1. X Japan - Art of Life

2. Opeth - Still Life

3. Megadeth - Rust in Peace

4. Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

5. Alice in Chains - Dirt

6. Gojira - The Way of All Flesh

7. Between the Buried and Me - Colors

8. Immolation - Close to a World Below

9. Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy

10. Cynic - Traced in Air

Honorable mentions:

Voivod - Dimension Hatross

Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black, This Godless Endeavor

Ilenkus - The Crossing

Helmet - Strap It On

Agalloch - Pale Folklore

Gorguts - Obscura

Death - Individual Thought Patterns, Symbolic

Cynic - Focus

Iron Maiden - Powerslave

Kamelot - The Black Halo

Cradle of Filth - Dusk... and Her Embrace

Ulver - Nattens Madrigal

Dream Theater - Images and Words, Awake

Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Coroner - No More Color

Kreator - Pleasure to Kill

https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=127803" rel="nofollow - Your favourite 15 Metal albums?   

Armageddon - Armageddon (1975)

Ayreon - The Human Equation (2004)

Blue Oyster Cult - Imaginos (1989)

I'm not taking early heavy rock or heavy prog bands into consideration. Because although I acknowledge they are an essential part of metal history, I don’t personally think of them as metal as such. Copying myself like 90% from the previous thread in David_D link. I still need 15 albums (20 really):

Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)
Slayer - South of Heaven (1988)
Аспид [Aspid] - Кровоизлияние (1992)
Sadus - Illusions (1988)
Death - Leprosy (1988)
Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal (2005)
Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)
Vektor - Black Future (2009)
Atvm - Famine, Putrid and f**king Endless (2021)
Sepultura - Beneath the Remains (1989)
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath (1984)
Demoniac - So it Goes (2020)
KVIST - For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike (1996)
Morbid Angel - Covenant (1993)
Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race (2019)

I prefer my metal a little more straightforward, catchy and fun (+ aggressive) with killer riffs than progmetal-enthusiasts seem to. 

these are some nice choices 

1. Fantomas - Fantomas (1998)

2. Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory (1999)

3. Pain of Salvation - Perfect Element Pt. 1 (2000)

4. Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)

5. Devin Townsend - Terria (2001)

6. Faith No More - King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime (1995)

7. Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)

8. Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime (1988)

9. Ayreon - 01011001 (2008)

10. Haken - Virus (2020)

(The total list has more than 800 entries)

Well that's tough but here we go. I'm going to do one album per artist, otherwise Boris would have like 4 albums here, and Orphaned Land 2 or 3. I'm unsure if Om counts as metal or not, so I have 11 in case that one isn't "metal enough.":

1.) Through Silver in Blood, Neurosis (1996) [California, USA]

2.) Lysol, Melvins (1992) [Washington state, USA]

3.) Amplifier Worship, Boris (1998) [Japan]

4.) Advaitic Songs, Om (2012) [California, USA]

5.) Transcendence into the Peripheral, disEMBOWELMENT (1993) [Australia]

6.) El Norra Alila, Orphaned Land (1996) [Israel]

7.) The Art of Life, X Japan (1993) [Japan]

8.) Slaves for Life, Amaseffer (2008) [Israel]

9.) In a Flesh Aquarium, Unexpect (2006) [Quebec, Canada]

10.) Hidden History of the Human Race, Blood Incantation (2019) [Colorado, USA]

11.) 殯――死へ耽る想いは戮辱すら喰らい、彼方の生を愛する為に命を讃える――。, Imperial Circus Dead Decadence (2022) [Japan]

Honorable mentions:

Strangers, Scardust (2020) [Israel]

קדיש Kaddish, Salem (1994) [Israel]

Magma, Gojira (2016) [France/Pennsylvania, USA]

Morningrise, Opeth (1996) [Sweden]

Obscura, Gorguts (1998) [Quebec, Canada]

The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull, Earth (2008) [Washington state, USA] {if this one counts as "metal enough," otherwise Earth 2 (1992) would be here, instead}

Fishing for an Apparition, Iomair (2022) [Ontario, Canada]

The Dot Above the Eye, Venus in Fear (2018) [Israel] {this one requires some getting used to, but it's so worth it}

Dopesmoker, Sleep (2003) [California, USA]

Foreverglade, Worm (2021) [Florida, USA]

The Years of Decay, Overkill (1989) [New Jersey, USA]

Saint Vitus, Saint Vitus (1984) [California, USA]

Bellum I, Aquilus (2021) [Australia]

All right, here're my favourites again and more than 10, as it's too difficult for me too to choose only 10:

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny

Anthrax - Among The Living

Overkill - Horrorscope

Megadeth - Rust In Peace

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Infest The Rats' Nest

Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind

Sodom - Agent Orange

It does get a little difficult for some albums to classify whether they fall into metal or not. Paranoid is kind of an edge case, and I'm never quite sure if I count Rainbow Rising, thought it wouldn't quite make it in my top 10 anyway. Led Zep and Deep Purple definitely don't count. To me, Sad Wings of Destiny kind of announced the proper arrival of metal, and even then, it took until the 80's for most metal to finally settle on what I'd really call metal.

Lots of great choices there! I love the Vektor and Blood Incantation albums you singled out 

Rainbow - Rising

Deep Purple - Machine Head

AC/DC - Powerage

Nice lists, Brendan! I even know about 1/3 of those albums (which surprises me very much.)

Oops! Sorry, David! When I did my search through PA's forum history I only used "Top 10" in my search--cuz that's what the category suggests, right? Oh, well. It's been two years since yours. Let's see what/who's new/different!

I can tell that I've made some changes to my list, being more clarified about what to consider Metal. 

Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were known as the unholy trinity of British Hard Rock and Heavy Metal in the seventies, but to me, Black Sabbath are the only bona fide Heavy Metal band of the three, although don't take my word for it because I still believe that Faeries Wear Boots. 

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

Rainbow - Rainbow Rising

I can't think of any more! 

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Has been discussed in other threads as well, but I still think that these days "metal" means something different than the early "heavy metal" bands.

I'd say it depends on whether we're using a historical or retrospective definition, and when we want to use which one. In this case, when talking all-time, I find it best to use a retrospective one, and thus not to include Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

But if we're talking about a Metal definition which doesn't include Black Sabbath, it may be difficult for me to understand it.

For Black Sabbath, I'd say Paranoid and Master of Reality are probably metal, the rest of their 70's output is more accurately classified as hard rock in my opinion.

This makes good sense to me without the whole Rock question.

I know it's been discussed to death here, but what Black Sabbath played in 1970 was a genre known as "Heavy Blues," that is blues rock that falls into the realm of Heavy Rock. Just like there's Heavy Metal and Heavy Psych, Heavy Blues (early Sabbath) derived out of the heavier psych/blues rock scene of the late 60s.

Heavy Rock, imo, is an umbrella term that categorizes these heavier psych/blues rock derivatives.

Heavy Blues, Heavy Psych, Traditional Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Acid Rock, Traditional Doom Metal, Speed Metal, and later on Stoner Rock and Stoner Doom are what would make up the distinct but related Heavy Rock styles. Traditional Heavy Metal would evolve throughout the early to mid 1980s, with the help of Punk Rock/Hardcore Punk, to distance itself from Rock via The NWoBHM, Speed Metal, and Thrash Metal, culminating in the development of the "modern metal" styles in the early 90s, with the help of Alternative Rock and more Hardcore Punk, such as Groove Metal and Black Metal, respectively, which would see the "Metal" umbrella as a distinct genre from Rock. Therefore, the majority of early metal releases in the 70s and 80s should be considered a form of Rock, as well. However, I would not consider Black Sabbath's eponymous debut to be a metal album, aside from the eponymous first track which is solid Traditional Doom Metal territory.

How about just one (original mix of course) --

 

Motorhead & Judas Priest

I can say at least that I won't consider Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Budgie as Proto-Metal, as I otherwise 

can't see how to draw the line between Metal and Hard Rock - even Never Turn Your Back on a Friend is very close to.

Without having though that much about it, I suppose think of Black Sabbath at their heaviest as Heavy Metal - but Heavy Rock covers their music better. When only the short term Metal is used, to me that means something else. Someting else that in a nutshell starts forty years ago, primarely with Kill 'Em All. 

Metal? Interesting 

Exactly what I said, but more to the point 

Exactly. Or, as bardberic put it, early Black Sabbath are more Heavy Blues.

We can also look to metal-archives.com (Encyclopedia Metallum) for clues. While they are not the final arbiters of all things metal, it's interesting that they do not accept Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple (rightly so, IMHO), but do accept Black Sabbath, which on their later albums were more obviously within the "Metal" domain.

Considering a compilation album is already a sign of lack of care 

Of course. What's your point?

Edit: Most music today is influenced either directly or indirectly by Bach - that doesn't make all modern music Baroque. 

Rock/Blues

->

Heavy Rock/Blues / Hard Rock

-> 

New Wave of British Heavy Metal

->

(Modern) Metal

-> 

Thrash Metal / Death Metal / Black Metal / ...

Extremely difficult, but I´ll give it a very subjective try:

1. King Diamond - Abigail

2. Mercyful Fate - Don´t Break the Oath

3. Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

4. Psychotic Waltz - Into the Everflow

5. Slayer - Reign in Blood

6. Metallica - Master of Puppets

7. Nevermore - The Politics of Ecstacy

8. Demolition Hammer - Tortured Existence

9. Macabre - Dahmer

10. Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious

These are just some of my personal favorites, but I could go on and on and on...

I don't think Motorehad were really about albums. They had some tremendous singles that broke into the charts adn even got airplay. Only Maiden and maybe Judas Priest (the earliest metal band) were bigger on the metal scene around late sevnties early eighties. Then Def Leppard blotted out the sun with Hysteria although I only really liked their earlier stuff. I've not devoted much time to listening to Heavy Metal , its so bloody boring much of the time. Maiden were perhaps the first metal band to realise you could have an arty element to it although they admitted a heavy prog influence around the time of Seventh Son of A Seventh Son. Even with Maiden though I can quite happily just listen to Powerslave which is virtually the only metal album that would get anywhere near a personal top ten of all time covering any genre.

I get why Highway Star links to quite a lot of later metal stuff and Purple are oft listed as a key influence of metal bands. Led Zep, don't really hear it. Hard Rock for sure as said above.

But interesting to hear about your considerations concerning the relation between Metal and Rock, as I've been wondering about the opinions today in that matter. 

Not sure I want to qualify anything 70's from Sab, Zep & Purple as metal, let alone "Heavy Metal". 

And TBH, I lost interest & track of most metal acts in 82/3 - and "rock" in general (in favour of jazz) in 84/5.

I'd rank three or four as my "faves":

Rising

Sad Wings

Iron Maiden (debut)

Heaven & Hell (that's an 80's album, when they became NWOBHMB)

.

       My honourable mentions

It seems better to me to talk about the '70s Proto-Metal as the beginning of the '80s Metal.

Kill Em ALl the beginning of metal? OMG. Are you serious?

Metallica didn't even release the first thrash much less metal.

Both Sodom and Holy Moses released thrash metal before Metallica.

Bands like Sir Lord Baltimore were designated heavy metal as early as 1970.

Much heavier than Sabbath, Zeppelin and DP.

Kill Em All came out in 1983 the same year as Hellhammber's blackened thrash.

As far as NWOBHM most certainly metal, the first album came from Quartz in 1977.

Several bands jumped on board and led to Iron Maiden's 1980 debut. NOT hard rock anymore.

Motorhead was clearly speed metal as was Running Wild, Atomkraft and Venom well before Metallica.

So your claim is incorrect.

70s heavier rock is early metal. I call it first wave metal.

Doom metal is metal too and Black Sabbath fit the bill perfectly.

Yeah, 70s hard rock and heavy metal are very difficult to distinguish but there were some metal bands then.

I didn't say there weren't any. Yes, those two qualify and of course Black Sabbath even though apparently they didn't like the term.

All rock [L. Richard, Elvis, Beatles] comes from the blues and all Heavy Blues [Faces, Cream, Beck/Stewart] comes from the blues and all Heavy Rock [Zeppelin,Sabbath] comes from the Blues and all Heavy Metal [Priest,Scorpions,Ozzy] comes from the Blues and therefore all earrly Progressive Metal [Maiden,Voivod,Yngwie] must come from the Blues.   

But again I ask; why did a simple form of Black American culture music which became a white kid's garage jam become so fully varied & iterated ? ---

I did not mean this one album in particular. I mean Kill 'em All as one very well known (and over-hyped) album that was part of a new wave of metal which emerged from the NWOBHM. I'm sure there were underground bands that were quite heavy in the 70s. Again, I am saying that there was this early phase in the 70s that lead to the NWOBHM which then led to a third phase of metal in the 80s. With each phase the bands turned farther away from Rock/Blues, and I would say that on albums like Kill 'em All, there was finally sufficient difference that Metal could be said to have become a new main genre. 

As for Motörhead having been speed metal - yes, historically that is correct. By the historical definition, Speed King by Deep Purple is Speed Metal. Having grown up in the 80s, that sounds ridiculous to me. It only makes sense when you accept the division between classic/proto/early metal, all of which was still rooted in Rock and which Speed Metal was part of, and modern metal, which then had its own bands that played fast and were called Power Metal, and sometimes also Speed Metal.

Like it or not, but musically there is a striking difference between most post-NWOBHM metal bands and classic bands of the 70s that were authentically called "... Metal".

Of course you can put it all under one umbrella if you insist, but that becomes quite confusing, and as I pointed out, not even metal-archives.com do it. Or you make some sort of division between classic (rock-based) and modern (metal-based), as I am suggesting. It's up to you 

siLLy puPPy wrote: 70s heavier rock is early metal. I call it first wave metal. Doom metal is metal too and Black Sabbath fit the bill perfectly. Yeah, 70s hard rock and heavy metal are very difficult to distinguish but there were some metal bands then.

-------------
https://awesomeprog.com/users/Mike" rel="nofollow">Recently listened to:

Citing Metallica as the first serious break from trad. Metal is a very reasonable assertion--  Some here will recall member Certified's conclusion that it was this band that broke from the "Swing" of the Blues itself ~ the rhythmic basis of most Rock music ~ giving modern Metal an approach that was significantly different .

All metal is a form of rock, of course. Just like all rock (and metal) is a form of rhythm and blues. That is, if you go by the principle that any style that arose from an earlier style *is* still that "parent" style.

I just think that for the sake of describing the music in a useful way, it can make sense to sometimes break this chain of stylistic inheritance and say that some new style is now sufficiently different from its roots that it can be seen as a separate main genre. Doesn't mean that it came from nothing, just that it is so radically different that it would be confusing to see it as a subgenre.  

Interesting choice, this is one underrated album! 

I'm not much of a metal fan, so I won't be able to make a top 10. But I really do enjoy Master of Puppets.

In the less serious department, I have a strong fascination with the band Beatallica. They are nothing less than hilarious. In the even less serious department, there is a Danish band called Red Warszawa who play - well - a kind of metal... (the title translates into "Hurray, the school is burning")

- The Northern Sanctuary (2016) by Witherscape

- Primal Power Addiction (2002) by Heaven's Cry

- Praises To The War Machine (2008) by Warrel Dane

- Underworld (2003) by Adagio

- Monotheist (2006) by Celtic Frost

- Act III (1990) by Death Angel

- Painkiller (1990) by Judas Priest

- Esc (2015) by Zierler

- Meliora (2015) by Ghost

- Gothic Kabbalah (2007) by Therion

Okay, it seems still to me this is the best way of viewing it, and I think now I'd include a couple of Budgie albums in this early Metal.

-

Imo there is a before and after Kill ‘Em All. To those who heard it, it sounded harder and more aggressive than anything before. And as it actually sold a few copies - it made the biggest waves. But there’s no before and after Witching Metal (or Satan's Angel), as hardly anyone knew of its existence back then. Just like In the Court... is much better than anything by The Nice - Kill 'Em All is obviously of a much higher than quality than those earlier, thrashy demos too.

1. a classic, pioneering phase in the 70s

2. the NWOBHM in the late 70s and early 80s

3. "modern" metal in the early 80s and beyond

All we're basically arguing about is what to call them, and which albums qualify - which will be an eternal discussion 

That's why we are members of forums, right? 

What about all the forms of metal that MA fails to acknowledge as being connected with the genre (and has done so for decades)? Don't they still omit Tool, of all bands, from their database?

This is exactly why we need to think for ourselves rather than simply accept the next-best website as an authority. As a non-music example, check out nutritionfacts.org. It's a vegan propaganda website and it only appears to be an authority because the owner was lucky to grab that domain name first.

-for the large part I think of those bands you mention as Heavy Metal. While the short form Metal I associate with post 1970's & early 1980's. I won't bother writing the same one more time.

The fact how much the music is based on Blues can't IMO be the central point of Metal definition because if it was, we couldn't 

distinguish between Metal and other very little Blues-based genres. 

As I see it, more central points are heavy, aggressive power-chord based riffs with a lot of distortion, specific rhythms 

and drumming styles.

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote: I think we have reached the point of diminishing return here. I suggest that we cease this circular discussion and allow some people to post their top 10's unhindered by the back and forth.

But Sir Ian, "Back And Forth" is in the true spirit of METAL!!!!

When Metal is just NOT your genre, I'm impressed with this one. 

I'm going to make another post here, since it is difficult for me to compare different subgenres of metal in a top ten list like this. So I am making three different lists with the top ten from each of my favorite metal categories. Prog and prog related metal, Doom and doom-related metal, and Death and Black metal.

Prog (adjacent):

1.) The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR, Orphaned Land (2010) [Israel]

2.) The Art of Life, X Japan (1993) [Japan]

3.) Exodus: Slaves for Life, Amaseffer (2008) [Israel]

4.) Strangers, Scardust (2020) [Israel]

5.) V: The New Mythology Suite, Symphony X (2000) [New Jersey, USA]

6.) In a Flesh Aquarium, Unexepct (2006) [Quebec, Canada]

7.) In Forgotten Sleep, Lör (2017) [Pennsylvania, USA]

8.) 殯――死へ耽る想いは戮辱すら喰らい、彼方の生を愛する為に命を讃える――。, Imperial Circus Dead Decadence (2022) [Japan]

9.) The Dot Above the Eye, Venus in Fear (2018) [Israel]

10.) Magma, Gojira (2016) [France/Pennsylvania, USA]

Honorable Mentions:

* Fishing for an Apparition, Iomair (2022) [Ontario, Canada]

* Humananke, Embrace of Disharmony (2017) [Italy]

* The Director's Cut, Fantômas (2001) [California, USA]

* Liquid Tension Experiment 2, Liquid Tension Experiment (1999) [New York, USA]

Doom (adjeacent); note that since Advaitic Songs is really only borderline metal, I have 11 listed here:

1.) Through Silver in Blood, Neurosis (1996) [California, USA]

2.) Lysol, Melvins (1992) [Washington state, USA]

3.) Amplifier Worship, Boris (1998) [Japan]

4.) Advaitic Songs, Om (2012) [California, USA]

5.) Transcendence Into the Peripheral, disEMBOWELMENT (1993) [Australia]

6.) El Norra Alila, Orphaned Land (1996) [Israel]

7.) קדישKaddish, Salem (1994) [Israel]

8.) Nighttime Stories, Pelican (2019) [Illlinois, USA]

9.) Nightfall, Candlemass (1987) [Sweden]

10.) Folium Limina, The Otolith (2022) [Utah, USA]

11.) Saint Vitus, Saint Vitus (1984) [California, USA]

Honorable Mentions:

* Dopesmoker, Sleep (2003) [California, USA]

* In the Name of Suffering, Eyehategod (1992) [Louisiana, USA]

* Foreverglade, Worm (2021) [Florida, USA]

* Primitive and Deadly, Earth (2014) [Washington state, USA]

* Electric Messiah, High on Fire (2018) [California, USA]

Death/Black Metal:

1.) Feathers and Flesh, Avatar (2016) [Sweden]

2.) Hidden History of the Human Race, Blood Incantation (2019) [Colorado, USA]

3.) Mental Funeral, Autopsy (1990) [California, USA]

4.) Moringrise, Opeth (1996) [Sweden]

5.) Annihilation of the Wicked, Nile (2005) [South Carolina, USA]

6.) Maestro, Winterhorde (2016) [Israel]

7.) Symbolic, Death (1995) [Florida, USA]

8.) King, Fleshgod Apocalypse (2016) [Italy]

9.) Graves of the Archangels, Dead Congregation (2008) [Greece]

10.) Hail Horror Hail, Sigh (1997) [Japan]

Honorable Mentions:

* Meanders, Anachronism (2023) [Switzerland]

* Bellum I, Aquilus (2021) [Australia]

* Skin Age, Odious (2015) [Egypt]