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Essential Power Metal

1.Angra - Temple Of Shadows
2.Avantasia - The Metal Opera Part I
3.Avantasia - The Metal Opera Part II
4.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond
5.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

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Created by em6568 on 19.06.2023



Thumbs up: +7
Making My Way Through The MS Top 200

The MS top 200 is supposed to represent the absolute peak of metal music, the timeless classics. I have been listening to metal for about 6 years now and would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the genre. Yet, I have barely heard half of what the top 200 has to offer. I am now on a quest to listen to it all and give an honest opinion on what I thought of it.
This list will show every album of the top 200 and if I've listened to it whether it's an all-time favourite of mine (+++), I really like it (++), I like it (+), it’s good (*), it’s not great (-), I really dislike it (--) or I hate it from the bottom of my heart (---). The same symbols will be used to characterize what I think my opinion of the albums I haven't heard yet will be, based on my knowledge of the bands and of the genre they play. (?) signifies that I have no idea of whether I'll enjoy it or not and (/) means that my opinion of the album is probably obsolete, and I need to listen to it again. A ★ means the album is in my own top 200.
Edit: The bottom of the top 200 has been changing a lot, with some stuff formerly in the list now closer to 240th, so this is now a top 250. I’m not sure I want to expand the list further down, but I’ll see whenever it’s completed if I feel like going for a top 300 or something like that.
Best discoveries so far: Wildhoney, Nightfall, Out Of Myself, Portal Of I, Autumn Aurora, Nemesis Divina, Abigail, V: Hävitetty, Sounds Of Pain.

1.
2.
3.W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol
4.Saturnus - Veronika Decides To Die
5.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

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Created by Roman Doez on 13.04.2023



Thumbs up: +2
TheJahrhead's Totally Biased Personal Favorites

1.Megadeth - Rust In Peace
2.Disforia - The Age Of Ether
3.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
4.Ayreon - The Theory Of Everything
5.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

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Created by TheJahrhead on 03.09.2022



Thumbs up: +1
1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Welcome to what I consider the "1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" or in other words, a list of records of various genres in the arrays of Metal and Hard Rock that I deem essential or at least very recommended to listeners of hard and heavy music. This may be a very overwhelming list but I essentially try to collect all albums in the History of Metal that strike me as worthwhile. May this be a guideline for people that seek for an entrance to a particular genre or certain bands. In no means I am saying, that this list is indisputable by any means. I consider these my personal picks for albums that should be listened to by die-hard metal fans at least once. Hopefully you can discover some new music or relate with my picks. If I missed something that you would include in such a list, please tell me in the form of a comment. Enjoy! \,,/

1.High Tide - Sea Shanties
2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
4.Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come
5.Josefus - Dead Man

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Created by pandrstudios on 31.05.2022



Ranking Power Metal Albums As I Listen To Them

just rating albums as I listen to them, work in progress

1.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side
2.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II
3.Wintersun - Wintersun
4.Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
5.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

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Created by EFDoug on 25.03.2022



Thumbs up: +2
Top 200 Overrated Albums

**Trigger warning**

Albums and EPs rated 8.6+ from 100+ votes which I've given an 8 or lower to.

I've listened to and rated every album on MS that meets this criteria (at time of most recent update) - some of them multiple times - so I feel I can give my honest opinion.

The purpose of this is to list and order the albums that I simply don't "get" and to try re-listening to them in the hope of understanding why they've received so many 9 and 10 votes.

Ordered by my rating then MS rating then number of votes.

Updated: 03-Jan-24

My other lists:
Top 500 Albums (ordered & rated)
Top 25 EPs (also ordered & rated)
Top 200 Overlooked Albums (with genres)
So I Heard You Like Wintersun... (Time II find new bands)

1.Anathema - Judgement
2.Paradise Lost - Draconian Times
3.Anathema - Alternative 4
4.Motörhead - Ace Of Spades
5.Motörhead - Overkill

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Created by nonZero on 19.02.2021



Thumbs up: +5
The Best Metal Albums* From A To # (F)

This list is meant to be an extensive, but by no means exhaustive, collection of the greatest (modern) metal albums and eps. Running the gamut from avant-garde to trve norweigan black metal. *As someone who is young in age, my tastes tend to revolve around the period of the 80s to the present.* Although certain metal albums from before will certainly be featured, the period of the 60s-70s will be under-represented. I refer you to this excellent list to gain a better appreciation for some of the best metal from that period: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/freis/martin_popoffs_the_top_500_heavy_metal_albums_of_all_time/

1.Faal - The Clouds Are Burning
2.Façade - The Eternal Dance
3.Facínora - Hell Is Here
4.The Faceless - Autotheism
5.Faceless Burial - Speciation

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Created by Uxküll on 13.11.2020



Thumbs up: +2
The Next Best Power Metal Albums Of All Time

If you already checked my previous list (http://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=312) and are aware about most of the albums on that list then you might want other solid power metal albums to check out. This is my list of 2nd line power metal albums that are really good and should be included in your musical library.

Notes:

- The first track in the favorite tracks description section of each album is usually my favorite on the album
- I avoided adding albums of bands that are included in the previous list

If you have a thing for stats like I do then countries by albums:

Germany - 7
Sweden - 5
Italy - 3
Finland - 2
USA - 2
Brazil - 1
England - 1
Netherlands - 1
Austria - 1
Mixed - 1

1.Victorius - Dreamchaser
2.Dreamland - Future's Calling
3.Theocracy - As The World Bleeds
4.Serious Black - As Daylight Breaks
5.Mob Rules - Savage Land

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Created by Mountain King on 04.01.2020



Thumbs up: +5
Top 100 (+5) Of 2000-2004

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
2015-2019 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6722

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 grow 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 2000 to 2004, with at least 1 vote, were included.
The average expected rating (C) was determined by averaging all the Metal Storm ratings from 2000-2004.
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 +5.

C for 2000-2004 = 7.599
m = 30

Number of albums from each year in the list:
2000 - 15
2001 - 27
2002 - 14
2003 - 20
2004 - 29

Ratings are accurate as of 30/10/2023

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park
2.Agalloch - The Mantle
3.Tool - Lateralus
4.Wintersun - Wintersun
5.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

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Created by Crys1s on 26.09.2019



Thumbs up: +6
Empowering Albums For Powerless Losers

This is a list of all the power metal albums I have listened to that are worth remembering. Like my other genre lists, this is not meant to be a definitive guide to power metal or a binding judgment on what power metal is or is not. The list exists purely for my own organizational purposes and may contain bands or albums that are not strictly True Knights of the Eternal Thundersword.

The first cluster includes my favorite albums in the genre (and a significant number of my all-time favorites); beyond that, they are listed by rating from 9/10 down to 6/10 and alphabetically within each bracket.

Last updated November 27, 2021.

1.Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth
2.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side
3.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond
4.Jag Panzer - Thane To The Throne
5.X Japan - Art Of Life

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Created by ScreamingSteelUS on 19.09.2019



365 Albums

1.AC/DC - Back In Black
2.AC/DC - High Voltage
3.AC/DC - Highway To Hell
4.Accept - Blood Of The Nations
5.Allen/Lande - The Showdown

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Created by The Norseman on 30.01.2016



My Favorite Albums (in No Particular Order; Not Quite Finished)

This is a list of my favorite albums that will constantly change, as there are new albums out all the time, and this list is in no particular order.
As a disclaimer, there are many albums containing songs that are my favorites; the other songs are why the album might not be a favorite. That is why a lot of the older stuff that I enjoy is not on here. I'll make a list for my favorite songs... eventually.

1.DragonForce - The Power Within
2.Nightwish - Century Child
3.Kamelot - Karma
4.Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
5.Epica - Design Your Universe

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Created by selkieofthesea on 10.04.2014



Thumbs up: +9
All Metal Of All Time Top 300: Songs

1.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum
2.Theatre Of Tragedy - Theatre Of Tragedy
3.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans
4.Iron Maiden - Powerslave
5.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

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Created by Redel on 08.03.2014



Thumbs up: +19
All Metal Of All Time Top 300: Albums

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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Created by Redel on 01.03.2014



Thumbs up: +22
My favourite Power Metal Albums

Since many of you felt annoyed by my previous list title I changed it and hopefully you will be ok with it.Power up everybody!!!

1.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II
2.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side
3.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I
4.Riot - ThunderSteel
5.Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free

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Created by stormlord77 on 29.04.2013