1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

4.Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith

5.Motörhead - Inferno

      View entire list ››

- From my collection & wishlist (last update)

- One album per band

- Bands & Albums I consider have a strong Doom flavour

- Ranked from best to worst imo

- Everything I know of is there

Let's the Doom begins

1.Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

3.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

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

5.Shape Of Despair - Monotony Fields

      View entire list ››

These are MY Top 250 Albums that are featured on Metal Storm in chronological order to celebrate 50 Years of Metal.

Some bands are featured on this list with more than one album, which means that they are perticulary amazing to me.

I listen to a wide spectrum of metal genres, which is why I tried to keep it diverse and not focus on one genre.

1.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2.Deep Purple - In Rock

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

4.Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards

5.Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

      View entire list ››

1.Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Black Sabbath - Mob Rules

4.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

5.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

      View entire list ››

Gotta respect your roots! This is a list of my favorite pre 1980s heavy metal (or heavy metal influence) albums. And yes, of course the first two will be Sabbath and Zeppelin...(Pink Floyd is my favorite band, but they’re excluded because they’re not on metal storm)

1.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

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

4.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

5.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

      View entire list ››

Yes, I know, Black Sabbath... But they was completely before their time.

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Saint Vitus - Born Too Late

3.Trouble - Psalm 9

4.Candlemass - Nightfall

5.Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

      View entire list ››

In chronological order of release.

1.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2.Deep Purple - In Rock

3.Uriah Heep - Very 'eavy... Very 'umble

4.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

5.Budgie - Budgie

      View entire list ››

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

      View entire list ››

In no real particular order. These albums are all great.

1.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

4.Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come

5.Deep Purple - In Rock

      View entire list ››

Note: these are only for the traditional style of metal borne out of the period of late 60s - late 80s. Modern bands are permitted but they need to be playing in that style.

Recommendations are welcome. I'll listen and if I like it, I'll add it.

1.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

3.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

4.Deep Purple - In Rock

5.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

      View entire list ››

1.King Diamond - Halloween

2.Rammstein - Feuer Frei

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

4.Ghost - Cirice

5.Opeth - Sorceress

      View entire list ››

Doom metal happens to be my favourite musical genre specifically death doom. An attempt to all albums I have listened to and rated. In no particular order.

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Anathema - Serenades

3.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

4.Anathema - Alternative 4

5.Paradise Lost - Gothic

      View entire list ››

While the order in each decade is purely personal preference, there are several rules for a song qualifying for the list. First off, the band has to be notable. I'm not going to define what that means, but I'm sure you'd agree all the bands in the list are notable. There are plenty of riffs from obscure bands I'd rather put, but I know my love for Tarby doesn't make him the greatest riff maker of the 21st century. Second, each artist can only appear once in a decade, this is to prevent the best riff makers from hogging the list and adding some variety, showing how metal has changed over time. Decades are measured by when the song was recorded, not released, and when it's unclear the beginning of recording is used. This is mainly because a lot of definitive early metal songs were released in 1970, but recorded in 1969. Third, the song itself has to be notable. Here are things that can qualify as being notable: the song was release as a single, has music video made for it, was released as a single, was the title track for an album (note that Crawl through Knives meets this criteria because it was the original title for Come Clarity, and there is no way in hell Come Clarity is getting best riff of the decade ), is included on a greatest hits compilation album, was nominated for a Grammy or musical award of similar caliber, was included as a track in a notable film or video game, was covered by a notable band, or has a Wikipedia page for some miscellaneous reason. Finally, the song needs to be metal. Misirlou gets the pass despite predating metal as it was probably the single most influential song on the development of metal, and while many of the other songs in the other songs are better classified as hard rock, I can find a source listing them as heavy metal.

1.

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

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

4.Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

5.Deep Purple - In Rock

      View entire list ››

I will be filling the gap years with more albums soon... :3

1.IDLES - Brutalism

2.Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

3.Ghost - Meliora

4.Septicflesh - Titan

5.Twenty One Pilots - Vessel

      View entire list ››

1.Rust In Peace - Megadeth

2.Paranoid - Black Sabbath

3.Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin

4.Mechanical Animals - Marilyn Manson

5.Reign In Blood - Slayer

      View entire list ››