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
  • Poll closed .
Woah. Different nominator too. Are those guys big in the doom scene? I was actually going to listen to this song because it seems to be their most popular song and Destiny Falls to Ruin really left an impression on me.
I mostly know them because of the singer, Robert Lowe, who sang on three Candlemass albums as well. I love his voice, and I think "Scent of Death" is one of his finest moments.
They also did a cover of Hallowed, which is pretty good.
 
''Thor (The Powerhead)'' was my last nomination for the game. I think it best represents Manowar's early style (which was unique at the time).

Riot's song is nice.


Btw, ''Stormbringer'' is one of those Deep Purple songs that could have been a Rainbow song with Dio. Very good song.
 
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Yeah, listening to Stormbringer, you can hear a little bit of what will become Stargazer in there. Stargazer could win this whole thing. Stormbringer...probably won't.
 
''Thor (The Powerhead)'' was my last nomination for the game. I think it best represents Manowar's early style (which was unique at the time).

Nice one Kalata! I had totally forgoten that one. I nominated Achilles, but other awesome Manowar tunes would be Battle Hymn, Defender (single version), Bridge of Death, Heart of Steel.

@Confeos Nice to see some good ol' Candlemass man!

Last one Deep Purple vs Van Halen was tough, believe it or not, voted for Purple quite predictable and boring vote, but hey. All the rest were obvious and easy choices.
 
"Thor (The Powerhead)" has a pretty good opening riff. The production is terrible and the guitars are way too low in the mix. Some of the vocal melodies are pretty good, but other parts are poorly phrased and not memorable at all. Way too much repetition across the board, even extending to the solo. At least the singer is actually singing, rather than the half-sung approach he's taken on the other songs in the GMSC so far, and he sounds good. WTF is with that outro? There were a few bright spots here, but most of the song is a mess. "Outlaw" has a cool intro and some great flavor work behind the main riff. I like the energy here, and the singer's good. The vocal lines are pretty solid but not great. The chorus has a 70s feel that seems a little out of place. The harmonized guitar parts are nice, if a bit straightforward, and the solo is very good. Not sure how I feel about all the spoken word stuff near the end. A pretty good song overall, and sorry @Kalata, but that's more than enough to win this match. Winner: Riot - "Outlaw"

"Stricken" kicks off with a good nu-metal riff. The singer's a little more angsty than I'd care for, but he otherwise sounds good. I'm not sure the vocal melodies play well off the riffs here, but otherwise they're fine. Very strong solo. "Bodies" has an awesome main riff with the wah alternating in and out, and the clean callbacks following on. The verse and pre-chorus have great atmosphere and build-up, but the chorus is big and dumb. The bridge is OK. Both songs are pretty good but also mixed bags. The Drowning Pool song is a little more uneven, but it's got higher highs and sounds more unique, so I'm going to give it the nod here. Winner: Drowning Pool - "Bodies"

"Annihilation Of The Wicked" jumps into the annoying-ass drumming right out of the gate, but gives some nice sinister, melancholy guitar respite for a bit afterward. Jesus, here comes the mindless pot-banging and Cookie Monster shit again. Two and a half minutes into an eight and a half minute song and my ears are already bleeding. God, this is terrible. Stream of consciousness PCP-driven bullshit. Six and a half minutes now, just grit my teeth and bear it. Fuck, this is awful. Everything about this song completely blows except for a small handful of guitar leads. Wow. "Overactive Imagination" is too frenetic and rushed for its own good, but it has some cool riffs and great leads. And while the vocals predictably suck, they're nowhere near the pit of despair caused by Nile's vocals. Honestly, this competition was over within the first 10 seconds -- sorry, @Diesel 11, but @Shmoolikipod's nominee effortlessly threw yours in the wood chipper and just moved on with its day. Winner: Death - "Overactive Imagination"

"Demon's Gate" has some silly tone-shifted vocals in the intro, but builds nice atmosphere afterward. I'm not sure the wimpy bass sound is a good fit here, but the guitar tone is strong and the singer sounds pretty good. The vocal lines are pretty memorable, and the song generally changes things up right around the time the repetition is starting to get noticeably stale. The eastern interlude is pretty good and I like the solo. Starting to check the clock around the six and a half minute mark, though, because there aren't really enough musical ideas here to justify the run time. Not bad, but not great. "Scent Of Death" has a nice melancholy clean intro that flows well into a somewhat plodding main riff. The singer is pretty good, as are the vocal melodies. OK, this same groove is starting to wear out its welcome after three and a half minutes. I like the shift to double-time drumming around the four minute mark, and the eastern interlude is a welcome respite from the rut the song had gotten in. I like the long-held vocal note over the slow crunch, and the bridge that follows is pretty cool. I like all the eastern melodies in the vocals and the backing guitars here. The song could stand to lose 2-3 minutes of repetitious fat, but it's otherwise pretty good. Congratusorrylations, @Confeos, but one of your nominees was noticeably stronger than the other. Winner: Solitude Aeturnus - "Scent Of Death"

"At Dawn They Sleep" thinks it's being clever with the rhythmic play at the beginning, but it doesn't sound very good. The main riff works much better. The mostly non-melodic vocals also aren't good, but we've heard so much worse already that it feels disingenuous to complain about them. Oh hey, imagine that, shitty solos in a Slayer song -- color me surprised. Feels like this song has already run its course around the halfway mark, but it just keeps on going. The escalating tempo part is interesting, at least, and the bridge is pretty solid. Fuck, another shitty-ass solo. I really don't know why Slayer is held in such high regard among thrash fans -- they can write some good riffs, but that's about it. Oh wonderful, more Pantera. "5 Minutes Alone" has a serviceable nu-metal riff, I guess. Phil Asshole-bro sounds terrible as usual, like he's struggling to take a shit after his hourly steroid injection. Yeah, there's almost nothing to latch onto here that has any musical value, aside from a few disjointed bits of the riffs. The solo is completely directionless. The outro almost gets interesting rhythmically, but not quite. I wish I'd actually spent five minutes alone rather than six minutes listening to this tripe. Both songs are bad, but sadly this is an easy win for Slayer. Winner: Slayer - "At Dawn They Sleep"

"Stormbringer" has some pretty cringey synths in the intro, but it soon settles into a solid groove with a pretty good verse, though the pre-chorus and chorus kind of come apart at the seams. The first solo doesn't go much of anywhere, but the second solo is better. This song definitely needed more time in the oven, as what's here is OK at best. "Hot For Teacher" brings more fire in its first few seconds than the Deep Purple song did for its entire runtime. The pre-chorus and chorus are both great, and the verses and spoken word sections do their part for this admittedly juvenile "theater of the mind". The guitar work is all great, as expected. I'm sure this song will go down in flames because of all the irrational DLR hate around here, but there is absolutely no contest between these two songs -- the Van Halen track completely slays the Deep Purple one. Winner: Van Halen - "Hot For Teacher"
 
Nice one Kalata! I had totally forgoten that one. I nominated Achilles, but other awesome Manowar tunes would be Battle Hymn, Defender (single version), Bridge of Death, Heart of Steel.
Their 80's albums are interesting. After that, there are some strong songs in the next albums up to 2007 (around 17 songs from all for me).
 
Outlaw didn't wow me, but it for sure got me banging. That solo in the end is pretty sweet too. Thor's got its parts but does nothing for me.

Stricken is good if unimpressive. Bodies is actually memorable and has meme status - no competition.

I won't lie - Annihilation of the Wicked is brutal and has great everything. I can't recall anything in particular but that's just how it is with most death metal for me. Overactive Imagination is techy while being accessible with Chuck's signature riffing.

Both of these have great performances, but Demon's Gate lost me at times. Scent of Death felt more varied. Really liked the part that starts at around 6:00.

Damn, is this the same Slayer that wrote that turd from last round? Great riffs, great energy and creative. This is probably the best Slayer song I've heard other than Angel of Death and Raining Blood. 5 Minutes Alone is great if you can ignore how "bro" it is, but overstays its welcome by about 2 minutes.

Won't be mad if Stormbringer wins but Hot for Teacher is way too good.
 
Thor opens with an interesting, schizophrenic riff full of syncopated rhythm patterns. When the verse kicks in it makes literally no sense. Sounds like the lamest Judas Priest song I’ve ever heard. And yet, I’ll admit, this is probably the least cheesy Manowar song I’ve ever heard. And that’s saying something cause it’s cheesy as hell. The instrumental is solid, if wildly disconnected. By the look of things this song came from the last album before they fully Walken’d themselves. It’s fine. Outlaw is far more straightforward and hard rocking. A bit glammy. I prefer the vocals here, they’re a bit more 70s rock. The harmonized section is nice, but this song doesn’t really go anywhere. The talking section over the outro solo ruins everything. Shockingly, I’m going with Manowar’s cheese.

Stricken sounds exactly like every Disturbed song = basic ass groovy rhythm riff, rapid fire monotone shout vocals, melodic and chordal chorus, wah-ah-ah-ah section, one note breakdown, ooooooh wait a solo! That’s a surprise. Idk. It’s decent enough nu-metal. I’ve always found Disturbed to be one of the least offensive in the genre. Their singer can actually sing. They have melody. But every single song sounds exactly the same. I remember loving their first two albums when I was 14. I’m not 14 anymore. Bodies…look, the song sucks. But it’s iconic. It’s so stupid. The riffs are so basic. Every band in this era sounded exactly like this. But this song was such an exemplary distillation of idiocy that it became iconic. I hate Bodies. And also it deserves my vote. It’s undeniably the catchier song here.

Shout out to my mates in Psychostick for their memetastic version:

This Nile song really got me TRIGGERED. Get it? Anyway. It’s got a ton of impressive parts, but it would take 25 listens for me to actually process this track. And I don’t like the vocals or drums enough to listen even twice. That said, I guess I prefer the melodic shredding of Nile over the thrash/death of Death (despite some cool lead guitar and great bass work).

Candlemass fucking rule. They have always felt like they’re fulfilling the promise of Black Sabbath: dark and doomy metal that never needed to add weird hippy shit into the mix. This song is one of six perfectly spooky epics on the album that defines doom metal for me. They’ve had their ups and downs, especially with the revolving door of vocalists, but they always bring it and this song slays. Vocals are killer, riffs are killer and more varied than most doom, and the vibe is unmatched. Scent of Death is also a really cool tune and I’d probably vote for it were it up against a different band or song. The Middle Eastern melodic swaps towards the end are great. Vocals are incredibly powerful and varied throughout. It’s pretty interesting that Solitude Aeturnus was named partially after a Candlemass song and that Robert Lowe (the excellent vocalist here) also fronted Candlemass for years.

The main riff to this Slayer track sounds like the prototype for the far superior riff from Raining Blood. As usual - Slayers sounds like Slayer - only here they are more raw. This song isn’t bad (except the always terrible vocals). It’s a lot more mid tempo and enjoyable then most of their stuff. I don’t like it, but it’s tolerable. 5 Minutes Alone is so basic, but it is catchy in a very gym bro sort of way. I would argue that Slayer has the better music here, but Pantera has the better production and song.

Stormbringer has some wacky keyboard work, but is a super cool song. It’s very Rainbow. Classic Blackmore solo, cool riff, and an absolute beast of a DP member lineup. Coverdale sounds great. The funky stuff at the end is really neat. A super cool song though and through, and especially light years better than David Lee Roth’s garbage competitor that peaks during the drum intro.
 
Manowar was way too ploddy, Riot were fine. Kinda like off-brand Def Leppard.

Disturbed had a solid song, Drowning Pool are iconic for a reason. Let the bodies hit the.............FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR

Third matchup is hard as fuck. "Annihilation of the Wicked" isn't perfect but it's a great introduction to the Egyptian madness of Nile. But though I nominated it, Death's song is better. "Overactive Imagination" was always my favorite from Individual Thought Patterns, and I haven't listened to that album in a while but this song still fucking kicks ass. UGHHHHHH. Gonna support my own nominee, so Nile. Hope Death wins though. Sorta. Maybe.

Dude this Candlemass song fucking rules! LET'S GO! The deep spoken intro, the pick slide, the slow, doomy riff, the drumwork is incredible, the vocals are so powerful, where has this song been?? The only Candlemass song I've heard before has been their iconic "Solitude" from the same album, and it's solid but never blew me away. I need to go spin this whole record now. Solitude Aeternus got off to a slower start but by the end they really came back around. Nice Eastern melodies, loved the final held note. But not enough to beat the OG doomsters.

Slayer's song was fine. Pantera's song was fine. Slayer's had more to it. Pantera's started off better. Both lasted longer than necessary. Pantera's lyrics are questionable. I guess I'll go the originality route and go with Slayer, but both bands have better songs that could've been here instead.

Deep Purple versus your pervy Uncle Dave, my pervy Uncle Dave, everyone's pervy Uncle Dave, the kinda guy who reads articles about female teachers raping their students and going, "Where was that when I was in school???" Sleep Purple were fine, and yeah, there's a lot you can tell Blackmore retooled for "Stargazer", which is the better song. Van Halen do have way more energy though. But fuck David Lee Roth, he's really starting to get on my goddamn - OH MY GOOOODDDD - nerves. *guitar solo*
 
Maybe I’m not a true “doom” guy at heart but Demons Gate has always been my least favorite from Epicus, always found it a tad boring. Voting for Scent of Death in that matchup, awesome Solitude Aeturnus song and one of a handful I knew from them going into this game.

As for the other matchups:
Slayer
Riot
Disturbed (both these bands majorly suck)
Nile
Van Halen (that Deep Purple track ROCKED and was another reminder I need to listen to more Deep Purple)
 
Managed a quick listen and write-up while on the train.

Easy vote for one of the best songs on my favourite Manowar album. The Riot song was fine, but nothing more.

Neither song in the second match was impressive, but they each had some redeeming qualities at least. I liked the one from Disturbed a bit more.

Nile and Death are precisely the two bands that managed to get me into death metal, so needless to say I love them both. Tough choice, but I think Nile has the stronger tune here (and I know there'll be a couple of even better Death songs later on, I nominated some myself).

It's always tough to choose between two of my own nominees, as I obviously think both have exceptionally strong qualities that warrants a vote. But one of these bands features Leif Edling, one of my biggest musical heroes, who's, in my opinion, never put out a bad album, and who's up there with Tony Iommi himself when it comes to the sheer quality and creativity of his riffs. Because of that, I'm gonna vote for Candlemass - bad luck Solitude Aeturnus.

It's gonna take a lot for me to vote for anything with Phil "Annoying" Anselmo, but in this case the Slayer song is better anyway, so...

And finally, two great songs and two amazing guitarists. Ritche Blackmore might be my biggest influence outside of Maiden, and while "Hot for Teacher" is a cool song, "Stormbringer" is just better. Deep Purple.
 
This Candlemass song fucking rules! LET'S GO! The deep spoken intro, the pick slide, the slow, doomy riff, the drumwork is incredible, the vocals are so powerful, where has this song been?? The only Candlemass song I've heard before has been their iconic "Solitude" from the same album, and it's solid but never blew me away. I need to go spin this whole record now. Solitude Aeternus got off to a slower start but by the end they really came back around. Nice Eastern melodies, loved the final held note. But not enough to beat the OG doomsters.
Give their second album, Nightfall, a spin while you're at it - the replaced the original vocalist with Messiah Marcolin for this one, who many regard as the "ultimate" Candlemass singer. Musically, I think the album is just as strong as their debut.
And if you want to check out what they sounded like when fronted by Robert Lowe, the singer from Solitude Aeturnus, I'll recommend King of the Grey Islands.
 
Give their second album, Nightfall, a spin while you're at it - the replaced the original vocalist with Messiah Marcolin for this one, who many regard as the "ultimate" Candlemass singer. Musically, I think the album is just as strong as their debut.
And if you want to check out what they sounded like when fronted by Robert Lowe, the singer from Solitude Aeturnus, I'll recommend King of the Grey Islands.
Other than the debut, I’d agree the Messiah albums (including the reunion) are their best. The Lowe albums are definitely the next best in terms of consistency.
 
Manowar - Thor (The Powerhead) vs. Riot - Outlaw
I have this Manowar album, it's not great, and for a start the cover looks a bit 3rd Reich, if you're going to mess around with norse imagery don't use a red, white and black colour scheme. The groove is a bit all over the place too, but the chorus being a melodic breakdown is quite good. The Riot song was great, wasn't expecting the quality of the production, sounds like something from Lizzy's Black Rose album, will check out more. And the cover of this one is one of the best, if not THE best album cover of all time. Outlaw

Disturbed - Stricken vs. Drowning Pool - Bodies

Disturbed was a solid enough effort but totally generic. I know Bodies is a well known hit, but it's pretty shit. I don't like the main hook, but it clearly does it's job as the track is still recognisable to most people 20 years later. If you played that middle 8 for me yesterday and asked me what song it was from, I wouldn't have had a clue. Stricken

Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked vs. Death - Overactive Imagination

Nile, ok the drummer can hit the bass drum a lot of times in succession. Death has a bit of this at the start too but it kicks into a groove fairly early on and is pretty good from then onwards. Overactive Imagination

Candlemass - Demon's Gate vs. Solitude Aeturnus - Scent of Death

Both of these tracks are pretty good, not sure if I could take a whole album of that dynamic, i.e. slow and long, but as once offs they're pretty enjoyable from both bands. I'm torn on picking a winner, but I think the drumming on Candlemass shades it. Demon's Gate

Slayer - At Dawn They Sleep vs. Pantera - 5 Minutes Alone

At Dawn They Sleep is a classic, featuring maybe the first example of a great Slayer trope, the half time drum beat that kicks into full pace. The build up section (kill, kill), brilliant. I thought Far Beyond Driven was disappointing when it was released, and I stopped paying attention to them after that, and time has not been kind to it. At Dawn They Sleep

Deep Purple - Stormbringer vs. Van Halen - Hot for Teacher

I don't have a lot of Purple studio stuff, including this album, but the song itself is obviously well known and I'm familiar with it. It's a good track, but Hot for Teacher is a better one, even if the words are quite bad. Hot for Teacher
 
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