Metal Storm logo
Top lists


Order by:  Date | Popularity | Show all



Thumbs up: +8
Bursting, Smoking & Distorting Stories (A Lesson In Sludge & Stoner By Guib)

Welcome everybody to a little lesson on the history of Sludge & Stoner Metal. I'm Guib and today I have the immense pleasure to serve as your humble teacher.

Please take a seat and travel with me through time as we explore the very best of those two, often blurred, genres. The goal here is simple, I want to get you familiarized with the styles. I want you to understand where they come from through albums on a timeline and while we're at it get a sweet selection of great releases that you might not know and that, hopefully, will get you hooked to explore even more!

But this is a classroom and in my classroom there are a few rules. We want to keep this clean, clear and prevent having a 500+ albums mess. So here are the rules we'll follow throughout this lesson.

- - - - - The Rules - - - - -

1. We will settle for a maximum of 4 albums per year and they will be listed from oldest to newest. Makes it simple to navigate. Those releases will represent what I consider to be hallmarks of the genres for that year. Essentials if you want, yes? Of course, I'll sprinkle a bit of my personality here and there so you will find some unorthodox choices and some less known albums from time to time. It would be boring otherwise... and also why not?

2. We will begin the journey with Melvins' "Gluey Porch Treatments" released in 1987. Why? Because it is arguably the first album to be widely considered as Sludge.

3. The list will mostly feature studio albums. So no Demos & bare minimum when it comes to EPs if any at all. Thank you.

4. I am not going to include releases by Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Hawkwind, etc... I fully understand and recognize the influence older bands had on Stoner Rock, but this is not the list for them.

5. Lastly, not really a rule but more of a note. Considering that we're talking about Sludge & Stoner, it is inevitable that Doom, Post, Progressive, Grunge & Hardcore acts will be featured in this list. Those genres simply go together naturally and are often mixed so do not be alarmed!

- - - - - - - - - -

That is it, I hope you will all discover something to enjoy through my little history lesson. Also, do not hesitate to comment below if you agree or disagree with some of my picks. After all, this is a classroom and debate is invited as it can be fun and educative. As long everything's done respectfully, of course.

Enjoy & Have Fun... Class dismissed!

NOTE: I will now add my picks for best album of the year using this format (best of xxxx) in the chosen album's description.

- Guib -

- - - - - - - - - -

Guib's best Sludge/Stoner Album Picks

Best Of 2023:
Urne - A Feast On Sorrow

Best Of 2024 So Far:
O Zorn! - Vermillion Haze

- - - - - - - - - -

Last Update: March 27th, 2024

1.Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments
2.Soundgarden - Ultramega OK
3.Oxbow - Fuckfest
4.Melvins - Ozma
5.Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

      View entire list ››
Created by Guib on 13.08.2023



Thumbs up: +2
My Favorite Albums Of All Time.

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

      View entire list ››
Created by Charlotbk on 16.01.2023



Top Metal Albums Each Year I Have Been Alive 2019

A little list series where I list my top 20 favorite metal albums every year starting from the year I was born in.

2019 was solid year to end the decade with great releases in Progressive and black metal, doom metal had a strong showing and I finally found a deathcore band that I care about, the 2010's may not have been the most influential decade in metal but it did had a punch of great releases, that might be considered classics down the line, time will tell.


My favorite non metal albums of 2019

1. Remind Me Tomorrow
By Sharon Van Etten (Indie Pop, Synthpop)


2. GREY Area
By Little Simz(UK Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop)


3.Titanic Rising
By Weyes Blood (Art pop, Dream pop)


4. Morbid Stuff
By PUP (pop punk)


5. There Existed an Addiction to Blood
By clipping. (Industrial Hip Hop, Horrorcore)



My favorite movie from 2019



1.Wilderun - Veil Of Imagination
2.Swallow The Sun - When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light
3.Lingua Ignota - Caligula
4.Crypt Sermon - The Ruins Of Fading Light
5.Insomnium - Heart Like A Grave

      View entire list ››
Created by Handala on 15.01.2023



Thumbs up: +1
Top 100 (+2) Of 2015-2019

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 ››
Created by Crys1s on 24.06.2021



Thumbs up: +6
1001 Metal Albums to Hear Before You Die

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

      View entire list ››
Created by metalriff on 05.02.2021



Thumbs up: +11
Genre Tourism: Metal Albums By Non-Metal Bands

A list of cases of non-metal artists releasing metal albums out of the blue. They might have made some slightly heavier stuff before, but these ones are less questionable. Also not including bands that started out as metal but drifted off.

Recommendations welcome.

1.King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Infest The Rats' Nest
2.Dead Neanderthals - Blood Rite
3.Bong-Ra - Antediluvian
4.Circle - Incarnation
5.Pharaoh Overlord - Out Of Darkness

      View entire list ››
Created by RaduP on 28.12.2020



Thumbs up: +4
Charlo Gizzverse

1.King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity
2.King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Infest The Rats' Nest
3.King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; Or, Dawn Of Eternal Night: An Annihilation Of Planet Earth And The Beginning Of Merciless Damnation
4.King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland
5.King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Murder Of The Universe

      View entire list ››
Created by Charlotbk on 18.12.2020



AJ's Ranking Of 2019

Well, 2020 is not the most enjoyable year, is it...

So I looked back at 2019 to do a little nostalgic ranking of when the world was only half crazy....

My top 50 (rate 8 & above)

Like always opinion my own and I am obviously right

Album count: 160
Average rating: 7

1.Cult Of Luna - A Dawn To Fear
2.Alcest - Spiritual Instinct
3.Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
4.Borknagar - True North
5.Swallow The Sun - When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light

      View entire list ››
Created by AJ The Great on 04.05.2020



Thumbs up: +4
MSA 2019 All Write-in Albums

Here is a list of all the bands who received at least one write-in vote during MSA 2019.

Following the annoucement of the results, this information is lost, I post it here so you can continue to explore your favorite genres !

I'm still working on fixing links, if you find errors, feel free to notify in the comments !

1.Babymetal - Metal Galaxy
2.Cave In - Final Transmission
3.Mother Of Millions - Artifacts
4.Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind
5.Soen - Lotus

      View entire list ››
Created by Maxder on 01.03.2020



Thumbs up: +6
MS Awards 2019 Full List

1.Babymetal - Metal Galaxy
2.Cave In - Final Transmission
3.Mother Of Millions - Artifacts
4.Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind
5.Soen - Lotus

      View entire list ››
Created by Royalty on 01.02.2020



Thumbs up: +2
Personal Top 66 - 2019

Favourite metal/rock LPs anno Domini 2019. Admittedly, this list is highly subjective. Still, it's better than yours. Or your mother's. Or Lucifer's. You get the point.
Albums in alphabetical order (top 12 first).

1.Abyssal - A Beacon In The Husk
2.Blood Incantation - Hidden History Of The Human Race
3.Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
4.Haunter - Sacramental Death Qualia
5.Inter Arma - Sulphur English

      View entire list ››
Created by GodIsGood on 25.01.2020



Journey Through 2019

Albums that I listened to in 2019
The Albums are ordered from best to worst but the List is changing till the end of the year.
This is just my opinion.

1.In Mourning - Garden Of Storms
2.Cloak - The Burning Dawn
3.Beast In Black - From Hell With Love
4.Darkthrone - Old Star
5.Midnight Priest - Aggressive Hauntings

      View entire list ››
Created by pandrstudios on 02.11.2019



Thumbs up: +3
2019: The Curtain Call (Jul-Dec)

I've just turned 27, I guess if I'm lucky I'll live long enough to finish this list.

1.Cult Of Luna - A Dawn To Fear
2.Schammasch - Hearts Of No Light
3.Abigail Williams - Walk Beyond The Dark
4.Disillusion - The Liberation
5.Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

      View entire list ››
Created by musclassia on 12.07.2019



Thumbs up: +7
2019 Under My Scope

In 2018 I decided to listen to as many albums as possible, and succeeded in finding new interesting stuff. But it took much effort, and in the end I think I wasn't really smart in my choices, so this year I'll try to do the same with higher creteria. Hopefully the list will grow without losing tightness like it did back then. I'm watching every new entry to MS database, and these are the few albums which caught my attention. - I mean, I'm pretty jaded so these are the only releases I've been able to sit through without complaining.

1.Sabbath Assembly - A Letter Of Red
2.Helium Horse Fly - Hollowed
3.Lingua Ignota - Caligula
4.Health - Vol.4 :: Slaves Of Fear
5.Bent Knee - You Know What They Mean

      View entire list ››
Created by Ansercanagicus on 25.01.2019



Thumbs up: +2
2019 Albums Worth A Re-listen

1.Knocked Loose - A Different Shade Of Blue
2.Tanith - In Another Time
3.Coffin Rot - A Monument To The Dead
4.Spirit Adrift - Divided By Darkness
5.Magic Circle - Departed Souls

      View entire list ››
Created by Daddy Pig on 12.01.2019