1.Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction

2.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

3.Megadeth - Youthanasia

4.Megadeth - Th1rt3en

5.Megadeth - So Far, So Good... So What?

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A list of my favourite drummers in rough order (not precise) along with the songs that made me love them. I added the albums too

1.Slayer - Reign In Blood

2.Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony

3.Nile - Annihilation Of The Wicked

4.Mastodon - Blood Mountain

5.Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve

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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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An attempt to walk through almost 40 years of metal records, trying to pick one (and only one) record each year. The record that should be listened to at least once in life.
Some years are difficult because there are too many classics and in many situations the record that made it in the list is not my favorite by the band, but the one who had weaker competitors (and some of my favorite bands are not in the list too, for the same reason).

1.AC/DC - Back In Black

2.Motörhead - No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith

3.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

4.Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

5.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

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Unfinished as I still have to catch up on more recent years. Also all of the places on the list are of course subject to change as I discover more music from each year.

My taste is very much centred around the power of the riff. That means most of the albums on this list are thrash, death, heavy, black, or some offshoot of those genres.

1.After The Burial - Dig Deep

2.Behemoth - The Satanist

3.Carcass - Surgical Steel

4.Cattle Decapitation - Monolith Of Inhumanity

5.Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony

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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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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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My favorite albums from various genres

1.Slipknot - Iowa

2.Nirvana - Nevermind

3.Summoning - Stronghold

4.Septicflesh - Communion

5.Anathema - Judgement

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1.Deep Purple - Machine Head

2.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

3.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

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For now the albums aren't in no particular order. I was blown away and still love all this albums after years listening. Trying to put 1 per band maximum, maybe more if they have different but awesome eras. Still in progress

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

3.Death - Symbolic

4.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

5.Metallica - Ride the Lightning

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While the order in each decade is purely personal preference, there are several rules for a song qualifying for the list. First off, the band has to be notable. I'm not going to define what that means, but I'm sure you'd agree all the bands in the list are notable. There are plenty of riffs from obscure bands I'd rather put, but I know my love for Tarby doesn't make him the greatest riff maker of the 21st century. Second, each artist can only appear once in a decade, this is to prevent the best riff makers from hogging the list and adding some variety, showing how metal has changed over time. Decades are measured by when the song was recorded, not released, and when it's unclear the beginning of recording is used. This is mainly because a lot of definitive early metal songs were released in 1970, but recorded in 1969. Third, the song itself has to be notable. Here are things that can qualify as being notable: the song was release as a single, has music video made for it, was released as a single, was the title track for an album (note that Crawl through Knives meets this criteria because it was the original title for Come Clarity, and there is no way in hell Come Clarity is getting best riff of the decade ), is included on a greatest hits compilation album, was nominated for a Grammy or musical award of similar caliber, was included as a track in a notable film or video game, was covered by a notable band, or has a Wikipedia page for some miscellaneous reason. Finally, the song needs to be metal. Misirlou gets the pass despite predating metal as it was probably the single most influential song on the development of metal, and while many of the other songs in the other songs are better classified as hard rock, I can find a source listing them as heavy metal.

1.

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

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

4.Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

5.Deep Purple - In Rock

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1.Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction

2.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

3.Megadeth - Youthanasia

4.Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

5.Megadeth - Dystopia

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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.Iron Maiden - Live After Death

2.Rainbow - Rising

3.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

4.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

5.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

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1.Agent Steel - Unstoppable Force

2.Annihilator - Alice In Hell

3.Anthrax - Among The Living

4.Artillery - By Inheritance

5.Baphomet - The Dead Shall Inherit

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