Your Top 15 All Time Metal Albums

Westsiyeed

Member
Nov 6, 2012
618
7
18
Brisbane
I'm always interested in new/undiscovered music and find that this is a good way to find more - what are your top 15 (or 10, 20) metal (broadly speaking) albums?

I know this covers a lot of ground but I like many genres so am always open to new stuff.

Mine are (in no particular order):
  • Slayer – Reign in Blood (classic album, great production, fast, heavy, brilliant)
  • Ihshan – After (fantastic songwriter is Ihsahn)
  • Porcupine Tree – In Absentia (like all PT's albums but this is the pinnacle)
  • Opeth – Watershed (their "crossover" album, I think it works best)
  • Mastodon – Crack the Skye (love the progginess of most of the songs)
  • Morbid Angel – Blessed are the Sick (pretty groundbreaking death metal at the time of release, especially "Fall from Grace")
  • Killing Joke – Killing Joke (2003) (Heavy!!)
  • Frost* - Milliontown (best prog/heavy album - some great guitar solos and keys)
  • Entombed – Clandestine (one of my first death metal purchases, still have the original vinyl)
  • Iron Maiden – Powerslave (of Iron Maiden's many good albums, this is it, followed closely by Piece of Mind)
  • Disillusion – Gloria (German band whose second album is very creative and experimental...still waiting for their next album many years later)
  • Baroness – Red Album (nice "sludge" album, like some of the twin leads on this)
  • Shining – V Halmstad (dubbed suicidal metal I like this album best, including the vocals)
  • Voivod – Dimension Hatross (another proggish thrash album)
  • Sepultura – Beneath the Remains (what can I say, closely followed by Chaos AD)

(I did search for similar posts but couldn't find much).
 
In no particular order
Pestilence - testimony of the ancients
Pestilence - Malleus Maleficarum
Mayhem - De mysteriis dom Sathanas
Dissection - Storm of the lights bane
Death - Leprosy
Immolation - failures for gods
Aborted - pretty much all their albums but their last 4 have been PURE FUCKING WINNING!!
Napalm Death - fear, emptiness, dispair
Textures - Drawing Circles
Textures - Polars
Suffocation - Pierced from within
Emperor - IX equilibrium
Lost Horizon - A flame to the groun beneath
Devin townsend - Biomech: Ocean Machine
Aeon - Dark Order EP
Hypocrisy - Abducted
Hypocrisy - Final Chapter
Immortal - Blizzard beasts
Septic Flesh - Mystic places of dawn

Im sure i made some criminal omission but thats what i came up with from the top of my head.
 
In no particular order:

*Bathory - Blood Fire Death
*Bathory - Hammerheart
*Iron Maiden - Powerslave
*Judas Priest - Painkiller
*Possessed - Seven Churches
*Entombed - Left Hand Path
*Asphyx - The Rack
*Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter
*Dissection - The Somberlain
*Death - Scream Bloody Gore
*Baphomet - The Dead Shall Inherit
*Summoning - Minas Morgul
*Venom - Black Metal
*Reverend Bizzare - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
*Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics

Plus many many more. These are just a handful of my favorite albums.

Edit: Totally forgot Sepultura - Arise. Just squeeze it in there somewhere and pretend the topic title says Your Top 16 All Time Metal Albums :Smokedev:
 
Here's a start;

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Sepultura - Beneath the Remains
Alchemist - Organasm
Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Incantation - Diobolical Conquest
Opeth - Still Life
Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients
Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten
Bathory - Blood Fire Death
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Merciless - The Awakening
Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings
Destroyer 666 - Unchain the Wolves
Uncanny - Splenium for Nyktophobia
Desultory - Into Eternity
Disembowelment - Transendence into the Peripheral
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
 
In no particular order:

*Bathory - Blood Fire Death
*Bathory - Hammerheart
*Iron Maiden - Powerslave
*Judas Priest - Painkiller
*Possessed - Seven Churches
*Entombed - Left Hand Path
*Asphyx - The Rack
*Immortal - At The Heart Of Winter
*Dissection - The Somberlain
*Death - Scream Bloody Gore
*Baphomet - The Dead Shall Inherit
*Summoning - Minas Morgul
*Venom - Black Metal
*Reverend Bizzare - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
*Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics

Hammerheart is up there for me too (got the fold out vinyl), never really checked out more of theirs, will have to look into Blood Fire Death.

Had a quick listen to the Immortal album and like the music...
 
I'm going to limit it to one album per band. This is majorly subject to change but here goes...

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4
Manilla Road - Crystal Logic
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead
Pentagram - Pentagram (Relentless)
Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Gorgoroth - Pentagram
Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun
Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon
Slayer - Hell Awaits
Therion - Beyond Sanctorum
At the Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours
Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus
Adramelech - Psychostasia
 
No order...
Morbid Angel- Altars Of Madness
Morbid Angel- Blessed Are The Sick
Morbid Angel- Covenant
Cryptopsy- None So Vile
Lykathea Aflame- Elvenefris
Megadeth- Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?
Megadeth- Rust In Peace
Fear Factory- Demanufacture
Cannibal Corpse- Tomb Of The Mutilated
Mastodon- Crack The Skye
At The Gates- Slaughter Of The Soul
Burzum- Filosofem
Suffocation- Effigy Of The Forgotten
Metallica- ...And Justice For All
White Zombie- La Sexorcisto
 
Agalloch - The Mantle
Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
Opeth - Morningrise
Anathema - Serenades
My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans
Paradise Lost - Icon
Katatonia - Brave Murder Day
Ulver - Bergtatt
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History
Mr Bungle - self-titled
maudlin of the Well - Bath + Leaving your Body Map
Converge - Jane Doe
Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops
Edge of Sanity - The Spectral Sorrows
Peste Noire - La Sanie des siècles – Panégyrique de la dégénérescence

maybe, ask me again tomorrow and there'll be a different list.
 
I'm going to limit it to one album per band. This is majorly subject to change but here goes...

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4
Manilla Road - Crystal Logic
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead
Pentagram - Pentagram (Relentless)
Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Gorgoroth - Pentagram
Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun
Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon
Slayer - Hell Awaits
Therion - Beyond Sanctorum
At the Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours
Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus
Adramelech - Psychostasia

Yeah, this list is killer. All of these albums I hold in the highest regard. I'd have to throw Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon in there as well.
 
One per band...

Adramelch - Irae Melanox
Anacrusis - Screams and Whispers
Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Destruction - Eternal Devastation
Exodus - Bonded by Blood
Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
Iron Maiden - Killers
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Secrecy - Art in Motion
Slauter Xstroyes - Free the Beast
Thought Industry - Mods Carve the Pig: Assassins, Toads and God's Flesh
Watchtower - Energetic Disassembly

Alice in Chains' Dirt would be on there if one wants to call it metal.
 
If I limit it to one per band:

Autopsy - Mental Funeral
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium
Coroner - R.I.P
Holocaust - Covenant
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin
King Diamond - Conspiracy
Megadeth - Rust In Peace
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
Motörhead - Overkill (No Sleep 'til Hammersmith if we're counting live)
Sabbat - The Dwelling
Slayer - South of Heaven
Target - Master Project Genesis
Venom - Welcome to Hell
Voivod - Nothingface
 
Symphony X - The Odyssey
Symphony X - V
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Megadeth - Endgame
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Megadeth - Cryptic Writings
Anthrax - Among the Living
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Dream Theater - Awake
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Dio - Holy Diver
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth
 
In order:

1. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
2. The Morningside - The Wind, the Trees and the Shadows of the Past
3. Entombed - Left Hand Path
4. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
5. Burzum - Filosofem
6. Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
7. Metallica - Kill 'em All
8. Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
9. Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption
10. Ulver - Nattens Madrigal
11. Anaal Nathrakh - Hell is Empty, and All the Devils are Here
12. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
13. Slayer - Show No Mercy
14. Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky
15. Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
16. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
17. Agalloch - The Mantle
18. Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism
19. Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated
20. Cannibal Corpse - The Bleeding
 
In general I hate lists but I decided to list some of my favorites at this moment. Some are recent discoveries and some are very important for me in a historical perspective.

In alphabetical order:

Ackercocke - words that go unspoken deeds that go undone
Alice in Chains - black gives way to blue
Anaal Nathrakh - hell is empty and all the devils are here
Bolt Thrower - those once loyal
Dissection - storm of the lights bane
Drudkh - blood in our wells
Grand Magus - hammer in the north
Guns N' Roses - use your illusion II
Hammerfall - glory to the brave
Immolation - majesty and decay
Immortal - at the heart of winter
King Diamond - abigail
Morbid Angel - blessed are the sick
Nevermore - this godless endeavour
Nile - annihilation of the wicked/those whom the gods detest (couldnt choose between the two)
Primordial - to the nameless dead
Wolf - the black flame.


Alot of recent releases. For me 2010 was magical year in music and I cant help but to understand that it might have been the circumstances in my life that made me appreciate albums that came out around this time. Immolation, Primordial, Grand Magus, Anaal Nathrakh, Alice in Chains, Wolf and perhaps Drudkh all played a big role for me during this time. GNR and Hammerfall were super important for me when they were released around 1992 and 1997 respectively and they impressed me alot (you know in the way an album only can when you are really young). The rest are just great albums.
 
I think Alice in Chains - Black gives way to blue is a very solid album considering the circumstances but it failed to do nearly as much for me as Dirt or even Jar of flies.

That being said its your favorite list and not mine.
 
I think Alice in Chains - Black gives way to blue is a very solid album considering the circumstances but it failed to do nearly as much for me as Dirt or even Jar of flies.

That being said its your favorite list and not mine.

I love Jar of Flies and its close. Dirt is the fan favorite but I feel its overrated. Dont get me wrong, its a great album, I just prefer both Jar of Flies and Black Gives Way to Blue. The self titled might be the most important AIC album for me though. I discovered the band with that album and it holds a tremendous importance in my taste in music. Perhaps thats the one that should have been on my list...
 
I love Jar of Flies and its close. Dirt is the fan favorite but I feel its overrated. Dont get me wrong, its a great album, I just prefer both Jar of Flies and Black Gives Way to Blue. The self titled might be the most important AIC album for me though. I discovered the band with that album and it holds a tremendous importance in my taste in music. Perhaps thats the one that should have been on my list...

Alice in chains where/are definately a different and very special breed.

Layne´s (RIP) lyrics always struck a chord with me because I had some of the same problems he always sung about. The guy definately had allot of demons he was battling and i could relate.
Fortunately I was able to overcome them and not become another statistic.
 
I'm going to limit it to one album per band. This is majorly subject to change but here goes...

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4
Manilla Road - Crystal Logic
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead
Pentagram - Pentagram (Relentless)
Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Gorgoroth - Pentagram
Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun
Aeternus - Beyond the Wandering Moon
Slayer - Hell Awaits
Therion - Beyond Sanctorum
At the Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours
Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus
Adramelech - Psychostasia

classy list!
 
40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
Abyssic Hate - Suicidal Emotions
Arghoslent - Incorrigible Bigotry
Arghoslent - Hornets of the Pogrom
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Burzum - Filosofem
Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper
Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes
Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells
Gris - Il Etait Une Foret...
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Sargeist - Let the Devil In