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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1.

2.Fates Warning - The Spectre Within

3.Slauter Xstoyes - Winter Kill

4.Watch Tower - Energetic Disassembly

5.Trilogy - Life On Earth

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This is the 40 best metal albums for me.

1.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

2.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

3.Dream Theater - Images And Words

4.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

5.Riot - Narita

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List of my favorite concept albums. Feel free to drop any suggestions if you think something great is missing here!

1.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

2.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

3.W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol

4.Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

5.Opeth - Still Life

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My favorite progressive metal albums (derived/mixed genres included). Lot of stuff still missing here since I have a terrible memory I think everything here is at least 8,5/10.

Please, feel free to drop suggestions. I'd love to make it more or less complete one day.

I will eventually rate these albums too...

1.Dream Theater - Awake

2.Dream Theater - Images And Words

3.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

4.Dream Theater - Train Of Thought

5.Redemption - Snowfall On Judgment Day

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Without following any specific order. Some albums are more power/symphonic/thrash than prog but for some reasons i thought they deserved a place in this list.

1.Pain Of Salvation - Remedy Lane

2.Guilt Machine - On This Perfect Day

3.Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter

4.Opeth - Blackwater Park

5.Sun Caged - The Lotus Effect

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Compilation of many Hard Rock or Metal Ballads I've heard. Bands and Albums are ordered by name alphabetically.

1.Accept - Balls To The Wall

2.Accept - Blood Of The Nations

3.Accept - Eat The Heat

4.Adagio - Underworld

5.Aerosmith - Aerosmith

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Only Awesome Albums (OAA)

1.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

2.Machine Head - The Blackening

3.Omnium Gatherum - The Redshift

4.Viikate - Marraskuun Lauluja I

5.Viikate - Marraskuun Lauluja II

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My favourite prog rock/metal albums. In no order.

1.Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon

2.Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

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

4.Genesis - Selling England By The Pound

5.Yes - Close To The Edge

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1.Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes

2.Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

3.Fear Factory - Obsolete

4.Arch Enemy - Stigmata

5.Moonspell - Sin / Pecado

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My ranking of all Ayreon's studio albums. The indisputable best album for me is Into The Electric Castle, followed up closely by The Human Equation (I think Disc II is superior to Disc I though). 01011001 is an amazing album that contains brilliant long and epic tracks, although it also suffers from a few pretty mediocre tracks, so it's not a very consistent album in my opinion. And although The Universal Migrator Part I: The Dream Sequencer is a great album, it contains a few weaker tracks. My absolute least favourite album is Actual Fantasy, which has more mediocre tracks than great tracks. I have included ratings as well as the best songs (which are my favourites) of each album (3 songs (1-disc album) or 6 songs (2-disc album)), although this was extremely hard for #1 on this list, since I love pretty much every song on that album.

1.Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle

2.Ayreon - The Human Equation

3.Ayreon - 01011001

4.Ayreon - The Theory Of Everything

5.Ayreon - The Final Experiment

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1.Sentenced - Frozen

2.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

3.Anathema - Alternative 4

4.Therion - Vovin

5.Rhapsody Of Fire - Symphony Of Enchanted Lands

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My top 75 favourite albums of all time (initially it was a top 20 list, and after that top 50). Only 1 album per band. The list is in alphabetical order, so it doesn't represent explicitly which album is my absolute favourite (I don't have one). All albums on this list have earned at least a 9/10 rating. Albums with a star (★) have received a 10/10 rating from me. I've added genres and my favourite songs.

1.After Forever - Decipher

2.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

3.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

4.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

5.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

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Yep, one of those lists. Everyone has one, so I thought I'd make a list of metal albums I really recommend.

This is not an absolute "best-of" list, for a few reasons:
1) I stick to one album per band, unless there's been a drastic style shift (like Katatonia's).
2) I try to cover all major subgenres fairly, so I have something for everyone. It counterbalances the tendency to list all the cool bands in a style I'm into right now (like drone or epic doom).

1.Warning - Watching From A Distance

2.Candlemass - Nightfall

3.Reverend Bizarre - In The Rectory Of The Bizarre Reverend

4.Pagan Altar - The Lords Of Hypocrisy

5.Katatonia - Dance Of December Souls

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In alphabetical order by country.

1.Voyager - I Am The ReVolution

2.Deadsoul Tribe - The January Tree

3.Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech

4.Barren Earth - Curse Of The Red River

5.Subsignal - Beautiful & Monstrous

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