Power Metal is a genre I've gotten into quite a bit over the past few years. I'd only really listened to Symphony X before, but discovered Blind Guardian, Wuthering Heights, Gamma Ray and others thanks to MS!

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 power 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.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

2.Wuthering Heights - Far From The Madding Crowd

3.Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free

4.Symphony X - The Odyssey

5.Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy

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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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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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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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1.Pain Of Salvation - Remedy Lane

2.Evergrey - The Inner Circle

3.Dark Tranquillity - Haven

4.Pain Of Salvation - The Perfect Element, Part I

5.Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World

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1.Angra - Holy Land

2.Angra - Rebirth

3.Angra - Fireworks

4.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

5.Angra - Angels Cry

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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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Fairly self-explanatory. I don't think I will approach these in any particular order, I'll treat it whimsically. I'm not sure what I'll do once I have familiarized myself with these sufficiently. I might go and leave a comment on the album's page.

Last updated on 4 May 2023.

EDIT: Actually, I'll just go from top to bottom, although sometimes I add albums somewhere near the top of the list.

1.Sakis Tolis - Among The Fires Of Hell

2.Dio - The Last In Line

3.Swallow The Sun - Hope

4.Ne Obliviscaris - Portal Of I

5.Extol - Undeceived

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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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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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What seems the most important albums for me in chronological order.
I wish I could carry the list year after year to see how my tastes changed and new findings.
I can help but notice that old albums immediately strike me, while in recent times most albums are good but nothing is groundbreaking. We have a tide of releases in the last decades, and standing above the other requires an impossible lot of talent.
Or is it my listen habbits that changed ? I felts I listened to the old albums albums for a lifetime while I'm only surface checking the new ones. Too little time, too little time to truly live...
Also the mixing technology, the sound is too flat nowadays and lack impact and personnality

1.Frank Zappa - Freak Out

2.The Who - Tommy

3.Frank Zappa - Uncle Meat

4.Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

5.King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King

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1.All time & genre (including Non-Metal on MS)
2.Only studio albums & EPs
3.The genre is primary one.
4.Only ESPECIALLY favorite (a bit more stringently than ver1 and rating 10 is not enough)
5.The order: A to Z (initial of band's name), next release date
6.Black Wisdom, an album of Russian band Grey Heaven Fall, is deleted. When the situation gets better, I will repost.
Last modified on 3 March 2022

1.Akhlys - The Dreaming I

2.Altar Of Plagues - Mammal

3.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

4.Anthrax - Among The Living

5.Arkha Sva - Gloria Satanae

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1.Human Fortress - Defenders Of The Crown

2.Scanner - Hypertrace

3.Manowar - Into Glory Ride

4.Ancient Bards - The Alliance Of The Kings - The Black Crystal Sword Saga Part 1

5.Rage - Perfect Man

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The albums below is my definition of extreme metal music, regardless of their genre. Entire list is based only on my personal preferences in metal.
Rules:
1. One album per band
2. 305 groups/305 albums

1.In Flames - Clayman

2.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

3.Chimaira - Chimaira

4.Death - Symbolic

5.Testament - The New Order

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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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