All-time favorite's

[Indestructible]

Does anyone have any all-time metal favorites? Albums that you think are the best ever?

I have many, will put them up here later, gotta go check.

 

[Durakonis]

I used to have, when I was younger. But now they are very much. And from time to time they change, and rarely some new ones are added. They are generally from my favourite bands' early (if not the earliest) eras. I also have such favourites from the bands that I'm not a fan of, in other words, I also can admire some single albums from the bands that I generally don't like, such as Opeth's Morningrise, Dream Theater's Scenes From a Memory and stuff.

 

[Indestructible]

I used to have, when I was younger. But now they are very much. And from time to time they change, and rarely some new ones are added. They are generally from my favourite bands' early (if not the earliest) eras. I also have such favourites from the bands that I'm not a fan of, in other words, I also can admire some single albums from the bands that I generally don't like, such as Opeth's Morningrise, Dream Theater's Scenes From a Memory and stuff.

Same here about Dream theater, I dislike all their albums except Images and Words, and When Dream and Day unite(Charlie was actually good singer and the album had a unique musical direction).

My all-time favorites would be, in no particular order

Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite
Stratovarius - Dreamspace
Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations
IQ - Tales from the Lush Attic
Rhapsody of Fire - Symphony of Enchanted Lands
Symphony X - Symphony X
Dream Theater - Images and Words
DragonForce - Inhuman Rampage
Blind Guardian - Tales from the Twilight World
Possessed - Seven Churches

 

[Islandstone]

All-time favorite album is V.

Other highly rated albums:

Evergrey - In Search of Truth
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Circus Maximus - Isolate
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Riverside - Second Life Syndrome
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Darkwater - Calling the Earth to Witness

 

[Liquid Tension]

Pain of Salvation _ the Perfect Element
Opeth - Still Life
Symphony X - V
7 for 4 - Contact
Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale
Serdce - Timeless

 

[Westbrook266]

Personally I love the somberlain by dissection although most people say storm of the lights bane is a better album, but my all time favorites are cowboys from hell by pantera because of it's raw energy and dimebags hair during that period was glorious and burzum/aske because it's so cathartic and just timeless

 

[Phanto]

Personally I love the somberlain by dissection although most people say storm of the lights bane is a better album, but my all time favorites are cowboys from hell by pantera because of it's raw energy and dimebags hair during that period was glorious and burzum/aske because it's so cathartic and just timeless

that's a weird mix to me.
I consider dissection's albums to be among the best in metal, but I can't stand pantera or burzum.

I have no idea what I'd consider the be my all-time favorites at this time.

Browsing quickly through my playlist, I guess I could pick the following (in metal):

Vallendusk - Black Clouds Gathering
Megadeth - Peace Sells
Symphony X - V
Slayer - Reign in Blood
At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
Therion - Gothic Kabbalah
Helloween - Keeper albums
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time

Maybe some Diabolical Masquerade, Candlemass, Blind Guardian, Angra and more, but I dunno which albums in particular

 

[Postulate]

Too many to list, but the metal albums that have been getting most rotation from me recently are Quantum by Planet X and The Machinations of Dementia by Blotted Science. I almost can't even believe them sometimes.

 

[metalxmetalx]

Symphony X – The Odyssey
Rainbow – Rising
Black sabbath – Live Evil
Scorpions – Lonesome Crow
Scorpions- Blackout
Ark – Burn the Sun
Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast
Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz
Yngwie Malmsteen – Rising Force
Supertramp – Supertramp
Blind Guardian – Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Deep Purple – Machine Head
Savatage - Power of the Night
Accept – Balls to the Wall
Judas Priest – Painkiller
Kiss – Creatures of the Night
Megadeth – Rust in Peace
Allan Holdsworth – Road Games
Marty Friedman – Dragon’s Kiss
Kiko Loureiro – Universo Inverso

The best list so far! :hotjump:

 

[Westbrook266]

Actually scratch burzums debut from my list I believe his album det som engang var was a much more impressive release in terms of variety musicianship and production

 

[Postulate]

Same here about Dream theater, I dislike all their albums except Images and Words, and When Dream and Day unite(Charlie was actually good singer and the album had a unique musical direction).

Same here, I used to like I&W best, but now I think When Dream and Day Unite might be its equal. It has that Crimson Glory, Queensryche, Fates Warning feel to it. And The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun is trippy.

 

[uhhhhmmmm4]

Whats wrong with Awake? Thats my favorite DT- I&W being no. 2.

 

[Durakonis]

Awake is an adventurous album IMO; the songwriting is unpredictable, interesting and deeper. I prefer Awake personally, between the two.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I'd put up my list but I'd need a lot of time to think about it, and it would have not-so-many prog bands on it.

 

[Progbass]

As this is hard for me too, I tried to think about them in periodical order, in other words..what were my favorite and most listened albums at certain times.

Metallica - Master of Puppets
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Dream Theater - Images and Words(just a bit more than Awake)
Dream Theater - SFAM
Symphony X - DWOT
Symphony X - V
Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands
Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Soilwork - A Predator's Portrait
Planet X - Moonbabies
Meshuggah - Obzen
Edge of Sanity - Crimson II

Those are about my favorites, but I still left many out what I cant think of now.

 

[Indestructible]

As this is hard for me too, I tried to think about them in periodical order, in other words..what were my favorite and most listened albums at certain times.

Metallica - Master of Puppets
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Dream Theater - Images and Words(just a bit more than Awake)
Dream Theater - SFAM
Symphony X - DWOT
Symphony X - V
Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands
Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Soilwork - A Predator's Portrait
Planet X - Moonbabies
Meshuggah - Obzen
Edge of Sanity - Crimson II

Those are about my favorites, but I still left many out what I cant think of now.

We have 3 albums in common there mate, wow! Looking at that list, I think you have a great taste in general, too.

Same here, I used to like I&W best, but now I think When Dream and Day Unite might be its equal. It has that Crimson Glory, Queensryche, Fates Warning feel to it. And The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun is trippy.

For me both were equally my only dream theater albums I liked the most, and Awake used to be as well but I kind of lost interest in it when it kind of got too random musically to my ears. It has a very inconsistent musical direction which isn't as present as on the previous two(I & W and When dream and day unite).

When Dream and Day unite - I agree with you, some diverse influences going on there. There are some songs on there that I think are the most original songs I have ever heard in my entire life metal-wise(and I have heard MANY metal albums during my lifetime, so I know what I am talking about). Seriously, those guitar solo's, random tempo changes, and unconventional song structure all make the songs on When dream and day unite so original and memorable to me. I mean yeah all Dream theater albums has these things in most songs, but When Dream and Day unite had a unique feeling to it which I can't find on any other DT album, really. And Charlie....Wow, hell of a singer. His voice really fits the songs and the tempo changes - he alters his own voice in accordance with these changes so precisely in the songs. I can really compare that to Symphony X first album for example, which had Rod Tyler on only 1 album, yet it sounds so fantastic. And no shit - both albums are their debuts of Sym X and DT, and both had a singer that only performed on 1 album, and I think BOTH ALSO SOUND GREAT BECAUSE OF THAT FACT. HEHE

 

[Postulate]

For me both were equally my only dream theater albums I liked the most, and Awake used to be as well but I kind of lost interest in it when it kind of got too random musically to my ears. It has a very inconsistent musical direction which isn't as present as on the previous two(I & W and When dream and day unite).

When Dream and Day unite - I agree with you, some diverse influences going on there. There are some songs on there that I think are the most original songs I have ever heard in my entire life metal-wise(and I have heard MANY metal albums during my lifetime, so I know what I am talking about). Seriously, those guitar solo's, random tempo changes, and unconventional song structure all make the songs on When dream and day unite so original and memorable to me. I mean yeah all Dream theater albums has these things in most songs, but When Dream and Day unite had a unique feeling to it which I can't find on any other DT album, really. And Charlie....Wow, hell of a singer. His voice really fits the songs and the tempo changes - he alters his own voice in accordance with these changes so precisely in the songs. I can really compare that to Symphony X first album for example, which had Rod Tyler on only 1 album, yet it sounds so fantastic. And no shit - both albums are their debuts of Sym X and DT, and both had a singer that only performed on 1 album, and I think BOTH ALSO SOUND GREAT BECAUSE OF THAT FACT. HEHE

Yeah I agree about Awake, it has its highs but it is an extremely inconsistent album. Their first two are gold from start to finish.

The only bad thing I have to say about WDaDU is that it sounds sometimes like Charlie Dominici is trying to imitate John Arch, and he's not as good at it as John Arch is (Only a Matter of Time in particular). But the whole album is dark, adventurous, and memorable. It sounds a lot different, even from I&W, too -- the bass tone is completely different, and so are the keyboard sounds. Clearly an album that is not going to be replicated any time soon (like SFaM already has been and will be again a million times over).

 

[Adam Fiske]

This is pretty much my metal album pantheon:

Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth (1998)
Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite (2000)
Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe (2008)
Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto (2014)

I'm disappointed that my favorite metal band, Kiuas, never made it into the list. Their debut The Spirit of Ukko is so close, but it's just too short.

 

[LittleTortillaBoy]

I can say these are some of the most important albums to me:

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Van der Graaf Generator - Still Life
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element
Dream Theater - Images & Words
Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Camel - Mirage
Evergrey - In Search of Truth
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite
Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Death - Individual Thought Patterns

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Just a few that pop into my head immediately:

Symphony X- V
Adagio- Underworld
Pain of Salvation- BE and Remedy Lane
Evergrey- The Inner Circle (ISoT is great but I absolutely loved the religious cult theme and the string arrangements...so powerful)
Sonata Arctica- Reckoning Night
Angra- Rebirth (it was hard to choose over Temple of Shadows as it was absolutely amazing as well;however, for me there is just something about Rebirth that makes it stand out a bit more for me. Perhaps that it was my first Angra album?)
Therion- Sitra Ahra
Soilwork- Natural Born Chaos