THE IRON MAIDEN COVERENDUM: Angel Stage (FINAL!)

Powerslave does lend itself more easily to black metal, especially the vocals, than a lot of Maiden songs, IMO. It loses some of the punch in the rhythm that the original has, but I'm liking the blackened pre-chorus in particular a lot. I'd have preferred something more withering and discordant for the instrumental, rather than the orchestral stuff. I'm still giving this to Ancient. Much as the guitar is pretty in Ryan Adams' cover, I just find the singing and overall effect quite twee. As acoustic covers go, Thomas Zwijsen's classical guitar version knocks spots off this. Is Thomas Zwijsen in this game at all @Diesel 11?

Iron Saviour manage to pull Running Free out of 70s-sounding mediocrity, which is to be applauded, decent cover. Arch Enemy's Aces High was much better than I expected, they remind me of Children of Bodom a bit here. Going for Arch Enemy. Less playful, less screechy, and more gritty than the original.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Eh, that Powerslave cover was terrible, sorry Magnus. You know I don't mind harsh vocals, but these in particular sound really amateurish (to my admittedly untrained ear) and don't fit the track at all.

Also, how do you fuck up the instrumental part of Powerslave? Why the frig would you cut the unison, which is the best part of the track, the album, the 80's Maiden stuff? Seriously, why? Why did they slow it down? (or did they? Am I going crazy?)
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I think they had two options here, speed it up, in which case it would all start sounding a bit Chipmunks, or drag it down in speed and doomy. I think they could have taken it whole lot slower and made it seriously maudlin, which might have worked better than this halfway house approach, which just comes across as lacking punch.
 
Iron Saviour in the second match cause I like the guitar gallops they added (and AE’s growling sounds lame on Aces)

I don’t think I’m going to find a cover in this game that I love more than Ryan Adams. He manages to boil the song down to bare bones and it still works, it works beautifully. It still has the recognizable guitar line, it retains the melody, and it speaks to the strength of Adrian’s songwriting that this tune can work so well this stripped down.
 
Ancient - Didn't care much for this one, when it comes to extreme metal covers of Powerslave, the one from Anaal Nathrakh is the one you want.

Ryan Adams - Elevator music covers are the worst.

Iron Savior's cover is cool and gets my vote since I can't stand Arch Enemy's male vocalist.
 
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Eliminated:
Ancient - Powerslave
Arch Enemy - Aces High

Promoted:
Ryan Adams - Wasted Years
Iron Savior - Running Free

Powerwolf - The Evil That Men Do
Nominated by @MrKnickerbocker and @Night Prowler .

--Vs.--

Wolf - Deja Vu
Nominated by @Night Prowler .

----------------------------​

Elvenking - No Prayer For The Dying
Nominated by @Kalata .

--Vs.--

Rhapsody Of Fire - Flash Of The Blade
Nominated by @Night Prowler .
 
This is it folks! These are the final two matchups in the Drifter Stage of the Iron Maiden Coverendum! Next the winners of this stage will have to duke it out amongst themselves to arrive to the next platform. It's gonna be lit! Thanks for participating! :)
 
The Powerwolf cover is a pretty straight version of the song. The guitars feel a little sterile, and the vocals are strong but not fully enthusiastic. I also would’ve liked more lower-register pipe organ here, but what are you gonna do. The Wolf cover is also a pretty straight version, but the singer is a bit yodely, the guitars either add some extra notes or overly emphasize minor ones that were already there, and it sounds like this was a vinyl rip from a turntable that wasn’t maintaining its speed properly or something. The speed variation isn’t huge, but it’s enough for me to notice, and it’s not great. But it’s still a pretty good cover overall. I could almost go either way here, but the Powerwolf cover has a bit more power than the Wolf cover. :ok: Congratusorrylations, @Night Prowler, I’m going with your Mr. Knickerprowler (or is it Mr. Nightknickers?) nomination here. Winner: Powerwolf

This Elvenking cover is also pretty straight, but with smoother synths and singing. The vocalist sounds like a cross between Bruce and Geddy Lee, which is a bit weird, but I can roll with it. Good stuff. On the other hand, Rhapsody power-metallizes “Flash Of The Blade”, which is a completely unnatural stylistic match except for the neoclassical sections, which of course fit Rhapsody’s pomp well and let Luca Turilli go silly on the soloing. But overall it’s a weird marriage that doesn’t work for me, and I fucking hate Fabio Lione’s voice with a passion. So, sorry @Night Prowler, but @Kalata ’s nominee is the superior one. Winner: Elvenking
 
I mean, Flash of the Blade is practically a power metal song anyway. Rhapsody just makes it sound even cheesier.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
I mean, Flash of the Blade is practically a power metal song anyway. Rhapsody just makes it sound even cheesier.
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Nah, most of the original song is pretty raw, straight metal. The neoclassical bits are a cool, unexpected stylistic switch in the original — not a blueprint for how someone else should cheesify the entire song.

BTW, do you think “Killing Floor” is basically a power metal song for the same reason...?
 
Maiden helped set the blueprint for power metal so I understand where Kid is coming from.
 
Quite fond of Powerwolf's The Evil... cover. It's got enough of Powerwolf (namely the vocals, and the albeit slightly feint keyboards) about it to be different to the original. The speed isn't ideal for Powerwolf, though, I'd like to hear them perform a Maiden cover they can make more of their own mark on. They're good at camping things up. Wolf's Deja Vu cover suffers dreadfully from thin and tinny production. It could be better with better production, but I still don't expect them to add anything to the original. It's one of those 'just another band that fancies playing Maiden' moments.

I've got to say that No Prayer... suits Elvenking very well. In fact, it sounds more up their street than Maiden's. Plus points for covering something that isn't from one of Maiden's most highly acclaimed periods. I also like what Rhapsody of Fire do with Flash of the Blade, which I've never considered a particularly inspired Maiden effort. Those keyboards change the feel of the song. This pair is a more difficult choice. Leaning slightly more to the side of Elvenking, although both covers were enjoyable.
 
Nah, it's not the same. I think FOTB's power metal feel comes mostly from its chorus, vocal delivery and lyrics.
 
Went with Powerwolf in the first pair because of better production although Wolf's cover is also pretty pretty good.

Elvenking's cover is fine instrumentally, but the vocals are shit. Rhapsody's cover slays. Might actually be my favorite cover of a Maiden song. They made it sound like their own song while still not changing too much. I especially like the added keyboards in the final chorus.
 
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