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

I still voted for Firepower. I thought (hope) most of us did not use that argument, Knick (when voting).

MrKnickerbocker said:
Some of us like different sub-genres of metal more than others. Doesn’t mean we dislike “most” of the albums in this game, just that we prefer others.
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As long as you enjoy most you hear in the game (and not disliking it), I am glad to be wrong of course.
Saapanael said:
Perhaps my favourite Priest song.
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+ 1
 
That's one of the songs Rob also did rather well, during the 2008-2009 era when his voice was rather shot. I'm really glad thery played that one, and the downtuning made it even more menacing. It's on my shortlist as well.
 
Forostar said:
Come on. Every song great? Lone Wolf for example?

Painkiller really has no real weak points. Firepower has. It is not that hard to find at least one or more lesser moments, somewhere in this bunch. Hard to find such moments of the same weakness on Painkiller.

9."Flame Thrower"4:34
10."Spectre"4:24
11."Traitors Gate"5:43
12."No Surrender"2:54
13."Lone Wolf"5:09
14."Sea of Red"5:51
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To me, Flamethrower is the only track there that isn't at least good.
The Spectre/Gate/Surrender run might be the best three-song- run on the album.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Whether you like it or not is a subjective thing, whether it's great is not.
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Aren't those the same thing though? Unless you mean "great" to be "perceived by the majority to be great". Otherwise I think that greatness is measured by how much one likes something, and thus liking it or not and whether it's great or not is the same thing, subjective to the listener.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
I'll try to play with this as the "contrarian" here. No offence intended.
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It takes way more to offend me, don't worry.

JudasMyGuide said:
- Well, your opinion should be based on something (otherwise it's not an opinion, but a whim) and either the thing is cheap and appeals at low instincts and therefore gets mass popularity or it might be actually great and you are wrong. Whether you like it or not is a subjective thing (and completely irrelevant to discussion), whether it's great is not.
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I don't agree with you on this sort of semantic. It can be my opinion if I like something or not if I have reasons for it. I can also be of the opinion that I dislike something popular while still appreciating that it has a quality that makes it popular. Likewise, I can deal with the fact that most people dislike what I like. It doesn't change the music for me. People argued in this game that Atlantean Kodex has weirdly tuned guitars and that was a turn-off to them. I can hear what they mean, and I can understand that they don't like it, but I think it sounds great. @Jer can complain all he likes about the glass-gargling vocals on my favourite black metal albums, and you can all point out to me that the majority of people do not like this type of vocals, and I can say - fine. I still like it. All I ask in return is that you respect it when I dislike something you like. I'm not even asking you to understand why I dislike it, just to respect it. I don't mean to take away from your appreciation of it, I just want to state my opinion.

JudasMyGuide said:
- Listening to only things we like doesn't really make us grow in any way. Listening to stuff that is genuinely overall perceived as great might actually change us as people. I spend actually quite a lot of time with stuff that I don't even remotely like, in order to better myself and to educate myself, whether it's music, literature, movies...
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Why do I need to listen to music for personal growth? I've been arguing this to a lot of people in recent years: In my own personal life, I'm exposed to new things all the time and I need to be open-minded a lot. And I'm not complaining about that. But I also appreciate a bit of cheese and conservatism for myself, and I find that especially in music. That doesn't mean I'm against listening to and discovering new music, but I also appreciate having my safe space where I know what I like. And that's my thing. If I want to listen to ten epic metal albums in a row all of which are minor variations of the same theme, that's my problem. I know that I'm missing out on music I might enjoy, but that will always be the case, even if I listened to a hundred different albums by a hundred different artists in a hundred different genres.
I find a lot of challenge in my education, my profession, in my reading, even in films and in trying to navigate through my daily life. I'm not saying I don't like challenge in music, but I'm just going to be honest and say I appreciate it when I can control the challenge here. I think I'm entitled to that, because that's my thing and my thing only. Also, I already take a lot of inspiration out of the music I listen to the way it is.

JudasMyGuide said:
- And it matters because you're on a friggin forum - therefore you desire a certain type of communion with people who belong to your "group" or "tribe". If you didn't care about others, why would you do this to yourself? Or are you just shouting in the open void, for the amusement of yourself?
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For one, I've been on this board for 17 years now and I've grown attached to a lot of the people here. Many are old, good friends I've met numerous times. It's part of my social circle. When I first joined this board, I was a lot more like what you described above, looking for personal growth in music, but now that I'm my mid-30s, some of my priorities shifted. They might shift again and maybe by the time I'm 40 I'll only listen to experimental fusion jazz (in that case, please shoot me).
Also, there are a lot of interesting discussions to be had about music and yes, discoveries to be made. Again, I'm not against discovery, but I want to do it at my own pace.
 
Perun said:
Again, I'm not against discovery, but I want to do it at my own pace.
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The best pace. Excellent post. I agree on many levels. I am still searching (discovering) a lot myself, but that goes in phases, in between other activities.

re: "I'm not even asking you to understand why I dislike it"
Sometimes I wonder why someone does (not) like something, and I hope people (e.g. you hehe) are not too irritated when that happens, when it is asked (or questioned). Sometimes I sense I come a bit too much in someone else's space or something, but I guess I simply like (not too often!) to talk about music as well. What is likable, what is not attractive in someone's opinion. Same goes for me, when someone talks "down" the most heralded record in metal, I get a bit itchy. Me liking it must have something to do with it.
 
I've been on this forum for a decade.
If you guys haven't converted me on Dream Theatre yet, I'm not sure you ever will.
I hear it, but I just don't feel it.
 
mckindog said:
Gamma Ray and Symphony X are good, but they are in over their heads here.
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Thanks a lot for reminding me of when this was all over the radio.

I literally can't stand these guys - Especially with the Metallica Black Album wannabe production on most of their albums. My dad loves them and never misses a chance to rant to me about how great they are and how any random song is more heavy than the next and how I should start listening to them or attending a concert.

I really, really can't stand them. I have no idea how the word "head" flicked a switch in my head and turned me on to this. That word exists in so many songs yet I instantly connected the dots to Takida.
 
Forostar said:
Sometimes I wonder why someone does not like something, and I hope people (e.g. you hehe) are not too irritated when that happens, when it is asked. Sometimes I sense I come a bit too much in someone else's space, but I guess I simply like (not too often!) to talk about music as well.
What is likable, what is not attractive in someone's opinion.
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Hey Foro - I completely understand this. I also like knowing what people like or dislike in music that I love. I don't think asking people to expand on their opinions is unreasonable at all. The issue for me is when you sort of, run with these assumptions and phrase them in pretty stark ways. I'm sorry if I bit back too harshly this morning (I needed to get bloodwork done and was way too antsy in anticipation, so my headspace wasn't great), but it just felt like an invalidation of my opinions after I tried to express what I personally found was great about Firepower and where I felt other Priest albums didn't quite reach those marks for me.

Like I said, I really like Painkiller too, I think the majority of it makes for a great record, it's just that when you compare things to make a point, sometimes the weaknesses get stressed more than the positives. I like it a lot more now than when I wrote that review you brought up. Pretty sure my average score would be in the high 80s, if not even in the 90s. And it doesn't have anything to do with "modern vs old", because I actually enjoy a lot of the classics, just not everything. Each decade has something amazing in it and it just depends on what sticks out to me or not. But anyway, there's an apology and an explanation in case you were left soured by my previous post.
 
I think it's important to note we're going to be making a lot of more emotional selections going forward. Things are getting narrow and heady.
 
Diesel 11 said:
Hey Foro - I completely understand this. I also like knowing what people like or dislike in music that I love. I don't think asking people to expand on their opinions is unreasonable at all. The issue for me is when you sort of, run with these assumptions and phrase them in pretty stark ways. I'm sorry if I bit back too harshly this morning (I needed to get bloodwork done and was way too antsy in anticipation, so my headspace wasn't great), but it just felt like an invalidation of my opinions after I tried to express what I personally found was great about Firepower and where I felt other Priest albums didn't quite reach those marks for me.

Like I said, I really like Painkiller too, I think the majority of it makes for a great record, it's just that when you compare things to make a point, sometimes the weaknesses get stressed more than the positives. I like it a lot more now than when I wrote that review you brought up. Pretty sure my average score would be in the high 80s, if not even in the 90s. And it doesn't have anything to do with "modern vs old", because I actually enjoy a lot of the classics, just not everything. Each decade has something amazing in it and it just depends on what sticks out to me or not. But anyway, there's an apology and an explanation in case you were left soured by my previous post.
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Thank you, Diesel. I apologize too. It looks like I did not leave much room for other opinions. Which can certainly be infuriating. I feel it is amazing that so many tracks on the Firepower album can be seen as great. I questioned it but certainly need to respect it as well.
 
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