srfc
Ancient Mariner
Yes definitely. I remember Kerry King saying similar when it was released i.e. that it sounded like what he wished Priest sounded like at the time.
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- Thread starter LooseCannon
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Yes definitely. I remember Kerry King saying similar when it was released i.e. that it sounded like what he wished Priest sounded like at the time.
Yax
Ancient Mariner
Resurrection is the best Priest album Priest never made.
I listened to much of Dirt to prepare for this round. I understand why it's going to win, and I liked some of it, but not nearly as much as I like Resurrection. Halford.
As I said above, I don't get Exodus. I don't much get Pantera either, but at least this album has Cemetery Gates.
Helloween over Slayer. The only slayer albums I can conceivably see myself voting for are Reign in Blood and Seasons of the Abyss. I know those albums, and Hell Awaits isn't them.
At the Gates really put a hell of a good album together. The vocals are hard for me, but over a Scorpions album that I can listen to without effort but also retain zero memory of outside of the hits, I'll pick the former.
As I said above, I don't get Exodus. I don't much get Pantera either, but at least this album has Cemetery Gates.
Helloween over Slayer. The only slayer albums I can conceivably see myself voting for are Reign in Blood and Seasons of the Abyss. I know those albums, and Hell Awaits isn't them.
At the Gates really put a hell of a good album together. The vocals are hard for me, but over a Scorpions album that I can listen to without effort but also retain zero memory of outside of the hits, I'll pick the former.
Alice in Chains stops Halford cold. They'll advance to the Premiership to face off against Judas Priest.
Pantera finishes off Exodus's only entry easily. Their upcoming date is a thrash-off against Megadeth.
Helloween takes down a Slayer album to earn their League 1 date. Lots of Slayer left in the game.
Scorpions squeaks past a strong At the Gates challenge, to end their tournament. Next up for them is also Judas Priest.
Pantera finishes off Exodus's only entry easily. Their upcoming date is a thrash-off against Megadeth.
Helloween takes down a Slayer album to earn their League 1 date. Lots of Slayer left in the game.
Scorpions squeaks past a strong At the Gates challenge, to end their tournament. Next up for them is also Judas Priest.
Kreator - Pleasure to Kill (1986) How it got here List entries: Metal Rules 99, DigitalDreamDoor 60, Metal Kingdom 86 Maidenfans Nominators: @Perun | |
| League 2 - Match 9 | vs. |
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (1981) How it got here List entries: Metal Rules 81, Metalstorm 90 Maidenfans Nominators: @Cornfed Hick, @mckindog Previous Rounds: League 3: Defeated Be’Lakor - Stone’s Reach 28-4. |
[TR]
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness (1989) How it got here List entries: Loudwire 44, DigitalDreamDoor 28, Metal Kingdom 65 Maidenfans Nominators: @Diesel 11 | |
| League 2 - Match 10 | vs. |
In Flames - The Jester Race (1996) How it got here List entries: Metal Rules 99, DigitalDreamDoor 99 Maidenfans Nominators: @Black Wizard, @FTB Previous Rounds: League 3: Defeated Megadeth - United Abominations 16-15. |
System of a Down - Toxicity (2001) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 27, Loudwire 13 Maidenfans Nominators: @Ariana, @Lampwick 43, @Spambot | |
| League 2 - Match 11 | vs. |
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. League 3: Defeated Mötley Crüe - Too Fast For Love 20-9. |
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman (1981) How it got here List entries: Rolling Stone 15, Metal Rules 34, Metalstorm 100, DigitalDreamDoor 70 Maidenfans Nominators: @matic22 | |
| League 2 - Match 12 | vs. |
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. League 3: Defeated Black Sabbath - Sabotage 21-10. |
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
The first one was the toughest because I don’t really care for either. Ended up going with Black Sabbath.
The battle of old school Florideath vs evolved Gothenburg melodeath was also kinda hard. Both are good records. Ended up going with my own nominee Morbid Angel, although I don’t like the album as much as I once did. Great songs on both though.
System of a Down. “Chop Suey!” would be enough to give them the win, but the record has a bunch of great songs that get me pumped more than Alter Bridge do.
Ozzy.
The battle of old school Florideath vs evolved Gothenburg melodeath was also kinda hard. Both are good records. Ended up going with my own nominee Morbid Angel, although I don’t like the album as much as I once did. Great songs on both though.
System of a Down. “Chop Suey!” would be enough to give them the win, but the record has a bunch of great songs that get me pumped more than Alter Bridge do.
Ozzy.
The Dissident
Ancient Mariner
Black Sabbath
Couldn't care less about either.
Alter Bridge
Judas Priest
Couldn't care less about either.
Alter Bridge
Judas Priest
Magnus
Pica Serdica
srfc
Ancient Mariner
Kreator - I'm a fan of Kreator, but have never been a huge fan of Pleasure to Kill, not that there's anything wrong with the tracks, just the sloppy playing and production. Plus the lead guitarist is awful. Plus if you listen to this record too much you become your own grandad
Black Sabbath - opinion given before
Black Sabbath with the win
Morbid Angel - not my thing
In Flames - Opinion given before
In Flames with the win
System of a Down - Parts of this track are real good i.e. the intro, the breakdown melody/chours, but the hook for the verse is shit, it's a good hook, it's memorable and unique but ultimately it's shit
Alter Bridge - opinion given before
Alter Bridge with the win
Ozzy - A brilliant record, with arguably the best guitarist of all time running amok. I nominated Blizzard of Ozz, but ultimately it's much of a muchness. If you're thinking of voting against this because of reality tv or you don't like Sharon or whatever, just listen to the solo on S.A.T.O. and realise you're voting for the legacy of one of the finest to ever pick up the instrument.
Judas Priest - opinion given before
Ozzy with the win
Black Sabbath - opinion given before
Black Sabbath with the win
Morbid Angel - not my thing
In Flames - Opinion given before
In Flames with the win
System of a Down - Parts of this track are real good i.e. the intro, the breakdown melody/chours, but the hook for the verse is shit, it's a good hook, it's memorable and unique but ultimately it's shit
Alter Bridge - opinion given before
Alter Bridge with the win
Ozzy - A brilliant record, with arguably the best guitarist of all time running amok. I nominated Blizzard of Ozz, but ultimately it's much of a muchness. If you're thinking of voting against this because of reality tv or you don't like Sharon or whatever, just listen to the solo on S.A.T.O. and realise you're voting for the legacy of one of the finest to ever pick up the instrument.
Judas Priest - opinion given before
Ozzy with the win
karljant
Ancient Mariner
A quick nod to the last round:
Resurrection is indeed really cool album but Dirt is one of the best Rock records ever made. Curiously enough the songs I like the least are Rooster and Angry Chair. Everything else is near perfect, especially the three song initial sequence starting with the nightmarish spiral odd tempo of Them Bones, passing through the heaviness of Dam That River and hitting the album's absolute zenith in the awesome Rain When I Die. Dirt continues on a stupid high quality level with the calm and melodic (yet dark as hell) Down In A Hole. Sickman is simply put a bad opioid trip in music form and it finds compensation in Junkhead, that depicts the "good" side of drugs. The title track is another perfect composition while God Smack is simply put an hallucinating brain freezer. Would Is a beautiful languish number that closes a classic album perfectly. Alice In Chains.
Now don't get me wrong these are two great albums and although I believe sometimes people overrate a tid bit, fact is they influenced tons of bands. And as far as I'm concerned it's a tie but I think Bonded By Blood has a little less highlights (title track, Strike of The Beast, Exodus, Then There Were None, Piranha) when compared with Cowboys. So, as I'm forced to pick it's Pantera by a thread.
Hell Awaits vs Walls Of Jericho. Great... couldn't be a more painful pick. Oh man... Already gave my two cents on how I totally love Walss Of Jericho. Hell Awaits is no different. Although it's just my fifth favorite Slayer album this thing is one of the most influential albums regarding extreme metal in the following years. It kicks in with the dark as fuck behemoth rising straight out of the depths of Hades that is the title track. Easily one of the band's best songs and let's get one thing clear: although the opener is easily the best track. that doesn't mean that the remainder are mundane. Kill Again is utterly aggressive and really well played and At Dawn They Sleep is even more amazing, a perfect mix of groove, eerie guitar melodies and well thought compositions. The next three songs is where the album starts dragging itself a bit when compared with the previous ones. Praise Of Death and Crypts Of Eternity are somewhat similar to At Dawn They Sleep but while having truly engaging moments they are no match to the vampire inspired thrasher. Necrophiliac is ok, a brief thrasher but perhaps the least interesting track here (nevertheless far from being bad) and the album ends on a great note with the exciting and heavy Hardening Of The Arteries. I think Slayer could easily add the 3 songs from Haunting The Chapel (or two, namely Haunting The Chapel and Chemical Warfare) since they're absolutely amazing and fit 100% the atmosphere. This would take the album to an even higher level and if that was the case Hell Awaits would be in my top 3 Slayer albums without shadow of doubt and would have won this matchup. But since it's not the case I'll go with Helloween.
Slaughter Of The Soul is one of those albums. Heavy, aggressive, non-mainstream yet the reverence towards it is almost unanimous from the most various sectors of the rock universe. Influential as hell, bearing some of the best balance of guitar melodies with undisputed ferocity, tracks like Cold, Blinded By Fear, Suicide Nation or the title track have surely granted their place on the pantheon of songs that shaped the course of metal. Not to mention of quality itself. Absolutely fantastic and an easy win for At The Gates.
Resurrection is indeed really cool album but Dirt is one of the best Rock records ever made. Curiously enough the songs I like the least are Rooster and Angry Chair. Everything else is near perfect, especially the three song initial sequence starting with the nightmarish spiral odd tempo of Them Bones, passing through the heaviness of Dam That River and hitting the album's absolute zenith in the awesome Rain When I Die. Dirt continues on a stupid high quality level with the calm and melodic (yet dark as hell) Down In A Hole. Sickman is simply put a bad opioid trip in music form and it finds compensation in Junkhead, that depicts the "good" side of drugs. The title track is another perfect composition while God Smack is simply put an hallucinating brain freezer. Would Is a beautiful languish number that closes a classic album perfectly. Alice In Chains.
Now don't get me wrong these are two great albums and although I believe sometimes people overrate a tid bit, fact is they influenced tons of bands. And as far as I'm concerned it's a tie but I think Bonded By Blood has a little less highlights (title track, Strike of The Beast, Exodus, Then There Were None, Piranha) when compared with Cowboys. So, as I'm forced to pick it's Pantera by a thread.
Hell Awaits vs Walls Of Jericho. Great... couldn't be a more painful pick. Oh man... Already gave my two cents on how I totally love Walss Of Jericho. Hell Awaits is no different. Although it's just my fifth favorite Slayer album this thing is one of the most influential albums regarding extreme metal in the following years. It kicks in with the dark as fuck behemoth rising straight out of the depths of Hades that is the title track. Easily one of the band's best songs and let's get one thing clear: although the opener is easily the best track. that doesn't mean that the remainder are mundane. Kill Again is utterly aggressive and really well played and At Dawn They Sleep is even more amazing, a perfect mix of groove, eerie guitar melodies and well thought compositions. The next three songs is where the album starts dragging itself a bit when compared with the previous ones. Praise Of Death and Crypts Of Eternity are somewhat similar to At Dawn They Sleep but while having truly engaging moments they are no match to the vampire inspired thrasher. Necrophiliac is ok, a brief thrasher but perhaps the least interesting track here (nevertheless far from being bad) and the album ends on a great note with the exciting and heavy Hardening Of The Arteries. I think Slayer could easily add the 3 songs from Haunting The Chapel (or two, namely Haunting The Chapel and Chemical Warfare) since they're absolutely amazing and fit 100% the atmosphere. This would take the album to an even higher level and if that was the case Hell Awaits would be in my top 3 Slayer albums without shadow of doubt and would have won this matchup. But since it's not the case I'll go with Helloween.
Slaughter Of The Soul is one of those albums. Heavy, aggressive, non-mainstream yet the reverence towards it is almost unanimous from the most various sectors of the rock universe. Influential as hell, bearing some of the best balance of guitar melodies with undisputed ferocity, tracks like Cold, Blinded By Fear, Suicide Nation or the title track have surely granted their place on the pantheon of songs that shaped the course of metal. Not to mention of quality itself. Absolutely fantastic and an easy win for At The Gates.
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I understood that reference!
karljant
Ancient Mariner
Another tough choice. Ah man, screw it! I've been leaving too much extreme metal empty handed. As I said before Mob Rules is a huge album (my favorite Sabbath album with Dio) but Pleasure to Kill is simply an angry MF. Ripping Corpse is easily my favorite from the lot: perfect opener at breakneck speed this thing is rage incarnated (that chorus). Playing and production are lousy although I think that helps this thing sounding even more dense and vicious. As for the remainder of the songs, curiously enough I'm not a big fan of the title track but the "Slayeresque" guitars on Riot Of Violence, the brutal Pestilence or the simple yet great two punch combo of Command Of The Blade and Under The Guillotine simply destroy everything that crosses its path. This is a classic in all shape of form and although the band would manage to pull a couple of Thrashers better than Pleasure To Kill (IMO) my vote here goes to Kreator.
Let me begin by saying that Altars Of Madness was a real step up regarding musical complexity in extreme metal. Trey and Pete (in particular) put on a clinic here. Nevertheless I believe sometimes people over praise this album a bit. The reason why is, while being stunningly preformed, it's too much focused in one direction and formula (with some exceptions) and that renders the album a bit boring. On that regard I think the band's next album (Blessed Are The Sick) is much more varied while being also really well played and brutal. Plus David's voice lacks the depth he has on future releases. As matter of fact the majority of songs are much into full speed Death Thrash with some great licks and details in between the mix. It's only when Morbid Angel pump the brakes on large portions of their tracks and give them space to breathe. At times some keyboards echo timidly on the background giving tracks like Immortal Rites, Chapel Of Ghouls and Evil Spells a much more mature and polished feeling without loosing heaviness, a lesson the band surely understood when they released Blessed Are The Sick. So while I understand why the album is revered (as I also did back in the day), looking back I believe the years proved me the two following records were indeed better crafted. As for In Flames' sophomore it's just one of their best records, an equally hugelly influential release and therefore gets my vote here.
Serj and company have a lot of silly tracks. But once in a while they pull out excellent stuff like the title track, Science or ATWA. And hey... it's three more good songs than Alter Bridge's album so yeah: easily System Of A Down.
To close this round another heavy weight clash. Ozzy's solo sophomore alongside guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads had a truly hard task while matching Blizzard Of Oz but as Over The Mountain's mind blowing riff comes out kicking ass you know it's mission accomplished. Flying High Again is your typical radio friendly hard rocker followed by an also easy listening yet utterly gorgeous You Can't Kill Rock N' Roll. Believer has a somewhat doomy feel to it and brings a bit more of muscle to the record and while Tonight and Little Dolls are somewhat forgettable, SATO shows Mr. Rhoads riffage kicking some serious behind in form of a classic metal tune. Speaking of which what to say about this man's solos on the monster that is title track? What a superb way to close the album! In sum a great follower to a classic debut and a worthy record to go further into this game. But it has Sin After Sin as an opponent and as much as I love Diary I would be lying to myself if I said I don't love Judas Priest's third album even more.
Let me begin by saying that Altars Of Madness was a real step up regarding musical complexity in extreme metal. Trey and Pete (in particular) put on a clinic here. Nevertheless I believe sometimes people over praise this album a bit. The reason why is, while being stunningly preformed, it's too much focused in one direction and formula (with some exceptions) and that renders the album a bit boring. On that regard I think the band's next album (Blessed Are The Sick) is much more varied while being also really well played and brutal. Plus David's voice lacks the depth he has on future releases. As matter of fact the majority of songs are much into full speed Death Thrash with some great licks and details in between the mix. It's only when Morbid Angel pump the brakes on large portions of their tracks and give them space to breathe. At times some keyboards echo timidly on the background giving tracks like Immortal Rites, Chapel Of Ghouls and Evil Spells a much more mature and polished feeling without loosing heaviness, a lesson the band surely understood when they released Blessed Are The Sick. So while I understand why the album is revered (as I also did back in the day), looking back I believe the years proved me the two following records were indeed better crafted. As for In Flames' sophomore it's just one of their best records, an equally hugelly influential release and therefore gets my vote here.
Serj and company have a lot of silly tracks. But once in a while they pull out excellent stuff like the title track, Science or ATWA. And hey... it's three more good songs than Alter Bridge's album so yeah: easily System Of A Down.
To close this round another heavy weight clash. Ozzy's solo sophomore alongside guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads had a truly hard task while matching Blizzard Of Oz but as Over The Mountain's mind blowing riff comes out kicking ass you know it's mission accomplished. Flying High Again is your typical radio friendly hard rocker followed by an also easy listening yet utterly gorgeous You Can't Kill Rock N' Roll. Believer has a somewhat doomy feel to it and brings a bit more of muscle to the record and while Tonight and Little Dolls are somewhat forgettable, SATO shows Mr. Rhoads riffage kicking some serious behind in form of a classic metal tune. Speaking of which what to say about this man's solos on the monster that is title track? What a superb way to close the album! In sum a great follower to a classic debut and a worthy record to go further into this game. But it has Sin After Sin as an opponent and as much as I love Diary I would be lying to myself if I said I don't love Judas Priest's third album even more.
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