- only studio albums
- only albums featured on MS

1.After Forever - Decipher

2.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

3.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

4.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

5.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

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Here's a list of mostly Gothic Metal albums, exclusively of the "Beauty and the Beast" type (which refers to clean "angelic" female vocals contrasted with male growls/screams). I made this list because it's one of my all-time favourite subgenres of which I own "a lot" of great albums. Since there are several lists of the best Gothic Metal albums on MS, I didn't feel like creating a similar one, but rather an exclusive list solely comprised of this subgenre. It could be useful as a guide for people who are searching for these kinds of albums, though I'm very open to suggestions since I obviously haven't heard all great albums yet. Lastly, everything on this list is at least worth a 7.5/10 rating and I only add a maximum of 2 albums per band.

1.Tristania - Widow's Weeds

2.The Sins Of Thy Beloved - Lake Of Sorrow

3.Draconian - Where Lovers Mourn

4.Epica - The Phantom Agony

5.Theatre Of Tragedy - Velvet Darkness They Fear

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1.Windir - Arntor

2.Amon Amarth - Versus The World

3.Burzum - Filosofem

4.Moonsorrow - V: Hävitetty

5.Sentenced - The Cold White Light

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This list contains most beautiful, majestic and soul-touching releases I've ever experienced.
My most favorite genres are Black Metal, Post Metal, Shoegaze, Doom Metal, Ambient and Neo-Classical in general .

Albums are ranked by the year,I think this way is more useful.

I will keep expanding my list as i can.

1.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

2.Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulée

3.Deinonychus - The Silence Of December

4.Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Age

5.Burzum - Filosofem

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1.Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech

2.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

3.Wintersun - Wintersun

4.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

5.Mors Principium Est - The Unborn

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1.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

2.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

3.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

4.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

5.Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

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I havnt been into metal all that long...so this is a good chuck of the metal albums i own...though ive heard many, many more....these are all albums ive spent a lot of time with (or soon will). I tried to stay away from multiple albums by an artist, but a few exceptions were made hehe.

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

2.3 Inches Of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom

3.Absu - Tara

4.ADX - Division Blindée

5.Agalloch - The Mantle

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Take a look at the Top Album lists of recent years and you'll notice an obvious trend. In 2005 the average rating of the top 25 albums is 8.76. Jump to 2014 and the average among the top 25 has dropped to 8.26. An almost linear decrease is observable for the 10 years in between.

I was curious to see what a Top 100 for 2000-2014 would look like if I factored the votes to account for the 'rating decline'. I hope you find it interesting.

1.Agalloch - The Mantle

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Blindead - Affliction XXIX II MXMVI

4.Aquilus - Griseus

5.Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World

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1.Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell

2.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

3.Doom:VS - Dead Words Speak

4.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

5.Agalloch - The Mantle

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A list of the ultimate releases in gothic metal. Suggestions are welcome.

1.After Forever - Prison Of Desire

2.Artrosis - Ukryty Wymiar

3.Ava Inferi - Onyx

4.Avrigus - The Secret Kingdom

5.Before The Dawn - Deadlight

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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.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

2.Amon Amarth - Once Sent From The Golden Hall

3.Amorphis - Queen Of Time

4.Angizia - Das Schachbrett Des Trommelbuben Zacharias

5.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

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Updating this as of 20th Nov 2012

1.Madder Mortem - All Flesh Is Grass

2.Paradise Lost - Icon

3.The Gathering - Mandylion

4.Tiamat - Wildhoney

5.Throes Of Dawn - Quicksilver Clouds

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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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This list includes many records from many doom sub genres, some of these albums could fall under black or death metal, but the complete emotion expressed within these records, in my opinion, place them within the doom genre.

1.Evoken - Antithesis Of Light

2.The Ruins Of Beverast - Blood Vaults (The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer)

3.Ataraxie - L'Être Et La Nausée

4.Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale

5.Urna - Sepulcrum

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