THE IRON MAIDEN COVERENDUM: Angel Stage (FINAL!)

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Eliminated:
Lemmy - The Trooper
Bornholm - Transylvania

Promoted:
Machine Head - Hallowed Be Thy Name
The Quill - Where Eagles Dare

Bykürius - Fear Of The Dark
Nominated by @Magnus .

—Vs.—

Psycrence - Caught Somewhere In Time
Nominated by @MindRuler .

———————​

After Forever - The Evil That Men Do
Nominated by N/A.

—Vs.—

Apocalyptica - The Number Of The Beast
Nominated by @Lamia020281 .
 
When it comes to extreme formulas of metal, I don't have a problem with vocals, I have problems with blastbeats. I hate blastbeats.

CSiT is sort of OK, but the sinister overtone of the original is completely missing and yet another power metal fornication comes out as a base for this cover. But I hate blastbeats.

After Forever meh. Apocalyptica better.
 
Well Magnus has done it again. Bykürius (which I read as bi-curious, and we stan) have an incredible opening to their cover, epic in every way, but once they enter the main song it just becomes typical black metal. Not bad, but Psycrence was much more interesting. They latched on to the more emotionally charged melodies in the song and gave it some extra power. Their chorus was so fucking good.

Neither of the other two covers were great. Floor seemed like it was all over the place and Apocalyptica was just a cello cover without any other dynamics. I’d rather listen to After Forever.
 
Bykürius has a funny name for a black metalband. (I wonder if they're really bi-curious. :p )
edit: I just read @Diesel 11 and @Midnight 's replies. Dirty minds think alike!
The intro was very nice until the blastbeasts are showing up after 2 minutes. No, thank you. Съжалявам @Magnus :)
Caught Somewhere In Time is one of my alltime Maiden favorites and Psycrence manages to make a powermetal song out of it without losing
the structure of the original. Very tasty riffing and good vocals.

After Forever does a pretty job but it feels like something's missing.
Apocalyptica have made much better covers (Metallica!) and this isn't a song that sounds very good played with cello's. IMO.
So it's dice time...or should I toss a coin? <_<
After Forever to make the tie. Sorry @Lamia020281 :p
 
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Keep 'em coming, @Magnus! :D Definite round of applause for Bykürius for doing something very different with this song. Sounds way more sinister and creepy than the original. I love an original take on a Maiden cover. Psycrence put their own stamp to CSIT, and boot this song right out of the 80s, which is a potential improvement. :innocent: Quite a tough choice because I really like both. Going with the sheer energy of Psycrence.

After Forever don't really do much musically with TETMD, except maybe suck the life out of it ever so slightly, and the vocals really don't have the clout required. Although TNOTB isn't one of my top Maiden tracks, and Apocalyptica don't endear it to me any further, I at least appreciate the musical arrangement and musicianship.
 
The first two minutes of the bicurious Fear of the Dark cover are actually great, and then it turns into black metal nonsense. I actually love all of the musical shifts and dynamic changes in the Psyrence cover, despite a pretty typical (but solid) PM voice. Very cool, very good cover.

I don't want to vote against Floor, but After Forever's cover is so boring and her vocals don't work. Oh well. Voting for the cellos.
 
The first matchup was a lot closer than I expected. Like others, I was surprisingly Bykürius for the first minute or two, then a bit less so afterward. Not a fan of Gollum vocals, but they were pretty low in the mix, and the duet with the melodic female vocal early on worked well, and the song was fully transformed into its new style, which I appreciated. I didn’t like the blast beat parts much, but the fact that they did it under the most boring and rote part of the song almost gave it a winking parody element that I thought was interesting. Maybe the fact that I don’t have any particular reverence for this song helped, but I can see how a black metal fan would love this version. Even I thought it was pretty cool. The Psycrence cover was mostly great. Loved the acoustic intro, loved the beefy downtuned guitars with new accents and mostly faithful solos. Where this version stumbled a bit was with the “time is always on my side” sections and the chorus, where the vocals didn’t really meet the challenge and those parts felt thin as a result. Still a very enjoyable cover, though. While this was a close one, in the end I have to say sorry to @Magnus, because I’m going with @MindRuler ’s choice here. Winner: Psycrence

This After Forever cover is anemic and disappointing, and almost sounded like Laura Branigan (“Gloria”) covering the song. WTF. The Apocalyptica cover is exactly what you’d expect if you’ve heard any of their other metal cello covers, but it’s quite good for what it is. Going with @Lamia020281 ’s nominee here. Winner: Apocalyptica
 
Bi-curious - Cool idea, so-so execution. Production is pretty bad - drums buried in the mix, guitars too fuzzy.

Psycrence - Tempo changes are just too jarring. They slowed it down at all, vocals have no energy or range of the original, and they simplified the riffs too.

After Forever - This just feels forced and off for some reason. Not even Floor can save it. It will get my vote because...

Apocalytica - is boring af... They are cool when collaborating with other bands (like Sabaton or Amon Amarth), but on their own, they are just super boring.
 
As some people have already mentioned, Bi-Curious had some nice sounds in the beginning of the song. Somehow I think the vocals fit the story, I also liked the choir-type thing and the ending. This was really quite nice.
Psycrence had a very good beginning (and ending) as well. Unfortunately the middle part didn't quite live up to the promise of the beginning, as I thought the same style would continue. Definitely not bad, but I thought the Bi-Curious version was a bit more exciting. Sorry, MindRuler.

I actually didn't vote for my own nomination, because After Forever made a solid effort on the song. I didn't like the sound of her voice as such, but I think she was doing a good job with the actual singing. The only thing I was thinking was that maybe the use of a female vocalist could have been an opportunity to add an emotional poignancy to lyrics that are heartwrenching. That opportunity was wasted here, because the vocalist didn't perform this in a very sensitive and emotional way. Apocalyptica's version was feverish, and created an atmosphere that somehow captured the spirit of the song. But it wasn't as good as After Forever. Sorry, Lamia.
 
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Eliminated:
Bykürius - Fear Of The Dark
After Forever - The Evil That Men Do

Promoted:
Psycrence - Caught Somewhere In Time
Apocalyptica - The Number Of The Beast

The MaidenFans Band - Alexander The Great
Nominated by N/A.
https://soundcloud.com/maidenfans%2Falexander-the-great

--Vs.--

Disbelief - Stranger In A Strange Land
Nominated by @Magnus .

------------------​

Primal Fear - 2 Minutes To Midnight
Nominated by @Kalata .

--Vs.--

Nocturnal Rites - Wasted Years
Nominated by @Forostar .
 
Got to support the team obviously, so fuck off @Magnus & Disbelief.
Two awful power metal covers next, and while Nocturnal Rites might have somewhat better musicians, they also have a rather annoying singer.
 
The Maidenfans band is in the game? I think we've got our overall winner!

Agree with Magnus on the second pair. Nocturnal Rites might be better on their own albums but this cover really sounded flat...
 
Maidenfans bias! Aren't they called the 'Wrathchildren'? I really like that cover, actually, plus I'm not mad keen on SIASL anyway, so even deathing it up isn't going to make me vote for it. Points for doing something different with the song, though.

Primal Fear's cover is very slick and polished, but I can't help thinking it's all too similar to the original, only a slightly more modern sound. The vocals sound like what Bruce was trying to do on the original. Nocturnal Rights at least sounded like a cover, even if they did nothing adventurous with it.
 
I was so sure someone would nominate the Maidenfans band ._. I know I had the idea in my mind at least. But I didn't send a list
 
The MaidenFans cover has a lot going for it. Clearly an amateur recording, but a lot of the guitar work and singing is pretty good. The rhythm section has some weird tempo variations and falls behind sometimes, but it’s still enjoyable overall. The Disbelief cover’s guitars strangely have a Lynch Mob vibe to them, which I didn’t expect. The production stinks and the vocals are horrid, but the music tried to stay pretty faithful outside of the centerpiece solo, which went its own way here and didn’t fare too well. I wanted to vote against pro-MaidenFans bias here, but the home team won fair and square. And I agree with @Magnus — fuck off @Magnus. Winner: The MaidenFans Band

Neither of the covers in the second match was particularly good. The Primal Fear cover had pretty good vocals from Ralf Scheepers, but the guitars were lazy and simplified, and sometimes just wrong. And the interlude in the middle couldn’t hold a candle to the original. The Nocturnal Rites cover had worse production and weird-sounding vocals, but I liked parts of it. I guess I’ll tip it toward better vocals and production in the end and go with @Kalata ‘s choice. Sorry, @Forostar. Winner: Primal Fear
 
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