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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On the picture - John Cobbett - Hammers Of Misfortune, Vhöl, Ludicra, The Lord Weird Slough Feg

1.Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Hammers Of Misfortune - The August Engine

4.Mastodon - Remission

5.Opeth - Ghost Reveries

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Moves up and down depending on mood, but top 25-30 usually the same in varying order

1.Sylosis - Conclusion Of An Age

2.Machine Head - The Blackening

3.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

4.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

5.In Flames - The Jester Race

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1.Trivium - Shogun

2.Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen

3.All That Remains - Overcome

4.Children Of Bodom - Blooddrunk

5.Avenged Sevenfold - Sounding The Seventh Trumpet

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This is very simple, I took the ratings for a bunch of alternative metal albums on MS and ranked them accordingly

To qualify:
The album must have been released when the band was labelled as "Alternative Metal" by MS. So for example the three most recent Gojira albums count, but early Gojira does not.

The band must have more than 10 fans on MS

Therefore this is not a reflection of my opinions, rather a reflection of numbers so if you wanna get mad, get mad at the numbers, not me. And remember that this really isn't that serious

1.Mass Hysteria - Contraddiction

2.Tool - Lateralus

3.The Butterfly Effect - IV

4.Tool - Ænima

5.Mass Hysteria - Le Bien-Être Et La Paix

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Metal albums (and yes, I consider metalcore to be metal) that rocked my world, with maximum 2 albums per band sorted by bands in alphabetic order. Live, EP and compilation albums allowed, also including hard rock and stoner rock albums.

It will be updated as I discover new bands so check it sometime

1.Alabama Thunderpussy - Open Fire

2.Alice In Chains - Dirt

3.All That Remains - The Fall Of Ideals

4.Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

5.Annihilator - Alice In Hell

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This list is meant to be an extensive, but by no means exhaustive, collection of the greatest (modern) metal albums and eps. Running the gamut from avant-garde to trve norweigan black metal. *As someone who is young in age, my tastes tend to revolve around the period of the 80s to the present.* Although certain metal albums from before will certainly be featured, the period of the 60s-70s will be under-represented. I refer you to this excellent list to gain a better appreciation for some of the best metal from that period: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/freis/martin_popoffs_the_top_500_heavy_metal_albums_of_all_time/

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

2.T.R.A.M. - Lingua Franca

3.Taake - ...Doedskvad

4.Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster - Exegesis

5.Tad Morose - Modus Vivendi

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I do my best to feel confident about my top 10, After that 11-100 are just alphabetical.

1.Ayreon - The Theory Of Everything

2.Iron Maiden - Brave New World

3.Evergrey - The Inner Circle

4.Obscure Sphinx - Void Mother

5.Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

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Bands in my daily listening rotation. Albums chosen are my favorite by the respective band in most cases 🤘

1.200 Stab Wounds - Slave To The Scalpel

2.A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms

3.Abbath - Abbath

4.Acid Witch - Rot Among Us

5.Æther Realm - Tarot

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Influences, avantgarde, progressive, thrash & others.

1.Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare

2.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

3.Toxik - Think This

4.Coroner - No More Color

5.Danny Elfman - Batman

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Like my own 2009 top list, it's been extremely hard to narrow down to a final twenty because of so many releases in recent years. But twenty it is and of course, I cheated again with my other two lists of overlooked albums and influential albums. These lists are by no means a definition, but a musical statement and hopefully you reading this list can find out something you haven't heard of before and enjoy it as much as I do. Yes, some big names are missing, some are too obscure while some are too mainstream, but I listen to what I like. Just be sure to give them a go with youtube and internet downloads readily at your disposal ^ ^ Some that didn't quite make it into the list but would want to mention them anyway as they are awesome nonetheless: Bison B.C., E-Force, Hail Of Bullets, Keldian, Draconian, Deadlock, Shadowkeep, Battlelore etc

1.Oceans Of Sadness - The Arrogance Of Ignorance

2.Textures - Silhouettes

3.UnSun - The End Of Life

4.Septicflesh - Communion

5.Poisonblack - A Dead Heavy Day

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In progress top 100 albums in no order yet

1.Alice In Chains - Jar Of Flies

2.Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

3.Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf

4.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5.Dream Theater - Images And Words

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My favorite metal albums sorted alphabetically by band name and chronological by release date.

1.Æther Realm - Tarot

2.Acid Witch - Witchtanic Hellucinations

3.Allegaeon - Proponent For Sentience

4.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

5.Amorphis - Silent Waters

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A little list series where I list my top 20 favorite metal albums every year starting from the year I was born in.

2008 was a really strong one for metal, Progressive metal had a very strong one, power metal at it's peak, strong output of Doom metal and 2000s Alternative going strong, 08 was one of the best.

1.Ayreon - 01011001

2.Septicflesh - Communion

3.Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls

4.Equilibrium - Sagas

5.Opeth - Watershed

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1.Ayreon - Beneath The Waves

2.Volbeat - The Human Instrument

3.Pain Of Salvation - Cribcaged

4.Megadeth - Washington Is Next

5.Kamelot - Love You To Death

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