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

I really think Mindcrime is just one of the best albums in metal history on its merits. It's like...the nerdy pick for metalheads. If someone is telling me they love Paranoid, Sad Wings, Number of the Beast, Master of Puppets I am like, OK, so you know surface metal. If someone throws Mindcrime at me, they probably love a lot more than just the surface stuff.

That said, Tate isn't for everyone and it's a rapid peak & decline, but it is just...a great freakin' album.
 
I agree that there are some stellar tracks there. Even then, as a whole...

Honestly, my main problem is that it is a concept album. That almost universally makes bands to chew off too much (unless it's a vague thematic concept like, well, AMOLAD or musical concept like Octavarium).

I know it might seem like a "damned if you do/don't" situation with me, because just recently I complained about metal bands that never attempted to rise above the plebs and the bikers, but trying to look more sophisticated than you actually are is almost always a bad thing as well. Can't help it. It takes truly a band of certain type to successfully pull off a concept album. I mean, guys like Genesis attempted it and it was a bit iffy, even The Wall has some serious flaws there over the second half, the Alice Cooper albums kinda tend to lose the concept halfway through at the latest (and they're better for it)... and so on. So you can't be surprised I don't think most metal bands have the ability to do it better.

And it's not just Ryche - Mercy Falls is an awesome album (musically) which I wish wasn't a concept one - you'd avoid cringe like Tears for a Father/Son and some truly awkward lyrical moments, amplified by the fact the guys are not native speakers. Scenes from a Memory has a rather cool concept and mostly well done, but still marred by constant repetition (the pace of the story and the revelations and twists is just off), some really inappropriate melodrama and .... eh, lyrics again ("Dreadful ending: Killer died!" "Help, he's my brother // but I love her")

Sure, metal bands also like to talk about dystopias/dark sides of the society, like to be edgy... this way you get way too much fluff on the album for the sake of the concept and some really cringy "conceptual sentiments" (Revolution Calling).

That said, Spreading the Disease, The Mission, Suite Sister Mary, The Needle Lies and I Don't Believe in Love are all great tracks, all moving around 8-10 on my scale. That's a significant part of the album.

And some of the twists and turns of the concept are kinda cool, I admit that.

In fact, I'd say that - all things considered - it's actually a great album (despite the fact that it gave Ryche the good will for the next 30 years, which is maybe a tad too much). And one I absolutely get is here, in the endgame, no complaints about that, that's completely fair.

However, AMOLAD codified Maiden as one of my favourite bands and it has been so ever since it came out. Can't help it.
 
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I’ve tried to listen to Mindcrime a few times but the remaster I found sounded so loud and cold I didn’t make it very far.
 
Saapanael said:
I’ve tried to listen to Mindcrime a few times but the remaster I found sounded so loud and cold I didn’t make it very far.
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Mindcrime has a... Very special production and it's not a fault of the remaster (the loudness is though, obviously). It's also one of the earliest example of an all digital album recording. The converters weren't great at that point and sounded harsh and Jimbo (the engineer) tried to build upon that. In fact, the original mix was even more cold/harsh/sterile and they fought a losing battle with the label to release it as it was, but were forced to tweak it a bit. It does kind of fit with the story and concept, but is it a great sounding recording? Definitely not.
 
Saapanael said:
I’ve tried to listen to Mindcrime a few times but the remaster I found sounded so loud and cold I didn’t make it very far.
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The original sounds better. It's not the best-sounding recording, but the remaster worsens it by jacking up the treble. If you want, I could send you a link where you can listen to the original.
 
I’ve never really had a problem with the sound of Mindcrime, but the remaster is terrible. So much crackly distortion. Queensryche in general has some of the worst remasters I’ve heard. Worse than Maiden and Priest.
 
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Mosh said:
I’ve never really had a problem with the sound of Mindcrime, but the remaster is terrible. So much crackly distortion. Queensryche in general has some of the worst remasters I’ve heard. Worse than Maiden and Priest.
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Yeah, the EQ tweaks and multiband compression didn't do it any favors. But again, it didn't sound particularly great to begin with, to me anyway. The source material is weird and doesn't lend itself well to the standard remaster type of frequency balance sharpening. Maiden's '98 remasters are overall worse though.
 
One thing I will say about Mindcrime’s production in spite of the high and harsh treble is that as a whole I’ve always thought it sounded clean and crisp. Not perfect, but fine.
 
Metallica_-_Metallica_cover.jpg

Metallica - Metallica (1991)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 25, Loudwire 36, DigitalDreamDoor 61
Maidenfans Nominators: @Mr Knickerbocker
Previous Rounds:
League 2: Defeated Annihilator - Alice in Hell 20-11.
League 1: Defeated Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. I 19-18.
Round of 32 - Match 11vs.
Judas_Priest_SforV.jpg

Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance (1982)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 12, Loudwire 7, Metal Rules 10, Metalstorm 29, DigitalDreamDoor 18, Metal Kingdom 43
Maidenfans Nominators: @Cornfed Hick, @Dr Eddie’s Wingman, @FTB, @Jer, @mckindog, @Mosh
Previous Rounds:
League 1: Defeated W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol 28-9.
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Dream_Theater_-_Images_and_Words.jpg

Dream Theater - Images and Words (1992)

How it got here
List entries: Rolling Stone 95, Loudwire 25, DigitalDreamDoor 31, Metal Kingdom 4
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin, @Dr Eddie’s Wingman, @KidInTheDark666, @MrKnickerbocker, @Shmoolikipod, @The Dissident, @The Flash, @Travis The Dragon, @Yax
Previous Rounds:
League 1: Defeated Iced Earth - The Dark Saga 25-10.
Round of 32 - Match 12vs.
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Judas Priest - Painkiller (1990)

How it got here
List entries: Metal Rules 12, Metalstorm 1, DigitalDreamDoor 40, Metal Kingdom 1
Maidenfans Nominators: @Collin, @Dityn DJ James, @Dr Eddie’s Wingman, @Kalata, @karljant, @KidInTheDark666, @LooseCannon, @mckindog, @Midnight, @Mosh, @MrKnickerbocker, @Night Prowler, @Poto, @Saapanael, @Shmoolikipod, @The Flash, @Yax
Previous Rounds:
League 1: Defeated Death - Individual Thought Patterns 29-8.
 
I love Dream Theater but Painkiller is one of the albums that has shaped my life. It’s quintessential metal, while DT has better things to offer than Images and Words.
 
Metallica v Judas Priest - Neither album would be my favourite from either band, but Screaming would be far closer to it, just failing to break into my top 3 of their albums. A pretty easy win for Priest here.

Dream Theatre v Judas Priest - Another easy win for Priest here, Dream Theatre not being a band that does a lot for me, this particular album is the best of the few I've listened to with the sample track here and Pull Me Under probably the only tracks from them that stuck in my memory after listening to them. Painkiller is one of my top 3 Priest albums, even though it's somewhat one dimensional, it's one of those rare occassions where a pigheaded metal-by-numbers approach pays off.

I'll hold off casting my vote until the poll is fixed however just in case there's a mishap
 
srfc said:
Metallica v Judas Priest - Neither album would be my favourite from either band, but Screaming would be fair closer to it, just failing to break into my top 3 of their albums. A pretty easy win for Priest here.

Dream Theatre v Judas Priest - Another easy win for Priest here, Dream Theatre not being a band that does a lot for me, this particular album is the best of the few I've listened to with the sample track here and Pull Me Under probably the only tracks from them that stuck in my memory after listening to them. Painkiller is one of my top 3 Priest albums, even though it's somewhat one dimensional, it's one of those rare occassion where a pigheaded metal-by-numbers approach pays off.

I'll hold off casting my vote until the poll is fixed however just in case there's a mishap
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Why do you keep writing Dream Theatre?
 
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