I've chosen the order of the albums by personal taste and how each one of them is important for me.

1.Epica - The Quantum Enigma

2.Epica - The Phantom Agony

3.Epica - The Divine Conspiracy

4.Epica - Consign To Oblivion

5.Epica - Design Your Universe

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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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1.Afgrund - Vid Helvetets Grindar

2.After Forever - After Forever

3.Agalloch - The Mantle

4.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

5.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

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1.Epica - Design Your Universe

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1.Ghost Brigade - Isolation Songs

2.Epica - Design Your Universe

3.While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose

4.Katatonia - Night Is The New Day

5.Týr - By The Light Of The Northern Star

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1.Wintersun - Wintersun

2.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

3.Ensiferum - Ensiferum

4.Septicflesh - Communion

5.Insomnium - Above The Weeping World

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Obviously, a list of my favorite songs, or songs that mean something special to me at least. I don't remember them all of course so I'll be adding more as soon as I'm reminded of them.
I wanted to pull this off on Spotify but I'm missing a whole lot of songs, so I figured this would be a good place to save it.

1.After Forever - Decipher

2.Ahab - The Giant

3.Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

4.Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors

5.Between The Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect

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The title pretty much says it all. Feel free to tell me your poor taste in albums, and I will add them as well.

1.Behemoth - The Satanist

2.Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue With The Stars

3.Children Of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet?

4.Chthonic - Seediq Bale

5.Cradle Of Filth - Nymphetamine

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1.Epica - Design Your Universe

2.Swallow The Sun - New Moon

3.Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

4.Leaves' Eyes - Njord

5.Candlemass - Death Magic Doom

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This is a list of my favorite albums that will constantly change, as there are new albums out all the time, and this list is in no particular order.
As a disclaimer, there are many albums containing songs that are my favorites; the other songs are why the album might not be a favorite. That is why a lot of the older stuff that I enjoy is not on here. I'll make a list for my favorite songs... eventually.

1.DragonForce - The Power Within

2.Nightwish - Century Child

3.Kamelot - Karma

4.Nightwish - Dark Passion Play

5.Epica - Design Your Universe

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Just a list of my favorite albums!

1.Kamelot - The Black Halo

2.Epica - Design Your Universe

3.Kamelot - Karma

4.The Gathering - Mandylion

5.Nightwish - Century Child

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My favourite Symphonic Metal (mostly female-fronted) albums

1.After Forever - Decipher

2.After Forever - Prison Of Desire

3.Amberian Dawn - End Of Eden

4.Epica - Design Your Universe

5.Epica - The Phantom Agony

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1.Amon Amarth - Deceiver Of The Gods

2.Amon Amarth - Versus The World

3.Battlelore - Evernight

4.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

5.Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh

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Compilation of many Hard Rock or Metal Ballads I've heard. Bands and Albums are ordered by name alphabetically.

1.Accept - Balls To The Wall

2.Accept - Blood Of The Nations

3.Accept - Eat The Heat

4.Adagio - Underworld

5.Aerosmith - Aerosmith

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1.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

2.Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

3.Shadow Gallery - Digital Ghosts

4.Gotthard - Need To Believe

5.Rebellion - Arise: From Ginnungagap To Ragnarök - The History Of The Vikings Volume III

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