1.Grip Inc. - Solidify

2.x - x

3.x - x

4.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

5.x - x

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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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A list ranking the Iced Earth studio recordings. I didn't put Tribute To The Gods in the list because I wanted the list to be about Iced Earth's own original work.

Also Days Of Purgatory is also not added to the list since that album was mostly a re-recording of their older songs.

And I added the 3 best songs (imo) of every album in the list as well.

1.Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

2.Iced Earth - Night Of The Stormrider

3.Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings

4.Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked - Part 1)

5.Iced Earth - Horror Show

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Mightiest = albums I can listen to almost anytime/anywhere - no matter how many times they never wear out - and always give me pleasure, power, euphoria, goosebumps, inspiration and many other nasty things.
One album per year obviously, with some years missing in case i have not yet found an album mighty enough from that year.
Recommendations appreciated.

1.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

2.Anaal Nathrakh - Desideratum

3.Battle Beast - Battle Beast

4.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

5.Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination

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1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

3.Iced Earth - Night Of The Stormrider

4.Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark

5.Joe Satriani - The Extremist

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Pretty self-explanatory, with a couple caveats: first, this is mostly just a list of my favorite metal bands in approximate order (after the top 10 or so the order matters far less), with extra weight given to influence and timelessness of sound; and second, the albums selected are not necessarily the band's "best" album, or even my personal favorite -- they are the albums that I feel best represent the band's classic sound and/or well-represent the span of their career. List includes all sub-genres of metal and some post-metal metal. Feel free to spew your hatred below. \m/ (xx) \m/

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

3.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

4.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

5.Slayer - Reign In Blood

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One of the worst year in history of heavy metal music.

1.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

2.Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction

3.Rage - Trapped

4.Mezarkabul - Trail Blazer

5.Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark

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1.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum

2.Theatre Of Tragedy - Theatre Of Tragedy

3.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

4.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

5.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

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An entirely subjective list of my all-time favourite metal albums, well lets better say albums/genres featured on MS, since not all here is precisely metal.
Objective quality is not a criteria here, just how much I like the album. Ordered by preference, top down.

1.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

2.Opeth - Morningrise

3.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum

4.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

5.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

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1.Paradise Lost - Gothic

2.Entombed - Clandestine

3.Morbid Angel - Blessed Are The Sick

4.Death - Human

5.Sepultura - Arise

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Pretty damn hard list to do.

This list is for people who found Iced Earth and wondering what are some other songs they should listen to.

For the record Night of the Stormrider is probably my favourite album and Dark Saga is probably the most underrated.

1.Iced Earth - Horror Show

2.Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked - Part 1)

3.Iced Earth - Night Of The Stormrider

4.Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

5.Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes

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1.Iced Earth - Night Of The Stormrider

2.Iced Earth - Dystopia

3.Iced Earth - Horror Show

4.Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes

5.Iced Earth - The Dark Saga

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1.Death - Human

2.Opeth - Still Life

3.At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

4.Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream

5.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

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1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol

3.AC/DC - Live

4.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

5.Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark

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Some are no brainer top albums, some are personal favorites.

1.Metallica - Kill 'Em All

2.Metal Church - Metal Church

3.Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

4.Iron Maiden - Killers

5.Witchery - Restless & Dead

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