The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums: 10 to 1

Here we are at the final top ten of our The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.

10- Dissection-Strom of the Light's Bane

This Swedish band bridged the thrash with black metal.



9- Dio - Holy Diver

Last In Line is a great album and it set Dio apart from the other bands he had sung for, but Holy Diver is tighter more dynamic song writing.



8- Voi Vod- Dimension Hatross

Light years ahead of it's time this sci-fi based Canadian thrash band took a turn to
progressive.

7- Slayer -South of Heaven

Sure Reign in Blood is a great album, but this is where thrash got it's groove back .



6-Ozzy Osborne- Diary of A Madman

Blizzard might have the hits but Diary is darker and harder. The title track alone sets it apart from his first solo album.



5-Mercyful Fate-Don't Break the Oath

The vocals on this blow the other Fate albums out of the water and the guitar tone is fuller.



4-Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny

They go beyond just rock to more dark and progressive place here.



3- Black Sabbath- Sabotage

Not the tired old greatest hits, but a drug band who dabbled in rock.



2-Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast

For any one who wants to say Dianno era is better, none of the songs could have seen the light a day with him singing them.



1-King Diamond - Abigail

This album has every element you could want from a metal album, blazing leads, amazing drumming and some of the best vocals ever recorded with the power of Halford , but delving in much darker places. The heaviest of his solo work.

The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums: 20 to 11

We now enter into the sacred circle of the top twenty albums in our Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time list. We haven't been looking for the most albums sold but quality over quantity.





20- Watain-Lawless Darkness

This Swedish band picking up the torch Dissection had carried. While their earlier work might have been rawer and more cvlt , this album found a thrash influence seeping into to polish the songs.



19-Celtic Frost-To Mega Therion

This album is the perfect middle ground for these guys, it retains the rawness of Morbid Tales , but gave them room to grow beyond the simplistic song structures of that album and add other elements.



18-Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick

The best death metal album ever. The kids crying for Altars of Madness which might be an angrier album weren't even born when this one came out. It takes evil and makes it a seductive sonic animal.



17-Pantera -Vulgar Display of Power

It's a tough call between this one and Cowboys, the songs on this on might have slightly more staying power. The riffs are bigger and better here, though this album brought many half ass imitators.



16-Emperor-In the Nightside Eclipse

From the first wave of Norwegian black metal, these guys didn't compromise sound quality in order to adhere to an aesthetic.





15-Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses

This album took the best elements of goth and married them to Black Sabbath style doom.

 14- Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell

We have limited it to one entry per band, though the exception to this rule should be Sabbath, lets face it Dio Sabbath is like an entirely different band anyways.



13- Queensryche- Operation Mindcrime

One of the greatest progressive power metal albums not made by Priest or Maiden. Sure they have their cheese elements, but one of the few bands of this ilk who is worthy of having their name mentioned next to Priest or Maiden.



12- Anthrax- Among the Living

When crafting one of the best metal albums ever this band didn't give up powerful melodies for the sake of thrash.



11 - Metallica - Master of Puppets

Between this and Ride the Lighting it was a tough call for me but songs like " The Thing That Should Not Be" are darker than anything of Ride the Lighting so this won out.

The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums: 30 to 21

We continue counting down these numbers of the beast in our Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.
30- Motley Crue- Shout At the Devil

The most metal of all the hair metal albums. Anthems of the 80's.



29- This is Spinal Tap Soundtrack

While a brilliant parody, they also made some great songs by mistake.



28-Solitude Aeturnus- Through The Darkest Hour

Epic doom with soaring vocals, the song are catchier than you would expect from a band this ominous.



27-Angkor Wat-Corpus Christi

Members of this band would eventual populate the ranks of Nine Inch Nails, this album saw the industrial elements begin of sprout from the the Texas thrash.



26-Ministry-Filth Pig

Other albums might have sold better, but this is the densest and ugliest , which are the elements making this one inarguably metal.



25-Godflesh -Street Cleaner

This album came out in 1989 so to say it is way ahead of it's time is an understatement, considering the influence it has had on bands today.



24-Rainbow- Long Live Rock n Roll

This seemed less like a Ritchie Blackmore solo project and more like it's own concept that stood against  any Deep Purple album and Dio's voice shines like a rainbow in the dark.



23-Killing Joke-Pandemonium

After influencing the industrial genre Killing Joke came back in 1994 to reclaim their crown and make one of their  heaviest if not best albums to date.



22-Tool- Ænima

At one time this album might have made it to the top ten but over the years as the bar gets set higher for heavy, this power of this album wanes, yet the songs are still great.



21-Deep Purple- In Rock

Ritchie Blackmore blisters on this album, which takes hard hitting blues jams and blows them up to epic proportions for Ian Gillan to have some of his finest moments on.

The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums: 40 to 31

Thrashing through our Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time, we now enter the top 40.

40- St Vitus-Born Too Late

These guys showed bands how to rip off Black Sabbath before every one else was doing it.



39- In Solitude - the World the Flesh the Devil

Ghost might have used their gimmicks to get bigger than this band, but In Solitude does the most fitting tribute to the Euro-metal of the 80's.



38-Enslaved-Isa

They open doors for themselves and other bands to bridge more progressive elements into the pagan heavy black metal evolution.



37-Burzum- Belus

Of his post-prison albums this one hit the best of both worlds, the black metal sounds with a more ambient drone.



36-the Gathering-Nighttime Birds

They hit the sweet spot before transitioning over into a more alternative direction.



35-Fear of God-Within the Veil

One of the great under rated bands that was ahead of their time. Singer Dawn Crosby unleashes a cathartic performance.



34-Dimmu Borgir-Death Cult Armageddon

Not Cvlt enough for most fans of black metal, they still captured a better symphonic sound than Cradle of Filth, if you are going for over dramatic metal, these guys do it right.



33-Alcest-"Écailles de Lune

They almost single handed solidified the marriage of shoe gaze to black metal with this album, but touched on a dreamier place than others could drift into.



32- Neurosis - Souls At Zero

This album was head of it's time and still puts the band a few paces in front of the pack, Through Sliver and Blood might be denser these songs are darker.



31-Converge-Petitioning the Empty Sky

Sure Jane Doe gets all the props , but this album had less chaos and more refined songs that captured more emotion.

The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums: 50 to 41

Diving into the top 50 of our Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time



50- Nachtmystium- Assassins:Black Meddle pt 1

Blake Judd and Friends redeem American Black Metal.



49- Opeth -Deliverance

The Swedish death metal band takes another step forward into the perfect blend of prog and heaviness, which they later get carried away with.



48- Life of Agony - the River Runs Red

This album defined the Road Runner era of metal in the 90's. It hit the perfect blend of darkness and groove where they others drifted into mall metal.



47-Helloween- Keeper of the Seven Keys

While they borrowed heavily from Maiden, this album influenced power metal for years to come.



46-Kamelot - Ghost Opera

Their fans might suggest albums preceding this one, but the songs on this album are flawless with the band at their peak.



45- Iced Earth- the Dark Saga

This 1996 album by America's beefiest power metal band, was based on the Spawn comic.



44- Diamond Head - Lighting to the Nations

The album Metallica stole most of their earlier riffs from.



43-Agalloch -Ashes Against the Grain

They hit the sweet spot on this album finding the perfect cross roads for their folk, black metal and post-rock influences to all meet at.



42-Mayhem- De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Written in 1987 murder and suicide delayed this albums release until 1994.



41-Katatonia- Viva Emptiness

Bleak and depressing as it is full of melodic beauty, this Swedish band carved their niche with this album.