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Thumbs up: +104
The Encyclopaedia of Beautiful Metal Ballads

If you know other wonderful songs which are missing in this list, feel free to suggest them to me

1.Adagio - Underworld
2.Aerosmith - Aerosmith
3.After Forever - Prison Of Desire
4.After Forever - Decipher
5.After Forever - After Forever

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Created by ~Starchild~ on 28.12.2010



Thumbs up: +54
Hall Of Fame: Top 80 Of All Time

- only studio albums
- only albums featured on MS

1.After Forever - Decipher
2.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
3.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea
4.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
5.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

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Created by ~Starchild~ on 14.07.2010



Thumbs up: +30
My Favourite Albums Of All Time

1.Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech
2.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath
3.Wintersun - Wintersun
4.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields
5.Mors Principium Est - The Unborn

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Created by Starchild on 25.08.2010



Thumbs up: +27
Top Folkish/Neofolk/Folkrock Albums

Best Folkish albums I've heard so far...!! Please feel free to post your Suggestions!!

1.Agalloch - The Mantle
2.Ensiferum - Iron
3.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja
4.Blackmore's Night - Under A Violet Moon
5.Blackmore's Night - Shadow Of The Moon

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Created by Enissa on 19.08.2011



Thumbs up: +21
Top 500 Albums of All Time

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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Created by nonZero on 06.10.2018



Thumbs up: +12
Best Metal Albums Around!

These Are Albums that give metal a good name, and create metalheads who live for little else. Originality, Raw talent, Brilliant atmosphere, Brutality with a great technical aspect, and just plain ass kicking.

1.Lux Occulta - The Mother And The Enemy
2.Borknagar - The Archaic Course
3.Ancient - Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends
4.Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale
5.Bloodbath - Resurrection Through Carnage

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Created by SymphonyImpaled on 23.06.2011



Thumbs up: +12
Favorite 50 Albums

This is my top 50 favorite albums. If I were to ever go on a really long road trip, I would take these 50 and blare them on the trip and extra loud while driving through a city .

1.Symphony X - The Odyssey
2.Symphony X - Paradise Lost
3.Judas Priest - Painkiller
4.Ayreon - The Human Equation
5.Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy

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Created by Kratos on 25.09.2010



Thumbs up: +11
Top 20 Folk Metal Albums

1.Equilibrium - Sagas
2.Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr
3.Moonlyght - Progressive Darkness
4.Windir - Arntor
5.Eluveitie - Everything Remains As It Never Was

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Created by MétalNoir on 28.04.2010



Thumbs up: +9
The Deadliest Of Harmonies (A Journey Into Melodic Death Metal)

Hey Folks! It’s me… Again!

I’m coming back once more to explore the depths of a genre that arguably did not begin where you all thought it did! Yeah yeah… Alright, maybe Left Hand Path, Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious, Like An Ever Flowing Stream & The Red In The Sky Is Ours aren’t exactly the sound you would expect, but they were certainly a sign of something incredible that was about to happen. The birth of Melodic Death Metal!

Most of you, them, us… Would agree that Melodic Death metal really appeared in the form of Carcass’s 1993 album Heartwork. Even though some shades of what would become staples of the genre were heard before, this one would truly be the first album to be called as such. Mixing OSDM with more classic heavy metal styled riffs & melodies, our beloved genre (along with Thrash) would become for a lot of our teenage selves, a gateway into the more extreme bowels of metal’s subgenres. I would argue that it’s an almost obligatory step in the grand metalhead’s journey. Ah, how amazing it was to first taste the somewhat delicate sound of melodeath before rattling our ears with the obscenities & nonsensical wankery of grindcore, brutal tech-death, dissonant death and post metal… Rrrrright.

As you have become accustomed to by now, I will attempt to honour the genre by listing the absolute best Melodic Death metal albums to be ever released throughout the years. And I will do so starting with a few albums that are arguably not Melodic Death metal… Because I can and I did, hah! F*ck you! Along the way, you might stumble upon some strange & unorthodox choices mixing a plethora of other genres as well and that’s ok. Truly. Take it easy, don’t hyperventilate over it and just go with the flow. The main goal here is to help people who don’t know much about melodeath discover it and where it came from. I also want to push forward some less known jewels amongst highly praised landmarks of the style and sprinkle a bit of my personality along the way because that’s always fun. The albums will be ordered in years of release and there will be no other restriction or specific rules.

I hope you have a blast going through my list and that it brings you joy and a slight tingle on your nostalgia strings. Though, if it pisses you off, if I forgot your absolute favourite album of all goddamn time or if you think I’m an idiot, well… Just remember that I’m right, always and forever, thank you. Regardless It will be a pleasure for me to hear your recommendations or discuss anything related to melodeath below. Cheers & have fun!

-Guib-

Note: Albums with a 🇨🇦 are from my country (Canada) and albums with a ★ are my personal favourites.

- - - - - - - - - -

Last Updated: April 27th, 2024


1.Entombed - Left Hand Path
2.Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious
3.Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream
4.At The Gates - The Red In The Sky Is Ours
5.Carcass - Heartwork

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Created by Guib on 08.04.2024



Thumbs up: +9
Derwood's 10 Favourite Metal Albums Ever...(for Now)

We all have those albums we cherish, whether they had a unique impact on our tastes, were the soundtrack for that one amazing summer we'll never forget, or just plain blew us away the first time we heard it.

This list is my ten favourite metal albums, the ten which have some special meaning for me that sets them apart. This doesn't mean that I think they are that particular band's best album (though generally I do).

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid
2.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny
3.Iron Maiden - Powerslave
4.Metallica - Master Of Puppets
5.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

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Created by Derwood on 06.06.2010



Thumbs up: +8
My Metal Evolution In 50 albums

1.Metallica - Master Of Puppets
2.Metallica - Metallica
3.HammerFall - Legacy Of Kings
4.HammerFall - Crimson Thunder
5.Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth

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Created by Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk on 11.06.2010



Thumbs up: +7
Making My Way Through The MS Top 200

The MS top 200 is supposed to represent the absolute peak of metal music, the timeless classics. I have been listening to metal for about 6 years now and would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the genre. Yet, I have barely heard half of what the top 200 has to offer. I am now on a quest to listen to it all and give an honest opinion on what I thought of it.
This list will show every album of the top 200 and if I've listened to it whether it's an all-time favourite of mine (+++), I really like it (++), I like it (+), it’s good (*), it’s not great (-), I really dislike it (--) or I hate it from the bottom of my heart (---). The same symbols will be used to characterize what I think my opinion of the albums I haven't heard yet will be, based on my knowledge of the bands and of the genre they play. (?) signifies that I have no idea of whether I'll enjoy it or not and (/) means that my opinion of the album is probably obsolete, and I need to listen to it again. A ★ means the album is in my own top 200.
Edit: The bottom of the top 200 has been changing a lot, with some stuff formerly in the list now closer to 240th, so this is now a top 250. I’m not sure I want to expand the list further down, but I’ll see whenever it’s completed if I feel like going for a top 300 or something like that.
Best discoveries so far: Wildhoney, Nightfall, Out Of Myself, Portal Of I, Autumn Aurora, Nemesis Divina, Abigail, V: Hävitetty, Sounds Of Pain.

1.
2.
3.W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol
4.Saturnus - Veronika Decides To Die
5.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

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Created by Roman Doez on 13.04.2023



Thumbs up: +6
Park Metal

Music I listen to in an English-styled park in Warsaw, where nature grew in such a way that a controlled wilderness was achieved. Some songs match certain seasons better than others! This music goes well with the wonderful fantasy-themed imagination I've been gifted through my autism.

1.Agalloch - The Mantle
2.Opeth - Blackwater Park
3.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja
4.Wintersun - Wintersun
5.Summoning - Stronghold

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Created by Qualeen on 04.07.2022



Thumbs up: +6
Most Interesting Interludes/Intros/Outros

(This list is a work in progress)

In this list I intend to compile all of my favorite interludes, intros, outros, short acoustic tracks, instrumentals, non-metal or otherwise atypical songs from the metal multiverse. Of course the definitions for each of the above are quite fluid, so you may personally disagree with my decision to consider one of these tracks as such.

Last updated on 23 June 2023.

1.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance
2.Bathory - Blood Fire Death
3.Melechesh - Emissaries
4.Agalloch - The Mantle
5.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

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Created by Qualeen on 05.04.2022



Thumbs up: +6
My Top 50 Of All Time

This is the list for my favorite albums. It will with no doubt change from time to time and some may disappear or move from a spot to another.

1.Agalloch - The Mantle
2.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
3.Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell
4.For My Pain - Fallen
5.Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit

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Created by Cyroth on 14.01.2012