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

LOL..... Sabbath.

The Jester Race...the pinnacle of In Flames and Swedish melodic death metal. :wub:

Alter Bridge but only by default

Priest
 
Previous round

Honestly, I was surprised when I saw my name nominating Halford. I have no idea where I came up with that album (I was probably skimming through my old last.fm account). I've heard it yesterday for the first time after years and... it sounds a bit different from what I remember. More on that when it comes again in the tournament.

Cowboys from Hell VS Lateralus was the hardest one, but I opted for Tool since I spent more time listening to it.

Third round was no-brainer: Helloween. BUT, I must confess, I didn't expect some albums would get so far. I know Faith No More isn't grunge, but there were a couple of these alternative rock/metal albums from the 90s that had a pretty long run (some still do I think). I don't know is it my distorted view on how "metalheads" see 90s or is it this forum. Usually in metal communities, grunge for example, is looked-up from above and disgust. OK, that's maybe a bit harsh, but I always got the feeling a lot of people listening to metal didn't even try to listen to something from Pearl Jam. Maybe it was that whole deal from the 90s where grunge destroyed heavy metal, so when the new era of heavy metal began in new millennium people quickly changed sides and spat upon previous decade. IDK, looked weird to me...

Didn't vote in the 4th pair, since I'm still going through Symphony X song by song in the Deep Dive Discussion on their thread. But, I doubt we're going to get through their whole discography before this tournament ends so it's only a matter of time until I start voting against them.

Current round

Black Sabbath
in the first pair, but even if Mob Rules is one of better albums from Sabbath (only because of Dio) it's still a pretty week one.
There are waaaay better Megadeth albums, but still, never cared about In Flames.
As Mr. KB said: Never Motley Crue. Alter Bridge's Blackbird it is, although I still liked better their later albums.
I thought fourth one would be the hardest, but when I thought about it: Ozzy against Sinner and Dissident Agressor? Judas Priest, easily.
 
Third round was no-brainer: Helloween. BUT, I must confess, I didn't expect some albums would get so far. I know Faith No More isn't grunge, but there were a couple of these alternative rock/metal albums from the 90s that had a pretty long run (some still do I think). I don't know is it my distorted view on how "metalheads" see 90s or is it this forum. Usually in metal communities, grunge for example, is looked-up from above and disgust. OK, that's maybe a bit harsh, but I always got the feeling a lot of people listening to metal didn't even try to listen to something from Pearl Jam. Maybe it was that whole deal from the 90s where grunge destroyed heavy metal, so when the new era of heavy metal began in new millennium people quickly changed sides and spat upon previous decade. IDK, looked weird to me...

I can see your point, as a 90's kid who wasn't a fan of the main trends of Grunge and Nu-Metal, but what has surprised me a lot about this game is the amount of Power Metal and Prog from that era that seems to have struck a chord with the younger generation. At the time that sort of stuff was seen as laughably dated and, no offense intended, for geeks as far as I remember.
 
But of course, Judas Priest are going to win. Fuck it. Okay, from now on I'm going to always vote against JP. I've really had enough. Even when they're going to be against Motley Crue. Or Dokken or something. I'll see what I'll do when they come up against Rush, I'll maybe refrain from voting altogether then, but from now on, it's #noRush and #noPriest. Just like Knicks has with his Armored Saint. À propos, talking about him

Seriously one of the most hurtful things you've ever said to me.
You clearly value “experimental” Sabbath far more than I do. Good for you! I’ll be honest, I don’t rate most Ozzy Sabbath very high (beyond Paranoid) because well: I find Ozzy’s voice...yes even in its prime...to be absolutely ridiculous and unimaginative.

I also have no Judas Priest obsession, but Sin After Sin is one of their great albums. They have a ton of duds.
 
Errrr... bald statement.
The Metal God would like a word.

Rob_Halford_of_Judas_Priest.jpg
 
I think the shit cover tricks people into thinking it's a weak album, like I said in my review, it's my favourite or thereabouts, but trying to think objectively I think I can't see any arguments for it being weaker than the first album or Vol. 4.
 
@JudasMyGuide regarding your last rant on the Sabbath vs Priest matchup I'd like to give my two cents:

a) I also think some people here largely disregard early Sabbath records (and therefore Sabotage). First off without them there would've been no Metal (or in a far fetched take on an alternate reality what we call Metal would've sound drastically different). I don't know what to say to people who don't understand this, honestly. And when I say Metal I'm not talking solely about Heavy Metal. Back in the early 70's these guys were building strong foundations on Doom and Stoner. Hell, and even laid some seeds to Thrash and Prog Metal (in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage). Many bands 50 years later still base almost the totality of their sound on what these dudes where doing back then. And as you may guess I didn't grow during the time Sabbath were doing this (I was only born in 1976) but from the first time I listened to it it was love at first listen.

b) Of course Sabotage is easily one of Sabbath's most important records. One can like or not but to disregard tracks such as Hole In The Sky, Megalomania or Symptom Of The Universe? Once again I simply don't know what to say.

c) That being said Judas Priest also had a gigantic influence on Metal If it's fair to say Priest based their heavy blueprint in Sabbath's heavy riffage it's also undeniable they brought lots of new traits and tracks that would be crucial to the developing of some of Metal sub genres to an extent Heavy, Power/speed and even Thrash metal would also surely sound pretty different in a parallel universe without any Judas Priest.

d) Priest brought to Metal the high pitch falsetto of Hard Rock voices such as Gillan and Plant, gave their sound the aggression of Sabbath, brought the dual guitar harmonies to heavier music, brought a lot of double base kick to their drumming and sped up the tempo they played. And Sin After Sin (along with Sad Wings Of Destiny and Stained Class) was truly pivotal while shaping the future of Metal. Sinner is a semi Prog/ Heavy Metal epic tune, Diamonds And Rust has that Power/Heavy metal galloping herta riff based pace, the double kick speedster on Call For The Priest and the almost Thrash metal Dissident Aggressor (to a point Slayer covered it with minor arrangements in South Of Heaven and it fits perfectly with the remainder of the tracks). The way you don't understand how pivotal this record was leaves me with the same WTF feeling when I see people bashing the first Sabbath era.

So to sum it up yes, I 100% disagree when people slander early Sabbath and in this case Sabotage. These records are the foundations when it comes to Metal in general and Doom/ Stoner in particular . But the same works for 70's Priest (with the exception of Rocka Rolla) when it comes to Heavy Metal and Speed/ Power Metal. Hey... no one is forced to like them but those are classics that deeply shaped a musical genre and surely were YEARS AHEAD of their time. Once again it's such a blatant evidence how influential these albums were I don't know what to say to people who state otherwise or in the case of many here say that either Sabotage or Sin After Sin are boring, filler stuff, mundane, or whatever. Once again people don't have to like it but saying those are bad or mediocre records is nonsense. Want an example? I'm not a Rush fan but easily can see how crafted musicians they are and how deeply they influenced Prog Metal. So far from me to slander their early stuff would be both disrespectful and to a certain point foolish, since it was crucial in what a whole subgenre would become and particularly the raising of one of my favorite artists (among many others): Devin Townsend.

Peace.
 
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I find Ozzy’s voice...yes even in its prime...to be absolutely ridiculous and unimaginative.
I actually like Ozzy’s voice. I know people joke about him all the time, but he’s not actually a bad singer. I think he really came into his own solo more than with Sabbath. His duet with Lita Ford on “Close My Eyes Forever” might be my favorite of his performances.
 
So to sum it up yes, I 100% disagree when people slander early Sabbath and in this case Sabotage. These records are the foundations when it comes to Metal in general and Doom/ Stoner in particular
I mean, getting a top 100 album nomination by consensus in this isn't slander. But it is also true to say that of the first six Sabbath records, it is the lowest ranked using my methodology.
 
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