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

Magnus said:
I really, really dislike Nightwish but TFF has stayed too long. Couldn't make myself vote for Korn last time but Nightwish is kinda more acceptable, even though it still leaves a bad taste.
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I’ve been voting for a good deal of black metal just for you and now I feel incredibly validated. Thank you Magnus!
 
JudasMyGuide said:
If I was misunderstood, I'm sorry again. By all means, growling is expressive. But the range of the stuff that is possible to be expressed by it is significantly limited, that was my argument regarding "expressiveness".
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I agree with you there and the points you make below. Black and death metal are limited in their expressive capabilities and for the most part, the genres revolve around expressing a certain set of emotions, attitudes and themes with the same set of tools. Both genres have found ways to transcend these boundaries, but indeed, the vocals generally remain the same.

JudasMyGuide said:
This is honestly fascinating. Believe me, I know Katyusha the song (and it did come to mind when I read it in the text, but I didn't want to be presumptious and was thinking "hey, it's just a name"), but I never actually thought about translating it, so I didn't recognize it.

I still can't help but think its usage might be a little bit post-modern and ironic and I hope you know what I mean (least of all - it's being used as a "prop", including its intended or applied emotions), but okay. Still, to me it would work more if I recognized the melody there. Maybe when I'm gonna listen to it again, I will as well (I don't know it if is there), but fine, fine, sure.
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I understand what you mean, but I disagree with terms such as "post-modern" and "prop", because this isn't all that new or outrageous a method. Tchaikovsky famously used the opening fanfare of the Marseillaise in his 1812 Overture to point out that the French are attacking Russia. And that was first played in 1882. It sends a direct message to the listener by use of a recognisable musical cue, or if you will, a citation. The Committee don't really do that much more, and the playing of "Katyusha" is also just the song's coda. The whole story the song is telling has already been told by that point and "Katyusha" marks a tonal shift not just in the song but also in the entire album; it's hard to have that click if you haven't had the entire musical journey before that. All the time, the music tells you how rotten life in Stalinist Russia is, how there is only lie, deceit and suffering, but for this one moment you do get elevated and get a feeling of what it could be like to be proud of being a Soviet soldier, only to have the next song get you down to earth again. The point is: This moment is earned through the music, just like the finale of the 1812 Overture with the firing cannons is an earned triumphal moment if you actually listen to the whole piece, although most people only ever listen to this part and miss out on what it actually tells you.
If you want to call it a "prop" or a "gimmick" or "ironic" (for which a point could be made), feel free to do it, but do acknowledge that this has been done in music and any form of storytelling art for a long time.
 
Saapanael said:
I'm still disappointed about forgetting to vote. Fair Warning is a great album. By the way, I just discovered that all of Van Halen's classic albums are super short, at 30-35 minutes each.
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It’s a strange thing because Van Halen has a huge wealth of written material that they demoed before they made the first album. They were pulling from that well right up until the very last album and there’s still leftover material that’s very good. Highly recommend the Van Halen demoes, better than any studio album in a lot of ways.
 
Diesel 11 said:
I’ve been voting for a good deal of black metal just for you and now I feel incredibly validated. Thank you Magnus!
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As in, "checked or proved the validity or accuracy of"? Or is there some other meaning of this word I'm missing? Judas' post seems to imply it.
 
Magnus said:
^ I honestly don't get this. In Black Metal you can express yourself by using clear vocals, tormented screams, sepulchral whispers, burning a church, or killing your bandmate, to name a few. If that's limited for you, I don't know what you expect, frankly.
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I cut that part where I said that black metal is more expressive than death metal because I couldn't make it flow properly with the rest of my ramblings. But you have to admit, unless you adapt Stalinist songs, you won't have many ways to involve rainbows or daffodils in your black metal.

Although black metal love songs are possible, I guess.

 
Nightwish’s Oceanborn is that other seminal metal album from 1998. (Insert Virtual XI jokes here, but I’m obviously referring to The Chemical Wedding.) This album shaped my view of this band and of symphonic power metal in general. It offers consistently great songwriting, strong guitar work, and the signature opera vocals of Tarja Turunen, which people generally either love or hate. If you hate opera singing, I get it. But for me, harmonized opera vocals hit a very special sweet spot, and when combined with a power metal sonic palette it makes for a very unique and powerful sound.

The first sample song I chose was “Passion And The Opera”, which pretty much sums up the musical statement of this album. It has a strong, catchy melodic metal base, and Tarja goes full opera on the extended interlude. If this song works for you, you’ll probably love this album. If it doesn’t, you’ll probably hate it. Most songs follow in a similar vein, but with reasonable variety. Some highlights are “Gethsemane”, “Sacrament Of Wilderness”, “The Riddler”, “Walking In The Air”, and “Sleeping Sun”. There are a small number of tracks that have some husky, out-of-place male vocals included in a supporting role, but they’re only a minor blemish on an otherwise fantastic album.

Megadeth’s So Far, So Good...So What! was my first real exposure to the band, and what an impression it made. “Into The Lungs Of Hell” made my jaw hit the floor the first time I heard it, and as it rolled through that unique interlude into “Set The World Afire” and kicked into that killer main riff, I was hooked. I had a pretty hard time accepting Dave Mustaine’s vocals at first, but the beginning of this album was so great that I kept coming back until I finally got used to his delivery, and then I was sold.

The original mix of this album is swimming in reverb, which grants an extra layer of epicness to the opening salvo of “Into The Lungs Of Hell” and “Set The World Afire”, which I presented together as the first sample songs, as well as adding the feel of a drug-addled haze to the rest of the album. As a result this record feels like a speed metal fever dream, which makes it unique in Megadeth’s catalog and carves out a special spot for it among my favorite metal albums. The remix/remaster that Mustaine did later on removed a lot of this reverb and tried to make the album sound drier like Rust In Peace, but I feel like that stole a lot of character from the album, and I pretty much never listen to the remix because of that.

Every track on here has its appeal, but some other major highlights are the haunting “Mary Jane”, the blustery “502”, the pensive “In My Darkest Hour”, and the absolutely brutal indictment of the PMRC “Hook In Mouth”, which features the starkest, most savage ending to any Megadeth album, IMO. “Liar” is also a cool track with an extended single-breath rant that’s fun to try to sing along to.

Rust In Peace tends to suck up all the attention from this timeframe, but So Far, So Good...So What! is actually my personal favorite Megadeth album. While it doesn’t hit the same highs quite as often as RIP, it also doesn’t hit the lows of “Dawn Patrol” or “Poison Was The Cure”, and the reverby feel is more appealing to me than the dried out metal jerky sound of its follow-up.

Remember, the original mix is the only way to go on this one. Enjoy!
 
karljant said:
You're a poser. Camembert is almost as much of a sell out as Mozzarella. The cleaner Trve Cheeze Cvlt fans are allowed to eat is Roquefort. BTW what is that legendary metal album talk has to do with this thread? Don't get off topic! BLOOD FIRE ROQUEFORT! :p
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Casu martzu for the true believer.
 
Magnus said:
As in, "checked or proved the validity or accuracy of"? Or is there some other meaning of this word I'm missing? Judas' post seems to imply it.
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As in, I voted for albums you like and since you voted for an album I like I feel quite happy about it.
 
Magnus said:
Casu martzu for the true believer.
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NOW YOU'RE TALKING! Casu Martzu is svpreme evil italian cvlt indeed!
But then you vote for Nightwish. Mmmmmm... I'm not even sure if you prefer Camembert to Mozzarella anymore. I'll go as far as saying that is a truly Cottage Cheese fan move. Think you got exposed. :p

PS: Casu Martzu really sounds like a true BM metal name though. :D :D :D
 
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Magnus said:
^ I honestly don't get this. In Black Metal you can express yourself by using clear vocals, tormented screams, sepulchral whispers, burning a church, or killing your bandmate, to name a few. If that's limited for you, I don't know what you expect, frankly.
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The next generation of Black Metal will figure out how to burn stone churches down.
Also there's a seminal Death Metal band called Death that single-handedly disproves all the stuff thrown at the genre itself.
 
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