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

Alright @Detective Beauregard @Diesel 11 @MrKnickerbocker, @MindRuler well, I also see some similarities between technical death metal and Opeth: key changes, odd meters, rarely repeat sections, change dynamics regularly, death metal vocals. I'd say that can all be in technical death metal as well. But they can also be in prog metal, apart from the vox.

Differences: technical death metal bands may
- have less (or hardly) 10 minute songs
- have less calmer parts
- (indeed Knick) play faster
than Opeth, but... I rather see Opeth as a progressive metal band with strong 1970s influences + sometimes having harsh vocals.
If harsh vocals are the only death metal aspect, and the only distinction from prog metal, then I doubt about the necessity of a new (different) subgenre. Certainly Opeth cross different areas which make them a cool band.
 
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Judas Priest ends Mob Rules run here in the GMAC, but there's lots of Sabbath, and including Dio Sabbath, left.
Opeth thumps In Flames in the battle of Swedish supremacy. That's it for In Flames.
Rainbow overwhelms Alter Bridge, who are done but get the feather in their cap of making it to the Premiership.
Judas Priest easily does in Mercyful Fate to move on. Mercyful Fate is done, but Mr. Diamond will be back.

Round of 32 Matchups Set:
Judas Priest - Stained Class vs. Opeth - Blackwater Park
Rainbow - Rising vs. Judas Priest - Sin After Sin
 
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Dio - Holy Diver (1983)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 16, Loudwire 17, Metal Rules 8, Metalstorm 10, DigitalDreamDoor 20
Maidenfans Nominators: @Cornfed Hick, @FTB, @Kalata, @LooseCannon, @matic22, @mckindog, @Midnight, @MrKnickerbocker, @Niall Kielt, @Poto, @Travis The Dragon
League 1 - Match 13vs.
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Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986)

How it got here
List entries: DigitalDreamDoor 38
Maidenfans Nominators: @karljant, @Magnus, @Travis The Dragon
Previous Rounds:
League 4: Defeated Accept - Restless & Wild 18-10.
League 3: Defeated W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P. 18-15.
League 2: Defeated Venom - Welcome to Hell 24-6.
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Metallica - Kill ‘Em All (1983)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 35, Loudwire 32, Metal Rules 20, DigitalDreamDoor 12
Maidenfans Nominators: @matic22
League 1 - Match 14vs.
KotSK2.jpg

Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. II (1988)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 28, DigitalDreamDoor 43, Metal Kingdom 6
Maidenfans Nominators: @KidInTheDark666, @Poto
Previous Rounds:
League 2: Defeated Death - Symbolic 20-11.
 
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Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny (1976)

How it got here
List entries: Loudwire 18, Metal Rules 38, Metalstorm 41, DigitalDreamDoor 9
Maidenfans Nominators: @srfc, @The Flash
League 1 - Match 15vs.
GunsnRosesAppetiteforDestructionalbumcover.jpg

Guns n’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 13, Metal Kingdom 23
Maidenfans Nominators: @Ariana, @Dityn DJ James, @Niall Kielt, @The Dissident, @Yax
Previous Rounds:
League 2: Defeated Tool - Aenima 22-9.
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Black_Sabbath_debut_album.jpg

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (1970)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 5, Loudwire 16, Metal Rules 17, Metalstorm 13, DigitalDreamDoor 5
Maidenfans Nominators: @Cornfed Hick
League 1 - Match 16vs.
Megadeth-SoFar.jpg

Megadeth - So Far, So Good… So What! (1988)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 49
Maidenfans Nominators: @Jer
Previous Rounds:
League 4: Defeated Symphony X - The Odyssey 18-11.
League 3: Defeated Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark 21-12.
League 2: Defeated Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine 16-15.
 
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@Forostar tech death and prog death definitely overlap and neither are new genres, prog death goes back well over twenty years now. When you say Opeth overlap genres — and I’m talking about before they mellowed to just prog rock — I think that makes sense because that’s what a lot of prog bands do, they cross boundaries because they focus on artistry and not sticking to one style (and throw in a ton of tempo changes and ‘unnatural’ time signatures). Just my understanding of it.

To me bands like Atheist, Nile, and Cynic don’t really feel proggy so much as they feel like they’re shredding the fuck out because they’re just that talented, fucking mortal. Whereas Opeth are all about shifting the mood to suit the message, and incorporating growls and cleans and heavy passages and soft without a minute going by without anything changing. I’d say the band that blurs the lines between tech and prog death metal is Death, particularly on later albums. You can see the influence they’ve got from both there.

Also, just for the record, Metal Archives lists prog death as its own genre apart from technical death metal. In contrast, Wikipedia only has tech death.
 
Holy Diver. Great record. Wish I liked Candlemass but they just don’t do anything for me right now.

Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II because Kill ‘Em All is one of Metallica’s worst albums.

Appetite for Destruction is pretty cool. Sad Wings has some good stuff but kinda peters out.

Black Sabbath. I first heard this album on a plane trip to Germany and I actually really liked it. It’s got a lot of shades to it that are quite nice, and the title track is one of their best (and “The Wizard” and “NIB” are up there too). I really hope we can get rid of this Megadeth album now, holy shit.
 
Diesel 11 said:
@Forostar tech death and prog death definitely overlap and neither are new genres, prog death goes back well over twenty years now. When you say Opeth overlap genres — and I’m talking about before they mellowed to just prog rock — I think that makes sense because that’s what a lot of prog bands do, they cross boundaries because they focus on artistry and not sticking to one style (and throw in a ton of tempo changes and ‘unnatural’ time signatures). Just my understanding of it.

To me bands like Atheist, Nile, and Cynic don’t really feel proggy so much as they feel like they’re shredding the fuck out because they’re just that talented, fucking mortal. Whereas Opeth are all about shifting the mood to suit the message, and incorporating growls and cleans and heavy passages and soft without a minute going by without anything changing. I’d say the band that blurs the lines between tech and prog death metal is Death, particularly on later albums. You can see the influence they’ve got from both there.

Also, just for the record, Metal Archives lists prog death as its own genre apart from technical death metal. In contrast, Wikipedia only has tech death.
Click to expand...
Yes, indeed I noticed that as well. Wiki also has prog death but when you click on it, you go to tech.

EDIT: @Diesel 11
I thought the band Death is older than the term Prog Death Metal. But in hindsight older albums can be (and are) called like that.

E.g. I see that the Nocturnus album The Key is also called both technical Death metal and Progressive Death metal on wikipedia.
Very different from Opeth but revolutionary band nonetheless with their use of keyboards and sci-fi themed lyrics.
 
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If extended harmonica and cowbell jams are your thing, then by all means vote for the Sabbath debut. But if you enjoy, y’know, something that would actually pass for heavy metal past 1980, then may I humbly suggest this fine offering from Megadave instead?
 
Candlemass, Helloween (one of metal's greatest acts. They deserve to be in the top 32), Judas Priest (voting against my own nom), Black Sabbath

Voting against Appetite was hard. I love that album, and I can literally play it whenever and always have a great time listening to It's So Easy, Out To Get Me, Nightrain, Paradise City, Welcome to the Jungle, Rocket Queen, Anything Goes, and well, you get the point. Only two songs I ever skip are Mr. Brownstone and Sweet Child.

But Sad Wings is the ultimate 70's metal album. There was nothing as heavy as that album when it dropped. It created the blueprint for Judas Priest albums to come. And the grooves, you gotta talk about the grooves dude. Just listen to The Ripper and Genocide. This album definitely rips
 
Dio - Another perfect album. The only flaw on the whole album is the long wind effect intro of Holy Diver is inappropriate for track 2 on an album, you need to use that shit at the start of one of the sides of the album:lol: I said Rising was his best album, but it's only just better than this and maybe on another day I will contradict that opinion. Don't Talk to Strangers is my favourite Dio song, but it's all good here, the deepcuts/hidden gems/fillers here like Caught in the Middle or Invisible would be other bands best tracks. I was lucky enough to see him play the whole album when he toured it not long before he died.

Candlemass - This is an album I've been meaning to check out more of for years, and I probably will after this game, the riffs are great, and the singer is pretty good. The rhythm section is a bit on the average side though.

Dio with the win

Metallica - They jumped on leaps and bounds with Ride the Lightning and Puppets, but the signs of something special were there on Kill 'Em All. Some of the teenage metal bravado and "bang that head that doesn't bang" stuff is a bit cringe, and they moved on from it fairly sharpish but the songs are all good. Weakest is probably Motorbreath, Jump in the Fire or the bass solo and they aren't weak at all

Helloween - I reckon the pair of these albums are about all you need from Power Metal (and I've soft spot for early Hammerfall as well but that's nostalgia not quality :lol:), and even saying that, I reckon I've listened to them completely about 3 times. It's just a very cliched and limited genre, but this is the best of it.

Metallica with the win

Judas Priest - My nomination and the best Priest album, and an album that is single-handedly probably the most influential metal album of all time. Sabbath are probably name dropped more, but more bands sound like what Priest invented on Sad Wings of Destiny. Practically the bulk of every cliched metal riff was invented here. Epitaph is rubbish though:lol: And you need to rearrange the songs into the proper order too, Prelude is the first track, the clue is in the name! Also, some might moan about the dated production but so what? That was the best they could do at the time, and it was such a landmark that to write the album off for it would be ignorance of the highest order, the albums that you like with better production are standing on the shoulders of Sad Wings of Destiny.

Guns N Roses - quick recap, side A great, Sweet Child and Rocket Queen great, other tracks not the Mae West, good stuff is more than good enough to earn the album it's reputation

Judas Priest with the win

Black Sabbath - The weakest of the first 6 (or maybe joint weakest) but that is no insult considering the standard and importance of all those albums. Evil Woman is the only weak track, although I could do without some of the noodling in Sleeping Village and Warning (where does one end and the other begin really). The rest are monumental with a capital M.

Megadeth - Pretty strong album from Megadeth, not their best or even a challenger for that title, but still an album many other bands have nothing within an asses roar of. In My Darkest Hour is probably their best track, Set The World Afire has one of their best riffs (only beaten by the one from the Conjuring), Hook in Mouth, Mary Jane, Into the Lungs of Hell are all classics, 502 and Liar are on the fine line between filler and hidden gem, and I could take or leave the cover of the Sex Pistols.

Megadeth with the win. I feel dirty but I like it more.
 
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