These are my favorite opening songs of all time. When I listened to them, I was instantly hooked! Whether it starts with a slow instrumental build-up or an aggressive assault of riffs, these openers set the tone for the rest of their respective albums. Enjoy!

1.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

2.Judas Priest - Painkiller

3.Summoning - Minas Morgul

4.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

5.Testament - The Legacy

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My personal hard rock/heavy metal album of the year that I own.
Truthfully, for several years, I just gave up trying to figure out what was in 2nd place (and sometimes, even in 1st).
Some years have so many options....

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4

4.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

5.Blue Öyster Cult - Secret Treaties

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There are various types of album closers: those that combine everything from the beginning of the album (Recharging the Void), the last punch in the face (Dyers Eve), the standout best song of the album (Hallowed Be Thy Name), the melancholy instrumental outro (No Dreams Breed in Breathless Sleep), and many other types!
These are my favorite album finishers! Enjoy!

1.Vektor - Terminal Redux

2.Death - Symbolic

3.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

4.Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

5.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

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Albums with the most epic cover art!

1.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

2.Rainbow - Rising

3.Death - Scream Bloody Gore

4.Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

5.Necrophobic - Mark Of The Necrogram

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These are my top 100 favorite albums - they are the reason why I love metal!
Enjoy!
Format: Band | Album | (genre, release year, country) What I like about the album; Favorite songs
Statistics:
Genre:
Death: 28
Black: 20
Thrash: 19
Heavy: 15
Progressive: 9
Power: 4
Doom: 4
Symphonic: 1
Years with most album favorites:
1995: 8
1996: 7
1990: 7
1984: 5
Countries with most album favorites:
USA: 35
Sweden: 20
UK: 16
Norway: 6

----Last Update: June 15, 2022----

1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

3.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

4.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

5.Death - Spiritual Healing

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My top ranked (in order from best down) favorite hard rock/heavy metal albums. I've also one included my top three favorite tracks from each album.

Enjoy!

1.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Rush - Hemispheres

4.Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards

5.Judas Priest - Painkiller

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This list is meant to be an extensive, but by no means exhaustive, collection of the greatest (modern) metal albums and eps. Running the gamut from avant-garde to trve norweigan black metal. *As someone who is young in age, my tastes tend to revolve around the period of the 80s to the present.* Although certain metal albums from before will certainly be featured, the period of the 60s-70s will be under-represented. I refer you to this excellent list to gain a better appreciation for some of the best metal from that period: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/freis/martin_popoffs_the_top_500_heavy_metal_albums_of_all_time/

1.Racer X - Technical Difficulties

2.Radiance (FIN) - The Burning Sun

3.Ragana - You Take Nothing

4.Rage - Black In Mind

5.Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine

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An ongoing list for personal use as well as for reference for beginners (& veterans alike). This is solely my personal opinion and taste (Death & Prog mostly but do give every genre a try). Basically will include albums I've rated 8 & above. Sorted by year since I'll need a Venn diagram to sort by genre (seriously MS please make it happen if possible). Will feature multiple releases per year (obviously) and per band (since if a band is putting out better albums it deserves more recognition). Keeping the metal faith alive from India

1.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

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

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

4.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

5.Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself

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I'm bored very easily, and that's why I decided to do some stats about metal storm's top 20 of each year and the top 200. I don't know why I did that, but if you love stats like I do it might interest you. All of the data I collected is from November the 7th 2020.
Updated on August the 3rd 2023

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.Deep Purple - The Book Of Taliesyn

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The greatest albums of all time aka albums that nobody needs to listen to unless they want to aka only 9/10 and 10/10 albums here aka no memes, sorry. No particular order either. Will add more albums in the future. Because I can't add new albums in the past, can I?

1.Lurker Of Chalice - Lurker Of Chalice

2.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)

3.Evoken - Quietus

4.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

5.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

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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

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Current Top 100 as of September 2019. Having listened to metal for 45 years or so - here are my favourites (favourite track). One album limit per band. Enjoy!

1.Absu - Absu

2.AC/DC - If You Want Blood You've Got It

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone

5.Alcest - Écailles De Lune

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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

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

1.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

2.Rainbow - Rising

3.Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

4.Led Zeppelin - Presence

5.Scorpions - Virgin Killer

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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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