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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Stuff that got me hooked in the course of the years, from my very first blurred memories as a toddler to the present day.
Lots of catchy tunes, some cheese, very few flowers.
Songs that had a big impact on me and influenced my taste in music.
Stuff to let it all hang out, songs for campfire sing-alongs and soundtracks to slit your wrists to.

1.Queen - Jazz

2.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

3.Dio - Holy Diver

4.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

5.Einstürzende Neubauten - Halber Mensch

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Kinda saw another relative lists on here that state this, one bad and one inspirational, so thought I might do my own.

Alphabetic order. And don't ask why a lot of Testament stuff is there, if their albums hadn't had so much impact, Testa wouldn't be my favorite band.

1.AC/DC - Back In Black

2.Accept - Stalingrad

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Amon Amarth - Versus The World

5.Anthrax - Spreading The Disease

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1.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Pantera - Cowboys From Hell

4.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

5.Judas Priest - Painkiller

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1.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

2.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

3.Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark

4.Metallica - Metallica

5.Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth

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N.B. These haven't changed for quite some time.

1.Opeth - Still Life

2.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

3.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

4.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

5.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

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Heavy Metal (like most people I imagine) was one of the first metal genres I got into around 2005. My friend introduced me to Iron Maiden and from there I was hooked! He would recommend me which of their albums to buy each month from HMV with my saved up pocket money (one of the highlights of the month). Thanks to MS, I've now discovered many more incredible heavy metal bands such as Judas Priest, Deep Purple and King Diamond.

So here are my favourites of the genre with my rating, its sub-genre and release year:

(Score is an average of each album's song ratings, full list located here)

If you discovered any new albums or like the same sort of heavy 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 500 Albums (ordered & rated)
Top 25 EPs (also 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)

1.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

2.Metallica - Metallica

3.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

4.Judas Priest - Painkiller

5.Deep Purple - Machine Head

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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: 27 March 2024.

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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A lot of excellent albums in the Maiden catalogue. My personal ranking (it's probably controversial) is as follows:

1.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

2.Iron Maiden - Brave New World

3.Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls

4.Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

5.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

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This is a guide list to some of the greatest voices in the history of rock & metal music, ranked in alphabetical order, by singer's name. I know that there are many more great singers/vocalists out there and that some really good singers were left out of this list.

The criteria by which the following singers were selected are:
1. Anything regarding the voice and the vocal performance (voice quality, technique, range, originality, creativity, etc.)
2. Influence - effect (if a singer has been an influence on other singers or a musical genre)
3. My personal taste

The form of the list is "Band - Trademark Album For The Singer"
"Name of the singer" (Bands he/she has joined)

1.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

2.Primordial - To The Nameless Dead

3.Watchtower - Control And Resistance

4.Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

5.Evanescence - Fallen

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Here is my personal ranking of all the Iron Maiden albums released thus far. This is a personal faves list, so don't get butt-hurt because Powerslave is not number one and such. Thanks.

1.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

2.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

3.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

4.Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls

5.Iron Maiden - Brave New World

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1.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

2.Doom:VS - Dead Words Speak

3.Swallow The Sun - Hope

4.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

5.Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell

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A lot has already been said about the best album openers in metal. Not that much do we talk about abum closers though.
I guess for me the ending of an album is at least as important as its start.
I have put here my favourite album closers in all metal of all time, in descending order of my preference. And I am looking forward to your comments on it.

1.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

2.Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings

3.Mercyful Fate - Melissa

4.Opeth - Morningrise

5.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

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1.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

2.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

3.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

4.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

5.Iron Maiden - Brave New World

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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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