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.Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant

2.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

3.Vader - Black To The Blind

4.Ahret Dev - Hellish

5.Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth

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These are my top Symphonic Black Metal Albums, limited to one per band. Some of these bands have multiple amazing albums, but I wanted to include some of the less heard of bands in this. A few of these might not quite be considered Symphonic Black Metal, but it is close enough for me.

1.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

2.Anorexia Nervosa - New Obscurantis Order

3.Dimmu Borgir - Spiritual Black Dimensions

4.Old Man's Child - Revelation 666 - The Curse Of Damnation

5.Carach Angren - Death Came Through A Phantom Ship

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1.Burzum - Filosofem

2.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

3.Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger

4.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

5.Marduk - Rom 5:12

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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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Just a list of my favorite albums, mostly Black or Death Metal !

There are some albums/bands I would love to put in this list, but they are not on MS.

1.1349 - Liberation

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Amon Amarth - Versus The World

4.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

5.Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

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1.Paradise Lost - Gothic

2.Tiamat - Wildhoney

3.Dissection - The Somberlain

4.Bolt Thrower - ...For Victory

5.Deicide - Deicide

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1.Paradise Lost - Gothic

2.Tiamat - Wildhoney

3.Dissection - The Somberlain

4.Bolt Thrower - ...For Victory

5.Deicide - Deicide

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1.Agalloch - Pale Folklore

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

4.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

5.Ahab - The Boats Of The Glen Carrig

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Obviously, a list of my favorite songs, or songs that mean something special to me at least. I don't remember them all of course so I'll be adding more as soon as I'm reminded of them.
I wanted to pull this off on Spotify but I'm missing a whole lot of songs, so I figured this would be a good place to save it.

1.After Forever - Decipher

2.Ahab - The Giant

3.Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

4.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

5.Between The Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect

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In no particular order

1.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

2.Bal-Sagoth - Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne Of Ultima Thule

3.Burzum - Filosofem

4.Type O Negative - October Rust

5.A Forest Of Stars - A Shadowplay For Yesterdays

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AtoZ (Album)

1.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

2.Ihsahn - After

3.Anthrax - Among The Living

4.Faith No More - Angel Dust

5.Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition

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This is not a list over my favourite albums, although some of them on the list of course are. These are albums that formed me, had a huge impact on me and defined my musical taste. Without some of these releases I probably wouldn't even be the person that I am today.

1.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

2.Iron Maiden - Rock In Rio

3.Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death

4.Iron Maiden - Killers

5.Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

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This list contains most beautiful, majestic and soul-touching releases I've ever experienced.
My most favorite genres are Black Metal, Post Metal, Shoegaze, Doom Metal, Ambient and Neo-Classical in general .

Albums are ranked by the year,I think this way is more useful.

I will keep expanding my list as i can.

1.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

2.Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulée

3.Deinonychus - The Silence Of December

4.Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Age

5.Burzum - Filosofem

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As is the case with my other lists, this is for my own organizational purposes and is designed purely to help me keep track of all the many black metal bands and albums that I enjoy, since I can't keep all of this information in my head. It has no other benefit whatsoever and will likely result in tantrums should anyone else see it. I'm aware that I haven't listened to every black metal album that I should have. I only went down to the 6s on this list, so it's possible that I have listened to your favorite black metal album that you desperately need to suggest and I thought it was terrible. There are a lot of heinously incompetent black metal bands out there.

On the off-chance that you've found this and actually care about what I think (you shouldn't), be advised that my favorites come first. Some are favorites in the general sense; some are favorites within black metal. The first few of those are in some order and not so much after that.

Because this is for my own purposes and not intended to be a definitive list of pure black metal, there are some black metal-adjacent bands, or albums by black metal bands that may not themselves be black metal. That's why you'll find so much Sigh clogging up the top of the list. I prefer to keep whole discographies together on one list. I used to include Primordial, Forefather, and other such bands, but a while back I created a list for folk and I decided that those artists would fit better there.

I update these lists very infrequently. This was last updated December 7, 2022.

1.Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape

2.Sigh - Graveward

3.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

4.Sigh - Heir To Despair

5.The Meads Of Asphodel - The Murder Of Jesus The Jew

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