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 ››

2005-2009 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5838
2010-2014 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=5828
2015-2019 list: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6722

I sure do love this site and it's rating system, it makes finding great music so easy and, even more importantly, when an album is overlooked for a while but starts getting a buzz a few months later, boom, there it appears in the top 20.

All that being said, I still wish there was some way to get a weighted ranking that not only takes the rating of the album into account, but also the number of votes that were cast. For example, an album with a rating of 8.8 and 1000 votes would rank higher than an album with a rating of 8.9 and 20 votes. So, I scraped all the albums on the site with at least 1 vote into a database. Then, taking a leaf out of IMDb's book, I used Bayesian estimation (like the IMDb's Top 250) to calculate a weighted rating for each album based on its Metal Storm rating and the number of votes it had received.

The formula for calculating the Top 100 Albums gives a true Bayesian estimate:
Bayes rating (BR) = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) where:
C = average expected rating given...
m = minimum number of votes
R = average rating for the album = (Metal Storm rating)
N = number of votes for the album = (votes)

The way the Bayesian estimator works is that all albums in the database are given and additional m fake votes with an average rating of C, irrespective of how many true votes it already has. Then a new weighted rating is calculated...
If the album has no true votes ( N = 0 ), then BR = ( C × m + R × 0 ) ÷ ( m + 0) = C × m ÷ m = C (the average expected rating).
If the album has a number of true votes equal to the minimum ( N = m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × m ) ÷ ( m + m ) = ( C + R ) × m ÷ 2m = ( C + R ) ÷ 2 (halfway between the two ratings).
If the album has a very large number of true votes ( N >> m ), then BR = ( C × m + R × N ) ÷ ( m + N ) ≈ R × N ÷ N = R (the Metal Storm rating).
This means that the Bayes rating will never equal the Metal Storm rating but will approach it as the true votes grow arbitrarily large.

Now that the maths bit is out of the way, here was my methodology:
Only Studio and EP album types, from the years 2000 to 2004, with at least 1 vote, were included.
The average expected rating (C) was determined by averaging all the Metal Storm ratings from 2000-2004.
The minimum number of votes (m) was determined by calculating the 75th percentile of the votes, rounded to the nearest 10.
I also decided that if an album's Bayes rating was within 0.005 of #100, it would be included too; hence the +5.

C for 2000-2004 = 7.599
m = 30

Number of albums from each year in the list:
2000 - 15
2001 - 27
2002 - 14
2003 - 20
2004 - 29

Ratings are accurate as of 30/10/2023

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Tool - Lateralus

4.Wintersun - Wintersun

5.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

      View entire list ››

I have finally caved in and made a top 200 list. The main focus here is metal, so no Rush, no King Crimson, Deep Purple, or GY!BE are in the list, but I do still love those bands and others that could have qualified.
The list mostly contains albums, but some EPs, demos, splits, and compilations are also featured every now and then. I also tried to avoid including demos or EPs that were too short but there’s still a few of them.
Enjoy!

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

2.Windir - Arntor

3.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

4.Sigh - Hangman's Hymn: Musikalische Exequien

5.Vektor - Terminal Redux

      View entire list ››

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

2001 was pretty great year... for metal that is, one of the best in my opinion, this year was especially great for Symphonic metal, power metal and Folk metal. Also 2001 saw the release of a couple of the most Iconic albums in progressive metal history.

1.Opeth - Blackwater Park

2.System Of A Down - Toxicity

3.Rammstein - Mutter

4.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

5.Moonsorrow - Voimasta Ja Kunniasta

      View entire list ››

Ratings go from:

WORSHIP ❤️❤️❤️: Absolute greatness, a mindblowing album.
LOVE ❤️❤️🖤: Amazing release with very few flaws.
LIKE ❤️🖤🖤: Enjoyable but far from perfect.
DISLIKE 💔: Not very good or maybe not fitting my tastes.

I've decided to stop rating albums with a numerical value as I tend to feel uncomfortable with that. This list has a minimalistic, subjective and visceral approach, based purely on sensations and personal tastes. Mainly for personal use and doesn't pretend to be a serious ranking, but emerges from the need to remember which bands and albums I enjoyed and the ones I disliked. I constantly revisit new releases so first impressions may change over time. It usually takes 8-10 spins for me to get completely sure of a rating.

1.Æther Realm - Tarot

2.Abhoria - Abhoria

3.Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops

4.Agrypnie - Metamorphosis

5.Allegaeon - Fragments Of Form And Function

      View entire list ››

This is my top albums (only with those where I gave 8 or more). I will update the list now and then

1.Slipknot - Iowa

2.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

3.Opeth - Ghost Reveries

4.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

5.Slipknot - Slipknot

      View entire list ››

1 album per band per subgenre
work in progress, updating as I go through the song-by-song ratings on RateYourMusic.com
I will typically update my black metal faves - https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6924
and my death metal faves - https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6298
prior to updating this one

1.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

2.King Diamond - Abigail

3.Voivod - Dimension Hatröss

4.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

5.Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris

      View entire list ››

It's possible that you've glossed over some of these because they're too "popular".
Maybe you've never heard of a few.
Regardless, these are albums that I think everyone should hear at least once if you're a novice metal fan or have been head banging for years.

1.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

2.Summoning - Stronghold

3.Death - Human

4.Rush - A Farewell To Kings

5.The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand

      View entire list ››

Choice metal albums that come out of Japan. Recommendations/Suggestions are welcome and one album per band.

Bands looking into:
Corrupted
Earthshaker
Bow Wow / Vow Wow
Thousand Leaves

1.Abigail (JPN) - Forever Street Metal Bitch

2.Albion - Campanula

3.Aldious - Deep Exceed

4.Al-Kamar - Abstract Spread

5.Anatomia - Dissected Humanity

      View entire list ››

I'm going to stop with 2000... maybe

1.Tool - Lateralus

2.Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape

3.Gamma Ray - No World Order

4.Opeth - Blackwater Park

5.System Of A Down - Toxicity

      View entire list ››

1.Shylmagoghnar - Emergence

2.Galneryus - Angel Of Salvation

3.Blindead - Affliction XXIX II MXMVI

4.Batushka - Litourgiya

5.Leprous - Bilateral

      View entire list ››

* Updating this as I get around to doing song-by-song on RYM.
* 1 album per band
* limiting this to actual black metal releases, as opposed to releases by bands that were, at one time, black metal.
>> Some bands really do incorporate a lot of both death metal or doom (or avant garde or folk, etc) and black metal in their albums, so I consider them to be 'black metal adjacent' even if it might not be 'purely black metal'

1.Weakling - Dead As Dreams

2.Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle

3.Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum

4.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

5.Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury

      View entire list ››

This list is a fun little project for me. It chronicles my quest to collect the works of my favorite band of all time, the mighty Sigh! I've tried to list the albums in the order that I collected them, although my memory may be off a bit it is basically correct. Before Sigh I had never really ran into the problem of an album I wanted to buy being out of print and hard to find. Scouring the internet for these rare treasures has turned into a fun (albeit expensive) hobby of mine. Every time I get some new Sigh loot I'll update this list. Still missing the demo tapes and early EPs, however the main part of the collection is near completion. I'd like to see other similar lists to see what other MSers are collecting.

1.Sigh - In Somniphobia

2.Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape

3.Sigh - Scenes From Hell

4.Sigh - Gallows Gallery [re-edit]

5.Sigh - Hail Horror Hail

      View entire list ››

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

      View entire list ››

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

      View entire list ››