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

This Emperor album is not my cup of tea. Such cacophony, very wow. I will say that most of the black metal vocals are so abstract and so low in the mix that I could probably accept them if there was anything for me to latch onto in the music, but aside from a few moments of clarity here and there I’m not hearing much that would meet that bar. Up against a top tier Iron Maiden album, this one was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Congratusorrylations, @The Flash, but your I-don’t-know-what-incestuous-relationship-gets-1/13-of-your-DNA-into-someone Kaliatyn Dr JeddInTheDarkie’s LooseMoshun Pothe Dissrflashic22666’s nominee takes this in a walk. Winner: Iron Maiden

This Judas Priest album is pretty uneven, with tracks like “Delivering The Goods”, “Hell Bent For Leather”, and “Before The Dawn” being pretty good, but many of the other tracks being unmemorable or cringey filler. Up against such a strong, if poppy, Queensrÿche album, it’s not really looking like a killing machine. Sorry, @Cornfed Hick, but Yoxacillin’s choice wins this one pretty easily. Winner: Queensrÿche

This third match is probably the most interesting of the round. I don’t listen to Pyromania often, and I recalled it being not as rocking as High ‘N’ Dry and not as polished as Hysteria, so I figured this would be an easy call. But in listening to it again, the songwriting is really great in tracks like “Photograph”, “Too Late For Love”, and “Foolin’”, there’s a really strong second tier of songs after that, and there aren’t really any bad songs on the record at all. It also sounds way more polished than The Book Of Souls, which came out over 30 years later! (How sad is that?) It obviously can’t compete with the Iron Maiden album when it comes to epic-length songs, and the Maiden album is no slouch either — no song is any less than good, and there are a number of great to excellent tracks as well. I think these two may have dueled to a tie, and to counter Maiden bias I have to break ties toward the visiting team. So, sorry Srfcollikis The Drissimaticannon7, but I have to go with @Kalata ’s nominee here. Winner: Def Leppard

This Twisted Sister album is just not very good overall. “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” are good stuff, and “The Price” is OK, but the rest of this is really half baked and simplistic. I would much rather grab a Trump flag and impale some capitol police with it while listening to this uneven but much more interesting Iseditionist Earth album, even if that means having to watch these glorious CPAC speeches from a jail cell. Sorry, @matic22, but FrackBlizzard’s choice has an oath to keep. Winner: Iseditionist Earth
 
MindRuler said:
IRYO though. :)
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Yup... same here. Both are personal takes indeed: Jet City Woman simply says nothing to me (much less when compared with the best tracks on Empire) and the same goes for the remainder of more Hard Rock like stuff in the album (Hand On Heart, Resistance, Another Rainy Night) with the exception of Best I Can. And once again Def Leppard is a personal thing. Don't want to slander but, while acknowledging them as one of the big bands that came out of the NWOBHM, fact is I personally think their sound is absolutely boring (both the heavier and more comercial stuff) and never got their appeal.
 
I agree that Hell Bent For Leather is a very inconsistent album, full of ups and downs, and I was personally shocked to see it on two lists compared to some of the Priest albums that didn't make two. But I'm just not a big Queensrÿche fan either, so I am very torn on how to vote in that matchup.
 
I think you can explain the list entries as it was the first album where they had a couple of somewhat commercial hits in Hell Bent for Leather and Take On the World
 
AMOLAD is one of my top Maiden records. So, Maiden

KM/HBFL has 7 songs that I consider good-to-great, Empire has none because I do not enjoy Queensryche. So, Priest

I know Pyromania is considered “one of the best whatever so and so” albums, but I just don’t get it. To me it sounds like some sort of mashup of AC/DC-style hard rock and Van Halen vibes. I’m lukewarm on the former of those things and I truly hate the latter. TBOS is a flawed, but quite good album. Empire of the Clouds and the title track alone can beat anything on Pyromania. So, Maiden

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why does this IE album have to go up against Twisted Sister? I don’t really like this album because of the vocalist, but it does have good songs. Twisted Sister also have a vocalist I dislike and music that does nothing for me. If I were just voting for the politics of the band leader, I’d throw a vote Dee’s way in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, Domesticed Tearthism has the stronger music.
 
O no. Not to Priest fans.

Killing Machine (Hell Bent for Leather) is very consistent. I only find the LP closers Take On the World and Evil Fantasies weak.
The rest is a beautiful ride by a top metal band. Nine rocking and/or melodic and/or atmospheric songs.

I know this game can (or should) generate appreciation for lesser known albums and bands. But let's remember:

If an album is not one of Judas Priest's (very) best, it can still be a great album, if one finds that Priest has one of the most enjoyable discographies from all metal bands!

Even if an album would be Judas Priest bottom half material, big chance (depending on which one it is) that it would still ram down a lot of opponents.
 
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Oh yeah, I forgot to state that I was only expressing my opinion. Sorry about that.
 
Forostar said:
O no. Not to Priest fans.

Killing Machine (Hell Bent for Leather) is very consistent. I only find the LP closers Take On the World and Evil Fantasies weak.
The rest is a beautiful ride by a top metal band.

I know this game can (or should) generate appreciation for lesser known albums and bands. But let's remember:

If an album is not one of Judas Priest's (very) best, it is still a great album, if one finds that Priest has one of the most enjoyable discographies from all metal bands!

Even if an album would be Judas Priest bottom half material, big chance that it would still ram down most opponents.
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Agreed.

Also because some album is an average band's best album does not mean that it therefore should beat another bands weaker albums by default.
 
As I said, I only stated my opinion. I don't mean to take away from your appreciation. But I can delete my post if it offends you.
 
Perun said:
Oh yeah, I forgot to state that I was only expressing my opinion. Sorry about that.
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People who find that a lot of albums by this band are inconsitent will probably have a more negative opinion. All fine, of course.

I am glad to add my more positive view.

EDIT:

Totally no offense.
 
srfc said:
Also because some album is an average band's best album does not mean that it therefore should beat another bands weaker albums by default.
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Has anyone actually made this argument?

If we’re seeing any trend here, it’s for weaker albums from great bands winning popularity contest picks against superior albums from lesser known bands, with weaker Iron Maiden albums being the worst offenders (though that Rainbow debut certainly did its fair share of damage).

All subjective, of course, but I would hope that Niall’s ironic nomination of Virtual XI and its subsequent win streak would have driven that point home more.
 
Jer said:
Has anyone actually made this argument?
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Yeah loads of times, such and such an album is not band x's best therefore it should be voted off.

Although, I wasn't making a counter argument as such, more an observation, people are entitled to vote for whoever they want.
 
I quite like Hell Bent, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Empire.

The former is the work of a great band trying a new direction and delivering some hits and misses. It ranks at least halfway down the list of Priest albums and I’d call it well worth owning, but it’s nowhere near great.

The latter is probably the pinnacle of commercial metal prog, if that’s a thing. Anybody Listening is mammoth, as is Empire. The commercial “hits” still rock, the rockers still have hooks, and the detours like Thin Line, Lucidity and Della Brown are well worth getting off the highway. Well-crafted, well-performed and varied, I’m not sure how you would improve on it, within the confines of what they were trying to do.
 
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A Matter of Life and Death ticks every box for me commercially and artistically. No contest there. Emperor might be a textbook slice of black metal, but I am too much of an outsider to make that call.
 
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