My favourite EPs -- well, not that many after all, I am just not too much into EPs in general.
But these few would probably qualify as my favourite ones of all time, listed in order of preference.

1.Slayer - Haunting The Chapel

2.Mercyful Fate - Mercyful Fate

3.Anathema - The Crestfallen EP

4.My Dying Bride - The Manuscript

5.Savatage - The Dungeons Are Calling

      View entire list ››

To me, an EP is a release of original music under 30m in length.

Score is an average of each EP's song ratings, full list located here (only new original songs included).

If you discovered any new EPs or like the same sort of metal, be sure to give this list a thumbs-up and leave a comment so more people can find these amazing bands!

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

1.Nine Inch Nails - Broken

2.Galneryus - 絆

3.Insomnium - Songs Of The Dusk

4.As I Lay Dying - Decas

5.Necromantia - Ancient Pride

      View entire list ››

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

      View entire list ››

2005-2009 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5838
2010-2014 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5828
2015-2019 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6722

I sure do love this site and it's rating system, it makes finding great music so easy and, even more importantly, when an album is overlooked for a while but starts getting a buzz a few months later, boom, there it appears in the top 20.

All that being said, I still wish there was some way to get a weighted ranking that not only takes the rating of the album into account, but also the number of votes that were cast. For example, an album with a rating of 8.8 and 1000 votes would rank higher than an album with a rating of 8.9 and 20 votes. So, I scraped all the albums on the site with at least 1 vote into a database. Then, taking a leaf out of IMDb's book, I used Bayesian estimation (like the IMDb's Top 250) to calculate a weighted rating for each album based on its Metal Storm rating and the number of votes it had received.

The formula for calculating the Top 100 Albums gives a true Bayesian estimate:
Bayes rating (BR) = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) where:
C = average expected rating given...
m = minimum number of votes
R = average rating for the album = (Metal Storm rating)
N = number of votes for the album = (votes)

The way the Bayesian estimator works is that all albums in the database are given and additional m fake votes with an average rating of C, irrespective of how many true votes it already has. Then a new weighted rating is calculated...
If the album has no true votes ( N = 0 ), then BR = ( C × m + R × 0 ) ÷ ( m + 0) = C × m ÷ m = C (the average expected rating).
If the album has a number of true votes equal to the minimum ( N = m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × m ) ÷ ( m + m ) = ( C + R ) × m ÷ 2m = ( C + R ) ÷ 2 (halfway between the two ratings).
If the album has a very large number of true votes ( N >> m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) ≈ R × N ÷ N = R (the Metal Storm rating).
This means that the Bayes rating will never equal the Metal Storm rating but will approach it as the true votes grow arbitrarily large.

Now that the maths bit is out of the way, here was my methodology:
Only Studio and EP album types, from the years 2000 to 2004, with at least 1 vote, were included.
The average expected rating (C) was determined by averaging all the Metal Storm ratings from 2000-2004.
The minimum number of votes (m) was determined by calculating the 75th percentile of the votes, rounded to the nearest 10.
I also decided that if an album's Bayes rating was within 0.005 of #100, it would be included too; hence the +5.

C for 2000-2004 = 7.599
m = 30

Number of albums from each year in the list:
2000 - 15
2001 - 27
2002 - 14
2003 - 20
2004 - 29

Ratings are accurate as of 30/10/2023

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Tool - Lateralus

4.Wintersun - Wintersun

5.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

      View entire list ››

1.Ulver - A Quick Fix Of Melancholy

2.Dream Theater - A Change Of Seasons

3.Cradle Of Filth - Vempire

4.Vader - The Art Of War

5.Darkestrah - Khagan

      View entire list ››

1.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum

2.Theatre Of Tragedy - Theatre Of Tragedy

3.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

4.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

5.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

      View entire list ››

1.Saviour Machine - Saviour Machine I

2.Tiamat - Prey

3.Forest Of Shadows - Where Dreams Turn To Dust

4.Helevorn - Forthcoming Displeasures

5.Amon Amarth - Once Sent From The Golden Hall

      View entire list ››

The saddest albums I've ever heard in alphabetical order.

1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Ahab - The Giant

4.Aoria - The Constant

5.An Autumn For Crippled Children - Everything

      View entire list ››

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Lacrimas Profundere - Burning: A Wish

3.Moonspell - Darkness And Hope

4.My Dying Bride - The Dreadful Hours

5.Therion - Secret Of The Runes

      View entire list ››

1.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Katatonia - Discouraged Ones

4.My Dying Bride - The Angel And The Dark River

5.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

      View entire list ››

1.Bleed From Within - Fracture

2.Shadow Of Intent - Elegy

3.Kardashev - Liminal Rite

4.Orbit Culture - Nija

5.Imminence - Turn The Light On

      View entire list ››

1.Mindrot - Dawning

2.October Tide - Rain Without End

3.Morgion - Solinari

4.Cathedral - Forest Of Equilibrium

5.Mournful Congregation - The June Frost

      View entire list ››

1.Devin Townsend - Terria

2.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

3.Lost Horizon - Awakening The World

4.Opeth - Blackwater Park

5.Ark - Burn The Sun

      View entire list ››

Some EPs out there are really just throw away tracks, and others are just demo tracks, but there are some EPs that are pure gold. These EPs are albums that despite lacking in song count, lack nothing in quality, and become an essential part of the bands discography, these are the EPs that I believe belong in that last category. These appear in no specific order.

1.Apothys - Advent: Doom

2.Disillusion - The Porter

3.Disillusion - Three Neuron Kings

4.Dream Theater - A Change Of Seasons

5.Ensiferum - Dragonheads

      View entire list ››