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
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This time, my votes :

1) Dream Theater with "Change Of Seasons". 23 minutes of pure happiness, imho. I'm a huge fan of Dream Theater and this song is a great jewel of progressive rock and metal. Despite the fact that Enforcer is a nice NWOTHM band and "Undying Evil" a nice song, I always prefer prog. That's why I chose Dream Theater.

2) Accept with "Metal Heart". Very heavy and melodic song that represents the best of german metal of the 80's. Linkin Park is not my cup of tea.

3) Motörhead with "Ace Of Spades". That's a catchy, groovy and very speedy song like I love with Motörhead, which is one of my favorite bands ever. Even if "Hair Of The Dog" is a great track from Nazareth, one of my favorite bands too, I find that "Ace Of Spades" is the quintessence of speed metal and one of the elements that pushed Metallica to be created.

4) Accept, once again, with "Fast As A Shark". Rudra is certainly an interesting band, with all the Hindu aspects, it's ideal for full consciousness meditation. But, once again, not my cup of tea. In the other hand, "Fast As Shark" is considered as one of the greatest Accept songs. And it is absolutely. And this band is also amongst my favorite ones.

5) Fates Warning with "Guardian". Rammstein is once again in my top bands list. "Sonne" is also a killer track, but as I've written before, I'm an absolute prog metal fan. I like industrial metal from the Neue Deutsche Härte movement, especially Rammstein. But, "Guardian" is a diamond.

6) Angel Witch with "Angel Witch", simply because I don't like Extreme very much and because Angel Witch is an underrated band from the NWOHBM. The title track is a treasure of british heavy metal which helped this band to be cult.
 
“Undying Evil” vs. “A Change Of Seasons”: I like the Enforcer track a lot, but it’s up against peak Dream Theater and a legitimate contender for the overall crown here, so sorry @Perun, but I have to go with The Stissuduno5’s nominee here. Winner: Dream Theater - “A Change Of Seasons”

“Crawling” vs. “Metal Heart”: The Linkin Park track is very good, while the Accept track is really bad. I just don’t understand the appeal of Udo & Co. most of the time. Sorry, Kalano5ta, but the list nominee takes this one easily. Winner: Linkin Park - “Crawling”

“Hair Of The Dog” vs. “Ace Of Spades”: Both of these tracks are pretty good, but the Nazareth song has a little more character and a lot more cowbell! Sorry, @DJMayes, but I’m feeling the list nominee a little more here. Winner: Nazareth - “Hair Of The Dog”

“Avidya Nivrtti” vs. “Fast As A Shark”: Rudra’s Gollum vocals and potbanging vs. a nice chorus and solo but purebred mediocrity otherwise? Sorry, @Perun, but even I have to vote for Accept in this case. Winner: Accept - “Fast As A Shark”

“Sonne” vs. “Guardian”: The Rammstein track isn’t bad, while the Fates Warning track is extremely uneven, with some very high highs and some very low lows. Sorry, @The Dissident, but I think @Poto’s nominee is more consistent overall. Winner: Rammstein - “Sonne”

“Play With Me” vs. “Angel Witch”: Not a fan of either track here. The Extreme song sucks outside of the neoclassical parts. The Angel Witch song is merely OK, and I can’t tell if it’s going for parody or if it’s playing it straight and just missing the mark. Regardless, I’m going to have to say sorry @Stardust, but Posh’un’s nominee takes this one. Winner: Angel Witch - “Angel Witch”
 
1. LOL Dream Theater
2. Not Linkin Park, by default
3. Don’t like Motörhead but this is their best song
4. Don’t care, went with underdog
5. Fates duh (nothing against the Stein though)
6. Don’t care, went with underdog
 
There is something to be said about vocal dissonance and it's probably best said in the beginning, before people start skimming because tl;dr. Thing is, various styles and genres welcome various types of vocals. Since I'm currently searching and rummaging through old threads because of my Opeth project, I have come across ... many things, including pages and pages and pages for what seems like ages regarding extreme or harsh vocals and their condemnation or exaltation.

(in the end I summarised it thusly

So, tl;dr for the past thousand pages or so:

Jer and Cornfed: Growling bad, not singing, no melody, no art

Zare: Rapping bad, not singing, no melody, no art

Karljant & MrKnickerbocker: Growling good, yes singing, yes melody, yes art, ditto rapping

Judas: Growling possibly good, no singing, yes melody, possible art, lesser form, ditto rapping

Mosh & Karljant: You can't say anything objectively, it's all what you like in things

Judas: Fuck your postmodernism + random trolling

Diesel: 11/10!

Perun: Get off of my lawn.
)

But sometimes it was quite worth the read - There's this post by The Flash (whatever happened to the bloke, btw?):
Extreme vocals are not toneless but monotonous, so it's about the effects you put on that particular tone. I was talking more about the effect of distortion itself, not its combination with the guitar playing. Growls sound like they're coming from a large animal, a beast, which works well in the context of a style that aestheticizes violent aggression like death metal. There's a reason black metal deploys shrieks instead of growls, it sounds aggressive in a tortured, dark sense rather than an animalistic, violent sense. So it's really all about the effect in a particular context.

(I never thought about black this way, but it's absolutely correct, IMHO)


Yeah, that's why I kinda prefer Ozzy over Dio in Sabbath. Ozzy is the "doomy" bloke, Dio is the "power" bloke. Ozzy fits the horror aesthetics, the slower songs with complex riffs of OG-era Sabbath and being more... let's say vulnerable, he can deliver the personal lyrics Butler has been writing particularly on the 4th-6th album very well - Dio is technically a much better singer, no contest, I really like how he has not just that range and delivery, but also this kind of almost animalistic, brutal power (and it's not just the rasp), which allows him to "sell" even those nonsensical lyrics of his (there's probably no-one else who could yell "You got to bleed for the dansah!" and I would take the song seriousy, but he somehow manages to do it, through sheer conviction alone). But ... he helped turn Sabbath into Rainbath, don't mistake me, I love Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules, but some of that uniqueness is gone. Ozzy sells the weakness, the doubt, the despair, the "doom", so to speak.
In fact, there's a classic doom band called Trouble, which I should really love, because their music is quite good, but their singer used to be this typical heavy/power metal belter - and it's such a weird dissonance I just can't enjoy it properly.

I get similar dissonance with Mercyful Fate and King Diamond, needless to say. I still don't really know what possessed Diamond to try to sound like a Smurf, which is just inherently funny, whatever justification you might come up with. If you want eerie, well, see the above comment on black metal - that sounds ghost-like, that sounds like a banshee, not Mickey Mouse. It's really a pity, because other than that, Abigail is really a superb album (I was listening to that one recently)


Why I'm saying all of this - because there is an example of vocal dissonance here done right and that's in the very first match, in the Enforcer track. The almost thrashy instrumentation and yet the very clean and polished vocals (that almost sound like hair metal, especially with that sing-along chorus) make for a surprisingly well working combo.
I'm going to admit that I liked the Enforcer song quite a lot, I don't remember hearing it before and I didn't find me mentioning it via search, must have been in one of the few rounds I missed. Thank you Perun for bringing it to my attention, I'll give the band a try.
Unfortunately, it is against an absolute beast of a track - I still insist the structure of A Change of Seasons leaves something to be desired, the emotional catharsis comes way too soon and the second half feels way too overlong, but even if I was voting merely for the intro - the mysterious acoustic pattern giving way to the absolutely crushing descending riff is just awesome, it's one of the cool moments not just in DT's discography, but in metal in general.
Also, Sherinian is such an underrated keyboardist, I wish they kept him for more than just one proper album. But then again, we'd never get Scenes from a Memory without Rudess, so that really has no solution.
Sorry, I really wish I could have voted for Enforcer, hopefully next time around.


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The Crawling video/song and Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream have certain things in common; both are way too heavy-handed and so ridiculously over the top I can't help but kinda perceive both as somewhat comedic, in a very dark humour sort of way; both are catchy, but overrated (with Crawling it's primarily the song, not the video, but still); both really lose any residual charm they might have possessed once with repeated listens/viewings and ... [Woke Judas Incoming] I'm kinda pissed off both try to make a point ... and pick a conventionally hot bird to portray it, feeling more titillating and objectifying than anything (I'm 100% sure there must be at least a bloke or two in the world who watches the "ass to ass" scene as a fanservice) and almost fetishizing abuse. Which, like, okay, I'm not usually the most politically correct type of bloke and I'm not offended, but it feels like it goes against the message both so desperatly and almost tediously try to push. Dunno, is it just me?

Anyway, we were listening to Meteora the other day (which I liked much more, both back in the day and nowadays) and while I can somehow appreciate the melodies and sometimes even the general vibe, I still can't fight off the feeling that it's both way too simplistic (and LP always were this one trick pony... that unfortunately tried to learn other tricks as well) and that ... well, like I said in the best band thread years ago - I can't help but it sounds like acne.

Metal Heart has a silly chorus and everything, but what I said before still stands

Metal Heart is literally the first metal song I've ever heard. I must have been around 2 or 3 and my father had the album and I remember it as one of the earliest musical memories from my childhood. The entire album is really great, honestly - sometimes people complain how they got too poppy on this album and whatever, but I can't help it, it has been ingrained in me from the very beginning and I love pretty much every note, from the slick poppiness of Midnight Mover to the jazzy weirdness of Teach Us to Survive to the almost unbearable pathos of Bound to Fail (fun fact - here in Czechia it's been often played at sports matches to this very day).

As for the title track, I kinda wish they didn't quote Für Elise of all things (too plebeian :D), but I certainly appreciate the inclusion of Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March. The solo is great as well. The chorus is a bit too simplistic and isn't as catchy, but it's energetic and combined with the killer driving rhythm it just completely pulls me within. Also, I realise that Dirkschneider must be an acquired taste, but he was such a beast back in the day.

I have to go with nostalgia here

and my nostalgia ain't the Linkin nostalgia.


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Ace of Spades is cool and possibly the best Motorhead track, all things considered (despite me sounding like a n00b when I say that), or at least it encapsulates everything about the band, is extremely iconic and is still cool even after hundreds of listens, but despite Hair being overplayed and overrated, it's still Nazareth in their prime and that still trumps Motorhead for me any time. A vote for Dan McCafferty and Manny Charlton.

EDIT: Oh, also, this jumped at me just now

1725141720342.png

I don't know if the quote is authentic, I kinda hope not, but as for the "stuck-up musicianship" and "15 minute drum solos", I'd take Cream and Led Zeppelin over Motorhead any time of the day. Man, what a pleb.

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I feel really bad voting against two Per's songs in a row, but I'm not a fan of Rudra's sound - maybe I'm just biased, because I was listening to Moonsorrow's Verisäkeet today and that one's on a completely different level. And besides, the proto-thrash of Accept's Fast as a Shark is more iconic and enjoyable.

Heidi, heido, heida,
heidi, heido, heida, heidi, heido, heida, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH*


I think I already posted this here, but check out this live version, the intro


Dirkschneider was such a beast.


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I admit the official video to Sonne


is kinda hilarious. I'm not really sure how a song about former boxer (that's why there's the counting in the chorus and lines like "Lässt dich hart zu Boden geh'n // Und die Welt zählt laut bis zehn") and current politician and leader of La Résistance, Vitali Klitschko

Klitschko.jpg

ended up with a music video about BDSM Snow White, but there you have it.

I suppose I should go with the Arch-era Fates Warning song, but I suppose for the sheer fun and nostalgia I'm going with Sonne here. Probably because I'm a closeted sub or something.


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The last match was kinda tough, the Angel Witch song is really good (the entire album is! I checked it out because of this cup), but I've always been a fan of Extreme (though more of Pornograffitti than the debut) and I'm kinda inclined to vote for the underdog here, so to Nuno Bettencourt my vote goes.
 
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Dream Theater has changed seasons on Enforcer. It was a tough fight over the metal heart, but Accept is the one crawling away with the victory. Nazareth's only hope was a prayer to their best-known inhabitant, but he didn't intercede, so Motörhead crushes them. Fast as a shark, Accept runs away with this one. It's a tie between Rammstein and Fates Warning, wow. Angel Witch plays with Extreme, and wins.






Part II, Round 3, Matches 127-129; Round 4, Matches 1-3

Group Stage - Round 3
Match 127​
Thunderstick Division​
Mercyful Fate - A Dangerous Meeting
vs.
Black Sabbath - Paranoid​
Popoff 500
@srfc
Nominators
Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Radio EHS 100, Rate Your Music 100, VH1 40, Youtube 50, Best Music Art 100
@KiDDo
0-1-0, 0 pts, -5
Record
1-0-0, 2 pts, +10​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Group Stage - Round 3
Match 128​
Where the Wild Wind Blows Division​
Linkin Park - Papercut
vs.
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys​
Youtube 50
Nominators
Popoff 500, DigitalDreamDoor 100, Rate Your Music 100
@Black Bart
0-1-0, 0 pts, -7
Record
1-0-0, 2 pts, +20​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Group Stage - Round 3
Match 129​
More Tea Vicar Division​
Sabaton - Rise of Evil
vs.
Blood Ceremony - Daughter of the Sun​
@Wogmidget
Nominators
0-1-0, 0 pts, -1
Record
0-1-0, 0 pts, -5​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Group Stage - Round 4
Match 1​
The Number of the Beast Division​
Legend - The Wizard's Vengeance
vs.
In Flames - The Quiet Place​
@Mosh
Nominators
0-1-0, 0 pts, -14
Record
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Group Stage - Round 4
Match 2​
Blood Brothers Division​
Blind Guardian - Imaginations From the Other Side
vs.
Gamma Ray - Rebellion in Dreamland​
Popoff 500
Nominators
0-1-0, 0 pts, -6
Record
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Group Stage - Round 4
Match 3​
Isle of Avalon Division​
Queen - Stone Cold Crazy
vs.
Scorpions - Sails of Charon​
Popoff 500
Nominators
Popoff 500​
1-0-0, 2 pts, +5
Record
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links
 
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“Paranoid” will likely sweep it but “A Dangerous Meeting” really deserves a win. The guitars on that song are absolutely fire. Even King Diamond’s voice suitably wails like a conjured spirit.
 
wails like a conjured spirit.

"Tonight the spirit will glance
So as they're approaching ghostly hour
Seven people here are joining hands
They think they know the spirit to appear"


and what do you know, it's a spirit of an old miner who has discovered a very rare natural deposit of helium in a fissure after a cave in the Rockies in 1878 and died of asphyxiation following the inhalation of the unusually concentrated element... and it's an exceptionally angry spirit at that, because people don't take his haunting seriously and keep talking about this "Mikee" that he had never heard of. The angrier he gets, the more they laugh. Of course he always kills them, so it is their final laugh, but laugh it is anyway.
 
The last round winners were expected.

Black Sabbath's Paranoid is more effective for me. Great guitar work on KD's song.
Keeper Of The Seven Keys, no contest. Papercut is solid.
The music of Sabaton's Rise Of Evil is enough to be a winner for me. Marching riff.
Imaginations From The Other Side is effective, but Rebellion In Dreamland is one of the best songs written by Gamma Ray. And I like the vocals much more.
The Sails Of Charon is one of my favorite 70's Scorpions songs.
 
So, like I said just in the last round

I get similar dissonance with Mercyful Fate and King Diamond, needless to say. I still don't really know what possessed Diamond to try to sound like a Smurf, which is just inherently funny, whatever justification you might come up with. If you want eerie, well, see the above comment on black metal - that sounds ghost-like, that sounds like a banshee, not Mickey Mouse. It's really a pity, because other than that, Abigail is really a superb album (I was listening to that one recently)

I can withstand and appreciate extreme vocals, because they are intentionally abrasive and primarily percussive and whatever - it is an intentional injection of "ugliness" that can have its place, especially in a genre that thematises the transgressive, that is enthralled by ugliness and distaste in a very Romantic kind of way. But Diamond's vocals are extreme in a completely different matter. Just like death metal vocals can encapsualte aggressiveness and primal agression (or decay) and black metal vocals can imitate the ear-piercing shriek of a banshee or an actual ghastly wail in a haunted castle, these helium-induced buzzings are pure - and - simply - inhenrently - silly. And I just can't stand that, or at least not the discrepancy with the very serious and well-wrought instrumental part of the things that actually attempts to sound ominous and cool and dark and whatever ... and what is undermined at every opportunity by this bizarre parody of ... something.

(BTW, @Magnus - this is also my actual problem with Attila Csihár, memes and silly talk aside - I can appreciate the type of sound Mayhem are attempting on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and sometimes they would even succeed - although I'm quite disinclined to heap much praise on a band with Euronymous and Vikernes, but I digress - but then Attila comes in and sounds either like Dave Mustaine with throat cancer or like Homer Simpson trying to pass an unwieldy stool and it just completely gets me out of it. And I don't even think it's about his capabilities, I'd imagine he might be quite versatile as a vocalist (especially for an extreme one), it's what he decides to do with it. I am not against harsh vocals in general and I realise the importance of experimentation, but not all things are of the same merit and some ideas are just ... bad. Counterproductive.)

I really like A Dangerous Meeting as a song, its guitarwork thrills me, it's quite melodic in an 80s sorta way, but doesn't really feel trivial. On its own it would be possibly one of my favourites to win the entire cup.
Whereas Paranoid is probably among the most overrated songs on the definitely most overrated album by my favourite band. It has a good drive and the melody, limited as it is, is strangely catchy, but nothing special, really.

And still, I'm voting for Paranoid. Diamond's bizarre vocal choice/preference is intentional, it's just stupid in both the conception and the execution. To borrow a simile from Todd in the Shadows, it's like the snare sound on St. Anger or Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace - a terrible idea that you can actually see is terrible and it's always there. Always when you try to concentrate on the actual good stuff, the Duel of the Fates starts playing and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon face off with Darth Maul in the most glorious lightsaber combat ever, you get a sudden switch to Jar Jar accidentally wiping out the entire army with his shenanigans or something.

I don't even know if Diamond could have been able to not be aware how terrible it is and that no-one told him, in an "emperor's clothes" kind of situation, or if he was more then well aware and it's merely a not-so-thinly-veiled "fuck you" to the listener.

But here's my fuck you right back. Not voting for Mercyful Fate, not because of third-grade-level contrarian Stanism, but because you literally decided to drown all your talent in a stupid gimmick. And "meesa angry at yousa for that".


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Aaaand what I wrote in the previous post again

Anyway, we were listening to Meteora the other day (which I liked much more, both back in the day and nowadays) and while I can somehow appreciate the melodies and sometimes even the general vibe, I still can't fight off the feeling that it's both way too simplistic (and LP always were this one trick pony... that unfortunately tried to learn other tricks as well) and that ... well, like I said in the best band thread years ago - I can't help but it sounds like acne.

Papercut is even worse than Crawling and Keeper is a power metal classic that I actually thought about nominating myself (on wifey's insistance I went with Halloween). What a glorious song.


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I don't hate Sabaton, even nowadays, but I'm not too crazy about them either. The gimmick wears off soon, Brodéns vocals are ... idiosyncratic to say the least (being able to hit less notes than Lemmy and yet being able to succeed as a singer somehow is definitely a feat, I guess) and to say the band is a one trick pony is an insult to ponies, unless we consider the three-beat gait of a basic canter a "trick", but I admit that early in their career, they had a lot of fun, unassuming, catchy songs and if you were willing to get in the vibe, they managed to be quite immersive.

And Rise of Evil is definitely their best song and to this day the only song of theirs that remained in my rotation, despite it being quite deliberately... eh, assuming. A sombre, plodding epic (yeah, it's simplistic in structure, but feels epic anyway) and despite the lyrics being, well, Sabaton (so once again below even Lemmy) and suffering from many a history-influnced metal song lyrical diseases (just name-drop the most clichéd terms and then it's going to be, like, wow, deep - 'Arry, much as I love him dearly, has the same problem), it's delivered with such conviction and in such a context I just can't help but not only accept it, but to also be kinda moved by it, each time. They took the dark subject and gave it an appropriately dignified treatment.

I mean it - I would vote for this quite great track in most other rounds, but Daughter of the Sun is FUCKING BRILLIANT and Blood Ceremony are among my most pleasant surprises and discoveries of this entire cup. Yeah, you could say it's "retro", but that's pretty much the only bad thing you could say about this thrilling, magnificent piece of work. And in that case, grow up, you effin' zoomer. Where has this band been the entire time? I just finished a re-listen right now and I literally want it to win this entire cup. It is absofuckingcuntingflabbergastingly delectable and I sincerely thank @Wogmidget for nominating it.

But it's being stomped to death by Sabaton. So I'm also kinda hating Woggy for nominating that one as well, I guess.


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With Legend, I'm still not sure if the band's supposed to be serious or not, but what I wrote what seems like ages ago probably still stands

On the other hand, Legend's Wizard Vengeance has the wonderful, idealistic, garage cheese I so appreciate in the power metal bands, the bass guitarist knows what he's doing (see the instrumental section for some cool bubbly shenanigans) and despite the terrible production, it all sounds extremely catchy.
Well, except for the vocals. These are absolutely horrendous when on their own and even worse when they're harmonising. Really, combined with the somewhat inane vocal melody, you kinda have trouble taking it seriously. But... it still results in a lively, memorable track. Especially since the whole approach seems more high-brow than its competition.
Honestly, I don't know. If I wanted to be edgy and pseudo-profound, I'd say that Legend fail to be as good as they'd like to be and Saxon fail to be as bad as they'd want to be.
That said, I still value the concept and overall attitude more, so Legend it is.

and what I wrote about In Flames definitely still stands

However, it is pitted against In Flames The Quiet Place. You know, I heard the whole Soundtrack album probably once at most... and I'm not even sure if I've ever finished it. I gave it a fair listen, for Kid's sake - we very often agree on stuff we like - but I'm not up to this, sorry. This is precisely the type of '03 music I've been trying to run away from ever since. I'm not even sure if the song is bad per se, it's just that it mostly sounds like Linkin Park with growls and I don't need that. Like, ever. I've hard enough time trying to convince myself to listen to Sepultura's nu-metal output and Deftones' momentary lapses of taste, this is just emo-bro to the extreme. Sorry, really sorry, you know I love you, mate, but this really doesn't do it for me, although I gave it two listens just to be certain.

so Legend it is.


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I could never shake off the feeling Gamma Ray are kinda discount Helloween - with all the passion, but none of the musical ideas/memorability - though I'd still prefer them over many a non-power metal band. Rebellion is certainly one of their best efforts, even I'm not going to deny that, but the multi-part, multi-faceted experience of Blind Guardian on what seems to be their best album by popular vote, with the duumvirate of Olbrich and Hansi beating the single, lone mast of Kai Hansen in the band charisma contest even by sheer numbers makes me go with Imaginations. And band bias aside - I have always felt the opening and closing track of that album are a bit underwhelming, boring, that they are too mid-tempo and certainly not thrilling enough, but last year (I actually know the exact moment/day, but whatever) it somehow clicked and I had that particular song on rotation for quite some time.


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My relationship with Queen is a tempestuous one - I first hated them for the stuff I heard on the radio (We Are the Champions, We Will Rock You, Heaven For Everyone, *shudders* You Fool No One), then I started listening to their discography and fell in love with I, II, Opera, Races and Jazz, then I kinda learnt how to appreciate most of the rest of their career, then suddenly it unclicked and I just couldn't stand the band for the longest time and nowadays I'm slowly returning to appreciating them to some degree at least. I'd say there are several reasons for that, some of which are ... well, if not ineffable, then at least somewhat nontransferable and would require me to make this post even longer than it already is, but one of the reasons - and you may call it a "hot take" as the youngsters on the internets seem to do so today - is that the band is almost ridiculously ... "nerdy"?. I mean, their talents and strengths are undeniable, but all are merely on this artificial, plastic side. Everything by them feels like a construct. There's nothing natural to them, they feel really stilted and when they try to "rock out", they sound like the whitest band in existence, it just feels incredibly cringy, as if a moshpit of middle-aged accountants. Like seeing my father drunk dancing. They have no bottom, they have no swing, they have no soul. Yes, Mercury is quite rightly praised for bringing some of the music hall vibe and influence to the band, but with these "heavier" songs it just shows that that's what they are - an act. This is what people say about Dream Theater and I can see where that might come from, but DT always had not just the Trucci riffs, but the rhythm section (with Portnoy especially bringing his natural aggression and feel in the mix) and by choosing to play outright metal, you always maintain some kind of edge - Queen have mostly just the riffs, if anything (Dead on Time has an awesome riff by May, btw).
Stone Cold Crazy isn't such an abomination like Sweet Lady is, in fact it's the closest to it all actually working, at least instrumentally, but the vocal dissonance strikes again - because Mercury goes all in with the flamboyance (and no, despite his popular image, that isn't his only modus operandi - see White Man, for example, which has other problems, true, but not this one, or A Prophet's Song) and the harmonies and it completely subverts the mood of the track. Once again it sounds like an "experiment", an artificial construct and my general feeling from the track is quite horrendous. Always has been. Sorry.

Whereas in the other corner we have classic Scorpions with a really nice Uli workout, one of the highlights of their best (or possibly at least most consistent) albums. I've already sang praises of this particular era here, so let's just say I'm going with Charon.
 
I don't even know if Diamond could have been able to not be aware how terrible it is and that no-one told him, in an "emperor's clothes" kind of situation, or if he was more then well aware and it's merely a not-so-thinly-veiled "fuck you" to the listener.
IIRC he was just a guitarist who joined a band pretending to know how to sing and was lucky enough to immediately need to hit Ian Gillan’s notes during a Deep Purple song in his audition. The band liked his falsetto and so he made that his trademark. It’s just cheesy and the man writes spooky cheesy ghost stories, and that’s fine with me. If Elmo wants to play metal, then I say let him so long as St Elmo brings the Fire.
 
In the end of the day those guys have balls, we should learn from them in life. Dob Dylan, Ozzy Osbourne, King Diamond, Dave Mustaine… Terrible voices and they never gave a fuck and made it anyway.
 
IIRC he was just a guitarist who joined a band pretending to know how to sing and was lucky enough to immediately need to hit Ian Gillan’s notes during a Deep Purple song in his audition. The band liked his falsetto and so he made that his trademark. It’s just cheesy and the man writes spooky cheesy ghost stories, and that’s fine with me. If Elmo wants to play metal, then I say let him so long as St Elmo brings the Fire.

That's ... actually cool as a backstory, really. And I admit that his control of voice (and of the falsetto in particular) is in general quite good and I can stomach a lot of different types of voice, really, it's just that it's so extravagant and so inherently... specific it just really works against the music (which I'd genuinely love) and also so relentless (he uses it too much and it gets monotonous as a result) it makes the songs quite tedious. Abigail is possibly the only album I know where the different singers gimmick from rock operas would be a drastic improvement - leave Diamond there, sure, but only as one of the roles, only sometimes - and it gets much better.

That said, while I stand behind what I wrote - that for this type of music this approach is just a spectacularly bad idea - I have much more respect towards Diamond than towards Forge, who feels like a watered down Diamond for the general public. He has the soft, wimpy weakness of the airy Kim Bendix, but none of the abrasiveness, none of the uniqueness, nothing interesting, nothing. Just... weak. So with that context and that comparison, I must say that I kind of appreciate and respect Diamond after all.
 
“A Dangerous Meeting” vs. “Paranoid”: The Mercyful Fate track is pretty great, while the Sabbath track is merely quite good. Sorry, @KiDDo, but I’ve got to go with @srfc’s choice here. Winner: Mercyful Fate - “A Dangerous Meeting”

“Papercut” vs. “Keeper Of The Seven Keys”: The Linkin Park track does what it does with gusto, and the eventual merging of the verse with the second chorus is pretty cool. The Helloween track is mostly a train wreck for its first half, and is a wildly overrated song in general, though the second half almost redeems it. Sorry, @Black Bart, but I prefer the list nominee here. Winner: Linkin Park - “Papercut”

“Rise Of Evil” vs. “Daughter Of The Sun”: The Sabaton track is mediocre and kind of odd in general, while the Blood Ceremony track is actually really good. Congratusorrylations @Wogmidget, I prefer your second nominee here. Winner: Blood Ceremony - “Daughter Of The Sun”

“The Wizard’s Vengeance” vs. “The Quiet Place”: Not a fan of either track here. The Legend track is riffier, but the vocals are frankly embarrassing to listen to, while the In Flames track is a bit more generic, but dips into extreme vocals here and there. I could flip a coin, but sorry @Mosh, I think @KidInTheDark666’s nominee was slightly less annoying to me in the moment. Winner: In Flames - “The Quiet Place”

“Imaginations From The Other Side” vs. “Rebellion In Dreamland”: On the surface this one might seem difficult, but in the end, not really. The Blind Guardian track is a collection of great musical parts with a great chorus, but the Gamma Ray track is a great cohesive song throughout. Up against a patchwork quilt of a song, this is really no contest. Congratulations @Confeos. Winner: Gamma Ray - “Rebellion In Dreamland”

“Stone Cold Crazy” vs. “Sails Of Charon”: Both of these tracks are pretty great with a few blemishes. The Queen song has great riffs and energy, but the vocal harmonies aren’t my cup of tea. The Scorpions song has great flow and solos for the most part, though it does seem to tread water for a while there in the middle. I could probably go either way here, but in the moment I’m feeling the Queen track more. Winner: Queen - “Stone Cold Crazy”
 
The choices in the last two matches are excruciating. :( Each song would have won against any other song in this round (except possibly "Keepers").
 
Any song from Paranoid could win the entire game and I would have no complaints. The same cannot be said for any song that features King Diamond. Black Sabbath.

"Papercut" isn't top-tier Linkin Park in my book, but it's still an expertly crafted song. As for "Keeper", I've always considered it the lesser of the two Keepers epics ("Halloween" is definitely better), but after its somewhat slow start it's still a decent tune. It's actually fairly close, but Helloween.

Every time I listen to "Rise of Evil" I'm really just thinking about how Sabaton used the exact same formula a few albums later for "The Carolean's Prayer", and made a much better song. "Daughter of the Sun" is awesome from start to finish, so an easy vote for Blood Ceremony.

I'm still not sold on "The Wizard's Vengeance"; something about the monotonous riffing and strange vocals continues to rub me the wrong way. I have an easier time getting into "A Quiet Place", even if it's not exactly In Flames at their most impressive, but they manage to take the vote here.

"Imaginations from the Other Side" is really great, but it's no "Rebellion in Dreamland" - possibly my pick for the best power metal tune ever. Also, Gamma Ray > Helloween. Voting for the Rays.

While "Stone Cold Crazy" is arguably Queen at their heaviest, I just don't find it that good of a song. "The Sails of Charon" is much more up my alley and a great pick from the Roth-era. Scorpions, please.
 
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