The Greatest Metal Song Cup - Part II, Round 4, Matches 46-51

[Magnus]

Someone should start a gore grind band called Pernik btw.

Pernik wedding: it's just us close friends and relatives so it's hard to start a fight but we'll try nevertheless!
According to statistics, Pernik has the highest occurrence of black eyes in Bulgaria.

Spoiler

Blue in the Bulgarian original, same meaning, different genetic message

etc. etc.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

Pernik wedding: it's just us close friends and relatives so it's hard to start a fight but we'll try nevertheless!
According to statistics, Pernik has the highest occurrence of black eyes in Bulgaria.

Spoiler

Blue in the Bulgarian original, same meaning, different genetic message

etc. etc.

Perník (literally our word for "gingerbread") is also the slang term for Pervitine, metamphetamines, here in Czechia, so I really squinted and did a double take on that.

 

[Kalata]

I've never heard Bloodbound before - thanks Kalata

You're welcome. Their debut album is pure classic metal.

Big TMMWBK vibes from Nosferatu's intro.

The Maiden song from the Blaze era...

Actually, spot on for both more or less. The song is only missing a proper solo/s.

Nosferatu is also a really cool track with a killer chorus.

I would say killer verses, pre-chorus, chorus, melody and intro.

 

[MindRuler]

Perník (literally our word for "gingerbread") is also the slang term for Pervitine, metamphetamines, here in Czechia, so I really squinted and did a double take on that.

It reminded me of Perik, a character of the scifi comic serie The Trigan Empire.

 

[LooseCannon]

Yngwie won't see the light tonight, instead he just gets the Bloodbound bite of the nosferatu. Rush uses 19th century literature to solve the corporal jigsaw quandary. Helloween wanted out of this match with Demon, and well, they got it. Kansas carries on, refusing to wait on Cult of Luna. It came right down to the wire, but Rush's limelight has faded at the very last. Nightwish. Finally, Serj Tankian will not be calling Evanescence, sober or not, as System of a Down wins.

---

Part II, Round 4, Matches 40-45
​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 40​	Beast Over Hammersmith Division​
Symphony X - Church of the Machine	vs.​	Queensrÿche - Deliverance​
@LooseCannon	Nominators​	@Mosh​
1-0-0, 1 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 41​	Afraid to Shoot Strangers Division​
Overkill - The Years of Decay	vs.​	Iced Earth - A Question of Heaven​
Popoff 500	Nominators​	Popoff 500​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +4	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 42​	Edward the Great Division​
W.A.S.P. - The Great Misconceptions of Me	vs.​	Slayer - Postmortem​
@The Dissident	Nominators​	Popoff 500​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +23	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 43​	Tony Parsons Division​
Nightwish - Passion and the Opera	vs.​	Paradise Lost - True Belief​
@Jer	Nominators​	@MindRuler​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -8	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 44​	Hallowed Be Thy Name Division​
Alter Bridge - Blackbird	vs.​	Crossfire - Atomic War​
@The Dissident	Nominators​	@Magnus​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -10	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 45​	Killers Division​
Type O Negative - Christian Woman	vs.​	Stratovarius - Babylon​
@Diesel 11	Nominators​	@Kalata​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -12	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

 

[Magnus]

Deliverance.
Overkill.
Slayer's Postmortem, of course.
Paradise Lost.
Pleasantly surprised atomic war is still an option. (didn't sound quite right perhaps, all things considered)
This one was really difficult. Babylon won eventually.
Apologies to members whose nominees I did not support, it was a strong round.

 

[Kalata]

Deliverance is such a cool short rocker. Classic Queensryche. Great melodic riff, verses, solo and effective chorus. I really like it. Symphony X's song is interesting with a nice chorus.
Good music on both songs and not my cup of tea, but IE's A Question Of Heaven has some nice different vocal ideas that I appreciate.
The Great Misconceptions Of Me, no contest imo. What a wonderful song full of emotion!
Passion And The Opera, easy. Classic Nightwish with a speed riff and typical vocals/chorus. Solid from its album.
Alter Bridge's Blackbird, by default. Actually this song has a nice vibe, very effective with its calm and powerful parts, very cool solo and I liked the riff a lot.
Babylon! Stratovarius at their peak with the sound. Not because it's my nominee, I'll always vote for such songs because I love such melodies, not to mention the great solos or the groove. The images it creates are its greatest strength.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

Of course I'm voting for Deliverance, what do you mean, like I would actually vote against that outro? I saw the song live and it was one of my best concerts, I even recently memed the song again

View attachment 38700

Oh, wait, Queensrÿche's Deliverance. Oops, sorry, my bad. Symphony X, lol.

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At first, I was sure I'd go with Overkill, whom I used to like a lot in my thrash period, with The Dark Saga as a whole doing nothing to me, really; it was one of the first IE albums I've heard and it literally might have postponed my general appreciation of the band on its own.
But, heh, the songs are similarly structured (call it the "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You / Remember Tomorrow" variation, if you will), give off slightly similar vibes and the Iced Earth one isn't half bad, really.

But still, I like the retro stylisations of Overkill more, the song is less cheesy and sorry, but you can't make fun of King Diamond and turn the blind eye to the histrionic squeaky wails Barlow is doing here near the end.


-------


I know I have said recently in the Now Playing thread that I have made peace with Reign in Blood, but despite that, I still kinda hate it. And yet, Postmortem is quite possibly the third actual song on the album - it still feels somewhat undebaked and kinda falls apart near the end, but the opening riff is good and it has Lombardo.

The Great Misconceptions of Me is ridiculously melodramatic, from the title to the soulful opening to the album cover - I mean, you really need a lot of shamelessness to release this if you're over 15, though I find that strangely ballsy as well, somehow.
But then again, I'm pretty melodramatic myself (it must be the Italian blood - have I told you I actually like Fabio Lione?) and I actually like Titanic, you know what they say, one man's pretentious, self-indulgent, pompous shite is another man's treasure, so despite myself I once again find myself voting for the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.


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I like doom a lot, but I'm more of a My Dying Bride bloke myself and there's not much you could do to make me vote against Tarjawish, 'cause I hear Tuomas back when he was inspired and I'm all



And besides, how could I disregard all the erotic dreams about Tarja I had throughout my life, ha?
- said Tuomas to Marcelo [ba-dum-tss]

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Since Ariana doesn't frequent this forum anymore, I don't feel the need to pretend I like Alter Bridge in order to acquire some dubious sympathy points anymore , nor to mince my words, and living in truth is refreshing and relaxing as always - so let's just say that Creed with a better singer are still Creed with a better singer and that I can't really see how they aren't this slightly more palatable variation on the Nirvana - Foo Fighters progression; where I could see some kind of identity in their previous incarnation, at least, the watered down radio rock for housewives is really not my thing, sorry. Sure, they're much more listenable than the Grohl's abomination I refuse to name again (and, to be fair, some of their songs like Bleed It Dry actually slap), but I'm still going with Crossfire as the band that has... you know... balls. Apologies to The Dizzy, please be so kind as to forget the previous paragraph.

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Timo Tolkki's Strato, much like Luca Turilli's Rhapso, are among my favouritest-est bands of the entire Power Metal paradigm. I wouldn't personally pick Babylon, myself (of the early, dour songs I prefer others; I don't think the Oriental leaning suits them as much and the "I can hear you calling me" part reminds me of some other song, though I'm not sure which one, I hope it's not Uriah Heep. --- I bet it's Uriah Heep), but that doesn't really matter, it totally gets my vote against the blaspheming Peter Steele who thankfully managed to repent and revert back to the faith before he died and I'm glad for him, but I'm gonna vote for other songs, like Black no. 1, which I find hilarious.

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

Easy, easy votes for the incredible Symphony X and Iced Earth tracks.

Postmortem starts off great, but quickly devolves into typical Slayer hampunching. WASP's entry here is as overwrought and melodramatic as possible, but it's definitely a far superior song.

Passion and the Opera is nowhere close to my favorite Nightwish song, but it's definitely unique. This Paradise Lost tune doesn't do much for me.

Speaking of not doing much for me, there's Blackbird. Everything about this song works on paper, yet it fails to spark any emotional response within me. Regardless, Alter Bridge has more going for it than the goofiness of Cross Fire.

I honestly don't have a preference in the last match. I found both songs equally okay. Type O Negative is far more unique, but I guess I dig the Eastern tonalities of Stratovarius a bit more.

 

[Detective Beauregard]

I remember back in 2004 when @MrKnickerbocker and I saw Symphony X open for Queensryche (should have been the other way around). It was the first show on the tour and the only show that they played Church of the Machine. Don’t know if Queensryche played Deliverance; don’t care. We left after the gods in Symphony X were done. Outside of a few songs I could just never get into Queensryche.

I remember one Queensryche fan next to me before the show started asking me what Symphony X sounded like, and I said they were heavy and neoclassical. He’s like “aw, neoclassical,” all bummed out. Then when Inferno started he was like “this is awesome!”

 

[Mosh]

It was the first show on the tour and the only show that they played Church of the Machine.

The only time ever?

 

[JudasMyGuide]

The only time ever?

According to Setlist.fm, they'd been playing CotM relatively regularly up to 2003, then only twice in 2004, and twice in 2008, each time on two consecutive dates (April 16-17 for the former, November 19-20 for the latter) and never since.

I mean, they and Kamelot are really bad at this, if you get anything older in the setlist, you can consider yourself extremely lucky. I have no idea why is that so.

 

[Detective Beauregard]

The only time ever?

Nah just that tour.

I mean, they and Kamelot are really bad at this, if you get anything older in the setlist, you can consider yourself extremely lucky. I have no idea why is that so.

They simply think their newer stuff is better. I mean, they’re wrong, but no one’s perfect.

 

[LooseCannon]

Two ties and two at 15-5. Really interesting round so far. I wonder if there are any other voters out there!

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

Surely there is at least one lovely soul willing to split that first tie by voting for the incredible Church of the Machine...

 

[srfc]

Won't have time to listen, and completely unfamiliar with all of the last 3 ties to throw a quick vote in so not voting, but would have voted for Queensryche, Overkill and W.A.S.P. in the other ties (only barely not voting for Slayer though)

 

[LooseCannon]

I guess we get deliverance from the machine in church as Queensryche wins. Iced Earth has many questions, but one of those is not about their years of decay (no decay, they just immediately died when Jon Schaffer did a treason). The great misconceptions of a postmortem is that Slayer could win, but instead the examination found they were stung by a W.A.S.P. Paradise Lost had no true belief in their passion, but Nightwish had both the passion and the opera (singer). A blackbird survives atomic war to provide Alter Bridge with a victory. And finally, the Christian woman finds no succor in Babylon as Stratovarius delivers a solid win.

---

Part II, Round 4, Matches 46-51
​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 46​	El Dorado Division​
UFO - Lights Out	vs.​	AC/DC - Riff Raff​
Popoff 500	Nominators​	Popoff 500​
1-0-0, 1 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 47​	Flight of Icarus Division​
Bathory - Twilight of the Gods	vs.​	Rhapsody of Fire - Reign of Terror​
@____no5	Nominators​	@Night Prowler​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +4	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 48​	Doug Sampson Division​
AC/DC - It's A Long Way To the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll)	vs.​	Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack​
Popoff 500	Nominators​	Popoff 500​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +23	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 49​	Tailgunner Division​
Lita Ford - Kiss Me Deadly	vs.​	Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare​
Rolling Stone 100	Nominators​	Youtube 50​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -8	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 50​	Adrian Smith Division​
Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun	vs.​	Swallow the Sun - Rooms and Shadows​
@The Sentient	Nominators​	@JudasMyGuide​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -10	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 4	Match 51​	No Prayer For the Dying Division​
Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather	vs.​	Death - Choke on It​
Popoff 500	Nominators​	@DJ James​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -12	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

 

[Magnus]

The Death song is another masterpiece that will most probably lose to the much more familiar Priest song - also very good, don't get me wrong.
Still, this is not direct elimination, and every vote for the underdog counts.
I didn't think anyone would vote for Rhapsody against a legendary Bathory track but there you go. And I'm afraid there will be more.

 

[Magnus]

^ I can understand a Finnish guy voting against the Swedish band but the rest of you have no excuse.
Frankly.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

I didn't think anyone would vote for Rhapsody against a legendary Bathory track but there you go. And I'm afraid there will be more.

You bet