*** READ ME *** This list is about the greatest metal albums of all-time, from all sub-genres and all countries. You won't see bands like Deep Purple, Rush, BOC, Zeppelin, etc., nor will you see bands like Tool, Rage ATM, Melvins and Soundgarden. While I love many of those bands, my definition of metal does not include them.

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

3.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

4.Death - Symbolic

5.Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath

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1.Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark

2.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

3.Master's Hammer - Ritual

4.Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky

5.Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism

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- My TOP 75 from 90s (and 80s), 00s and 10s.
- Each TOP 75 ordered from my most favourite down.
- One album for every band in one TOP 75.
- Only full-lengths or EPs/demos with more than half an hour.

Description includes: Genre (traditional/true BM bands are labeled with their countries, e.g. Norwegian Black), year and my personal favourite song of the particular album with link.

Hall of Fame (bands in each time period): Agalloch, Blut Aus Nord, Enslaved, Immortal, Nokturnal Mortum, Summoning

1.

2.Windir - Arntor

3.Paysage d'Hiver - Paysage D'Hiver

4.Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulée

5.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

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"If I were to die tomorrow, which 50 albums should I take with me?"

Through the endless ocean of music we always seem to find the albums which differ themselves more than others. These are the albums that are timeless to me, and have remained as a musical stain in my life over the years.

The list isn't 100% correct when it comes to the order of the albums, but these are the albums I know I will be happy with - if I only could bring 50 albums to heaven/hell.

1.Kamelot - The Black Halo

2.Eternal Tears Of Sorrow - A Virgin And A Whore

3.Evergrey - The Inner Circle

4.Dream Theater - Images And Words

5.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

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I havnt been into metal all that long...so this is a good chuck of the metal albums i own...though ive heard many, many more....these are all albums ive spent a lot of time with (or soon will). I tried to stay away from multiple albums by an artist, but a few exceptions were made hehe.

1.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)

2.3 Inches Of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom

3.Absu - Tara

4.ADX - Division Blindée

5.Agalloch - The Mantle

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***Limit 2 albums per artist***

1.Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger

2.Burzum - Filosofem

3.Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

4.Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse

5.Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark

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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.

So here are the albums that have stood out and made the largest impact on me. To be as transparent as possible, I've labelled albums as 'nostalgia bias' where my memories of the album give it an advantage over others.

(Score is an average of each album's song ratings, full list located here. There are a ton of albums that I've rated 9/10 in the 'TBR' tab that may never make it to this list, be sure to check those out.)

If you discovered any new albums or like the same sort of metal, be sure to give this list a thumbs-up and leave a comment so more people can find these amazing bands!

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

Genre-Specific:
Top 50 Black Metal Albums
Top 50 Melodic Death Metal Albums
Top 45 Thrash Metal Albums
Top 40 Power Metal Albums
Top 30 Doom Metal Albums
Top 30 Heavy Metal Albums

1.Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

4.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5.Opeth - Still Life

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1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

2.Amon Amarth - Once Sent From The Golden Hall

3.Amorphis - Queen Of Time

4.Angizia - Das Schachbrett Des Trommelbuben Zacharias

5.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

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An entirely subjective list of my all-time favourite metal albums, well lets better say albums/genres featured on MS, since not all here is precisely metal.
Objective quality is not a criteria here, just how much I like the album. Ordered by preference, top down.

1.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

2.Opeth - Morningrise

3.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum

4.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

5.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

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Almost all album titles fall in one of two categories: The album shares the title with one of its songs (the title track) or, alternatively, the album title is independent from the songs (no title track).

However, there are examples of songs that have a central link to the album title without sharing the same name. In these cases, certain lyrics from the song were chosen as the album title.

This (alphabetical) list shows the names of these “hidden title tracks” and the central lyrics that gave the name to the corresponding album.

Please feel free to suggest more of your favorite metal/hard rock examples of these “hidden title tracks”.

1.40 Watt Sun - Wider Than The Sky

2.A Forest Of Stars - A Shadowplay For Yesterdays

3.Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops

4.Agalloch - The Mantle

5.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

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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.Summoning - Oath Bound

2.Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter

3.Primordial - To The Nameless Dead

4.Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

5.Mgła - Exercises In Futility

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Once upon a time, there was a metaller who dared to say : hey, let's put symphonies in our metal, dudes. The dudes thought it was stupid at first, then they tried and guess what? The result was WONDERFUL!!! Here are my 20 favourite symphonic metal albums, taken from all subgenres, from power to folk, black and death.

1.Equilibrium - Sagas

2.Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr

3.Septicflesh - Communion

4.Epica - Design Your Universe

5.Symphony X - Paradise Lost

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1.Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse

2.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

3.Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

4.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

5.Setherial - Nord

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Updated 14.4.2024

My rather personal and improvised take on the subject matter. The list is pretty wage, I'll be updating it a lot and the order might vary a little depending on some things, but they're all great and awesome records no matter what. If there are some great records missing, that doesn't necessarily mean I consider them bad, maybe I just forgot about them or just haven't listened to them enough to consider them personal favourites.

Limited to metal and rock albums found on Metal Storm. Most of them (at least 90%) are anyway, so doesn't matter. The absent ones are mostly more pop and synth oriented stuff and some really obscure jazz and fusion albums.

1.Marillion - Marbles

2.Anathema - Weather Systems

3.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

4.Moonsorrow - Voimasta Ja Kunniasta

5.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

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