Must Listen: The First 8

1.Angra - Holy Land

2.Anathema - Eternity

3.Type O Negative - October Rust

4.Stratovarius - Episode

5.Grave Digger - Tunes Of War

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1.Therion - Vovin

2.Nightwish - Oceanborn

3.Theatre Of Tragedy - Velvet Darkness They Fear

4.Theatre Of Tragedy - Theatre Of Tragedy

5.Paradise Lost - Icon

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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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No particular order

1.Graveworm - As The Angels Reach The Beauty

2.Graveworm - Scourge Of Malice

3.Dimmu Borgir - For All Tid

4.Dimmu Borgir - Stormblåst

5.Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant

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1.Grip Inc. - Solidify

2.x - x

3.x - x

4.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

5.x - x

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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.Type O Negative - October Rust

2.Therion - Theli

3.Sepultura - Roots

4.King Diamond - The Graveyard

5.Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

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Pretty self-explanatory, with a couple caveats: first, this is mostly just a list of my favorite metal bands in approximate order (after the top 10 or so the order matters far less), with extra weight given to influence and timelessness of sound; and second, the albums selected are not necessarily the band's "best" album, or even my personal favorite -- they are the albums that I feel best represent the band's classic sound and/or well-represent the span of their career. List includes all sub-genres of metal and some post-metal metal. Feel free to spew your hatred below. \m/ (xx) \m/

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Iron Maiden - Powerslave

3.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

4.Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

5.Slayer - Reign In Blood

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1.Therion - Secret Of The Runes

2.Therion - Vovin

3.Therion - Sirius B

4.Therion - Theli

5.Therion - Lemuria

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An entirely subjective list of my all-time favourite metal albums, well lets better say albums/genres featured on MS, since not all here is precisely metal.
Objective quality is not a criteria here, just how much I like the album. Ordered by preference, top down.

1.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

2.Opeth - Morningrise

3.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum

4.My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans

5.Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss

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Every metalhead should have them in his collection!

1.Estatic Fear - Somnium Obmutum

2.Anathema - The Silent Enigma

3.Pantera - Cowboys From Hell

4.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

5.Opeth - Morningrise

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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.Dream Theater - Train Of Thought

2.Psychotic Waltz - Bleeding

3.Dream Theater - Awake

4.Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction

5.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

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1.The Gathering - How To Measure A Planet?

2.Tiamat - Wildhoney

3.My Dying Bride - A Line Of Deathless Kings

4.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

5.Samael - Ceremony Of Opposites

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This is buy or die stuff (in no particular order), the epitome of pure awesomeness!

1.Windir - Arntor

2.Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes

3.Cor Scorpii - Monument

4.Judas Priest - Painkiller

5.Summoning - Dol Guldur

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