Making My Way Through The MS Top 200
Making My Way Through The MS Top 200
The Metal Storm top 200 is supposed to represent the absolute peak of metal music, the timeless classics. Join me as I try to listen to every single album featured on it.
Each album has a symbol telling whether I love the album (★), I like it (+), I don’t care about it (*), or I dislike it (-).
Last updated 8 February 2026.
Each album has a symbol telling whether I love the album (★), I like it (+), I don’t care about it (*), or I dislike it (-).
Last updated 8 February 2026.
1.
Judas Priest
- Painkiller
* It has an amazing opener and a few good songs here and there, but overall, it doesn’t do much for me and I never come back to it.
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3.
Megadeth
- Rust In Peace
★ One of the very best thrash albums of all time, with catchy riffs and jaw-dropping solos. I do think the highlights completely overshadow the rest of the album, but man they’re just so good.
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4.
Metallica
- Master Of Puppets
* An all-around solid thrash album with uninspired solos and songs too long for their own good. I’ll still blast it every now and then and have a good time though.
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5.
Metallica
- Ride The Lightning
+ An all-around solid thrash album with less terrible solos and more concise songs. Yeah, I like this one a little more than MOP.
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6.
Opeth
- Blackwater Park
+ Very uneven album, and I see myself coming back to some tracks a lot more than to others. Its pacing is a little rough at times and that’s what prevents it from being truly great in my eyes.
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7.
Black Sabbath
- Paranoid
+ It’s a classic and some of its tracks haven’t aged at all, but it’s far from the most captivating record in my eyes and metal as a whole has much more to offer.
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8.
Iron Maiden
- Powerslave
★ Some of the very best that traditional heavy metal has to offer. This is to me where Iron Maiden fully came into their own, although there’s still a filler track here and there, but they’d improve even further on their following two records.
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9.
Death
- The Sound Of Perseverance
- A clunky, disjointed mess, with songs that go nowhere, interesting riffs that stop right in their tracks and songs that don’t justify their length. Each time I give it another shot, I am reminded of why I don’t like it.
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10.
Agalloch
- The Mantle
* This is an album I’ve always struggled with. The atmosphere is good but the songs never grab me, and it feels like I always come out of it having heard nothing memorable.
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12.
Agalloch
- Ashes Against The Grain
+ This one has a lot more stuff I manage to latch on to than The Mantle. The songs are much more memorable, and I come back to them every now and then.
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13.
Iron Maiden
- Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
★ Arguably the peak of Maiden’s career, this one has them veering into prog more than ever before and it works wonderfully. Definitely a highlight of 80s metal as a whole.
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14.
Led Zeppelin
- Led Zeppelin IV
* An album with a few pretty good standouts lost in a sea of mediocrity. There are more fillers in Led Zeppelin’s catalogue than stars in the universe.
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15.
Edge Of Sanity
- Crimson
★ My favorite death metal album ever. It has more incredible riffs packed in a single song than most bands will write in their whole career.
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16.
Slayer
- Reign In Blood
+ A fun, aggressive album that’s over before you even realize it. It’s so compact and has so many killer riffs that the atrocious solos don’t weigh it down too much for me anymore.
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17.
Iron Maiden
- The Number Of The Beast
+ A mixed bag of an album where the highs are so high that they completely eclipse the lows. If the track list was 30 minutes of fart sounds with “Hallowed Be Thy Name” at the end, it would still be in the top 200.
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18.
Dissection
- Storm Of The Light's Bane
★ The quintessential melodic black metal record. Every track is insanely catchy and memorable. It’s the album that made me love black metal and I still consider it as perhaps the best thing that the genre has to offer.
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19.
Opeth
- Still Life
★ This is the only album of Opeth’s straight up prog era that I really love. Lots of good hooks and melodies without the repetitive and dull songwriting that would plague their later albums.
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20.
King Crimson
- In The Court Of The Crimson King
★ An album so crazy it still sounds ahead of its time 50+ years after its release. It still defines what progressive and even experimental rock and metal should sound like to this day.
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21.
Queensrÿche
- Operation: Mindcrime
* I get what they’re going for and most of the time it works, but at its core it’s still a classic heavy metal album and that’s not something I really crave in the grand scheme of things.
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22.
Deep Purple
- Machine Head
★ Maybe the best hard rock album ever, no time is wasted here, and each song is a contender for being the best one in the whole genre.
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23.
Immortal
- At The Heart Of Winter
* On paper, this album has everything to please me. It’s a melodic black metal record with a wintery ambiance, and yet there’s something inexplicably off about it that prevents me from really enjoying it. It enters through one ear and comes out of the other.
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24.
Helloween
- Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II
- I don’t care about power metal, and this album also suffers from having really grating vocals. There’s no track here that makes me want to come back, unlike its older sibling.
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25.
Dream Theater
- Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
★ It’s over the top and cheesy, it has a ton of different fun ideas, and I love it more than anything in the world, even with all its flaws.
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26.
Dream Theater
- Images And Words
★ One of the defining records of progressive metal, its highlights are so good that they completely balance the more mediocre ballads sprinkled throughout, which are the only thing preventing this album from being truly incredible in my opinion.
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27.
Rush
- Moving Pictures
+ This is a simpler, more concise Rush album compared to what they did in the 1970s, but what I love about Rush are their long and intricate tracks. It’s still good but it’s missing a core part of their style.
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28.
Blind Guardian
- Imaginations From The Other Side
+ Something weird happened when listening to this album: I enjoyed it. It might be the vocals or the rawer, more aggressive instrumentation than other power metal bands, but there's something here that clicks, to my surprise.
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29.
Black Sabbath
- Heaven And Hell
★ This is my favorite Sabbath album. Dio’s vocals are, as always, amazing, and the tracks here are all catchy and memorable. It’s a departure from their doomier usual style, but it works really well nevertheless.
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30.
Dio
- Holy Diver
* Pretty much Heaven And Hell but boring. The songs are nowhere near as memorable as on Sabbath’s record, and Dio’s vocals aren’t enough to make me want to ever come back to this.
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33.
Opeth
- Ghost Reveries
* Despite its few standout tracks, it’s plagued with Opeth’s usual issues of tracks that are too long for their own good and lack in memorability. It’s far from the worst offender in that category and I don’t dislike listening to it, but man what a waste of talent.
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34.
Black Sabbath
- Black Sabbath
* This is where metal started, and “Black Sabbath” is an amazing song, but the rest of the album falls flat, and I never listen to anything here beyond the title track.
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35.
Black Sabbath
- Master Of Reality
+ Another very solid album from Sabbath that has some cool stuff in it but nothing that blows me away.
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37.
King Crimson
- Red
+ I struggle a little bit with this one compared to their debut, but it’s still a really good album and another pillar of progressive rock.
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39.
Helloween
- Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I
* Pretty much has all the things I dislike in Part II, but the song “Halloween” is so good that I’m fine with rating it higher.
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41.
Slayer
- Seasons In The Abyss
* Maybe the weakest of Slayer’s golden era? It tries to do a little bit of everything that Slayer explored on their previous releases, but it never reaches the same highs, and it’s way too long for what it’s worth.
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42.
Be'lakor
- Stone's Reach
+ Positively surprised by this one. I have a love / hate relationship with melodic death metal, but this album doesn't fit the bog-standard Gothenburg formula and that's what helped it stand out from the rest. While I'm not in love with it, it's an overall very enjoyable experience.
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43.
Moonsorrow
- Kivenkantaja
+ Just a straight up really fun album, nothing mind-blowing but it's very enjoyable to listen to. This blend of folkish and melodic black metal album works surprisingly well without ever getting as cheesy as most of what the genre has to offer.
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45.
W.A.S.P.
- The Crimson Idol
★ I’ve said it already, but I don’t have a strong affinity with heavy metal. So, I went into this with close to 0 expectations, and holy shit, I am blown away. The riffs, the dark atmosphere, the vocals, the concept, everything works SO well here, I’m genuinely at a loss for words. I’m in love.
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46.
Gojira
- From Mars To Sirius
★ It’s full of catchy melodies and awesome riffs, one of those albums where the songs randomly pop in my head from time to time and I just have to listen to them again.
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47.
Candlemass
- Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
+ An important steppingstone for Candlemass and doom metal as a whole, but I think they really improved on it with their next album.
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48.
Emperor
- Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk
+ I have had difficulties with Emperor in the past, but each listen makes this album grow on me a little further. I still think the songwriting is messy and the atmosphere isn’t conveyed perfectly, but I get where they’re going and it’s tarting to grab me.
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49.
Saturnus
- Veronika Decides To Die
* A pretty enjoyable record with grating vocals. I must admit I was expecting something less gothic, but to my dismay it very much is imbued with that style. Definitely not something I’ll come back to anytime soon, although instrumentally it was good.
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50.
Gamma Ray
- Land Of The Free
+ I am once again positively surprised by a power metal album. I went into this expecting it to be a chore, but it's very fun and engaging especially in the riffs department. The most important thing though is that the vocals are actually listenable and enjoyable. They're usually my main gripe with power metal and here they complement the music perfectly.
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51.
AC/DC
- Back In Black
- Horrible vocals, uninspired songwriting and the same drum pattern repeated for 45 minutes. Not my definition of a good time.
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52.
King Diamond
- Abigail
+ A pleasant surprise! I’m not a big fan of Mercyful Fate, and a huge part of that is because of the vocals. However, there is something about Abigail that makes me put them aside because on a strictly instrumental level it’s just so damn good.
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53.
Blind Guardian
- Nightfall In Middle-Earth
* It’s like Imaginations From The Other Side but with less of the aggressive, thrashier power metal I tend to vibe with, which makes it slightly less enjoyable but still pretty fun overall.
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54.
Alice In Chains
- Dirt
+ As someone not really into grunge, this is a very catchy album and one I'm inclined to listen to every now and then.
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55.
Mgła
- Exercises In Futility
* One of the great mysteries of life for me is how Mgła managed to become one of the most popular black metal bands of all time with an album that I find to be pretty good but nothing outstanding. Oh well.
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56.
Moonsorrow
- Voimasta Ja Kunniasta
+ Everything I said about Kivenkantaja can also be applied here. It’s really fun and engaging from beginning to end, but it’s nothing groundbreaking. I have a fun time when I put it on and promptly move on to something else.
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57.
Ayreon
- The Human Equation
* Very ambitious, very messy, very cheesy and completely over the top. I can’t help but have a lot of sympathy for it, even though most of what it has to offer doesn’t really work for me.
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58.
Sepultura
- Beneath The Remains
+ An all around very solid thrash record, showcasing what Sepultura would later perfect on Arise.
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59.
Mercyful Fate
- Melissa
* It's traditional heavy metal with annoying vocals, I have a hard time getting into it even on a simple songwriting standpoint.
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60.
Septicflesh
- Communion
* Septicflesh sacrificed their old atmospheric and enchanting style o they could make Hans Zimmer death metal. It’s not bad but it sounds very bland and sterile to me compared to some of their earlier records.
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61.
Bolt Thrower
- Those Once Loyal
★ Potentially the best thing that straightforward death metal has to offer. The riffs are absolutely immaculate and it's a non-stop headbanger.
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62.
Kamelot
- The Black Halo
- This feels like the complete opposite of what I've found myself enjoying in power metal. Weak riffs, grating vocals, and some over the top cheesy synths which just do not help at all. I did somehow find some enjoyment in what should have been my worst nightmare, but this is definitely not a blend of power metal I'm looking forward to hearing again.
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63.
Porcupine Tree
- Fear Of A Blank Planet
* This is a pretty good album, with interesting melodies, some slight experimentation and some good songwriting. My main gripe would be the vocals, which I don’t really like, but they’re really not that big of a deal.
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64.
Iron Maiden
- Somewhere In Time
★ Quite the step up from Powerslave, this album sees them explore proggy songwriting and incorporate new ideas into their sound for the first time. I’m not sure which does it better between this one and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, but they’re both my go-to Maiden albums these days.
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65.
Nevermore
- Dead Heart In A Dead World
* It has good ideas but I feel like the songs all linger on for far too long, they have no sense of direction or progression which is a little weird since they’re not even that long. In through one ear, out through the other.
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66.
Crimson Glory
- Transcendence
+ I’ve been sold this album as progressive heavy metal, and while there are some prog elements to it, what really made it work is its darker, more aggressive USPM edge. It does lose some steam by the end but overall, I really liked it.
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67.
Tiamat
- Wildhoney
+ I knew virtually nothing about gothic metal before listening to this for the first time, and it blew me away. The "atmospheric" tag is more than deserved here and that kind of music is something I am particularly fond of, with the Pink Floyd influences making themselves felt all through the album. I don’t love it quite as much in retrospect, but it’s still a great release.
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68.
Artillery
- By Inheritance
+ This is a pretty fun thrash album but like… Top 200 material? Really? It barely even registers as a top 20 album for its release year. It’s far from a bad release but there’s much better thrash out there.
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69.
Mercyful Fate
- Don't Break The Oath
* It’s a slight improvement over Melissa overall, but still nothing I really care about in the grand scheme of things.
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70.
Nevermore
- This Godless Endeavor
* Much like the other Nevermore album in the list, it’s a perfectly fine album that I forget everything about as soon as it ends.
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71.
Morbid Angel
- Altars Of Madness
★ A really great album especially as far as early death metal goes. Riffs that sound completely alien, complex tracks with interesting arrangements, this was way ahead of its time and aged gracefully.
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72.
At The Gates
- Slaughter Of The Soul
* This one starts off strong and then just loses me. Really not an album I ever come back to. I am also not too fond of the vocals.
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73.
Orphaned Land
- Mabool: The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven
* I went into this one not even knowing what to expect, and it was a pretty positive experience. Folk metal was never my thing, but Orphaned Land’s sound isn’t too cheesy so it went alright. The vocals are a bit weak and 68 minutes is just way too long for this kind of music, but overall it was alright.
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74.
In Flames
- The Jester Race
- This album is the sole reason why I don't trust Gothenburg metal. It embodies everything I dislike within the genre, with painfully dull songwriting and copy-pasted song, with melodies that actively irritate me. It’s like behind bashed in the head for 40 minutes.
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75.
Primordial
- To The Nameless Dead
★ Insanely gripping black metal with folk elements that aren’t cheesy and actually improve its already very emotional atmosphere.
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76.
Rush
- Hemispheres
★ Probably the peak of Rush's career. Each track is outstanding and has the time to develop its ideas properly.
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77.
Vektor
- Black Future
★ A real riff machine that put Vektor on the map, and for a good reason. It's by far their thrashiest release and the progressive elements only enhance the tracks. A masterful debut.
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78.
Deep Purple
- In Rock
★ A gem of early hard rock and metal with wonderful tracks and most notably the masterpiece that is “Child In Time”. Really showed the potential Deep Purple had (despite some already very solid early albums), and it's still one of the very best hard rock albums ever written.
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79.
Metallica
- ...And Justice For All
- Boring songs, flat production and an overwhelming lack of memorability. “One” and “Blackened” really do a lot of heavy lifting here.
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80.
Symphony X
- The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
+ Really fun prog power metal with some very memorable compositions.
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81.
Dark Tranquillity
- Damage Done
- Horrible vocals, dogshit production and super uninspired songwriting. It’s like they saw everything that worked in The Gallery and decided to do the opposite.
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82.
Paradise Lost
- Draconian Times
+ Another gothic doom album that doesn’t really fall into the same tropes I usually dislike. The vocals are strangely fitting, the songs are really good, and I love how much the bass pops out.
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83.
Porcupine Tree
- In Absentia
* In the vein of everything I’ve heard from them so far, it’s overall pretty solid but nothing I really crave.
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84.
Summoning
- Stronghold
+ An all around very solid release. Not really my favorite kind of atmoblack, as it lacks the gloomy atmosphere I seek in black metal, but still very enjoyable and worth listening to.
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85.
Draconian
- Arcane Rain Fell
+ Somehow takes everything I dislike in gothic doom and makes it work. The growls are amazing, the female cleans complement the music very well, and the songwriting is very engaging.
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86.
Dark Tranquillity
- The Gallery
+ I put listening to this one off for a long time due to my general dislike for the gothenburg style of melodeath, but I was positively surprised, this album is really damn fun! It does get repetitive and it’s a little too long, but overall, it’s still one of the highlights of the scene.
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87.
Judas Priest
- Screaming For Vengeance
+ It’s a damn good heavy metal album with some stellar standouts but also some more regular and uninspired songs, dragging it down a little.
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88.
Empyrium
- Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields
+ Really well-crafted record with great songs and an enchanting atmosphere, and they somehow chose the worst singer they could find for the clean sections.
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89.
Green Carnation
- Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness
+ Lots of great ideas jumbled together in a pretty well realized track that’s just slightly too messy to be truly amazing.
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91.
Blind Guardian
- Somewhere Far Beyond
* A real disappointment after my previous positive experience with Blind Guardian. The edge that made me enjoy its sequel so much is already there, but the song writing is lacking in something that I can’t really pinpoint. Tracks like “Theatre Of Pain”, “The Quest For Tanelorn” and “Ashes To Ashes” just get on my nerves for some reason and diminish my enjoyment of the album.
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93.
Judas Priest
- Defenders Of The Faith
+ Definitely my favorite Judas Priest album, it starts off with 4 bangers and gradually becomes less interesting. “Freewheel Burning” and “The Sentinel” are just a cut above the rest of their discography, and I listen to those all the time.
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94.
Death
- Individual Thought Patterns
★ This is the peak of Death’s career. A tasteful mix of progressive and death metal, with iconic riffs and Steve Digiorgio’s incredible fretless bass which adds so much to the album.
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95.
Windir
- 1184
★ In many ways, it’s a direct continuation of Arntor, with some absolutely immaculate and heart-wrenching melodies. There are a few tracks however that deviate from this style and drag the whole thing down (“Destroy” is the worst thing Windir have ever written). Nevertheless, the highs are so astronomically high that I can’t help but love it with all its flaws.
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97.
Mastodon
- Crack The Skye
* Mastodon but they removed all the stuff I like about them. The songwriting is nowhere near as fun and enjoyable as on their previous records, and the vocals are downright abysmal. It’s still far from a horrible time but man I really don’t get the love for this one.
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98.
The Gathering
- Mandylion
+ Pretty cool gothic metal release, with a charming and hypnotic atmosphere, coupled with beautiful vocals. It does overstay its welcome but I don’t mind it too much.
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101.
My Dying Bride
- The Angel And The Dark River
+ A strong improvement over Turn Lose The Swans, the gothic elements are much less grating and actually make the whole album enjoyable, although I don’t understand why half of the songs have pointless bits of noodling in them.
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102.
Pain Of Salvation
- Remedy Lane
* Pretty competent songwriting downplayed by grating vocals and an album that’s 30 minutes too long overall. Far from the worst thing in the world but I’d be lying if I said I ever wanted to hear it again.
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103.
Savatage
- Gutter Ballet
+ As far as heavy metal goes, Savatage seem to be a safe bet when expecting quality. This album is great, and while it does lose some steam by the end, there's not a single unenjoyable moment here.
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104.
Led Zeppelin
- Led Zeppelin II
* Filler: the album. There’s like 3 interesting tracks on it and they’re far from the best things Led Zepp ever wrote.
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105.
Insomnium
- Winter's Gate
* Welcome back to "this is a perfectly fine album in a genre I do not care about". Today, we have a perfectly fine album in a genre I do not care about.
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106.
Emperor
- In The Nightside Eclipse
+ I have the same gripes with this as with Anthems, with this one being a little weaker overall for me. Still a pretty good time overall.
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107.
Pain Of Salvation
- The Perfect Element, Part I
- It has all the flaws of Remedy Lane and is lacking most of its positive aspects as well.
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108.
Sodom
- Agent Orange
* This sure sounds like thrash! An above average album in the most average genre, so not anything I particularly crave.
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109.
Lost Horizon
- A Flame To The Ground Beneath
+ Very standard power metal but idk, there’s something about it that works. It’s too long though.
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110.
Anathema
- Alternative 4
+ A really good surprise, I didn’t know what to expect and was met with an overall really fun and unique-sounding album.
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111.
Candlemass
- Nightfall
★ Yeah this is the best that classic doom metal can offer. Really memorable songs with a great vocal performance from Messiah Marcolin to tie it all together.
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112.
Coroner
- No More Color
+ Just some pure good thrash with a more technical edge and really good songwriting.
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113.
Katatonia
- Brave Murder Day
+ A slight disappointment compared to their magical debut, dropping the black metal part of their sound to instead adopt a melodeath angle. It’s still a good album but it doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor.
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114.
Iron Maiden
- Piece Of Mind
* Definitely my least favorite of Maiden’s 80s catalogue, it doesn’t have that one track that makes me come back to it every now and then. It’s still an 80s Maiden album so it’s far from bad, but I don’t really care about it all that much.
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115.
Rammstein
- Mutter
* This brings me back, I used to listen to this album a lot when I was first really getting into metal. It's definitely nowhere near as good as when I was 13 and it's not something I really enjoy enough to listen to again, but there are definitely some stand out tracks here. "Mein Herz Brennt", "Links 2 3 4" and "Feuer Frei!" especially remain fun to listen to, but overall, this isn't a style of metal I particularly care about.
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116.
Porcupine Tree
- Deadwing
+ An all-around fun prog rock album. Not my favorite iteration of the genre, but still very enjoyable.
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117.
Equilibrium
- Sagas
- Yet another power metal album disguised as something else. Way too cheesy for me and it becomes actively annoying to listen to before the second track is even over.
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118.
Amorphis
- Under The Red Cloud
- I am mostly unfamiliar with Amorphis. I've heard their first three albums, of which I only really enjoyed Elegy, and their most recent one, Halo, which I absolutely despised. Under The Red Cloud is close in sound to Halo, but honestly, it's fine. Halo made me want to bash my head against a wall, this one just makes me wish I were listening to something else. I could say that it's too melodic, too cheesy, that the synths are too over the top, but I’ll just say it’s not for me.
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119.
Edge Of Sanity
- Crimson II
+ A good follow-up to Crimson and most importantly a great comeback album for EOS, this one manages to capture some of the brilliance of Crimson and make new, interesting stuff with it, but I’m not fully convinced by what Swanö and his crew display here.
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120.
Guns N' Roses
- Appetite For Destruction
* I grew up hearing this album on repeat, so I have a soft spot for it, despite its horrible vocals and a few fillery tracks. It’s hard not to have a fun time when listening to it, even though I wouldn’t willingly listen to more than 4 Guns N’ Roses tracks in a row.
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121.
Pantera
- Vulgar Display Of Power
- Groove metal is definitely not my thing, and most of the tropes I dislike about it can be found here. There’s a few standouts but it’s not enough to salvage this.
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122.
Savatage
- Hall Of The Mountain King
+ Savatage are a band I liked from the very start, and this album is the reason why. It stands out among other heavy metal releases, it sounds different, intriguing and it still manages to have fun riffs and catchy melodies.
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123.
Insomnium
- Above The Weeping World
- Yet another melodeath album that sounds like everything I dislike in the genre. I feel nothing when listening to this.
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124.
Running Wild
- Death Or Glory
+ You know the drill now, power metal with a sharper edge, that’s all I need to enjoy it. Cool riffs, cool tracks, cool vocals, cool album.
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125.
Vektor
- Terminal Redux
★ A cavalcade of riffs and creative ideas that just keeps going and going and somehow stays incredible from beginning to end. This is the pinnacle of thrash metal.
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126.
Megadeth
- Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?
★ Surprisingly my least favorite of Megadeth's first four albums. It’s nevertheless a great release with plenty of memorable tracks, but I don’t see myself coming back to it quite as often as I do with the other early Megadeth albums.
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127.
Riverside
- Out Of Myself
+ I went into this album expecting it to be a chore. Well, color me surprised, this was actually a pretty great release! Not once did I get bored, not once did it feel too cheesy, everything here is where it’s supposed to be. I’m torn between a 7 and an 8, this is a great album.
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128.
Enslaved
- Axioma Ethica Odini
* Try as I might, I just don’t get Enslaved. Neither this or their more straightforward black metal does it for me, and I can’t particularly explain why, it just doesn’t hit the spot.
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129.
Bathory
- Hammerheart
+ This album is always doomed to be in the shadow of Blood Fire Death for me, while not being nearly as catchy and engaging. It’s still really great, although the songs go on for too long.
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130.
My Dying Bride
- Turn Loose The Swans
* I had some expectations going into this since I do enjoy death doom, but man the gothic stuff really drags it down for me. It’s alright but it could be so much better.
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131.
Therion
- Theli
- This album was very hard to rate. What it does is very original and groundbreaking, there are some very interesting musical ideas and some good riffs and melodies, but the vocals are definitely not to my tastes, both the male and female ones. However, this is but a minor issue when compared to the overwhelming problem concerning this album: oh my god it sounds so damn goofy. The midi orchestration is just way too funny for me to overlook, I can't take this album seriously and it unfortunately really undermines how much I enjoy it.
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132.
My Dying Bride
- The Dreadful Hours
* As usual, I don’t really care about the gothic elements in MDB, but this time even the death doom is less interesting.
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133.
Arcturus
- The Sham Mirrors
★ Somehow this is the only avant-garde metal album in the top 200. It’s one of my favorite music genres in general, and I have to say that if there is one album that should represent it in the top 200, it’s definitely Imaginary Sonicscape by Sigh. But if there is another album that should represent it, then The Sham Mirrors is a damn great pick.
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134.
AC/DC
- Highway To Hell
* The vocals are just as bad as on Back In Black but I guess the songwriting is better. Still nothing I really want to listen to again.
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135.
Estatic Fear
- A Sombre Dance
* Symphonic metal is very hit or miss for me, but mostly miss. And this album definitely doesn’t change that fact. The atmosphere doesn’t really convince me, and I absolutely hate the “beauty and the beast” vocals. I do, however, appreciate the instrumentation, most notably the folkier passages which are really good, but the vocals are just too much of a negative point for me to truly enjoy this.
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136.
Shining
- V - Halmstad
* While I really like Shining's 4th album, this one just doesn’t click with me unfortunately. I’ve heard worst and I definitely don’t dislike it, but I see no reason to ever come back to it.
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138.
Stratovarius
- Visions
* If there is one thing I discovered while making this list, it’s that power metal can actually be pretty decent. Visions is the textbook definition of a European power metal album, which means that it’s lacking in either the edge or progressiveness needed to truly elevate the genre. It’s still decent but I don’t see any reason to ever listen to this again.
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139.
Testament
- The Gathering
+ I was surprised by the strong groove and death metal influences, but it was really good nevertheless. I do miss the melodic edge of The Legacy though.
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140.
Moonsorrow
- Verisäkeet
+ Yet another album where Moonsorrow play Moonsorrow, and as usual it’s great.
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141.
Amon Amarth
- With Oden On Our Side
* It’s a melodeath album, you know the drill. Nothing really sticks with me in there and I don’t see a reason to listen to it again.
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142.
Atheist
- Unquestionable Presence
★ A crazy and extremely jazzy tech death album, it shook the death metal world when it first released and even today there isn’t much like it. These riffs have not left my mind in the many years since I first heard them.
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143.
Between The Buried And Me
- Colors
★ Really groundbreaking and unique as far as metalcore goes. Expertly weaves between softer and harsher moments. It does get lost in its lengthier tracks every now and then, but it always manages to pick itself back up.
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144.
Coroner
- Mental Vortex
+ A classic tech-thrash album with many really good riffs, good pacing and a surprisingly nice Beatles cover.
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145.
Uriah Heep
- Demons And Wizards
+ An incredibly fun and catchy hard rock album. Nothing more, nothing less.
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146.
Slayer
- South Of Heaven
+ Slayer slow things down after the onslaught that was Reign In Blood, and it works pretty well. I don’t enjoy it quite as much as their first three, but it’s still a pretty good time.
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147.
Motörhead
- Ace Of Spades
- Mind-numbingly repetitive heavy metal with grating vocals. It would be fine if it were 20 minutes long, but this is too much.
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148.
Amorphis
- Tales From The Thousand Lakes
* This is a cool album in a style I really don’t care about. Elegy is much better.
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149.
Riverside
- Second Life Syndrome
+ Another very enjoyable album from Riverside, definitely a stand-out in progressive rock / metal.
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150.
Machine Head
- The Blackening
- As stated 1000 times already, I'm not too big on thrash. I also really, really don't like groove metal. It's thus a miracle that I don't despise this, but some competent songwriting and a catchy riff here and there help this stand as a perfectly fine record… is what I would say if it weren't 20 minutes too long. For goodness’ sake, please someone tell them to shorten their tracks.
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151.
Led Zeppelin
- Led Zeppelin
- Once again, an album with a few really nice standouts lost in a sea of mediocrity. Half of those tracks are plagiarized anyway.
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152.
Lake Of Tears
- Forever Autumn
* Wayyy too mellow for my liking, and the vocals don’t cary the emotional weigh they’re supposed to and end up making the experience irritating.
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153.
Dimmu Borgir
- Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
+ This is a more than decent album, but I feel like as far as symphonic black metal goes, there is just much, much better stuff available.
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154.
Trees Of Eternity
- Hour Of The Nightingale
* Gothic metal with horrible male vocals and pretty unmemorable songwriting. Not very interesting.
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155.
Black Sabbath
- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
+ You know the drill, it has some pretty cool tracks and overall, I have a good time listening to it, but it doesn’t do much more than that for me.
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157.
Bathory
- Blood Fire Death
★ Bathory never wrote anything as good as this, it has both the aggression of their early era and the grandiosity of their later years. Some all-timers are on this one.
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158.
Ozzy Osbourne
- Blizzard Of Ozz
- I was never a fan of Ozzy’s vocals but wow, they’re so much worse than in Black Sabbath here. The other musicians are good, but the songs themselves are nothing that interesting. I guess “Suicide Solution” was alright.
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159.
Haggard
- Eppur Si Muove
- No. Just no. I don’t really like symphonic metal and especially beauty and the beast vocals are the bane of my exitsence. This album has both. This album was designed with everything I dislike in mind, and naturally it doesn’t click.
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161.
Cryptopsy
- None So Vile
★ Surprisingly melodic brutal death metal that doesn’t pull any punches and delivers banger after banger for 30 minutes straight.
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162.
Overkill
- The Years Of Decay
+ I didn't expect much from this one, but it ended up being a really fun and engaging thrash album. As stated multiple times, thrash isn't really a genre I usually care about, but the songwriting here is different enough to really keep my interest.
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164.
Symphony X
- The Odyssey
+ Once again, Symphony X prove that they are one of the best power metal bands. The compositions on this one are slightly weaker than on Divine Wings but I still had a blast.
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165.
Testament
- The Legacy
+ A solid thrash album with a strong melodic edge that really helps it stand out. I’m positively surprised that I actually enjoyed it very much.
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166.
Isis
- Panopticon
+ Post-metal is one of the genres that frustrate me the most. There’s a lot I love about it, but I can never get fully immersed in it and having most albums in the genre be 50+ minutes long always makes the experience more tedious than it should be. This is a great album, one of the best in the genre, and I wish I liked it more.
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167.
Opeth
- Morningrise
★ My favorite Opeth album. It has a really unique atmosphere compared to the rest of the band’s catalogue with very meandering and poetic songwriting, which works a lot more on me than anything they’d do later.
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168.
Opeth
- My Arms, Your Hearse
* This is where Opeth officially transitioned to more straight-up prog metal, which means it doesn’t rely on the experience they had gathered on their previous two records and unfortunately doesn’t have the same qualities as the two albums that came after. It still has some standouts but it’s nowhere near the level of the records it’s sandwiched between.
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169.
Nile
- Annihilation Of The Wicked
+ Really solid tech brutal death that lasts a little too long for what it has to offer but remains a fun time all throughout.
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170.
Leprous
- Tall Poppy Syndrome
+ I did not expect to enjoy this so much. Very good prog with a lot more subtlety than I was expecting, and even the softer moments are very fun.
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171.
Exodus
- Bonded By Blood
- Generic thrash with annoying vocals, summarizes everything I dislike in the genre pretty well.
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172.
Tristania
- Beyond The Veil
+ I really was expecting the worst from a symphonic gothic metal album, but this thing is really catchy and well-crafted, I’m positively surprised.
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174.
Immortal
- Sons Of Northern Darkness
* Very standard and relatively boring black metal. I feel nothing when listening to this.
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175.
Ne Obliviscaris
- Portal Of I
+ Good songwriting, fresh and interesting ideas, great performance, I just wish it were a tad bit shorter but it could very easily grow on me.
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178.
Necrophagist
- Epitaph
+ This is the album that defines modern tech death. Everything within the last 20 years has been influenced by it in some way, and it’s easy to understand why. Killer riffs, mind-blowing instrumentation and brutal vocals coming together to attack your senses in the best ways possible.
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179.
Symphony X
- V: The New Mythology Suite
★ Third time’s the charm, this is literally everything I’ve been wanting from Symphony X. Seems like they really perfected their style here, and I love it.
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180.
Children Of Bodom
- Follow The Reaper
* Remember what I said about Wintersun? Yeah, you can just paste it here.
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182.
Amorphis
- Queen Of Time
- It’s just like Under The Red Cloud but all its worse traits are amplified. I did not have a good time.
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183.
Blood Incantation
- Absolute Elsewhere
+ I still don’t really understand where all the overwhelming praise for this album came out when it feels very disjointed and doesn’t live up to the songwriting of their previous album. It’s still a really fun time though.
|
185.
Iced Earth
- Something Wicked This Way Comes
* Horrible pacing and most of the album is just not very interesting. The good songs are really good though.
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186.
Immolation
- Close To A World Below
★ Immolation definitely didn’t get their due in this top 200, so I’m glad they’re finally here. This album is ruthless, suffocating and dissonant with great songwriting, production and performance, literally all you could ask for in this kind of death metal.
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187.
Riot
- ThunderSteel
+ The slower paced / anthemic songs are really not that interesting but the rest of the album really slaps.
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188.
Be'lakor
- Of Breath And Bone
* Not quite as proggy and a LOT more Gothenburg than Stone’s Reach, which makes it harder to appreciate for me although it’s still pretty fine overall.
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189.
Dismember
- Like An Ever Flowing Stream
* A pretty good death metal album with a killer opening track, but it’s not really my favorite iteration of the style.
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190.
Entombed
- Left Hand Path
+ A really fun album packed with good riffs and fun songs, although I rarely see myself wanting to listen to it.
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191.
Rainbow
- Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
+ The best Rainbow album. If you take out the horrible “L.A. Connection”, it’s pretty much a perfect track list, and the highlights are truly great.
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192.
Pantera
- Cowboys From Hell
* The standouts are super fun but wow there is SO MUCH FILLER. You could throw away 60% of the tracks and I’m not sure you’d end up with only the highlights.
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193.
Katatonia
- The Great Cold Distance
* A strong departure from the Katatonia I’m used to, and I can’t say I was too into it.
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194.
Judas Priest
- Sad Wings Of Destiny
* This is one that also grew on me with several listens, and I do come back to some of its tracks every now and then, but it’s too close to simplistic hard rock to be fully engaging to me.
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195.
Acid Bath
- When The Kite String Pops
+ Super fun and groovy sludge album. It’s gone through an insane rise in popularity, and I definitely get why, even though it’s not a style I particularly crave.
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196.
Kreator
- Coma Of Souls
* Such a memorable album that I was actually convinced I had never listened to it when in fact, I had.
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197.
Rotting Christ
- Theogonia
* Very different and a lot more melodic than what I expected, it’s pretty good but it’s missing that X factor that can truly elevate meloblack bands.
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Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
[ More lists by Roman Doez ]
[ More lists by Roman Doez ]
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Posts: 1258 Written by Vellichor on 09.05.2025 at 18:41 I think it's a journey worth undertaking. For every painful listen, there's a new favorite album to be discovered in there. And it's really making me go out of my way to check out stuff I would have never discovered, which I think is the most fun part in all this.
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Posts: 1172  |
Posts: 1172 Written by Roman Doez on 09.05.2025 at 19:08 This is my reason, I usually ignore genres that don’t appeal to me so I’ve never heard Vektor, WASP, Kamelot and several others that appear multiple times and I’m sure I’m missing out
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| Posts: 1258 |
Posts: 1258 Written by Vellichor on 09.05.2025 at 19:15 If our taste are anything similar, you're gonna like these two a lot
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| Posts: 1258 |
Posts: 1258
After two years of on and off effort, I have finally listened to all 200 albums in the MS top 200, and this project is finally complete!... for now at least. Here are some stats and facts if anyone's curious: My average rating of the albums in the list is of 6.64. I gave 36 albums a ★, 76 albums a +, 65 a * and 23 a -. The best albums I discovered through the list are The Crimson Idol, To The Nameless Dead and V: The New Mythology Suite. The worst albums I discovered through the list are Eppur Si Muove and Queen Of Time (although Epica and The Metal Opera Part I aren't too far behind). Overall, this was a really fun project to undertake, and I will most likely expand it to a top 250 or 300 in the future, massive thanks to everyone that checked the list out 
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