Note: these are only for the traditional style of metal borne out of the period of late 60s - late 80s. Modern bands are permitted but they need to be playing in that style.

Recommendations are welcome. I'll listen and if I like it, I'll add it.

1.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

3.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

4.Deep Purple - In Rock

5.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

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1.Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

2.The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

3.Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

4.The Beatles - Revolver

5.Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

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1.Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

2.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

3.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

4.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

5.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

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All Judas Priest albums, ranked from best to worst (in my opinion).

1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

3.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

4.Judas Priest - Stained Class

5.Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith

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1.Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith

2.Judas Priest - Painkiller

3.Judas Priest - Sin After Sin

4.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

5.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

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1.AC/DC - Highway To Hell

2.AC/DC - Let There Be Rock

3.Triumph - Just A Game

4.AC/DC - High Voltage

5.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

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I feel like my overall favorites list is getting too long. I'm splitting it up by rating.

1.Amon Amarth - Jomsviking

2.Qrixkuor - Poison Palinopsia

3.Skepticism - Ordeal

4.Funeral Mist - Devilry

5.Zeal & Ardor - Zeal And Ardor

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top 10 70s albums (1 album per band)

1.Alice Cooper - Killer

2.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

3.Van Halen - Van Halen

4.Deep Purple - Machine Head

5.AC/DC - Highway To Hell

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1.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

2.Judas Priest - Painkiller

3.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

4.Death - Human

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Work in progress until a good foundation is made. No real order other than what pops in my head.

1.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

2.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

3.Slayer - Hell Awaits

4.Slayer - Reign In Blood

5.Slayer - South Of Heaven

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1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith

3.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

4.Judas Priest - Firepower

5.Judas Priest - British Steel

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1.Judas Priest - Painkiller

2.Judas Priest - Ram It Down

3.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

4.Judas Priest - Sin After Sin

5.Judas Priest - Firepower

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In no real particular order. These albums are all great.

1.Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

2.Rainbow - Rising

3.Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

4.Led Zeppelin - Presence

5.Scorpions - Virgin Killer

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While the order in each decade is purely personal preference, there are several rules for a song qualifying for the list. First off, the band has to be notable. I'm not going to define what that means, but I'm sure you'd agree all the bands in the list are notable. There are plenty of riffs from obscure bands I'd rather put, but I know my love for Tarby doesn't make him the greatest riff maker of the 21st century. Second, each artist can only appear once in a decade, this is to prevent the best riff makers from hogging the list and adding some variety, showing how metal has changed over time. Decades are measured by when the song was recorded, not released, and when it's unclear the beginning of recording is used. This is mainly because a lot of definitive early metal songs were released in 1970, but recorded in 1969. Third, the song itself has to be notable. Here are things that can qualify as being notable: the song was release as a single, has music video made for it, was released as a single, was the title track for an album (note that Crawl through Knives meets this criteria because it was the original title for Come Clarity, and there is no way in hell Come Clarity is getting best riff of the decade ), is included on a greatest hits compilation album, was nominated for a Grammy or musical award of similar caliber, was included as a track in a notable film or video game, was covered by a notable band, or has a Wikipedia page for some miscellaneous reason. Finally, the song needs to be metal. Misirlou gets the pass despite predating metal as it was probably the single most influential song on the development of metal, and while many of the other songs in the other songs are better classified as hard rock, I can find a source listing them as heavy metal.

1.

2.King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

4.Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

5.Deep Purple - In Rock

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1.Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

2.Iron Maiden - Killers

3.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

4.Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

5.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

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