**** it, I'm resurrecting this ****. I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that everyone who was gonna vote in the last battle already has, so tie. PM me your suggestions. I'm gonna try to actually keep this going for once. First up is an avant garde metal battle between two bands, one of whom broke up and became the other, who came out of the Norwegian black metal scene.

Virus The Agent that Shapes the Desert

I'll do my best to help keeping this alive, but as you know I'm not the most experienced of metalheads, and 60% of the time the albums/bands selected will be unknown to me. But I'll listen to those two albums later and publish my thoughts.

In all honesty this was a spur of the moment thing. I haven't listened to Virus or Ved Buens Ende in forever, and never listened to them that much in the first place, so I don't have all that much of a head start on you.

I've been lazy on my forumming lately but I'll try to give these a listen tonight and get a review up.

The albums in the new contest make me feel like Keanu Reeves and River Pheonix listening to Udo Kier in My Own Private Idaho. Gotta pass

Ok so who's next?

Micheal Bolton vs. Kenny G. Go.

yeah

Alright I'm taking the initiative here because we got some metal fan new members and I refuse to watch this thread die!

Similar vocalists, similar wicked style, while still maintaining a definite individuality. One is more drone, one is a bit faster, but they're held in equally high esteem. I present....


http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/4/9/5/24956.jpg
Khanate- Things Viral

http://forbidden-magazine.com/wp-con...or-298x300.jpg
Lord Mantis- Pervertor

Have at it, you sick bastards.

Listen to each, review each, maybe rate each, then choose a winner, for any newbies reading this.

I heard of Khanate, but not the other one. Is there any tracks I should go for? Or does a fair review warrant an entire album listen?

Based on what I listened to I'm liking Lord Mantis more for the technicality and the stronger hook.

Listen to both albums in their entirety then choose which you like better, preferably with a review for each. And you should definitely listen to them starting at the beginning, if you'll excuse the music snobbery haha.

You're cool man, you answered me rather normally and straightforwardly.

One thing about Metal Wars is that at the very beginning it featured battles by bands that pretty much everyone already knew (Iron Maiden vs. Saxon, Possessed vs. Sepultura, Strapping Young Lad vs. Fear Factory) so people could go on at length right off the bat. It got everyone into the swing of things without too much teeth pulling. After a while the bands got more and more obscure, which was cool, since everybody was already in the habit of posting here, but eventually I guess fatigue set in and people's enthusiasm naturally started to wane so it started to slow down. Then, as is natural, old members dropped off the forum, but the battles tended to be so obscure that I'm sure a lot of newbs had no particular desire to take that much time to listen to *random album A they'd never heard of* by *random band X they'd never heard of* and then go and listen to *random album B they'd never heard of* by *random band Y they'd never heard of*. Probably why every attempt to revive it has failed, cause the oldies have moved on and are lazy and the newbs still don't care about these seemingly arbitrary battles. I might have skipped this one if I hadn't heard that Lord Mantis song in the other thread and already planned on listening to it. So it might be a good idea to lay down some bunts in between the other battles. After all, easily the most active thread in the Rock/Metal section over the last few months was the Metallica vs. Slayer one. The established members had entrenched, nuanced opinions that they liked to spout and there was always some new kid reviving it.

I was going to listen to that Lord Mantis album anyway. Might as well keep this thread alive at the same time.

I'm gonna say give this duo a week or two, then Hellcell gets to choose the next battle. Any complaints?

@Batlord

Maybe I'm the odd one, but I find it hard to get into "pop" metal (sounds bland). I find the more obscure stuff to be more appealing.
Having a predisposed opinion about a certain band doesn't really make me want to engage that much more. So yes, I'm okay with listening and forging an opinion. The only thing about a new band is if I can find a couple hours to listen.

So I listened to both. These ratings are rough estimates (close enough), I rate albums by going through all tracks, rating them individually, then averaging it out. I don't like rating entire albums or worse an entire artist. It doesn't say much because it's the tracks inside that I'm actually listening to and the bad tracks I skip along.

1.5/5 (Khanate). I couldn't get into the empty sound of the music. I have other bands that provide the same mood and atmosphere while having a sound that captivates my attention.

4/5 (Lord Mantis). It has a really nice evil sound to it, really liked the unique vocals. I really liked the rolling riffs. The melody and grit was done really tastefully. I think I discovered a new black/melodic black metal artists I really like.

Lord Mantis - 2
Khanate - 0

I do have a complain't actually. When it comes to albums I tend to cherry pick tracks and put them in a playlist for me to play, so I rarely ever listen to an album in it's entirety.
I don't feel that if I list an album of any artists would be representative of how I appreciate music.

Ok, but this thread is based around albums. If you're more into playlists maybe you could create a playlist vs. playlist thread.

^^^

Would have loved to have a new member aboard dude but it is what it is. I'm sure if you started a thread like that you'd have some decent participation.

Yeah, I'll have to opt out in respect of the rules. As for playlists, it's a compilation of varying artists with a similar mood, atmosphere, and theme.

I'm thinking of starting a thread called, introduce your playlist. Question is Metal forum or General forum?

I'm gonna give both albums another listen or so before I weigh in "officially", but my initial feelings...

Lord Mantis have a great sound to listen to for a track or two at a time. There's a feeling of constantly impending catastrophe, liking the singer is heralding the end of the world, while the band is building tension, but after a while even with the constant dynamics it gets kind of monotonous. Like I said, for a song or two it's fantastic but I felt myself fading after a while.

And Briks was right about Khanate not for being for casual listening. Luckily I was laying down in the dark, so I was in the right frame of mind for it. I'm generally not much for drone, and I'd usually just be bored by this band but I was surprisingly into them this time. The sparse music combined with the harrowing vocals certainly invoked a unique atmosphere at least. Will be kind of hard to rate, cause while I was intrigued by their oddness I don't know how much I actually enjoyed the music.

Yay. I like Khanate and I've never listened to Lord Mantis but will, and will cast a serious vote.

So... did this just stop?

No. There's a secret inner circle of posters on this site who can make invisible posts, and we've been keeping this thread going without any of you fools realizing the truth.

I forgot about this. I did listen to both albums. I vote for Khanate. I can't remember why I think less of the other one but I do.

Lord Mantis: 2
Khanate: 1

Think this has gone on long enough, take it away with your battle Batlord.

Alright, why not. Here's hoping this goes better this time around. Oh, and I would've voted for Khanate, for the reasons I already stated.

Lord Mantis - 2
Khanate - 2

Sounds more like something I'd dig. I'll contribute. I know I've said that before in other threads, but I will this time, I promise.

Both of these albums basically add a post-thrash element to traditional heavy metal that more or less works. I'd kind of like to see other bands try it a bit more TBH. Halford definitely wins this for me though. Rob has always shown himself to be an unpretentious fanboy for metal, and it shows here. This album is just fun and delightfully low brow. If the music isn't quite on par with Judas Priest, it's still impressive that he can write so well all on his own. Of course it's all elevated by his standout vocal performance, which is as good as anything else he's ever done. He's clearly putting all of his energy into his singing and just having fun doing what he loves to do. After the first half of the album the tracks start to bleed together, but the first half is damn good.

The duet he does with Bruce Dickinson is kind of a missed opportunity though. It's a badass song no doubt, but it goes more for visceral attitude, when a song with both of them on it seems like it should be there to really showcase both of their talents. This is an event decades in the making after all, so I wanted to hear them both really putting their all into it and dominating the track rather than just basically going along with the music. And the lyrics are goofy too. You're two of the most beloved people in metal, and even non-metalheads like you by and large, so nobody hates you, let alone loves to do so.

Bruce's album on the other hand doesn't make nearly as much of an impression. It has good parts, but I can't really think of any songs that really stand out (Not to mention the downtuned guitar tone is pretty boring.) He also comes off like he's taking the thing too seriously. As much as I love him, he definitely gives the impression sometimes that he thinks he's some kind of avant garde metal guy. This is a pretty straight up metal album, and there's a disconnect with how experimental he seems to think it is (from what I gather of the lyrics, the album cover, and the general tone of the album). Rob just sounds like he's having the correct amount of rumpus on his album.

Bruce Dickinson: 0
Halford: 1

Then do it, goram it. Or I'll find you and beat you to death with your own snow.

The song "Killing Floor" is pretty bland, and I have no idea why Bruce chose it for the album's single. But the rest is pretty good, even though the downtuned guitar is pretty unnecessary. I'm not really sure whether I should give it 3.5 or 4 out of 5. Guess I should think about that a little.

Then there's the Halford album. It opens with the song "Resurrection", and holy ****, that's one killer song. Mmmph. But the rest doesn't really come close. The duet with Bruce Dickinson, "The One You Love to Hate", is just meh. 3 out of five, maybe?

My vote goes to The Chemical Wedding.

EDIT: The Chemical Wedding gets a 3.5/5. Solid.

Maiden

Oh piss off!

Radiohead are crap.

I used to have a sig that said "RADIOHEAD SUCKS" in big, bolded letters. A great way to passively troll a music forum filled with indie nerds.

Maiden by a long shot.

Hopefully soon I'll have the time to get back into this, its looking like my new job is giving me a $3 hour raise sooner rather than later. Means I can finally quit my night job and have a life.

Full steam ahead, soldiers of metal!

**** It I'll play

DICKENSON - 1

HALFORD - 1