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

[JudasMyGuide]

Yeah, let's agree to disagree here, I think South and Seasons are prime Slayer in terms of consistent quality while a lot of RIB tends to blend together. That point about Tom and his delivery does make sense though.

Yep, South of Heaven is their most consistently listenable album, Reign in Blood is a great two-track single + bonus noise.

(And I'm talking from the point of view of someone who used to enjoy Morbid Saint, Slaughter, early Sepultura or the Teutonic thrash bands a lot.)

 

[Shmoolikipod]

Carry on Wayward Son is proggy and has better vocals than Back in Black, but I wasn't in the mood today and BiB is great.

Didn't really like this Slayer song, Last Ride of the Day.

Some people get their hit from Master of Puppets' opening chords, I get it from Mirror Mirror's. Still my favourite power metal song and I'm glad I didn't waste a nomination slot for it. The Evanescence song is good too actually but, come on.

Not my favourite song from either band, Church of the Machine.

Good stuff in the Exodus track, I prefer Overkill slightly more.

The Beautiful People sure stays in your head, but The Great Misconceptions of Me still blows my mind.

 

[Jer]

"Back In Black" has immense swagger with its fat, funky main riff and absolutely savage delivery from Brian Johnson. The vocal melodies are great, as is the extended solo break and the interlude before the final chorus. This is a pretty much perfect hard rock song from start to finish. "Carry On Wayward Son" has buoyant riffs and guitar leads, great vocal lines, pleasant organs, and an epic structure and feel. It doesn't really have many flaws aside from dated production, and it's influenced a wide range of musicians, metal and otherwise. Both tracks are excellent, and I would be fine with either one winning, but I think the AC/DC track has a certain visceral umami to it that gives it the edge here. Winner: AC/DC - "Back In Black"

"South Of Heaven" is stacked with cool, sinister riffs. Araya sounds OK on the verse, but the pre-chorus is worse, and the chorus is terrible. The solos are directionless noise, as expected. Yeah, there's about 40% of a good song here, which I guess is beating expectations for Slayer. "Last Ride Of The Day" is from the more bombastic period of Nightwish that I don't like as much as their earlier work. Anette's voice sounds really weak and can't stand up to the blast of the music, and the poorly phrased verse melodies don't work for me. The pre-chorus and chorus are better, but not really to my taste. The solo's pretty good, albeit too short, but the Disney orchestra bits are more than I can bear. Yeah, I don't like either of these songs, but if I grade both bands on a curve, the Slayer track is really good for Slayer, while the Nightwish track isn't very good for Nightwish -- so, sorry @Kalata, but I'm going to reward the less absurd-sounding nominee here. Winner: Slayer - "South Of Heaven"

Take a look into my eyes, tell me what you see -- it's Blind Guardian's "Mirror, Mirror", which is unfortunately not a cover of the Def Leppard track I nominated for the GMSC, but instead a shrill, overtempo, video gamey patchwork of a song in typical Blind Guardian fashion. The vocal lines aren't that good, though the chorus is OK. Lots of sickly sweet vocal harmonies in here. At least one strong musical interlude, and the song sounds best when it goes softer (which is also typical for Blind Guardian); but this is at best a pretty OK track, nothing too special. "Call Me When You're Sober" has some nice vocal lines, but the singing is overwrought as usual, and the chorus doesn't quite get there. I kind of like the mechanical, industrialish guitar fills, but the mindless guitar chugging feels like an empty aping of the band's original guitar sound without understanding how to apply it properly. The bridge doesn't really work for me either. This feels like maybe 2/3 of a good song to me. Not a fan of either track, but any Blind Guardian song in the GMSC is an almost guaranteed winner with this crowd, which is a bias that needs to be actively resisted -- and sorry BlackiDDo Confart, but I'd quite honestly rather listen to the Evanescence song if given the choice. Winner: Evanescence - "Call Me When You're Sober"

"Sweet Leaf" is pretty strong as far as early Sabbath goes. It's got a memorable riff and decent vocal lines, and the faster-tempo interlude in the middle is pretty cool. I'm not a fan of Ozzy's little vocal ad libs, but otherwise this is solid stuff. "Church Of The Machine" goes through some interesting melodic convolutions, and while the synth melody borrows a bit too liberally from the theme to The Exorcist, it still sounds pretty good. Pre-chorus 1 is awkward, but the verse is strong (despite Allen chewing up the scenery) and the chorus is pretty solid. The instrumental section starting around 6:25 is also quite good. I like both tracks, but congratulations @LooseCannon, your nominee has a lot more interesting stuff going on, which makes this an easy choice. Winner: Symphony X - "Church Of The Machine"

"Bonded By Blood" has dope riffs, but the vocalist only half-sings, and the vocal lines aren't very good. The group vocal also sounds lame. Strong solos, though. "The Years Of Decay" has a nice acoustic intro that runs a bit too long, then slips into a midtempo Megadethy groove that goes through some permutations. The singer gets more shrill than I'd like in the heavier parts, and the soloing sounds like a B-list version of 80s Kirk Hammett. This song really doesn't earn its runtime, unfortunately -- it just keeps plodding on and on, never fully grabbing me. That said, it shows a lot more range than its competitor, and I think that's enough to pull this one out. Winner: Overkill - "The Years Of Decay"

Ugh, "The Beautiful People". Marilyn Manson fucking sucks. There is literally nothing at all appealing about what he has to offer, aside from the background music that he straight-up ripped off from Nine Inch Nails. He should have declared artistic bankruptcy after the release of his first album and just never made a second one. What a fucking tool. “The Great Misconceptions Of Me” is consistently interesting, rocks harder, and is fundamentally a much better written song. Blackie’s delivery is a bit overwrought, but there isn’t much else to criticize here. The easiest of calls for @The Dissident's nominee. Winner: W.A.S.P. - "The Great Misconceptions Of Me"

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

Back In Black vs. Carry On Wayward Son pits the two most popular, arguably greatest songs by each band together. Neither is metal, but I’ll judge on two different criteria. First, which do I enjoy more? Easily Kansas. It’s proggy, it’s far more interesting, the vocals are objectively far better. Second, which was more influential? Surely, Back in Black influenced more kids to pick up a guitar, but I’d argue Wayward Son had more to offer the musical community in terms of influence. Either is worthy to win for completely different reasons, but I prefer Kansas.

South of Heaven is incredibly badass and features probably the second most famous Slayer riff ever. It’s a proper metal song with tons of evil ambiance, riffage, and dynamics. The vocals actually work about as well as any Tom Araya vocals can. As someone who is decidedly NOT a Slayer fan, this is probably my favorite Slayer song. On the flip side, I am a big Nightwish fan and Last Ride of the Day is not one of my favorites. The main melody that starts the song is great and it has killer get-up-and-go (as my drummer likes to say), especially as it builds into the heavily sing-songy chorus. There’s nothing I hate about this song, I’m just mostly sick of it. Marko’s trailing chorus vocal (“day-ay-ay-ay-ayayayeeeeayay”) is better than any single part in South of Heaven and the harmonized guitar lead is certainly better than whatever Kerry King is doing. This one's tough. I have to go with @Jer's reasoning here for grading on a curve, I think. This is a B- Nightwish song versus an A+ Slayer song.

Mirror Mirror is a great track from arguably Blind Guardian’s best album. It’s everything awesome about the band: speed, fury, melody, wall of sound, the souls of a hundred woodland elves mingling with court jesters, just typical music stuff. The other is Evanescence.

Sweet Leaf starts with Ozzy coughing into a microphone. Yum. The song itself just kind of bumbles along in classic Sabbathian fuzzy fashion until it picks up halfway through into a blues jam. Geezer Butler is going nuts on the bass, when you can hear it through the potato recording. Overall, it’s a Sabbath song. It doesn’t do much for me. Church Of The Machine is peak Symphony X. From the massive chorus to the riffs to the killer verses to the amazing solo duel to Russell Allen slaying all vocals as usual. This song is 100x better than Sweet Leaf.

Exodus’ vocals really suck. The music is your typical thrash angular E chug stuff, and there could’ve been a good song here, but the vocals are atrocious. It sounds like someone shoved a rock into Joey Belladonna’s throat (as if he needed something to make him sound worse) or like someone strangled 1980 Paul Di’anno while he choked on his beer. The Years of Decay won this match in the first 20 seconds. Overkill aren’t going to win any awards for imaginative chord progressions or amazing singing, but what they do here is still solid. It has dynamics, something most thrash bands don’t care much about. Good tune, despite the chorus being pretty terrible. Doesn’t need to be 8 minutes, though.

The last match is very similar to the previous one - one short song with virtually no value, one ludicrously overlong song with far more to offer musically and melodically. I don’t love voting for WASP, but I do love not voting for Marilyn Manson.

 

[Diesel 11]

Sweet Leaf starts with Ozzy coughing into a microphone. Yum.

The amount of misinformation in this thread is insane, bruh. That's Tony after hitting a joint.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

The amount of misinformation in this thread is insane, bruh. That's Tony after hitting a joint.

That's what I wanted to say.

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

The amount of misinformation in this thread is insane, bruh. That's Tony after hitting a joint.

Ah, well, that makes it 5% less annoying, I guess.

 

[Kalata]

All I’m saying is that one of those songs is a metal classic that influenced both its own genre of thrash and the growing genres of extreme metal; and the other one is “Last Ride of the Day”. I feel like more artists wish they’d written the “South of Heaven” intro over the Nightwish chorus.

Probably true about the artists (I don't consider whether a song is influential or not, I like it or I don't), although it depends if we ask a guitarist (more likely in metal) or a vocalist. The catchiness in most cases is due to a vocal part. And I don't care if an intro of a song is amazing if the rest is not catchy, great, or solid enough. ''Last Ride Of The Day'' is one of Anette's best performances. I like the live versions with Floor a lot, but this studio version is equal for me.

 

[Confeos]

"Back in Black" may be iconic, but at the end of the day it's just another AC/DC song. "Carry On Wayward Son" is superior vocally, musically and lyrically, and the only real argument I could find in favour of "Back in Black" is that it's closer to metal. But neither song IS metal, so that won't stand here. Easiest vote for Kansas.

I love Nightwish more than Slayer, and I hold Imaginaerum in high regard; easily the best album they've done without Tarja. Even so, "Last Ride of the Day" never really did much for me. From an album that has songs like "Storytime", "Ghost River", "I Want My Tears Back", "Scaretale", "Rest Calm" and even "Song of Myself" (if you ignore the spoken word-part), it would never be "Last Ride..." that I would pick as THE standout track. To each their own, I suppose. On the other hand, "South of Heaven" is definitely one of Slayer's very best and most iconic songs, so much that I initially was convinced that it was one of my own nominees, until I remembered that I went with "Seasons in the Abyss" instead. Amazingly dark and heavy song. So yes, I'm absolutely going with Slayer here.

Some of the greatest mysteries ever include the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda Triangle, Amelia Earhart's disapperance, and why the fuck 6 people (as of this writing) is actually voting for Amy Lee over the masterpiece that is "Mirror, Mirror". I'm at a loss for words. Blind Guardian, obviously.

This is definitely the toughest match in this round. I love Symphony X, and I love classic Sabbath, and after much, much deliberation I think I have to go with the latter. Black Sabbath.

"Bonded by Blood" is easily the best we've heard from Exodus in the game so far. Let's be honest - it sounds like a lesser Metallica song that could've been on Kill 'Em All (itself a lesser Metallica album), but it is enjoyable enough for what it is. That said, "The Years of Decay" is a better and much more interesting piece, so I'm voting for Overkill here.

Very, very reluctant vote for W.A.S.P., despite Blackie's infinitely annoying voice, but Marilyn Manson sucks. Hard.

 

[srfc]

AC/DC - Back in Black vs. Kansas - Carry on Wayward Son
Carry on Wayward Son is good but the count in on Back in Black alone smashes it all over the place. Back in Black

Slayer - South of Heaven vs. Nightwish - Last Ride of the Day
Last Ride of the Day wasn't the mae west, guitar sound was buzzy, rhythm was very robotic, South of Heaven is Slayer at their most atmospheric South of Heaven

Blind Guardian - Mirror Mirror vs. Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober
Neither of these were much use, I'll give Blind Guardian the win as some of the melodies were decent enough and Evanescence sounds like the producer was pulling the strings on the songwriting side too much Mirror Mirror

Black Sabbath - Sweet Leaf vs. Symphony X - Church of the Machine
Symphony X is relatively alright, there isn't anything as off putting as some of their kind, the singer does a passable Dio impression, but this is not even in the ball park of Sweat Leaf Sweet Leaf

Exodus - Bonded by Blood vs. Overkill - The Years of Decay
The Years of Decay is pretty alright, but I think they are getting ideas above their station if they are thinking they can transcend Thrash by writing a Metallica style light and shade thrasher, whereas Exodus have no such delusions and firmly deliver a song that has no greater aspirations than hoping you'll bang your head against the stage. Bonded by Blood

Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People vs. W.A.S.P. - The Great Misconceptions of Me
The Beautiful People has a couple of memorable hooks and riff, but is responsible for a decade of shite that followed. The Great Misconceptions of Me is where an artist who started off as a Marilyn Manson style shock rocker delivered something of real substance, something Manson never managed, he never even managed to shock as much as Animal. The Great Misconceptions of Me

 

[srfc]

There's a riff at the end of The Years of Decay, the last riff section at the very end, that's a total rip off of some other riff (or maybe the other riff rips of this riff?)

I can't put my finger on it, but I feel it's a much more famous riff just played a bit slower. Anyone any ideas? Will be driving me mad.

Anyone got any ideas on this, it's still driving me mad!

Pretty sure it's definitely 80s, maybe Metallica?????

 

[Detective Beauregard]

Back in Black is definitely one of AC/DC’s better tracks (if you possess the rare ability to differentiate them from one another), but Carry on Wayward Son is classic and also a major proggy influence on the greatest songwriter who ever hath lived, Michael J. Romeo. I don’t care that Kansas isn’t metal, because Rush isn’t either, but Rush is better than most metal.

South of Heaven is my second favorite Slayer album, which is another way of saying that I like all but one of Slayer’s other albums less. This is a decent tune, but I’ve always had a thing for Last Ride of the Day and pretty much everything from Imaginaerium. Nightwish.

I’ve been critical of Blind Guardian before, but this song is quite good. There’s a lot of Hansis to unpack here, as usual, but those guitar melodies are so catchy. I’m excited to see these guys live for the first time in May (along with Symphony X for the 107th time). I’d vote for Evanescence in some circumstances, but this certainly isn’t one of them. Get back to me when they’re up against Korn or Limp Bizkit and I’ll throw Amy a vote.

Sweet Leaf has a decent groove and excellent bass (as expected), but it can’t touch this classic Symphony X cut surely enjoyed my millions the world over. That keyboard part is catchy as hell, the verses wailing, and the riffs mechanical and savage. Ridiculously easy vote for Symphony X, although their opponent in this case is far stronger than a few rounds ago (Twisted freaking Sister, for those of you who forgot that crime against humanity).

Overkill has the vastly superior song here. It takes a while to get going, but once it does it’s just good ol’ classic metal. Exodus does little for me.

I’m not typically a fan of WASP or any other glam metal and/or glam metal-adjacent stuff, but this song is actually quite good – especially once it picks up around 2 minutes in. It’s just so ‘80s (in a good way). Plus, with an opponent like Marilyn Manson, my mind was made up already.

Anyone got any ideas on this, it's still driving me mad!

Pretty sure it's definitely 80s, maybe Metallica?????

The one at 6:05? Sounds kinda Megadethy to me.

 

[LooseCannon]

That battle between Sabbath and Symphony X has been fun. Back and forth this whole time. I wonder if there's a couple more votes out there!

 

[DJ James]

That battle between Sabbath and Symphony X has been fun. Back and forth this whole time. I wonder if there's a couple more votes out there!

Sorry, I may have been the one to turn the tide late towards Sabbath. Symphony X does rock and I think they're about the best prog band to my non-prog leaning ears.

 

[LooseCannon]

Sorry, I may have been the one to turn the tide late towards Sabbath. Symphony X does rock and I think they're about the best prog band to my non-prog leaning ears.

Oh no, it's all good. The hope is as always people widen their horizons a bit, find some new songs to enjoy, and just have fun talking about music.

 

[DJ James]

Anyone got any ideas on this, it's still driving me mad!

Pretty sure it's definitely 80s, maybe Metallica?????

Only thing I got is maybe the riff in Snowblind by Black Sabbath?

EDIT: Bewitched by Candlemass is slightly similar, I always thought Welcome Home (Sanitarium) from Metallica sounded atleast a bit similar too.

 

[LooseCannon]

Kansas has gotta carry on somewhere else as they lose to AC/DC. The last ride of the day? Slayer says that ride is happening somewhere south of heaven. Amy Lee needs to look in a mirror, mirror after losing handily to Blind Guardian. I guess you can always light up your sweet leaf in the church of the machine, if you need, as Black Sabbath and Symphony X tie. Overkill's years of decay can degrade even those bonded in blood. And finally, the great misconception is that the beautiful people are good. W.A.S.P.

---

Part II, Round 1, Matches 43-48​

Group Stage - Round 1	Match 43​	Tony Parsons Division​
Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder Gods	vs.​	Nightwish - Passion and the Opera​
@Mosh, @MrKnickerbocker, @LooseCannon, @DJMayes	Nominators​	@Jer​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 1	Match 44​	Hallowed Be Thy Name Division​
Pantera - Cemetery Gates	vs.​	Alter Bridge - Blackbird​
Popoff 500, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100 @Spambot, @Black Bart	Nominators​	@The Dissident​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 1	Match 45​	Killers Division​
Living Colour - Cult of Personality	vs.​	Type O Negative - Christian Woman​
Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100 @MrKnickerbocker	Nominators​	@Diesel 11​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 1	Match 46​	El Dorado Division​
System of a Down - BYOB	vs.​	UFO - Lights Out​
Youtube 50 @KidInTheDark666, @Stardust	Nominators​	Popoff 500​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 1	Match 47​	Flight of Icarus Division​
Metallica - Master of Puppets	vs.​	Bathory - Twilight of the Gods​
Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Radio EHS 100, Rate Your Music 100, VH1 40, Best Music Art 100 @MrKnickerbocker, @The Sentient, @Poto, @KiDDo	Nominators​	@____no5​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 1	Match 48​	Doug Sampson Division​
Dream Theater - Pull Me Under	vs.​	AC/DC - It's A Long Way To the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll)​
Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100, Best Music Art 100 @MindRuler	Nominators​	Popoff 500​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

 

[DJMayes]

I usually hate death metal but Amon Amarth is an exception and especially Twilight of the Thunder God.

Blackbird is a completely mediocre song that doesn't deserve the worship it gets... but it's better than Pantera.

I don't have strong opinions on either song in the third round, but I like Cult of Personality a little more.

BYOB is a ridiculous song but it's a good time.

I expect Master of Puppets against Bathory to be an absolute bloodbath.

I like AC/DC and I like the song chosen here but I'd need one of their bigger hits to choose it over Pull Me Under.

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

 

[Mosh]

A song with growls is not winning this game, but I think it's between Twilight of the Thunder Gods or something by Opeth to be the highest ranking song with growls. Passion and the Opera is another example of an average Nightwish song that isn't going to last long now that it is facing real competition.

Alter Bridge is a mediocre band and Blackbird is a mediocre song. I hate to keep voting for Pantera but Cemetary Gates is stratospheres better. Great riff too.

I enjoyed the Type O track but Cult of Personality is a true one of a kind piece of Metal. It runs circles around the glam metal of its time and it's one of the few examples of an American metal band from the 80s truly doing something interesting, unique, and not at all gimmicky.

I'm not mad that BYOB is beating Lights Out. That was a coin toss for me and if I really think about it I don't feel that strongly about my choice.

I tossed a pity vote to Bathory but lets be real, Master of Puppets shouldn't be anywhere below the top 5.

Lol Pull Me Under. Same thing as Living Colour, although a few years later. When you think about the other Metal coming out of America in 1992, you realize how special Dream Theater was. Say what you will about what they do now, but Images & Words is a Metal essential, so something off that album needs to land in the upper tier. There are a few songs I would opt for before Pull Me Under, but I also think this song is worthy of every accolade it receives, even if it is overexposed compared to the rest of the DT catalog (and they have done a remarkable job not living under its shadow).