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

SOAD! Ohmigosh! YES!

The energy, the schizophrenic switching of moods and melodies, all the Middle-Eastern melodies ... the most underrated and single-handedly the best band of the "nu-metal" genre (if they qualify, but I came across that opinion rather often - if they don't then it's Deftones)
 
The first clash is the least good from the lot as far as I'm concerned. Skid Row's album is completely unappealing to me (that will be completely different once Slave To The Grind enters the race) . As for Mesmerize it's not quite my cup of tea and while some of the mixes between hardcore, nu metal and armenian sounds grant the band a unique sound there's still a lot of stuff that rubs me the wrong way. Nevertheless BYOB, Violent Pornography, Sad Statue, Question and This Cocaine are interesting enough to give System Of A Down the edge.

And now... oh man. Scream Bloody Gore vs Blind. Really? Do I really have to vote? Two great albums clashing this soon isn't fair. Death's debut isn't only good but also ultra iconic. But in a certain way so is Blind. This record when it came out was something: from the pompous and heavy intro These Shrouded Temple one can easily notice that COC's game shifted completely from hardcore to something like an attempt to be a 90's Sabbath. And man did these guys nailed it! Damned For All Time kicks down the door with fury and groove. Weatherman and Keenan's guitar work is amazing and late Mullins' drumming is simply thunderous. There are songs where the band sails a bit closer to old Sabbath's shore (like in Buried or Painted Smiling Face) but still retaining their own spin on the whole deal. The come the well known Vote With A Bullet and what can I say about the relentless discharge of power, groove and originality displayed in this all time classic? So as much as it costs me to vote against Death the only solace I get out of it is that at least two more albums by the band I consider to be considerably better will appear in this contest if they lose this round. But in all fairness I have to go with Corrosion Of Conformity.

Next one isn't that easy too. Game Over by Lilker and the boys is a good, straight to the throat, pedal to the metal thrash metal display. Opener Live Suffer Die gives you a taste of what you're about to get into, and while the main dish here is pure thrash from which Betrayal, Nuclear War and Radiation Sickness are perhaps the best cuts there's also a strong Motorhead vibe going on underneath the whole thing in songs like Sin, some hardcore perhaps working as a reprise from SOD (My America or the frantic Hang The Pope) and some comic reliefs. To sum it up it's a cool debut but not a par with what Nuclear Assault would manage to spawn in later records (especially the iconic Handle With Care). Still it puts up a fight against Vivid but, due to the reasons I explained in earlier voting, comes short by a thread and so my vote goes to Living Color.

Finally we have an absolute clash of titans. Like it or not Far Beyond Driven is one of the most iconic and influential records from the 90's and its legacy is still felt today and influenced zillions of bands. Furthermore I consider it a great album. But Sabbat? F'ing Sabbat? Let me tell you what Sabbat is for me: simply put THE MOST UNDERRATED METAL BAND EVER! Forget about their third album: there is no true Sabbat without Andy Sneap and Martin Walkyier (who left the band after Dreamweaver to foundd the also excelent Skyclad). To reinforce even more the idea I nominated their debut for this game because I like it way more than Dreamweaver. So what I have to say about Dreamweaver? It's near perfect (now imagine what I think about History Of A Time To Come). Sabbat's take on Thrash Metal and music itself is absolutely uncanny. While thrashing at the speed of light a great amount of time their compositions have an epic, mystical yet obscure feel to it like nothing I've ever heard before. The systematic change of pace underlines even more these elements and Andy Sneap's amazing guitar riffing holds the damned thing tight as nails while Walkyier's hissing vocalizations combine perfectly with everything else. As for Dreamweaver itself it's a concept album about the clash between Christianity and Paganism (a theme already explored in the band's debut) and starts at full throttle with the relentless Clerical Conspiracy. Then as the plot thickens songs tend to get larger and more complex with lots of tempo changes and nuances but still never losing its absolute pristine quality (Do Dark Horses Dream Of Nightmares is particularly amazing). Wildfire is a return to a shorter fast paced registry but once again it's one of the record's best tracks while Mythistory closes the whole thing in an immaculate fashion. Make no mistake: this is an absurdly great record from an absurdly great band. So yeah... it's a pity but Ihave to vote against FBD: Sabbat.
 
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System of a Down: This is too rough for me. Somehow the different elements didn't work together. But the chorus had a nice groove.
Skid Row: The example song was really lame, and the lyrics were bad.
Tough choice, didn't want to vote either. Decided to go for Skid Row, as it's slightly closer to what I like.

Corrosion of Conformity: Surprisingly good, I didn't expect that as it says on Wikipedia that the band plays HC punk, and I don't like any kind of punk. (Bit like Steve regards to that.)
Death: Oh dear. Well, at least the song wasn't too long.

Nuclear Assault: I didn't like it too much, but it wasn't horrible.
Living Color: My favourite colour is aquamarine, not this. The lyrics were pretty idiotic.

Sabbat: Without this contest, I don't think I'd ever have heard Japanese black metal. Unfortunately it didn't make a big impression.
Pantera: Really groovy, but the singing style is too rough and the song was too long.

The songs were so short I am ready with my review before the evening news. Lamia out.
 
1. Breakin' Down is one of Skid Row's more memorable songs, but I absolutely love SOAD, so the first match is really easy for me.
2, Corrosion of Conformity vs Death is hard. The former sounds like it could be up my alley, at least more so than the latter, but since I can't be bothered to listen to the whole albums, I'm going to vote on the basis of these two songs only. Death.
3. Nuclear Assault is more fun than Living Color. I like the guitarwork.
4. Pantera.
 
I've said it before: Slave To The Grind is a much better album than the selftitled of Skid Row.
I'm not a big System Of A Down fan, there are some tracks I like (from the Toxicity album) but for a whole album it's indigestible for me.
However, I'm throwing @Saapanael a bone here.

C.O.C. is usually the stuff I avoid at all costs.
Put that 30 seconds intro of Evil Dead on repeat for a day and I'm the happiest man on earth. Death it is.

Living Colour is funkrock and certainly not metal on Vivid. I love the bass here though, but I'm going to throw a bone at @Magnus here for the very enyoable thrash metal of Nuclear Assault.

Far Beyond Driven is way too far beyond my musical taste, so I'm voting for Sabbat. Second bone for @Magnus. ;)

Now excuse me but I have to lay down for throwing so much bones...
 
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System of a Down - Only know the big hit from these, musically this is produced and sounds quite to my tastes which was surprising, but the vocal isn't working for me, the quick mood shifts don't really work for me either, way better than I was expecting it to be

Skid Row - opinion given before @LooseCannon this track is not on this album it's from the last one they did with Bach "Subhuman Race"

Skid Row with the win

Corrosion of Conformity - a band I'm aware of but never listened to anything by, guitar tone isn't great, nice groovy riff, vocals decent, good enough to make me consider checking the album when I get a chance

Death - Prefer this style Death much more than the other album, intro good, main song is pretty much old school heavy metal, not bad

Corrosion of Conformity more like something I'd want to listen to

Nuclear Assault - another one I've heard of but never checked out, not bad punky thrash with a decent tempo shift in the middle

Living Colour - opinion given before

Nuclear Assault with the win

Sabbat - I like Skyclad a lot and have checked out this online a couple of times been meaning to buy it for a while, production a bit raw for my tastes, but I like Walkyier's turn of phrase in general and also Sneap's playing from Hell who I'm also a big fan of so it's a real no brainer that I will pick this up at some stage

Pantera - opinion given before

There's only so many rounds that I'm Broken will win for Pantera :lol: Sabbat with the win
 
LooseCannon said:
Just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been participating, and to encourage voting. Thanks a lot and this has been a lot of fun so far!
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Thank you for doing all the work for this! :) It's been very interesting to get to know more about metal, and I've enjoyed myself! I always look forward to new votes. I had an idea long before this Cup that it would be useful to know more about metal bands people talk about here and elsewhere, but I knew I would never have the initiative to search for the bands myself. This has been a nice opportunity to listen to different kinds of songs in a readymade package, and I have so much more information on metal genres now!
 
LooseCannon said:
Just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been participating, and to encourage voting. Thanks a lot and this has been a lot of fun so far!

What stuff have you discovered or found anew that speaks to you? For me, the bands I really found myself liking a lot so far are Persefone, Alcest, and surprisingly, Death. The Death song linked above is really fucking good. I gotta go through the back catalogue.
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Picked up Crimson Glory and the follow up album Transcendance, there's been some other near misses as well, like Power Trip from a recent round but the whole album was a bit one dimensional. I'll probably pick up Sabbat in the near future as well
 
MindRuler said:
Put that 30 seconds intro of Evil Dead on repeat for a day and I'm the happiest man on earth. Death it is.
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If (= when) Death does well in this Cup, you guys will going to have to tell me what it is about Death that you love so much, all right? I mean, it doesn't sound bad to me, but I really don't get why it's so special. Probably just my limited mind, but it would be nice to know anyway.
 
Lamia020281 said:
If (= when) Death does well in this Cup, you guys will going to have to tell me what it is about Death that you love so much, all right? I mean, it doesn't sound bad to me, but I really don't get why it's so special. Probably just my limited mind, but it would be nice to know anyway.
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In 3 words: Individual Thought Patterns. That's the Death album I enjoy the most. :)
And Chuck Shuldiner was one of the most kind, sincere, friendly metal musicians ever. I never met him personally but what I've read in magazines through the years and the footage I've seen: he was one hell of a guy.
 
Death are quite seminal in Metal. I think they were the first bands to use harsh vocals. Their albums have also had some really crap opponents in this tournament, e.g. a Bullet for my Valentine album.
 
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