While 1987 woke me up to metal and I hoovered up the likes of Iron Maiden, Metallica and Helloween’s keepers, 1988 was my metal heyday and a year that produced albums that would still dominiate my top 20 list today. Lots of power metal and plenty of Noise Records!

1.Manowar - Kings Of Metal

2.Scanner - Hypertrace

3.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

4.Candlemass - Ancient Dreams

5.Riot - ThunderSteel

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Welcome to what I consider the "1980s Metal Bible" or in other words, a list of records of various genres in the arrays of Metal and Hard Rock that I deem essential or at least very recommended to listeners of hard and heavy music. In this second part we conquer the mighty decade that many deem as the classic decade of Metal. This and the other parts of this journey through the decades may be a very overwhelming list. I essentially try to collect all albums in the History of Metal that strike me as worthwhile. May this be a guideline for people that seek for an entrance to a particular genre or certain bands. In no means I am saying, that this list is indisputable by any means. I consider these my personal picks for albums that should be listened to by die-hard metal fans at least once. Hopefully you can discover some new music or relate with my picks. If I missed something that you would include in such a list, please tell me in the form of a comment. Enjoy! \,,/

1.Tygers Of Pan Tang - Wild Cat

2.Krokus - Metal Rendez-Vous

3.Witchfynde - Give 'Em Hell

4.Angel Witch - Angel Witch

5.Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz

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Welcome to what I consider the "1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" or in other words, a list of records of various genres in the arrays of Metal and Hard Rock that I deem essential or at least very recommended to listeners of hard and heavy music. This may be a very overwhelming list but I essentially try to collect all albums in the History of Metal that strike me as worthwhile. May this be a guideline for people that seek for an entrance to a particular genre or certain bands. In no means I am saying, that this list is indisputable by any means. I consider these my personal picks for albums that should be listened to by die-hard metal fans at least once. Hopefully you can discover some new music or relate with my picks. If I missed something that you would include in such a list, please tell me in the form of a comment. Enjoy! \,,/

1.High Tide - Sea Shanties

2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

4.Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come

5.Josefus - Dead Man

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Just for completist

1.Criminal - Dead Soul

2.Extol - Mesmerized

3.Zloslut - Sahar

4.OHM - Amino Acid

5.Pain And Passion - Don't Think Tomorrow

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1.Human Fortress - Defenders Of The Crown

2.Scanner - Hypertrace

3.Manowar - Into Glory Ride

4.Ancient Bards - The Alliance Of The Kings - The Black Crystal Sword Saga Part 1

5.Rage - Perfect Man

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1.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

2.Manowar - Kings Of Metal

3.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

4.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

5.Crimson Glory - Transcendence

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This list aims to be the counterpart to the Metal Storm Top 200 Albums (plus a few extras).

If you discover a new band or already like any of ones here, please give this list a thumbs up and/or leave a comment so we can get these overlooked gems in front of more people.

Criteria:
• High-quality musicianship (i.e. 9-10/10 IMO)
• 1 album per band

Ordered by number of votes then MS rating.

As these are albums with a low number of votes, the rating is likely to change frequently. I will update this list as often as I can.

Updated: 29-Jan-24

My other lists:
Top 500 Albums (ordered & rated)
Top 25 EPs (also ordered & rated)
Top 200 Overrated Albums (trigger warning)
So I Heard You Like Wintersun... (Time II find new bands)

1.Solipsist - The Human Equation

2.Ayahuasca - Beneath The Mind

3.Cryptomnesia - Primordial Oddity

4.Element (USA) - The Energy

5.Telepathy - 12 Areas

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Updated 14.4.2024

My rather personal and improvised take on the subject matter. The list is pretty wage, I'll be updating it a lot and the order might vary a little depending on some things, but they're all great and awesome records no matter what. If there are some great records missing, that doesn't necessarily mean I consider them bad, maybe I just forgot about them or just haven't listened to them enough to consider them personal favourites.

Limited to metal and rock albums found on Metal Storm. Most of them (at least 90%) are anyway, so doesn't matter. The absent ones are mostly more pop and synth oriented stuff and some really obscure jazz and fusion albums.

1.Marillion - Marbles

2.Anathema - Weather Systems

3.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

4.Moonsorrow - Voimasta Ja Kunniasta

5.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

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Six albums and five different singers and probably equally many or even more on all the other instruments. The only solid standing stone is guitarist and song writer Axel Julius. Luckily he's a great song writer so the changes in the lineup makes no difference. Six albums, all worth listening to for any fan of heavy/power/speed metal. Scanner is one of those names that never really got any recognition but still shows up on obscure festival bills 30 years after the debut and that always warms my heart. As of now i'm only hoping for a seventh album, and hopefully they keep their current singer as he has a great voice for this kind of music.

1.Scanner - Hypertrace

2.Scanner - Mental Reservation

3.Scanner - Terminal Earth

4.Scanner - Ball Of The Damned

5.Scanner - The Judgement

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This is a list of all the power metal albums I have listened to that are worth remembering. Like my other genre lists, this is not meant to be a definitive guide to power metal or a binding judgment on what power metal is or is not. The list exists purely for my own organizational purposes and may contain bands or albums that are not strictly True Knights of the Eternal Thundersword.

The first cluster includes my favorite albums in the genre (and a significant number of my all-time favorites); beyond that, they are listed by rating from 9/10 down to 6/10 and alphabetically within each bracket.

Last updated November 27, 2021.

1.Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth

2.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

3.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

4.Jag Panzer - Thane To The Throne

5.X Japan - Art Of Life

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1.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

2.Crimson Glory - Transcendence

3.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

4.Riot V - Thundersteel

5.Slayer - South Of Heaven

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The best decade in history of heavy metal.

1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

3.Accept - Breaker

4.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

5.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I

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One of the best year in history of heavy metal music.

1.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

2.Scanner - Hypertrace

3.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

4.Angel Dust - To Dust You Will Decay

5.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

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Since many of you felt annoyed by my previous list title I changed it and hopefully you will be ok with it.Power up everybody!!!

1.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

2.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

3.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I

4.Riot - ThunderSteel

5.Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free

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***Currently working through suggestions and adding some spacey non-metal things when they cross my mind***
As a lover of all things sci-fi I find metal to be the most accommodating of genres when it comes to themes of space/aliens. This is a list of those albums which use this theme and/or evoke an overall 'spacey' atmosphere and which I find particularly intriguing and enjoyable. No order for now and a work in progress (recommendations most welcome) Last Updated: 9th April 2014

1.Atoma - Skylight

2.Ayreon - The Universal Migrator Part I: The Dream Sequencer

3.Dol Ammad - Star Tales

4.Star One - Space Metal

5.Pagan's Mind - Enigmatic : Calling

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