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

      View entire list ››

So here we are again . After many years of dedication and love to this music that we call progressive metal, here are some of the best albums that ever existed and made the earth a better place . Give to these albums the attention and the respect they deserve and you will be fully awarded. I think i will try and limit this list to 3 cd's maximum per band to make this thing more challenging .

1.Dan Swanö - Moontower

2.Cynic - Traced In Air

3.Cynic - Focus

4.Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

5.Enslaved - Ruun

      View entire list ››

What seems the most important albums for me in chronological order.
I wish I could carry the list year after year to see how my tastes changed and new findings.
I can help but notice that old albums immediately strike me, while in recent times most albums are good but nothing is groundbreaking. We have a tide of releases in the last decades, and standing above the other requires an impossible lot of talent.
Or is it my listen habbits that changed ? I felts I listened to the old albums albums for a lifetime while I'm only surface checking the new ones. Too little time, too little time to truly live...
Also the mixing technology, the sound is too flat nowadays and lack impact and personnality

1.Frank Zappa - Freak Out

2.The Who - Tommy

3.Frank Zappa - Uncle Meat

4.Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

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

      View entire list ››

I think the title is self explanitory. Not in order of preference as it would change daily and I can't be arsed changing it around all the time!:) it's a bit of a mixture of all the stuff I like so I'm reasonably sure alot of the picks won't be everyones cup of piss.

1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

2.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

3.Arsis - A Celebration Of Guilt

4.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

5.Between The Buried And Me - Colors

      View entire list ››

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

      View entire list ››

Progressive rock / metal - what I love the most in my collection. Would love suggestions to add to it.

1.Animals As Leaders - Animals As Leaders

2.Animals As Leaders - The Joy Of Motion

3.Ayreon - The Human Equation

4.Between The Buried And Me - Colors

5.Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

      View entire list ››

Thrash was one of the first metal genres I got into around 2005. I discovered Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, etc through Kerrang! magazine and their albums quickly became my favourites at the time. Now, I've discovered many more such as Vektor, Testament and Nevermore thanks to MS.

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 thrash 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.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

2.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

3.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

4.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

5.Slayer - Reign In Blood

      View entire list ››

20 Albums From The Past Decade That Changed My Life!

1.Cynic - Traced In Air

2.Symphony X - The Odyssey

3.Opeth - Damnation

4.Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

5.Ayreon - The Human Equation

      View entire list ››

The most difficult way to create the title for an album may be to try something that is clever and/or funny.

Likewise, making a list of these titles is also not easy as it would be a very subjective task. In order to apply at least some objective criteria, the resulting (alphabetical) list consists of album titles that contain a pun or pun-related word play ( - possibly even independent of how well these titles worked).

Puns (or pun-related word play examples) rely on (1) the different possible meanings of a word or (2) the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings.
In addition, this list contains numbers in titles that (3) contribute to the sound of the corresponding word or (4) that fit optically to the written word.

Please feel free to suggest more examples of such album titles for this list, if they fit to one of the criteria 1 – 4 (in order to keep the list in shape).
Still, it would also be interesting, if you could share other clever and/or funny album or song titles in the comments.

1.Acid Witch - Witchtanic Hellucinations

2.Afflicted - Prodigal Sun

3.Alestorm - Seventh Rum Of A Seventh Rum

4.Anthrax - Attack Of The Killer B's

5.Alice Cooper - The Beast Of Alice Cooper

      View entire list ››

this list is related to this forum thread, please check
this list is a collaborative one and will surely grow ; it is a proof of concept for a club feature, see here.

Hi people. I'd like to create a list of albums with the purpose of being as complete as possible. I'm looking for music that is technical or progressive, although I really don't like when things get out of hand, with crazy vocals in 4 different registers building tension and brutally stoping to yield it to a shredding solo in mixolydian helped by drums in 11/12 which try to imitate the synth syncopation in counterpoint, for ten seconds before jumping into something else.

1.Angra - Angels Cry

2.Angra - Holy Land

3.Angra - Fireworks

4.Angra - Rebirth

5.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

      View entire list ››

Recently, instead of scouring too much the albums of the year I'm in, I decided to take a deeper journey and appreciate progressive music (prog metal/rock). While I'm still in the early beginnings of my journey, I decided to make a list to the albums I fully listen to so that I can keep charting my voyage in these vast seas. Some albums are not yet added because I need to listen them well and grab my favorites out, and some bands are on queue. I'm also eager to hear some recommendations, so thanks in advance for them!

1.Ayreon - The Human Equation

2.Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve

3.Blotted Science - The Machinations Of Dementia

4.Control Denied - The Fragile Art Of Existence

5.Dream Theater - A Change Of Seasons [EP]

      View entire list ››

My favorites from 2008!!

1.Opeth - Watershed

2.The Faceless - Planetary Duality

3.Cynic - Traced In Air

4.Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery

5.Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh

      View entire list ››

Great Songs on the 4 Strings, Classic songs… Remember from the rehearsal of your band, when the guy on the bass start to move the fingers on that song? Well this is a tribute to that moment and a tribute to those genius of the 4 strings.

1.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

2.Tool - Lateralus

3.Rush - Moving Pictures

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

5.Motörhead - Ace Of Spades

      View entire list ››

Last updated on 11 April 2024.

1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

3.Wintersun - Wintersun

4.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

5.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

      View entire list ››

Updated version of the list previously published here. You'll notice that the comments are a bit different for sure, as is the order:
1 to 3: best of the year (in preference order)
4 to 25: other great stuff (alphabetical order)

And then there were some average (sometimes bad, sometimes good) albums that didn't make it in this list, but they featured some of the most awesome songs of the year. Like Voices Of The Fallen by Battlelore, Dylath-Leen's Frozen Reflect On A Broken Mirror, and particularly Iced Earth's Come What May...

1.Textures - Silhouettes

2.Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale

3.Burst - Lazarus Bird

4.ADX - Division Blindée

5.Cynic - Traced In Air

      View entire list ››