1.Queensrÿche - Rage For Order

2.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

3.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I

4.Crimson Glory - Transcendence

5.Running Wild - Port Royal

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While the order in each decade is purely personal preference, there are several rules for a song qualifying for the list. First off, the band has to be notable. I'm not going to define what that means, but I'm sure you'd agree all the bands in the list are notable. There are plenty of riffs from obscure bands I'd rather put, but I know my love for Tarby doesn't make him the greatest riff maker of the 21st century. Second, each artist can only appear once in a decade, this is to prevent the best riff makers from hogging the list and adding some variety, showing how metal has changed over time. Decades are measured by when the song was recorded, not released, and when it's unclear the beginning of recording is used. This is mainly because a lot of definitive early metal songs were released in 1970, but recorded in 1969. Third, the song itself has to be notable. Here are things that can qualify as being notable: the song was release as a single, has music video made for it, was released as a single, was the title track for an album (note that Crawl through Knives meets this criteria because it was the original title for Come Clarity, and there is no way in hell Come Clarity is getting best riff of the decade ), is included on a greatest hits compilation album, was nominated for a Grammy or musical award of similar caliber, was included as a track in a notable film or video game, was covered by a notable band, or has a Wikipedia page for some miscellaneous reason. Finally, the song needs to be metal. Misirlou gets the pass despite predating metal as it was probably the single most influential song on the development of metal, and while many of the other songs in the other songs are better classified as hard rock, I can find a source listing them as heavy metal.

1.

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

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

4.Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

5.Deep Purple - In Rock

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1.Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

2.Death - Scream Bloody Gore

3.Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark

4.Slayer - Reign In Blood

5.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

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1.AC/DC - Back In Black

2.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

3.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

4.Dio - Holy Diver

5.Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith

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1.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

2.Dio - Holy Diver

3.Flotsam And Jetsam - Doomsday For The Deceiver

4.Flotsam And Jetsam - No Place For Disgrace

5.Ghost - Opus Eponymous

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1.Death - Symbolic

2.Slayer - Reign In Blood

3.Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power

4.Carcass - Heartwork

5.Overkill - The Years Of Decay

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1.Metallica - Kill 'Em All

2.Slayer - Show No Mercy

3.Mercyful Fate - Melissa

4.Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies

5.Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

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1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Saxon - Unleash The Beast

3.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

4.Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell

5.Bruce Dickinson - Balls To Picasso

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Will be updated constantly as I remember albums/have time to add them! if more than one album per year- runner up. If none, then i picked none for that year.

1.The Agonist - The Eye of Providence

2.Queensrÿche - Condition Hüman

3.Arch Enemy - War Eternal

4.Marty Friedman - Inferno

5.Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia

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This is the 40 best metal albums for me.

1.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

2.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

3.Dream Theater - Images And Words

4.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

5.Riot - Narita

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1.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

2.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

3.Slayer - Reign In Blood

4.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

5.Motörhead - Ace Of Spades

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Albums I have downloaded and are in the process of obtaining

1.AC/DC - Back In Black

2.AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

3.AC/DC - High Voltage

4.AC/DC - Highway To Hell

5.AC/DC - Let There Be Rock

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Amazing albums, highly recommended (strictly my opinion, changes can be made)

1.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

2.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

3.Metallica - Kill 'Em All

4.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

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

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Just a quick list of my twenty favorite albums that I own.

1.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

2.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

3.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

4.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

5.Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

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My take on the greatest albums ever... (No, early 70s Black Sabbath is NOT metal, and neither is Led Zeppelin.)

1.Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

2.Cradle Of Filth - Cruelty And The Beast

3.King Diamond - Abigail

4.Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant

5.Slayer - Reign In Blood

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