If you know other wonderful songs which are missing in this list, feel free to suggest them to me

1.Adagio - Underworld

2.Aerosmith - Aerosmith

3.After Forever - Prison Of Desire

4.After Forever - Decipher

5.After Forever - After Forever

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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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***Currently working through suggestions and adding some spacey non-metal things when they cross my mind***
As a lover of all things sci-fi I find metal to be the most accommodating of genres when it comes to themes of space/aliens. This is a list of those albums which use this theme and/or evoke an overall 'spacey' atmosphere and which I find particularly intriguing and enjoyable. No order for now and a work in progress (recommendations most welcome) Last Updated: 9th April 2014

1.Atoma - Skylight

2.Ayreon - The Universal Migrator Part I: The Dream Sequencer

3.Dol Ammad - Star Tales

4.Star One - Space Metal

5.Pagan's Mind - Enigmatic : Calling

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Here are the most captivating atmospheres I've ever heard. Including metal and non-metal albums. Grouped according to genre and one album per band.

1.Division By Zero - Independent Harmony

2.Beyond Twilight - The Devil's Hall Of Fame

3.Riverside - Out Of Myself

4.Suspyre - When Time Fades...

5.Redemption - The Fullness Of Time

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A list of my favourite Progressive albums on Metal Storm, ranked roughly in order of preference.

1.Ayreon - The Human Equation

2.Dol Ammad - Ocean Dynamics

3.Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition

4.Porcupine Tree - Signify

5.Opeth - Still Life

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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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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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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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Updated 14.4.2024

My rather personal and improvised take on the subject matter. The list is pretty wage, I'll be updating it a lot and the order might vary a little depending on some things, but they're all great and awesome records no matter what. If there are some great records missing, that doesn't necessarily mean I consider them bad, maybe I just forgot about them or just haven't listened to them enough to consider them personal favourites.

Limited to metal and rock albums found on Metal Storm. Most of them (at least 90%) are anyway, so doesn't matter. The absent ones are mostly more pop and synth oriented stuff and some really obscure jazz and fusion albums.

1.Marillion - Marbles

2.Anathema - Weather Systems

3.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

4.Moonsorrow - Voimasta Ja Kunniasta

5.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

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

2.Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle

3.Opeth - Blackwater Park

4.Evergrey - In Search Of Truth

5.Nevermore - Dead Heart, In A Dead World

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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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The MS top 200 is supposed to represent the absolute peak of metal music, the timeless classics. I have been listening to metal for about 6 years now and would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the genre. Yet, I have barely heard half of what the top 200 has to offer. I am now on a quest to listen to it all and give an honest opinion on what I thought of it.
This list will show every album of the top 200 and if I've listened to it whether it's an all-time favourite of mine (+++), I really like it (++), I like it (+), it’s good (*), it’s not great (-), I really dislike it (--) or I hate it from the bottom of my heart (---). The same symbols will be used to characterize what I think my opinion of the albums I haven't heard yet will be, based on my knowledge of the bands and of the genre they play. (?) signifies that I have no idea of whether I'll enjoy it or not and (/) means that my opinion of the album is probably obsolete, and I need to listen to it again. A ★ means the album is in my own top 200.
Edit: The bottom of the top 200 has been changing a lot, with some stuff formerly in the list now closer to 240th, so this is now a top 250. I’m not sure I want to expand the list further down, but I’ll see whenever it’s completed if I feel like going for a top 300 or something like that.
Best discoveries so far: Wildhoney, Nightfall, Out Of Myself, Portal Of I, Autumn Aurora, Nemesis Divina, Abigail, V: Hävitetty, Sounds Of Pain.

1.

2.

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

4.Saturnus - Veronika Decides To Die

5.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

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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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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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