The best Power Metal albums by the best bands in the genre. The albums are not in any specific order, at least after the first 10. I placed more than 1 album per band cause they really deserve to be here. Feedback is appreciated.

Note: I edited the list and changed the title because there are albums that deserve to be here and I felt 20 albums are not enough

1.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I

2.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

3.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

4.Angra - Rebirth

5.Stratovarius - Visions

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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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Since many of you felt annoyed by my previous list title I changed it and hopefully you will be ok with it.Power up everybody!!!

1.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

2.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

3.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I

4.Riot - ThunderSteel

5.Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free

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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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All my favourite songs ranked in order best down.

1.Rush - 2112

2.Deep Purple - In Rock

3.Jethro Tull - Aqualung

4.Rainbow - Rising

5.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

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Overhauled as of May 10th, 2012! Top 5 favorite non-metal albums featured at the bottom.

This is a much improved (and more recently accurate) reworking of my previous favorite albums list, with a few albums added and a couple dropped entirely. They are in order of preference, though changes and the possibility of total equals are still in play. I've axed my undescriptive commentary but kept my genre and favorite song catgories.

1.Crimson Glory - Transcendence

2.Anubis Gate - The Detached

3.Artillery - By Inheritance

4.Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory

5.Metal Church - Hanging In The Balance

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Yep, one of those lists. Everyone has one, so I thought I'd make a list of metal albums I really recommend.

This is not an absolute "best-of" list, for a few reasons:
1) I stick to one album per band, unless there's been a drastic style shift (like Katatonia's).
2) I try to cover all major subgenres fairly, so I have something for everyone. It counterbalances the tendency to list all the cool bands in a style I'm into right now (like drone or epic doom).

1.Warning - Watching From A Distance

2.Candlemass - Nightfall

3.Reverend Bizarre - In The Rectory Of The Bizarre Reverend

4.Pagan Altar - The Lords Of Hypocrisy

5.Katatonia - Dance Of December Souls

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UPDATED Apr. 2012! Like the title says (covers '00 - '09). In numbered order by personal preference. May change as I find new releases.

1.Anubis Gate - The Detached

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Kamelot - The Black Halo

4.Warning - Watching From A Distance

5.Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh

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This is my list of favorite power metal that I've been listening for years . Including all types of power metal, from extreme like Chidren of Bodom, to Symphonic like Nightwish, Progressive as well and so on.

1.Kamelot - Epica

2.Kamelot - The Black Halo

3.Kamelot - Karma

4.Helloween - 7 Sinners

5.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

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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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My personel top 10 list of bands/albums that I think whould do a great job converting young boys and girls into metalheads

1.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

2.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

3.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

4.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

5.Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell

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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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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

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This is a list of all the power metal albums I have listened to that are worth remembering. Like my other genre lists, this is not meant to be a definitive guide to power metal or a binding judgment on what power metal is or is not. The list exists purely for my own organizational purposes and may contain bands or albums that are not strictly True Knights of the Eternal Thundersword.

The first cluster includes my favorite albums in the genre (and a significant number of my all-time favorites); beyond that, they are listed by rating from 9/10 down to 6/10 and alphabetically within each bracket.

Last updated November 27, 2021.

1.Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth

2.Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side

3.Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond

4.Jag Panzer - Thane To The Throne

5.X Japan - Art Of Life

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Note: Tool intentionally ommitted because they don't consider themselves metal. Otherwise you'd see their first 4 albums in top 25.

Last updated: 27 March 2024.

1.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

2.Agalloch - The Mantle

3.Opeth - Blackwater Park

4.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

5.Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath

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