"Love To Love" gets it on by banging a gong, then giving a nice long creepy buildup with synth and a pulsing groove. The jamminess eventually gives way to some synth orchestration, then a solid odd-rhythm verse and chorus. Nice melodic solo in the middle and a great epic one toward the end. The song's overly drawn out and never quite grabs me by the throat, but it's generally well crafted and well executed. "Rosin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend" has some pleasantly proggy undercurrents. The vocal melodies sound very similar to pretty much every other Thin Lizzy song I've heard, and the vocal parts feel a bit repetitive to me, but the extended instrumental section has lots of cool elements. Both songs have their merits, but congratulations The Dissrfcent, I think I prefer your nominee.
Winner: UFO - "Love To Love"
"Heaven And Hell" has an iconic opening riff, a sweet midtempo gallop and occasional classy E-Bow through the verse, and some nice guitar harmonies under the chorus. The verse vocal line is great, as is the bridge and the variant chorus later on, though the main chorus isn't quite as good. Dio sounds fantastic here. Great atmospheric solo in the middle followed by an epic one, and some great lead fills through the later part of the song. Love the extended acoustic denouement, too. Yep, this one's the real deal, and it deserves to go really far in this game. Excellent stuff. "Fallen" has a nice juxtaposition of haunting synths with chunky and sometimes neoclassical riffage, and I like the interplay between the guitar and vocal rhythms, though the vocal melodies aren't all winners. Love the neoclassical guitar & synth duet and the tradeoff solos that follow, though. Quite good overall, but congratusorrylations
@Wogmidget, your solo nominee just got steamrolled by MrBlogoodjoterbartaynnoner's monster of a track.
Winner: Black Sabbath - "Heaven And Hell"
"Transilvanian Hunger" leaves me hungering for some dynamic range, melodic singing, and a lot less repetition. This particular permutation of Gollum vocals is less awful than most, I suppose, and the simple melody hiding under the cacophony has some appeal, though it gets beaten so far into the ground that it eventually emerges somewhere in the South Pacific. Yeah, I'm ready to throw in the towel by the 4 minute mark, but I guess this is my crucible. Thank god that's finally over. I've never been a fan of "My Immortal". The verses are pretty good, but that chorus is totally flaccid and it gets repeated way too much. The material doesn't earn the string accompaniment, either. But congratulations
@Poto, you got a lucky draw here, as
@Perun's nominee set the bar so low that most competitors would be able to step over it easily.
Winner: Evanescence - "My Immortal"
"Caught In A Mosh" starts with some simple chords and crunch, then the bass leads into a punky uptempo groove. The punk verses work pretty well, as does the melodic pre-chorus, but the chorus doesn't work for me. The rhythmic change-up for the bridge is nice, though the bridge vocals are iffy. The solo is pretty good, especially the harmonized part, and the riffage is strong throughout the song. Still a bit uneven, but this is definitely one of the strongest 80s Anthrax songs I've heard, and there's a fair amount to like about it. "Sin City" is a perfectly inoffensive, mediocre AC/DC song that does all the AC/DC things in acceptable fashion. I wouldn't turn it off if it started playing, but I'd never seek it out on purpose. Surprisingly enough, an easy call for Anthrax here.
Winner: Anthrax - "Caught In A Mosh"
"Jesus Christ Pose" does some bass diddling and annoying repetitive guitar fills before settling into a more interesting urgent groove. Chris Cornell sounds great, and the verse vocal line is strong. I'm less thrilled by the piercing one-note pre-chorus, and the chorus itself is just boring. The rhythmic play toward the end is interesting, though. A very mixed bag overall, though it has its moments. "The Throne Of Tragedy" has great atmosphere, and the distorted whispers aren't bad, but I'm still not keen about Depressed Fred Schneider on vocals. There are some nice melodic lines on the guitar, and the synths provide welcome texture, but the song feels like it meanders a bit. I really like that bizarre jazzy guitar solo near the end, though. But sorry,
@Diesel 11, this is still a pretty easy call for
@Magnus's nominee.
Winner: Arcturus - "The Throne Of Tragedy"
"The Czar" has a lot of cool riffs and proggy bits, but it doesn't feel like it goes to all that many places musically, and the vocals aren't the best. Still pretty good overall, though. "1000 Eyes" has great, interesting guitar work and a nice proggy structure throughout. The vocals are non-melodic and generally bad, though nowhere near as bad as those of a modern extreme vocalist. Y'know, people might assume I'd go a certain way here, but sorry JucondasMy___no5, I think the clear musical strength of
@KiDDo's nominee outweighs the somewhat worse vocals here.
Winner: Death - "1000 Eyes"