"Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" has pretty good energy and strong vocal lines. Dio sounds great as expected, and the solo is solid. It's kind of simple and repetitive, and I vastly prefer
the Gamma Ray cover, but the original is still pretty good overall. "Prelude To Madness" does some atmosphere building then gives us a distorted guitar and synth-string taste of Holst's "Mars, Bringer Of War" before breaking into a guitar and synth-string version of Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" theme (again, don't tell
@KidInTheDark666 that any classical music is cool!) -- and...that's it. As much as I like neoclassical guitar, I can't vote for a low-rent cover of two very famous classical themes instead of a well-executed original song.
Winner: Rainbow - "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll"
"Polkageist!" was my own nomination, and it's arguably the highlight of Martin Walkyier's final album with Skyclad. It has infectious energy, haunting acoustic guitar and fiddle, tantalizing sexual wordplay (with tongue firmly planted in cheek), nice harmonic interactions, and some tastefully used female vocals in a supporting role.
As I said in the Crusade Of Epics, I like the vibe of “The Coffin Ships”, but as with most of the Primordial songs I’ve heard, it kind of slips into a single groove and stays there for most of the song. The gentler break about 2/3 of the way through the track is a nice change, though, and the song is enjoyable enough. But sorry,
@Magnus, that's nowhere near enough to get me to vote against my own nominee here.
Winner: Skyclad - "Polkageist!"
"Hollow" has some surprisingly tasteful harmonized guitars at the start, and holy shit, is that Phil Anselmo singing clean and clearly? Jesus. The vocal lines aren't going to win any awards here, but this song is actually pretty competent for the first 3 minutes...and then it devolves into the empty crunch and screamy bullshit that typifies Pantera for the rest of its runtime, with some occasional clean guitar accents. Well, at least you had
some potential. Meanwhile, "The Skull Beneath The Skin" is one of the highlights of Megadeth's debut album, bursting with undeniable groove and killer riffs. That explosion into the riff with the fast soloing on top slays me every time, and the interlude with the descending riff and ascending fills is great too. Absolutely no contest here,
@Stardust's nominee takes this in a walk.
Winner: Megadeth - "The Skull Beneath The Skin"
"Deuce" feels like sleepy dad rock to me at this point. The verse is OK, but the chorus sucks. The solo's alright. Not much to care about here. "Lick It Up" at least has real hooks, even if the music is boring outside of the vocal lines. Not thrilled that I have to vote for a Kiss song here, but between these two the choice is clear.
Winner: Kiss - "Lick It Up"
"Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" has a nice atmospheric verse and a solid chorus with just a hint of late-80s Def Leppard. Good solo, strong atmospheric bridge. Good stuff. "Boogie For George" starts off like some bluesy jam, but eventually picks up a groove. The verse is OK, though the lyrics are pretty cringey, and then the song just treads water for the rest of its runtime. No contest here, an easy call for
@DJMayes's nominee.
Winner: Y&T - "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark"
"The Baying Of The Hounds" is like most other Opeth -- great music, strong clean vocals when they show up, and absolutely intolerable Cookie Monster nonsense the rest of the time. Call me when and if they re-release the Opeth back catalog with all clean vocals -- all the cool extreme bands will do it eventually! "The Fifth Extinction" has some nice clean guitar bits and in-your-face synths, and some interesting vocal harmonies, but it sure takes its sweet time to get going. YouTube actually cut away right when I was getting bored to show me an Old Spice ad, which made me chuckle. I don't really like the twee pre-chorus(?), but I'm totally down for the synth solos and the string interlude. This song is easily twice as long as it needs to be, and it's certainly not the greatest thing I've ever heard; but it's competent enough, and it doesn't try to project its stomach contents at me, so congratusorrylations
@Shmoolikipod -- ah, wait, shit, the music and songwriting in the Opeth track is just waaaaay better than this Ayreon track, so I'm going to have to suck it up and vote for the muppet instead. FML.
Winner: Opeth - "The Baying Of The Hounds"
