in tolerating high vs low. For me worst that it gets with growls is boring, while I get physically irritated with pitchy things especially if they are not in pitch and with bad vibrato.
 
Unleash the Archers shoots down Spinal Tap's GMAC ambitions. The Canadians will face Van Halen in League 5.
Pantera wins fairly easily over Scorpions. Scorpions have two albums left, and the next one is in League 3.
Vikings and Confederates tie, and we'll have another tiebreak at the end of the League.
Symphony X dispatches Neurosis without too much difficulty, ending their GMAC run and setting the prog band up for a meeting with Carcass in the next round.
 
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