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

Wish You Were Here is an awesome song. Best song on that album followed by Welcome To The Machine.
Nah... the nine parts of Shine On You Crazy Diamond are simply something out of this world. Nevertheless the title track is my favorite after those two tracks. Welcome To The Machine and Have A Cigar are also absolutely superb. This album is really something and IMO it's the zenith of an entire type of record the band released throughout the 70's but never to this level and getting this personal (perhaps that's the secret of its absurd quality). Yes, The Wall, Animals and TDSOTM are great iconic records but fail to reach the integral quality and emotional intensity of this masterpiece. IMO, A Saucerful Of Secrets is their best psychedelic era record, Meddle their best prog/symphonic, WYWH their best prog/conceptual album and The Division Bell their top late career release and come before those iconic albums in my rank.
 
Shine On (I-V) and Have a Cigar are my favorites on the album. Both Top 10 Pink Floyd tracks overall. Welcome to the Machine, Wish You Were Here and Shine On (VI-IX) are decent. It's really those two that push it toward all-time great territory for me.

Yes, The Wall, Animals and TDSOTM are great iconic records but fail to reach the integral quality and emotional intensity of this masterpiece.

Animals takes the cake for me. The most consistently good album songwriting wise, their most instrumentally colorful album, and thematically great as well.
 
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Shine On (I-V) and Have a Cigar are my favorites on the album. Both Top 10 Pink Floyd tracks overall. Welcome to the Machine, Wish You Were Here and Shine On (VI-IX) are decent. It's really those two that push it toward all-time great territory for me.



Animals takes the cake for me. The most consistently good album songwriting wise, their most instrumentally colorful album, and thematically great as well.

Every. Word. You. Just. Said. Wrote. <3
 
Super late to the party on this but I checked out Jane Doe by Converge and it was fantastic.
 
Tony Martin era Sabbath is incredibly underrated. I'm glad to see those albums doing well so far.
I agree when it comes to the first three albums with Tony. However Cross Purposes and especially Forbidden are really meh at best. The 90's weren't kind with Sabbath IMO even Dehumanizer is plagued with fillers. Of course there's the Reunion live record that features 2 great original tunes (one of them - Selling My Soul - is simply one of my favorite Sabbath songs).
 
Dream Healer is a really cool song. I like it a lot, and it's probably the best Gamma Ray song I've ever heard. They generally leave me pretty cold but I have to admit I'm really digging this track. Good recommendation from @Forostar on the song. Really enjoyed the guitar work here! Pretty Maids is fun but is kinda standard 80s rock, so I will vote for Gamma Ray.

Amorphis sounds surprisingly cheery, it feels very folk influenced. Pretty interesting music. The vocals leave me very cold, however. The song has a deeply epic feel and I enjoy everything except the vocals. The problem with Rhapsody, of course, is that Fabio Lione sucks. It's super cheese, and I do enjoy a nice hunk of cheese, but Fabio is horrible, he strains and whines with that horrific falsetto constantly. I could vote for this if Lione was abut 25% less annoying, but as it is, Amorphis.

I've listened to Tyr before but it's been some years. The thing about Tyr is that it's not exactly heavy metal, it's closer to hard rock. That's not a bad thing, but you need to be aware going in that you're getting a softer Sabbath than the one from the 70s and early 80s. Still, a really enjoyable song, good little riff, and Tony Martin sounds real good. Angra's got some cheese to them, but they're better than what I heard from Rhapsody. Still, I had more fun with Tyr. Black Sabbath.

Omnium Gatherum, man, they have a great sound, I really enjoy the atmosphere they build up and the way they arrange their music. But those vocals. I've gotten to accept some growls in my old age, but those ones are just horrible, and unnecessary. This song would be much better with proper singing, and it wastes them. Gutter Ballet is one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands. Savatage.
 
Gamma Ray, Amorphis, Sabbath and Omnium Gatherum. I'm not familiar with Omnium Gatherum but liked this enough to listen to more of them tonight
 
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Amorphis sounds surprisingly cheery, it feels very folk influenced. Pretty interesting music. The vocals leave me very cold, however. The song has a deeply epic feel and I enjoy everything except the vocals. The problem with Rhapsody, of course, is that Fabio Lione sucks. It's super cheese, and I do enjoy a nice hunk of cheese, but Fabio is horrible, he strains and whines with that horrific falsetto constantly. I could vote for this if Lione was abut 25% less annoying, but as it is, Amorphis.
There's enough (instrumental) music left to dig in this Amorphis album! Glad you like it.

For me, this very record, this particular voice, it was an important reason for me to start appreciating non-clean vocals, around the time it came out.
I cannot really hear what he says (also due to the Finnish accent) but the voice is deep and neutral in its environment. There's no striking tone in this grunt. It just sits very well in this mindblowing music. Fits to the atmosphere.
 
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