Sigh No More is one of Gamma Ray’s weakest albums, IMO. I’m not a fan of Ralph Scheepers’ voice, and the more depressing music and lyrics are out of step with most of the band’s work. The recording itself is also a bit raw and clunky. I generally prefer the later versions of these songs with Kai Hansen on vocals on
Blast From The Past and the
Skeletons albums. That said, even weak Gamma Ray is still pretty damned good, and there’s a lot to like in most of these tracks, from the dense structures of “Changes” and “Dream Healer” to the straight-ahead rock of “Rich & Famous” and “One With The World” to the excellent album closer “The Spirit”. The Pretty Maids album is also pretty good, but it’s a bit synthier and cheesier, and I’m not a fan of their vocalist either. In the end I think the Gamma Ray album has more punch and staying power. Score another point for
@Forostar .
Winner: Gamma Ray
I really like the music on this Amorphis album, and while the extreme vocals are unfortunate, they’re more toward the tolerable “whispery Cookie Monster” end of the scale, and they’re not too high in the mix, so I can stomach them. The occasional clean vocals are also nice to hear. And then we have Rhapsody again. As I’ve said before, I really love Luca Turilli but I really dislike Fabio Lione. I also feel like the synth orchestration on this album is really low rent, and the overall songwriting just isn’t as good here as it is on most of his solo work (in particular
Prophet Of The Last Eclipse, which I nominated for this game and which appears later in this very league). I’m a little surprised by my choice, but I’m going to go with
@Forostar ‘s album here.
Winner: Amorphis
Not particularly thrilled with either of the albums in round 3. The Black Sabbath album is fine, but nothing inspiring. The songwriting here generally doesn’t do it for me, though there are some nice passages and solos. The Angra album is also a bit power-metal-by-numbers in places, and has some wimpy Angra-isms to it, but it also has some inspired moments and strong guitar playing. On the whole I think I find
Rebirth to be a bit more interesting. But don’t be sad,
@Forostar , cos 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Winner: Angra
The extreme vocals on the Omnium Gatherum album are of the more aggressive Cookie Monster variety and more present in the mix, so I really can’t deal with them. Yeah, there are some clean vox too, but the glass gargling just pollutes everything and I can’t get past it. I really didn’t like this Savatage album very much, but I would listen to it again in a heartbeat vs. listening to “COOOOOOOKIIIIIIIIIIIIESSSSSS!!!!!“ being bellowed into my ear repeatedly. If nothing else, the GMAC has very clearly defined where my brain draws the line on extreme vocals.
Winner: Savatage