Favourite Albums

What are your top 10 metal albums and why?

Oh my, a top ten list. I find it hard to even choose a single best song let alone albums! Ok, I'll name two and give reasons and then I'll think about the others

Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory

This album is one of my favourite concept albums ever. I love how all the tracks go into each other seamlessly and tell the story beautifully. It's technically and lyrically awesome and this is why this has to be my favourite Dream Theater album.

Blind Guardian - A Night At The Opera

One word. Epic. This album really reflects their love for Queen vocally and the album name also comes from the Queen album of the same name. The vocals melodies and harmonies really make this album for me. It's not all speed metal which is nice but then again, their first two albums were the only technically speed metal albums. From start to finish it's a blast to listen to. Can't help but mention the 14 minute masterpiece which is "And then there was silence...". I find with a lot of long songs they're repetitive or long for the sake of being long without holding any of my attention, but this song breaks that mould (for my ears anyways). So yeah, whenever anyone asks me to recommend them a Blind Guardian album, I always start them off on this one. Also their latest album is pretty damn sweet too but I won't add that into my top ten.

I'll post more when I think of more with reasons

Blind Guardian - A Night At The Opera

One word. Epic. This album really reflects their love for Queen vocally and the album name also comes from the Queen album of the same name. The vocals melodies and harmonies really make this album for me. It's not all speed metal which is nice but then again, their first two albums were the only technically speed metal albums. From start to finish it's a blast to listen to. Can't help but mention the 14 minute masterpiece which is "And then there was silence...". I find with a lot of long songs they're repetitive or long for the sake of being long without holding any of my attention, but this song breaks that mould (for my ears anyways). So yeah, whenever anyone asks me to recommend them a Blind Guardian album, I always start them off on this one. Also their latest album is pretty damn sweet too but I won't add that into my top ten.

Totally agreed. My other main ones are

Nightfall In Middle Earth. Simply because it is one of the most beautiful albums ever, each track is different and it flows wonderfully

Nile's Whome The Gods Detest: I love this Death Metal album. Mainly all the stuff I listen to is like Power Metal (I.E; Hammerfall, Helloween, Storm Warrior and Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray) but the drumming, tempo changes and the guitars are superb here.

Finally It's Iron Maiden's Brave New World. I love this album. It's Maidens best (IMO) Need I say more? lol

I'm going to have to say I have about 5 top albums right now. They may not all be considered 'Metal', but rule just as much.

In 5 place, it's Memento Mori by Flyleaf. This is probably the least 'Metal' album I listen to, infact Flyleaf are actually a Christian Rock band, but it's seriously addictive. Lacey Mosley has one hell of a voice, there's almost something about it that just makes you want to listen to the album over and over. The music rocks too, some good tracks, but this album is really all about Lacey and her cracking voice. I don't think there is any female vocalist that can compare. I'm sure anybody that saw their Download '10 performance would agree.

In 4th place, it's Fang Bang by Wednesday 13. Again, not a very 'Metal' album. But this rock/horror style that has developed in the world is ruled by nobody else but this guy. The album is full of fun, quirky lyrics about transvestites and necrophilia, aswell as a few movie themed tracks. So if you're not in to camp-horror fun, then this probably isn't the album for you. Wednesday 13 has a hell of a voice though, so check out the Murderdoll's Women And Children Last if you want some heavier tracks with this guy on vocals. But for me, it's Fang Bang all the way. With tracks like "My Home Sweet Homicide", "Happily Ever Cadaver", "Mourge Than Words" and "Till Death Do Us Party", you can tell this is one hell of a fun album.

In 3rd place, it's Marilyn Manson with The Golden Age Of Grotesque. Although Manson's other stuff hasn't been so great, and anything pre or post dated to this album isn't really worth the disk it's put on, TGAOG is an amazing album. Track for track, there isn't one that you'd consider skipping. His vocal style and music has never been so great, and this is really worth listening too, even if you're not a Manson fan.

2nd, it's KoRn's See You On The Other Side. I love all Korn's albums, and have been a fan since I first heard Freak On A Leash a few years back. But this album is full of some great sounds. Every track is awesome. Just listen to the first track on the album "Twisted Transistor" and you will know exactly what to expect from this album, and you won't be dissapointed. This hosts a lot of Korns best tracks.

And in 1st place, of course, it's Slipknot's Iowa. I am a huge fan of the Selftitled album, but Iowa really steps it up just that little bit more. The aggression in this album is mind blowing, lyricly and musicly. Starting an album with a track named "People = Shit" shows how much aggression you should expect from this. And their Download 2009 performance shows just how big this band have become. And with this album, they deserve it. Nothing says aggression like "Disasterpiece", "Everything Ends", "I Am Hated" and "The Heretic Anthem." And nothing says awesome like this album. No words can describe it's sound, you need to hear if for yourself. These guys are the face of Nu-Metal, the face of aggression, and the face of the next generation of metal heads. This band is the band that gets everybody who's ever taken shit for being different all together to say one big "Fuck you!" to everyone who's ever given shit. These guys will live on forever in the hearts of everybody who's been affected by their music. On a final note, R.I.P. Paul Gray.

Thanks for reading.

And thanks for contributing Everyone is different its not just metal albums per se.... But yeah... May I mention there is also a specific other music thread in the general forum for any non metal shtuffs

JBa55 wrote:I'm going to have to say I have about 5 top albums right now. They may not all be considered 'Metal', but rule just as much.

In 5 place, it's Memento Mori by Flyleaf. This is probably the least 'Metal' album I listen to, infact Flyleaf are actually a Christian Rock band, but it's seriously addictive. Lacey Mosley has one hell of a voice, there's almost something about it that just makes you want to listen to the album over and over. The music rocks too, some good tracks, but this album is really all about Lacey and her cracking voice. I don't think there is any female vocalist that can compare. I'm sure anybody that saw their Download '10 performance would agree.

In 4th place, it's Fang Bang by Wednesday 13. Again, not a very 'Metal' album. But this rock/horror style that has developed in the world is ruled by nobody else but this guy. The album is full of fun, quirky lyrics about transvestites and necrophilia, aswell as a few movie themed tracks. So if you're not in to camp-horror fun, then this probably isn't the album for you. Wednesday 13 has a hell of a voice though, so check out the Murderdoll's Women And Children Last if you want some heavier tracks with this guy on vocals. But for me, it's Fang Bang all the way. With tracks like "My Home Sweet Homicide", "Happily Ever Cadaver", "Mourge Than Words" and "Till Death Do Us Party", you can tell this is one hell of a fun album.

In 3rd place, it's Marilyn Manson with The Golden Age Of Grotesque. Although Manson's other stuff hasn't been so great, and anything pre or post dated to this album isn't really worth the disk it's put on, TGAOG is an amazing album. Track for track, there isn't one that you'd consider skipping. His vocal style and music has never been so great, and this is really worth listening too, even if you're not a Manson fan.

2nd, it's KoRn's See You On The Other Side. I love all Korn's albums, and have been a fan since I first heard Freak On A Leash a few years back. But this album is full of some great sounds. Every track is awesome. Just listen to the first track on the album "Twisted Transistor" and you will know exactly what to expect from this album, and you won't be dissapointed. This hosts a lot of Korns best tracks.

And in 1st place, of course, it's Slipknot's Iowa. I am a huge fan of the Selftitled album, but Iowa really steps it up just that little bit more. The aggression in this album is mind blowing, lyricly and musicly. Starting an album with a track named "People = Shit" shows how much aggression you should expect from this. And their Download 2009 performance shows just how big this band have become. And with this album, they deserve it. Nothing says aggression like "Disasterpiece", "Everything Ends", "I Am Hated" and "The Heretic Anthem." And nothing says awesome like this album. No words can describe it's sound, you need to hear if for yourself. These guys are the face of Nu-Metal, the face of aggression, and the face of the next generation of metal heads. This band is the band that gets everybody who's ever taken shit for being different all together to say one big "Fuck you!" to everyone who's ever given shit. These guys will live on forever in the hearts of everybody who's been affected by their music. On a final note, R.I.P. Paul Gray.

Thanks for reading.

You are right man, Flyleaf are a christian rock band, by any chance have you heard "As I Lay Dying's Frail Words Collapse?" It's a quality album and one of my faves.

Yeh, Frail Words Collapse is deffinitely their best album. Falling Upon Deaf Ears is one of their best songs. The whole album is by far some of their best work. Great tracks.

I've only recently discovered them. What would you say is their best album?

It's gotta be Fail Words Collapse. The rest of their stuff is alright, but with each of their albums you get to a point where you think "I'd rather be listening to something else." But with FWC, every track brings something a little different than the last, and it keeps your attention, and all in all is a very good album for them.

Nice to see another As I Lay Dying fan about.

Yikes, tough for me cos it changes every day. I think what I'll do is just list my favourite albums of the genres I like and then keep updating whenever my top 10 changes lol.

10. First on the list I'd have to choose Accept's- Metal Heart:
Whilst they're not a metal band per se they're also too fucking heavy to be classified as hard rock either. With vocals that would even make AC/DC's Brian Johnson blush and riffs that would confuse Angus Young, (with no disrespect to ACCA DUCCA becaue I am a huge fan of them ) Accept hit you hard with tracks Too High to Get it Right, Midnight Mover and the title track Metal Heart just to name some of the awesome tracks off this album. Like AC/DC, Accept have'nt made a shit album in fact they've made better albums than Metal Heart but its certainly one of my stand out faves. So if you want to listen to a band that sounds like AC/DC but doesn't ALWAYS use the same riff (sorry Angus ) then I reccommend giving this album a try.

9. Black Sabbath- Never Say Die:
One of my favourite albums from the Ozzy era (sadly also the last with him), by this stage in Sabbath they had moved away from the slow, doomy riffs you came to expect from their debut and Paranoid to name examples but songs such as Title track Never Say Die, A Hard Road, Breakout and Swinging the Chain officially sealed the deal that Ozzy could sing faster paced songs as the band had progressed. Anyone expecting it to be like Paranoid or Masters of Reality stay away now but otherwise it is a very fitting album to the Sabbath catalogue before they moved on to the Dio period.

8. Nine Inch Nails- Year Zero:
Normally I would have put up one of Trent Reznor's earlier works such as The Fragile or The Downward Spiral but goddammit I just can't because this album lives up to its predecessors even surpassing in some cases (With Teeth I'm looking at you). I'm almost convinced that recent industrial albums from other bands after Year Zero album was released even used some of the samples lol. The tracks sound like they could just fit onto The Downward Spiral but at the same time they stand out in their own way (such is the genius of Mr Reznor I guess) with the theme focusing more on the Bush administration and how "great" it was, topics including how to fuck up a war with Capital G, bombs falling from the sky with The Warning, and a song that doesn't require words to explain the devastation of the war with the instrumental Another Version of the Truth. It's clear that Trent put a lot of effort into this album and his feelings do get conveyed across, I reccommend this album if your a first time listener (but I would strongly reccommend The Fragile or The Downward Spiral first though) or heck you just like your industrial because it just works as a whole concept.

7. White Wizzard- Over the Top:
I don't know how many of you have seen their video for the title track Over the Top, but it's the kind of video that would rival Steel Panthers in the case of "We are defendin thuh METULZ LOL." But goddammit they do it so well, whilst their lyrics don't parody metal, their more of a humourous tribute to the NWOBHM (despite the fact that their American) and are certainly worth the leather on Bruce Dickinson's touring trousers. With lyrics that match NWOBHM material, with mentions of Satan in true metal style on Gates of Ghenna, driving your car full throttle into the sunset after slaying those who get in your way in Over the Top and their cover of Judas Priest's Heading Out to the Highway, and with a riff that would make Maiden fans proud on High Roller. Whilst I'm seeing alot of bands taking the Steel Panther route, trying and failing to revive glam-metal White Wizzard take a step in the other direction and are successfully convincing us that there's no need to hang up our Denim jackets just yet. Big reccommendation if you like your Saxon, Maiden and Priest.

6. Monster Magnet- God Says No:

Monster Magnet have always produced a variety of albums which have shown their many moods but I think this album personally manages to express all of them at once. It shows their slow, doomy Type O Negative side on the track Melt, their funky but downbeat side on title track God Says No, their fast and alternative/ almost prog-rock side on Kiss of the Scorpion and All Shook Out, their industrial-esque side Queen of You. The best way to sum up this album is that it's so diverse you would either have to have a very eclectic taste in metal or a huge Monster Magnet fan to appreciate the musicianship that went into this album. Man its an album you can enjoy sober or high because the rhythem just suits the partying mood, words can't describe the music that comes from them. I think the only kind of track that Monster Magnet lack is thrash but since they have fast rock n roll songs in their catalogue it doesn't matter. This albums a must if you love your doom or your prog-rock

I'm gonna leave the remaining 5 for the next post as I feel I may have overdone the length lol

(And on another note I don't always choose bizarre albums, I do have ordinary faves such as Tallica, Maiden and Megadeth but these are the albums that have really been catching me these last few weeks, hence why I don't have favourite albums since it constantly rotates lol)

I LOVE White Wizzard. Good to see someone else rating them!

1) Paradise Lost - "Icon"
2) Megadeth - "Rust In Peace"
3) Iron Maiden - "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son"
4) Metallica - "Master Of Puppets"
5) Ozzy Osbourne - "No More Tears"
6) Slayer - "Seasons In The Abyss"
7) Emperor - "In The Nightside Eclipse"
Anathema - "The Silent Enigma"
9) Cradle Of Filth - "The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh"
10) My Dying Bride - "The Angel And The Dark River"

Because all these albums have meant something to me at one time or another, and I still listen to them from start to finish without skipping tracks.

Angel Of Mercy wrote:I LOVE White Wizzard. Good to see someone else rating them!

I got them on my ipod as a "to listen to in future"

Ok, let's get down to business.

To list SOME of my favourite albums, I try to consider all aspects; melody, rhyme, lyrics, etc. and I'll try to comment or explain my decicions the best I can.

Dream Theater - Octavarium

It's been a while since I bought this one andd the first time I listed in thoroughly, my ears were ready to bleed honey. In general, Octavarium is very loyal to Dream Theater's style, but also possesses some great tunes like Panic Attack, Octavarium and These Walls. Now, until the start of this summer, I had been listening music via my own *CRAPPY* soundsystem and after I went to a friend to listen how does 21k €-pricetagged soundsystem sound like, I had to take this one with me. I was literally blown away. In my humble opinion, this is the best album I own.

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
The album that's been proclaimed the best album ever. I agree with this statement to a point. It is marvelous work. Why did I put this here? Well, it can never be stressed enough that metal DID originate from classic rock and though Pink Floyd is mainly psychedelic rock, it still is quite close to metal IMO.

Nightwish - Once
Say what you want, but my blunt opinion is this: Nightwish has never sounded better; the time when Tarja's vocals were at its peak, Marco got more vocal parts and the band really pulled together on the tour. The absolute favourite from this album is Ghost Love Score. I wil N E V E R get tired of listening it.

Mokoma - Sydänjuuret
Now we're getting to the juicy, unknown parts. Mokoma is a finnish thrash metal band who's singer, Marko Annala, sings completely in finnish. The reason why I mention this band and/or album is simply because I love it. The lyrics really hit the spot and the melody sounds great with the theme in the album's songs. One of my all-time favourites.

Kotiteollisuus - Kuolleen Kukan Nimi
Yay! More finnish metal!! \o/
Kotiteollisuus is a band that everyone categorizes in their own manner, and thus I say their music is melacholic heavy metal. If any of you have either a grasp of finnish or a lot of time on their hands (to translate fin->engl), you really should heed the lyrics. Gruesome themes, true, but they are so damn beautiful at the same time. Satu Peikoista is the perfect example of this beauty I spoke of. Almost always brings tears to my eyes. :'|

That's all for now, I'll add stuff here as I find the rest of my albums. So tune in for more.

Kiitos Jaakko! And a very hearty welcome to the forums!

Another couple of albums to add.

Marty Friedman - Tokyo Jukebox

If you haven't heard of any Marty Friedman's solo stuff then why the hell not?! It's a very cutting edge album to me personally because it mixes Japanese music and American music perfectly. You start to wonder if any of the songs have been on a computer game soundtrack because that's how cool they are

Paul Gilbert - Paul the young dude

Ok ok, I know what you're going to say "NightReaper you can't have a greatest hits as a favourite album" but I say twoddle! This album (or compilation to make people slightly happier) really shows the wide range of Paul Gilbert and why he is personally my favourite solo guitarist. He puts the fun in guit-fun-ar. Granted that's not a word but how else would you put fun in the word guitar?

So yeah, there's another two albums. I'll flick through my wide range of records and justify putting them into my top ten later

I have to be honest with you, I believe that DReam Theatre's Black Clouds And Silver Linings is in my top ten because it's beautiful

1) Iron Savior - Unification
Every time I listen to this album, every song gives me goosebumps and gives me that awesome metal feeling u get. Like, the very first time a metalhead listens Slayer or early Metallica or something. Listening to this album makes me so proud to be a metalhead. There's also good cover tracks of "Neon Knights" and "Gorgar", and also a bonus track of an unsigned band called excelsis.

2)Iced Earth - Something wicked this way comes
An album that I've loved for so long.... and I still do. Again, every track on this you can listen to from start to finish. Great riffs, sing-a-long chorus', fist pumping, head banging awesomeness.

3)Blind Guardian - Nightfall in middle earth
As previously stated in a recent post, "Epic" is the perfect word to describe it. IMO one of the best concept albums ever written.

4)Slayer - Season in the Abyss
Slayer were the first band that got me into more extreme metal (previously I was into nu-metal) until I saw the video for "seasons... " on headbangers ball. From that day on.... I knew metal was my life. Even though "reign in blood" was the first slayer album I bought and listened too, that song i saw on MTV would change my life forever (kinda) lol

5)Wintersun - "self-titled"
First coming across the music video for "Beyond the dark sun" on a Monsters of metal DVD, I literally shat myself because the insane riff, sweeping melodies, fitting vocals just blew me away. I instantly went and bought the album knowing for a fact the rest of it was going to be bitchin'..... and I was right.

6) Nile - Ithyphallic
When I first heard "In thier darkened shrines" I thought nothing could beat that album.... wrong was I. Words can't describe how insane and gnarly this record is.

7) Lamb of god - As the palaces burn
I don't know what it is about this LOG album that seperates it from the others. The riffs are heavy, catchy.... headbangy... you get the idea. Definetly my fave LOG album.

Made of Hate - Bullet in your head
Alot of people call them Children of bodom rip-offs, But I like them. In fact, IMO I actually prefer them to bodom. Sure there are lots of simularities between the 2 (except MOH don't have a keyboardist) They have catchy riffs, great songs, rad solos... whats not to like?

9) Manowar - Kings of metal
This woould be higher up, except that I haven't been listening to this for very long. But so far, it's already made it into my favourites list. Classic riffs, triumphant solos, soaring angelic vocals, and of course the ace bass solo on "Sting of the bumblebee"

10) Persuader - When eden burns
The vocalist is absolutly outstanding, a very close resemblence to Hansi from Blind Guardian... probably the closest you can get.

Nightfall is an EPIC album. I love it too, on a slightly off topic notion.

I'm backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!

Angel Of Mercy wrote: Nightfall is an EPIC album. I love it too, on a slightly off topic notion.

I'm backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!

And about time too

Yup! back on topic,I have to be honest with you Sonata Arctica's Silence album is growing on me immensly.

Angel Of Mercy wrote:Yup! back on topic,I have to be honest with you Sonata Arctica's Silence album is growing on me immensly.

It is teh bestist

If you didn't send me that album. I wouldn't be obsessively listening. .

I'm currently having Master Of Puppets grow on me though.

There's soooo many amazing albums I've listened to over the years so I'm just gonna list a few of the ones that were most significant to me, ones that really grabbed my attention. Apologies if some of them are a bit predictable, but there's reasons why these are classic albums.

Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

Had to start with this one, this is my absolute favourite album ever, was the album that first introduced me to black metal and I've never looked back since. I avoided black metal for a while just because at first I'd assumed that they'd be crap bands selling records on the back of all the controversy. Emperor proved me wrong, dead wrong. I'd never heard music like this before, and haven't since, it was the most intense thing I'd heard at that time, yet at the same time majestic and atmospheric, didn't even realise music like that existed. The back of the album cover says "Emperor performs sophisticated black metal art exclusively", dead right on that! Nobody but Emperor could make such a boast and live up to it.

Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Kind of a shock after hearing Emperor, this was my next black metal record and was expecting similar, which of course it isn't. But this captures the essense of black metal, it's raw, cold, dark, evil sounding, it has that aura to it that sends shivers up your spine whenever you hear it. Frightening.

Anathema - Alternative 4
A friend once said to me "metal just doesn't have any emotion in it". So I directed her to Anathema, they've done some cracking albums but this was the first one I bought and my favourite of theirs.

Katatonia - Last Fair Deal Gone Down
Again they've done lots of great albums but the lyrics on this one kinda spoke to me and helped me through some difficult times in my life

Sigh - Hail Horror Hail
This album simply provided the soundtrack to one of the most hilarious moments of my life. Used to smoke a fair bit of weed at uni, not proud of it and don't do it any more thankfully but one night we all got stoned and there was a film on TV, some army film or something and we got bored of it and decided to put some music on. Turned the sound off, and I dug out Hail Horror Hail and we sat watching the film on silent with that in the background, and bizarrely every bit of the music fitted the film perfectly! When the scene changed, the music changed with it, gave us a totally different and kinda freaky interpretation of the film but the combination of the music, film and the drugs had us all in stitches. Later that week we decided to repeat the experience with Snoopy and it worked to that as well. Ah well, don't do drugs kids