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Thumbs up: +4
Top Metal Albums Each Year I Have Been Alive, 2004

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

2004 was a another good year, especially for my favorite genres Symphonic metal and power metal, even if it wasn't the strongest overall year for metal the 2000's started pretty slowly for metal, but 2004 was a fantastic year for other music genres

1.Haggard - Eppur Si Muove
2.Ayreon - The Human Equation
3.Orphaned Land - Mabool: The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven
4.Nightwish - Once
5.Wintersun - Wintersun

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Created by Handala on 29.09.2022



Thumbs up: +2
Some Albums With 8.50 Or More

1.Shylmagoghnar - Emergence
2.Galneryus - Angel Of Salvation
3.Blindead - Affliction XXIX II MXMVI
4.Batushka - Litourgiya
5.Leprous - Bilateral

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Created by JavierPaper on 28.11.2021



Top 30 Symphonic Metal Albums

1.Therion - Theli
2.Therion - Vovin
3.Therion - Lemuria
4.Therion - Sirius B
5.Cradle Of Filth - Midian

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Created by Mrtvozornik on 05.10.2021



Top 20 Of 2004

Must Listen: The First 11

1.Evergrey - The Inner Circle
2.In Flames - Soundtrack To Your Escape
3.Ayreon - The Human Equation
4.Nightwish - Once
5.Wastefall - Soulrain 21

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Created by Alex Avagianos on 15.05.2021



Thumbs up: +3
The Best Metal Albums* From A To # (T)

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.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)
2.T.R.A.M. - Lingua Franca
3.Taake - ...Doedskvad
4.Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster - Exegesis
5.Tad Morose - Modus Vivendi

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Created by Uxküll on 24.02.2021



Thumbs up: +5
One-Hit Albums

A (most probably incomplete) list of albums on which I really enjoy only a single song (in alphabetical order, excluding one-track albums).
They turn out to be albums that I rate a 6 or 7 overall -- with few exceptions.
The songs mentioned though are all-time favourites, which I would rate at 9 or 10.
I only listed albums on which I found exactly one such song.

1.Agalloch - Pale Folklore
2.Amorphis - Far From The Sun
3.Annihilator - Set The World On Fire
4.Asphyx - The Rack
5.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

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Created by Redel on 09.01.2020



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



Best Duet Songs Of 2000's....he said, she said

This is a collection of duets with male and female singers. Listed in play order and not best order. I'm sure there are more that I have overlooked.

1.Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth
2.Therion - Lemuria
3.Sonata Arctica - The Days Of Grays
4.Imperanon - Stained
5.Draconian - Sovran

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Created by rps on 02.01.2019



Thumbs up: +21
Top 500 Albums of All Time

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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Created by nonZero on 06.10.2018



Thumbs up: +1
My Favourite Albums Of 2000s

1.Afgrund - Vid Helvetets Grindar
2.After Forever - After Forever
3.Agalloch - The Mantle
4.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
5.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

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Created by In Bone Factory on 01.09.2018



My Top 10 Of 2004

1.Rotting Christ - Sanctus Diavolos
2.Behemoth - Demigod
3.My Dying Bride - Songs Of Darkness, Words Of Light
4.Vader - The Beast
5.Wintersun - Wintersun

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Created by Archie 666 on 11.07.2017



Thumbs up: +4
Magical Albums

Good musical pieces are those that initiate an emotional reaction or a subconscious shift of your subjective perception. The best music are those that elicit the most positive or dramatic of changes to our psyches. This is a list that I return to occasionally for these effects.

It is subjective of course.

1.Agalloch - The Mantle
2.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
3.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God
4.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
5.Atoma - Skylight

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Created by Oriax on 08.06.2016



Thumbs up: +3
Essential Masterpieces Top 50

1.Metallica - Master Of Puppets
2.Iron Maiden - Powerslave
3.Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
4.Dream Theater - Images And Words
5.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

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Created by lte1 on 22.04.2016



Thumbs up: +1
Favorite Therion Albums

1.Therion - Secret Of The Runes
2.Therion - Vovin
3.Therion - Sirius B
4.Therion - Theli
5.Therion - Lemuria

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Created by ManiacBlasphemer on 19.09.2014



Thumbs up: +1
Symphonic Metal

My favourite Symphonic Metal (mostly female-fronted) albums

1.After Forever - Decipher
2.After Forever - Prison Of Desire
3.Amberian Dawn - End Of Eden
4.Epica - Design Your Universe
5.Epica - The Phantom Agony

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Created by blackvelvet on 12.10.2013