1.Alter Bridge - Blackbird

2.Alter Bridge - One Day Remains

3.Amorphis - Elegy

4.Amorphis - Tuonela

5.Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale

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1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Opeth - Ghost Reveries

3.Opeth - Damnation

4.Opeth - Still Life

5.Opeth - Deliverance

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Must Listen: The First 7

1.Ayreon - 01011001

2.Firewind - The Premonition

3.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

4.Warrel Dane - Praises To The War Machine

5.Disturbed - Indestructible

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An ongoing list for personal use as well as for reference for beginners (& veterans alike). This is solely my personal opinion and taste (Death & Prog mostly but do give every genre a try). Basically will include albums I've rated 8 & above. Sorted by year since I'll need a Venn diagram to sort by genre (seriously MS please make it happen if possible). Will feature multiple releases per year (obviously) and per band (since if a band is putting out better albums it deserves more recognition). Keeping the metal faith alive from India

1.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

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

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

4.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

5.Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself

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1.Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale

2.Darkspace - Dark Space III

3.Equilibrium - Sagas

4.Septicflesh - Communion

5.Ayreon - 01011001

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Constantly evolving list of my favorite metal albums from the 2000s

1.Trivium - Shogun

2.Opeth - Watershed

3.Tool - Lateralus

4.Deftones - White Pony

5.Trivium - Ascendancy

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Hello all, sitting in quarantine I decided to make a list of some of my favourite metal albums (not in any order). Recommendations are welcome!

1.Cult Of Fire - मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान

2.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

3.Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris

4.Demilich - Nespithe

5.!T.O.O.H.! - Order And Punishment (Řád A Trest)

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2000-2004 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5844
2010-2014 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5828
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 2005 to 2009, with at least 1 vote, were included.
The average expected rating (C) was determined by averaging all the Metal Storm ratings from 2005-2009.
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 +8.

C for 2005-2009 = 7.593
m = 20

Number of albums from each year in the list:
2005 - 26
2006 - 20
2007 - 23
2008 - 17
2009 - 23

Ratings are accurate as of 30/10/2023

1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

2.Opeth - Ghost Reveries

3.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

4.Gojira - From Mars To Sirius

5.Saturnus - Veronika Decides To Die

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Stuff that got me hooked in the course of the years, from my very first blurred memories as a toddler to the present day.
Lots of catchy tunes, some cheese, very few flowers.
Songs that had a big impact on me and influenced my taste in music.
Stuff to let it all hang out, songs for campfire sing-alongs and soundtracks to slit your wrists to.
Love at first sight listen.

This is part II of II, covering the years since 2001.

Despite of the list's personal character, suggestions are very welcome.
After all I'm old and I may just have forgotten lots of stuff that did make my day.



Great albums that didn't make it on the list as they can only be enjoyed in their entirety, rather than by picking individual songs:

Thirdmoon - Sworn Enemy: Heaven (Death, 2004)
Defleshed - Reclaim The Beat (Death/Thrash, 2005)
Tyranny - Tides Of Awakening (Funeral Doom, 2005)
Mourning Beloveth - A Murderous Circus (Doom/Death, 2005)
Rotting Christ - Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy (Black, 2013)

1.Alastis - Unity

2.Diablerie - Seraphyde

3.Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia

4.Emperor - Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire & Demise

5.Hollenthon - With Vilest Of Worms To Dwell

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1.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

2.Ayreon - 01011001

3.Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery

4.Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted

5.Cynic - Traced In Air

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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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1.Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls

2.Opeth - Watershed

3.Forefather - Steadfast

4.Theocracy - Mirror Of Souls

5.Serenity - Fallen Sanctuary

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This list is serious, but shouldn't be taken too seriously. Will add more albums and more mini-reviews in the future. Feel free to agree, disagree or call me a moron. The more opinions, the merrier.

1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

3.Ayreon - The Source

4.Summoning - Stronghold

5.Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth

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1.Septicflesh - Communion

2.Opeth - Watershed

3.Moonspell - Night Eternal

4.Meshuggah - ObZen

5.Enslaved - Vertebrae

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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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