Ratings go from:

WORSHIP ❤️❤️❤️: Absolute greatness, a mindblowing album.
LOVE ❤️❤️🖤: Amazing release with very few flaws.
LIKE ❤️🖤🖤: Enjoyable but far from perfect.
DISLIKE 💔: Not very good or maybe not fitting my tastes.

I've decided to stop rating albums with a numerical value as I tend to feel uncomfortable with that. This list has a minimalistic, subjective and visceral approach, based purely on sensations and personal tastes. Mainly for personal use and doesn't pretend to be a serious ranking, but emerges from the need to remember which bands and albums I enjoyed and the ones I disliked. I constantly revisit new releases so first impressions may change over time. It usually takes 8-10 spins for me to get completely sure of a rating.

1. Æther Realm - Tarot

2. Abhoria - Abhoria

3. Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops

4. Agrypnie - Metamorphosis

5. Allegaeon - Fragments Of Form And Function

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An exploration of the best (and worst) albums of 1996, will keep updating as I find more albums to rank. I've often thought that 1996 was one of the worst years for metal but I keep finding great and overlooked albums. Many of them deserve another listen, there are definitely some gems hidden amongst the weirdness.

1. Stratovarius - Episode

2. Metallica - Load

3. Amorphis - Elegy

4. Bathory - Blood On Ice

5. Burzum - Filosofem

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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: 3 June 2022

1. Agalloch - The Mantle

2. Opeth - Blackwater Park

3. Edge of Sanity - Crimson

4. Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

5. Lost Horizon - A Flame to the Ground Beneath

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I just want to note that these are my favorites to listen to right now, and not necessarily the albums I would rate "best" or "most classic". Pure preference

1. Entombed - Left Hand Path

2. Antestor - The Forsaken

3. Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk

4. Amenra - De Doorn

5. Wintersun - Wintersun

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All my favourite songs that are 10 minutes+

1. Rush - 2112

2. Deep Purple - In Rock

3. Iron Maiden - Powerslave

4. Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I

5. Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself

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1. Opeth - Blackwater Park

2. Opeth - Ghost Reveries

3. Opeth - Damnation

4. Opeth - Still Life

5. Opeth - Deliverance

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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. Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery

2. Ulver - Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr I 5 Capitler

3. In Flames - The Jester Race

4. Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5. In Flames - Whoracle

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1. Empyrium - Songs of Moors and Misty Fields

2. Thurisaz - Scent of a Dream

3. Opeth - Morningrise

4. Empyrium - A Wintersunset...

5. Anathema - Eternity

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I've been listening to Metal since 2005 and it has become my biggest passion in life.

Rarely a day goes by where I don't listen to it in one form or another. The bands I listened to in my teens inspired me to pick up the guitar (and later drums) and start making music of my own.

Metal means everything to me and I would be lost without it. So here are the albums that have stood out and made the largest impact on me.

1. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

2. Metallica - Master Of Puppets

3. Opeth - Blackwater Park

4. Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5. Opeth - Still Life

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Metal albums that blow me away every time I hear them. Loosely ordered... list gets less organized as it goes on. My favorite song from each album is included.

1. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory

2. Faith No More - Angel Dust

3. Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

4. Tool - Ænima

5. Metallica - ...And Justice for All

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1. Agalloch - Pale Folklore

2. Agalloch - The Mantle

3. Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

4. Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

5. Ahab - The Boats Of The Glen Carrig

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***NOTE: This is an opinion and everything is listed based on my own preferences. Feel free to disagree and tell me what your favorite Opeth albums are from best to worst.***

01. Blackwater Park

It would be nearly impossible to list any other album as #1 given that Blackwater Park is widely considered one of the best metal albums of all time regardless of genre. This is also the perfect place to describe what Opeth has historically offered as a musical entity and why it is worth delving deeply into their music catalog. Blackwater Park has all of the elements Opeth is known for: brutal death growls, soothing clean vocals, heavy, dense atmospheres seamlessly flowing into light, airy instrumentals. You never know what to expect from one moment to the next and that has always been one of the most exciting parts of any Opeth album.

1. Opeth - Blackwater Park

2. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

3. Opeth - Still Life

4. Opeth - Watershed

5. Opeth - Morningrise

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They are not in order and also one album per band

1. Anathema - Serenades

2. Opeth - Morningrise

3. In The Woods... - Heart Of The Ages

4. Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

5. Alcest - Écailles De Lune

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