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

[Confeos]

With very few exceptions, 20+ minute songs are generally too much for me. I don't think I've listened to "A Change of Seasons" in full since I bought it some 15 years ago. I'm not going to do so now due to lack of time, but I probably ought to revisit it soon; the first couple of minutes alone are a wonderful mix of acoustic and heavy with good melody. Great stuff; definitely better than some of other Dream Theater we've had in this game. "Moonshield" is also right up my alley, I really like it, but I gotta reward the clearly better song here and vote Dream Theater.

Accept have much better songs than "Metal Heart", come on. "The Fun Palace" is exactly what it says on the tin - a fun and enjoyable listen. Annihilator.

"Ace of Spades" is an iconic classic that I'll never get tired of, but "Knocking At Your Back Door" has one of my favourite Blackmore riffs and a solid groove, and in general I prefer Deep Purple to Motörhead, so there it is.

And speaking of "Accept-songs-that-are-better-than-Metal-Heart", "Fast as a Shark" is a solid piece of proto speed metal with a fun chorus and nice solos. Again, not my favourite song of theirs, but it's decent. Cage the Gods, I dunno, they're not exactly blowing me away. The singer does sound a bit like Myles Kennedy, I suppose? Some of the guitarwork is fine, but the song as a whole is quite underwhelming. I'm going with Accept here.

Look, I like early Fates Warning a lot, I have nothing against John Arch's vocals, and I think "Guardian" is a great tune. And honestly, we really gotta start removing some of the excess Judas Priest from the game, starting with "Sinner", which never did much for me. Fates Warning.

Angel Witch are a really fun, semi-forgotten NWOBHM band. And I think their titular tune is very good; that chorus can easily get stuck in my head for a long time. And honestly, we really gotta start removing some of the excess Judas Priest from the game, starting with "Dissident Agressor", which... actually is quite a good song, but Priest still have far better material in the game, so I'm voting against them yet again here. Angel Witch.

 

[TheMercenary]

This time I couldn't vote. Is this normal ?

 

[Jer]

This time I couldn't vote. Is this normal ?

Did you try to vote after the poll had already closed?

 

[TheMercenary]

Did you try to vote after the poll had already closed?

Well, I didn't know that the votes were closed...

 

[Detective Beauregard]

Didn’t get a chance to vote in this round, but the only song I really care about here is Dream Theater’s. @LooseCannon if you need a tie breaker for the sixth match, Priest.

 

[Jer]

@LooseCannon if you need a tie breaker for the sixth match, Priest.

There aren’t any tiebreakers in the round robin phase, as ties are a valid result here.

 

[LooseCannon]

Hey friends, gonna try to get an update in today. Work took a weird swerve on Thursday and I ended up bailing on everything for the weekend.

There are no tiebreakers in this round, that's why there's a ties column.

 

[LooseCannon]

Dream Theater easily breaks In Flames's moonshield, uh, whatever that is. Annihilator's fun palace proves to be the undoing of Accept. Motörhead had an ace up their sleeve against Deep Purple. This time, Accept gets the win, fast as a shark. You're a vvretched sinner, Judas Priest says. And finally, Judas Priest and Angel Witch are in perfect balance. Somewhere, Thanos is proud.

Program Note: you may notice that there is a 129th division, appropriately named. This is because I audited the nominees and found 5 somehow I failed to seed. These songs get to participate in the round robin section. At the end of the round robin, the top 2 songs will face off against the worst-scoring songs that make the double elimination tournament in a single battle to determine which of them get to move on. Apologies to @Wogmidget and @Black Bart for missing your songs, and thanks to @Spambot for the idea on how to manage it.

---

Part II, Round 1, Matches 127-129; Round 2, Matches 1-3​

Group Stage - Round 1	Match 127​	Thunderstick Division​
Black Sabbath - Paranoid	vs.​	Metallica - Fight Fire With Fire​
Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Radio EHS 100, Rate Your Music 100, VH1 40, Youtube 50, Best Music Art 100 @KiDDo	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 128​	Where the Wild Wind Blows Division​
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys	vs.​	Exodus - Deliver Us to Evil​
Popoff 500, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100 @Black Bart	Nominators​	@srfc​
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 129​	More Tea Vicar Division​
Blood Ceremony - Daughter of the Sun	vs.​	Helloween - How Many Tears​
@Wogmidget	Nominators​	@Black Bart​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 2	Match 1​	The Number of the Beast Division​
Black Sabbath - Into the Void	vs.​	Dio - All the Fools Sailed Away​
Popoff 500, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100	Nominators​	@DJMayes​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 2	Match 2​	Blood Brothers Division​
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again	vs.​	Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)​
Popoff 500, Radio EHS 100	Nominators​	Popoff 500, Radio EHS 100​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 2	Match 3​	Isle of Avalon Division​
Metallica - Welcome Home (Sanitarium)	vs.​	Thin Lizzy - Cowboy Song​
Popoff 500 @MindRuler, @Jer	Nominators​	Popoff 500​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

 

[Jer]

"Paranoid" has solid riffs and strong vocal lines throughout, and the jammy solo section is pretty good. It also keeps the energy level up, and right around the time the repetition is starting to wear out its welcome, the song ends. Very good overall. "Fight Fire With Fire" has a great, almost sweet acoustic opening, then brings the thrashy fire. The staccato verse isn't my favorite, and the chorus could be a little stronger; but the riffage is great, as are the interludes and solos. Love the harmonized lead section and the nuclear explosion ending. Sorry, @KiDDo, but I prefer the list nominee here. Winner: Metallica - "Fight Fire With Fire"

“Keeper Of The Seven Keys” is too convoluted structurally, especially in the first half, and there are a number of places where the guitars and vocals seem to be out of sync with each other. The intro and outro are good, the beginning of the chorus is great (though the chorus fizzles pretty quickly), the first bridge right before the halfway mark is good, and then of course the extended dual guitar jam in the second half is great; but there are a lot of other parts in there that just feel slapped together. The second half of the song almost redeems the whole thing, but this is still a track that I rarely listen to because of all of the musical baggage. "Deliver Us To Evil" starts with some good crunchy riffage. The vocalist sucks, barely mustering up any melody at all. Some nice guitar call-and-response in the interludes. Strong solos. Man, this song runs way longer than it needs to. I like the guitar work, but the rest doesn't do it for me. Not a fan of either track here, but sorry @srfc, I think @Black Bart's nominee is a bit more to my liking. Winner: Helloween - "Keeper Of The Seven Keys"

"Daughter Of The Sun" starts with some lo-fi riffage that fades into a nice acoustic passage with a tasteful flute lead that gains some heaviness over time. The female vocalist is pretty good and the vocal lines are generally strong, though the chorus doesn't really take off. Very good guitar solo, and a very good flute solo soon afterward. Bonus points for using pipe organ, albeit in a supporting role. Another very good guitar solo toward the end. Really good overall. "How Many Tears" has good energy and pretty good vocal lines, though the fast guitar solos feel a bit scattershot. The slower melodic lead in the middle is very nice, and the big rock ending is amusingly over the top. Good stuff overall. This one's pretty close, but sorry @Black Bart, I think @Wogmidget's nominee is a little bit better on the whole. Winner: Blood Ceremony - "Daughter Of The Sun"

"Into The Void" has a pretty interesting midtempo opening riff that turns into a solid verse riff, though the vocal lines aren't great. The faster section in the middle has the same pros and cons. Getting bored around the 4 minute mark. The instrumental section toward the end sounds like it's made up of a fair amount of recycled material. Yeah, that wasn't very good outside of a few riffs. "All The Fools Sailed Away" checks all the boxes for an epic power ballad, and the performances are strong, but it didn't really sink its teeth into me on a single listen. That said, @DJMayes's nominee still did more than enough to beat out a weak opponent here. Winner: Dio - "All The Fools Sailed Away"

"Here I Go Again" in its 1987 remake form is a nearly perfect poppy hard rock song. Great atmosphere, great vocal lines, awesome bridge, very good solo. Nothing to complain about, really. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" has interesting guitar work and some nice melodies in places, but it feels like more of a jam than a song, and it's not the kind of thing I'd want to listen to over and over again. No contest here. Winner: Whitesnake - "Here I Go Again"

"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is arguably Metallica's greatest song. From its stark, ominous opening to its beautiful recurring dual guitar leads, its gentle and queasy verses that steadily build into its crushing chorus and then that amazing bridge, then the instrumental take on the bridge that keeps adding more and more layers of guitar harmony before slowing down into a sweet big rock ending. I love it -- no wonder that I nominated it! "Cowboy Song" is pleasant enough, with memorable melodies and guitar bits, though I'm not really a fan of the chorus, and the song seems to drag on a bit. And it happened to stroll out in front of a rocket-propelled steamroller for this round. The easiest of wins for MindRuljer's nominee. Winner: Metallica - "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"

 

[Magnus]

Really, really like Fight Fire With Fire, voting Paranoid.
Ditto Exodus.
Helloween this time, compensating, plus I really, really like this one.
Sabbath over Dio of course, and Voodoo ftw.
Some more compensating, etc.

 

[Kalata]

I like Fight Fire With Fire (intro, riff, harmony), but Paranoid's vocals and riff are captivating.
Keeper Of The Seven Keys, no contest. The chorus alone is enough for the win. One of the best long songs in metal. If I have to find a gripe, some of the transitions are not smooth.
How Many Tears, not contest again. Amazing song. One of the best power/speed metal songs of all time. One of my favorite long songs. Riff, tempo, verses, chorus, slow melodic part, fast harmonies, drumming... everything is timeless. Perfect heavy metal.
Into The Void has one of Sabbath's best riffs ever, but All The Fools Sailed Away is another classic and epic sounding (not because of the length) Dio song. The chorus sounds glorious. Verses and slow parts too. It's like this song combines the sound of all of Dio's bands. The shorter single version is nice.
I prefer Here I Go Again. Probably Whitesnake's best song.
Cowboy Song is very nice with great harmonies, but Welcome Home is an 80's perfection from Metallica. Their slow parts and melodic riffs then are just too good.

 

[Kalata]

Acoustic part (or intro) into a powerful riff in metal will never get old!

 

[DJ James]

Voting for Fight Fire with Fire, Keeper of the Seven Keys, How Many Tears, Into the Void, Here I Go Again (truly a terrible song, and I know it's a re-recording, off a pretty great and "so overrated it's become underrated" metal album), and Cowboy Song.

Kind of surprised myself with Cowboy Song, but I've been stuck on the live version of that song from Live and Dangerous for a couple months now. Also while I may not be the biggest power metal guy anymore, Keeper of the Seven Keys was an integral part in me getting into heavy metal, and my 14 year old brain thought that that song was the most epic thing ever.

Into the Void also has one of my favorite riffs ever. In the Whitesnake v. Hendrix matchup, I went Whitesnake almost purely because they are more metal and I'm pretty indifferent to Hendrix. I know, he's one of the best ever, metal probably wouldn't be around if it wasn't for him, etc etc etc

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

Paranoid is easily the more classic and renowned song in the first match, but that doesn't make it better. Like Iron Man, it gets a bit dull. Fight Fire With Fire is nowhere near a top Metallica song, but it's more interesting than Paranoid.

Keeper of the Seven Keys is more instrumentally interesting, though I really cannot stomach the vocals. Kiske's high register is absolute nauseating. Also, why are the instruments mixed so much quieter than the vocals? It's terrible mixing. Exodus, however, doesn't do anything for me instrumentally and the vocals are also terrible. I guess Helloween.

Daughter of the Sun, sounding like Iron Pagan, is interesting. It's overlong, overly repetitive, and the mix doesn't help the singer at all, but the pieces are all really cool and interesting. It's bizarre and unique, for sure. Easy vote over another damn Helloween song.

Into the Void is fine song, but again, the more times I hear it, the less interesting it is. I've always thought All The Fools Sailed Away was an absolutely bonkers arrangement, and for that, I love it. Such a weird, cool track. Dio bias for life.

Here I Go Again, though lame and overplayed as shit, is the pinnacle of hair metal power ballads. Coverdale is an absolute powerhouse vocalist and this cheesefest knows exactly what its doing and does it perfectly. No thanks, Jimi.

I like Thin Lizzy a lot, and Cowboy Song is great in its own hard rock right, but Welcome Home (Sanitarium) is one of Metallica's best songs ever. No chance.

 

[Confeos]

Sabbath, easily. Metallica definitely has songs that are better than "Paranoid" (which is awesome, but not Sabbath's very best), but not "Fight Fire with Fire". I mean, come on.

"Keeper of the Seven Keys" is definitely the lesser of Helloween's two early epics, but it IS the superior song in this round. I absolutely love the music in "Deliver Us to Evil", but the vocals are beyond terrible. I've heard extreme metal vocalists with more control over their voice. Helloween.

"Daughter of the Sun" is probably the song I enjoyed most in this round. I think it's a great slab of doomy, occult rock with some folky, Jethro Tull-y tendencies sprinkled on top. I definitely have to listen more to this band. On the other hand, nothing from Helloween's first album really grabs me, and "How Many Tears" is no exception. Easy vote for Blood Ceremony.

Iommi is delivering the goods as usual with "Into the Void"'s amazing riff, but the song itself never did much for me. Only in rare cases am I going to take anything from Dio's solo career over classic Sabbath, but that's exactly whati's gonna happen here - "All the Fools Sailed Away" is phenomenal, nothing less. Dio.

I love Hendrix, and I can't really praise his playing on "Voodoo Child" enough, but Whitesnake is the clear winner in this match. "Here I Go Again" is overplayed, sure, but there's a reason for that - it's the perfect glam metal song.

Now, the last match is tricky. I probably rate Thin Lizzy higher than Metallica as a whole, but I wouldn't include "Cowboy Song" in my personal list of Lizzy's best tunes, despite how fun and catchy it is. And no matter how much I love them, they aren't metal, if we have to pull out that argument. So for those reasons, and because "Sanitarium" is amazing anyway, I'm voting Metallica.

 

[Shmoolikipod]

Paranoid. The song is great, and I'm not the biggest fan of FFWF to begin with.

Keeper of the Seven Keys is incredibly overstuffed, but despite the so-so transitions it's always a great listen. Fantastic solos. Deliver Us to Evil wasn't bad.

I really liked Daughter of the Sun, will need more listens to remember why. How Many Tears is very good, a highlight from Walls of Jericho.

Cool riff in Into the Void, Dio takes it handily though.

Inclined to agree with the half-praise for Here We Go Again here, one of the best glam songs.

Cowboy Song is cute, but Welcome Home rocks, it's probably Metallica's best balla-

 

[Diesel 11]

Even "Halo on Fire" is better than "The Day That Never Comes".

 

[Shmoolikipod]

Even "Halo on Fire" is better than "The Day That Never Comes".

Halo on Fire is better than Fade to Black, too.

 

[srfc]

Black Sabbath - Paranoid vs. Metallica - Fight Fire With Fire
Paranoid is an all time classic, Fight Fire With Fire is a decent track on an all time classic album Paranoid

Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys vs. Exodus - Deliver Us to Evil
Some decent riffs but the track didn't do a hell of a lot for me, and the snippets of lyrics I could pick out sounded like guff. Going with my own nominee Deliver Us to Evil

Blood Ceremony - Daughter of the Sun vs. Helloween - How Many Tears
This Helloween track was a bit rawer but not as good as the previous one. @Wogmidget strikes gold with another "Blood" band piquing my interest. I think maybe the vocal melody would need to be a bit stronger for me to run out and buy the album in the morning, but there's enough there to make me want to hear more. Reminds me of a band I like Lykantropi (see here ) with similar female vocals, flute and keys maybe not as heavy Daughter of the Sun

Black Sabbath - Into the Void vs. Dio - All the Fools Sailed Away
Didn't have time to revisit the Dio track, but remember the gist of it from it's first appearance, good but not getting near the monstrous Into the Void Into the Void

Whitesnake - Here I Go Again vs. Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Enjoy both tracks but a bit more class from Jimi Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Metallica - Welcome Home (Sanitarium) vs. Thin Lizzy - Cowboy Song
Sanitarium is great, and would win manys a tie with it's eyes closed, not this one though, and in fact it got off easy with it not being the classic Live and Dangerous version with the best seque ever into the Boys are Back in Town. Cowboy Song