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

Didnt get a chance to re-listen though I have at least a passing knowledge of all these except Candlemass.

Dio, obviously.

Helloween because just. I prefer my early Metallica played by later Metallica.

GnR, obviously. my main reason for voting is to try save this beauty.

Sabbath. I prefer them over Megadeth overall. I cant speak for these two albums but it doesn't matter anyway.
 
Dio ends Candlemass's impressive run to the Premiership with a firm win.
Helloween takes that impressive collar and will advance. Still much Metallica left.
Judas Priest finishes off GNR. It came down to one vote in the end, so it was very nearly an upset!
Black Sabbath takes down Megadave, but SFSGSW had a really great run to get here, and deserves a fond salute.

Round of 32 Matchups Set:
Dio - Holy Diver vs. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt II
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny vs. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
 
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Metallica - ...And Justice For All (1988)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 21, Metal Rules 72, DigitalDreamDoor 35, Metal Kingdom 92
Maidenfans Nominators: @Dr Eddie’s Wingman, @FTB, @karljant, @KidInTheDark666, @phantomoftheicarus, @Shmoolikipod, @The Flash
League 1 - Match 17vs.
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Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death (2006)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Ariana, @Dityn DJ James, @Dr. Eddie’s Wingman, @Kalata, @KidInTheDark666, @LooseCannon, @matic22, @Mosh, @Perun, @Poto, @srfc, @The Dissident, @The Flash
Previous Rounds:
League 5: Defeated Crimson Glory - Transcendence 23-5.
League 4: Defeated Running Wild - Port Royal 26-7.
League 3: Defeated Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse 28-4.
League 2: Defeated Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind 23-17.
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Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (1988)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 67, Loudwire 24, Metal Rules 11, Metalstorm 8, DigitalDreamDoor 24, Metal Kingdom 18
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin, @Diesel 11, @Dr Eddie’s Wingman, @FTB, @Jer, @mckindog, @Mosh, @Poto, @srfc, @The Dissident, @Travis The Dragon, @Yax
League 1 - Match 18vs.
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Judas Priest - Killing Machine / Hell Bent For Leather (1978)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 29, DigitalDreamDoor 68
Maidenfans Nominators: @Cornfed Hick
Previous Rounds:
League 3: Defeated Queensrÿche - Empire 19-13.
League 2: Defeated Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power 28-11.
 
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Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 11, Loudwire 8, Metal Rules 3, DigitalDreamDoor 6, Metal Kingdom 7
Maidenfans Nominators: @Ariana, @Cornfed Hick, @Dr Eddie’s Wingman, @Jer, @LooseCannon, @Midnight, @Perun, @Poto, @The Flash, @Whooten, @Yax
League 1 - Match 19vs.
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Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls (2015)

How it got here
List entries: n/a
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin, @LooseCannon, @matic22, @Shmoolikipod, @srfc, @The Dissident, @Travis The Dragon
Previous Rounds:
League 5: Defeated Opeth - Watershed 19-8.
League 4: Defeated Bathory - Hammerheart 23-10.
League 3: Defeated Def Leppard - Pyromania 22-10.
League 2: Defeated Iron Maiden - Killers 23-17.
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Anthrax - Among the Living (1987)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 20, Loudwire 29, Metal Rules 41, DigitalDreamDoor 56
Maidenfans Nominators: @Whooten
League 1 - Match 20vs.
Iron_Maiden_-_Somewhere_in_Time.jpg

Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time (1986)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 26, Metalstorm 30, DigitalDreamDoor 59
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin, @Dityn DJ James, @Dr Eddie’s Wingman, @FTB, @Kalata, @karljant, @KidInTheDark666, @matic22, @Midnight, @Shmoolikipod, @srfc, @The Dissident, @The Flash
Previous Rounds:
League 2: Defeated Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider 38-3.
 
Since SIT is in this I expect at least 45 votes from people who only show up when SIT is on the way.

I will be voting for Anthrax, even though I don't like it that much, on the hopes that somehow SIT goes out before it runs the table.
 
A Matter Of Life And Death is my 2nd favourite Maiden album, whereas ...And Justice For All, does very little for me.
Operation: Mindcrime is a masterpiece and while Hell Bent For Leather has some great tracks, it doesn't live up to the monster of a concept album it is facing.
Ride The Lightning I think is a more consistent album than The Book Of Souls.
Somewhere In Time is my favourite Maiden album, while I don't listen to Anthrax
 
The Metallica vs Maiden battle is tough. Ride the Lightning is my favourite album of theirs and I do have my criticism on The Book of Souls.
RTL contains my fav Metallica song Fade to Black, and TBOS has one of the best songs of this century, The Man of Sorrows.
There are more highlights on both albums, but the Metallica album has less lesser moments imo (I am not a big fan of the longwinding The Call of Ktulu; great intro though).
 
Maiden …And Justice is the last memorable Metallica album but A Matter of life and Death is the best Maiden album in the last 30 years. Nothing more to say.
Priest Along with Stained Class, it's my other favorite Priest albums ever.
Maiden Although Ride the Lightning is a f***ing great album and it deserves to win this match. I've chosen The Book of souls. Like a whole album it doesn't works for me, but it has 4 or 5 excellent songs
Maiden Somewhere in Time always win because is my second best Maiden album.

It looks like a rant before a Maiden show, isn't it?
 
AJFA. My favourite Metallica album and it's not even close. I'll be pissed if AMOLAD wins, though I don't have the highest hopes.

Mindcrime is another one of my earliest favourites and I probably should have nominated it, I just haven't listened to it in a very long time. Easy pick over a not great Priest album.

Maiden, though I like RtL. Escape is kinda filler and I'm also probably the only person in this world who doesn't adore Creeping Death and the title track. On the other hand I love Ktulu, FFWF is in top 3 Metallica openers (I actually used to hate it), and Trapped Under Ice is very underrated, it's one of the best thrash Metallica songs!

SiT. Caught in a Mosh is the only song I know from Among the Living and I actually seriously love it, but SiT is something else.
 
Operation: Mindcrime (A) vs Hell Bent for Leather ( B ):

Very enjoyable songs A vs very enjoyable songs B:

Revolution Calling
Operation: Mindcrime
Breaking the Silence
I Don't Believe in Love
Eyes of a Stranger
(on a 15 track album)

vs

Rock Forever
Evening Star
Hell Bent for Leather
Burnin' Up
The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)
Hell Bent for Leather
Killing Machine
Running Wild
(on a 11 track album)

Hell Bent for Leather it is.
 
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...AJFA never could grab me and contains only 3 great songs: Blackened, One and the title track. The rest bores me to death tbh. AMOLAD is a stunning album from start to finish so easy vote for Iron Maiden

HBFL is not Priest at his best and contains alot of filler. O:M is a masterpiece and my favourite album ever so Queensryche by a million Tate vests.

The other way round for the first match: TBOS is a good album but didn´t age that well and it isn´t flawless. RTL on the other hand is all killer...no filler. MetallicA

Anthrax never did much for me. SIT is one of my favourite Iron Maiden albums ever (together with Powerslave and SSOASS) so this one´s not even close.
 
The first pair is the hardest I've come across in this game so far. Two absolutely brilliant albums, and in fact, the best albums for each given band. Breaks my heart, I'm voting for AMOLAD, because I have a more personal relationship to that one, but this is not fair. Not when all other rounds/pairs are completely on a different level.

I seriously dislike Ryche, but Mindcrime is a (mostly) great album. The storyline is overwhelmingly banal (so it goes with most concept albums, though), but stuff like Mission, Sister Mary Suite, The Needle Lies or I Don't Believe in Love, when taken together, give much more of an epic feel than the Priest album, good as it (again, mostly) is.

Ride the Lightning is probably the second best Tullica album, the title track alone beats pretty much eveything on the Maiden one. Count in Bell, Creeping Death, even Fire or Ktulu as well and you get a curb-stomp battle here. I actually like TBOS (and I was a huge fan when it came out), but I've grown colder towards it. TRATB, TGU, the title track, Shadows and possibly even Eternity and River are as great as ever, but there's really a lot of fluff (Death or Glory, Speed of Light, Sorrows, Clown - oh, the banal themes of the latter) and Empire is... bloated excercise in self-indulgence. The primitive piano in the beginning, the melodrama both musically and lyrically, the grinding-to-a-halt SOS section (no, it's not a good idea), the ridiculous length... it just symbolizes and incarnates everything I hate about the unbridled Dickinson adoration. Yeah, huge words, huge concepts, but still he is just a businessman after all. Too small-town for me. Even when it tells the story about a tragedy of an airship. The poetry is forced. Such a waste of space.

I'm gonna go and give Among the Living the pity vote, because it's gonna get massacred here. But I genuinely love the album and it's probably more consistent for me overall than the Maiden one (at least it has nothing as obnoxious as Heaven Can Wait). Sad to see this one go, what are you going to do? Thrax all the way!
 
For the second time ever I am voting for Maiden against a non Maiden album. ...And Justice for All is very overrated, with a lot of bloat and terrible production (although the great stuff is among their best, the worst weighs it down). AMOLAD deserves to progress more IMO. Since Metallica is a titan I don’t feel bad voting for Maiden here.

Operation: Mindcrime is another one of those classic albums that deserves its legacy status. Is the story cheesy? Yeah. Do they make it work in ways you couldn’t have dreamed were possible and is every song great? YEAH. If Priest wins this match I will be very disappointed. “Eyes of a Stranger” is the best song out of any of these eight albums. Just playing it by itself takes my breath away, and in the segue of the whole album? That x 1000.

Voting Ride the Lightning here though, a truly great Metallica album up against a truly great Maiden album. Tough choice but I’ll stick to my guns, unlike in the first matchup.

Fuck. Among the Living is boring as hell. I can listen to certain songs on their own but as a full album is just a slog of bop bop thrash thrash that I don’t care for. And SiT is a great (but lesser) follow up to Powerslave, but I don’t wanna see Powerslave go out to it. Hence I shall vore Anthrax, but ideally both of these albums would head out.
 
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