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

Dirt fucking annihilates Halford for me and it isn’t even close. Unlike the majority of bands thrown under the ‘grunge’ moniker, Alice In Chains are 100% a metal band. They have heavy riffs, sometimes with blues influence, sometimes bordering on sludge. Layne Stanley is one of the greatest singers to have ever lived and this album is his highlight. The shouts in “Them Bones”, the chorus to “Rain When I Die”, just two examples of his passion, and every performance of his on this album is excellent. I burst into the “God Smack” chorus almost every time I fuck something up. And Cantrell — both the guitar playing and the backing vocals, awesome. And Mike Starr is a helluva bassist (RIP) and Sean Kinney is a really tight drummer. The songs are emotional and soul-wrenching and filled with both depression and hope. It is a truly great record. Halford shouldn’t stand a chance, with his stuffed-with-fillers-and-merely-decent Resurrection. Dirt is a band truly firing on all cylinders. Halford only really does that on his album cover.

Pantera, although Exodus’s title track is fun.

Slayer.

Here’s the thing. “Rock You Like a Hurricane” alone is better than anything At the Gates have ever done. But since anti-guttural vocal people are going to vote for Scorpions over the Gothenburg titans anyway, I’ll give At the Gates a pity vote. Theirs is probably the more genre-defining / game-changing of the two, too.
 
You know, Bonded in Blood was recommended on almost every list, and I don't really know why. I was hoping someone here could explain it to me, because I didn't find myself enjoying the album too much.
 
LooseCannon said:
You know, Bonded in Blood was recommended on almost every list, and I don't really know why. I was hoping someone here could explain it to me, because I didn't find myself enjoying the album too much.
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Exodus were one of the biggest leaders in the Bay Area thrash scene and helped create thrash metal. Unfortunately for them, their debut was delayed so much that other bands beat them to the honor of ‘first thrash record’ and they never really recovered from that. I think their influence is what gives BBB such a high standing in the genre, but I agree, it’s not really my thing.
 
Well godammit, one of my nominees is up against an album I'd like to see advance. Gonna vote for Slaughter of the Soul because I nomninated it. Big fan of the Scorps, and I don't typically like death metal, but At the Gates completely kicks ass. As others have noted, it is a groundbreaking classic of the genre, and it holds up pretty well. The loser of this matchup is still better than all the other albums in this round.
 
Halford, Halford, Halford and Halford. But since that wasn't an option I voted for Halford, Pantera, Helloween and Scorpions.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
Well godammit, one of my nominees is up against an album I'd like to see advance. Gonna vote for Slaughter of the Soul because I nomninated it. Big fan of the Scorps, and I don't typically like death metal, but At the Gates completely kicks ass. As others have noted, it is a groundbreaking classic of the genre, and it holds up pretty well. The loser of this matchup is still better than all the other albums in this round.
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Cool Cornfed. Had no idea you like such music.
 
I think we all have a few exceptions to our tastes. And that's good! Even @Jer has found one or two albums with non-clean vocals that he's appreciated.

Keep note of your newfound darlings, by the way, I think we have lots to talk about after we finally anoint our Greatest Metal Album.
 
A mostly easy round.

Dirt is a force of nature — a queasy spiral into the head of a heroin addict. Crushing, grungy riffs and bizarre but memorable vocal harmonies are delivered with a surprising amount of melody in the guitars and vocals. There’s a nice mix of accessible songs (“Would?”, “Down In A Hole”) and less accessible ones (“Sickman”, “Angry Chair”), and everything in between. The album’s pretty much great from top to bottom with some really stellar songs on it. Top shelf stuff — no wonder I nominated it! This Halford album is enjoyable enough, but it’s not a seminal classic, so the choice here is clear. Sorry, maxSpayindog, but Jeriesel CollampmaticFTBicarus 76’s nominee takes this one. Winner: Alice In Chains

Hadn’t heard this Exodus album before, and while the riffage is pretty good, the songwriting is really simplistic and boring and the vocals are pretty bad half-shouted thrash fare. This puts me in the extremely awkward position of saying that Phil Anselmo’s vocals are superior to his competition in this case, and that Pantera’s songwriting is also more interesting and nuanced by comparison. (Christ, I need a shower after saying that.) I’m not saying that I like the Pantera album, but on the merits it’s better than its opposition. Sorry, @Perun, but the list nominee comes out ahead here. Winner: Pantera

This Slayer album has cool riffage and little else. The singing is off rhythm, out of tune, and boring, and the solos are mostly directionless. So, typical Slayer. While I’m not that keen on super-early Helloween, I’ll take it in a heartbeat over its competition. Sorry, @Magnus, but Kolastar’s choice wins out this time. Winner: Helloween

So, At The Gates. I guess some of the music is pretty cool, but the spastic drumming and terrible vocals make this one circle the drain pretty quickly for me. I can see why someone would appreciate this album if they were into that sort of thing, but alas, I am not. And it’s up against a premier hard rock album from the mid-80s that’s loaded up with all-time classics and other memorable tracks — plus I nominated it. So, sorry Spamfed Hickarus, but Jef T. Boto’s choice is the superior one here. Winner: Scorpions
 
I liked the linked Halford song more than the linked AIC one, but I'm not deaf to what the latter has done. They're groovy and have written some insanely catchy songs, and from most of what I've heard, Halford's solo stuff is nothing special or unique. Thus, Alice in Chains.

Pantera, and it's not even close.

Match three was tough because Slayer just mostly sounds like slop to me, yet I really can't stand Helloween's cliché tenor vocals with no depth. Everything about them screams "generic power metal" to me. The instrumental section was pretty neat, though. At least Slayer's music matches their vocals, although I am partial to a few riffs from their late '80s and early '90s albums. But not this. At least Helloween has decent (if not cliché) music.

This last one was tough, because while I love deathy growls (like Opeth used to expertly do), I can't stand these screaming blargh throw-up-sounding vocals. It sounds like an imp trapped in a cage over an open flame, as opposed to a raging demon or a Tyrannosaur (like growls do). But there was a sweet riff in there. Scorpions have never done much for me, and this album somehow beat the epic The Divine Wings of Tragedy, so I went with At the Gates. I like the overall musical sound of that song better, anyway.
 
Alice in Chains - I had this on a copied cassette when it was out, I didn't really get into to it but probably liked it a bit more than the other grunge albums that I dipped my toe in. This track is pretty decent and doesn't sound dated in anyway.

Halford - Opinion given before

Halford with the win.

Exodus - An album that might have been nominated by me if I had more nominations. I don't think their songs are as good as the big 4 but this album is much more like a dictionary definition of what Thrash is than anything the Big 4 produced (Slayer a bit heavier than thrash, the other 3 a bit more mainstream). Baloff sounds absolutely demented which enhances the ridiculous lyrical content. Some of the riffs are out of this world, the main riff in Deliver us to Evil which they then kick up a notch with key change and variation of it for the second verse, Piranha, And Then There Were None, A Lesson in Violence, the main riff in No Love when it kicks in after the acoustic part.

Pantera - opinion given before

Exodus with the win

Slayer - The best intro in Metal. I think it's the weakest of their first 5 albums but there's still great stuff on this. Apart from the title track which is the best they ever did, At Dawn They Sleep, Necrophiliac, Kill Again and Praise of Death are all great, Crypts of Eternity and Hardening of the Arteries are a bit weaker but still good. It loses a lot of points for me with the weak production, the bass sounds awful, the guitars need some mid, and the drums could be dryer.

Helloween - opinion given before

Fuckin' Slayer #crushes can against head

At the Gates - I had a copied tape of Terminal Spirit Disease when it was out, saw the video on HBB but didn't really get into the album. This is okay, don't like the drum sound but otherwise I could dig this, vocal not a million miles away from Mille Petrozza who I like. The sound on this has obviously been hugely influential.

Scorpions - opinion given before

Scorpions with the win
 
The first match up is the only one which I had to really make a choice in. Dirt is a phenomenal Grunge album and is really Alice In Chains masterpiece, hosting some of their greatest tracks my personal favourites are Down In A Hole and Would? On the other hand Halford is a great return to form, with the blazing title track and Silent Screams being some of Rob's best modern day vocal performances. That being said Dirt is a far more impressive album when comparred to what they mean culturally.

I'm not a fan of either in the 2nd so Pantera gets it

Never got into Slayer, so Helloween gets the vote

Love At First Sting is one of my gateway albums, yes it has the monster tracks Still Loving You, Rock You Like A Hurricane and Coming Home with some catchy strong tracks like Bad Boys Running Wild, I'm Leaving You, and Big City Nights. It gets my vote solely for the first song listed on the list, let alone for the others.
 
Nothing particularly close at this point, I will say I am not surprised by any of these. Slayer has a lot of albums to come and I expect their bigger names to be more competitive, but they probably won't get too far as there's few real Slayer heads here. After all this guy:

tenor.gif


isn't a forum member, just a friend of one.
 
I can't see really what's so special with Dirt, but I've seen a lot of times taking top spots on various best of/greatest hits lists, so the current situation isn't that surprising to me. Resurrection on the other hand has been vastly underestimated and have this feeling that it would have been waaaaay more appreciated if you just replace Halford with Judas Priest (IMO, it's neck to neck with Angel of Retribution minus Loch Ness). Since Bruce song is currently represented I must admit I loved it when I heard it for the first time. Now, I kind of dislike that they both went for the same voice register making them both sounding same-ish.

This Pantera could probably carry the title "Album which broke the most guitar strings" since I believe every guy tried to nail that Cemetery Gates riff. And the title track is so iconic, it alone deserves place in the first league. Nothing against Exodus, of course.

What Mr LC posted (I love that guy!!!) - SLAYER!

Finally, At The Gates. I'm one of those which are going to give a song/album/band a thumb down if I hear vocals like this. But damn... this album is so amazing that I fell in love with it immediately. So, one of my 10 nominations is spent on albums with those vocals - that's how good it is.

My feelings are also summed up here.
#ShamelessThreadPromo
 
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