A lot of bands have great debut albums. Obviously this list is just a fraction of all the great debut albums out there, but it's a start. I'll keep expanding this list continuously, so all suggestions are welcome (granted they are featured on MS). All the albums here are ranked according to genre and then alphabetically. If a certain album belongs to the (in your opinion) wrong genre, then definitely let me know.

1.

2.Aarni - Bathos

3.Arcturus - Aspera Hiems Symfonia

4.Diablo Swing Orchestra - The Butcher's Ballroom

5.Sadness - Ames De Marbre

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This is a favorites list, not a guide or anything of that sort. It just highlights the albums that I've enjoyed listening to and spinned extensively since last November (When I got into this monolithic genre.) One entry for each band. The descriptions aren't necessarily descriptions of the music. I just wrote what came to my mind. I will update with new albums frequently.
EDIT: Got to 50 entries, so I guess I'll stop for now. I want more time to revisit these 50, get into the other albums of the bands listed below and delve into other genres of metal. I guess that taking a break from black metal (at least new stuff) will ensure that I won't get bored of it. It is likely that I'll continue this list by the half of July.

1.A Forest Of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring

2.Addaura - Burning For The Ancient

3.Agalloch - Pale Folklore

4.Alcest - Écailles De Lune

5.Alda - : Tahoma :

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This list contains most beautiful, majestic and soul-touching releases I've ever experienced.
My most favorite genres are Black Metal, Post Metal, Shoegaze, Doom Metal, Ambient and Neo-Classical in general .

Albums are ranked by the year,I think this way is more useful.

I will keep expanding my list as i can.

1.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

2.Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulée

3.Deinonychus - The Silence Of December

4.Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Age

5.Burzum - Filosofem

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1.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

2.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

3.Allvaters Zorn - Geburt

4.Alrakis - Alpha Eri

5.Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

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This alphabetical list presents bands that took the inspiration for their name from literature (novels, poems, plays, comics). The list shows the debut album cover along with the information of the corresponding source of inspiration.

Please feel free to suggest more examples of metal/hard rock band names that are inspired by literature.


AUTHORS

1st Place (52 bands):
J.R.R.Tolkien

2nd Place (21 bands):
H.P.Lovecraft

3rd Place (10 bands):
W.Shakespeare

4th Place (7 bands):
E.A.Poe

5th Place (3 bands):
F.Herbert, R.E.Howard, C.A.Smith

6th Place (2 bands):
A.Huxley, J.W.v.Goethe, B.Kane, S.King, C.S.Lewis, H.Melville, K.Miura, M.Moorcock, J.K.Rowling, H.Van Alkmer, O.Wilde

7th Place (1 band):
R.Adams, J.P.Ahonen, D.Alighieri, L.F.Baum, E.C.Bertin, R.Bloch, E.Bronte, L.Carroll, L.Carter, L.Chase, C.Dickens, A.Diggle, M.Ende, S.Erikson, W.Faulkner, J.&W.Grimm, Homer, A.Jodorowsky, Kakifly, U.KLeGuin, H.W.Longfellow, G.R.R.Martin, A.Miller, P.Mills, J.Milton, D.Quinn, S.Rohmer, P.Rothfuss, Y.Sadamato, M.Sandemo, W.Scott, H.Sienkiewicz, D.Simmons, W.Smith, J.Steinbeck, B.Stoker, Suetonius, L.Uris, L.Weisberger, H.G.Wells, Q.Yuan


CATEGORY

1.) Novels (93 bands)
2.) Short Stories/Novellas (34 bands)
3.) Drama (11 bands),
Poems (11 bands),
Comics/Mangas (11 bands)
4.) Religious Texts (4 bands)
5.) Author Names (3 bands)
6.) Magazines (2 bands)
7.) Biographies (1 band), Essays (1 band), Reports (1 band),

1.A Dream Of Poe - The Mirror Of Deliverance

2.Abhoth - Abhoth

3.Abigail Williams - In The Shadow Of A Thousand Suns

4.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

5.Alice In Chains - Facelift

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A list of my favorite recent albums in 2011. I'll update this list regularly. In no particular order. I added the rating next to them for the curious ones, but you should check them all.

1.40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

2.Mitochondrion - Parasignosis

3.Dirge - Elysian Magnetic Fields

4.Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All

5.Blut Aus Nord - 777 - The Desanctification

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Top 100 albums of 2010-2019

1.40 Watt Sun - Wider Than The Sky

2.Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

3.Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

4.Elysian Blaze - Blood Geometry

5.Emptiness - Nothing But The Whole

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My favorite 25 albums of the year

1.Woods Of Desolation - Torn Beyond Reason

2.Obscura - Omnivium

3.Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows

4.Deafheaven - Roads To Judah

5.We Were Promised Jetpacks - In the Pit of the Stomach

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This is a list of my favorite releases of 2011. The top 50 is in order of preference, the rest are in random order. I have ranked 150 albums in order of preference on RateYourMusic, but I cannot be bothered to do twice the work. Check my profile there for more rankings and reviews.

My reviews
Top 150 and more.

1.PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

2.SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones

3.Einar Stray - Chiaroscuro

4.Eleanoora Rosenholm - Hyväile minua pimeä tähti

5.Giles Corey - Giles Corey

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1.Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning

2.Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors

3.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

4.Machine Head - Unto The Locust

5.Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

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These are some of my all time favourite albums. Not really any order, just what came to mind first.

1.John Cougar Mellencamp - Nobody's Fool

2.AC/DC - Back In Black

3.Anthrax - Attack Of The Killer B's

4.Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe

5.Shadows Fall - The Art Of Balance

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This is a list of my favorite black metal albums from the States (in order).

1.Lurker Of Chalice - Lurker Of Chalice

2.Weakling - Dead As Dreams

3.Absu - Tara

4.Cobalt - Eater Of Birds

5.Leviathan - Tentacles Of Whorror

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I have decided to whittle this down to 10 albumsl

Honorable mentions: Mastodon (The Hunter), Omnium Gatherum (New World Shadows), Lantlôs (Agape), Insomnium (One For Sorrow), Aaskereia (Dort, wo das alte Böse ruht)

1.Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestial Lineage

2.Fen - Epoch

3.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

4.Deafheaven - Roads To Judah

5.Mournful Congregation - The Book Of Kings

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As the MS Awards 2011 have ended I've closed the editing of this list, so here are the final standings.

1.Kauan - Kuu..

2.Insomnium - One For Sorrow

3.Demonaz - March Of The Norse

4.Septicflesh - The Great Mass

5.Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

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Here it is! Yet another unimaginative list of albums released in 2011!

1.MurkRat - Drudging The Mire

2.Woods Of Desolation - Torn Beyond Reason

3.Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestial Lineage

4.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

5.SubRosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones

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