Welcome to what I consider the "1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" or in other words, a list of records of various genres in the arrays of Metal and Hard Rock that I deem essential or at least very recommended to listeners of hard and heavy music. This may be a very overwhelming list but I essentially try to collect all albums in the History of Metal that strike me as worthwhile. May this be a guideline for people that seek for an entrance to a particular genre or certain bands. In no means I am saying, that this list is indisputable by any means. I consider these my personal picks for albums that should be listened to by die-hard metal fans at least once. Hopefully you can discover some new music or relate with my picks. If I missed something that you would include in such a list, please tell me in the form of a comment. Enjoy! \,,/

1.High Tide - Sea Shanties

2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

4.Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come

5.Josefus - Dead Man

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1.Nasty Savage - Indulgence

2.Suicidal Tendencies - How Will I Laugh Tomorrow... When I Can't Even Smile Today

3.Uncle Slam - Say Uncle

4.Annihilator - Alice In Hell

5.Tankard - Zombie Attack

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1.Accept - Metal Heart

2.Helloween - Walls Of Jericho

3.White Lion - Fight To Survive

4.W.A.S.P. - The Last Command

5.Yngwie Malmsteen - Marching Out

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1.King Diamond - "Them"

2.Death - Human

3.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

4.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

5.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

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Plus my top three favourite tracks from each release. \m/

Honourable mentions:
Kreator - Endless Pain (Thrash)
Destruction - Infernal Overkill (Thrash)
Megadeth - Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! (Thrash)

1.Pentagram - Pentagram

2.Slayer - Hell Awaits

3.Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

4.Trouble - The Skull

5.Stormtroopers Of Death - Speak English Or Die

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**Trigger warning**

Albums and EPs rated 8.6+ from 100+ votes which I've given an 8 or lower to.

I've listened to and rated every album on MS that meets this criteria (at time of most recent update) - some of them multiple times - so I feel I can give my honest opinion.

The purpose of this is to list and order the albums that I simply don't "get" and to try re-listening to them in the hope of understanding why they've received so many 9 and 10 votes.

Ordered by my rating then MS rating then number of votes.

Updated: 03-Jan-24

My other lists:
Top 500 Albums (ordered & rated)
Top 25 EPs (also ordered & rated)
Top 200 Overlooked Albums (with genres)
So I Heard You Like Wintersun... (Time II find new bands)

1.Anathema - Judgement

2.Paradise Lost - Draconian Times

3.Anathema - Alternative 4

4.Motörhead - Ace Of Spades

5.Motörhead - Overkill

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An ongoing list for personal use as well as for reference for beginners (& veterans alike). This is solely my personal opinion and taste (Death & Prog mostly but do give every genre a try). Basically will include albums I've rated 8 & above. Sorted by year since I'll need a Venn diagram to sort by genre (seriously MS please make it happen if possible). Will feature multiple releases per year (obviously) and per band (since if a band is putting out better albums it deserves more recognition). Keeping the metal faith alive from India

1.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

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

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

4.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

5.Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself

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1.Paradise Lost - Obsidian

2.Alcest - Spiritual Instinct

3.Judas Priest - Firepower

4.Pallbearer - Heartless

5.Vektor - Terminal Redux

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I'm bored very easily, and that's why I decided to do some stats about metal storm's top 20 of each year and the top 200. I don't know why I did that, but if you love stats like I do it might interest you. All of the data I collected is from November the 7th 2020.
Updated on August the 3rd 2023

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5.Deep Purple - The Book Of Taliesyn

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1.Slayer - Reign In Blood

2.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

3.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

4.Exodus - Bonded By Blood

5.Flotsam & Jetsam - No Place For Disgrace

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These are MY Top 250 Albums that are featured on Metal Storm in chronological order to celebrate 50 Years of Metal.

Some bands are featured on this list with more than one album, which means that they are perticulary amazing to me.

I listen to a wide spectrum of metal genres, which is why I tried to keep it diverse and not focus on one genre.

1.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2.Deep Purple - In Rock

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

4.Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards

5.Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

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Thrash may not be my favorite metal subgenre but it's one of them. There have always been thrash albums I always get back to with great pleasure and I am usually happy when thrash veterans get back with great music.
I say not a thrasher because I am stuck in the past, as it's easily to be seen in the list, new bands have not impressed me much, especially when they predictably wear their influences on their sleeves.

1.Kreator - Terrible Certainty

2.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

3.Slayer - South Of Heaven

4.Annihilator - Never, Neverland

5.Death Angel - Act III

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Erm... sorry Dave... >.>

1.Slayer - Reign In Blood

2.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

3.Kreator - Pleasure To Kill

4.Power Trip - Nightmare Logic

5.Sodom - M-16

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A list of albums I listen to and rated with a small commentary. This list is not meant to have an order, or a best-to-worst classification.

Links to connected lists:

Album & Artist Impressions (Part 2)

Rating:

10 - Timeless classic
9 - Masterpiece
8 - Excellent
7 - Solid
6 - Uneven
5 - Tainted by tone-deafness

1.Igorrr - Hallelujah

2.Strapping Young Lad - Strapping Young Lad

3.Cro-Mags - Revenge

4.Sepultura - Chaos A.D.

5.Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

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1.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

2.Slayer - Reign In Blood

3.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

4.Exodus - Bonded By Blood

5.Metallica - Kill 'Em All

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