Ratings go from:

WORSHIP ❤️❤️❤️: Absolute greatness, a mindblowing album.
LOVE ❤️❤️🖤: Amazing release with very few flaws.
LIKE ❤️🖤🖤: Enjoyable but far from perfect.
DISLIKE 💔: Not very good or maybe not fitting my tastes.

I've decided to stop rating albums with a numerical value as I tend to feel uncomfortable with that. This list has a minimalistic, subjective and visceral approach, based purely on sensations and personal tastes. Mainly for personal use and doesn't pretend to be a serious ranking, but emerges from the need to remember which bands and albums I enjoyed and the ones I disliked. I constantly revisit new releases so first impressions may change over time. It usually takes 8-10 spins for me to get completely sure of a rating.

1.Æther Realm - Tarot

2.Abhoria - Abhoria

3.Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops

4.Agrypnie - Metamorphosis

5.Allegaeon - Fragments Of Form And Function

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What seems the most important albums for me in chronological order.
I wish I could carry the list year after year to see how my tastes changed and new findings.
I can help but notice that old albums immediately strike me, while in recent times most albums are good but nothing is groundbreaking. We have a tide of releases in the last decades, and standing above the other requires an impossible lot of talent.
Or is it my listen habbits that changed ? I felts I listened to the old albums albums for a lifetime while I'm only surface checking the new ones. Too little time, too little time to truly live...
Also the mixing technology, the sound is too flat nowadays and lack impact and personnality

1.Frank Zappa - Freak Out

2.The Who - Tommy

3.Frank Zappa - Uncle Meat

4.Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

5.King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King

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The eighties was the most productive decade in metal history, the biggest bands born during this decade Iron Maiden, Dio, Slayer, Death, Metallica… for named a few.
The eighties starts with the NWOBHM invasion and new releases from the classic heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Judas Priest with renewed sound and heaviness.
New genres of metal start’s in the 80’s Speed Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal , the rise and fall of the Glam Rock and the first sign in what dominated the nineties alternative and Grunge.
The most representative records in the end of the 80’s

1.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

2.Testament - Practice What You Preach

3.King Diamond - Conspiracy

4.Death - Leprosy

5.Voivod - Nothingface

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1.Metallica - Metallica

2.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

3.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

4.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

5.Metallica - Garage Inc.

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The albums below is my definition of extreme metal music, regardless of their genre. Entire list is based only on my personal preferences in metal.
Rules:
1. One album per band
2. 305 groups/305 albums

1.In Flames - Clayman

2.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

3.Chimaira - Chimaira

4.Death - Symbolic

5.Testament - The New Order

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Here are some albums that used to be replayed in my MC-player hundreds of times when I was 16. Some of them keep listening till now, some I won't ever listen to again. Some good, some bad, some rather unexpected, but all of them pirated.

1.Aggressor - Of Long Duration Anguish

2.Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus

3.Amorphis - Elegy

4.Brutality - When The Sky Turns Black

5.Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

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Last updated on 11 April 2024.

1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

3.Wintersun - Wintersun

4.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

5.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

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Note: Tool intentionally ommitted because they don't consider themselves metal. Otherwise you'd see their first 4 albums in top 25.

Last updated: 27 March 2024.

1.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Opeth - Blackwater Park

4.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

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All my favourite songs ranked in order best down.

1.Rush - 2112

2.Deep Purple - In Rock

3.Jethro Tull - Aqualung

4.Rainbow - Rising

5.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

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Plus my top three favourite tracks from each release. \m/

Honourable mentions:
Crimson Glory - Transcendence (Power/Prog)
Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What? (Thrash)
Pestilence - Malleus Maleficarum (Death/Thrash)
Manowar - Kings Of Metal (Power)
Exodus - Fabulous Disaster (Thrash)
Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries (Doom)

1.Death - Leprosy

2.Slayer - South Of Heaven

3.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

4.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

5.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

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1.King Diamond - "Them"

2.Death - Human

3.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

4.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

5.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

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These are my favorite opening songs of all time. When I listened to them, I was instantly hooked! Whether it starts with a slow instrumental build-up or an aggressive assault of riffs, these openers set the tone for the rest of their respective albums. Enjoy!

1.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

2.Judas Priest - Painkiller

3.Summoning - Minas Morgul

4.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

5.Testament - The Legacy

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There are various types of album closers: those that combine everything from the beginning of the album (Recharging the Void), the last punch in the face (Dyers Eve), the standout best song of the album (Hallowed Be Thy Name), the melancholy instrumental outro (No Dreams Breed in Breathless Sleep), and many other types!
These are my favorite album finishers! Enjoy!

1.Vektor - Terminal Redux

2.Death - Symbolic

3.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

4.Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

5.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

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I love instrumentals (songs without vocals)!
One doesn't need words to convey a message and evoke emotions. Instrumentals also show how metal is very closely related to classical music!
These are my favorite instrumental songs. (There are some songs that contain a few spoken words. These I denote with *)
Suggestions are appreciated! Enjoy!

1.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

2.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

3.Summoning - Minas Morgul

4.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

5.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

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These are my favorite metal albums of all time! To enter this list, the album must be out for at least a year, as I feel it gives me the time to really digest the record and fully comprehend its meaning. If you have any recommendations on albums that I might enjoy, considering the ones on this list, please leave your suggestions.

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

3.Opeth - Ghost Reveries

4.Sepultura - Beneath The Remains

5.Rivers Of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name

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