Controversial opinions on metal

[J.]

Virgin Steele is far better than Manowar, and this is coming from a fan of Manowar.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Better than post-Sign of the Hammer Manowar, maybe, but at that point who cares? Hail to England is start-to-finish greatness. A good trad metal album should never need more than an hour to get the job done.

 

[SentinelSlain]

I've never felt bored in the middle of an epic Virgin Steele song. I haven't heard all of their albums though. HB has it wrong, no surprise. The only really shit Virgin Steele stuff is the overtly hair metal stuff on Noble Savage (I think I said AOC before, got it wrong, I don't listen to this band often enough). Life Among the Ruins sounds pretty bad from reviews too. Again, it was the hair metal elements early on.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Nah, it's when they're hairing it up that they're at their most tolerable. You don't have to dig deep at all to find bad Virgin Steele epics. Veni, Vidi, Vici is probably one of their worst songs.

 

[Krow]

Virgin Steele is far better than Manowar, and this is coming from a fan of Manowar.

Very much this.

 

[J.]

Manowar has never released a perfect album all the way through. I love the first four, and I even like the next four, though they are far weaker and a pure novelty. Everything after is ass. But their affinity for doing too many goddamn ballads, and their lack of lyric variety is definitely their achilles heel. Enough of goddamn thor, hammers, friends of metal, lightning, thunder, swords, killing enemies, and odin already. I still say Into Glory Ride is their finest moment. I like HtE, but it has some weak moments, and Bridge of Death is hardly even the best song on the album. Don't get me started on DeMaio's asinine instrumentals

I still take Marriage 1&2, invictus, Atreus 1&2 over anything Manowar. Hell, even Age of Consent and Visions of Eden have some good moments. I'm not familiar with their earliest records like Noble Savage, I, or Guardians, though many claim them as classics. Also never heard Life Among the Ruins.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The bass solos are still silly, but at least Black Arrows is his best bass solo. Otherwise, I see no flaw in Hail to England. Bridge of Death is how you do an epic correctly, actually building up and progressing, not a glorified up-beat Iron Maiden reject with fruity keyboard-driven bullshit overlaid like Veni, Vidi, Vici.

 

[SentinelSlain]

Bridge of Death is a good song but it's hardly representative of most Manowar songs, especially including the stuff they were putting out when Virgin Steele were at their peak.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

True that. Manowar at their peak was generally capable of kicking ass with mere four minute songs.

EDIT: And during, who gives a shit? You could just as easily say "Derp, Virgin Steele had nothing on the stuff Manowar was putting out when Manowar was at their peak".

 

[SentinelSlain]

I don't see your problem with Virgin Steele epicness. They do it better than a lot of well regarded bands, including recentish Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't see your problem with Virgin Steele epicness. They do it better than a lot of well regarded bands, including Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

Judas Priest isn't really known for epics, but Iron Maiden? Don't be such a fucking metal hipster. Show me one Virgin Steele song that comes close to Hallowed Be Thy Name, To Tame a Land, Rime, etc.

 

[SentinelSlain]

I was thinking of late Iron Maiden, but I forgot to explicitly say that.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

In that case I'd still disagree, but it'd be closer to a wash. I found it hilarious when some random reviewer called Invictus likely influential to reunion-era Maiden, as if that is something to be celebrated to begin with. Starblind, off their newest, still destroys anything Virgin Steele has done, though.

 

[SentinelSlain]

Don't you think Bruce sounds pretty bad on album now? I do. He's good live though. I really don't like late Iron Maiden. I think their general sound has gotten awful. Bruce's singing often fails to mesh with the music and the crunchy bass just sounds weird.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Kinda. When Dance of Death first came out I was really disappointed at his straining at certain parts, especially since it was the first album where he really did it. I think he rested a bit or gave it a few more takes on AMOLAD because he sounds pretty good there, but on the newest I have to admit that I actually kind of like some of the straining now. I dunno, it's almost like a natural inflection to his voice now or something. Everyone cites the chorus of Mother of Mercy as being a prime example of his straining and how painful it sounds, but somehow it totally works for me now.

 

[waif]

People like to marginalize post-reunion Maiden, but I'll take Brave New World over anything else they've ever done.

 

[Dak]

People like to marginalize post-reunion Maiden, but I'll take Brave New World over anything else they've ever done.

This. It is the most consistently solid album from Maiden period. (I give it 3 posts before JP is brought up again. And the cycle of of the controversial thread continues lulz).

 

[SentinelSlain]

I just don't like their style by that point. Their sound on that album is better than on AMOLAD though.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Brave New World probably has ten minutes of choruses alone that could be trimmed. The worst filler of their first six albums is still much better than the weaker songs of their newer stuff.

 

[J.]

Im in agreement with bnw being one of their best. But i also think somewhere in time is the best of the first six. I think fear of the dark is a solid album and the blaze albums have some really great songs.