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Thumbs up: +3
Top 50 Melodic Death Metal Albums

I've always been a fan of melodic death metal, having listened to bands such as In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and At The Gates in my first few years of getting into metal around 2005-2008. Now, thanks to MS, I've gotten into many more amazing bands such as Wintersun, Insomnium and Scar Symmetry and it has become one of my favourite sub-genres.

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 melodic death 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.Wintersun - Time I
2.Wintersun - Wintersun
3.Insomnium - Winter's Gate
4.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul
5.The Haunted - The Haunted Made Me Do It

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Created by nonZero on 26.02.2024



Thumbs up: +6
Albums With Multiple Title Tracks

Albums that share their name with a song usually have only one title track. However, there are also examples of albums where several songs contribute to the album name.

Please feel free to suggest more examples for albums with multiple title tracks.



1.Alpinist - Lichtlærm
2.Ayreon - The Theory Of Everything
3.Black Flag - Damaged
4.Blindead - Absence
5.Bolt Thrower - Honour - Valour - Pride

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Created by Plattner on 20.05.2023



Thumbs up: +1
My Top 50 Albums Of 2013

1.Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
2.Riverside - Shrine Of New Generation Slaves
3.Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle
4.Omnium Gatherum - Beyond
5.Haken - The Mountain

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Created by JHK on 23.03.2022



Top 20 Of 2013

Must Listen: The First 4

1.Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies
2.Civil War - The Killer Angels
3.Trivium - Vengeance Falls
4.James LaBrie - Impermanent Resonance
5.Pretty Maids - Motherland

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Created by Alex Avagianos on 12.07.2021



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: +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



Top Metal Bands

1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
2.Alcest - Les Voyages De L'âme
3.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God
4.Amorphis - Skyforger
5.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

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Created by tysly on 29.03.2018



Thumbs up: +1
Top 50 Bands And Favourite Album

1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
2.Alcest - Écailles De Lune
3.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud
4.As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security
5.Before The Dawn - Deadlight

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Created by tysly on 21.02.2018



BEST OF THE YEAR 2013

My Favorite Albums Of The Year \m/

1.Ayreon - The Theory Of Everything
2.Stratovarius - Nemesis
3.Ghost - Infestissumam
4.Powerwolf - Preachers Of The Night
5.Orphaned Land - All Is One

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Created by TheNordicGamer on 12.11.2016



AOTY 2013

Order is sorted by album repeat.

1.Shade Empire - Omega Arcane
2.Soilwork - The Living Infinite
3.The Safety Fire - Mouth Of Swords
4.Protest The Hero - Volition
5.Battlecross - War Of Will

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Created by MIXHELL on 23.02.2016



Thumbs up: +25
Circles....

A bunch of albums with a big circle on the cover

1.Karnivool - Sound Awake
2.Skyclad - The Silent Whales Of Lunar Sea
3.Death - Scream Bloody Gore
4.Pentagram - Pentagram
5.Russian Circles - Empros

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Created by me<3mertl on 03.04.2015



My Top 50 Albums Of All Time

This is my personal favourite top 50 albums of all time, this list can change because i can enter new things and my tastes may differ over time.

IS NOT UPDATED!

1.Cult Of Luna - Somewhere Along The Highway
2.Ulver - Perdition City
3.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
4.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
5.Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal

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Created by basquetal on 18.02.2015



Thumbs up: +4
My All Time Favorite (metal) Albums...

Metal albums (and yes, I consider metalcore to be metal) that rocked my world, with maximum 2 albums per band sorted by bands in alphabetic order. Live, EP and compilation albums allowed, also including hard rock and stoner rock albums.

It will be updated as I discover new bands so check it sometime

1.Alabama Thunderpussy - Open Fire
2.Alice In Chains - Dirt
3.All That Remains - The Fall Of Ideals
4.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God
5.Annihilator - Alice In Hell

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Created by Drogich on 27.09.2014



Thumbs up: +3
2013 --/-/-/-- Architects Of The Modern Age .

1.Persefone - Spiritual Migration
2.Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
3.Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle
4.Leprous - Coal
5.The Ocean - Pelagial

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Created by Hazelnut Nero on 29.06.2014



Thumbs up: +2
Best Of 2013 XIII (An Enigmatic Journey)

Hello and welcome to my first ever top albums list. While I've been listening to metal for over 15 years I've never compiled an actual year end list. The reason for this is because I feel my current favorites to be ever changing dependent on mood, season and situational. But the reason I feel it's necessary is because I want to spread the joy of music. I see many people jaded on music, well if this list is any indication music is alive and doing some amazing things. I've encountered so many lists this year and honestly can't say there's anything close to my list. Whole brilliant albums left off of list after list, but it is all opinion. Other albums held up in high regard that just made me shake my head or perplex me. Even reading many lists gets annoying do to slideshows or advertisement overload or no explanations, I've made this as easy to browse as I could. This is a celebration of the music of 2013. Doing this list was fun yet stressful for me. To me a list isn't a versus or better than. It's just a personal list, still I want to make the numbers carry weight and importance.
Enjoy, comment below and spread the word

1.In Vain - Ænigma
2.Soilwork - The Living Infinite
3.Amorphis - Circle
4.Obscure Sphinx - Void Mother
5.Haken - The Mountain

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Created by EnigmaLake on 06.03.2014