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

Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions vs. Korn - Follow the Leader

The former is the only album out of the two that I've heard before. I got what the band was trying to do, but it did absolutely nothing for me. It's suited for background noise and nothing more - quite tedious if you simply focus on the music. However, it gets my "least bad" vote. I had been familiar with a couple of tracks from Follow the Leader and disliked them, and the few others I checked out today actually further lowered my reception of the album. Garbage sound, garbage lyrics.

Deafhaven - Sunbather vs. Death - The Sound of Perseverance

The only matchup where I was familiar with both albums. Sunbather has an interesting sound but doesn't deliver. The shoegaze/screaming mix doesn't quite jel and the album becomes grating at certain points. Credit goes to @Mosh for pointing out Alcest as a band that does the sound justice. The Sound of Perseverance, on the other hand, is a stellar album. It's not my favorite Death record, probably not even Top 3, but it does have a gem like 'Flesh and the Power It Holds' and some excellent playing. Easy decision.

X Japan - Blue Blood vs. Evanescence - Fallen

Completely unfamiliar with X Japan previously. Checked out five tracks from this album, it sounded like an imitation of better bands at times - but the riffage, the drumming and the overall energy on the fast-paced tunes were decent. The title track was an enjoyable listen. They get my vote mainly because I dislike Evanescence greatly. Just an incredibly corny band. I checked out a couple of tracks in addition to priorly familiar hits like 'Bring Me to Life' and 'My Immortal', and my opinion was not shifted in a positive direction.

Accept - Blood of the Nations vs. Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick

Wholly familiar with the latter, no prior familiarity with the former. Checked out 'Teutonic Terror' and the title track from the former and that was enough to solidify my vote for Blessed Are the Sick. Accept's sound simply does nothing for me, it sounded like cookie-cutter heavy metal with cookie-cutter modern metal production. Morbid Angel have done better records - namely Altars of Madness and Domination- but Blessed Are the Sick is pretty good as well. Easy decision.
 
Painkiller, Rust In Peace, Chemical Wedding, And Justice For All and Somewhere In Time were on my top 25 list... ok.
 
Sunn O))) - I'm far from being a fan of Sunn O))) 's immerse and noisy mantras but Follow The Leader is quite feeble (if it was their debut.... perhaps... just perhaps).

Death - Although dwelling in a area I'm really fond of (Sludge/ Post Metal/ Avantgarde) and while respecting their work I was never a fan of Deafheaven. On the other hand Death is Death and although TSOP is far from being my favorite Chuck album it's still one hell of a record.

X Japan - X Japan are THE band when it comes to J Rock/ Metal (ok... along with Loudness) and even though I'm not a fan but they are obviously far superior than any chewing gum pop metal act in the planet.

Morbid Angel - Accept is a force to be reckoned and a huge propeller of Heavy Metal in the late 70's/ early 80's but Blessed Are The Sick is simple put the a classic. It's the best album of a band with a career I consider to be somehow overrated. Not in BATS: this thing was one the most well crafted and original records in the genre when it came out. Nevertheless they deserve to get kicked in the first round because my eardrums are still stained due to that Illud Divinum Insanus abomination they released some years ago (simply put the worst metal album EVER).
 
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Sun O))) was the same stuff for about an hour with very little variation. A guitar chord with the vocalist telling a story or something, and it's minimum 9 minutes per track. I can see myself drowsing to this, but not much other than that. I can't even pick a favourite track. So Big Church [匡!ࢅ#@䈒ㄣꕄ] because it at least had the female vocals. Exciting.

But just as you thought there's no way I'm voting for Sun O))), Korn come to save the day. I hated "Freak on a Leash" from the opening moments and I lost it at the monkey vocals. I still gave the whole album a listen with a hope that it was just the bad song on the album.
Song after song my brain was barraged with "weh fml >:(((", annoying ass vocals and songwriting, and a fucking rap battle (it was one of the better songs tbh), it is torturous. The only redeeming moments were in the last two tracks "My Gift to You" and "Earache my Eye", what a fitting title. Earache My Eye in particular was the moment I thought, maybe their whole image is just satire.

Moving to the second pair. Deafheaven is basically my first encounter with any black metal. The featured song's lyrics were so unintelligible that I assumed he's literally just screaming and that a sung part is coming up, but those were actually words he was shouting, lol.
The songs didn't have much variety here either, it was just him shouting over all the chords, but the sweet moments of melody really brought the album alive. It has a poppy "feel good" vibe to it. "Sunbather" is a very apt name for the album imo.
The title track and "Vertigo" were my favourites, but I have to include the shorter Windows.

And all the good things I spoke about Sunbather were talking from their level, The Sound of Perseverance is a different beast, several leagues above all those albums.
I already acquainted myself with this album only several weeks ago. I came with an expectation to hear the roots of death metal, because that's basically what I knew Death to be. The only song I heard before it was Crystal Mountain, which sounded more like prog+thrash and less like the death metal I knew back then (mostly Gojira).
Wow, I didn't expect such a technical sound. It was almost too tech for me, but I was pretty fine with it. Yet amidst all the instruments, I noticed the songs themselves don't actually vary too much in structure. There's always some bass break in the middle of the song, it's in Scavenger, Bite the Pain, Spirit Crusher... Same formula every time. My other big problem were the vocals, I thought it sounds like he's trying way too hard. Additionally, he couldn't decide on a worse time to open his mouth. Why not sing on the beat?!

So what is the difference between Soundheaven and Death?
-Perseverance had an actual vocalist, even if I don't like his work here much.
-The variety: Perseverance has plenty of riffs and patterns, the problem with Perseverance is only the song structure. Sunbather has one chord.
-Perseverance has lyrics. Sunbather thinks it has lyrics :D
-It's still Death, and, I later heard Symbolic and it kicks ass yet very different from Perseverance. Big brave leap in sound.

Tomorrow I'll do the other 4...
 
karljant said:
Nevertheless they deserve to get kicked in the first round because my eardrums are still stained due to that Illud Divinum Insanus abomination they released some years ago (simply put the worst metal album EVER).
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I am going to put this abomination straight on now. I've yet to find a death metal album or band that I enjoy ( I think). So the worst of the worst should be fun.

After I read Moshs support for Deafhaven I thought I would give it a proper shot. I found myself slipping and drifting and I think I got it but these perfect moments were soon interrupted by the nagging question "am I scared to get to deep or am I just bored?" The fourth or fifth time I asked that question I decided that I was bored/annoyed. Still, I retract my "utter garbage comment" RE Deafhaven. Its not for me but I can see how others might dig it.
OK, so now for some Insanus, the worst death metal album, for a guy who doesn't like death metal. Im gonna go out on a limb and say that I will actually like it.
 
Niall Kielt said:
After I read Moshs support for Deafhaven I thought I would give it a proper shot. I found myself slipping and drifting and I think I got it but these perfect moments were soon interrupted by the nagging question "am I scared to get to deep or am I just bored?" The fourth or fifth time I asked that question I decided that I was bored/annoyed. Still, I retract my "utter garbage comment" RE Deafhaven. Its not for me but I can see how others might dig it.
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I thought I’d throw my 2 cents in because I think it’s more appreciable/understandable if you realize that it’s not metal and isn’t made for a metal audience.

it’s not black metal, but it has black metal influence. If you’ve never heard black metal and tried Deafheaven, maybe give Emperor a shot. There’s a black metal thread on here that I opened up when I was looking for black metal recs and people contributed some great stuff.
 
In the Nightside Eclipse by Emperor is my recommendation for anyone looking to get into black metal. It's what broke me into the genre and still remains my favorite black metal album. I actually nominated it for this game as well.
 
Ive had a few brief periods (brief as in a couple of days) of explorin black metal and indeed, In The Nightside Eclipse is one thing that I remember. Something by Bruzum too, I think. At The Heart Of Winter by Immortal is the only one that I listened to a few times, cracking album. I have to be in the mood for the more extreme forms of metal and these moods sometimes take years to come around but I was surprised how much I liked black metal when I actually gave it a chance after years of thinking it was pure pish.
 
This was really tough because I've only heard 1 of these albums in full before this game..

Round 1 - I made it through 2 songs of Sunn O before I shut it off. 7th Grade MrK loved Korn, doesn't now, but still must vote for Korn.

Round 2 - Death simply has a better sound to me. The Deafhaven material was interesting at time, but I did not finish the album.

Round 3 - X Japan....well, they can play, but it's not my cup of tea. I was never a fan of Evanescence but they win this round.

Round 4 - The hardest round here as I was previously mildly familiar with both bands. Accept are silly but they know how to rock, like if you mashed up AC/DC and Iron Maiden. That album is quite good. Morbid Angel are quality, shrieking thrash, but my favorite is easily Accept.
 
srfc said:
I'm not a huge Overkill fan but I would have thought Under the Influence was their big album
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I nominated Feel the Fire. Also considered Taking Over and Years of Decay. "Welcome to the Gutter" was a popular song, but I remember being a little disappointed with Under the Influence at the time it came out. I think it's the worst of their first five.
 
Like this game already. I get to know some really nice Bands / Songs i've never even heard of and or forgot (e.g Edguy lol)
 
Niall Kielt said:
I am going to put this abomination straight on now. I've yet to find a death metal album or band that I enjoy ( I think). So the worst of the worst should be fun.
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Ok... Do it at your own risk. Don't say I didn't warn you. And yes... it somehow manages to be even worst than Lu Lu. :puke:
 
First of all, kudos to @LooseCannon for putting this together. Feels like a gargantuan undertaking! I wish I'd been around to nominate a list myself, as I feel like there are a couple of albums I'd like to see here, but no matter - should be interesting anyway.

My approach will be to listen to 2-3 songs from each album (and ALWAYS the opening track), and if there's something drawing me in, I'll spin the entire album later.

Match 1:
Sunn O))) is a new acquaintance, and an interesting one. It sounds like a metal band and orchestra collaborating to create a dark soundtrack, be it to a horror movie or even a video game. I really like it.
Korn, well... I didn't like them back then, I don't like them now. Bad songs bad lyrics, horrendous singing.
Sunn O))) wins this one.

Match 2:
What the f**k is Deafhaven trying to do? I can't objectively say it's bad, but damn… I do not get it. At all. I'd go absolutely insane if I had to listen to a full album of that.
On the other hand, Death is a familiar face. The first album I heard by them, and one of the first death metal records in general, and one I still get back to often. Some may say it sounds messy at times, but I really enjoy how progressive and technical it is.
Easy win by Death.

Match 3:
I've never heard of X Japan before, but damn, they sound like they're having a hell of a time! It's cheesy as f**k, and the singer, while having a decent voice, is entirely incomprehensible - I can't figure out if he's singing in English, Japanese, or both. Good, silly fun.
Evanescence was a lot better than I had expected, surprisingly. I've never liked Amy Lee's voice, yet I was decently entertained - silly male shouting on "Bring Me to Life" aside.
This is tougher than I thought, but X Japan slightly edges it, on account of the big smile they put on my face.

Match 4:
Accept is a band I've always seen as producing some solid, yet generic heavy metal. This album is no different - I can't really say anything negative about it, nor particular praise it. It's just fine, s'all.
Morbid Angel is another first for me, and, forgive me if I'm getting it all wrong, sounds like a mix of thrash and early death metal. Once again, it's not bad, but nothing really stands out for me either.
Accept wins this one, as I (at least for the time being) found them more memorable.


EDIT: Somehow posted it before I was done writing.
 
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