THE IRON MAIDEN COVERENDUM: Angel Stage (FINAL!)

Yes, voting day today! :)

Lemmy really invented his own vocal melody here, and like Jer says, the guitar wasn't quite exact either. Lemmy was such a cool guy, but I have to say I'm not sure his performance gives any added value to this song.
Machine Head sounded quite similar to Maiden at the beginning, but got more heavy as the song progressed. This one was very well sung and played. Not sure if this type of style gives anything extra to the song either, though. A bonus here was the good-looking singer.

The Quill started strong, this time the style fit the song, I think. Sung OK, rolled along nicely. Felt a bit long though, longer than the Maiden version (wasn't really).
Bornholm: I'm not sure this brought anything new to the original. Maybe even took something away.
 
It's going to be hard to pick which covers I like because I like the core song better or because of the performance. In this case, I think Lemmy did a serviceable cover of The Trooper but Machine Head did a better job with Hallowed.

Was wondering if The Quill were gonna do anything unique, but they added a bluesy interpretation of the riff in the instrumental, and that's pretty good. Meanwhile Bornholm's cover sounds exactly what this would sound like reinvented in some garage in Norway somewhere (or, indeed, on the isle of Bornholm) during the black metal movement. It's pretty fucking good. Is the quintuple bass ridiculous? Yes.
 
Machine Head have a really nice cover here. Very faithful, but still they make it their own with some heavier vocals and double bass kicks. Lemmy’s cover is dogshit. Vocals are off-time, music is poorly performed and produced.

The Quill sound a little sluggish and change up some riffs, but have a good vocal performance. I don’t love it, but the other option was recorded inside of a potato, so it can fuck off.
 
I love hearing Lemmy's take on Metal songs. It's always interesting because, considering Lemmy has always somewhat distanced himself from Metal, he tends to approach it differently. The bass and drums have a bit more of a swing to them and, of course, Lemmy sings like Lemmy. I thought his voice lent itself decently well to the song, which isn't the most melodic vocal line anyway. Using gang vocals for the chorus was a good touch.

Machine head is competent but they also managed to squish all the life out of the song. It's slow, the drums sound artificial, the guitars don't have any bite. I liked the growling at the end of the verses though, that was a cool touch. Guitar solos are decent. These two songs are pretty evenly matched, but I had more fun with Lemmy.

That half time break in The Quill's Where Eagles Dare is a pretty awesome touch. Otherwise, the cover seems unremarkable. But the drums in Bonrholm just ruin the whole song, gotta give it to Quill.
 
Midnight said:
I'd like to add that this video is what the Transylvania cover reminded me of.

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:lol:
But seriously, doing this in that suit... Not easy at all.
Love Lemmy, don't like Machine Head, voting for Machine Head nevertheless.
The Quill's cover is certainly competent, and, somewhat confusingly, they're more Swedish than Bornholm (who're from Hungary actually), but I'd go for the latter nevertheless.
 
I've got to take the default Black Wizard position here, and vote against Lemmy because he sounds like a dog. But also, that Machine Head cover is one of the nicest Maiden covers I'm familiar with. Takes little away from the original, but sounds more modern.

The Quill's WED cover is done extremely well, and sounds nice, but is really 'straight'. It doesn't put any kind of new spin on the original. Also, is butchering a Dave Murray solo a thing? I'm not disappointed by Magnus' nomination. That cover definitely has a little bit of black metal production and drumming about it. It's not a soundalike. Bornholm for the win.
 
Lemmy: classic Lemmy. He never learned to sing, after all.
Machine Head: I was already familiar with that cover, unfortunately.

The Quill: the closest comparison which comes to my mind is the cover of the same song done by Tyr. And this is no good.
Bornholm: *sigh* another black metal so-called drummer who thinks that music is a matter of speed. SPOILER: it is not.



I'll go with Lemmy.
 
I think what makes a successful cover is that an artist is able to make it their own or add something unique to it. Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along The Watch Tower is the perfect example of this. I could hear Lemmy's version of The Trooper in my head even before I listened to it. It sounded like a Motorhead song. As much as I get a kick (ha, ha) out of hearing Maiden played on double-bass drums, the drumming on Hallowed was distracting. (For the record I prefer Clive's versions to Nicko's as well.) Winner: Lemmy

The Quill's version of Eagles heavier than the original and to my the instrumental section had a little more going on whereas Maiden's original can feel like doing algebra homework. It also contained no blast beats. Winner: The Quill
 
Murder of Rue Morgue said:
Lemmy: classic Lemmy. He never learned to sing, after all.
Machine Head: I was already familiar with that cover, unfortunately.

The Quill: the closest comparison which comes to my mind is the cover of the same song done by Tyr. And this is no good.
Bornholm: *sigh* another black metal so-called drummer who thinks that music is a matter of speed. SPOILER: it is not.



I'll go with Lemmy.
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Hi. You aren’t voting for the best of the four songs, you’re voting for the best in two match-ups. Lemmy vs Machine Head, and The Quill vs Bornholm. The line in the poll separates the two match-ups.
 
I didn't vote in the 1st round, but wanna catch up anyway:

Burden of Grief - Great cover. Melodeath covers of Maiden songs almost always work.

Opera IX - This is a legendary fail of a cover. Interplay between clean and harsh vocals is just about the worst I've ever heard. Harsh vocals are comically horrible. If dogs could speak, and therefore sing/growl, this is how they'd sound. Then come the even worse female vocals. That poor girl can't sing to save her life. No energy at all, horrible pronunciation, accent all over the place. In comparison, instrumental part of the cover isn't even that horrible, but it's still pretty bad. Everything after the boat creaking is fucking awful.
Also, I just read that harsh vocals are also done by the girl who does clean vocals... That makes more sense now.

Radio Tapok - Vocals and the lyrics ruin what would be a decent cover. Can't stand translated lyrics in covers.

Thunderstone - Does nothing new, but at least it's not in Russian.

Lemmy's cover is actually pretty cool, including the vocals. Even with his limited range, Lemmy nails the song. I see no fault in the instrumental section.

Machine Head's cover is better than one would expect, what with Machine Head and Robb Flynn being major poseurs. Just because of that, I'm gonna go with Lemmy.

The Quill ruins the mid section with different riffs... totally unnecessary in an otherwise decent cover.

Bornholm... holy fuck is that drum sound awful. That's definitely programmed, and programmed really badly. Even for black metal this is really embarassing. I do think the arrangement would work with a professional production. Good idea, terrible execution. Sorry @Magnus.
 
Lemmy’s cover of The Trooper doesn’t add anything new to the song, aside from showcasing how terrible of a singer he is. Icon or not, he’s so out of sync here it’s barely listenable. Completely weak cover. Now Machine Head, on the other hand, took me by surprise. Of course they could’ve gotten the vote just for not being Lemmy, but their cover of Hallowed is pretty fucking good too. They know how to nail the atmosphere of the original with a little extra oomph, and Rob Flynn sounds pretty great here. The instrumental section is really well done, almost feels like they dipped into Judas Priest territory. Not a big fan of the growly section as it felt unnecessary, but other than that, great cover.

The Quill’s singer sounds like if Klaus Meine had the range of Bruce Dickinson. Solid cover but god the guitar solo was trash. I did appreciate the different direction they took with the rest of the instrumental though. But Bornholm takes this round with their completely over-the-top drummer. The drums literally sound like a construction site and honestly I’m here for it. Wow.
 
Generally I can't stand covers of The Trooper, I guess because there's too many damn covers of that song already on YouTube and elsewhere...But anyways, this time around I'm voting for Lemmy because at least it's not lifeless like Machine Head's cover of Hallowed. The Trooper cover is not perfect, but Lemmy still plays a mean bass and you know they had fun recording this in the wee small hours of the morning in first or second take, so at least that's something :edmetal:

The Quill in the second match up.
 
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