The Extreme Music Forum's Top Recommended Albums Lists

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is way overrated.

... and I say that with a Dead avatar.

Word. I guess it belongs on the list for its historical impact, but just as a listening experience it has some rather big flaws. Same goes for the Sarcofago album.

I personally hate the muddy, sloppy brand of black metal that Blasphemy and Beherit play and honestly, I still don't understand how it's categorized as black metal in the first place. I cannot comprehend how someone could consider a Blasphemy the 3rd best black metal album ever.

More criticisms:

Blood Fire Death isn't a great album. The first and last song are amazing; the middle is just OK. The Return also isn't that amazing. I'd rather have the self-titled on the list, which kicks ass from start to finish.

Are those Celtic Frost albums really black metal?

Nothing past the 90s? Stuff like Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Drudkh, etc.

No Polish or French black metal?

A few positives: Ritual, Thy Mighty Contract and Panzerfaust made the list.

The death metal list mostly works for me, though Morbid Angel has never done much for me. And shouldn't Leprosy be on the list somewhere?
 
Pretty standard, predictable lists. All the death metal twenties but bolt thrower are questionable at best.
 
Keep in mind that these lists are merely the top of a compilation of a shitton of votes. "Avant-garde" black metal WAS on the list. Modern black metal WAS on the list. French black metal WAS on the list (I myself voted for a Mutiilation album at some point). As for death metal, several of Death's albums were on the list. The point of these lists is that they depict a compilation of many voters, and all of the above sorts of albums suffer when not backed by the majority.

Looking at my stats, Human and Leprosy both appeared towards the bottom of the top 50. The #26 pick for black metal was a 21st century Inquisition album, followed soon in the '30s by bands like Fanisk and Eldrig.
 
And yes, Lykathea Aflame being on the list is quite silly. Considering the group got nearly all the essentials down in the first twenty though, I find myself not caring.
 
Keep in mind that these lists are merely the top of a compilation of a shitton of votes. "Avant-garde" black metal WAS on the list. Modern black metal WAS on the list. French black metal WAS on the list (I myself voted for a Mutiilation album at some point). As for death metal, several of Death's albums were on the list. The point of these lists is that they depict a compilation of many voters, and all of the above sorts of albums suffer when not backed by the majority.

Looking at my stats, Human and Leprosy both appeared towards the bottom of the top 50. The #26 pick for black metal was a 21st century Inquisition album, followed soon in the '30s by bands like Fanisk and Eldrig.

I didn't realize some of these albums were so popular. Who exactly are the people voting on this?

Regardless, this list feels like the sort of list a noobie puts together to try and impress veteran fans by showing how raw and old school he is.
 
Special thanks to those who did not seek out something on the lists to bitch about. I thought it was a fun project, and it was nice to see group opinions coming together and still making a pretty badass list, even if I would certainly change a few things myself.

For reference, the idea was basically inspired by these lists http://www.talkclassical.com/17996-compilation-tc-top-recommended.html which were compiled in a similar way, only with a larger sample audience. And interestingly enough, despite that thread being stickied, I don't see classical fans constantly looking for things to bitch about on those lists, yet I see many, including myself, getting helpful recommendations from them ;)
 
Regardless, this list feels like the sort of list a noobie puts together to try and impress veteran fans by showing how raw and old school he is.

Yeah, it could look like that. Or it could look like the preferences of fans that see value in the old school. And, once again, there were many votes for new albums. Some voters even listed almost nothing but albums, probably new ones, that I've never heard.

However, once more votes rolled in, on average, these are the albums people prefer.
 
For reference, the idea was basically inspired by these lists http://www.talkclassical.com/17996-compilation-tc-top-recommended.html which were compiled in a similar way, only with a larger sample audience. And interestingly enough, despite that thread being stickied, I don't see classical fans constantly looking for things to bitch about on those lists, yet I see many, including myself, getting helpful recommendations from them ;)

From the discerning tastes found within the lists of the op, I could tell that they were inspired by a top 100 symphonies list rather than something as pedantic as, say, a top 100 rock albums or top 100 pop songs list. There's just something about giant forum-generated lists of the former kind that sets them above the rest, you know?
 
In short, you don't have to feel shorted because DsO, BAN, etc. all received votes. They simply were not regarded highly enough by the majority to receive enough, so you need not feel slighted :)