Best Folkish albums I've heard so far...!! Please feel free to post your Suggestions!!

1.Agalloch - The Mantle

2.Ensiferum - Iron

3.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

4.Blackmore's Night - Under A Violet Moon

5.Blackmore's Night - Shadow Of The Moon

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Only 1 album per band;
Rating:
1.-8.: 10
9.-32.: 9
33.-50.: 8

1.Subway To Sally - Herzblut

2.Skyclad - The Silent Whales Of Lunar Sea

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

5.Vicious Crusade - Forbidden Tunes

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I've been listening to Metal since 2005 and it has become my biggest passion in life.

Rarely a day goes by where I don't listen to it in one form or another. The bands I listened to in my teens inspired me to pick up the guitar (and later drums) and start making music of my own.

So here are the albums that have stood out and made the largest impact on me. To be as transparent as possible, I've labelled albums as 'nostalgia bias' where my memories of the album give it an advantage over others.

(Score is an average of each album's song ratings, full list located here. There are a ton of albums that I've rated 9/10 in the 'TBR' tab that may never make it to this list, be sure to check those out.)

If you discovered any new albums 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 25 EPs (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)

Genre-Specific:
Top 50 Black Metal Albums
Top 50 Melodic Death Metal Albums
Top 45 Thrash Metal Albums
Top 40 Power Metal Albums
Top 30 Doom Metal Albums
Top 30 Heavy Metal Albums

1.Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

4.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5.Opeth - Still Life

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Once upon a time, there was a metaller who dared to say : hey, let's put symphonies in our metal, dudes. The dudes thought it was stupid at first, then they tried and guess what? The result was WONDERFUL!!! Here are my 20 favourite symphonic metal albums, taken from all subgenres, from power to folk, black and death.

1.Equilibrium - Sagas

2.Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr

3.Septicflesh - Communion

4.Epica - Design Your Universe

5.Symphony X - Paradise Lost

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1.Equilibrium - Sagas

2.Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr

3.Moonlyght - Progressive Darkness

4.Windir - Arntor

5.Eluveitie - Everything Remains As It Never Was

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Hey Folks! It’s me… Again!

I’m coming back once more to explore the depths of a genre that arguably did not begin where you all thought it did! Yeah yeah… Alright, maybe Left Hand Path, Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious, Like An Ever Flowing Stream & The Red In The Sky Is Ours aren’t exactly the sound you would expect, but they were certainly a sign of something incredible that was about to happen. The birth of Melodic Death Metal!

Most of you, them, us… Would agree that Melodic Death metal really appeared in the form of Carcass’s 1993 album Heartwork. Even though some shades of what would become staples of the genre were heard before, this one would truly be the first album to be called as such. Mixing OSDM with more classic heavy metal styled riffs & melodies, our beloved genre (along with Thrash) would become for a lot of our teenage selves, a gateway into the more extreme bowels of metal’s subgenres. I would argue that it’s an almost obligatory step in the grand metalhead’s journey. Ah, how amazing it was to first taste the somewhat delicate sound of melodeath before rattling our ears with the obscenities & nonsensical wankery of grindcore, brutal tech-death, dissonant death and post metal… Rrrrright.

As you have become accustomed to by now, I will attempt to honour the genre by listing the absolute best Melodic Death metal albums to be ever released throughout the years. And I will do so starting with a few albums that are arguably not Melodic Death metal… Because I can and I did, hah! F*ck you! Along the way, you might stumble upon some strange & unorthodox choices mixing a plethora of other genres as well and that’s ok. Truly. Take it easy, don’t hyperventilate over it and just go with the flow. The main goal here is to help people who don’t know much about melodeath discover it and where it came from. I also want to push forward some less known jewels amongst highly praised landmarks of the style and sprinkle a bit of my personality along the way because that’s always fun. The albums will be ordered in years of release and there will be no other restriction or specific rules.

I hope you have a blast going through my list and that it brings you joy and a slight tingle on your nostalgia strings. Though, if it pisses you off, if I forgot your absolute favourite album of all goddamn time or if you think I’m an idiot, well… Just remember that I’m right, always and forever, thank you. Regardless It will be a pleasure for me to hear your recommendations or discuss anything related to melodeath below. Cheers & have fun!

-Guib-

Note: Albums with a 🇨🇦 are from my country (Canada) and albums with a ★ are my personal favourites.

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Last Updated: April 27th, 2024

1.Entombed - Left Hand Path

2.Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious

3.Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream

4.At The Gates - The Red In The Sky Is Ours

5.Carcass - Heartwork

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Stuff that got me hooked in the course of the years, from my very first blurred memories as a toddler to the present day.
Lots of catchy tunes, some cheese, very few flowers.
Songs that had a big impact on me and influenced my taste in music.
Stuff to let it all hang out, songs for campfire sing-alongs and soundtracks to slit your wrists to.
Love at first sight listen.

This is part II of II, covering the years since 2001.

Despite of the list's personal character, suggestions are very welcome.
After all I'm old and I may just have forgotten lots of stuff that did make my day.



Great albums that didn't make it on the list as they can only be enjoyed in their entirety, rather than by picking individual songs:

Thirdmoon - Sworn Enemy: Heaven (Death, 2004)
Defleshed - Reclaim The Beat (Death/Thrash, 2005)
Tyranny - Tides Of Awakening (Funeral Doom, 2005)
Mourning Beloveth - A Murderous Circus (Doom/Death, 2005)
Rotting Christ - Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy (Black, 2013)

1.Alastis - Unity

2.Diablerie - Seraphyde

3.Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia

4.Emperor - Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire & Demise

5.Hollenthon - With Vilest Of Worms To Dwell

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Instrumental tracks on albums of vocal groups are often seen as filler material or as a possibility to show musical skills.
In contrast, the title track is often considered to be the central and defining part of an album, suggesting that the corresponding lyrics may contain important key information to the understanding of the album. Therefore, it may seem surprising that several albums of vocal groups exhibit an instrumental as title track.

This alphabetical list presents albums by vocal groups where the title track is an instrumental. This concerns purely instrumental songs but may also include songs where melody lines without lyrics are vocalised.

Please feel free to suggest more examples of unusual title tracks by regular vocal groups that are purely instrumental or where the lead singer does not sing lyrics.

1.Absu - Tara

2.Afflicted - Prodigal Sun

3.Afterbirth - Four Dimensional Flesh

4.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

5.Angel Dust - Into The Dark Past

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Favorite means Favorite!

1.Wintersun - Time I

2.Wintersun - Wintersun

3.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

4.Woods Of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light

5.Týr - The Lay Of Thrym

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This is a list of all the folk metal albums I have listened to that I found to be of at least marginal quality. It is purely for my own organizational purposes and is not meant to be a definitive statement about the genre; for that reason, there are some entries that don't entirely fit the description, including some neofolk albums and bands that don't exactly play "folk metal" but are close enough.

There used to be a good amount of crossover with my black metal list, but I have since cleaned house and removed anything labeled "pagan" or "Viking" to this list. Personally, I'm very skeptical of the idea that "pagan" anything is its own genre, and unless you're Bathory, the Viking shtick doesn't really work with me. I file it under blackened folk or folk black metal or something like that; if it has any ties to traditional music, I've decided simply to add it to this list and not bother with splitting hairs.

The first section of albums represents my favorite albums - sometimes just within the genre, sometimes overall. Beyond that, they are divided into sections by rating going down to 6/10, and within those sections in alphabetical order.

This list was last updated August 8, 2021.

1.Elvenking - Secrets Of The Magick Grimoire

2.Forefather - Ours Is The Kingdom

3.Forefather - Steadfast

4.Forefather - Last Of The Line

5.Dalriada - Áldás

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It's possible that you've glossed over some of these because they're too "popular".
Maybe you've never heard of a few.
Regardless, these are albums that I think everyone should hear at least once if you're a novice metal fan or have been head banging for years.

1.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

2.Summoning - Stronghold

3.Death - Human

4.Rush - A Farewell To Kings

5.The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand

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1.Ensiferum - Iron

2.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

3.Turisas - The Varangian Way

4.Eluveitie - Slania

5.Equilibrium - Sagas

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Top 50 of 2005

Only LPs

Album count: 189
Average rating: 7.08

1.Gojira - From Mars To Sirius

2.Falkenbach - Heralding - The Fireblade

3.Porcupine Tree - Deadwing

4.Children Of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet?

5.Arch Enemy - Doomsday Machine

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To add fuel to the fire of the "they'll never top their first album" rhetoric, here are all my favorite full length debuts in alphabetical order. Full lengths, not EPs.

1.Acid Witch - Witchtanic Hellucinations

2.Aeternus - Beyond The Wandering Moon

3.Agruss - Morok

4.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

5.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

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1.Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell

2.Tristania - Ashes

3.The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies Of Slit Wrists)

4.Epica - Consign To Oblivion

5.Dark Tranquillity - Character

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