THE IRON MAIDEN COVERENDUM: Angel Stage (FINAL!)

if there's a Maiden song that lends itself well, both thematically and lyrically, to being covered by a blackened death metal band it must be Moonchild and Necrophobic nails it. Metal Discharge is one of my favorite Destruction albums and with the Killers cover being done in the same sessions its easy to like...but I feel they could have done better picking a thrashier/more uptempo Maiden song than Killers....

Children of Bodom for the second pick.
 
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This Necrophobic cover gets a partial exemption from my “no non-melodic vocal covers of melodic vocal songs” tenet for a couple of reasons — the original vocals are mostly half-spoken, and they’re told from the perspective of Satan, so black metal vocals are actually sort of halfway appropriate. I can say that I didn’t hate it as much as I expected to, and it almost made some kind of sense. Meanwhile the Destruction cover had nearly as bad vocals, but they weren’t too terribly far away from Di’anno’s original take, and it was a pretty faithful cover with beefier guitars. In the end I think @Magnus ’s choice comes out ahead here. Sorry, @Night Prowler. Winner: Destruction

The music on this Jeff Scott Soto cover is really half-assed and lazy, except for maybe half the solo. Also, Soto is singing right at the edge of his natural range, so he skips and whiffs some of the high notes until he goes falsetto at the very end. I guess the only unqualified praise I can give is that the vocal harmonies on the chorus sound great. Meanwhile, the music on the Children Of Bodom cover totally rips, but the vocals suck ass. This is partially salvaged by the guitar doubling the vocal melody on the verse, so you don’t lose as much of the song, but the vocals here are still incredibly annoying. I wish I could transplant Soto’s vocals onto this music — I’d be much happier with the result. But forced to choose here, I’m going to have to hold my nose and go with the better music. Winner: Children Of Bodom
 
Necrophobic's Moonchild intro was tacky as hell, but the rest of song sure as hell works as extreme metal, love it! Destruction add a lot of attitude to Killers, this is also a great example of a cover. Necrophobic's is my favourite of the two, though.

I like the idea of pitting two more extreme metal covers against each other, so genre bias is cancelled out. I also quite like the idea of Aces v Aces, because it means nobody is simply voting for their favourite of two Maiden songs rather than the cover. Jeff Scott Soto makes a nice if hard rock-ish sounding effort. Going for CoB's cover, though. I really didn't expect this to work, but it does. A twist on a Maiden song with the distinctive stamp of the covering artist.

Looking forward to the next round - good game this.
 
Brigantium said:
I like the idea of pitting two more extreme metal covers against each other, so genre bias is cancelled out. I also quite like the idea of Aces v Aces, because it means nobody is simply voting for their favourite of two Maiden songs rather than the cover.
Click to expand...
Neither was intentional — all the rounds are random. But it works!
 
Necrophobic: horrible.
Destruction: bearable.
Destruction wins by default.

I've heard better songs of Jeff Scott Soto tbh.
Vocals of Children Of Boredom ruin the whole song.
Jeff Scott Soto wins by a nosehairlength.
 
I'm shockingly voting for both harsh vocal contributions this time. The Soto cover is absolutely lifeless and terrible, the Killers cover sounds like it should be in an anime montage.
 
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I'm behind on this game again.

Burden of Grief - Prowler - Fucking amazing cover. Great vocals and increased intensity. I will actually check out this band now.

Jorn - The Final Frontier - Actually solid, but doesn't add anything new apart from some additional lyrics at the end which I didn't really care for.

Fozzy - Where Eagles Dare - Doesn't add anything new.

Dark Tranquillity - 22 Acacia Avenue - You really can't go wrong with melodeath covers of Maiden. Kickass cover. Whoever nominated it knows his Iron Maiden covers :P

Necrophobic - Moonchild - I didn't nominate this one per se; didn't hear it until now. I just suggested it to Diesel so that he can finish the list for the game. It was solid.

Destruction - Killers - This was shit and the vocals are fucking horrible. Horrible band.

Jeff Scott Soto - Aces High - Don't like the vocals and guitar solos are completely butchered.

Children of Bodom - Aces High - They do bring something new. Pretty cool cover.
 
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Eliminated:
Destruction - Killers
Jeff Scot Soto - Aces High

Promoted:
Necrophobic - Moonchild
Children Of Bodom - Aces High

Van Canto - Fear Of The Dark
Nominated by @Diesel 11 .

--Vs.--

Overkill - Sanctuary
Nominated by @Kalata .

----------------------​

Testament - Powerslave
Nominated by @MrKnickerbocker , @Whooten , and Loudwire.

--Vs.--

Steel Prophet - The Ides Of March / Purgatory
Nominated by @Night Prowler .
 
Gonna be leaving this one upon for an extra two days FYI as I may not be able to vote this weekend.
 
I didn’t know that a capella plus drums was a thing, but apparently it’s Van Canto’s thing, and once you get past the silliness of some of the scat singing this is actually a great cover. Very pleasantly surprised. Meanwhile, Overkill’s cover has great music, but fairly crummy vocals. Sorry, @Kalata, but @Diesel 11 ’s choice comes out on top here. Winner: Van Canto

The Testament cover has strong instrumentals (other than the jarring thrashy bit that was added to the pre-chorus), but the vocals are weak and lazy, especially on the chorus. Meanwhile, Steel Prophet’s cover feels low rent, and their singer is way over the top. They also covered a weaker song and didn’t make it any better in the end. Sorry, @Night Prowler, but MrKnickerwhootenwire’s nominee takes this one. Winner: Testament
 
I respect what Van Canto is doing, but I must vote for Overkill.

Testament does a great job of amping up the metal aspects of the song while still keeping it melodic. The chorus is different, sure, but I don’t think it’s much less melodic than the original. It compliments the style of song.
 
Van Canto's cover is the sort of thing I think I'd be incredibly impressed with if I heard it being done live, but somehow, hearing it as a polished and studio version, it just sounds gimmicky. Tough choice here, because I'm not mad about Sanctuary as it is, and I don't especially like the style of this band. Yeah, going for Van Canto. I'm off to listen to their Manowar, Nightwish and Bonnie Tyler covers now. Oh, Sabaton too, apparently.

Powerslave sounds like it belongs to Testament here. They've definitely put their stamp on it, and it simply works. I'm impressed that they do justice to the solo section too, without it being too much the carbon copy. Steel Prophet also do a decent job with Ides of March, although I'd have preferred them to put a full power metal spin on this rather than allow a nod to the 70s broom cupboard sound that clings onto early Maiden. Can't beat Testament, their Powerslave is too good.
 
Van Canto is super annoying. Lots of punch and enjoyment in the Overkill cover!

Props to Steel Prophet for re-imagining the opening to Killers and doing Ides of March + Purgatory instead of Ides of March + Wrathchild. Powerslave by Testament almost seems written for the voice of Chuck Billy and their brand of powerful heavy metal :edmetal:
 
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