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My Favorite 40 Metal Albums Ever (+5...)


Overhauled as of May 10th, 2012! Top 5 favorite non-metal albums featured at the bottom.

This is a much improved (and more recently accurate) reworking of my previous favorite albums list, with a few albums added and a couple dropped entirely. They are in order of preference, though changes and the possibility of total equals are still in play. I've axed my undescriptive commentary but kept my genre and favorite song catgories.

Anyway, this is just my opinion, so please enjoy!

Created by: strade | 15.02.2011



1. Crimson Glory - Transcendence
1988 (Prog/power. Best track: Burning Bridges)
2. Anubis Gate - The Detached
2009 (Prog. Best track: A Lifetime to Share)
3. Artillery - By Inheritance
1990 (Tech Thrash. Best track: Bombfood)
4. Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory
1986 (Power. Best track: Dragon Lady)
5. Metal Church - Hanging In The Balance
1993 (Thrash/trad. Best track : Waiting For a Savior)
6. Savatage - Hall Of The Mountain King
1987 (Power. Best track: Beyond the Doors of the Dark)
7. King Diamond - Abigail
1987 (Power/black/thrash. Best track: A Mansion in Darkness)
8. Agalloch - The Mantle
2002 (Progessive Folk/Black. Best track: In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion)
9. Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
1985 (Prog/power. Best track: The Apparition)
10. Fates Warning - Awaken The Guardian
1986 (Prog power. Best track: Fata Morgana)
11. Kamelot - The Black Halo
2005 (Power. Best track: The Haunting)
12. Warning - Watching From A Distance
2007 (Doom. Best track: Watching From a Distance)
13. Znowhite - Act Of God
1988 (Thrash. Best track: To the Last Breath)
14. Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
1988 (Power. Best track: I Don't Believe in Love)
15. Iron Maiden - Powerslave
1984 (Trad. Best track: The Duelists)
16. Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
2010 (Black/post rock. Best track: Night Sight)
17. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
2005 (Prog thrash/groove. Best song: Bittersweet Feast)
18. Death - Symbolic
1995 (Prog death. Best track: Empty Words)
19. Labyrinth - Return To Heaven Denied
1998 (Power. Best track: State of Grace)
20. Megadeth - Rust In Peace
1990 (Thrash. Best track: Tornado of Souls)
21. Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath
1984 (Trad/black. Best track: A Dangerous Meeting)
22. Iron Maiden - Killers
1981 (Trad/punk. Can't pick one song, again)
23. Lizzy Borden - Visual Lies
1987 (Power/glam. Best track: Visual Lies)
24. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
2009 (Alt./doom. Best track: Departer)
25. Edge Of Sanity - Crimson
1996 (Prog death. Best track: hmm... Can't decide.)
26. Into Eternity - Buried In Oblivion
2003 (Tech Melodic death. Best track: Beginning of the End)
27. Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh
2008 (Death/groove. Best track: A Sight to Behold)
28. Watchtower - Control And Resistance
1989 (Tech thrash. Best track: The Fall of Reason)
29. Forbidden - Twisted Into Form
1990 (Mel. thrash. Best track: Infinite)
30. Helloween - Walls Of Jericho
1986 (Speed/power. Best track: How Many Tears)
31. Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit
2010 (Black/folk. Best track: Black Lake Nidstång)
32. Fates Warning - Parallels
1991 (Prog/power. Best track: We Only Say Goodbye)
33. Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath
2003 (Power/prog. Best track: Lost in the Depths of Me)
34. Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
2007 (Post-black/shoegaze. Best experienced as a whole)
35. X Japan - Dahlia
1996 (J-rock/metal. Best track: Longing)
36. Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction
1984 (Power. Best track: Harder Than Steel)
37. Kreator - Coma Of Souls
1990 (Mel. thrash. Best track: Hidden Dictator)
38. Septicflesh - The Great Mass
2011 (Symph. death. Best track: Oceans of Grey)
39. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
2009 (Stoner/doom. Best track: Crack the Skye)
40. Anubis Gate - Andromeda Unchained
2007 (Power/prog. Best track: Beyond Redemption)
41. -----------------TOP 5 NON-METAL ALBUMS-----------------
42. #1: The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
1986
43. #2: Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
1986
44. #3: Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting
1990
45. #4: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
2002
46. #5: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix
2009



Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
[ More lists by strade ]



Comments

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Comments: 16   Visited by: 188 users
12.09.2011 - 17:29
Mountain King
K i K o
You have Control Denied twice...
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13.09.2011 - 00:41
strade

Written by Mountain King on 12.09.2011 at 17:29

You have Control Denied twice...


Because it's so amazing!
No, but seriously, thanks, how the fuck did that happen...
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My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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13.09.2011 - 00:50
Mountain King
K i K o
Written by strade on 13.09.2011 at 00:41

Written by Mountain King on 12.09.2011 at 17:29

You have Control Denied twice...


Because it's so amazing!
No, but seriously, thanks, how the fuck did that happen...

No problem. What's the album replacing it?
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13.09.2011 - 00:53
Mountain King
K i K o
Written by Mountain King on 13.09.2011 at 00:50

Written by strade on 13.09.2011 at 00:41

Written by Mountain King on 12.09.2011 at 17:29

You have Control Denied twice...


Because it's so amazing!
No, but seriously, thanks, how the fuck did that happen...

No problem. What's the album replacing it?

Killers?
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13.09.2011 - 00:55
strade

Written by Mountain King on 13.09.2011 at 00:53

Written by Mountain King on 13.09.2011 at 00:50

Written by strade on 13.09.2011 at 00:41

Written by Mountain King on 12.09.2011 at 17:29

You have Control Denied twice...


Because it's so amazing!
No, but seriously, thanks, how the fuck did that happen...

No problem. What's the album replacing it?

Killers?


No, that was always in there. Andromeda Unchained moved up the into the top 40 after that departure.
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My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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13.05.2012 - 03:47
Guib
Thrash Talker
Yeaaah Nice list man ! totally agree on Killers, Powerslave, Operation Mindcrime, Twisted To Form, Don't Break The Oath, Coma Of Souls, Rust In Piece, Symbolic, Crack The Skye, By Inheritance, Hall Of The Mountain King... uh yeah well I guess I agree with you alot +1
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- Headbanging with mostly clogged arteries to that stuff -
Guib's List Of Essential Albums
- Also Thrash Paradise
Thrash Here
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13.05.2012 - 03:50
strade

Written by Guib on 13.05.2012 at 03:47

Yeaaah Nice list man ! totally agree on Killers, Powerslave, Operation Mindcrime, Twisted To Form, Don't Break The Oath, Coma Of Souls, Rust In Piece, Symbolic, Crack The Skye, By Inheritance, Hall Of The Mountain King... uh yeah well I guess I agree with you alot +1


Thank you! I could tell we'd agree on a lot.
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My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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13.05.2012 - 03:54
Guib
Thrash Talker
Written by strade on 13.05.2012 at 03:50

Written by Guib on 13.05.2012 at 03:47

Yeaaah Nice list man ! totally agree on Killers, Powerslave, Operation Mindcrime, Twisted To Form, Don't Break The Oath, Coma Of Souls, Rust In Piece, Symbolic, Crack The Skye, By Inheritance, Hall Of The Mountain King... uh yeah well I guess I agree with you alot +1


Thank you! I could tell we'd agree on a lot.


eh eh eh I know
----
- Headbanging with mostly clogged arteries to that stuff -
Guib's List Of Essential Albums
- Also Thrash Paradise
Thrash Here
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16.05.2012 - 18:20
IronAngel

The Colour of Spring, really? That's unexpected. People usually consider Laughing Stock to be their crowning achievement, and I'm very much partial to Spirit of Eden myself. As a rare band that grew progressively more ambitious and "out there" (and less successful, commercially) with each record, I've never considered their older albums to be of much lasting signifigance.

Then again, you also rate NitND as the best Katatonia album, over Discouraged Ones, Dance of December Souls etc. So props for originality!
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17.05.2012 - 01:10
strade

Written by IronAngel on 16.05.2012 at 18:20

The Colour of Spring, really? That's unexpected. People usually consider Laughing Stock to be their crowning achievement, and I'm very much partial to Spirit of Eden myself. As a rare band that grew progressively more ambitious and "out there" (and less successful, commercially) with each record, I've never considered their older albums to be of much lasting signifigance.

Then again, you also rate NitND as the best Katatonia album, over Discouraged Ones, Dance of December Souls etc. So props for originality!


The first two Talk Talk albums were definitely not historically significant, but I'll never see The Colour of Spring as anything less than an organic, emotional masterpiece. It perfectly bridges the memorable tunes of their early days and the natural experimentation of their later, genre-shaping records. I love Spirit of Eden almost as much (it might make my top 10), but I've never fully gotten into Laughing Stock.

As for Katatonia, I have no grand explanation for my beliefs. I just love the atmosphere, mood, and songwriting of that album. But thanks!
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My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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17.05.2012 - 10:11
Warman
Erotic Stains
Since when is Operation: Mindcrime a power metal album?
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17.05.2012 - 18:24
strade

Written by Warman on 17.05.2012 at 10:11

Since when is Operation: Mindcrime a power metal album?


Queensryche is (was) a US power metal band. Their only semi-progressive metal album was The Warning with Rage For Order still containing a few experimental parts. I believe that the term 'prog' for Operation: Mindcrime is completely wrong; there's almost nothing progressive about the album at all. And it's not just a time period/proto thing: Fates Warning was doing making much more progressive music years earlier with The Spectre Within and Awaken the Guardian. Aside from Suite Sister Mary and parts of The Mission, the album relies on simple A-B-A-B song structures and simple riffs, not to mention commercially driven songs. Keep in mind we're talking white collar US power metal here, a style which really doesn't exist today.

But who cares about labels anyway when it's an awesome album!?
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My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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27.07.2012 - 03:06
The Galactician

Nice. Hell, I even agree with your Smiths choice. Big thumbs up!
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01.03.2014 - 23:30
Gawain
Account deleted
Damn, 2 years ago is the last comment. (yoda mode engaged or something brain?)

anyways, LOTS of bands added on my to-listen list from this!
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07.11.2021 - 16:22
F3ynman2000
Nocturnal Bro
I like your best song choices - they're not the usual ones one would expect, but they're some of my favorites as well (Bombfood, Beyond the Doors of the Dark, The Duellists)
And I agree with you. It's hard to choose the best song on Crimson.
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07.11.2021 - 16:28
JoHn Doe

Nice list
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I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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