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

Tough first decision to make, but Metallica is, at the end of the day, simply the better album. Annihilator's debut is bookended by two fiery tracks and has great stuff in between, but it's a bit rough around the edges. The Black Album is inconsistent ("Don't Tread on Me" and "The Struggle Within" are eh), but the great stuff is fucking awesome. I don't care how often "Enter Sandman" gets played, it never fails to raise my excitement levels to a peak every time it comes on. "The Unforgiven" is a really passionate ballad and the guitar solo is possibly Hammett's best. "Nothing Else Matters" is an overhated power ballad that hits as hard as the ones on previous albums. And there are also some hidden gems on here - "Of Wolf and Man" is a really fun rocker, and "The God That Failed" fucking nails you right through the heart. The weak points can be overlooked easily for those.

Skid Row's sophomore record is pretty good, but not nearly on the same level as The Crimson Idol. With that album, Blackie Lawless leveled the fuck up as a songwriter. It's not perfect, but it's a really emotional yet also heavy as hell release from a band that for one record proved their were more than sleazy rockstars.

No question here. Iced Earth take my vote without a second thought.

And the final matchup was the hardest, but since Death is nearly done in this competition and Mercyful Fate still have their superior second album Don't Break the Oath in the mix, I'm gonna go for the genre-pushers from Florida.
 
Jer said:
Hadn’t heard this Mercyful Fate album before
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:o !!!! WHAT??? The first two Mercyful Fate albums and their debut EP are mandatory stuff. I don´t even mind you voted against my nominee... glad you finally listened to this absolute classic.
 
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Diesel 11 said:
a band that for one record proved their were more than sleazy rockstars
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Although being released under the name WASP, The Crimson Album wasn't made by "a band". The rest of the band quited prior to its making and It was utterly composed by Lawless alone (and preformed by Lawless, Banali and Kulic). Nevertheless they already did prove they were much more than sleazy rock stars in the previous record (The Headless Children) and by then WASP was still a band featuring original member Chris Holmes and Johnny Rodd (that entered the band before Inside The Electric Circus). The Headless Children has zero to do with sleazy rock... it's overall a portrait of a decaying society with some lighter stuff in between like Mean Man (about Chis) , Forever Free (about Lynyrd Skynyrd) and The Who's cover of The Real Me. Excellent album.
 
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Niall Kielt said:
An issue I have with the 2 modern Maiden albums here is the length. 45mins of one album is enough for me, really. I like the back end of AMOLAD a lot but when listening from the start Im oft fatigued by the time I get there. POM has the best unbroken run of songs on any Maiden album, from WED to Still Life. POM wins without a second thought.

Book of Souls is too long. I can count on one had the amount of times Ive listened the whole way through. Di'Anno bias means this isn't even a contest. Killers.
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The truth has been spoken.
 
In response to diesel, karjant said it and I agree but I'll go further and say that every single WASP album has stuff on it thats harder/better than any kind of sleaze rock. Fabulous band.

Pure cunt of a draw for Skid Row. I'll listen to Slave To The Grind again before I vote but theres not really any point.
 
Also, did Piece of Mind lose? Total farce. Shame on ye. And Killers losin to Book of Souls? Ok. Go listen to Empire of the Keyboard and The Waa Wa Wa Waa while I rock the fuck out to a whole album of fierce beauty. Well, actually, currentlyIm watchin someone play Johnny Flynn on the piano but its Sunday night so I'll do what I like.
 
Niall Kielt said:
In response to diesel, karjant said it and I agree but I'll go further and say that every single WASP album has stuff on it thats harder/better than any kind of sleaze rock. Fabulous band.
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Oh I know, I quite enjoy their string up to TCI.
 
Niall Kielt said:
In response to diesel, karjant said it and I agree but I'll go further and say that every single WASP album has stuff on it thats harder/better than any kind of sleaze rock. Fabulous band.
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Even back in the day WASP were basically Heavy Metal with some shock rock although having a bit of sleaze rock DNA and a lot of visual shenanigans that sometimes distracted people from what they were really playing. What I was trying to highlight is that The Headless Children, The Crimson Idol, Still Not Black Enough, Kill Fuck Die and even Unholy Terror are totally devoid of that aspect. Way darker, more serious. Although I knew WASP when they released Live In The Raw (and enjoyed it a lot) I personally think their best era was the next one. Nevertheless I still love me some Hellion, On Your Knees, Tormentor, I Wanna Be Somebody, Savage, Widow Maker, Inside The Electric Circus, Restless Gypsy, 9.5 Nasty, I'm Alive, Harder Faster among others (although these are perhaps my favorites out of their first records) and all those tracks are much more than sleaze rock.
 
Niall Kielt said:
Also, did Piece of Mind lose? Total farce. Shame on ye. And Killers losin to Book of Souls? Ok. Go listen to Empire of the Keyboard and The Waa Wa Wa Waa while I rock the fuck out to a whole album of fierce beauty. Well, actually, currentlyIm watchin someone play Johnny Flynn on the piano but its Sunday night so I'll do what I like.
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Piece Of Mind losing to AMOLAD is something I can somehow understand. It's a bit hard since POM is state of the art but AMOLAD is also a great album the majority of people didn't see coming that late in the band's career(at least I didn't). It's devoid of fillers or stinkers whereas POM has Quest For Fire. But then again POM's top songs are absurdly good (and yes, that includes To Tame A Land... I simply can't understand how people throw shade on this masterpiece) and IMO superior in number to the ones AMOLAD. But yeah... there's still a shard of reason about that outcome: it's a bit strange a great album eliminating a masterpiece but at least there's true greatness in the victor. Now Killers losing to The Book Of Souls? Dear God... :facepalm:
 
Honestly I’ve gotten so tired of POM winning all our games that seeing it defeated makes me really happy with MaidenFans’ ‘invisible hand’ for once. I’m thinking of it this way: if Powerslave loses to AMOLAD I won’t be nearly as disappointed as if it lost to POM.
 
Annihilator (37 minutes of ferocious riffing vs. a great album with a surprising amount of filler.)
Skid Row (The singer and production are slightly more my taste; however, both albums seem very good, and I'd like to give both of them a proper listen.)
Iced Earth (Motley Crue vs. prime-era Iced Earth was an easy decision.)
Mercyful Fate (I've been listening to Melissa a lot over the last week, and I don't really like Death.)

I like how the second matchup is currently tied 15-15 - it shows that both albums are equally well-regarded.
 
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