The Top 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time : 10 - 1

Here we are the top ten heaviest albums of all time. If we are counting hard core as metal  then all but one of these albums are metal. But no matter what you want to call them what they have in common is that all of these albums defy description. Blurring lines of genres to create monsters of their own. Unless you are a regular reader or have the tastes of our regular readers ...meaning are not afraid to dig outside of the mainstream into the more underground sectors, there might be some bands where you are like who the fuck is this? Of course some of these albums would have to come from the more underground corners of the scene because they are too heavy for your run of the mill metal head to digest.  If you think Slipknot is heavy, you might not be able to handle this.


10- Author & Punisher - "Ursus Americanus"

The heaviest industrial album of all time. A man and his machines beating the fuck out of your head. 

9-Nails- " You Will Never Be One of Us" 

This album is mean as hell, bullying you into submission. Is it hard core or grind core? It's both fist fucking one another. 








8- Code Orange - "Forever"

These kids used to more closely conform to the hard core genre, other influences like industrial crept in over the years. They became heavier in introducing these elements. I think what really secured their place here, is they do this is a way that makes you believe each note they are playing. 

7-Leviathan - "True Traitor True Whore" 



As with the previous band if you can make me believe you mean every note of anger or torment and are honestly throwing the dark places in your life in your songs, if will feel heavier than if you are just going through the motions of metal. Whitehead had some fucked up shit going on in his life when he made this one. Black metal often postures here it oozes will malice and ill intent. 

6- Zohamah- "Spread My Ashes"

This is where I might lose some of you as we are going to start diverting from mainstream metal. This blackened Doom band is vicious. They play ugly chords and make you feel their anguish. 

5-Altar of Plagues - "Teethed Glory and Injury" 


This Irish band's take on sludgey black metal is dark and dissonant. Yes there are blast beats , but done in a manner that crushes and not just drones. Noise laden atmosphere adds a depressing touch.  Sadly this was their swan song. 


 

4-Anaal Nathrakh- "Vanitas"



Another black metal band proving it works best when you bring other elements to the table. In this case it's grind core and industrial. If Emperor had gone completely insane from smoking meth they might have created something similar.


 

3- Dragged into Sunlight- "Hatred For Mankind" 


It's rare when the fury of the vocals makes an album heavier than it is. That is the case with this nasty blackened sludge fest. If you asked me what album lives us to it's title, I would point to this one.

2-Lord Mantis - "Pervertor"

Less black metal influence that Dragged into the Sunlight. The density of their brand of hammering sludge, is still very musical, but it hits like a rabid wall of sound.

 1- Hexis - "Abalam" 

I got this album six years ago and have not heard anything that comes close to touching it's grinding blackness since then. That is impressive if you take into consideration how much metal I am sent on a weekly basis



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The Top 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time : 20 -11

Now we are heading into the top 20. I have made changes to the top spots as I have been going through and giving these albums repeat listens ,as a great deal of this goes off feel. After all that is what heavy is . It's not playing fast, it's how that playing hits you. You might not see your favorite albums here, because well they just are not as heavy as these. Are there more popular album's than these... yes, but this is not the top 50 most popular metal albums of all time, it's the top 50 heaviest. I do not want to hear the top 50 most popular metal albums as that has to suck , probably a bunch of Slipnot bullshit. Ok here we go.. 

20- Deicide - "Once Upon the Cross"

This 1995 finds the band not only found the band fine tuning their songwriting, but they created a brutal satanic steamroller of sound. 

19- Obituary - "World Demise"

This album is not their best, but this is not a list of the best metal albums, it's a list of the heaviest. Some of this is owed to the production, but the end result is it's heavier than the likes of "Slowly We Rot" . 

18-LNN- "Deads"


This band from Denmark proved themselves as one of the heaviest hard core bands going today with this album. The riff's carry tons of pressure when they hit you. 

17 Ruin- "Human Annihilation"

Death metal doesn't have to be satanic, it can also worship death! This sounds like the kind of death metal a serial killer would listen to as it's so ugly and malevolent in it's attack. 

16- Phobia - "Generation Coward"

Hardcore with a grind core like attitude. This album is confrontational. The lyrics are as heavy as the music by being so blunt and truthful. Talk shit and their fucking riffs will punch you in the fucking 
mouth

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15-Gorgoroth- "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam" 


The Ghaal years are the greatest. Vicious is the best word to describe their sound. Some one online was asking what was or was not Satanism , my thoughts all condensed the topic into one simple fact...if you are living your life like a Gorgoroth lyric you are doing Satanism right. This is the sound of Satan done right. 

14-Incantation- "Onward to Golgotha"

Death doom as we know it today was spawned by this album. I remember being blown away with how heavy this album was when it came out in 1992 and it still holds up. 

13- Electric Wizard - "Dopethrone"


Of all the bands on this list these guys owe the most to Sabbath. Their guitar sound is bigger and more blown out here. The vocals are like if Ozzy was into meth instead of cocaine. Most importantly is where most doom lumbers this album tramples. 

12--Slayer - "Hell Awaits" 


If one album influenced the birth of death metal it might be this 1985 thrash classic. "Why is "Reign in Blood" not on here instead?" You scream. Well this album is darker. It is tied with 'South of Heaven" as my favorite Slayer album. While "South of Heaven" is a great album it's not heavy enough to even be number 50 in this list. 

11- Neurosis - "Through Silver and Blood" 


This album is so post apocalyptic it's beautiful. In 1996 this album was way ahead of it's time. It is so heavy it makes you bang your head through the floor. It should have been in the top 10 , but a couple other albums made me reconsider what is heavy. 

the Top 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time : 30 - 21

With the world ending we need the heaviest sound track possible. We continue to countdown the heaviest albums ever. May your ear drums bleed as it all burns down.


30- Napalm Death - " Scum"


This shit storm of chaos hit's your ears like fucking barbwire. In 1987 it was way ahead of it's time. 

29-Ilsa - "Corpse Fortress"

The raw power of this album shows the difference between sludge and doom is the punk influence that drips from sludge. These guys took that and went darker. 


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28 Naga - " Inanimate"

These are a sludge band much like Ilsa. They just beat those guys out on this list because their is a black metal influence that brings the evil. 

27-Bloodlet - " the Seraphim Fall"

These guys were competing with themselves. This album beat out "Entheogen" because it's darker.  Darker always is heavier.  

26-Acid Bath - "When the Kite String Pops" 

If this was a list of my top 50 favorite metal bands of all time , these guys who went on to become Goatwhore, would have been in the top 10. But's it's not . 

25 - Fistula -"Vermin Prolificus"


The higher we get in this list the harder it was to make some of these calls. I like "Longing For Infection" better as an album, but this is not a list of best album's it's a list of heaviest albums. 

24-Converge- "When Forever Comes Crashing" 

The best hardcore band to come out of the 90s . It is amazing to think there are 23 albums heavier than what these guys dish out here. 

23- Carcass- Necroticism, Descanting the Insalubrious"

When compared to this album "Heartwork" seemed like a sell out. 

22- Disma - "Towards the Megalith"

Their guitar tone sounds like it was scraped from the sewers of hell. The vocals are equally ugly. 

21-Portrayal of Guilt - " Suffering is a Gift"

Kids today can't be bothered with just sticking to one genre. Grind core fits the best if you need to define them.

the Top 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time - 40- 31

Ok, we are continuing the countdown of the top 50 heaviest albums of all time. The next ten albums represent most sub genres of metal, black metal, sludge, death metal, thrash and grind core. Yes there will be more doom just in future installments.


40- Pantera - "the Great Southern Trendkill"


Yes "Far Beyond Driven" is a more in your face aggressive album, but aggression alone does not make heavy. This album is heavier due to the emotional darkness poured into it as the band hit bottom with their addictions. 




39-Mutilation Rites - "Harbinger"

In the previous installment of this list I touched on the elements that sometimes cause black metal to not be as heavy as it could, when it works solely off speed, drone and atmosphere. This album brings density and grime to show how heavy it can be when it's done right. 


 




38-Amenra- "Mass VI"

This Belgian sludge ban's mastery of loud to soft dynamics makes them more sonically powerful than their peers. This album really captures that. 




37-Otargos - "No God No Satan"

French black metal that is equal parts dark and abrasive. I do not believe in evil, but it if were to have a sound this album would capture it . 





36-Deathspell Omega- "Paracletus"


This is not just another French Black metal band , this is THE French black metal band. These guys are like a heavier version of Emperor. By heavier in this instance I mean invoking chaos with angular dissonance






35-S.O.D- "Speak English or Die"



This 1985 classic would never fly if it had been released to the tender souls of 2020. They came out during the cross over thrash movement, but along with Napalm Death are the fore fathers of modern grindcore


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34 Bolt Thrower - "Realm of Chaos"



This 1989 album storms into battle like a more violent version of Morbid Angel. Density and intensity are the weapons they are bringing into to battle here with more of a stomp than a gallop.



 


33- Cobalt -"Eater of Birds"

This blackened sludge project brought a great deal of thrash influence to the table with their 2007 album that recalls the wailing and gnashing of teeth associated with a descent into hell. 






32-Graves at Sea -' the Curse That Is "

The volume and power of these riffs swallows you into their murky depths and pulverizes you with their nastiness not unlike being sucked into a black hole, it's just done with more bong smoke here. 






31- Full of Hell- " Rudiments of Mutilation"


This 2013 album is an example that in todays world grindcore is created when a hard core band goes over to the dark side.

the Top 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time : 50 - 41

The idea to make this list came as I was trying to make an apocalypse playlist. These are heavy times and they make me want to listen to the most crushing music I have. Metal is like drugs. What seemed heavy at first no longer does after a time so you have to up your dose of heaviness in order to get the same result. I extended the invitation on social media for people to nominate albums with the caveat that the bar for heaviness these albums needed to surpass was Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are the Sick " album. It's the band's heaviest and while Morbid Angel is one of my favorite death metal bands they are not the most crushing . They are good at what they do. Some of the albums that got nominated did make the cut. There was however a great deal of mention of bands like Mercyful Fate and Black Sabbath, both of whom are among my favorite bands not just metal , but off all time. However this is not a list of my favorite bands. Nor is it s list of the most influential albums . It is a list of the heaviest albums. Ones that are crushing in a way that makes listeners of lesser metal uncomfortable. When you put Black Sabbath up against the albums on this list, while they influenced most if not all of the musicians playing on them Sabbath comes across as just harder edge rock. This is not taking away from Ozzy and the boys that is just how it is.  

When asked how is heavy being defined the best answer I have given is " the density of sound, sonically intense with an malevolent emotional intention behind it" . So just loud and distorted are less than the bare minimum. I need musicians using their instruments to create darkness and torment. Things like playing fast might factor in here and there , but speed alone doesn't make anything heavy. There are tons of fast punk bands that are not heavy. Just tuning low is not heavy, Korn certainly is not on here. There are many different factors that play into each album to earn it's place here and different genres as well with Death Metal, Black Metal , Grind Core and Sludge having the best showing those a few thrash bands and doom bands made the cut . Any ways here are the top 50 heaviest albums of all time.  

50 Morbid Angel- " Blessed are the Sick"

The bands heaviest album, it sounds like they are using their instruments to worship ancient demon gods. The music lives up to the blasphemous declarations of the lyrics. 

49- Starkweather - "Into the Wire" 


Metal mixed with hardcore once worked. These guys are proof. They sound totally unhinged with t the darkness spewed out on this album .  

48- Watain- "Sworn to the Dark"

Black metal can fall into the trap of relying on blast beats , which becomes an atmospheric drone rather than carrying any kind of heft. These guys believe in what they are snarling about which gives an added intention to the spirit of their music. It is most pummeling on this album. 

47-Wayfarer - " World's Blood"

Blending black metal with sludge this band proves you do not have to forsake all semblance of melody in order to be heavy. In fact it is the creepy quality of the guitar melodies that make this heavier. 

46-Godflesh- "Streetcleaner"

This 1989 album has stood the test of time and is just as crushing today as when it come out . 

45- Fister- " No Spirit Within"

These nasty sludge bringers bring a balanced blend of density and darkness with a doomy hopelessness pervading the songs. 

44-Entombed- Left hand Path


In 1990 this album created the template for death metal coming out of Sweden from that point on. With a more jagged guitar one and riffs that hit like hammers.

43-Coffins - "the Fleshland"

Tokyo's death doom warlords destroys your ear drums like a zombie Godzilla on this album. 

 42-Brutal Truth- "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses"

Helmed by Dan Lilker  from Nuclear Assault when this album came out in 1992 it was on of the heaviest things going at the time . 

41- Today is the Day- " In the Eyes of God"

Vocals can often become an after thought in more extreme forms of metal, this album uses them to create a more deranged narrative that furthers the deranged atmosphere.