These are the albums with the highest possible rates in my personal list. Sometimes it was an emotional decision made after one single spin, but mostly these actually are my favorite albums. Also, I was wondering what genre would be most represented.

PS. The image was selected intentionally to piss you off. Still, I do consider Diabolus In Musica to be an almost perfect album

1.1833 AD - My Dark Symphony

2.1914 - The Blind Leading The Blind

3.Akhlys - Melinoë

4.Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus

5.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

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An exploration of the best (and worst) albums of 1996, will keep updating as I find more albums to rank. I've often thought that 1996 was one of the worst years for metal but I keep finding great and overlooked albums. Many of them deserve another listen, there are definitely some gems hidden amongst the weirdness.

1.Stratovarius - Episode

2.Metallica - Load

3.Amorphis - Elegy

4.Bathory - Blood On Ice

5.Burzum - Filosofem

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1.Alice In Chains - Jar Of Flies

2.Animals As Leaders - Animals As Leaders

3.Damageplan - New Found Power

4.Dying Fetus - Killing On Adrenaline

5.Fear Factory - Archetype

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stupid list. I'll change it all next week

*cough* make that, next year. now is the time to re-assess priorities

and because no-one reads this regardless, here's some priorities for later:
Nuclear | Deception | Duskmachine | The Outside | Rex Mundi | Respawn
Wampus Cat and some other Amps, and others near end o W on MA | PlaS

1.Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill

2.Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water

3.Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy

4.Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky

5.Pantera - Far Beyond Driven

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A majority of these albums I have listened to more recently than 2 years
And about 2 of these albums I have not listened to in their entirety but many of their songs blew me away.

1.Atheist - Elements

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Carcass - Heartwork

4.Death - Human

5.Death - Symbolic

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This was by far the most difficult list to do. That's because all top releases are so good that any could be number one. 1996 probably best metal year ever imo.

1.Cradle Of Filth - Dusk... And Her Embrace

2.Theatre Of Tragedy - Velvet Darkness They Fear

3.Moonspell - Irreligious

4.Samael - Passage

5.Cradle Of Filth - V Empire

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These are my favorite 25 albums, not really in any particular order. They are favorites due to the fact I at least like every song on the album, and there are at least three songs on the album that I love.

1.Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

2.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

3.Cradle Of Filth - Midian

4.Black Sabbath - Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath

5.Cradle Of Filth - The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh

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