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AJ's Ranking Of 2010

My Top 50, albums rated 8 & above. Only LPs

RIP: Ronnie James Dio

Album count: 206
Average rating: 6.84

1.Alcest - Écailles De Lune
2.Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
3.Ihsahn - After
4.Killing Joke - Absolute Dissent
5.Mar De Grises - Streams Inwards

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Created by AJ The Great on 22.10.2023



Thumbs up: +2
Top Metal Albums Of All Time

I started listening to metal music when I was a teenager, somewhere around the end of the 90's. After all these years, I thought it was high time to compose my personal top list of metal albums. What you see here is the absolute best of the best ... according to my taste.

To compile this list I have put all albums that I have given a 10/10 here on MS. Then I have put all these albums in a Ranking Engine (https://www.pubmeeple.com/ranking-engine) where they were put head to head and I had to choose which I liked more. The list below is what came out of this exercise.

1.Opeth - Deliverance
2.Opeth - Blackwater Park
3.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson
4.Edge Of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow
5.Cobalt - Eater Of Birds

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Created by Miohn on 18.09.2022



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



M0rkeleb's Overall Favorites - 10s

I feel like my overall favorites list is getting too long. I'm splitting it up by rating.

1.Ulcerate - Stare Into Death And Be Still
2.Madder Mortem - Eight Ways
3.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side
4.Ayreon - 01011001
5.Igric - Svet Svetlom Stvorený

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Created by M0rkeleb on 30.10.2021



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: +1
Top 100 (+2) Of 2010-2014

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
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 2010 to 2014, with at least 1 vote, were included.
The average expected rating (C) was determined by averaging all the Metal Storm ratings from 2010-2014.
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 2010-2014 = 7.478
m = 20

Number of albums from each year in the list:
2010 - 24
2011 - 28
2012 - 16
2013 - 22
2014 - 12

Ratings are accurate as of 30/10/2023

1.Gallowbraid - Ashen Eidolon
2.Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
3.Aquilus - Griseus
4.Ne Obliviscaris - Portal Of I
5.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

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Created by Crys1s on 11.09.2019



Thumbs up: +7
solar's quirky albums

An ever-growing list of albums/EPs that were just fun to listen to. They had something unique, were experimental/strange and/or had interestingly/efficiently lined up vocals and/or instruments that are too hard to forget easily. Naturally, quite a few of them will be avant-garde, but anything else goes that stand out in their subgenre more than others.

1....? - ...!
2.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)
3.6:33 - Deadly Scenes
4.Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops
5.Age Of Silence - Acceleration

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Created by solar on 05.09.2017



Thumbs up: +20
Diverge's Alternative/Prog/Jazz/Avant-Garde Favs

LATEST EDIT: December 12/2016- Added a whole bunch of progressive rock albums; processing earlier suggestions on the list.

Assembled below are some choice selections in alternative metal, prog rock, prog metal, jazz and avant-garde metal. I don't necessarily consider these styles to be my favourite (I do have a penchant for post-metal and cavernous death metal these days), but they have been the foundations of my taste for the last seven or eight years.

1.
2.Soundgarden - Down On The Upside
3.Rishloo - Living As Ghosts With Buildings As Teeth
4.Karnivool - Asymmetry
5.Blindead - Absence

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Created by Diverge on 28.12.2015



Thumbs up: +2
M0rkeleb's Overall Favorites

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.
2023: This was starting to get too long so I split it into separate lists for albums at each ranking 10 to 7. This list will no longer be updated.
10: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6891
9: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=7213
8: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=7512
7: https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=8058

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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Created by M0rkeleb on 16.10.2015



Thumbs up: +7
2010-2014: Top 100 Albums (WIP)

2008 might've been my first proper taste of metal, with the acquisition of albums from the likes of Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath and that most grandiose of gateway bands, DragonForce. 2009 might've seen me expanding my palette, with Iron Maiden, Alice In Chains, Avenged Sevenfold, and more entering my world, and Guns N' Roses triumphantly re-entering it. But 2010 was when I delved into more 'intense' stuff with Machine Head, In Flames, and most notably of all, Sylosis, and saw my relationship with metal shift from ever-increasing interest into full-blown love affair. To commemorate this 5-year anniversary, and because I love making lists, I decided to do a retrospective of the best albums and songs that have been released during this time period, and give brief tributes to them. Yay music!

1.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth
2.Sylosis - Monolith
3.Protest The Hero - Volition
4.Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR
5.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

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Created by musclassia on 08.01.2015



Thumbs up: +37
The Ultimate Avant-Garde Metal Albums

A collection of the most original, insane and head spinning albums from the weirdest side of metal. Suggestions are welcome.

1.A Forest Of Stars - Beware The Sword You Cannot See
2.Angizia - Das Schachbrett Des Trommelbuben Zacharias
3.Akphaezya - Anthology II: Links From The Dead Trinity
4.Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale
5.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

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Created by CyberSymphony on 03.05.2013



Thumbs up: +11
KB's Favorite Albums Of All Time (Only Metal)

Here is my provisional favorite-metal-albums-of-all-time-list! Enjoy!
The first 10 albums are in pretty accurate order. However, after that, it becomes harder and harder to separate the albums clearly. Thus, you can say that I enjoy album x on the list as much as the others in the interval of (x-5) to (x+5). For example album 37 would be as much enjoyed as 32, 33, 34, ..., 42, or something like that.

1.Cult Of Luna - Somewhere Along The Highway
2.Disillusion - Back To Times Of Splendor
3.Grand Alchemist - Intervening Coma-Celebration
4.Opeth - Blackwater Park
5.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

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Created by Kuroboshi on 06.02.2013



Thumbs up: +5
2010 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Here is the 2010 edition of my very straight forward top lists.

1.Ophis - Withered Shades
2.Akelei - De Zwaarte Van Het Doorstane
3.Alcest - Écailles De Lune
4.Netra - Mélancolie Urbaine
5.Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit

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Created by Draugen on 23.09.2012



Thumbs up: +44
My Favorite Atmospheric Black Metal Albums (WIP)

This is a favorites list, not a guide or anything of that sort. It just highlights the albums that I've enjoyed listening to and spinned extensively since last November (When I got into this monolithic genre.) One entry for each band. The descriptions aren't necessarily descriptions of the music. I just wrote what came to my mind. I will update with new albums frequently.
EDIT: Got to 50 entries, so I guess I'll stop for now. I want more time to revisit these 50, get into the other albums of the bands listed below and delve into other genres of metal. I guess that taking a break from black metal (at least new stuff) will ensure that I won't get bored of it. It is likely that I'll continue this list by the half of July.

1.A Forest Of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring
2.Addaura - Burning For The Ancient
3.Agalloch - Pale Folklore
4.Alcest - Écailles De Lune
5.Alda - : Tahoma :

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Created by Oaken on 24.05.2012



Metal Obiectiff [2010]

1.Transcending Bizarre? - The Misanthrope's Fable
2.Carach Angren - Death Came Through A Phantom Ship
3.Sanctus Daemoneon - the unaVOIDable
4.Celestia - Archaenae Perfectii
5.Void Of Silence - The Grave Of Civilization

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Created by ICONofSIN on 21.11.2011