Well there was another tie, but with
Rust In Piece's previous votes it looks like Megadeth is gonna really start rusting.
Final Thrash Battle Round!
2. Metallica - Master of Puppets
1. Slayer - Reign In Blood
Vote
1 off. Vote ends
January 29. Winner shall be crowned the greatest thrash album of all time, and go on to represent its genre when it's time for the Final Metal Battle when all sub-genre battles are complete. I'll list sub-genre battle winners in the OP, and remove the specifics of the genre battle for the losers to keep the OP from getting cluttered.
At one point, this would have been more of a challenge, but these days it's a relatively easy choice.
Master of Puppets has a more balanced collection of songs, more accomplished writing, and a more solid track order, but
Reign In Blood is just the thrash Bible, and even though Rick Rubin's production takes away a lot of Slayer's former evilness, it's kept the album's sound contemporary even today. So...
Edit: It's been a while since I really listened to MoP at the correct volume, and I'd forgotten just how brutal James Hetfield's rhythm guitar is, so I'm changing my vote...
Reign In Blood
Also, next up is the trad metal battle. I think my album list is pretty solid, so unless anybody has any albums that I have clearly left off, I consider it definitive. I'll be open to taking off
Blizzard of Ozz, but its stature still makes it worthy of inclusion, even if it doesn't get quite the respect on this site as in other places.
Anyone who would rather use different albums for certain bands (i.e. Saxon, Judas Priest, or Accept) feel free to comment, as I've just gone with either their more critically acclaimed albums, or made a judgement call when there wasn't a definitive consensus on their best album. Personal judgement, or differences of opinion on what is objectively considered their best album by the metal public will be listened to.
Trad metal battle will be as follows (DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS BATTLE YET!!!) ...