Bands listed alphabetically, One album per band (With the exception of Carcass and Napalm Death who appear in the Grind and Death Metal sections). Some bands may not be pure old school (Death / Thrash, Doom Death / Death Doom and early Brutal / Technical Death Included) I have also Included some of the more extreme Thrash releases that pre-dated the genre but undoubtedly help pave the way for things to come, I included these as I wish to give a general summary of the way Death Metal began and evolved throughout the 80's and 90's.

1.

2.Abhorrence - Abhorrence [EP]

3.Acrostichon - Engraved In Black

4.Adramelech - PsychoStasia

5.Afflicted - Prodigal Sun

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1.Adramelech - PsychoStasia

2.Armageddon - Crossing The Rubicon

3.Asphyx - Last One On Earth

4.At The Gates - Terminal Spirit Disease

5.Atheist - Piece Of Time

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1.Carcass - Heartwork

2.Entombed - Clandestine

3.Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption

4.Pestilence - Testimony Of The Ancients

5.Gorefest - False

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Updated 11/14/18

1.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

2.Morbid Saint - Spectrum Of Death

3.Obituary - Cause Of Death

4.Nocturnus AD - The Key

5.Atheist - Piece Of Time

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1.Obituary - Cause Of Death

2.Hypocrisy - Osculum Obscenum

3.Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade

4.Nile - Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka

5.Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

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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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Here's to the pioneers, the catalysts.

1.Death - Human

2.Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption

3.Suffocation - Effigy Of The Forgotten

4.Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious

5.Deicide - Deicide

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1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

2.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

3.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

4.Asphyx - The Rack

5.Beherit - Drawing Down The Moon

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Grindcore is not one of my favorite subgenres, but I like it well enough on the whole. My experience with it has not been particularly broad, as I don't listen to it with much regularity, and so I have a lot of empty spaces. Of all my genre lists, this is possibly the most practical, because I do need help remembering what grindcore I like and how much I've heard.

Like my other genre lists, this is not meant to dictate for all time and all purposes what is and is not grindcore; there may be bands that are borderline or adjacent or individual albums by grindcore bands that are not in themselves grindcore. This is just for my own organization and reference.

I originally included Anaal Nathrakh and Melt-Banana on the grounds that grindcore forms part of the basis for their styles (and, more critically, because it was getting lonely at the top of the list), but considering either of them a grindcore act without heavy qualification would be quite a stretch. I already know that I like them anyway, so their inclusion on this list was not helpful to me in terms of making this a resource; on revision, I decided to nix them (and also the non-grind Carcass albums).

The first portion of the list contains albums that I count among my favorite grindcore releases. From then on, the list is broken into tiers of ratings 9/10 down to 6/10. If it isn't on the list, I haven't heard it or I didn't like it.

Last updated December 28, 2023.

1.Gridlink - Longhena

2.Gridlink - Coronet Juniper

3.Contrastic - Contrastic

4.Contrastic - Mamun

5.Takafumi Matsubara - Strange, Beautiful And Fast

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1.Obituary - Cause Of Death

2.Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

3.Entombed - Left Hand Path

4.Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption

5.Death - Leprosy

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1.Asphyx - Last One On Earth

2.Benediction - Transcend The Rubicon

3.Bolt Thrower - ...For Victory

4.Carcass - Heartwork

5.Death - Leprosy

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The ship of Theseus is a thought experiment that goes along the lines of a ship whose wooden parts are replaced one by one until all of its original parts have been replaced. The question is then raised at which point did the ship stop being its original self. When the first part was replaced? When half the parts were replaced? When the last part was replaced?

1.Quiet Riot - Road Rage

2.Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption

3.In Flames - Sounds Of A Playground Fading

4.Stratovarius - Nemesis

5.Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods

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Pretty self-explanatory, with a couple caveats: first, this is mostly just a list of my favorite metal bands in approximate order (after the top 10 or so the order matters far less), with extra weight given to influence and timelessness of sound; and second, the albums selected are not necessarily the band's "best" album, or even my personal favorite -- they are the albums that I feel best represent the band's classic sound and/or well-represent the span of their career. List includes all sub-genres of metal and some post-metal metal. Feel free to spew your hatred below. \m/ (xx) \m/

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

3.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

4.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

5.Slayer - Reign In Blood

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At times, we neglect a certain genre or overall sound due to a "kick" of something that we greatly enjoy. This is a list that goes in circular motions - as the releases tag-out the current "kick", getting us back into something we know we love, but almost forgot about...then back to a previous one - and so on, and so forth.

1.Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

2.My Dying Bride - A Line Of Deathless Kings

3.Disgorge - Cranial Impalement

4.Morbid Angel - Domination

5.King Diamond - Them

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It is very hard to understate how much Scott Burns' talents have given to the world of metal music. He might disagree about the following statements, but his work defined one of the most admired and revered eras of death and thrash metal, vastly influencing the sonic imprint that was to be copied for generations to come, and his skills were far and beyond just the engineering.

1.Agent Steel - Unstoppable Force

2.Whiplash - Ticket To Mayhem

3.Crimson Glory - Transcendence

4.Death - Leprosy

5.Terrorizer - World Downfall

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