The Greatest Metal Song Cup - Part II, Round 4, Matches 88-93

[srfc]

King Diamond - Abigail vs. Sentenced - Fields of Blood, Harvester of Hate
Sentenced was not what I expected when I seen @Magnus posted it, the production was pretty good, with it reminding me a bit of Pantera! in the riffs with some Slayer style modulation and Kreator vocals, not bad, but not what I'm looking for, the arrangement in particular was a bit out there for me. Abigail is great. Abigail

Tool - Lateralus vs. Motörhead - Killed by Death
Lateralus had good tones but otherwise is not to my liking, Killed by Death is one of my favourite Motörhead tracks. Killed by Death

Mötley Crüe - Shout at the Devil vs. Nightwish - The Siren
Shout at the Devil is good fun. The Nightwish track was pretty good too. Shout at the Devil

Queensrÿche - I Don't Believe in Love vs. Hell - Blasphemy and the Master
Obviously I like both of these, but I didn't even have to think twice about which one I was voting for when I seen the match up. I could have gone with any one of the last 3 main songs on Mindcrime as the nomination, all brilliant, but rhyming raison d'etre with forget comes down on just about the right side of pretentious. I Don't Believe in Love

Celtic Frost - Dethroned Emperor vs. Megadeth - Into the Lungs of Hell (original version)
Celtic Frost was performed and produced a bit better than some of their other tracks that have been in the game, but I don't think it was as good as some of them. Into the Lungs of Hell (original version)

AC/DC - TNT vs. Rhapsody of Fire - Knightrider of Doom (Power of the Dragonflame version)
TNT is good fun but it wouldn't be anywhere near my top 20 or probably even top 50 AC/DC potential nominations. Rhapsody of Fire was standard power metal with a sort of Manowar tone off the bass. TNT

 

[srfc]

Hell's tune almost comes off as more of a Shakespearean performance than an actual song.

I don't know if you're aware but they actually have a song called Macbeth on that album.

The singer was actually a TV actor too, hence the hammy theatrical aspect to it. The original singer/guitarist/main songwriter had commit suicide, so when they eventually recorded this album Martin Walkyier was supposed to sing on it, but it fell through because he sounded too much like Martin Walkyier that it was distracting. This guy was the other guitarists brother and had originally only been meant to record voice over parts, but ended up being the singer instead.

 

[Diesel 11]

One of the definitive metal songs of the 21st century losing to a Motörhead song that isn’t “Ace of Spades”… damn.

 

[Mosh]

I think Killed By Death is widely considered Motorhead's greatest work, or at least close to it.

 

[Diesel 11]

I think Killed By Death is widely considered Motorhead's greatest work

“Ace of Spades”.

 

[Mosh]

“Ace of Spades”.

Number of the Beast
Pull Me Under
You've Got Another Thing Coming
Nothing Else Matters
Iron Man
Crazy Train

I'm not seeing your point here.

 

[LooseCannon]

King Diamond has sentenced Abigail to...victory, it seems. Motörhead has killed Tool...by death. A siren can drown out a shout anytime, as Nightwish has shown us. Things Queensrÿche doesn't believe in - hell, masters, love, blasphemy. Doesn't sound like a fun time to me at all. The emperor has been dethroned by Megadeth. And finally, Rhapsody of Fire's knightrider of doom can't be stopped, even by high explosives.

---

Part II, Round 2, Matches 76-81​

Group Stage - Round 2	Match 76​	Ghost of the Navigator Division​
Anthrax - Madhouse	vs.​	Angra - Carry On​
Popoff 500, Best Music Art 100	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 77​	Hallowed Be Thy Name Division​
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven	vs.​	Dio - Stand Up and Shout​
Popoff 500, Radio EHS 100	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 2	Match 78​	Wasted Years Division​
Metallica - Sad But True	vs.​	Anthrax - Medusa​
Popoff 500 @The Sentient	Nominators​	@The Dissident​
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 79​	Revelations Division​
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters	vs.​	Candlemass - The Well of Souls​
Popoff 500, Radio EHS 100	Nominators​	@Confeos​
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 80​	Speed of Light Division​
Rainbow - A Light in the Black	vs.​	Rainbow - Spotlight Kid​
@Kalata, @Stardust	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 81​	Moonchild Division​
AC/DC - Thunderstruck	vs.​	Public Enemy feat. Anthrax - Bring the Noise​
Popoff 500, Radio EHS 100	Nominators​	Popoff 500, Rolling Stone 100, VH1 40​
0-0-0, 0 pts, +0	Record​	0-0-0, 0 pts, +0​
Youtube | Spotify | Amazon	Links​	Youtube | Spotify | Amazon​

 

[Mosh]

Really enjoyed the opportunity to vote against not just one but two Black Album songs.

 

[DJ James]

One of the definitive metal songs of the 21st century losing to a Motörhead song that isn’t “Ace of Spades”… damn.

I’m simply one of a couple resident Motörhead fans, but there is a LOT to this band outside of that song. That album in particular is my favorite album of all time, but Killed By Death is simply fantastic. Great song composition, a little unorthodox for Motörhead, it’s the first song they recorded as a 4 piece and both Campbell and Würzel shine on it!

I’m not the biggest Tool guy ever, I saw them live a couple months ago and my opinion didn’t change much. I like them like I do a couple pop artists - their hits are pretty good, but I don’t ever want to sit there and stomach an entire album from them. Each instruments tone and the overall production and atmosphere of every Tool song I’ve heard is very, very good though.

Some people say about Motörhead: they’re the kind of music you can turn your brain off and have fun with - I disagree! My brain is firing on cylinders whenever I listen to a song like Killed By Death. Dirty, mean, boozy, sleazy and just fuckin’ awesome heavy metal rock and roll. It’s like every nerve is on edge and in my mind I’m speeding in the fastest car known to man. Difficult to explain - but I connect to Motörhead like a lot on here connect to Iron Maiden.

 

[Mosh]

It’s an interesting thing with Motorhead because Lemmy was pretty adverse to being described as Metal, but Motorhead is pretty important to Metal and should be a prominent part of a game like this especially on Maidenfans. In fact, Motörhead’s was one of the few bands with late stage output comparable in quality to Maiden. Consistent with a signature sound, but interesting enough to check out.

Certainly more important to the genre than Tool, who I feel are more metal adjacent (rather than directly metal) than Motorhead ever was.

 

[____no5]

It’s an interesting thing with Motorhead because Lemmy was pretty adverse to being described as Metal,

Lemmy described Motörhead as a Rock 'n' Roll band. Very accurately in my view.

 

[Siddharth]

Irrespective of what the musicians think about, their style of music does classify them into certain genres. Lemmy called Motorhead rock n' roll but they are surely Heavy metal (even called Speed metal at times). Back when they started out, Metallica called themselves "Power metal", a majority of Nu metal bands stay away to be included in the genre (KoRn once called themselves as a Funk band). Hell even Chuck Schuldiner only "thought" that Death is a Metal band.

 

[Mosh]

I generally think it’s up to audiences, not the artists, to classify their music.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

Well, I'm not sure if it was Gregg Allman or Dickey Betts who classified the Allmen as mainly "progressive rock from the South" and I can see that, really, but if I start naming them as one of my favourite prog bands, you're going to think I'm trolling, and I would be, even if there was a grain of truth to it.

Metallica called themselves "Power metal"

Back before certain terms become codified, people use various terms for various things; also, genre and sub-genre classification is a part of analysis, which is not what you primarily want from the artists.
I realise that the work of the artist can convey some emotions and ideas in the artist's head, that the artist might have a certain vision or idea, but, you know, "facts don't care about your feelings" or something.

I know this is complicated by certain artists who know what they're doing and toy with the genre, embrace it, create intentional pastiches... or for example visual arts, where painters usually used to know the history of the art and loads of theory and intentionally built the pedigree of their work, but you know what I mean.

(that said, the extrinsic analysis can be flawed too, see Metal Archives and their bizarre criteria of excluding Medieval metal bands or even Rammstein and including Purple, Rush or even stuff like Botanist)


Tl;dr, I couldn't care less about what genre Lars Ulrich thinks they identify as.

 

[____no5]

Irrespective of what the musicians think about, their style of music does classify them into certain genres. Lemmy called Motorhead rock n' roll but they are surely Heavy metal (even called Speed metal at times). Back when they started out, Metallica called themselves "Power metal", a majority of Nu metal bands stay away to be included in the genre (KoRn once called themselves as a Funk band). Hell even Chuck Schuldiner only "thought" that Death is a Metal band.

I agree, that it’s not up to the artists entirely and some avoid certain labels to gain audiences, but regarding Motörhead the structure of their songs is essentially R’n’R structure, just with heavy sound and ultra loud. Most of the lyrics are also more close to R’n’R than to what we have associated with Classic Metal especially in late 70s early 80s.

You can R’n’R dance many of their songs, or re-imagine them in rockabilly or Little Richards singing them including the title song.

 

[Kalata]

Carry On is a classic power metal song, so it easily gets my vote.
I prefer Stand Up And Shout much more - and it's a perfect metal album opener.
For me, Sad But True has one of Metallica's best riffs, verses and effective choruses, so.
Nothing Else Matters, easy. One of the best ballads in metal without a doubt.
Spotlight Kid is a classic 80's rocker with its riff, chorus and tempo, but A Light In The Black is just somethings else. That's why I nominated it. Golden riff, verses, chorus and instrumental section(!). I don't think there are many better album closers in metal. Timeless song!
Thunderstruck, easy. One of my favorite rock songs. That riff. Pure energy.

 

[Siddharth]

regarding Motörhead the structure of their songs is essentially R’n’R structure, just with heavy sound and ultra loud. Most of the lyrics are also more close to R’n’R than to what we have associated with Classic Metal especially in late 70s early 80s.

Their RnR roots and a sense of rockabily are definitely undeniable and yes, a lot of their lyrical themes come from it. I even get to hear a tinge of Punk rock in their sound. I just mean to say that they are yet heavy enough to be considered Metal.

 

[____no5]

I just mean to say that they are yet heavy enough to be considered Metal.

Absolutely. I wouldn’t think otherwise if I didn’t see Lemmy say that. At least not 10+ years ago.

EDIT: @Siddharth Not sure why your wow reaction, I meant that I wouldn’t have made the connection with RnR all by myself so easily.

 

[Siddharth]

EDIT: @Siddharth Not sure why your wow reaction, I meant that I wouldn’t have made the connection with RnR all by myself so easily.

Sorry Sir, I didn't understand.

Can't believe I gave thumbs down to Anthrax not once but twice! They are one of my favourites but Carry On is definitely a step ahead in composition in the first round. Medusa was close to it but Sad But True is just iconic.

 

[MindRuler]

Can't believe I gave thumbs down to Anthrax not once but twice!

Not once, not twice...but thrice! Scottie will never forgive you!