Below are what we, the staff of Metal-Rules.com, have collectively decided are the best and/or most influential extreme metal albums of all time.
Based on the success (and rampant discussion!) that took place as a result of our "Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums", we decided to devote a top list for extreme metal. For this top 50 list, we agreed that extreme metal encompasses: death metal, black metal, and some of the more extreme forms of thrash metal. We didn't allow any overly melodic thrash metal albums on the list in an effort to keep the final list to the more extreme side of things. We also disallowed melodic death metal, but we did allow some of the earlier albums from bands that started out as much heavier than what they eventually became.
Although this is an extreme metal list, this is not a ranking of "who is the heaviest band", "who is the most satanic", or "who is the most underground". How underground, satanic, or how heavy a band is may not ALWAYS be related to extremity or how they rank in a list of what we considered the most important extreme albums. We rated our master list based on quality and on the album's influence.
We scored a list of just over 500 albums to determine this top 50. There is absolutely nothing scientific about the ranking that appears below; it is simply the collective opinion of a group of true metalheads. Not everyone will agree with the list or all the items in it, and that's fine, we make no apologies for having an opinion and sharing it with you! This is not meant to be the only definitive list in existence, but it does reflect the common interests of everyone who writes for this webzine as of October 2003.
#1. Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath
#2. Mercyful Fate - Melissa
#3. Venom - Black Metal
#4. Slayer - Show No Mercy
#5. Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
#6. Slayer - Hell Awaits
#7. Death - Symbolic
#8. At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
#9. Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
#10. Possessed - Seven Churches
For more on this go to: http://www.metal-rules.com/polls/top50extreme/top50extreme.htm
Based on the success (and rampant discussion!) that took place as a result of our "Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums", we decided to devote a top list for extreme metal. For this top 50 list, we agreed that extreme metal encompasses: death metal, black metal, and some of the more extreme forms of thrash metal. We didn't allow any overly melodic thrash metal albums on the list in an effort to keep the final list to the more extreme side of things. We also disallowed melodic death metal, but we did allow some of the earlier albums from bands that started out as much heavier than what they eventually became.
Although this is an extreme metal list, this is not a ranking of "who is the heaviest band", "who is the most satanic", or "who is the most underground". How underground, satanic, or how heavy a band is may not ALWAYS be related to extremity or how they rank in a list of what we considered the most important extreme albums. We rated our master list based on quality and on the album's influence.
We scored a list of just over 500 albums to determine this top 50. There is absolutely nothing scientific about the ranking that appears below; it is simply the collective opinion of a group of true metalheads. Not everyone will agree with the list or all the items in it, and that's fine, we make no apologies for having an opinion and sharing it with you! This is not meant to be the only definitive list in existence, but it does reflect the common interests of everyone who writes for this webzine as of October 2003.
#1. Mercyful Fate - Don't Break The Oath
#2. Mercyful Fate - Melissa
#3. Venom - Black Metal
#4. Slayer - Show No Mercy
#5. Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
#6. Slayer - Hell Awaits
#7. Death - Symbolic
#8. At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
#9. Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
#10. Possessed - Seven Churches
For more on this go to: http://www.metal-rules.com/polls/top50extreme/top50extreme.htm
