Metallica Wins Heavy Metal Madness 2012; Led Zeppelin is Runner-Up.

Post #226
The Heavy Metal Madness tournament of 2012 has come to its long-awaited conclusion. It may have been a 1000 mile journey, but it began with a single step, and lots of voting! A field of 68 bands was here at this time last year, and now there is only one metal band left standing: METALLICA!!!

The final poll saw Metallica win first place with 36 votes, Led Zeppelin was runner-up with 31, while System Of A Down (18 votes) and Alice In Chains (10 votes) finished 3rd and 4th respectively.

Along with winning this tournament, Metallica will also take over the blog's 'President' title, coming later this month...

Thank you to all who have voted!

One last song from each band eliminated:
Led Zeppelin-Black Dog

System of a Down-B.Y.O.B.

Alice In Chains-Your Decision

Shop ROCK AMERICA this Holiday Season!

Post #223
As one final reminder, I want to mention that ROCK AMERICA have been an incredible sponsor for the 'Heavy Metal Madness 2012' contest that has been going on throughout 2012. One lucky winner of that contest will receive a $25 gift card to Rock America. In the meantime, they have tons of cool merch for the Heavy Metal music can on your holiday shopping list this year.

Here are just a few samples of what you can find at either of their locations at Gurnee Mills or Woodfield shopping centers in the north Chicago suburbs. I'll use the Final Four of Heavy Metal Madness as examples:

METALLICA

ALICE IN CHAINS

LED ZEPPELIN

SYSTEM OF A DOWN

Heavy Metal Madness: Elite Eight Summary, Pt.1

Post # 218

In Heavy Metal Madness 2012, the FINAL FOUR is just around the corner! Last month the first half of the Elite Eight was decided, and the second half is currently open for voting. Two more excellent bands were eliminated as two others punched their ticket to the Final Four...

The Classic Metal/Thrash bracket had come down to Metallica and Megadeth. Is it poetic, that Metallica- perhaps the most iconic band from the 80's thrash-metal scene, and Megadeth- the band founded by original Metallica guitarist, Dave Mustaine, clash once again for bragging rights in this tournament? It may have been a golden opportunity for payback for Megadeth, but it wasn't in the cards, at least not this year. Metallica won a decisive victory 20-15.

In the Hardcore/Metalcore bracket, a different story had unraveled, as many projected favorites had been slowly eliminated, sometimes by surprising upsets, as each round progressed to the next. It was down to Disturbed and System of a Down. Disturbed looked poised to make the Final Four, after eliminating a formidable opponent in Avenged Sevenfold. System of a Down had become something of a giant-killer, eliminating the likes of Korn and Tool by close margins. This time System of a Down pulled out a close match, again! Final vote tally: System of a Down 17, Disturbed 14.

Once again, I honor the fallen bands with a selected song from each...

Megadeth-Sweating Bullets

Disturbed-Inside the Fire

Keep voting! We'll who the next 2 bands to reach the Final Four will be next month...

Heavy Metal Madness: Sweet Sixteen Summary, Part 1

Post #211

In mid-August, another round of polling closed and your votes have determined who won and who lost in the first half of the Sweet Sixteen of Heavy Metal Madness! It was exciting to see the results unfold, as once again there were upsets, and close matches that came down to the last couple votes on the last day of polling.

In the Classic Metal/Thrash Block:

METALLICA beat IRON MAIDEN 27-22,

and MEGADETH came from behind to beat JUDAS PRIEST 27-25.

While in the Hardcore/Metalcore Block:

TOOL failed to hang onto their lead in the last day of voting as they lost to SYSTEM OF A DOWN 23-26,

and DISTURBED pulled a dominating upset against AVENGED SEVENFOLD 26-18!

Don't miss your chance to vote in the next round!

Now, the recommended songs for those bands now eliminated:

Iron Maiden-2 Minutes To Midnight

Judas Priest-Painkiller

Tool-Schism

Avenged Sevenfold-Welcome to the Family

Shop Rock America! (Dark Horses in Heavy Metal Madness)

Post # 209

Hello heavy metal fans! I wanted to take a minute here, while there are still a couple days left to vote in the first half of the Sweet Sixteen of Heavy Metal Madness to remind you that Rock America is a sponsor of this contest. There is a gift card prize for the entry that finishes first in the poll, so let me remind you to keep voting! Even if your favorite picks are eliminated, some of your next-best choices could sway the final results one way or another.

As a way of thanks to Rock America, I will again recommend some of their merchandise from bands in this tournament. This time I've decided to select products from the lowest remaining seeds from each quadrant of the bracket- the Dark Horses in this race. These are the lowest ranked bands that still have a shot at being crowned 'Best Rock/Metal Band Ever'! (Based on popular vote... that means YOU!)

From the Classic Metal/Thrash Block: #7 seed-JUDAS PRIEST

From the Metalcore/Hardcore Block: #5 seed-SYSTEM OF A DOWN

From the Classic Rock/Hair Metal Block: #5 seed KISS

and From the Alternative/Grunge Block: #11 seed FOO FIGHTERS

I hope everybody can find something at Rock America that fits their interest. As a reminder, they are located at Gurnee Mills, and Woodfield shopping malls in the Chicago suburbs. Stop by and check them out today!

Heavy Metal Madness First Round Summary: Part Four

Post # 198

On May 19th, the last segment of the first round of Heavy Metal Madness came to a close, and once again there were some unexpected upsets, and tight races for these bands to make it to the next round.

For the Metalcore Block:

Tool beat Death by a comfortable margin of 39-11,

Bullet For My Valentine upset Opeth 26-19,

System of a Down narrowly escaped being upset by Amon Amarth, as they clung to a 31-25 lead at the end of voting.

...and Korn had the most convincing upset of the month knocking off the #4 seed, Shadows Fall 34-13.

In the Classic Rock Block:

Queen upset Guns N' Roses 31-18,

AC/DC topped the Scorpions 35-14,

Ozzy bested Van Halen 37-9,

and Led Zeppelin overcame Jimi Hendrix 34-14.

As the early pattern of voting has unfolded, it seems that the magic number for a 'safe' amount of votes to push a band into the next round is 30. In the closest races, the most votes collected by a losing band was 29 (Godsmack). Will this rule-of-thumb hold true for the rest of this tournament? Only time will tell...

With the first round now concluded, the matches are only going to get tougher. Fans will have a harder time deciding who to vote for. Those who's first choice of a Champion is now eliminated have the freedom to vote for another band in their place. At this point, many of your predictions can be thrown out the window. I know several of mine have been defenestrated.

So, now is the time to follow more closely than ever! Already, the second round is underway, and more upsets are brewing, while other favorites dominate. Inevitably, more face-offs will come down to a close decision. Help those bands whom you prefer by sharing this blog with your friends, and call for more fans of heavy metal music to cast their votes, and make their opinion count!

Now, as I have done before, I leave you with some of my favorite suggested tracks from those bands now eliminated from Heavy Metal Madness:
Death-Open Casket
Opeth-The Drapery Falls
Amon Amarth-Fate of Norns
Shadows Fall-Forevermore
Guns N' Roses-Welcome to the Jungle
Scorpions-Alien Nation
Van Halen-Source of Infection
Jimi Hendrix-Manic Depression

System Of A Down (Full Review)

Post #147 [Poll winner: Which is not a topping on System of a Down's pizza?]
For those who voted in the reader's poll regarding System of a Down's choice of pizza-toppings, you need only listen to the song 'Chic N' Stu' to discover they like... 'pepperoni, and green peppers, mushrooms, olives, chives!' That means the correct answer for the poll question was actually 'sausage'! Hope you had fun with that poll last month. Now for more about System of a Down...

System Of A Down came onto the heavy metal scene in 1998 with their self-titled debut album and quickly revolutionized the scene with their genre-defying sound and style. With all the members being of Armenian descent, their lyrics are charged with strong political themes that reflect their unique perspective on a number of issues. Their outspoken, thought-provoking, and emotional social commentary would quickly become a trademark of theirs, and continued to grow with each release.

On their first album, SOAD quickly exhibited an array of songs that showcased their unique style and techniques. Serj Tankian's vocals are very extreme & hard-core in places, with prominent screams and guttural growls that approach the likes of death-metal vocal styles. They would migrate away form this vocal style in the coming years.

In 2001 System of a Down released their 2nd album, Toxicity. This album proved to be a true break-through effort for System. Several songs that featured prominent melodic passages became huge hits. Don't be fooled though, these songs still contained extreme elements as well. System of a Down were becoming more adept at fusing the popular and melodic elements of hard rock with the hard-edged and more extreme elements of metal, all the while managing to sound exactly like neither of those genres!

With their surge in popularity following the Toxicity album, their fan-base became strongly devoted to following their every move, and stalking the web for any hint of new music from them. Rumors of unreleased tracks from the Toxicity recording sessions sparked obsessive fans to pirate and share any such tracks if they got leaked.

Then in 2002, to put an end to the illegal downloading, while at the same time pleasing many fans, the band gave in and released the tracks as their 3rd full-length album, Steal This Album! The title was a bit of a joke as well, reflecting the fact that many fans had, in fact, stolen the tracks already. However, this final product was more polished and refined than the versions that had been leaked. Several of the songs that were released as singles also became big hits.

In 2005, System of a Down gave us what has to be regarded as their masterpiece (at least to this point of their career), a double-album, released in two parts: Mezmerize was released in the spring, and Hypnotize in the fall of the same year. The packaging of these 2 albums was even designed to compliment each other, as Mezmerize contained a flap that could be inserted into the side flap of Hypnotize, making a double-CD folding case. The art work on the discs and inserts was also complimentary.

Stylistically, these last two albums by System of a Down show even more of the band's talent as musicians. Some tracks, like B.Y.O.B. exhibit the extreme side of their potential, with plenty of screams and brutally heavy riffs. Other tracks, like Lonely Day, are so soft and melodic that you may wonder if they are performed by the same band. And of course you have many numbers like Question! which switch it up between soft melodies and harsh screaming so suddenly you might think they are trying to do too much, but remarkably, SOAD make these elements work.

It is this uncanny ability to effortlessly fuse some of the most extreme styles of metal with the most catchy and pretty elements of pop-rock that make System of a Down practically incomparable in the metal scene. It has been 6 long years since they last recorded an album together. I think if they do decide to return to the studio at some point and make some fresh tunes again, we would be just as impressed as before. I still believe they are a band with unlimited potential.

For my recommended tracks from System of a Down, I'll give you the track-list for my personal mix CD; 'How Do You Own Disorder? -The Best of System Of A Down'
-Suite Pee
-Prison Song
-Soldier Side-Intro
-B.Y.O.B
-I-E-A-I-A-I-O
-Aerials
-Tentative
-Deer Dance
-Cigaro
-Sugar
-Chop Suey!
-Chic N' Stu
-Hypnotize
-Suggestions
-Question!
-Radio/Video
-Roulette
-Attack
-Holy Mountains
-Toxicity
-Innervision
-Sad Statue
-Lonely Day
-Soldier Side

(compiled on 4-21-06 by the Happy Headbanger)
Color-coded album reference:
System Of A Down, Toxicity, Steal This Album!, Mezmerize, Hypnotize

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Scars On Broadway

Post #61
When System of a Down announced they would take a hiatus after headlining Ozzfest in '06 it left many of their fans wondering what the band members would do. Would they simply take time off and enjoy an extended vacation having become successful rock-stars? Quietly take their time to work on another album without pressure from a record company's deadline? Or maybe pursue other projects? In this case it would turn out to be the pursuit of solo-projects.

Serj Tankian was the first to release a solo-album (see my review in an earlier post). Daron Malakian would form a new band and call it Scars On Broadway, bringing Jon Dolmayan from System Of A Down with him on drums. Like Serj's "Elect The Dead", "Scars On Broadway" retains many elements of System's sound, though neither project sounds exactly like their previous band.

Some may say that "Scars" sounds like it's missing something (the presence of Serj's vocals), however in many ways this new band offers the chance to hear a different side of Daron Malakian's musical influence. Most of the album carries a vibe that is more hard-rock and less metal. His lyrics still pull no punches, taking shots at many political and social issues. Though part of me also feels like this album could benefit from some of the vocal tag-teams between Daron & Serj that are employed on the System Of A Down albums, I still find the music from Scars On Broadway is worth checking out. It should satisfy many System fans who are waiting for them to make a come-back.

The songs I would recommend:
-Serious
-Funny
-Insane
-Stoner Hate
-Babylon
-ENEMY
-3005

Serj Tankian-Elect the Dead

Post #38
After headlining Ozzfest '06, System Of A Down went on an indefinite hiatus. Free from the burden of obligations and egos involved with a band, the creative minds of Tankian & Malakian were given free reign to launch their own solo-projects and escape the inundating expectations that System's success had begun to bring upon them. Serj's self-titled project was the first to release an album: Elect the Dead.

As a huge System of a Down fan, I wasn't sure what to expect from Serj without Daron. Should I expect it to sound just like a System album? Would it be so far removed from the band that I'd be disappointed? My apprehension was lessened upon hearing "Empty Walls", the debut single. I had a gift card to Best Buy handy, and decided to use it to pick up Elect the Dead. After hearing the whole album, I was glad I did.

Serj's songwriting style is mostly on par with the work of System of a Down. The main difference I find is that Serj incorporates a lot of piano & keyboard instrumentation, and the electric guitars, although still present, are pushed to the background a bit. When the lyrics come around, however, you can tell this is still the Serj from "System". Serj Tankian, as always, pulls no punches with political or social issues he feels strongly about, and there is plenty of commentary throughout "Elect the Dead". Don't worry though, the quirky, strange, out-of-left-field lyrics that at first make you scratch your head are still present too.

If you're a "System" fan and for some reason haven't picked up "Elect the Dead" yet, then you're missing out. If you need more convincing, check out these songs:
-Empty Walls
-Money
-Sky Is Over
-Honking Antelope
-Lie, Lie, Lie
-Beethoven's C***