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

Halford defeats Bathory. They have one album left, coming up in Match 16.
Pantera continues their run, defeating Tool. They've also got another album left, in Match 15.
Helloween fends off a strong challenge from Faith No More, ensuring there is no more Faith No More. Their next challenge will be Slayer.
Symphony X's run with this album, the longest active in the GMAC, was handily ended by Scorpions. They're still alive in the Match 28 stream.
 
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Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (1981)

How it got here

List entries: Metal Rules 81, Metalstorm 90
Maidenfans Nominators: @Cornfed Hick, @mckindog
League 3 - Match 9vs.
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Be’Lakor - Stone’s Reach (2009)

How it got here

List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Saapanael
Previous Rounds:
League 7: Defeated Paradise Lost - Draconian Times 14-13.
League 6: Defeated Venom - Black Metal 15-11.
League 5: Defeated Cynic - Focus 13-11.
League 4: Defeated Ratt - Out of the Cellar 14-12.
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In Flames - The Jester Race (1996)

How it got here

List entries: Metal Rules 99, DigitalDreamDoor 99
Maidenfans Nominators: @Black Wizard, @FTB
League 3 - Match 10vs.
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Megadeth - United Abominations (2007)

How it got here

List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @KidInTheDark666, @Midnight
Maidenfans Nominators: n/a
Previous Rounds:
League 6: Defeated Rush - Power Windows 17 -10.
League 5: Defeated Testament - The Legacy 15-13.
League 4: Defeated Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger 18-9.
 
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Mötley Crüe - Too Fast For Love (1981)

How it got here

List entries: Rolling Stone 22, Metal Rules 31
Maidenfans Nominators: @FTB
League 3 - Match 11vs.
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Alter Bridge - Blackbird (2007)

How it got here

List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Ariana, @The Dissident
Previous Rounds:
League 6: Defeated Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal 15-12.
League 5: Defeated Voivod - Dimensions Hatröss 15-12.
League 4: Defeated Entombed - Wolverine Blues 17-9.
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Black Sabbath - Sabotage (1975)

How it got here

List entries: Rolling Stone 32, DigitalDreamDoor 46
Maidenfans Nominators: @Cornfed Hick
League 3 - Match 12vs.
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Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (1977)

How it got here

List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Forostar, @mckindog, @Saapanael
Previous Rounds:
League 6: Defeated Atlantean Kodex - The White Goddess 22-5.
League 5: Defeated Van Halen - Van Halen 20-7.
League 4: Defeated Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral 23-3.
 
After a much more exciting previous round... I'm honestly kinda bored with this one. None of these would be albums I'd consider Top 100 worthy, but maybe that's just because I don't have as much interest in classic metal as others here do. It's what it is, I suppose.

EDIT: Actually The Jester Race is pretty cool. It's got some good melodeath within it.
 
Black Sabbath - Another classic in Dio's run of 7 in a row of studio classics. Voodoo may have one of Iommi's best riffs, and given the standard of even an average Iommi riff that's saying something. Turn Up the Night, the title track, Falling off the Edge of the World, Over and Over and best of all the Sign of the Southern Cross are all classics, really the only thing here that's not a classic is E5150, which I would happily write off as being a silly little intro, except for the fuckin length of it, nearly as long as Wrathchild!

Be'Lakor - opinion given before

Black Sabbath with the win

In Flames - I've said my piece on this type of music many times in this thread. Really frustrating stuff as this is real good musically.

Megadeth - opinion given before

Megadeth with the win

Motley Crue - Can't see this getting a lot of votes on here, but Too Fast for Love is a pretty solid record with a rawness and edge that a lot of their peers don't have.

Alter Bridge - opinion given before

Motley Crue with the win

Ah for fuck sake no, first heartbreaking match for me.

Black Sabbath - Depending on my mood this is my favourite Sabbath album from the Ozzy era (other times it's SBS). The songs are great, with unusually a couple of epics in Meglomania and The Writ. Hole in the Sky, Thrill of it All and Am I Going Insane (Radio) are all brilliant, even the two instrumentals are perfect, and to top it off Symptom of the Universe. Ozzy sounds like a man possessed on this record as well.

Judas Priest - opinion given before.

Black Sabbath with the win, and I'm going to find a dark corner and have a little cry about voting against Sin After Sin
 
The Sabbath/Priest round should be close, but I am expecting a Priest blowout. That was easily the hardest round and those are the best albums in the game.

Everything else was fairly straightforward. Mob Rules is a bit of a let down compared to Heaven and Hell, Jester Race is a melodeath classic, and the early Crue is actually pretty high quality. I wasn’t impressed with Alter Bridge, unfortunately.
 
Maiden fans, behold the rich melodies and harmonies of In Flames!!

The best album with best guitar work, before they traded in all these cool melodies for generic verse, chorus, verse, chorus songs with little tempo changes.

So, let's go back and remember this 2nd album. Best track: Dead Eternity. Play on 11! \m/

 
Sabbath in the first pair. The Mob Rules often plays second fiddle to it's predecessor but looking at the tracklist it's in my mind just as good an album. Be'Lakor, while competent, sounds like a hundred other bands playing the same style, I fail to see the interest.

In Flames were pretty good back in the early to mid 90s and this is not one of my favourite Megadeth albums. I mean it's not bad, and if you grew up on it or got into metal through this album or whatever I can undestand it, but it doesn't hold a candle, in my mind, to the albums before it.

Alter Bridge and their style of 00s alternative metal/hard rock sounds very dated to me, even if there is some good riffage in there. Too Fast For Love by the Crüe never lost it's youthful vigour and remains a super fun record to listen to no matter when you throw it on.

Sabotage is one of my favourite Sabbath albums because it manages to balance the heavy riffing of the first few albums with a wild and expermental (psychedelic) approach to the songs.
 
Sabbath in the first pair. The Mob Rules often plays second fiddle to it's predecessor but looking at the tracklist it's in my mind just as good an album. Be'Lakor, while competent, sounds like a hundred other bands playing the same style, I fail to see the interest.

In Flames were pretty good back in the early to mid 90s and this is not one of my favourite Megadeth albums. I mean it's not bad, and if you grew up on it or got into metal through this album or whatever I can undestand it, but

Sabatage is one of my favourite Sabbath albums because it manages to balance the heavy riffing of the first few albums with a wild and expermental (psychedelic) approach to the songs.
I would have voted for Sabotage vs any other album of this round. But LC placed the 2 best vs eachother. Giving weaklings a chance to advance perhaps.

But this, this is Sin After Sin. This album combined the best that was in existence in 1977. Phenomenal metal riffs, an absolutely unmatched vocalist at the peak in his life, metal drums, that do not sound processed as most records in the last 2 decades, but fucking real. So good, so natural. There is space, there is dynamics, there is great use of double bass drums, groove, china cymbal. This album has the most complete, best fitting drums one can imagine. And then the songwriting. Variety in mood, tempo. Melancolic songs, speed metal, double bass with guitar harmonies just like Helloween did
eight(!) years later. Doom in Here Come the Tears. The low vocals, the high terrific, emotional screams. The biting riffing.

Sabbath has also some great riffing, but not on the same amount of songs, nor does it have most things I just mentioned. Also it has a few relatively duller songs. Megalomania is a favourite of mine. And Symptom. Too bad I rather see it go, but hey, this is where we are now.
 
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules. It's just the best album with Dio and one of my Sabbath favorites.
Megadeth - United Abominations. Good album from the Mustaine band. Never liked me In flames
(I didn't voted for Motley Crue or Alter Bridge because I hate the first ones and Alter Bridge is not my cup of tea)
Black Sabbath - Sabotage. Black Sabbath on their finest moments of their career. It's f***ing awesome with all of those songs…Hole in the Sky, Megalomania, The Writ, Symptom of the Universe, Am I going insane… all the songs are f***ing good and I hate to leave Sin after Sin because I love it but I think Sabotage is better.
 
Be'lakor has some very good melodies and great riffs, though I've heard much better unclean vocals than this. But really, it doesn't compare to Sabbath at all. The Mob Rules is amazing, and every bit as good an album as Heaven and Hell, in my opinion.

It's been a while since I listened to Whoracle, but I remember it as being a bit better, more refined, than The Jester Dance (there's a lot of good stuff going on here, however). Going up against Megadeth, I'm still willing to toss my vote for In Flames. United Abominations has some good tracks, but isn't an album I come back to a lot.

I really, really despise Mötley Crüe. Alter Bridge plays a type of plain, generic hard rock that I'd usually vote against in almost any other match-up, but they're absolutely the preferrable choice here.

I can name a bunch of other Priest-albums I like more than Sin After Sin. Sabotage, on the other hand, features two of my favourite Sabbath-tracks in "Symptom of the Universe" and "Megalomania". "Hole in the Sky" and "Thrill of it All" are great too, and I'm even a fan of "Supertzar". Another vote for Sabbath.
 
Sabbath has also some great riffing, but not on the same amount of songs, nor does it have most things I just mentioned. Also it has a few relatively duller songs. Megalomania is a favourite of mine. And Symptom. Too bad I rather see it go, but hey, this is where we are now.

Don't get me wrong, I also highly enjoy Sin After Sin. But we have to pick one right:bigsmile: There's a few songs on Sabotage that are very un-Sabbath, at least up until that time; .Am I Going Insane, Supertzar for example - but honestly, Í think that's why I like the album so much. The atmosphere and the concept of the album is just endlessly intriguing. So much more than just a 70s hard rock album.
 
Don't get me wrong, I also highly enjoy Sin After Sin. But we have to pick one right:bigsmile: There's a few songs on Sabotage that are very un-Sabbath, at least up until that time; .Am I Going Insane, Supertzar for example - but honestly, Í think that's why I like the album so much. The atmosphere and the concept of the album is just endlessly intriguing. So much more than just a 70s hard rock album.
Supertzar! Brilliant.

But Sin After Sin isn't just a 70s hard rock album imo.
 
This thing is escalating fast. Four absolutely classic records here and two of them locking horns... Already made my choice but about this duel but if you asked me in a an hour I might as well be giving my vote the opposite way (you know what matchup I'm talking about). Sad to see one of these two huge records being kicked. :(
 
Maiden fans, behold the rich melodies and harmonies of In Flames!!

The best album with best guitar work, before they traded in all these cool melodies for generic verse, chorus, verse, chorus songs with little tempo changes.

So, let's go back and remember this 2nd album. Best track: Dead Eternity. Play on 11! \m/

Show them the light, young man... Show them the light! :edmetal: :edmetal: :edmetal:
 
I absolutely hate Motley Crew. The only band that ranks lower is Poison.
Motley Crew's image, music, and brand in general really hurt my esthetics. Alter Bridge losing to them is more painful than going through my divorce.
 
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