1.Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy

2.Threshold - Hypothetical

3.Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite

4.Opeth - Still Life

5.Cynic - Traced In Air

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1.Opeth - Still Life

2.Dream Theater - Images And Words

3.Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

4.Pain Of Salvation - Entropia

5.Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech

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1.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

2.Thurisaz - Scent Of A Dream

3.Opeth - Morningrise

4.Empyrium - A Wintersunset...

5.Anathema - Eternity

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Each band featured once, except one.

1.Amorphis - Queen Of Time

2.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

3.Burzum - Filosofem

4.Children Of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll

5.Dark Tranquillity - Atoma

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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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1.Anathema - Judgement

2.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

3.Dimmu Borgir - Spiritual Black Dimensions

4.My Dying Bride - The Light At The End Of The World

5.Cradle Of Filth - From The Cradle To Enslave

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Based on which tracks I enjoy listening to the most

1.Opeth - Still Day Beneath The Sun

2.Opeth - Deliverance

3.Opeth - Ghost Reveries

4.Opeth - Blackwater Park

5.Opeth - Still Life

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1.Agalloch - Pale Folklore

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

4.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

5.Ahab - The Boats Of The Glen Carrig

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***NOTE: This is an opinion and everything is listed based on my own preferences. Feel free to disagree and tell me what your favorite Opeth albums are from best to worst.***

01. Blackwater Park

It would be nearly impossible to list any other album as #1 given that Blackwater Park is widely considered one of the best metal albums of all time regardless of genre. This is also the perfect place to describe what Opeth has historically offered as a musical entity and why it is worth delving deeply into their music catalog. Blackwater Park has all of the elements Opeth is known for: brutal death growls, soothing clean vocals, heavy, dense atmospheres seamlessly flowing into light, airy instrumentals. You never know what to expect from one moment to the next and that has always been one of the most exciting parts of any Opeth album.

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

3.Opeth - Still Life

4.Opeth - Watershed

5.Opeth - Morningrise

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1.Epica - The Holographic Principle

2.Asphyx - Incoming Death

3.Devin Townsend - Transcendence

4.Insomnium - Winter's Gate

5.Opeth - Still Life

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There are not a lot of albums out there that are true masterpieces. But I'd like to create a list of albums that earn that title in my opinion. At the moment I can only think of 6 titles.

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Negură Bunget - OM

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

5.Opeth - Still Life

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Back when I joined the site in 2011, I did a customary top 100 album list. Every year since then, when I've looked back at it it's become increasingly unrecognisable from my own tastes. Seeing bands I once listened to daily vanish from my playlists, new bands emerge as favourites, and bands even come and go in my reckonings during that time period (Iced Earth, Alcest, even Pain Of Salvation and more certainly peaked in my listening habits around 2011-12 to slowly vanish into obscurity). Now that it's just gone 5 years since I did that list, I thought I might do an updated list just to see how much my tastes have shifted. Whilst compiling the list, I pretty much worked on gut instinct, which was weird as I found myself almost disregarding albums I know I like whilst promoting albums I'm honestly undecided on - it almost seemed to veer away from album quality at times to embracing a subconscious effect the albums have had. Anyway, here it is, plus some honorable mentions that I was surprised missed out.

1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Sylosis - Monolith

3.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

4.Agalloch - The Mantle

5.Protest The Hero - Kezia

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1.Opeth - Still Life

2.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

3.Ayreon - The Human Equation

4.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

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

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1.Opeth - Morningrise

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Opeth - Still Life

4.Opeth - Damnation

5.Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

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AtoZ (Album)

1.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

2.Ihsahn - After

3.Anthrax - Among The Living

4.Faith No More - Angel Dust

5.Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition

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