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

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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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My absolute favorite prog rock/metal albums. None of these are less than a 9/10 to my ears. No particular order.

1.Spock's Beard - Snow

2.Devin Townsend Project - Terria

3.IQ - Dark Matter

4.Dream Theater - Awake

5.Marillion - Clutching At Straws

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Rush is my favorite band of all eternity. I have listened to each album so many times I have no problem ranking them from first to last and my favorite song on each album. Discuss.

1.Rush - Moving Pictures

2.Rush - Power Windows

3.Rush - Counterparts

4.Rush - Grace Under Pressure

5.Rush - Signals

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1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

3.Rush - 2112

4.AC/DC - Back In Black

5.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

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An entirely subjective list of my all-time favourite metal albums, well lets better say albums/genres featured on MS, since not all here is precisely metal.
Objective quality is not a criteria here, just how much I like the album. Ordered by preference, top down.

1.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

2.Opeth - Morningrise

3.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum

4.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

5.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

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Progressive rock / metal - what I love the most in my collection. Would love suggestions to add to it.

1.Animals As Leaders - Animals As Leaders

2.Animals As Leaders - The Joy Of Motion

3.Ayreon - The Human Equation

4.Between The Buried And Me - Colors

5.Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

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Essentially I composed this list as a note-to-self not to take my negative first impressions so seriously. Most of these tend to be works I initially rated a couple points (/10) lower, because the music didn't seem all that great to my ears. Again, most, tend to have increased value once I delved into the lyrics - sometimes entirely away from the music. Yeah... normally I couldn't care less whether you're singing about clown-phobias, alien invasions, SC battles, real war on Earth or alternative uses for vacuum cleaners. Oh, and on that note: Acid Reign (ensure Bandcamp-player is enabled in your user Settings) - is that another band's music entirely?

1.Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

2.Anthrax - Stomp 442

3.Cathedral - Kingdom of Ends

4.Hypocrisy - Catch 22

5.Intruder - Psycho Savant

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1.Rainbow - Rising

2.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

3.Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak

4.Rory Gallagher - Calling Card

5.Ted Nugent - Free For All

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Recently, instead of scouring too much the albums of the year I'm in, I decided to take a deeper journey and appreciate progressive music (prog metal/rock). While I'm still in the early beginnings of my journey, I decided to make a list to the albums I fully listen to so that I can keep charting my voyage in these vast seas. Some albums are not yet added because I need to listen them well and grab my favorites out, and some bands are on queue. I'm also eager to hear some recommendations, so thanks in advance for them!

1.Ayreon - The Human Equation

2.Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve

3.Blotted Science - The Machinations Of Dementia

4.Control Denied - The Fragile Art Of Existence

5.Dream Theater - A Change Of Seasons [EP]

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This is a guide list to some of the greatest voices in the history of rock & metal music, ranked in alphabetical order, by singer's name. I know that there are many more great singers/vocalists out there and that some really good singers were left out of this list.

The criteria by which the following singers were selected are:
1. Anything regarding the voice and the vocal performance (voice quality, technique, range, originality, creativity, etc.)
2. Influence - effect (if a singer has been an influence on other singers or a musical genre)
3. My personal taste

The form of the list is "Band - Trademark Album For The Singer"
"Name of the singer" (Bands he/she has joined)

1.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

2.Primordial - To The Nameless Dead

3.Watchtower - Control And Resistance

4.Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

5.Evanescence - Fallen

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All Rush albums, ranked from best to worst (in my opinion)

1.Rush - Hemispheres

2.Rush - A Farewell To Kings

3.Rush - Moving Pictures

4.Rush - 2112

5.Rush - Signals

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This is unfinished

1.Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge

2.Alestorm - Black Sails At Midnight

3.Alestorm - Back Through Time

4.Almôra - Gates Of Time

5.Ancient Rites - Dim Carcosa

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