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

[Confeos]

On one hand I'm fully expecting Candlemass to get murdered here, but, as @Judas points out, the overplayed argument could certainly tip the scales against "Sandman" for some.
I'm still undecided myself. Might end up being the first time I will vote against my own nominee. Gotta sleep on it.

 

[Detective Beauregard]

Damnit, now I have to vote for Ozzy.

 

[Diesel 11]

Damnit, now I have to vote for Ozzy.

So you've been voting against Randy Rhoads this whole time? I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed fuck you

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

Sorry folks, I just don’t get the appeal of Queensryche and this song just feels so bloated. I’ve had fun every time Outlaw shows up in this game.

I really like Candlemass and I really, really don’t want to vote for Metallica because I don’t ever need to hear it again…but Enter Sandman is such a superior composition.

Speaking of superior compositions, Gates of Babylon is pitch perfect early metal with Dio swinging for the fences while Devin is just horribly annoying. I really hate this song now.

Blizzard of Oz has such terrible production, but Mr. Crowley is vastly better than the lame Suicide Solution.

I want to ride on whatever ship Sonata Arctica are captaining, but I’ve heard this song three times now and although I love the sound, vibe, and style…but nothing sticks with me. As repetitive as it is, I can sing every bass and guitar note of NIB. So can Ozzy. In fact that’s all he can do.

Perfect Strangers has a great riff in the middle, but that’s all it has. Let There Be Rock is silly, but damn if it doesn’t bring a smile to face. I wanna hear Clutch cover this song live.

 

[Kalata]

Queensryche's Suit Sister Mary is a good song with solid ideas and playing(!), but it lacks something for me. I prefer the classic heavy and catchy rock of Riot's Outlaw this time, although it's not the ''better'' song. Great and classic melodic solos/parts (the intro is so cool) and riff.
Enter Sandman, no contest. That riff!
Gates Of Babylon, again no contest. Timeless song for metal. One of my top favorites. Just epic! Textbook of metal.
Ozzy's SS is very good both musically and vocally, but Mr. Crowley is just better. Even only for the solo. Melodic shredding! Randy!!!
I like the type of vocals on N.I.B., but Sonata Arctica's White Pearl, Black Oceans is cool. I like anthmic and melodic power metal. And the song has interesting parts.
Purple's Perfect Strangers is a classic groove (along with the vocals) and riff, but Let There Be Rock is one of my favorite rock songs. Riff, vocals and especially solo - just perfect. A really tough choice.

 

[Black Bart]

No brainers for all matches except for the last one. I went with Deep Purple because "Let There Be Rock" has often been unnecessarily long live (stretch it to 7-8' is ok, but 12'???)

 

[srfc]

Riot - Outlaw vs. Queensrÿche - Suite Sister Mary
Suite Sister Mary is great, but there's a fair few tracks on OM that work outside the context of the album, particularly all the main tracks from The Needle Lies onwards, Suite Sister Mary isn't one of them, it's pretty much the centrepiece of the albums narrative, and I just don't know how you can get that vibe if you are listening out of context. Outlaw is great, what a catchy riff, and very Black Rose era Lizzy vibe from the chorus. Outlaw

Candlemass - Demon's Gate vs. Metallica - Enter Sandman
Demon's Gate is brilliant but out of it's depth here. Sandman is probably metal's biggest hit, the build up is brilliant, and the fact that the whole song is variations of the main Hammett riff could have left them with egg on their faces, but they milked that one riff so well. The lyrics would be my sticking point, they are awful guff, e.g. "and of things that will bite, yeah", but I accept you have to dumb things down to get a hit. Maybe Hetfield's original cot death lyrics were even worse? Enter Sandman

Devin Townsend - Earth Day vs. Rainbow - Gates of Babylon
Earth Day is not my thing, Gates of Babylon very much is Gates of Babylon

Ozzy Osbourne - Suicide Solution vs. Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley
Suicide Solution is a pretty great track, but probably only better than Dee and No Bone Movies off that album, whereas Mr Crowley is the best track on the album, and maybe the best ever Heavy Metal guitar performance. Mr. Crowley

Sonata Arctica - White Pearl, Black Ocean vs. Black Sabbath - N.I.B.
N.I.B. is probably the weakest of Sabbath's big name tracks, but a clear winner here. N.I.B.

Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers vs. AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
A real tough choice here, but have to go with the gut instinct of Let There Be Rock, I kind of agree with @Black Bart about the length live, but that's when listening to the live album, seeing it in the flesh is a different story and one of my best ever gig memories is seeing Angus up on a 30 foot high platform in the pissings of rain running amok. Perfect Strangers is great too. Let There Be Rock

 

[Jer]

"Outlaw" vs. "Suite Sister Mary": The Riot track is pretty good, but the Queensrÿche track is excellent. An easy call for __no__to's nominee here. Winner: Queensrÿche - "Suite Sister Mary"

"Demon's Gate" vs. "Enter Sandman": The Candlemass track is also pretty good, but the Metallica track is excellent, despite being massively overplayed. Sorry, @Confeos, but this is another easy call for @Black Bart's nominee. Winner: Metallica - "Enter Sandman"

"Earth Day" vs. "Gates Of Babylon": The Devin Townsend track is good, but the Rainbow track is great. Sorry, @Mosh, but MrKlickerTocker's nominee takes this one. Winner: Rainbow - "Gates Of Babylon"

"Suicide Solution" vs. "Mr. Crowley": In the battle of the Ozzy songs the former track is pretty good while the latter track is very good overall. @LooseCannon's nominee wins the day here. Winner: Ozzy Osbourne - "Mr. Crowley"

"White Pearl, Black Oceans" vs. "N.I.B.": Not a fan of either track here, but the Sonata Arctica song is merely OK while the Sabbath track is generally pretty good overall. Sorry, @Spambot, but I prefer the list nominee in this match. Winner: Black Sabbath - "N.I.B."

"Perfect Strangers" vs. "Let There Be Rock": Again, not a fan of either track here, as I think they're both merely OK, so I'll go with MaidenFan bias and pick the home team nominee. Congratulations, @The Sentient. Winner: AC/DC - "Let There Be Rock"

 

[Confeos]

Pretty much as expected. Since it makes little difference, I'm just gonna go with my own nominee Candlemass.

The rest are pretty straightforward:

Queensrÿche
Rainbow
Mr. Crowley
Sabbath
Deep Purple

 

[____no5]

An easy call for __no__to's nominee here.

Funny little nickname games in every round. Small details that count.

 

[LooseCannon]

Queensrÿche knew that suite sister Mary could stop a whole riot by herself. Metallica has deployed their sandman to close the demon's gate. Rainbow will not allow recycling in Babylon. Or possibly the Pergamon Museum. It takes Ozzy to shut out Ozzy Osbourne it seems. Sonata Arctica doesn't, uh, N.I.B.? Anyway Black Sabbath wins. Deep Purple isn't a stranger to letting there be rock, but they do win this matchup.

---

Part II, Round 3, Matches 61-66​

Group Stage - Round 3	Match 61​	En Vivo Division​
Iggy and the Stooges - Search and Destroy	vs.​	Opeth - Deliverance​
Popoff 500	Nominators​	Rolling Stone 100 @MrKnickerbocker, @JudasMyGuide​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -13	Record​	1-0-0, 2 pts, +11​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 3	Match 62​	Phantom of the Opera Division​
White Zombie - More Human Than Human	vs.​	Burzum - Jesu Død​
Popoff 500	Nominators​	DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100 @Magnus​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -1	Record​	0-1-0, 0 pts, -4​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 3	Match 63​	Still Life Division​
Armored Saint - Warzone	vs.​	Judas Priest - The Sentinel​
@MrKnickerbocker	Nominators​	Popoff 500 @The Dissident, @MindRuler, @MrKnickerbocker​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +1	Record​	1-0-0, 2 pts, +22​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 3	Match 64​	Alexander the Great Division​
Dream Theater - The Spirit Carries On	vs.​	Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water​
@DJMayes	Nominators​	Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100, Radio EHS 100, VH1 40, Best Music Art 100​
0-1-0, 0 pts, -10	Record​	1-0-0, 2 pts, +15​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 3	Match 65​	Run to the Hills Division​
Myrath - Wide Shut	vs.​	Slayer - Angel of Death​
@Confeos	Nominators​	Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100 @Magnus, @KiDDo​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +5	Record​	1-0-0, 2 pts, +20​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

Group Stage - Round 3	Match 66​	If Eternity Should Fail Division​
Manowar - Warriors of the World United	vs.​	Mayhem - Freezing Moon​
@Poto	Nominators​	Rolling Stone 100, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +4	Record​	0-1-0, 0 pts, -12​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

 

[Diesel 11]

Mayhem losing to Manowar will nail me into my coffin.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

Mayhem losing to Manowar will nail me into my coffin.

Heard that, lads? We can do it!

Spoiler

And

 

[Detective Beauregard]

Easiest votes ever for Opeth, Armored Saint, Dream Theater (even though this one isn’t metal), and Myrath.

I don’t care whatsoever about the other matches so I picked the least bad options.

Also if I never hear another Priest song again I’d be perfectly fine with that.

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

Easy votes for Opeth, Dream Theater, White Zombie and Myrath.

A begrudging vote for Manowar.

A difficult vote for Armored Saint, as The Sentinel is a great tune, but Warzone has my soul.

 

[Jer]

Easiest votes ever for […] Armored Saint […] Also if I never hear another Priest song again I’d be perfectly fine with that.

A difficult vote for Armored Saint, as The Sentinel is a great tune, but Warzone has my soul.

But what if it had been up against this version of “The Sentinel”…?

 

[Detective Beauregard]

But what if it had been up against this version of “The Sentinel”…?

Lol, I can’t believe I watched the whole thing.

 

[Diesel 11]

A begrudging vote for Manowar.

You motherfucker

 

[Diesel 11]

And hot take: barring "Angel of Death" and "The Sentinel", "Jesu død" is the best song here. Varg is a horrible, horrible person but the music of Burzum is incredible. This is an eight minute song that perfectly builds and sustains and intense atmosphere with its incredibly melodic feel. 100% deserves to be here as a legendary black metal track and is being unfortunately shafted once again by MaidenFans. And I say this as someone who would vote for White Zombie during most other rounds, that riff in "More Human Than Human" is great and because it was in Planes it never fails to throw me up on the deck of an aircraft carrier as the jets shoot off the ramp.

 

[MindRuler]

But what if it had been up against this version of “The Sentinel”…?

Easy vote for Judette!