I started listening to metal music when I was a teenager, somewhere around the end of the 90's. After all these years, I thought it was high time to compose my personal top list of metal albums. What you see here is the absolute best of the best ... according to my taste.

To compile this list I have put all albums that I have given a 10/10 here on MS. Then I have put all these albums in a Ranking Engine (https://www.pubmeeple.com/ranking-engine) where they were put head to head and I had to choose which I liked more. The list below is what came out of this exercise.

1.Opeth - Deliverance

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

4.Edge Of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow

5.Cobalt - Eater Of Birds

      View entire list ››

A little list series where I list my top 20 favorite metal albums every year starting from the year I was born in.

1997 was surprisingly a solid year for metal, a lot of great releases in black and power metal, and a very strong year for gothic metal this period was by far the golden age of gothic metal

1.Stratovarius - Visions

2.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

3.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

4.Symphony X - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy

5.Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech

      View entire list ››

1 album per band per subgenre
work in progress, updating as I go through the song-by-song ratings on RateYourMusic.com
I will typically update my black metal faves - https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6924
and my death metal faves - https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=6298
prior to updating this one

1.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

2.King Diamond - Abigail

3.Voivod - Dimension Hatröss

4.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

5.Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris

      View entire list ››

Welcome to what I consider the "1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" or in other words, a list of records of various genres in the arrays of Metal and Hard Rock that I deem essential or at least very recommended to listeners of hard and heavy music. This may be a very overwhelming list but I essentially try to collect all albums in the History of Metal that strike me as worthwhile. May this be a guideline for people that seek for an entrance to a particular genre or certain bands. In no means I am saying, that this list is indisputable by any means. I consider these my personal picks for albums that should be listened to by die-hard metal fans at least once. Hopefully you can discover some new music or relate with my picks. If I missed something that you would include in such a list, please tell me in the form of a comment. Enjoy! \,,/

1.High Tide - Sea Shanties

2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

3.Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

4.Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come

5.Josefus - Dead Man

      View entire list ››

1.Nokturnal Mortum - Goat Horns

2.Summoning - Dol Guldur

3.Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth

4.Metallica - Re-Load

5.In Flames - Whoracle

      View entire list ››

(This list is a work in progress)

In this list I intend to compile all of my favorite interludes, intros, outros, short acoustic tracks, instrumentals, non-metal or otherwise atypical songs from the metal multiverse. Of course the definitions for each of the above are quite fluid, so you may personally disagree with my decision to consider one of these tracks as such.

Last updated on 23 June 2023.

1.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

2.Bathory - Blood Fire Death

3.Melechesh - Emissaries

4.Agalloch - The Mantle

5.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

      View entire list ››

1.All time & genre (including Non-Metal on MS)
2.Only studio albums & EPs
3.The genre is primary one.
4.Only ESPECIALLY favorite (a bit more stringently than ver1 and rating 10 is not enough)
5.The order: A to Z (initial of band's name), next release date
6.Black Wisdom, an album of Russian band Grey Heaven Fall, is deleted. When the situation gets better, I will repost.
Last modified on 3 March 2022

1.Akhlys - The Dreaming I

2.Altar Of Plagues - Mammal

3.Angra - Temple Of Shadows

4.Anthrax - Among The Living

5.Arkha Sva - Gloria Satanae

      View entire list ››

The bands are in that order on purpose, from most to least favorite, but favorite nonetheless. The format is:

band | favourite album by the band | favorite song (or 2) by the band

Last updated on 4 November 2022.

1.Meshuggah - Nothing

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Immolation - Close To A World Below

4.Death - Symbolic

5.Agalloch - The Mantle

      View entire list ››

* Updating this as I get around to doing song-by-song on RYM.
* 1 album per band
* limiting this to actual black metal releases, as opposed to releases by bands that were, at one time, black metal.
>> Some bands really do incorporate a lot of both death metal or doom (or avant garde or folk, etc) and black metal in their albums, so I consider them to be 'black metal adjacent' even if it might not be 'purely black metal'

1.Weakling - Dead As Dreams

2.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

3.Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum

4.Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle

5.Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi

      View entire list ››

Poser alert!
Yep, they made the list...
I’m not sorry lol.

Plus my top three favourite tracks from each release. \m/

Honourable mentions:
The Gathering - Nighttime Birds (Gothic)
Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics... (Doom/Stoner)
Deicide - Serpents Of The Light (Death)
Hammerfall - Glory To The Brave (Power)

1.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

2.Deströyer 666 - Unchain The Wolves

3.Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale

4.Stratovarius - Visions

5.Dominion - Blackout

      View entire list ››

The albums below is my definition of extreme metal music, regardless of their genre. Entire list is based only on my personal preferences in metal.
Rules:
1. One album per band
2. 305 groups/305 albums

1.In Flames - Clayman

2.Metallica - ...And Justice For All

3.Chimaira - Chimaira

4.Death - Symbolic

5.Testament - The New Order

      View entire list ››

Last updated on 11 April 2024.

1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja

3.Wintersun - Wintersun

4.Dissection - Storm Of The Light's Bane

5.Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

      View entire list ››

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

      View entire list ››

I just want to note that these are my favorites to listen to right now, and not necessarily the albums I would rate "best" or "most classic". Pure preference

1.Entombed - Left Hand Path

2.Antestor - The Forsaken

3.Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

4.Amenra - De Doorn

5.Wintersun - Wintersun

      View entire list ››

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

      View entire list ››