The Great Metal Standoff Podcast

The earliest examples of heavy metal get traced back predominantly to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, each band's finest work came from the early 70's with Zeppelin's untitled fourth album and Black Sabbath with Paranoid . They also happen to be Imran's two most favourite bands! After seeing the comparisons being made between the two bands for long enough, Jason has dragged Imran kicking and screa...

Corey Taylor, Jason will forever regard as one of his favourite rock singers. That said, he has been pushing Imran to join him for a battle between Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman's solo albums, CMFT and CMF2, for a long time now, mostly because it was believed there could be a lot of fun to be had in speaking about these albums at length. Although, when they say "fun", it is probably not in the...

After a year of working alongside  The Sports Desk in 2023, Jason invited the newest members of the crew, Jerry Ng and Liam Cole, two fellows who's music tastes are as far away from Rock n' Roll as you can get, joining him and Imran to talk Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters. This battle is arguably a contest between the best albums both bands ever released, Californication and The Colour And...

After his first appearance,  5 Foot Step's , Niall Allen, demanded to return to The Great Metal Standoff so Jason and Imran can experience some proper high quality power metal. The third album by Dragonforce, Inhuman Rampage and A Twist In The Myth, the eighth album by Blind Guardian is the battle selected, and it's also the first deep entrenchment into both bands for Jason and Imran. Does the alb...

If Jason and Imran are gonna start podcasting again, they're gonna get collaborating. Joined by one of the co-producers of RMITV production 5 Foot Step , Niall Allen, the trio pair Trivium's - In The Court Of The Dragon , the most recent release from Trivium, and Dio -  Master Of The Moon, the final Dio solo album. This makes for a rather unusual battle but asks an interesting question. Can Ronnie...

For this festive season. Jason & Imran have gone a bit silly and pushed heavy metal aside to reignite the old Oasis vs Blur Britpop rivalry. It's the 1994 releases of each band being examined in track-by-track, Oasis' debut Definitely Maybe and Blur's third album Parklife. This battle was made possible by collaborating with Sam Menhennet from SYN's flagship sports show The Sports Desk where yo...

About time the other half of the big 4 go head-to-head! Slayer - Reign In Blood collides with Anthrax - Among The Living  and the recurring theme the further Jason and Imran dug when exploring these albums was undeniable thrash. They recruited their old friend, Ben, for his fifth battle to fill some massive gaps in both their musical radar, and give him the platform to spend an hour and a half to...

Celebrating 30 episodes with 30 years of Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction and the Metallica Black album (albeit a year late), marking the third clash between the two biggest metal bands ever! Better still, Imran and Jason's podcast with Maffew Gregg of Botchamania over a year ago went so well, he's come back for more! He's busted out the catboy headphones to listen along to the two incredible pi...

Pantera vs Gojira is a battle that aims to answer which version of similar, but different, extreme metal is Jason and Imran's favourite. Using Pantera's most dark, extreme, violent release, The Great Southern Trendkill  and Gojira's -  From Mars To Sirius , one of the benchmarks for modern, 21st Century death metal.  The team also meet the newest member of the Moshpit crew for 2022, Darcy Thomas....

Not just timeless Nu Metal. Linkin Park -  Hybrid Theory and System Of A Down -  Toxicity could be considered the gateway albums to millions of young metalheads today. Putting them against each other one-on-one makes for an interesting battle indeed. Which record did Imran & Jason gravitate towards?  Plus, Imran requested that he and Jason invite the final member of his band, Fl...

It's a Henry Rollins special, where Jason and Imran properly explore a full length studio album by his bands, Black Flag and The Rollins Band for the first time. Hannah's back for her forth 'Standoff with the pair, and it was her call to make this battle between  My War  and  The End of Silence . Anything musical with Rollins in it is sure to be intense, and these two albums bring t...

Thank You Taylor Hawkins. Foo Fighters Forever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the first podcast of 2022, key pillars of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement go head-to-head. Iron Maiden -  Piece Of Mind  vs Judas Priest -  Screaming For Vengeance . Released within a year of each other, both albums took each band's next step in conquering the music world, where both  Piece Of Mind  and  Screaming For Vengeance  saw an ever incre...

In a podcast capitalising on a ship that sailed two years ago, Jason and Imran break down the Tool and System Of A Down albums that following their release, started a 13 year streak of no new music,  10,000 Days and  Hypnotize . Imran, being a super fan of both bands, was so excited about this battle and 'tis being the holiday season, he invited his bandmate, Nick, to take part in the di...

Jason and Imran conclude their second grunge exploration and their trilogy of battles with Hannah with Mother Love Bone - Apple vs Temple Of The Dog - T emple Of The Dog,  where it all began. Apple  is the only full length studio album Mother Love Bone ever released as days before dropping, frontman, Andrew Wood died from an overdose. In tribute, Soundgarden singer, Chris Cornell (also a...

Grunge Month  is back so Jason & Imran can dissect albums that created the soundtrack to millions of grunge fans that weren't part of the Big 4. Instead, they turn their attention to Stone Temple Pilots debut album  Core and the fuzzy second album of The Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream . And since Jason and Imran both really enjoyed having Hannah Pratt, member of the  Mosh...

Punk stalwarts Ramones and The Clash go head-to-head. In one corner representing the Ramones is 1977's  Rocket to Russia , and in the other, representing The Clash is 1979's London Calling . The third albums of each band were explored and examined by Jason and Imran for the very first time, and to help them along is one of Moshpit on SYN's 2021 presenting team, fanatic punk rocker, Hannah Pra...

These two albums link together more than you might think. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue, the first album since the death of front man, Layne Staley and the studio introduction of William DuVall will collide with the debut Alter Bridge album, One Day Remains,  a band born from the break up of Creed and the album that brought the emphatic first step for one of the biggest stalwarts...

What the hell are The Beatles and The Rolling Stones doing on The Great Metal Standoff ?  In our 20th episode spectacular, Jason, Imran and long time previous contributor, Salomae, making her first appearance on the show in over a year, take a moment to acknowledge and marvel at the two bands who inspired almost every band that came after them, many of which are the bands that the three know...

The team of Jason, Imran and local Melbourne bass player, Daniel Cesarini have reassembled for another deep dive into the legacy of Ronnie James Dio and have gone and made it all the more challenging. Tasking themselves in finding a winner between the second albums across three stages of his legendary career. Black Sabbath -  Mob Rules vs Rainbow -  Rising vs Dio -  The Last In Line...

Wow! What an ambitious battle this is. A wild, dark, dingy, noisy adventure sees Faith No More's anti- Epic album  Angel Dust go one-on-one with industrial innovator, Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral . Jason wanted Imran on for his 7th 'Standoff  to break down what makes these ear-catching soundscapes so great. And joining them is their first non-music guest, the man behind internet...

In a battle of the debuts, who out of Exodus - Bonded By Blood and Annihilator - Alice In Hell   left the bigger first impression on the world in the ever expanding underground thrash world of metal in the mid to late 1980's. Moshpit On SYN  EP for 2021, Ben Holt, joins Jason for his third battle on the Standoff to break down why he thinks both records are all-time greats and metal essen...

2020 deserves to end with a battle deserving of its awfulness, Nickelback - Silver Side Up  vs Creed -  Human Clay . Let's rip them apart, share a laugh and find out which is the 'least worse' on  The Great Metal Standoff's holiday special. Jason will be joined by Moshpit 's Ben & Jacob, and... Wait... Ben's actually a fan of Nickelback AND Creed? Well, this changes everything....

Avenged Sevenfold's divisive 2013 album Hail To The King steps into battle against Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter  from 2014. A battle that was suggested by Jason's guest, Executive Producer of SYN's flagship gaming show 'Player One'  for 2020, Connor Matthews. Hear him tell some stories of how both A7X and Slipknot shaped the soundtrack of his high school life. But with diehard fans of...

It's the first official 'Prog' battle, and the first concept battle. Dream Theater 'Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory ' goes one-on-one with Queensryche ' Operation: Mindcrime ". Jason is joined by Moshpit's newest contributor Ben, and the Executive Producer of SYN's local arts & culture show ' Art Smitten ', Tom Denham. To help dissect what makes the music and stories put both of these r...