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

Jesus Christ. I don't know how to vote because none of these albums are really that good IMO. They're all important but no stakes like it was last round. Puppets didn't deserve to exit just for two of these to remain.
Sad of Wings of Destiny.
 
3 crap albums and Rising, 70s JP is best JP, great albums but it isn't really top 10 heavy metal. Some of it is barely heavy metal.
 
What is it that I'm missing with Sad Wings of Destiny?
I think it’s a good enough album, I guess, but it’s really all about the first three tracks. Everything after Dreamer Deceiver is a mixed bag at best.

It definitely gets more praise than it’s due.

That said, I still far prefer it to Helloween.
 
3 crap albums...
Crap albums? Come on, Keeper Part 2 is one of the best albums of Helloween.
70s JP is best JP
80's JP is best JP (plus Painkiller and the reunion albums) IMO. I'm not so big fan of their albums in the 70's (as a whole piece), but they are good with some great songs. Come to think of it, the only albums of Priest which I don't like are the debut and the two albums without Rob.
 
What is it that I'm missing with Sad Wings of Destiny?

Think of it in the time and place it was released, and what contemporary metal bands were doing. Total game changer, everyone else was still, even Sabbath, just Heavy blues bands. Where the fuck did the likes of Tyrant, Genocide and The Ripper come from?
 
Think of it in the time and place it was released, and what contemporary metal bands were doing. Total game changer, everyone else was still, even Sabbath, just Heavy blues bands. Where the fuck did the likes of Tyrant, Genocide and The Ripper come from?
Rainbow released Rising the same year and it completely blows Sad Wings out of the water.
 
I never realized how underrated Sad Wings was here. Probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite metal album of the 1970's. Completely ahead of its time.
 
Just to be frank, I think Sad Wings is pretty inventive and you'd be hard pressed to find a riff such as The Ripper in a 'mainstream' release before it.
I do not know about punk rock movement much, but having a single staccato powerchord seems like a usual punk trope for verse music. Priest might have picked it up there (the period aligns), or just from some common ancestor. But they've pinned it down to the beat, every beat and were using it for its texture and vibe. Like a synth pad that provides atmosphere, repetitive and even rhythmic quality. That kind of a thing became a staple of metal music soon after.

But, the sound is not quite as energetic as less palm muted, more open, Rock Bottom or half syncopated Light in a Black. These examples, for me, sound better on the gear of late 70s because we're not talking about high-gain amps. Palm mute digging into a riff, the chug, it's just not gonna have volume and drive if the amps aren't high-gain.

For this amp theory, check out the difference between Prowler 80 and 88's main riff. They're not the same. The original riff is not palm muted.

TLDR; Priest Sad Wings riffs are very modern metal, but the amps of the day don't support it in enough volume. The drums are aligned to this fact, light hits, very groovy sound. Halford's voice too. So the record does have metal riffs, but it's less energetic in execution then some "blues based HM" like Rising.
 
Rainbow advances to the quarter-finals, while Judas Priest ends Helloween's GMAC dreams, and what was a strong minnow run in the upper leagues. Well done Helloween!

Quarter-Final Matchup Set:
Rainbow - Rising vs. Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
 
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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.
League 1: Defeated Metallica - ...And Justice For All 24-14.
Round of 32: Defeated Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime 22-15.
Round of 16 - Match 5vs.
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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
Previous Rounds:
League 1: Defeated Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls 29-9.
Round of 32: Defeated Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time 19(ET)-19.
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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.
Round of 32: Defeated Metallica - Metallica 23-12.
Round of 16 - Match 6vs.
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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.
Round of 32: Defeated Dream Theater - Images and Words 23-12.
 
Ride the Lightning is genuinely better and more exciting than AMOLAD. Also an excellent production sound, so cold and icy. Killer riff, epic song constructions, just a classic all-round. Every song is pretty great, I'd say. AMOLAD loses points for "Out of the Shadows" and the mind-numbingly repetitive "The Longest Day". Not that I hate repetition, just when it stabs an otherwise great song in the foot. There's gotta be a reason to repeat a line and this one doesn't have it.

And I'd rather hear the monsters from Painkiller than the best from SfV.
 
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