THE CRUSADE OF EPICS: Results -> A Change Of Seasons wins!

I'll have to listen. I imagine the initial advantage lies with Jethro Tull, but I'll give Virgin Steele a chance.
 
The_7th_one said:
Jethro Tull for me. It's my 2nd favorite band after Maiden. And this is a really fantastic song from a fantastic album. Martin Barre's guitar sound is awesome and unique.
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The funny thing is that:
- Around this time Tull started to sound like the Dire Straits (in some of their songs, not all of course)
- Barre was admired by Mark Knopfler: in 2005 he called Barre's work with Ian Anderson "magical".
 
This Jethro Tull song isn’t really my thing, but it’s definitely well constructed and well executed. Too bad the girl only wanted to make sandwiches instead of make love, I guess.

There are large parts of this Virgin Steele song that I like a lot, but the synth sounds are super low rent, the occasional scowliness of the singing doesn’t work well, and there’s still about 1/3 of the song that isn’t very impressive, mostly toward the beginning.

Sorry, @Wogmidget, but on the whole I think I prefer the more consistent craftsmanship of @Forostar ‘s nominee, even if it’s not the sort of thing I’d normally want to listen to. Winner: Jethro Tull
 
I can honestly say that I like both of these songs, but for different reasons. I know very little about Jethro Tull, but the music here is outstanding. The vocals? Not my thing, and they seem a bit out of place with the folky epic music. The lyrics don't really mesh with the music, either, but oh well.

I know even less about Virgin Steele (what a horrible band name), but this song also has its moments. It's a lot more grandiose, and there's some cool riffage (1:25 and the verse that follows), but a lot of the song is overdone with wall-of-sound bombast. People who call Symphony X cheesy have obviously never listened to Virgin Steele. The vocalist is really piling the cheese on, although he has a hell of a range.

I went with Tull because I find the music to be more unique, but both are catchy songs with a lot of meat to them.
 
Detective Beauregard said:
I know very little about Jethro Tull, but the music here is outstanding. The vocals? Not my thing, and they seem a bit out of place with the folky epic music.
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Just so you know, this is already Anderson's voice in a sort of a decline. Check out his previous work for much more expressiveness and richness. Also, this is after he already changed everyone else in the band (bar Barre, heh) many times over (especially the Cornick-> Hammond-> Glascock / Bunker-> Barlow rhythm sections). And yes, while they never shied away from even love stories and such, this song here is somewhat uncharacteristically "mundane-oldman-reminiscing" for them, IIRC.

Detective Beauregard said:
Virgin Steele (what a horrible band name)
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Anybody else felt when seeing the name for the first time like it's supposed to be a miserable copy/parody of our little band here? (Iron –> Steele, Maiden -> Virgin)? Okay, it might be because I was about 8 and not a native speaker, but still...
 
Yes, Ian Anderson had a throat surgery two years before and he couldn't sing like he did it before. As @Forostar said the vocals started to sound like Mark Knofler since this album, It's more like a talking and not singing songs. But it's a fantastic album and along with Broadsword and the Beast (1982) both albums are the greatest they did in the 80's. Their albums from the 70's are awesome.
Note: As a big Jethro Tull fan, Steve wears a sweatshirt with the cover of this album in the innersleeve picture of the Seeventh Son of a Seventh Son album.
 
Interesting match here. First thing that jumps out: we're listening to two singers who are trying so hard. As others have mentioned, one is due to vocal troubles and one is just METAAAALLLLLLLL. I don't love either of these songs, but I do like Tull's vibe.

Steele has better riffs (and is metal, as opposed to folk rock), but it feels really contrived. I'll go with Tull because it just feels more natural and honest. Super interesting stuff.
 
Virgin Steele has done some very good things. This is not one of my favourite songs but it certainly is on my favourite album of theirs.
 
I enjoyed this Jethro Tull song more than anything I heard from them in other games, which was all their 70's material. Vocal lines are simpler and way more tolerable. Production is also better and more modern, and I didn't even notice that the drums were programmed (quite well done for the 80's, compared to, say, Judas Priest's programmed drums). That being said, I didn't care much for the song apart from the ending.

Virgin Steele is way more up my alley, despite bad cardboard box sounding drums. DeFeis is great here, it's only in the past decade or so that he fell apart vocally, although my only experience with him is from Avantasia. Might check out this whole album actually, very cool song with some cool epic & symphonic moments which I liked. Only missing growls tbh :P
 
@Night Prowler the drums on Budapest are not programmed. The album it is from has 3 programmed drum tracks. Not this one.

No.TitleLength
1."Steel Monkey"3:39
2."Farm on the Freeway"6:31
3."Jump Start"4:55
4."Said She Was a Dancer"3:43
5."Dogs in the Midwinter"4:37
6."Budapest"10:05
7."Mountain Men"6:20
8."The Waking Edge"4:49
9."Raising Steam"4:05

Jethro Tull
Additional Musicians

Edit: and YES check that Virgin Steele album. Lots of nice tracks.
 
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Results of Round 13:
Virgin Steele - Emalaith
Jethro Tull - Budapest

Dream Theater - Home (Nominated by @Black Wizard)
vs.
Dream Theater - In The Presence Of Enemies, Part 2 (Nominated by @JudasMyGuide)
 
This is tough. Home is more of a “song” kind of song (in structure) while ITPOE pt. 2 is more “epic.” If this was the entire ITPOE (why isn’t it?) it would have my vote, but now I have to consider this.

I shall return.
 
“Home” is a complex but coherent musical journey with lots of nice instrumental work and memorable vocal lines. The female sex noises are a bit unnecessary, but this is otherwise very good throughout.

“In The Presence Of Enemies, Part 2” has higher highs and lower lows than “Home”, much cheesier lyrics, and its best parts are loaded at the front and back of the song. You could easily trim 5 minutes of fat out of this one. The group chants sound terrible, but there’s some really cool atmosphere and sweet riffage in places.

Neither song is bad by any stretch, but for me the strength and consistency of @Black Wizard ’s nominee trumps the uneven bloat of @JudasMyGuide ’s choice. Winner: Dream Theater - “Home”
 
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