Any other Americans getting this?
The Greatest Metal Song Cup - Part II, Round 4, Matches 82-87
- Thread starter LooseCannon
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Awesome song 
Yes. Not sure if it’s something to do with the way links are embedded because it’s from the official KG channel and I can access the same video if I search for it. I haven’t tried clicking those YouTube links until now so idk if this has been an ongoing issue
JudasMyGuide
Ancient Mariner
Sorry I didn't mention this, but a YouTube link doesn't work for me as well quite often in this cup, I just thought it was a given - usually it's Europe vs Americas or different regions within, I always just searched for the video for myself. It always looks like what No5 posted.
But I've been having this experience for the past 10 years, even on this very forum, even in the previous cup of yours - it's licensing bullshit for different regions - (I don't know how VPN factors into it, I don't use one; being in Czechia in the EU, I think we have the same region as "Eastern Europe" as far as this is concerned, but what do I know) and I think it's beyond your control, because you can't check for every region.
Very often it happened with Black Sabbath tracks, IIRC, for example. And now with King Gizzard too. Since it takes me to YouTube anyway, it's very easy to just write the song there and search for a different link, working here.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Into The Lungs Of Hell is a great instrumental. I wish it was longer. It could have been a part of a song. There is a NWOBHM feel to it. An awesome way to open an album. Of the shorter instrumentals, this one is up there at the top.
This Rhapsody Of Fire's song is cool and catchy with singalong parts, just what you want from power metal. And what an intro.
This Rhapsody Of Fire's song is cool and catchy with singalong parts, just what you want from power metal. And what an intro.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Mars for the Rich is a cool, but odd combination of sludge, prog, and just kinda straight blues rock? It’s pretty awesome. Kinda sounds like Mastodon + Clutch (especially lyrically). I dig the distorted bass solo. Hard not to hear some classic Sabbath in here too. I like The Who, but we’re not voting for the best classic rock song.
Atlantean Kodex have everything I want out of traditional metal: epic songwriting, melodic vocals and guitars, good harmonies, and catchy melodies. But their production here makes the reunion Maiden albums sound like the pinnacle of sonic art and engineering. It’s abysmally muddy and a good vocalist is weakened by how disconnected he sounds from the mess of an instrumental. And yet, something is drawing me to this song. I found myself still singing the chorus while A Sorceror’s Pledge was playing. I love Candlemass and their debut is a genre-defining moment, but something about this isn’t working for me today. Gonna throw a curveball and give this one to Sol Invictus, despite their basement-level production values.
A thinly distorted guitar and an acoustic 12-string play a lilting riff to kick off Megadeth’s bizarre intro, which builds to a cacophonous march featuring some laughably cheap-sounding synthesized horns, winds, and percussion. Ambitious though it may be, the effect is far more silly than triumphant, which was surely Mustaine’s compositional intention. I know we’re basing this off of the 2004 remaster, which has a glaringly clear mix of those synthesized trumpets, but Mustaine put it there originally and approved the remaster. It’s perfectly fair to judge based on this version. Once the full band kicks in, however, it’s a solid Megadeth instrumental with double bass drums driving away underneath a furious Dave Mustaine guitar solo, drilling his chaotic lead pattern deep into your brain. The song never lets up, culminating in a metallic wall of sound and some syncopated crunchy chords to round things out. It’s a decent, dramatic enough opener but there’s very little meat to it. And then there’s Prong, who deliver a solid slab of groove metal/hard rock/thrash? Just like KGATLW, I’m not sure what I’m listening to here. There’s nothing mindblowing and the vocals kinda stink, despite some nice riffs with sick grooves. I think Megadeth’s instrumental is mid, but it is more memorable than Prong.
Caligula’s Horse is a band I just heard about via the GMAC and I’ve been meaning to dig deeper into them at some point! Graves is an undeniably incredible, beautifully crafted melodic prog epic. It’s like someone took all of the best parts of old school Dream Theater and distilled them into a more modern cocktail. Master’s Apprentices is such a purely chaotic evil track from Opeth that I have grown to love more and more over the years. It’s so psychedelic and twisted, while still showcasing that same contrast of darkness and light that make Opeth such songwriting titans. It has a beautiful acoustic mid-section that is shattered by one of Mikael’s most tyrannic guttural performances and an absolute beast of a heavy outro. Somehow it is still a more streamlined, one dimensional song than Graves, though, which is much more progressive and uplifting. This is honestly a horribly tough choice for me. I think if I had been listening to Caligula’s Horse for over a decade, I might go with them, but as before, so below, and Opeth cannot be pried from my fingers.
I have nothing positive to say about Marduk. Vintersong has average clean vocals, at best, but the guitars are nice and melodic (if a bit boring). It’s a fine enough song and far better than it’s competition.
Rhapsody are the latest slice of cheesecake made with ingredients such as running double bass, straining tenor vocals, major key choruses, gang chants, and low rent orchestral synths. Sounds like every other power metal song of similar recipe. Woolgatherer has more uniqueness in the first 5 seconds, beginning with a melancholy vocal that wouldn’t be out of place on a Radiohead record. A bit of swaying metal carries the melody into a fully acoustic section that alternates between sounding like prancing hobbits and ominous death metal, continuing to weave the intro melody into the proceedings with developing levels of grandeur. The midpoint turns darker and more sparse before the technical onslaught and subsequent denouement of the final 5 minutes, which is easily the best part of the song. Now look, is this a perfect song or perfect album? Nah. It’s a bit too cerebral and sparse for me, despite my love for Wilderun. I found the previous two albums to be far more enjoyable, but this is still great progressive music. These two are hardly comparable, but Rhapsody doesn’t have a chance here.
Atlantean Kodex have everything I want out of traditional metal: epic songwriting, melodic vocals and guitars, good harmonies, and catchy melodies. But their production here makes the reunion Maiden albums sound like the pinnacle of sonic art and engineering. It’s abysmally muddy and a good vocalist is weakened by how disconnected he sounds from the mess of an instrumental. And yet, something is drawing me to this song. I found myself still singing the chorus while A Sorceror’s Pledge was playing. I love Candlemass and their debut is a genre-defining moment, but something about this isn’t working for me today. Gonna throw a curveball and give this one to Sol Invictus, despite their basement-level production values.
A thinly distorted guitar and an acoustic 12-string play a lilting riff to kick off Megadeth’s bizarre intro, which builds to a cacophonous march featuring some laughably cheap-sounding synthesized horns, winds, and percussion. Ambitious though it may be, the effect is far more silly than triumphant, which was surely Mustaine’s compositional intention. I know we’re basing this off of the 2004 remaster, which has a glaringly clear mix of those synthesized trumpets, but Mustaine put it there originally and approved the remaster. It’s perfectly fair to judge based on this version. Once the full band kicks in, however, it’s a solid Megadeth instrumental with double bass drums driving away underneath a furious Dave Mustaine guitar solo, drilling his chaotic lead pattern deep into your brain. The song never lets up, culminating in a metallic wall of sound and some syncopated crunchy chords to round things out. It’s a decent, dramatic enough opener but there’s very little meat to it. And then there’s Prong, who deliver a solid slab of groove metal/hard rock/thrash? Just like KGATLW, I’m not sure what I’m listening to here. There’s nothing mindblowing and the vocals kinda stink, despite some nice riffs with sick grooves. I think Megadeth’s instrumental is mid, but it is more memorable than Prong.
Caligula’s Horse is a band I just heard about via the GMAC and I’ve been meaning to dig deeper into them at some point! Graves is an undeniably incredible, beautifully crafted melodic prog epic. It’s like someone took all of the best parts of old school Dream Theater and distilled them into a more modern cocktail. Master’s Apprentices is such a purely chaotic evil track from Opeth that I have grown to love more and more over the years. It’s so psychedelic and twisted, while still showcasing that same contrast of darkness and light that make Opeth such songwriting titans. It has a beautiful acoustic mid-section that is shattered by one of Mikael’s most tyrannic guttural performances and an absolute beast of a heavy outro. Somehow it is still a more streamlined, one dimensional song than Graves, though, which is much more progressive and uplifting. This is honestly a horribly tough choice for me. I think if I had been listening to Caligula’s Horse for over a decade, I might go with them, but as before, so below, and Opeth cannot be pried from my fingers.
I have nothing positive to say about Marduk. Vintersong has average clean vocals, at best, but the guitars are nice and melodic (if a bit boring). It’s a fine enough song and far better than it’s competition.
Rhapsody are the latest slice of cheesecake made with ingredients such as running double bass, straining tenor vocals, major key choruses, gang chants, and low rent orchestral synths. Sounds like every other power metal song of similar recipe. Woolgatherer has more uniqueness in the first 5 seconds, beginning with a melancholy vocal that wouldn’t be out of place on a Radiohead record. A bit of swaying metal carries the melody into a fully acoustic section that alternates between sounding like prancing hobbits and ominous death metal, continuing to weave the intro melody into the proceedings with developing levels of grandeur. The midpoint turns darker and more sparse before the technical onslaught and subsequent denouement of the final 5 minutes, which is easily the best part of the song. Now look, is this a perfect song or perfect album? Nah. It’s a bit too cerebral and sparse for me, despite my love for Wilderun. I found the previous two albums to be far more enjoyable, but this is still great progressive music. These two are hardly comparable, but Rhapsody doesn’t have a chance here.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
This is missing the Marduk song, which is not on Spotify in my region.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
"Mars For The Rich" has good energy, though I'm not fond of the intentionally noisy production. The singer isn't good, but he's not all that bad either. The vocal lines are alternately monotonous and pretty decent. I like the bass solo, if you ignore the production issues. A mixed bag overall, but pretty OK. "My Generation" is not my kind of jam. The stuttery lead vocals and the whiny, cheesy background vocals aren't very appealing. Some of the vocal melodies are alright, and the interlude in the middle is OK, but the outro is pretty awful, and this isn't the kind of thing I would ever intentionally listen to. Not big on either track, but still a pretty easy call for @Spambot's nominee. Winner: King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - "Mars For The Rich"
"Sol Invictus" sounds like a garage band that exclusively played Maiden covers trying to write an original song, but winding up with a kind of lame Maiden pastiche with some simplistic chugging replacing the gallop. The production is weak, the guitars are out of tune with each other (which makes the harmonies painful to listen to), and the singer is technically OK but thin, sounding like he's reading ChatGPT-generated fantasy lyrics off of a sheet of paper with bad phrasing and no conviction. The solos are good, though, and a lot of the vocal melodies are solid. The song is way too long, but if you ignore the production and performance issues and the blatant Maiden aping it's still pretty serviceable. "A Sorcerer's Pledge" has an appealingly maudlin intro, but the vocals are distractingly overwrought. When the song gets heavier it cycles through some decent grooves, perhaps a bit too quickly, but the vocal lines aren't all that great. The synthy interlude and vocal section toward the end is the best part of the track. The female vocal outro doesn't work for me at all. Well, that was another underwhelming round, and though I feel a bit icky voting for it, I think @Perun's nominee worked a little better than its competitor. Winner: Atlantean Kodex - "Sol Invictus"
"Into The Lungs Of Hell" is the song that got me into Megadeth. I'd probably heard a few other tracks in isolation before that, but they hadn't yet stuck with me at the time. My older brother had joined that Columbia CD club where he got 12 CDs for 1 cent, and the pile of discs showed up at our home while he was away at college. He told me I should listen to that brand new Megadeth album and make a copy for myself, so I put it on and I was absolutely blown away by this leadoff track. That booming reverb, the epic roller coaster of guitar melodies and notes falling like rain, and the mental picture it created of swirling downward through a maelstrom, ending with that huge explosion that rolled so wonderfully into "Set The World Afire". Once Mustaine started singing on the next track I was kind of put off by his voice, but "Into The Lungs Of Hell" was so good that it kept bringing me back, and I eventually got used to Mustaine's vocals and started devouring their earlier material too. I still love the song to this day, and it was awesome to see it performed live by the Kings Of Thrash. "Unconditional" has kind of an interesting opening riff that's both bright and dark and has some dissonance to it. That feel carries over a bit into the rest of the song, too. The singer isn't good, but he's still less annoying than Tom Araya. The vocal melodies are mostly lame, and those weird, vaguely orchestral synths that show up occasionally don't seem to fit. The song is musically interesting, but not all that coherent -- still pretty OK overall, though. But sorry, @srfc, that's nowhere near enough to get me to vote against my own nominee here. Winner: Megadeth - "Into The Lungs Of Hell"
As I noted in the Crusade Of Epics, “Graves” is suitably epic and noodly, and goes on a great journey through light and shade that’s never boring. I especially liked the Gregorian chant section toward the middle and the sax solos toward the end. They do have some elements that are a bit twee, but they also stay challenging without ever devolving into masturbatory prog excess, which can be a hard line to walk. "Master's Apprentices" lost me within the first minute as soon as Åkerfeldt opened his mouth with that incredibly grating, extra-coarse Cookie Monster impression of his. The first couple minutes of the track are pretty boring, but then the proggier instrumentals come in and the music stays pretty interesting afterward. Yes, tease me with splashes of great clean vocals and show me how much better this track could have been without the Sesame Street posing. Listening to Opeth is like dating a bipolar girl who's the greatest thing in the world when she's manic, but unacceptably awful when she's depressive, and the mood swings are directly tied to Åkerfeldt's vocal mode. Oh, what could have been. Sorry, @Mosh, but this is a very easy call for @Shmoolikipod's nominee. Winner: Caligula's Horse - "Graves"
"Fistfucking God's Planet" is an undeniably great song title, but this potbanging noise with Gollum cackling on top of it is just fistfucking my eardrums. Some of the guitar bits are kind of interesting, and the brief periods where the drummer lays off the PCP are certainly welcome. Kind of sad that the wartime sound effects at the end are the best part of the song. "Vildmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor" certainly has more melody and harmony out of the gate. Oh hey, clean vocals, even if they sound like the singer of the Crash Test Dummies. Some of these vocal melodies are pretty good, and I like the synthy interlude and melodic guitar lead. The chorus at the end conjures up images of a viking boat sea shanty or something. Pretty good. Sorry, @Perun, but @JudasMyGuide's nominee takes this one in a walk. Winner: Vintersorg - "Vildmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor"
"Knightrider Of Doom" has a promising start with pipe organ and a coed choir -- this is the kind of cheese I can fully embrace. I'm less thrilled with the cheesy synths after the guitars kick in, but you've got to love Turilli's soloing. Aw fuck, here comes Fabio Lione -- I think this "Knightrider" would literally sound better with David Hasselhoff singing. God, I can't stand Lione's voice. The lyrics are poorly phrased and cheesy as hell, but the music is strong as always. "Woolgatherer" has a surprisingly gentle opening, then goes all epic and airy, alternating between heaviness and gentleness. The occasional Cookie Monster parts are wholly unnecessary, but at least they're lower in the mix so they're less grating than usual. The cut time drumming is done in a less annoying way too, and it's used sparingly. The song is way longer than it needs to be (I started checking the clock around the 8 and a half minute mark), but there are a number of cool parts in it, like the very proggy solo around minute 10 and the big choral business around minute 12. Well, this is a quandary. Do I reward the shorter, punchier track with the bad vocalist and a bit too much cheese, or the incredibly ambitious but way too overblown track that has mostly solid vocals, but with a side order of Cookie Monster cut-time bullshit? Sorry, @JudasMyGuide, I guess I really do hate Fabio Lione enough to tip the balance to @Shmoolikipod's nominee here. Winner: Wilderun - "Woolgatherer"
"Sol Invictus" sounds like a garage band that exclusively played Maiden covers trying to write an original song, but winding up with a kind of lame Maiden pastiche with some simplistic chugging replacing the gallop. The production is weak, the guitars are out of tune with each other (which makes the harmonies painful to listen to), and the singer is technically OK but thin, sounding like he's reading ChatGPT-generated fantasy lyrics off of a sheet of paper with bad phrasing and no conviction. The solos are good, though, and a lot of the vocal melodies are solid. The song is way too long, but if you ignore the production and performance issues and the blatant Maiden aping it's still pretty serviceable. "A Sorcerer's Pledge" has an appealingly maudlin intro, but the vocals are distractingly overwrought. When the song gets heavier it cycles through some decent grooves, perhaps a bit too quickly, but the vocal lines aren't all that great. The synthy interlude and vocal section toward the end is the best part of the track. The female vocal outro doesn't work for me at all. Well, that was another underwhelming round, and though I feel a bit icky voting for it, I think @Perun's nominee worked a little better than its competitor. Winner: Atlantean Kodex - "Sol Invictus"
"Into The Lungs Of Hell" is the song that got me into Megadeth. I'd probably heard a few other tracks in isolation before that, but they hadn't yet stuck with me at the time. My older brother had joined that Columbia CD club where he got 12 CDs for 1 cent, and the pile of discs showed up at our home while he was away at college. He told me I should listen to that brand new Megadeth album and make a copy for myself, so I put it on and I was absolutely blown away by this leadoff track. That booming reverb, the epic roller coaster of guitar melodies and notes falling like rain, and the mental picture it created of swirling downward through a maelstrom, ending with that huge explosion that rolled so wonderfully into "Set The World Afire". Once Mustaine started singing on the next track I was kind of put off by his voice, but "Into The Lungs Of Hell" was so good that it kept bringing me back, and I eventually got used to Mustaine's vocals and started devouring their earlier material too. I still love the song to this day, and it was awesome to see it performed live by the Kings Of Thrash. "Unconditional" has kind of an interesting opening riff that's both bright and dark and has some dissonance to it. That feel carries over a bit into the rest of the song, too. The singer isn't good, but he's still less annoying than Tom Araya. The vocal melodies are mostly lame, and those weird, vaguely orchestral synths that show up occasionally don't seem to fit. The song is musically interesting, but not all that coherent -- still pretty OK overall, though. But sorry, @srfc, that's nowhere near enough to get me to vote against my own nominee here. Winner: Megadeth - "Into The Lungs Of Hell"
As I noted in the Crusade Of Epics, “Graves” is suitably epic and noodly, and goes on a great journey through light and shade that’s never boring. I especially liked the Gregorian chant section toward the middle and the sax solos toward the end. They do have some elements that are a bit twee, but they also stay challenging without ever devolving into masturbatory prog excess, which can be a hard line to walk. "Master's Apprentices" lost me within the first minute as soon as Åkerfeldt opened his mouth with that incredibly grating, extra-coarse Cookie Monster impression of his. The first couple minutes of the track are pretty boring, but then the proggier instrumentals come in and the music stays pretty interesting afterward. Yes, tease me with splashes of great clean vocals and show me how much better this track could have been without the Sesame Street posing. Listening to Opeth is like dating a bipolar girl who's the greatest thing in the world when she's manic, but unacceptably awful when she's depressive, and the mood swings are directly tied to Åkerfeldt's vocal mode. Oh, what could have been. Sorry, @Mosh, but this is a very easy call for @Shmoolikipod's nominee. Winner: Caligula's Horse - "Graves"
"Fistfucking God's Planet" is an undeniably great song title, but this potbanging noise with Gollum cackling on top of it is just fistfucking my eardrums. Some of the guitar bits are kind of interesting, and the brief periods where the drummer lays off the PCP are certainly welcome. Kind of sad that the wartime sound effects at the end are the best part of the song. "Vildmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor" certainly has more melody and harmony out of the gate. Oh hey, clean vocals, even if they sound like the singer of the Crash Test Dummies. Some of these vocal melodies are pretty good, and I like the synthy interlude and melodic guitar lead. The chorus at the end conjures up images of a viking boat sea shanty or something. Pretty good. Sorry, @Perun, but @JudasMyGuide's nominee takes this one in a walk. Winner: Vintersorg - "Vildmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor"
"Knightrider Of Doom" has a promising start with pipe organ and a coed choir -- this is the kind of cheese I can fully embrace. I'm less thrilled with the cheesy synths after the guitars kick in, but you've got to love Turilli's soloing. Aw fuck, here comes Fabio Lione -- I think this "Knightrider" would literally sound better with David Hasselhoff singing. God, I can't stand Lione's voice. The lyrics are poorly phrased and cheesy as hell, but the music is strong as always. "Woolgatherer" has a surprisingly gentle opening, then goes all epic and airy, alternating between heaviness and gentleness. The occasional Cookie Monster parts are wholly unnecessary, but at least they're lower in the mix so they're less grating than usual. The cut time drumming is done in a less annoying way too, and it's used sparingly. The song is way longer than it needs to be (I started checking the clock around the 8 and a half minute mark), but there are a number of cool parts in it, like the very proggy solo around minute 10 and the big choral business around minute 12. Well, this is a quandary. Do I reward the shorter, punchier track with the bad vocalist and a bit too much cheese, or the incredibly ambitious but way too overblown track that has mostly solid vocals, but with a side order of Cookie Monster cut-time bullshit? Sorry, @JudasMyGuide, I guess I really do hate Fabio Lione enough to tip the balance to @Shmoolikipod's nominee here. Winner: Wilderun - "Woolgatherer"
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Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Yeah, I had the same issue. The same thing happens with Rush's official YouTube videos that you've posted, where I have to re-search and I get a U.S.-friendly version (also from Rush's official channel). It's only been with a small handful of artists, though.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Except I specifically nominated the original mix where you don't hear the synth horn fanfare, so it's actually not. But, whatevs.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
And since it looks like it'll win, I'll make the correction in upcoming rounds.
One of my biggest musical pet peeves is when bands get out of their "lane" without really taking the time to get to know the genre they are emulating. You see it a lot in Jazz music and in Metal music (ironically it's usually someone from one of those genres trying to cop the other). It usually ends up sounding like a parody of that genre and kinda dumb. King Gizzard might be the first time I've heard a genuinely un-Metal band take on Metal and deliver not just an authentic sounding version of Metal, but probably a better Metal album than a lot of other similar classic Metal styled albums that have been recently released. Of course I'm mainly talking about Pendragonic Apocolypse, which I think was released after nominations for this game closed, but Infest the Rats' Nest shows the band moving in that direction.
A lot of what makes it work for me is just how the 70s Metal sound is there but it doesn't sound like they're directly emulating one specific band, more just the attitude (which requires IMO a really holistic understanding of the style). The drummer weaves in and out of a Ian Paice style groove but does his own thing as well, the guitars are tuned down (or maybe it's a 7 string) but it's a little bit more than Sabbath worship. Somehow it still sounds like King Gizzard, but it also doesn't sound like "jam band tries Metal." Another thing that helps is the fact that there isn't any jamming really, it's all tightly arranged the way those classic 70s Metal songs were. The instrumental bass and drum section is short and builds into the chorus. The only thing that I don't dig about this song (and all Gizzard really) is the vocals. That is an area where their music does seem kind of homogenous. But they have several singers and I respect that they're just trying to do their own thing, I just find that the vocals consistently sit behind the rest of the music and kinda keep Gizz from really blowing me away. That said, I've seen them twice at Red Rocks and both times they did blow me away. They are an amazing live band.
I'm voting for Mars for the Rich and I really hope the boomer vote doesn't give The Who an undeserved win. It's great that King Gizzard is releasing Metal albums that have resonated with large audiences.
Atlantean Kodex is such a cool band. The production is really modern sounding but the riffing and vocals styles are more evocative of classic NWOBHM like Angel Witch. It's not throwback though, you've got lots of double bass in the drums and the huge choir-like vocals in the choruses. It's as if NWOBHM was allowed to evolve for 30 years instead of dying off when Iron Maiden joined the big leagues. The keyword is "evolve" as they are doing something new with that sound. This style of epic Metal with clean vocals that also isn't cheesy power Metal or prog is really unique. Anyway, Sol Invictus is an epic track that deserves to go far in this game.
This is another situation where a top tier newer band (and likely a more Maidenfans friendly one at that) is going up against a stone cold classic that perhaps isn't very recognized around here, similar to SepticFlesh vs Bolt Thrower. The Candlemass takes a second to get going, but it's an onslaught of great riffing and dynamics when it does. Awesome Maiden-esque gallop. It's just such an epic track, too epic to handle. The little synth interlude is fantastic as well and I love the way it builds back up. So much tension. It's an impossible decision really, but I'm giving the slightest of edges to A Sorcerer's Pledge. It takes a little longer to get going than Sol Invictus, but I think the sum of its parts slightly outdoes the competition.
The intro of Into the Lungs of Hell is pretty awful, but it's pretty good when the thrashing gets going. I've said it ad nauseam throughout this game, but early Megadeth really misses out on the presence of a great second guitarist. Mustaine is a solid guitar player but Friedman really took them to the next level, and when Friedman left he set a standard for other guitarists to follow going forward. The instrumental riffing in this track is fun, but I think the lead guitar playing (and the tone) leaves a lot to be desired. It's a nice intro track, but overall I find it to be generally unremarkable. That being said, I'll take unremarkable (and just about anything) over Prong, so Into the Lungs of Hell it is.
I really enjoy the guitar playing in the Caligula's Horse song. The sort of angular riffing/lead playing inspired by players like Vai that is all over the prog Metal scene right now is fun if a little cliched at this point. Graves is a really cool track though and manages to be progressive without really falling into a lot of prog traps. They have a very recognizable sound and the song takes a lot of unexpected turns and some unique sonic textures. It reminds me a little of Thank You Scientist without the jazz/horn section maybe mixed with the dynamic/vocal style of something like Leprous. I've been aware of Caligula's Horse since Bloom and have checked them out infrequently since then but haven't really gone deep with them. This is a solid track though and serves as a nice taster for their work. More than anything else, I appreciate some of these lesser known prog Metal bands that that are taking production ideas from the Djent big boys and translating them into more melodic and diverse-sounding songs. Obviously there's a lot going on here and it's always tricky throwing a song like this into this kind of competition, I'm sure there are a lot of layers here that I'm missing by only hearing it this one time, but I dig it. Love the outro.
Unsurprisingly, I'm going to vote for my own nominee though. Master's Apprentices, as I wrote earlier, is one of my favorite Opeth deepcuts. If Mikael let me pick one song to be on the setlist next time I see them, this would be it. It starts as one of the most relentlessly heavy Opeth songs with pummeling drums and awesome angular riffing but then takes a really unexpected turn into one of their most hypnotic sounding clean sections. It also doesn't sound disjointed at all, the song slowly moves in that direction and logically makes that dynamic change. Just sums up everything I love about this band.
Hadn't heard Marduk before, but they're definitely going on the list. Loved Fistfucking God's Planet a lot. My only complaint is that sometimes the guitars and vocals lag behind the drums slightly, but at the same time it kinda creates this rickety sound that keeps things unpredictable and exciting, like being on a rollercoaster. Awesome riffing all around and relentless brutality. I go back and forth on this type of raw and relentless sound of extreme Metal and the more polished folkier styles found on material like Vintersong. I really do like both and it tends to depend on my mood what I prefer at a given time. At first I was pretty sold on Marduk but Vidmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor really won me over by the end. The folky riffing and harmonies are irresistible to me and while I'll take the vocals on the Marduk over Vintersong any day of the week, I found the latter just had slightly more to offer. Again, it's a really close round and I'll be happy with either winning.
Rhapsody provides the best kind of cheese. Top-notch melody writing, delightfully over the top vocals, and some actually really mindblowing shredding. Some of the neoclassical shredding can get a little messy sounding but the playing is really tight here. The interplay between vocals and guitar is really nice as well. For a relatively short run time, this song really covers a lot of musical ground.
Wilderun is really something else. I wasn't really expecting something so saccharine, but this track really put me in the mythical forest for a second. The dynamic changes and the steady acoustic guitar that persists even through the heavier sections really created a vibe here and prevented such a wandering song from getting too incoherent. Love the way some of those slow vocal parts follow more of a folk winding approach rather than following any conventional song structures. A real cinematic experience. I'm not really sure if it's Metal, it's very folky and while it gets heavy sometimes, that just seems to be a small part of the palette. Doesn't really matter though, Woolgatherer won me over and provided some of the most interesting material I've heard in this game so far.
A lot of what makes it work for me is just how the 70s Metal sound is there but it doesn't sound like they're directly emulating one specific band, more just the attitude (which requires IMO a really holistic understanding of the style). The drummer weaves in and out of a Ian Paice style groove but does his own thing as well, the guitars are tuned down (or maybe it's a 7 string) but it's a little bit more than Sabbath worship. Somehow it still sounds like King Gizzard, but it also doesn't sound like "jam band tries Metal." Another thing that helps is the fact that there isn't any jamming really, it's all tightly arranged the way those classic 70s Metal songs were. The instrumental bass and drum section is short and builds into the chorus. The only thing that I don't dig about this song (and all Gizzard really) is the vocals. That is an area where their music does seem kind of homogenous. But they have several singers and I respect that they're just trying to do their own thing, I just find that the vocals consistently sit behind the rest of the music and kinda keep Gizz from really blowing me away. That said, I've seen them twice at Red Rocks and both times they did blow me away. They are an amazing live band.
I'm voting for Mars for the Rich and I really hope the boomer vote doesn't give The Who an undeserved win. It's great that King Gizzard is releasing Metal albums that have resonated with large audiences.
Atlantean Kodex is such a cool band. The production is really modern sounding but the riffing and vocals styles are more evocative of classic NWOBHM like Angel Witch. It's not throwback though, you've got lots of double bass in the drums and the huge choir-like vocals in the choruses. It's as if NWOBHM was allowed to evolve for 30 years instead of dying off when Iron Maiden joined the big leagues. The keyword is "evolve" as they are doing something new with that sound. This style of epic Metal with clean vocals that also isn't cheesy power Metal or prog is really unique. Anyway, Sol Invictus is an epic track that deserves to go far in this game.
This is another situation where a top tier newer band (and likely a more Maidenfans friendly one at that) is going up against a stone cold classic that perhaps isn't very recognized around here, similar to SepticFlesh vs Bolt Thrower. The Candlemass takes a second to get going, but it's an onslaught of great riffing and dynamics when it does. Awesome Maiden-esque gallop. It's just such an epic track, too epic to handle. The little synth interlude is fantastic as well and I love the way it builds back up. So much tension. It's an impossible decision really, but I'm giving the slightest of edges to A Sorcerer's Pledge. It takes a little longer to get going than Sol Invictus, but I think the sum of its parts slightly outdoes the competition.
The intro of Into the Lungs of Hell is pretty awful, but it's pretty good when the thrashing gets going. I've said it ad nauseam throughout this game, but early Megadeth really misses out on the presence of a great second guitarist. Mustaine is a solid guitar player but Friedman really took them to the next level, and when Friedman left he set a standard for other guitarists to follow going forward. The instrumental riffing in this track is fun, but I think the lead guitar playing (and the tone) leaves a lot to be desired. It's a nice intro track, but overall I find it to be generally unremarkable. That being said, I'll take unremarkable (and just about anything) over Prong, so Into the Lungs of Hell it is.
I really enjoy the guitar playing in the Caligula's Horse song. The sort of angular riffing/lead playing inspired by players like Vai that is all over the prog Metal scene right now is fun if a little cliched at this point. Graves is a really cool track though and manages to be progressive without really falling into a lot of prog traps. They have a very recognizable sound and the song takes a lot of unexpected turns and some unique sonic textures. It reminds me a little of Thank You Scientist without the jazz/horn section maybe mixed with the dynamic/vocal style of something like Leprous. I've been aware of Caligula's Horse since Bloom and have checked them out infrequently since then but haven't really gone deep with them. This is a solid track though and serves as a nice taster for their work. More than anything else, I appreciate some of these lesser known prog Metal bands that that are taking production ideas from the Djent big boys and translating them into more melodic and diverse-sounding songs. Obviously there's a lot going on here and it's always tricky throwing a song like this into this kind of competition, I'm sure there are a lot of layers here that I'm missing by only hearing it this one time, but I dig it. Love the outro.
Unsurprisingly, I'm going to vote for my own nominee though. Master's Apprentices, as I wrote earlier, is one of my favorite Opeth deepcuts. If Mikael let me pick one song to be on the setlist next time I see them, this would be it. It starts as one of the most relentlessly heavy Opeth songs with pummeling drums and awesome angular riffing but then takes a really unexpected turn into one of their most hypnotic sounding clean sections. It also doesn't sound disjointed at all, the song slowly moves in that direction and logically makes that dynamic change. Just sums up everything I love about this band.
Hadn't heard Marduk before, but they're definitely going on the list. Loved Fistfucking God's Planet a lot. My only complaint is that sometimes the guitars and vocals lag behind the drums slightly, but at the same time it kinda creates this rickety sound that keeps things unpredictable and exciting, like being on a rollercoaster. Awesome riffing all around and relentless brutality. I go back and forth on this type of raw and relentless sound of extreme Metal and the more polished folkier styles found on material like Vintersong. I really do like both and it tends to depend on my mood what I prefer at a given time. At first I was pretty sold on Marduk but Vidmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor really won me over by the end. The folky riffing and harmonies are irresistible to me and while I'll take the vocals on the Marduk over Vintersong any day of the week, I found the latter just had slightly more to offer. Again, it's a really close round and I'll be happy with either winning.
Rhapsody provides the best kind of cheese. Top-notch melody writing, delightfully over the top vocals, and some actually really mindblowing shredding. Some of the neoclassical shredding can get a little messy sounding but the playing is really tight here. The interplay between vocals and guitar is really nice as well. For a relatively short run time, this song really covers a lot of musical ground.
Wilderun is really something else. I wasn't really expecting something so saccharine, but this track really put me in the mythical forest for a second. The dynamic changes and the steady acoustic guitar that persists even through the heavier sections really created a vibe here and prevented such a wandering song from getting too incoherent. Love the way some of those slow vocal parts follow more of a folk winding approach rather than following any conventional song structures. A real cinematic experience. I'm not really sure if it's Metal, it's very folky and while it gets heavy sometimes, that just seems to be a small part of the palette. Doesn't really matter though, Woolgatherer won me over and provided some of the most interesting material I've heard in this game so far.
Confeos
Game time started.
I'm not sure I could stomach an entire album worth of "Mars for the Rich". I was decently entertained by it, but it was very... noisy, I think. Newer bands explicitly trying to sound retro often end up overdoing it, and I think that's the case here. Still, I'm gonna vote for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "My Generation" is a good tune, but this might be the first time I've truly felt a song doesn't "belong" here.
"Sol Invictus" is objectively a fine song, full of obvious Maiden-isms, but it just feels soulless to me. The chorus is quite underwhelming, the production certainly doesn't do it any favours either, and it ends up sounding a bit messy. Honestly, I'm suprised that a dark, epic masterpiece like "A Sorcerer's Pledge" is currently losing - I sort of agree that Johan Längqvist's vocals are over the top, but there's more emotion is his voice in the first few lines than the entirety of "Sol Invictus". Easy vote for Candlemass.
I think "Into the Lungs of Hell" might have been the very first Megadeth song I ever heard. So Far, So Good... So What was definitely the first album I remember buying. As a whole, the album is a bit underwhelming, but "Into the Lungs of Hell" is a great instrumental. And I don't mind the synthy fanfare at all. "Unconditional" (or was that the title? It's not like singer screamed it for like half the song anyway) sounded like a second-hand clone of Anthrax and Slayer. Not entirely bad, mind you, but not great either. Megadeth takes this one.
So, the battle of the prog tunes. To be honest, neither truly amazed me, but it would probably require multiple listens to fully grasp what's going on in each song. Both had moments that worked very well, and others that kinda dragged. I've never heard of Caligula's Horse before, while Opeth is finally starting to grow just a little bit on me, but I guess "Master's Apprentices" felt a little more one-dimensional than most of their other work I've heard so far. Plus, there's bound to be a lot more Opeth coming up in the cup anyway, so I'm going with Caligula's Horse here.
Marduk was meh. I felt like I'd heard this exact black metal song many times before by different bands. On the other hand, "Vidmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor" was equal part "drunken singing in the Scandinavian wilderness" and equal part "hymn for vikings on an epic voyage". Wait, that's kinda the same thing. Anyway, I absolutely loved it; definitely the most intriguing entry in this round by far. Happily voting for Vintersorg.
This Rhapsody of Fire song is probably the best I've heard from them yet - it's not less cheesy and over the top than earlier tracks, but this time I think it really works. It's coherent, furious and catchy. As for Wilderun, I was kinda dismayed to check the runtime and find out it was only halfway when I had enough. I don't know what's with me today - I usually love prog, but my mood has absolutely not been keen on this. Maybe I'll get back to revisit "Woolgatherer" later, but for now it's a confident vote for Rhapsody of Fire.
"Sol Invictus" is objectively a fine song, full of obvious Maiden-isms, but it just feels soulless to me. The chorus is quite underwhelming, the production certainly doesn't do it any favours either, and it ends up sounding a bit messy. Honestly, I'm suprised that a dark, epic masterpiece like "A Sorcerer's Pledge" is currently losing - I sort of agree that Johan Längqvist's vocals are over the top, but there's more emotion is his voice in the first few lines than the entirety of "Sol Invictus". Easy vote for Candlemass.
I think "Into the Lungs of Hell" might have been the very first Megadeth song I ever heard. So Far, So Good... So What was definitely the first album I remember buying. As a whole, the album is a bit underwhelming, but "Into the Lungs of Hell" is a great instrumental. And I don't mind the synthy fanfare at all. "Unconditional" (or was that the title? It's not like singer screamed it for like half the song anyway) sounded like a second-hand clone of Anthrax and Slayer. Not entirely bad, mind you, but not great either. Megadeth takes this one.
So, the battle of the prog tunes. To be honest, neither truly amazed me, but it would probably require multiple listens to fully grasp what's going on in each song. Both had moments that worked very well, and others that kinda dragged. I've never heard of Caligula's Horse before, while Opeth is finally starting to grow just a little bit on me, but I guess "Master's Apprentices" felt a little more one-dimensional than most of their other work I've heard so far. Plus, there's bound to be a lot more Opeth coming up in the cup anyway, so I'm going with Caligula's Horse here.
Marduk was meh. I felt like I'd heard this exact black metal song many times before by different bands. On the other hand, "Vidmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor" was equal part "drunken singing in the Scandinavian wilderness" and equal part "hymn for vikings on an epic voyage". Wait, that's kinda the same thing. Anyway, I absolutely loved it; definitely the most intriguing entry in this round by far. Happily voting for Vintersorg.
This Rhapsody of Fire song is probably the best I've heard from them yet - it's not less cheesy and over the top than earlier tracks, but this time I think it really works. It's coherent, furious and catchy. As for Wilderun, I was kinda dismayed to check the runtime and find out it was only halfway when I had enough. I don't know what's with me today - I usually love prog, but my mood has absolutely not been keen on this. Maybe I'll get back to revisit "Woolgatherer" later, but for now it's a confident vote for Rhapsody of Fire.
JudasMyGuide
Ancient Mariner
It's great to see @Mosh doing write-ups again - mate, if you voted against everything I hold dear, I still wouldn't be mad, because I just like your approach to music and you elevate the thread quite a lot by your presence.
Also, if I knew that so much absolutely non-metal songs would be allowed (I mean, My Generation? But there were others), I'd have nominated this at least
(which is closer to metal at any rate). Or something by King Crimson, whom Ian and the company are channeling here with all their vigour anyway (but still, I find the inherent tunefulness and melodiousness of Tull make this one preferable).
Also, if I knew that so much absolutely non-metal songs would be allowed (I mean, My Generation? But there were others), I'd have nominated this at least
(which is closer to metal at any rate). Or something by King Crimson, whom Ian and the company are channeling here with all their vigour anyway (but still, I find the inherent tunefulness and melodiousness of Tull make this one preferable).
Thanks!
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
Lizzard Wizzard Gizzard Scissor'd was fine. The Who absolutely don't belong here with this song but I forgot how much of a jam it is. Also 10x better than the Limp Bizkit song.
This Candlemass track didn't click with me like "Demon's Gate" did. The best part of the song came at the very end and they faded it out too fast. On the other hand, you've got the official MaidenFans band. @LooseCannon and @SinisterMinisterX really channel their Iron Maiden influences on this song, those dual guitar harmonies are pretty cool. Solid rhythm section courtesy of @Mosh and @Perun . @Night Prowler 's vocals leave a little to be desired (why they hell didn't you incorporate growling??), but there are a lot of good bits of singing present, especially on what I guess is the pre-chorus. I think this song suffers a little bit from its arrangement but frankly I was pretty impressed overall. Of course SMX is no longer in the band and @Brigantium has taken his place, so it would be interesting to hear if she's injected a little bit more of that oomph that might be missing from this track. Overall a good song!
For the first half a minute Prong was alright, then it just because an Anthrax copycat with a James Hetfield wannabe singing. Annoying, frankly. Megadeth easily.
"Master's Apprentices" was pretty great, except when Mikael switches to his clean vocals. I just don't get what people like about clean vocals. It's like you've got the most powerful song and then a butterfly starts shitting all over the place. Miss me with that shit!!! I wasn't sure about Caligula's Horse at the beginning but around six minutes in it really connected with me. Good stuff.
Pairing Marduk against a band that doesn't use harsh vocals is honestly such a dick move, lmao. Vintersorg were better though, sorry to say.
And this matchup is nuts too, pairing off the wildest of power metal bands with a more folksy version of Opeth. I want to give this to Rhapsody but as much as I appreciated bits of this song I don't think it fully came together. Wilderun felt like I'd just been to the cinema and seen a powerful fucking film. Very impressed.
Was not feeling it today at all but I still listened to every track and did my civic duty, and honestly there was some great shit in here. Now I'm gonna go the fuck to sleep.
This Candlemass track didn't click with me like "Demon's Gate" did. The best part of the song came at the very end and they faded it out too fast. On the other hand, you've got the official MaidenFans band. @LooseCannon and @SinisterMinisterX really channel their Iron Maiden influences on this song, those dual guitar harmonies are pretty cool. Solid rhythm section courtesy of @Mosh and @Perun . @Night Prowler 's vocals leave a little to be desired (why they hell didn't you incorporate growling??), but there are a lot of good bits of singing present, especially on what I guess is the pre-chorus. I think this song suffers a little bit from its arrangement but frankly I was pretty impressed overall. Of course SMX is no longer in the band and @Brigantium has taken his place, so it would be interesting to hear if she's injected a little bit more of that oomph that might be missing from this track. Overall a good song!
For the first half a minute Prong was alright, then it just because an Anthrax copycat with a James Hetfield wannabe singing. Annoying, frankly. Megadeth easily.
"Master's Apprentices" was pretty great, except when Mikael switches to his clean vocals. I just don't get what people like about clean vocals. It's like you've got the most powerful song and then a butterfly starts shitting all over the place. Miss me with that shit!!! I wasn't sure about Caligula's Horse at the beginning but around six minutes in it really connected with me. Good stuff.
Pairing Marduk against a band that doesn't use harsh vocals is honestly such a dick move, lmao. Vintersorg were better though, sorry to say.
And this matchup is nuts too, pairing off the wildest of power metal bands with a more folksy version of Opeth. I want to give this to Rhapsody but as much as I appreciated bits of this song I don't think it fully came together. Wilderun felt like I'd just been to the cinema and seen a powerful fucking film. Very impressed.
Was not feeling it today at all but I still listened to every track and did my civic duty, and honestly there was some great shit in here. Now I'm gonna go the fuck to sleep.
Detective Beauregard
Leviathan of Doggerland
I've heard plenty of stuff from King Gizzard; one of my bandmates is obsessed with them. This song isn't usually my style, but I do love the bass solo, and sometimes it's nice to have a direct bluesy rock approach. The Who's track is actually one I've never heard before, and while the rhythm section is great (duh), the song as a whole doesn't resonate with me. I find Daltrey's stutters during the chorus to be particularly obnoxious. I'm sure they were intentional, but for the life of me I don't understand why. Easy vote for the Aussies here.
Both of the songs in the second match are solid. The Candlemass one has some great atmosphere, but I love the melody and overall feel of the Atlantean Kodex tune more. Also what a great band name!
Megadeth have never had a ton of instrumentals, which is a shame, because less of Dave Mustaine's singing is always appreciated. This is a cool yet not particularly memorable track from one of my least favorite early Megadeth albums (I'm partial to Mary Jane from this one). Prong is... fine. It's pretty straightforward and not particularly memorable, but inoffensive. Going with Megadeth here.
This Caligula's Horse song is really good. I love the Dream Theater vibes in the main "happy" melody, which is just a small part of the journey this song takes the listener on. If I wasn't such an Opethophile, I'd vote for this in a second. However, Master's Apprentices is my favorite track from Deliverance, as I love how it opens like a T. rex bursting out of its paddock and then turns into a groovy chill factory (I quite enjoy Mendez's bass during those chord strumming parts). If Graves were up against a lesser track from a watered-down post-Watershed nu-Opeth album (excluding most of Pale Communion), it would probably get my vote. But here I gotta run with Opeth.
Whelp, there always seems to be at least one LOLfest track in each round, and Marduk delivers in that department. As more of a prog metal guy, this is exactly the type of song that I dislike - zero dynamics whatsoever. The Vintersorg ("Winter Sorrow" for all our non-Swedish-speaking friends) song is much more my speed. I actually may check more of this band out, as they're just so... Nordic. I also love how the album cover is just a snowy mountain. Again, super Nordic. Vidmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor ("The Enchanting Tunes of the Wastelands"... lol) is easily my pick here.
This Rhapsody song is honestly better than I expected it to be, which in all fairness was cheese with cheese on top. Dairy content aside, it's a fun listen. I'm actually not too crazy about the Wilderun song here; it's a little too melancholy and airy for my tastes. However, it has moments of excitement, and all in all is a more rewarding listen than cheddar on provologne. Hopefully The Tyranny of Imagination (my favorite Wilderun tune) is in this game somewhere! My vote goes to my Bostonian brothers in Wilderun.
Both of the songs in the second match are solid. The Candlemass one has some great atmosphere, but I love the melody and overall feel of the Atlantean Kodex tune more. Also what a great band name!
Megadeth have never had a ton of instrumentals, which is a shame, because less of Dave Mustaine's singing is always appreciated. This is a cool yet not particularly memorable track from one of my least favorite early Megadeth albums (I'm partial to Mary Jane from this one). Prong is... fine. It's pretty straightforward and not particularly memorable, but inoffensive. Going with Megadeth here.
This Caligula's Horse song is really good. I love the Dream Theater vibes in the main "happy" melody, which is just a small part of the journey this song takes the listener on. If I wasn't such an Opethophile, I'd vote for this in a second. However, Master's Apprentices is my favorite track from Deliverance, as I love how it opens like a T. rex bursting out of its paddock and then turns into a groovy chill factory (I quite enjoy Mendez's bass during those chord strumming parts). If Graves were up against a lesser track from a watered-down post-Watershed nu-Opeth album (excluding most of Pale Communion), it would probably get my vote. But here I gotta run with Opeth.
Whelp, there always seems to be at least one LOLfest track in each round, and Marduk delivers in that department. As more of a prog metal guy, this is exactly the type of song that I dislike - zero dynamics whatsoever. The Vintersorg ("Winter Sorrow" for all our non-Swedish-speaking friends) song is much more my speed. I actually may check more of this band out, as they're just so... Nordic. I also love how the album cover is just a snowy mountain. Again, super Nordic. Vidmarkens Förtrollande Stämmor ("The Enchanting Tunes of the Wastelands"... lol) is easily my pick here.
This Rhapsody song is honestly better than I expected it to be, which in all fairness was cheese with cheese on top. Dairy content aside, it's a fun listen. I'm actually not too crazy about the Wilderun song here; it's a little too melancholy and airy for my tastes. However, it has moments of excitement, and all in all is a more rewarding listen than cheddar on provologne. Hopefully The Tyranny of Imagination (my favorite Wilderun tune) is in this game somewhere! My vote goes to my Bostonian brothers in Wilderun.
Man it’s literally their most known song!