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

Gojira, Tool, and Rush are the easy picks, but I'll have to take some time on the first matchup. I still haven't heard the back half of Leviathan.
 
I’m voting for Rammstein but I won’t be upset if Mastodon wins. Leviathan ain’t no Call of the Wretched Sea but it’s got some jams.

Also go Carcass!
 
Mastodon - track reminds me, of all things, Biohazard! the hardcore vocal delivery and the snare sound. Eastern melody riff is good, drummer is kind of doing his own thing irrelevant of the groove or mood of the song at any given time, which is irritating, outro is a bit Faith No More sounding, I've probably said this on every one of their albums, but they are way, way better than what I saw in the flesh the couple of times I've seen them live.

Rammstein - This sort of stuff isn't for me, there isn't anything too wrong with it, it just isn't what I'm looking for.

Mastodon with the win

Gojira - video won't play, so I picked From Mars on youtube, it's alright but only short so picked another track as well but it had Korn-style squeeks in the riff so I turned it off.

Soundgarden - I think every one in the world knows this one, it's good to see a real hit featured, even if it's not something I'm hugely fond of, enough to win them the vote though

Soundgarden with the win

Darkthrone - Intro is ok but the buzz off that guitar is so overpoweringly shit. I really don't get this genre at all, there is definitely something there that could be good except for the deliberate aesthetic choice to have a shit guitar sound, croaking vocals and remedial guitar solo, it feels like an in-joke that I'm not part of. The cacophony part at the end is just atrocious.

Tool - not for me

Darkthrone with the win

Carcass - I was somewhat familiar with this when it was out, or at least the ep, as I'd a mate who was a fan, and I quite liked the title track and no love lost. The Megadeth rip off chord sequence in the chosen track around the 3 minute mark is good, as is the riff the sounds like Testament's The Preacher.

Rush - opinion given before

Rush with the win.
 
srfc said:
Darkthrone - Intro is ok but the buzz off that guitar is so overpoweringly shit. I really don't get this genre at all, there is definitely something there that could be good except for the deliberate aesthetic choice to have a shit guitar sound, croaking vocals and remedial guitar solo, it feels like an in-joke that I'm not part of. The cacophony part at the end is just atrocious.

Darkthrone with the win
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:ok:
It's the result that matters in the end...
 
This Mastodon album has terrible production, almost exclusively bad vocals, and unimpressive songwriting. It has some nice little musical bits here and there, but I just find it exhausting to listen to. I think this was the album of theirs that so many people were raving about at the time, but it fundamentally turned me off to this band so I didn’t pay attention to their later releases, which were apparently a bit more to my taste. Not thrilled with this Rammstein album either, but the songwriting is better and the vocals are less annoying, so it’s an easy choice for Dieter 11’s Wingman’s nominee. Winner: Rammstein

What do you get when you combine almost non-stop screaming vocals with pointlessly spastic drums and nu-metal guitars? Why yes, you get Gojira. Every time you think the monster is dead it keeps reappearing in the GMAC, only to be put down again (at least eventually). Yes, there are a couple of lighter instrumental bits that are nice, but there’s really nothing else to latch onto here that I might find even remotely appealing. Though I’m not a fan of this Soundgarden album, at least it has a few legitimately good songs on it and the singing is great. Sorry, phantoshofthecollicarus, but mcwickianadog 86’s choice is the obvious victor here. Winner: Soundgarden

Sorry, but this Darkthrone album just sounds like noise to my ears. The flirtations with acoustic guitar sounds at the end of “In The Shadow Of The Horns” almost started to get interesting, but the rest of this is samey, lo-fi black metal bullshit with all the usual tropes. I’m sure this was important or influential or whatever, and maybe it invented some of those tropes, but it’s not something I even slightly enjoy or would ever want to listen to again. And it’s up against a strong Tool album, so this is a very easy call for The Flidnash’s nominee. Winner: Tool

This Carcass album was my first rude awakening to technical death metal, a bait-and-switch from metal reviewers who didn’t bother to mention the shitty vocals while singing the praises of the music and comparing the band to Megadeth. I can’t say the musical comparison is too far off, as there’s lots of cool guitar work here; and after experiencing the full range of awful vocals on display via the GMAC, these vocals almost sound quaint and barely offensive when compared to some of their peers — but I still wouldn’t want to put up with them just for the music underneath. And it’s up against one of Rush’s very best albums, so it’s a clear victory for Jellindorostarnight’s nominee here. Winner: Rush
 
Blood And Thunder's riff must be one of the my favorite ones (if not my favorite) of the 2000's. Not to mention the chorus and bridge. Plus I Am Ahab, Plus Island. Plus Aqua Dementia. Plus Megalodon. Plus Iron Tusk. Yup... you get the point: too much "plus" was a common trait during the band's first 3 records. Leviathan is a superb adaptation of one of literature's best essays on obsession. Plus it's going against the album where Rammstein started losing their sonic identity. So this is an easy one: Mastodon.

Uffff... now this is a tough choice. Two excellent records. Already praised Superunknown and if that's true Soundgarden's 4th album is all killer no filler, From Mars To Sirius accomplishes that feat with equal brilliance. This was without shadow of doubt the album that propelled the band to the forefront of 2000's metal and rightfully so. Ocean Planet bittersweet mix and superbly crafted time signatures immediately singles them from the pack. And when these guys go really heavy and dense (From The Sky and In The Wilderness especially) they still manage to lay an unmistakable signature on their unique mix of Pantera/ Morbid Angel riffage, featuring their signature bridge palm sliding, mixed with prog like structures that achieve their peak in the well known Flying Whales. So I must confess it's by a thread but I will give this one to Gojira.

I'm the worst person to speak on behalf of A Blaze In The Northern Sky. After a debut album that features some really cool passages, Scandinavian Death Metallers Darkthrone completely shifted their gear into full Black Metal mode and went down a road that simply means nothing to me. Yes it is an iconic and influential album but what do you want? I simply dislike all that trve cvlt stuff. So yeah props and everything but I'll pass. On the other hand there's just my favorite album of the last decade. So it can't get much easier than this: Tool.

Moving Pictures gets all my respect (although not being among the few rush albums I fancy), features great songs like Tom Sawyer and is iconic and everything. But that means little when something like Heartwork crosses its path. This album starts where Necroticism left us, simplifies composition a tad bit and makes the compositions sound groovier, more song oriented and melodic. Don't get fooled though... this thing still delivers brutal outbursts like Carnal Forge, Death Certificate, Arbeit Macht Fleisch. But never before did Carcass sounded as groovy like in No Love Lost, Embodiment or Blind Leading The Blind while Buried Dreams, Doctrinal Expletives, and especially This Mortal Coil and the title track reveal an unbelievable skill while injecting melodic guitar harmonies in the band's muscular onslaught that's nothing short of fantastic. In one word: amazing.... or Carcass, if you prefer.
 
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Leviathan is slightly better than Mutter
One would have figured that Collin from grunge central would vote for Soundgarden. Nope. From Mars to Sirius is one of my favorite albums ever.
PPFFFFFFFT.. Tool all the way.
I would have thought Moving Pictures would have been wiping the floor against Carcass. Shocking. Rush FTW.
 
Jer said:
What do you get when you combine almost non-stop screaming vocals with pointlessly spastic drums and nu-metal guitars? Why yes, you get Gojira. Every time you think the monster is dead it keeps reappearing in the GMAC, only to be put down again (at least eventually). Yes, there are a couple of lighter instrumental bits that are nice, but there’s really nothing else to latch onto here that I might find even remotely appealing. Though I’m not a fan of this Soundgarden album, at least it has a few legitimately good songs on it and the singing is great. Sorry, phantoshofthecollicarus, but mcwickianadog 86’s choice is the obvious victor here. Winner: Soundgarden
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I agree with all of this. I saw Gojira open for Opeth a while back and after one song it was all the same blueprint. I think I went to the restroom 4 times out of boredom. Chugga chugga scream chugga chugga scream chugga scream. No dynamics. Just noise.
 
I think Carcass is an alright band that never managed to make the album. Heartwork is good. A few months ago I was really, really into this album, but its worn on me a bit. Moving Pictures is just a phenomenal album that definitely deserves to beat Heartwork.
 
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