2000-2004 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5844
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

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.

All that being said, I still wish there was some way to get a weighted ranking that not only takes the rating of the album into account, but also the number of votes that were cast. For example, an album with a rating of 8.8 and 1000 votes would rank higher than an album with a rating of 8.9 and 20 votes. So, I scraped all the albums on the site with at least 1 vote into a database. Then, taking a leaf out of IMDb's book, I used Bayesian estimation (like the IMDb's Top 250) to calculate a weighted rating for each album based on its Metal Storm rating and the number of votes it had received.

The formula for calculating the Top 100 Albums gives a true Bayesian estimate:
Bayes rating (BR) = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) where:
C = average expected rating given...
m = minimum number of votes
R = average rating for the album = (Metal Storm rating)
N = number of votes for the album = (votes)

The way the Bayesian estimator works is that all albums in the database are given and additional m fake votes with an average rating of C, irrespective of how many true votes it already has. Then a new weighted rating is calculated...
If the album has no true votes ( N = 0 ), then BR = ( C × m + R × 0 ) ÷ ( m + 0) = C × m ÷ m = C (the average expected rating).
If the album has a number of true votes equal to the minimum ( N = m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × m ) ÷ ( m + m ) = ( C + R ) × m ÷ 2m = ( C + R ) ÷ 2 (halfway between the two ratings).
If the album has a very large number of true votes ( N >> m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) ≈ R × N ÷ N = R (the Metal Storm rating).
This means that the Bayes rating will never equal the Metal Storm rating but will approach it as the true votes grows arbitrarily large.

Now that the maths bit is out of the way, here was my methodology:
Only Studio and EP album types, from the years 2015 to 2019, with at least 1 vote, were included.
The average expected rating (C) was determined by averaging all the Metal Storm ratings from 2015-2019.
The minimum number of votes (m) was determined by calculating the 75th percentile of the votes, rounded to the nearest 10.
I also decided that if an album's Bayes rating was within 0.005 of #100, it would be included too; hence the +2.

C for 2015-2019 = 7.422
m = 20

Number of albums from each year in the list:
2015 - 31
2016 - 24
2017 - 18
2018 - 12
2019 - 17

Ratings are accurate as of 30/10/2023

1.Mgła - Exercises In Futility

2.Insomnium - Winter's Gate

3.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

4.Vektor - Terminal Redux

5.Trees Of Eternity - Hour Of The Nightingale

      View entire list ››

1.Overkill - The Electric Age

2.Vektor - Outer Isolation

3.Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

4.Testament - Dark Roots Of Earth

5.Kreator - Phantom Antichrist

      View entire list ››

1.Behemoth - The Satanist

2.Rhapsody Of Fire - From Chaos To Eternity

3.Mors Principium Est - Dawn Of The 5th Era

4.Insomnium - Shadows Of The Dying Sun

5.Wintersun - Time I

      View entire list ››

1.Megadeth - Dystopia

2.Death Angel - The Evil Divide

3.Helstar - Vampiro

4.Killswitch Engage - Incarnate

5.Nails - You Will Never Be One Of Us

      View entire list ››

1.Fleshgod Apocalypse - King

2.Obscura - Akróasis

3.Vredehammer - Violator

4.Flotsam And Jetsam - Flotsam And Jetsam

5.Moonsorrow - jumalten alka

      View entire list ››

1.Deströyer 666 - Wildfire

2.Asphyx - Incoming Death

3.Anaal Nathrakh - The Whole Of The Law

4.Meshiaak - Alliance Of Thieves

5.After All - Waves Of Annihilation

      View entire list ››

1.Insomnium - Winter's Gate

2.Dark Tranquillity - Atoma

3.Avantasia - Ghostlights

4.Alter Bridge - The Last Hero

5.Abbath - Abbath

      View entire list ››

Albums I've heard enough times to consider ranking

1.Vektor - Terminal Redux

2.Deströyer 666 - Wildfire

3.Suicidal Angels - Division Of Blood

4.Hobbs' Angel Of Death - Heaven Bled

5.Sojourner - Empires Of Ash

      View entire list ››

My Favorite Albums Of The Year \m/

1.Onmyo-Za - 迦陵頻伽

2.Dream Theater - The Astonishing

3.Epica - The Holographic Principle

4.Insomnium - Winter's Gate

5.Opeth - Sorceress

      View entire list ››

1.Cult Of Luna - Mariner [Collaboration]

2.Insomnium - Winter's Gate

3.Trees Of Eternity - Hour Of The Nightingale

4.Ihsahn - Arktis.

5.Haken - Affinity

      View entire list ››

Favourite albums of 2016 (including only those which I would rate 7+)

1.Vektor - Terminal Redux

2.Slice The Cake - Odyssey To The West

3.Animals As Leaders - The Madness Of Many

4.Gardenjia - Arkestral

5.Hypno5e - Shores Of The Abstract Line

      View entire list ››

1.Flotsam And Jetsam - Flotsam And Jetsam

2.Death Angel - The Evil Divide

3.Avatar - Feathers & Flesh

4.Tremonti - Dust

5.Grand Magus - Sword Songs

      View entire list ››

1.Death Angel - The Evil Divide

2.Sodom - Decision Day

3.Anthrax - For All Kings

4.Flotsam And Jetsam - Flotsam And Jetsam

5.Megadeth - Dystopia

      View entire list ››

Like my other genre-based lists, this exists purely for my own organizational purposes and not to provide a definitive statement about or guidebook to the thrash genre. I've folded some speed metal and other occasional outliers into this list, maybe a few not-so-thrash albums by otherwise-thrash bands, since they're close enough and I wasn't going to make a separate list.

1.Slayer - Reign In Blood

2.Gama Bomb - Citizen Brain

3.Cross Examination - Menace II Sobriety

4.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

5.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

      View entire list ››

1.Ihsahn - Arktis.

2.Vektor - Terminal Redux

3.Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep Of Reason

4.Anciients - Voice Of The Void

5.Black Crown Initiate - Selves We Cannot Forgive

      View entire list ››