Metal albums that blow me away every time I hear them. Loosely ordered... list gets less organized as it goes on. My favorite song from each album is included.

1. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory

2. Faith No More - Angel Dust

3. Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

4. Tool - Ænima

5. Metallica - ...And Justice for All

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1. Opeth - Ghost Reveries

2. Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth

3. Moonsorrow - Verisäkeet

4. Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal

5. Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone

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1. Arcane Sun - Arcane Sun

2. Archspire - Relentless Mutation

3. At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

4. Atheist - Piece Of Time

5. Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

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1. Agalloch - The Mantle

2. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

3. Opeth - Ghost Reveries

4. Metallica - Ride the Lightning

5. Megadeth - Rust in Peace

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***NOTE: This is an opinion and everything is listed based on my own preferences. Feel free to disagree and tell me what your favorite Opeth albums are from best to worst.***

01. Blackwater Park

It would be nearly impossible to list any other album as #1 given that Blackwater Park is widely considered one of the best metal albums of all time regardless of genre. This is also the perfect place to describe what Opeth has historically offered as a musical entity and why it is worth delving deeply into their music catalog. Blackwater Park has all of the elements Opeth is known for: brutal death growls, soothing clean vocals, heavy, dense atmospheres seamlessly flowing into light, airy instrumentals. You never know what to expect from one moment to the next and that has always been one of the most exciting parts of any Opeth album.

1. Opeth - Blackwater Park

2. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

3. Opeth - Still Life

4. Opeth - Watershed

5. Opeth - Morningrise

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1. Opeth - Blackwater Park

2. Opeth - Ghost Reveries

3. Opeth - Still Life

4. Opeth - Morningrise

5. Opeth - Damnation

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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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Back when I joined the site in 2011, I did a customary top 100 album list. Every year since then, when I've looked back at it it's become increasingly unrecognisable from my own tastes. Seeing bands I once listened to daily vanish from my playlists, new bands emerge as favourites, and bands even come and go in my reckonings during that time period (Iced Earth, Alcest, even Pain Of Salvation and more certainly peaked in my listening habits around 2011-12 to slowly vanish into obscurity). Now that it's just gone 5 years since I did that list, I thought I might do an updated list just to see how much my tastes have shifted. Whilst compiling the list, I pretty much worked on gut instinct, which was weird as I found myself almost disregarding albums I know I like whilst promoting albums I'm honestly undecided on - it almost seemed to veer away from album quality at times to embracing a subconscious effect the albums have had. Anyway, here it is, plus some honorable mentions that I was surprised missed out.

1. Dream Theater - Images And Words

2. Sylosis - Monolith

3. Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

4. Agalloch - The Mantle

5. Protest The Hero - Kezia

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1. Opeth - Morningrise

2. Opeth - Blackwater Park

3. Opeth - Still Life

4. Opeth - Damnation

5. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

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Simple ranking of all my favorite albums. Favorite song from the album in the notes. Sure to change/expand as I learn and explore more within metal.

1. Madder Mortem - Eight Ways

2. Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

3. Ayreon - 01011001

4. Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All

5. Metallica - Ride The Lightning

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1. Agalloch - The Mantle

2. Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)

3. Opeth - Blackwater Park

4. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

5. Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

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1. Sunn O))) - Black One

2. Lurker of Chalice - Lurker of Chalice

3. Agalloch - The Mantle

4. Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God

5. Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

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1. 1980's

2. Fates Warning - The Spectre Within

3. Slauter Xstoyes - Winter Kill

4. Watch Tower - Energetic Disassembly

5. Trilogy - Life On Earth

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*** /\ UNDER CONSTRUCTION /\ *** READ ME *** List of the best metal vocalists across all subgenres. The album that best exhibits their vocals will represent them -- not necessarily the best album they appear on. I will limit myself to the very top of each sungenre (i.e. death, black, doom, etc.) for variety's sake. Also -- AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT -- I consider several criteria, not just raw talent. Some of the criteria are vocal range, versatility, command of voice, fit/compatibility with band, feeling/emotion/energy and originality. Feel free to bitch and moan below. \m/

1. King Diamond - Abigail

2. Judas Priest - Painkiller

3. Savatage - Gutter Ballet

4. Iron Maiden - Powerslave

5. Queensrÿche - Empire

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2005 is my favorite year in terms of metal musical releases so why not make a list for it?

1. Sunn O))) - Black One

2. Lurker of Chalice - Lurker of Chalice

3. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius

4. Riverside - Second Life Syndrome

5. Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell

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