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

Went with death bias here, although Genesis' song was suprisingly good and relatively heavy for that era, not bad at all.
 
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Results of Round 48:
Genesis - The Musical Box
Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)

Metallica - ...And Justice For All (Nominated by @Midnight)
vs.
Negură Bunget - Țesarul De Lumini (Nominated by @Magnus)
 
“…And Justice For All” is a pretty great song, if a little bit bloated. The lyrics are cool and all the harmonized guitar work is great, especially the heavily layered interlude in the middle. Some nice drum bits, too. A few of the parts feel like they’re slavishly repeated without good reason, but that’s really just nitpicking.

“Țesarul De Lumini” has some pretty great music for the first 4.5 minutes or so, but then its black metal DNA asserts itself more strongly and it loses me. I just don’t see the appeal of extreme vocals and trilling the same guitar note really fast over a bunch of random pot banging. There’s another interlude and an extended outro with some more cool atmospheric music, but by that point the damage has already been done.

Sorry, @Magnus, but this is an easy call for @Midnight ‘s nominee. Winner: Metallica
 
Metallica by a mile here.

That Negură Bunget track is:
- a minute and a half of garbage chords and noise
- 30 more seconds of garbage chords with drums
- oh cool, a melodic guitar line (that sounds improvised)
- single note tremolo strumming along with the same garbage chords (we've now reached the 3 minute, 20 second mark)
- an actual riff, but a pretty stock one
- couldn't even hang on to that riff for a bit without playing more garbage black metal chords, huh? Okie dokie.
- there's a second guitar doing a bluesy rundown behind the garbage chords that is good
- then the vocals start and....I'm done, bye
 
“Carolina IV” was probably my least enthusiastic nomination, made primarily for the inclusion of Brazilian folk instruments and its more complex structure. I thought people might find it interesting if they hadn’t heard it before. There’s a lot of power metal cheese going on here, and Andre Matos gets thin and whiny in a number of places — but the song elevates itself through its instrumental sections, especially that awesome dissolve into the piano and cello piece in the middle. The vocal melodies are nice, too (though the harmonies are a bit weird), and I think the song stays interesting throughout without dragging, and it goes on a nice journey.

“Soothsayer” has a great vibe through its clean sections. The melodic leads and solos are sweet, too. The distorted rhythm parts are less compelling, but fine. And ultimately, the majority of the song is one long, extended jam, so it’s not that interesting from a songwriting perspective.

This is actually a pretty even match, with each track tending to be strong where its opponent is weaker. The Angra song is more complex and interesting, but less consistent, while the Buckethead song is more straightforward and just carries itself on vibe and panache. I could probably go either way, but sorry, @Dityn DJ James, the higher highs of the Angra song combined with own-nominee bias are enough to just barely swing it in my direction. Winner: Angra
 
My favorite Buckethead song (that I've heard) vs a pretty good Angra song.

I'd be fine with either one winning, but I'm giving the edge to Buckethead.
 
Wanted to go with Angra but that would've made it a tie, and there was a long break with no updates... So Buckethead it is.
 
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