The Greatest Metal Song Cup - Part II, Round 4, Matches 82-87

What is your favourite song in each match? Vote in all six matchups!

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  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .
Without A Trace is probably one of the most 80's Maiden-esque sounding songs.
What an excellent vocal melody in the chorus. Arch hits his peak in that song for me. Such an ethereal feel to the song. Glad those that hadn’t before listened to it! Spectre Within and Awaken the Guardian are two of the greatest American metal albums of the 80’s.
 
"A Lesson In Violence" is full of great riffs and very good solos, but it's also full of bad, barely melodic thrash vocals with lots of cringey squeals, and that's a pretty hard obstacle to climb over. "Among The Living" has a nice atmospheric opening and is full of good riffs and solid solos. Belladonna's vocals don't really fit here, and they're also barely melodic, with the few vocal melodies that are there mostly sucking. I'm a little surprised by this result, but the better music and surprisingly not-much-worse vocals of @Perun's nominee are able to squeak this one out. Winner: Exodus - "A Lesson In Violence"

"Karma" has punchy rhythms, nice middle eastern melodies, and tasteful arrangement choices with the synths and backing vocals. The vocal lines are smooth and appealing, though they never take off enough to break orbit. The solos are great and the song is really well constructed in general. Great stuff. "The Dark Ride" starts off on the wrong foot with carnival music (yes, I understand it's thematically appropriate), but the stately harmonized guitars that follow it up are much better. The verse is pretty strong, but the half-whispered pre-chorus is iffy, and the chorus melody is unfortunately mediocre. There are also some bad phrasing choices peppered throughout the lyrics. The trilled guitar interlude just treads water, but the slower vocal bridge is quite nice and tastefully synth orchestrated. The spoken word bridge that follows isn't so hot, but the acoustic interlude and solos are great, as is the final vocal section. The second half of this song is great, and has higher highs than anything its competitor has to offer; but it also has a very rough first half, and sorry @Poto, but overall @MrKnickerbocker's nominee is more consistently enjoyable. Winner: Kamelot - "Karma"

"Spiral Architect" has a nice acoustic opening and a surprisingly bright feel. The vocal lines through the verse are pretty good, though the chorus melodies are a little worse. The orchestrated part is surprising, but works well. Good stuff overall. "Rock Hard Ride Free" has a cool ominous opening, and nice soloing and harmonized guitar passages. The verse is punchy, the pre-chorus is pretty good, and the chorus is big and effective. The reprise of the intro with odd timing is pretty cool too. Very good overall. I enjoyed both songs, but congratulations @srfc, your nominee was stronger. Winner: Judas Priest - "Rock Hard Ride Free"

"Black Mass" has pretty good riffs, good solos, and good singing with solid vocal lines. The drums sound like they were recorded on a miniature kit inside a cereal box or something, but that's neither here nor there. The song runs on a bit longer than it needs to, and it never does anything particularly great, but it's still solidly good. "Bring Me His Head" has an appealing 70s energy to it with some nice lead work. The vocals are good through the verse and chorus, though the pre-chorus is a bit iffy. The juxtaposition of soft female vocals and a bouncy melody with morbid lyrics is pretty funny. Good stuff. This one's pretty close, but sorry @____no5, I think @Wogmidget's nominee had a little bit more charisma to it. Winner: Lucifer - "Bring Me His Head"

"Rising From Ruins" is perhaps my favorite song from Firepower, with a great epic feel, nice dynamics, strong riffs, great solos, and great melodies. Love the little mandolin bit they slipped in there, too. I really like how Priest incorporated some power metal sounds into their style here without going overboard with it -- power metal certainly incorporated lots of Priest into their sound, so turnabout is fair play! Great song, great nomination. "Sirens" has an interesting acoustic opening and pretty solid guitar and vocal lines. I don't know WTF they were thinking with the effects on the "sirens" lyric, but whatever. The tolling bell interlude is interesting, the "ah! ahhhh!" bit less so. Well, that was different. Not bad, but @Kalata's nominee still takes this one easily. Winner: Judas Priest - "Rising From Ruins"

"The Mirror" has interesting rhythmic play, and it gets a bonus point for using pipe organ. LaBrie trying to sound tough is laughable, the vocal lines are uneven, and I'm not super fond of the nu-metal feel of the rhythm guitars, but the rest of the music is good. "Under The Red Cloud" has a classy piano and guitar opening and an appealing Celtic groove. The clean vocals have a pretty noticeable accent, but they aren't bad, and the melodies are good. The limited Cookie Monster stuff is annoying and feels completely out of place, and I look forward to a future remix that removes it. The synth and guitar solos are great, though, and the song is really well constructed minus the smattering of extreme vocals. You might think this would be an obvious choice for me, but congratulations @Poto, your nominee is just a fundamentally better song in almost every way, and the extreme vocals are limited enough that they can't quite drag it down. Winner: Amorphis - "Under The Red Cloud"
 
Part 2

I’ve never heard of Warlord before but there’s some decent stuff going on here. Apparently the drummer is Mark Zonder, who is awesome, and it shows during the progressive bridge with its syncopated bass sections. It’s not gonna win any songwriting awards and the production is badly dated, but I dig the progginess of the instrumental. The vocals are fine but lack personality. Lucifer is one of those “dated on purpose” modern recordings clearly trying to capitalize on the success of Ghost. It doesn’t work for me. The singer is fine, but sounds like Gwen Stefani in the pre-chorus. Bring Me His Head sounds way too flat, almost flaccid. Warlord is more interesting.

Rising From Ruins is not only one of the best songs on Firepower, but has quickly become one of my favorite Priest songs of all time. It’s so damn powerful. Great mid-tempo drive, good riffs, and Halford sounds great. I love his verse melodies and the stripped back production for them. Faulkner turns in a typically amazing solo, as well. The half-time section after the solos is so damn cool! Proper guitar harmony enthusiasts rejoice! Is that Bjork on the cover of Sirens? The song is fine, but clearly written hastily by a band still finding their sound. The vocal effect on the chorus is so damn lame. Adding orgasmic “shrieks of terror” in the outro is both the best and worst decision. Judas Priest have the clearly better song here.

I’m still undecided on the final match. Gotta give it another listen.
 
Sincere apologies to @Perun, @srfc and @Kalata for voting against their nominations (which I like a lot) and, adding insult to injury, for songs from the Popoff list in all three cases, but the ones I voted for happen to be old time favourites of mine.
 
I recognize the importance of Bonded By Blood to the thrash scene, but much like similar "second tier" thrash bands (Overkill, Testament, etc) the vocals and lack of hooks get me in A Lesson In Violence. Instrumentally the song is fantastic. Love the instrumental section and the killer guitar leads throughout, but I miss the melodicism of, say, Joey Belladonna. Among the Living is possibly Anthrax's finest moment. Love the tempo changes, the intense leads, and Joey carries the track with a great vocal performance and awesome Stephen King inspired lyrics. The halftime chorus is impossible not to headbang to. Pure thrash.

I enjoyed Karma and the Dark Ride, the zaniness of the Helloween song and the heavier production really helped elevate it beyond the standard Helloween fare. They're a band that I've wanted to enjoy but haven't really gotten that much out of the classic Kiske albums. I wonder if I'd enjoy the Deris era more, although I've also heard some real dreck from that period too. Anyway, Karma was great as well. I enjoyed the folksy melodies quite a bit and ultimately I found the song more interesting overall. Haven't really listened to Kamelot much before but I'd be willing to give them a full shot.

I went into this feeling like I would regretably be voting for all of Popoff's picks over actual Maidenfans picks, which isn't really something I want to do, but Popoff picked some real bangers this round. I really thought I was going to go for Spiral Architect, but I forgot how much Rock Hard Ride Free had to offer. For a standard rocker, it really has a lot going for it, the longer instrumental intro, the odd time signatures, the intensity building pre choruses. It shows that you can still have a lot of variety and uniqueness in a "standard" rock song. It also shows how even at the height of mainstream appeal, Priest in the early 80s were still interested in trying new things and pushing their sound forward. I just wish current Priest tried that more. Spiral Architect is one of my favorite Sabbath tracks, but it does get a little overly flowerly/meandering at times.

Warlord vs Lucifer was delightful. Hadn't really listened to either band but loved both tracks. Black Mass was amazing, great instrumental, great riffing, a real hidden Metal gem. Bring Me His Head was kinda standard NWOBHM throwback fare, but I really dug it regardless. I saved both albums and intend to check both out, great picks!

Rising From the Ruins was one of the more interesting tracks off Firepower. The Savatage was pretty unremarkable.

I came really close to voting for Under the Red Cloud, a great song. But The Mirror is essential Dream Theater. Other than, perhaps, The Glass Prison, The Mirror feels like DT's most successful attempt at pure Metal. Very much inspired by Pantera with a groove Metal tint, but also a good way of bringing in the more mellow/melodic aspects of the genre. It feels like a natural sound for DT compared to some of their later attempts at heaviness that can sometimes sound a bit forced. It also just rocks hard.
 
They're a band that I've wanted to enjoy but haven't really gotten that much out of the classic Kiske albums. I wonder if I'd enjoy the Deris era more, although I've also heard some real dreck from that period too.
The Dark Ride and Gambling with the Devil are probably my favourite Helloween albums. Certainly the best Deris albums in my opinion.
 
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They're a band that I've wanted to enjoy but haven't really gotten that much out of the classic Kiske albums. I wonder if I'd enjoy the Deris era more, although I've also heard some real dreck from that period too.
Master Of The Rings and The Time Of The Oath are classics.
Rising From Ruins is not only one of the best songs on Firepower, but has quickly become one of my favorite Priest songs of all time. It’s so damn powerful. Great mid-tempo drive, good riffs, and Halford sounds great. I love his verse melodies and the stripped back production for them. Faulkner turns in a typically amazing solo, as well. The half-time section after the solos is so damn cool! Proper guitar harmony enthusiasts rejoice!
This. It's the equivalent of Hell On Earth for me.
 
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Huge round. Most difficult to choose was Rising From Ruins vs Sirens, it was a close which normally is a vote by the member criterion but I just couldn't vote against Savatage.

Exodus - A Lesson in Violence vs Anthrax - Among the Living
Kamelot - Karma vs Helloween - The Dark Ride
Black Sabbath - Spiral Architect vs Judas Priest - Rock Hard Ride Free
Warlord - Black Mass
vs Lucifer - Bring Me His Head
Judas Priest - Rising From Ruins vs Savatage - Sirens
Dream Theater - The Mirror
vs Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud
 
Warlord vs Lucifer was delightful. Hadn't really listened to either band but loved both tracks. Black Mass was amazing, great instrumental, great riffing, a real hidden Metal gem. Bring Me His Head was kinda standard NWOBHM throwback fare, but I really dug it regardless. I saved both albums and intend to check both out, great picks!

Warlord is nearly a sacred group! Even before their reunion in 2002, when they only had produced 12 songs (1983-84) some people including myself, considered them one of the best metal groups ever.

Bill Tsamis was a genius of composer and Mark Zonder (people know him from Fates Warning) clearly one of the best metal drummers to ever live.
They contributed an elegant and melancholic style to epic metal, as a critic once said “that of the now retired and disillusioned soldier who looks back and reflects”

I’ve heard that even when Warlord had only those 12 songs in existence (from album And the Cannons of Destruction plus Deliver Us) Mark always considered the Warlord’s work way superior than that of Fates Warning. And he was the drummer of the classic prog era of the group, from Perfect Symmetry up to FWX!

Add to this that Warlord never made a live until their reunion in 2002, it’s just incredible how they became such a cult and people kept remembering them for almost 20 years (1984 -2002)

As a matter of fact they must have made less than 10 live appearances in their whole career, all post 2000.
 
Three ties with only a couple hours remaining. This really was a good round, only song I skipped halfway through while listening to everything was Amorphis. I even finished the Dream Theater song!
 
Part 3

On a pure musical enjoyment level, I cannot pick between The Mirror and Under The Red Cloud. They’re both great, some of the best from their respective bands. So, I can only vote with sentimentality, and that goes to Dream Theater, who I have been listening to for far longer than Amorphis.
 
Some "bruh" level lyrics and vocals in Exodus' track. Among the Living I actually got into this album a bit earlier in the game, awesome stuff.

The Dark Ride is a solid A-tier song for me, but I surprisingly liked Karma a lot. Well, going with the comfort pick of Helloween.

Pity vote for Sabbath, one of the better tunes I've heard from them. RHRF is incredible, catchy but still sounds innovative. My favourite even from DotF.

Black Mass has a slightly doom sound. It's a bit long, but I like the riffing and the singer is good. Lucifer ain't bad either, some melodies are less my thing maybe.

Rising from Ruins is quite powerful, and though Sirens is more unique for sure I am staying with Priest.

Lol, maybe one day when I decide to dive into Amorphis. The Mirror is unforgettable.
 
I'm blown away that Among the Living didn't get a single Maidenfans nod. Absolutely killer song and it kills Exodus, a band I have never really cared for.

Karma over the histrionics of Helloween anyday.

Rock Hard Ride Free rocks hard and makes me want to ride free. I don't want to know what a spiral architect.

Warlord easily wins this one, I did not enjoy Lucifer at all.

A tougher match, I am pretty high on Savatage and Sirens is a good track, but I really enjoyed Rising From Ruins as I did most of Firepower.

The Mirror is one of the better Dream Theater tracks, but I am notoriously not a big fan of Dream Theater. But I really enjoyed Under the Red Cloud.
 
Under the Red Cloud is brilliant. The whole album is great. It was released the same day as The Book of Souls and is better.
I think Empire and the title track are more memorable than anything on UTRC, but I agree it is overall a more consistently great album. Killer record.
 
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