Listen to metal for more than the half of my life, here is the list of my favorites albums of all time.

1. Alcest - Les Voyages De L'âme

2. Alcest - Kodama

3. Alcest - Spiritual Instinct

4. Alestorm - Sunset On The Golden Age

5. Alestorm - No Grave But The Sea

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Welcome to what I consider the "Metal Bible" 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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What seems the most important albums for me in chronological order.
I wish I could carry the list year after year to see how my tastes changed and new findings.
I can help but notice that old albums immediately strike me, while in recent times most albums are good but nothing is groundbreaking. We have a tide of releases in the last decades, and standing above the other requires an impossible lot of talent.
Or is it my listen habbits that changed ? I felts I listened to the old albums albums for a lifetime while I'm only surface checking the new ones. Too little time, too little time to truly live...
Also the mixing technology, the sound is too flat nowadays and lack impact and personnality

1. Frank Zappa - Freak Out

2. The Who - Tommy

3. Frank Zappa - Uncle Meat

4. Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

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

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Last updated on 25 March 2023.

1. Dream Theater - Images and Words

2. Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

3. Wintersun - Wintersun

4. Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane

5. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

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Note: Tool intentionally ommitted because they don't consider themselves metal. Otherwise you'd see their first 4 albums in top 25.

Last updated: 26 March 2023

1. Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

2. Agalloch - The Mantle

3. Opeth - Blackwater Park

4. Edge of Sanity - Crimson

5. Lost Horizon - A Flame to the Ground Beneath

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These are my top 100 favorite albums - they are the reason why I love metal!
Enjoy!
Format: Band | Album | (genre, release year, country) What I like about the album; Favorite songs
Statistics:
Genre:
Death: 28
Black: 20
Thrash: 19
Heavy: 15
Progressive: 9
Power: 4
Doom: 4
Symphonic: 1
Years with most album favorites:
1995: 8
1996: 7
1990: 7
1984: 5
Countries with most album favorites:
USA: 35
Sweden: 20
UK: 16
Norway: 6

----Last Update: June 15, 2022----

1. Judas Priest - Painkiller

2. Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane

3. Megadeth - Rust in Peace

4. Metallica - Ride the Lightning

5. Death - Spiritual Healing

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My favourite black metal albums listed and ranked, all varieties within the black metal genre.

1. Primordial - To The Nameless Dead

2. Summoning - Oath Bound

3. Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

4. Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

5. Mgła - Exercises In Futility

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I'm not forcefeeding music this year. 2020 had me wasting a lot of time focusing on the lesser releases every week. Nowadays I just listen to what I want, and try to explore new things, dig my backcatalog, and take notes at each significant step. There's unfortunately little metal for now, hopefully it will change.

1. Nina Hagen - live at Fürstenhof Tanzpalast

2. Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield

3. Diamanda Galas

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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.

If I haven't already done so, I will likely re-listen to these 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: 17-Oct-22

My other lists:
My Favourite Albums (ordered & rated)
My Favourite 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. Anathema - Alternative 4

3. Paradise Lost - Draconian Times

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. Bathory - Blood Fire Death

2. Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse

3. Satyricon - Nemesis Divina

4. Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

5. Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

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1. Windir - 1184

2. Enslaved - Isa

3. Keep Of Kalessin - Armada

4. Alcest - Écailles De Lune

5. Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

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1. Agalloch - The Mantle

2. Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

3. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

4. Pain Of Salvation - Remedy Lane

5. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

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2005-2009 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5838
2010-2014 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5828
2015-2019 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6722

I sure do love this site and it's rating system, it makes finding great music so easy and, even more importantly, when an album is overlooked for a while but starts getting a buzz a few months later, boom, there it appears in the top 20.

1. Opeth - Blackwater Park

2. Agalloch - The Mantle

3. Tool - Lateralus

4. Wintersun - Wintersun

5. Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World

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Current Top 100 as of September 2019. Having listened to metal for 45 years or so - here are my favourites (favourite track). One album limit per band. Enjoy!

1. Absu - Absu

2. AC/DC - If You Want Blood You've Got It

3. Agalloch - The Mantle

4. Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone

5. Alcest - Écailles De Lune

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