I feel like my overall favorites list is getting too long. I'm splitting it up by rating.

1.Amon Amarth - Jomsviking

2.Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia

3.Skepticism - Ordeal

4.Funeral Mist - Devilry

5.Zeal & Ardor - Zeal And Ardor

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Right... Let's get this out of the way from the get-go. Alternative metal is hard to define. I guess that comes from it always wanting to experiment, explore and fuse heavy metal with non-metal music genres. It also makes it an ever changing and growing genre.

Also, before you guys flood me, yes my list contains a lot of Industrial & Nu Metal bands, as well as other genre.. As far as I'm concerned, my picks all fit quite well in the scope of an alternative metal list. Don't you agree? Wait... You disagree? Well, let's agree to disagree and move on.

As for the list itself, I'm going to try and list through time what I (me, myself & moi) consider as essential alternative albums. I will also limit myself to a maximum of 4 releases each year to prevent a messy list, which often makes it a difficult decision, especially in the early 2000's. So yes, it is possible your personal favourite won't be featured. You can tell me all about it in the comments below and we can discuss it, even argue it.

Now, have fun, enjoy my list and let me know what you think or would personally put in your favourite alt-metal list!

-Guib-

EDIT: I will now add my pick for best album of each year using the (best of xxxx) in the chosen album's description.

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Guib's Best Alternative Metal Album Picks

Best Of 2022
Polyphia - Remember That You Will Die

Best Of 2023
Mutoid Man - Mutants

Best of 2024 So Far
...tbd

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Last Updated: March 27th, 2024

1.Living Colour - Vivid

2.Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking

3.Faith No More - The Real Thing

4.Godflesh - Streetcleaner

5.L7 - Smell The Magic

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Limiting my picks to one album per band (otherwise it would have been a much larger list), here are my top 50 favorite metal albums of all time including my favorite track for each album:

1.Stratovarius - Episode

2.Angra - Angels Cry

3.Helloween - Better Than Raw

4.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

5.Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark

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1.Wintersun - Wintersun

2.Forefather - Ours Is The Kingdom

3.Mastodon - Leviathan

4.Motörhead - Inferno

5.Amon Amarth - Fate Of Norns

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1.Pain Of Salvation - Remedy Lane

2.Evergrey - The Inner Circle

3.Dark Tranquillity - Haven

4.Pain Of Salvation - The Perfect Element, Part I

5.Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World

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This is a list of all the death metal albums I have listened to that I thought were at all worth remembering. Like my other genre lists, this is just a record of my own listening experience that I use for personal organization, not a definitive account of the best or all of the death metal out there; there will probably be albums or bands that are not death metal in the strictest sense. You'll find some OSDM, melodeath, tech death, death-doom, maybe a bit of deathcore, I don't know. Maybe some non-death metal albums by death metal bands that I put in here just because.

1.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

2.Death - Symbolic

3.At The Gates - With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness

4.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

5.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

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1.In Flames - Clayman

2.In Flames - Soundtrack To Your Escape

3.In Flames - Reroute To Remain

4.In Flames - Colony

5.In Flames - Whoracle

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Must Listen: The First 11

1.Evergrey - The Inner Circle

2.In Flames - Soundtrack To Your Escape

3.Ayreon - The Human Equation

4.Nightwish - Once

5.Wastefall - Soulrain 21

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Constantly evolving list of my favorite metal albums from the 2000s

1.Trivium - Shogun

2.Opeth - Watershed

3.Tool - Lateralus

4.Deftones - White Pony

5.Trivium - Ascendancy

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In Flames was the band that opened the gateway to the metal dimension for me, 15 years ago. I've recently rediscovered them, giving even their newer albums serious consideration, after being separated for about 10 years, and as such, I think they deserve a list of their own, best to worst, with some comments. I included the two EPs "The Mirror's Truth" and "Subterranean", as they contain more than one new original song. Unfortunately this excludes two of my favourite IF songs, Goliaths Disarm Their Davids and Watch Them Feed. Compiling this list, I realise I very much look forward to IF's next release!

1.In Flames - Colony

2.In Flames - The Jester Race

3.In Flames - Subterranean

4.In Flames - Reroute To Remain

5.In Flames - Battles

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1.In Flames - Whoracle

2.In Flames - The Jester Race

3.In Flames - Colony

4.In Flames - Clayman

5.In Flames - Come Clarity

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1.AC/DC - Back In Black

2.AC/DC - High Voltage

3.AC/DC - Highway To Hell

4.Accept - Blood Of The Nations

5.Allen/Lande - The Showdown

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Simple ranking of all my favorite albums. Favorite song from the album in the notes. Sure to change/expand as I learn and explore more within metal.
2023: This was starting to get too long so I split it into separate lists for albums at each ranking 10 to 7. This list will no longer be updated.
10: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6891
9: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=7213
8: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=7512
7: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=8058

1.Madder Mortem - Eight Ways

2.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

3.Ayreon - 01011001

4.Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All

5.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

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NO MORE ARGUMENTS ABOUT OPETH EDITION!

Ever had that one album that a band has made that everybody just passes off as being decent while you see it as a masterpiece? Well, here are (in no particular order) the albums that I feel deserve much more attention than what they got from their fanbases.

1.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

2.Queensrÿche - Promised Land

3.Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold

4.Queen - Innuendo

5.System Of A Down - Steal This Album!

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Some albums are really good. Many of these are good all the way around. And, in many cases, there is a single song that stands out, sometimes it's the last song on the album. This is a list of those songs.

For a more in depth look at this, I've codified each into a given category:
Type 1 - 'The long song at the end.' Often the title track. These have a tendency to be most well written and dynamic pieces on the album.

1.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)

2.Abigail Williams - Becoming

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Amon Amarth - Versus The World

5.Anekdoten - Vemod

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