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 .
Testament gets a few votes, but they're unable to step up their voltage for a win over Metallica. I bet you thought I was going to make a Transformers joke there, but instead I made a transformer joke. Septicflesh's dark arts magic up a win over Bolt Thrower. Stratovarius will keep hunting high and low for a win as they get torn apart by Sonata Arctica. Carcass has no love lost for Sentenced as they harvest their fields of victory. Theatre of Tragedy makes sure that Paradise Lost's paradise remains lost. And oh my god, it's a sabotage as Beastie Boys triumph over Rage Against the Machine.




Part I, Round 35, Matches 205-210


Play In Round
Match 205
BBC Archives Division​
Tygers of Pan Tang - Gangland
vs.
Saxon - Denim and Leather​
Popoff 500
Nominators
Popoff 500​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Play In Round
Match 206
BBC Archives Division​
Nazgul - Elficidium
vs.
Immortal - At the Heart of Winter​
Best Music Art 100
Nominators
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Play In Round
Match 207
Hell on Earth Division​
Nightwish - The Siren
vs.
Nightwish - The Pharaoh Sails to Orion​
@Diesel 11
Nominators
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Play In Round
Match 208
Hell on Earth Division​
Def Leppard - Love Bites
vs.
Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine​
@DJMayes
Nominators
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Play In Round
Match 209
Hell on Earth Division​
Blind Guardian - Time Stands Still
vs.
Unleash the Archers - Apex​
@LooseCannon
Nominators
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links

Play In Round
Match 210
Dennis Stratton Division​
Saxon - The Eagle Has Landed
vs.
Hell - Blasphemy and the Master​
Popoff 500
Nominators
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon
Links
 
Tygers of Pan Tang - Gangland vs Saxon - Denim and Leather. One of the best album covers vs one of the most bad titles.
Nazgul - Elficidium vs Immortal - At the Heart of Winter. Great pair. Nazgul was better overall.
Nightwish - The Siren vs Nightwish - The Pharaoh Sails to Orion. Nightwish vs Nightwish =The pair from hell. Pharaoh was great as long as the main vocalist wasn't signing. Also better title and video.
Def Leppard - Love Bites vs Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine. Brave choice @DJMayes but this particular GnR song is very heavy to ignore.
Blind Guardian - Time Stands Still vs Unleash the Archers - Apex. Again not my cup of tea any of them but Unleash the Archers was miles better.
Saxon - The Eagle Has Landed vs Hell - Blasphemy and the Master. Huge pair for the end. Saxon's tune is a giant but I will vote sentimentally as I remember srfc introducing Hell to us in Now Playing.
 
Tygers Of Pan Tang's song is a nice NWOBHM piece (reminds me of Samson), but Denim And Leather is an anthemic song. One of Saxon's best riffs too.
I'm not a fan of the spoken parts in The Pharaoh Sails To Orion (and the song as a whole), while The Siren has those ''Ancient'' melodies that I always like. The intro melody is gold. Pure Nightwish.
Guns' song is solid, but the chorus of Def Leppard's Love Bites is just too good. One of their best ballads.
BG's Time Stands Still is interesting and has a great vibe in the chorus, but my vote is for Unleash The Archers' Apex because I like the Maiden-esque gallop & melodies and the chorus is really cool (modern vibe to it). The song also has better verses for me.
The Eagle Has Landed is not one of my favorite songs of Saxon, but I prefer their style and riffs.
 
I too have mostly held my peace on Nightwish, but every song from them that has appeared in this game has sucked. Do they ever get good? Has there just been a string of subpar Nightwish songs or is this truly all they have to offer? I’ve seen their name on here pretty consistently for the past 12 years but never checked them out.
 
"Gangland" was quite generic, but a decent song nonetheless. The highlight was the solo (John Sykes, I assume). Meanwhile, there are much better Saxon songs than "Denim and Leather". Voting for Tygers of Pan Tang.

The Nazgul song was surprisingly fun and entertaining, but also a bit of a mess. I liked the atmosphere and overall vibe of "At the Heart of Winter", and it's a much more coherent song as well, so going with Immortal here.

I usually rank "The Siren" somewhere in the middle of Once - it's a great tune, but not my favourite on the album. Tarja's performance is amazing, as usual, and those Middle Eastern melodies very enjoyable. However, it's up against possibly my favourite Nightwish song from their best album - "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion" is heavy, epic, chaotic and menacing all at the same time. You can almost hear how much fun they had making it as over-the-top as possible, and I'm completely sold. Tapio Wilska's devilish guest appearance is just icing on the cake. Yeah, The Pharaoh Sails to Orion is the clear winner in this match.

The last Def Leppard song in the cup was very good, this one... not really. Sweet, but not in a good way, and very poppy. I'm not a fan. No matter, it's up against a classic Guns N' Roses track in "You Could Be Mine" that I much prefer anyway (that chorus!), so this is an easy vote for G N' R.

"Time Stands Still" is classic Blind Guardian, though not one I would rank that high - not that it's a bad song at all, I just think they have better tunes. Unleash the Archers is a band that usually gets a ton of praise, but have yet to fully click with me. I can't deny that "Apex" is great, though - the chorus is powerful and the melodies absolutely killer. Well, I definitely prefer Blind Guardian as a band, but on the strength of these two songs, I'm going with Unleash the Archers here.

I'm not blown away by either song in the last match. I guess I'll repeat my own statement that Saxon has much better songs, while it's undeniable that Hell has some interesting stuff going on at times in "Blasphemy and the Master", even if it could use a bit of direction. I'm not a fan of the vocals, but I'm going with Hell.
 
"Gangland" has good energy and a solid main riff. I'm not thrilled with the singer, but he gets the job done. The vocal melodies are OK, but nothing particularly memorable. The solos are pretty sweet. A solidly good song, certainly better than the Maiden song of the same name. "Denim And Leather" is totally serviceable bluesy hard rock. The vocal melodies in the verse are good, but the chorus is kind of lame, and the song doesn't really have much energy in general. The lyrics are cheesy as hell, too. The solo's good, but not great. And yeah, the song runs on too long. OK, this is a pretty easy call. Winner: Tygers Of Pan Tang - "Gangland"

"Elficidium" certainly has some elfin flavor going on with its synth pan pipes and strings. Oof, those synth horns sound terrible, and then we get the full pot banging and Cookie Monster treatment. Half a bonus point for using pipe organs, though, and I appreciate the clean vocal respite, however brief it may be. "At The Heart Of Winter" has a classy clean intro, eventually working its way into some pretty good but overly distorted riffage, and then unfortunately Gollum comes out to play. The music here is all quite good, but the vocals are completely absurd. Still, the strength of the music is more than enough to make this a clear call for @Perun's nominee. Winner: Immortal - "At The Heart Of Winter"

"The Siren" has a cool opening lead, but the orchestration sounds silly. I like the middle eastern feel of the verse. The chorus with the male vocals is less effective, but OK. The interludes in the middle are very nice. This perhaps leans a bit too far in the direction of being a soundtrack rather than a song, but it's quite good for what it is. "The Pharaoh Sails To Orion" has an ominous start and soon gets into that great neoclassical piano lead. The occasional orchestra hits are real sour notes, and the male vocals are pretty bad. The call-and-response section with Tarja is interesting for its contrast, but the vocal melodies kind of fall apart there. The Tarja-only chorus works much better. The various solos are all good-to-great, especially the flute bit, and the heavier interlude that follows is great, especially once the backing vocals come in. Love the outro with all the neoclassical fills, too. Well, this one is closer than I expected, as "The Siren" is much more consistent in quality, and is certainly better than the first half of its competitor; but the second half of "The Pharaoh Sails To Orion" comes back so strongly that it really feels like it more than redeems the opening stretch. I would be fine with either track winning, but sorry @Diesel 11, I've got to go with the higher highs of @Wogmidget's nominee here. Winner: Nightwish - "The Pharaoh Sails To Orion"

"Love Bites" is an excellent power ballad with lots of atmosphere and great vocal melodies. Love all the color work on the guitar, too. It's very sweet, but I wouldn't call it saccharine myself. Not much to fault here, really. "You Could Be Mine" is one of the most overplayed and overrated songs of the early 1990s. I swear to god, this thing was playing every 15 minutes on MTV and the radio and it made me want to stick an icepick in my ears. I mean, it's OK and all -- the riffs and vocal lines are pretty solid, as is the solo, though the chorus is weak and whiny until the very end of the song, and the bridges are lame. The song is just undercooked and underpowered in general, and this horse was beaten to death, resurrected, and beaten to death again several times over. Sorry @The Sentient, but @DJMayes's nominee takes this one in a walk. Winner: Def Leppard - "Love Bites"

"Time Stands Still" is unfortunately not a cover of the similarly titled Rush song. Bad synth horns? Check. Video gamey guitar tone? Check. Overly shrill vocals? Check. Patchwork songwriting? Check. Yep, that sounds like Blind Guardian. Some of the parts are pretty strong, like the chorus and the interlude, while others just tread water or aren't very good. It's OK overall, I suppose. "Apex" is already sounding superior in its first few seconds. I like both the clean and distorted guitar work leading into and through the verse. The singer's really good, though her phrasing could be better in places. The Maidenesque interludes feel a little unnecessary and out of place, but the rest of this works well. The chorus is solid and the solos are very good. I like it. Congratusorrylations, @LooseCannon, but this is an easy call for your second pick. Winner: Unleash The Archers - "Apex"

"The Eagle Has Landed" has a pretty great extended atmospheric intro with nice fills, but then it settles into a plodding, merely OK groove. The more atmospheric verse is better, but the vocals don't really hold up there. Already checking the clock at the 4 minute mark. Yeah, this chorus kinda blows. Thank Christ for the double-time feel toward the end, as I was in danger of nodding off. Despite some nice parts that was pretty mediocre overall. "Blasphemy And The Master" has a suitably creepy atmospheric intro. Not really on board with the psychotic spoken word section, but the riffage that follows is pretty interesting. The singer is too over the top in general, but he sounds decent when he reins it in a bit. There are some good vocal melodies in there, but some don't land as well. I like the pipe organ and choral section. The deconstructed solo doesn't really work for me, but the real solo soon afterward is much better. Now I'm checking the clock at the 6 and a half minute mark. I don't know, this song's kind of a mess at times, and not all of it works, but at least it's rarely boring, and that's enough for @srfc's nominee to win this match. Winner: Hell - "Blasphemy And The Master"
 
Tygers Of Pan Tang - "Gangland" - A solidly good song, certainly better than the Maiden song of the same name.
The solos are really cool, but no way imo. Especially Maiden's song chorus is better.

I think overall it's an underrated song. I wish they had added (or we could hear it someday; wild solo for sure) Dave's solo.
 
A friend briefly introduced Tygers of Pan Tang to me. They are a really cool band based on the few songs that I've heard. Also bonus points for cute little tigers!
 
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