This AC/DC album is a very mixed bag. “Whole Lotta Rosie” is an all-time classic, and “Problem Child” is good. The title track is certainly an iconic song, but I can’t say it’s a very good one — and the rest of the album is completely forgettable. While the Annihilator album is also a mixed bag, and certainly never approaches the heights of “Whole Lotta Rosie”, I think it delivers interesting music more consistently than its competition, and that’s enough to take this match. Sorry,
@The Dissident, but I have to go with
@Perun ’s nominee.
Winner: Annihilator
This next match is the most interesting one of the round. Virgin Steele is a unique band that has some distinct pros and cons. The singer often sounds good on softer and more controlled sections, but he has a really bad habit of lapsing into non-melodic yelling or half-spoken vocalizations, and neither of these work very well. The drumming is often pat and boring, even to the point of irritation on a song like “A Symphony Of Steele”. The synth tones are super low-rent and cheesy to an extent that they become distracting, though their musical contributions are usually strong. But these guys have a lot of ambition in their songwriting and conceptual album approach, and the guitar work is often surprisingly strong and makes cool and unique choices in its riff structures — and when they start channeling 70s prog rock through their power metal sound, like they do through much of the middle section of this album, they can sound fantastic. This record has a very inauspicious start, with the leadoff track being downright cringe-inducing; but by the time you get to “Rising Unchained” there’s some pretty cool stuff going on, and that holds up for most of the rest of the album. This Testament album is also a mixed bag, with some neat guitar parts on it but uneven songwriting. The overall quality of these albums is probably pretty similar, and I’d be fine with either one winning — but sorry, PhantootenoftheWicarus, I’m going to reward the ambition and uniqueness of
@Forostar ’s choice this time.
Winner: Virgin Steele
Well, Blind Guardian, it was nice knowing you. Have you ever seen the “Enter Sandman” video? Well, you’re the bed, and
Led Zeppelin IV is the 18-wheeler.
Boom! Yeah, yeah, yo-o-oh, oh. Yngwie’s
Marching Out says hi. Sorry,
@Night Prowler, but by
@MrKnickerbocker @Dr. Eddies Wingman ’s nominee’s sword you will die.
Winner: Led Zeppelin
This Avantasia album is consistently well-crafted cheesy power metal in the
Keeper-era Helloween vein, with a more theatrical twist. I didn’t really hear any bad songs on my run-through, and there were a number of strong passages. At this point I think that’s probably enough to edge out an admittedly great grunge album in a metal album cup contest. Sorry, Ariampwia 365, but I’m going with
@Poto ’s choice here.
Winner: Avantasia