50. Emperor - IX Equilibrium
Emperor had already proven themselves the most musically adventurous of the original Norwegian black metal bands, Equilibrium is where they proved themselves the very best. As much as I love Anthems, its production felt like a muddy mess at times. Considering how complex some of their songs are, they were mercifully blessed with a much more powerful and clear sound on their follow up. There is no Emperor song better than “Curse You All Men!”, and it quickly establishes the tone here. A few genuine breakdowns exist but this is just balls to the wall brutality. Both Ihsahn and Samoth at times feeling like they’re playing completely different songs while Trym murders his drum kit. Most people won’t agree with me but it has always been my favorite Emperor album.
49. Judas Priest - Painkiller
Scott Travis offers the greatest drum intro in metal history to open this album, and just like that Judas Priest never sounded better. After years of floundering, and a rather mediocre drummer who shares a name with me, they got themselves a new image, and fully embraced the metal side of their music, delivering the heaviest and by far best album of their careers. They put to rest any doubt whether they were a metal band or not. Forever leaving behind the chase for the pop charts.
48. Death - Individual Thought Patterns
Picking up where Human left off, Chuck Schuldiner delivered what I believe to be one of Death’s best and tightest albums. Featuring King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque, the guitar harmonies are in a world of their own. Steve Di Giorgio and his sweet fretless bass added a unique sound to the band for the second straight album. Doesn’t hurt that the album also features Death’s best song, “Trapped in a Corner”. Hell they even got featured on Beavis and Butthead, which is pretty mainstream by death metal standards.
47. Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction
Rust in Peace was undoubtedly a masterpiece in metal, and Megadeth once again followed the lead of their rivals Metallica in streamlining their sound on their next album. Countdown showed Dave Mustaine arguably at his best as a songwriter, as opposed to riff writer and shredder extraordinaire. He might not have topped his old band in sales, but for my money the songs here have held up much better. Who knew Megadeth would provide arguably the greatest metal karaoke song ever with “Sweating Bullets”?
46. System of a Down - Toxicity
Look no further kids, this is the closest thing to nu metal on this list. During those dark days of mainstream metal so much terrible music got popular. However in 2001 a group of odd Armenian-Americans broke through in a huge way with “Chop Suey”. I went to Ozzfest in 1999 and had one hell of a miserable time. The second band who played was System of a Down and in between nearly every act a video for their song “Sugar” was playing. I must have heard that song 5 times that day and decided “fuck this band”. So a couple of years later when “Chop Suey” came around I thought this might be a step in the right direction. I had a friend at the time that played that song a hell of a lot, enough to convince me maybe I was wrong about this band, or at the very least maybe their new album was a bit more refined. Like a few million other people I bought Toxicity and haven’t regretted it since. This album is all over the place, and they seem just as comfortable discussing social issues as absurd songs about pogo sticks. Unlike a lot of self-important metal bands writing songs about Satan and other such nonsense, System of a Down actually seemed like a band with something to say. The dynamic duo of Malakian and Tankain were so far removed from the rest of the metal world that a few shortsighted critics started calling the band “Armenian Metal”. They may have refined some of their more melodic moments on Hypnotize/Mezmerize but there is plenty of brilliant songwriting here. My personal favorite remains “Atwa”, but you can’t go wrong with the title track, “Science”, “Needles”, “Aerials”, hell the whole damn album.After a couple decades have passed and System themselves self imploded, Toxicity has distanced itself from the Coal Chambers, Static-X’s, and Fred Durst led shit.
45. Isis - Oceanic
Here we have the most unfortunately named metal band on this list. It’s not easy to pull off what Isis does on Oceanic. It’s full of long, slow, heavy yet hypnotic songs that are heavy on ambiance and indifferent to hooks yet still damn satisfying. A concept album of sorts about incest, suicide, and of course water it is a journey to be sure. Taking what Neurosis started and improving upon it greatly, Isis became the definitive post-metal band.
44. Vehemence - Helping the World to See
Hard to think of any metal bands that are as shockingly unsung as Vehemence. They never toured, and rarely put out new music, I still don't exactly know how I even heard of them. God Was Created set up everything that would be refined here. Few bands at the time were willing to balance brutal death metal with the more melodic side. It remains a personal favorite and definitely takes me back to a simpler time in my life. “By Your Bedside” and “Kill for God” are among the finest opening tracks in metal history. Luckily the rest is more than up to the task of following.
43. Animals as Leaders - Animals as Leaders
Tosin Abasi could very well be the most talented guitarist alive right now, and this album can more than back up that claim. This is metal in the loosest sense of the term, an all instrumental album that owes more to jazz than Sabbath. Plenty of odd timings, complicated arrangements, and often beautiful melodies. One of the best instrumental albums you’re likely to hear. A wonderful gateway for the folks who are put off by extreme metal vocals.
42. Mastodon - Leviathan
A concept album about Moby Dick set to some of the most over the top drumming this side of Terry Bozzio. This was Mastodon’s first great album and established them as a major and unique force in metal. Multiple vocalists, insane drumming, killer riffs, everything you could want. “Blood and Thunder” is about a good an opening track in metal history, and by the end of that track you know they are light years beyond Remission.
41. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Some albums take me a while to get to. For reasons I can’t explain it took me a full decade to realize Marrow of the Spirit came out. I was excited to hear they had a new album coming, then proceeded to forget everything about it while playing the Mantle on repeat. Well I was dumb because after one listen I realized Agalloch had another masterpiece in their catalog. After a nice peaceful cello number to start things off, “Into the Painted Grey” shows that yes these guys are still a metal band. The rest of the album is another solid collection of epics with blast beats, pretty passages, and even more cello.
40. Septicflesh - The Great Mass
I wouldn’t say that combining an orchestra and death metal are a Greek thing, but Rotting Christ and Septicflesh sure seem to have perfected it. In fact the marriage of brutally heavy music and the full symphonic treatment was probably never better than on The Great Mass. Septicflesh had been around for a full 20 years before unleashing this monster of an album, which seemed to signal they were on hallowed ground before “The Vampire From Nazareth” ends. It largely picks up where Communion left off, with a full orchestra and 32 person choir courtesy of the Prague philharmonic. Pummeling, grand, and epic it is simply magnificent.
39. Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
While working at Kuma’s many a discussion of the best metal album and band took place. One such cook said Lamb of God was his favorite metal band, and Ashes their best album. The Virginia unit was truly hitting their stride after As the Palaces Burn, even appearing on a major label. Producer Machine helped usher in possibly the best drum sound on any metal album (which would be duplicated on Sacrament). The riffs are outstanding and Randy Blythe helps make a case for the best metal vocalist since Phil Anselmo, even if he has 1/10 of the range.
38. Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
In the 80s, Iron Maiden could scarcely do any wrong. The one perhaps logical complaint they suffered was that by 1986 it was largely Maiden by numbers. Adrian Smith seems to have temporarily supplanted Steve Harris as the bands best writer here, particularly with the single “Wasted Years”. Unlike Judas Priest who disastrously tried to incorporate synths into their sound on that same year’s Turbo, Maiden chose to use the keyboards more for texture and atmosphere, still relying on guitar, bass, and drums. This is the first Maiden album I ever heard and for that reason it holds extra significance for me, but I don’t think Maiden ever embraced their guitar harmonies more fully. Smith and Murray are perfectly in sync here and they help to elevate often embarrassing choruses and lyrics with their stellar interplay.
37. Testament - The Gathering
It’s odd that a metal band will steadily produce albums for 13 years before inexplicably knocking one out of the park like Testament did with The Gathering. Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo was recruited and he makes his pummeling presence felt immediately on “D.N.R.” and “Legions of the Dead”, easily the two best songs Testament ever recorded. The resurgence would be short lived, but The Gathering deserves to go down as their finest hour.
36. Arch Enemy - Wages of Sin
Arch Enemy was hardly a new band when they released Wages of Sin, but it was their first with new female vocalist Angela Gossow. This simple addition injected new life into what was in all honesty a pretty pedestrian and forgettable death metal band. This is some of the catchiest death metal of the decade, led by Gossow’s blood curdling vocals and the superior shredding of Mike Ammott. Along with his brother Chris, the Ammott boys are at their peak as songwriters, delivering classic after classic. This album is unrelenting, thanks in part to Daniel Erlandsson’s drumming.
35. Slayer - Reign in Blood
Every metal head on the planet owns this album, has heard it about a 100 times, and recognizes that although it might not be their favorite, it is certainly their most iconic and important. After a couple of under-produced and primitive albums for Metal Blade the band signed with Rick Rubin’s new American record label where they finally matched their music to production values. The result is a heavy album with some meat to it. The drums are booming, and Dave Lombardo quickly earns his title as thrash metal’s best. Tom Arraya’s lyrics are brutal, and he seems determined to sing at the tempo of the music which only adds to the chaotic energy of the album. The whole thing is so short and fast that it doesn’t feel like there’s a wasted moment on here. The only songs over 3 and half minutes are “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood” which you may recognize as quite possibly the two best metal songs ever written. The late Jeff Hanneman did the bulk of the writing here and it’s pure metal perfection. It’s easy to look past this album for heavier, faster, more brutal, etc. but no thrash band ever put it together quite this perfectly before and probably since.
34. Panopticon - Kentucky
This shouldn’t work. A one man band, Austin Lunn decided to make a bluegrass black metal album about coal miners in Kentucky. Full of multiple hoe-downs giving way to blast beats and mining tunes it is something that needs to be heard to be believed. “Bernheim Forest in Spring” could very easily be the oddest opening track on any metal album. Fear not, when the banjos stop, the blast beats begin for the 10 minute “Bodies Under the Falls”. The whole album bounces back and forth between the bluegrass and black metal combo with increasingly more fusion. Just simply brilliant stuff.
33. Rotting Christ - Sanctus Diavolos
This might be the most evil sounding album ever recorded. Greece’s appropriately named Rotting Christ did themselves one better with this superb collection of symphonic black metal, complete with Latin choirs. This was their 8th album, and would solidify their sound for the future. Lyrically it is well trodden blasphemy, but when the riffs are as sick as “Athanati Este” who can resist?
32. Machine Head - The Blackening
Full of ten minute songs, killer thrash riffs, and a ton of shredding, this album seemed tailor made for me. The Oakland natives beat you over the head with one of the most over the top metal albums of the 2000s. Every song is a highlight but if you aren’t on board by “Clenching the Fists of Descent” The Blackening will be a long listen for you.
31. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
This is easily one of the strangest “metal” albums ever made. Full of heavy guitars, pounding Hellhammer double-bass drumming, but with clean vocals and long piano driven instrumental passages. Even among Arcturus albums nothing sounds quite like this and if you’re not hooked by “Kinetic” then this album might be lost on you, but it’s more than worth seeking out.
30. Behemoth - The Satanist
After 10 albums, Polish blasphemers Behemoth topped themselves with The Satanist. There are few bands I’ve listened to more in the last several years than Behemoth, and this album is easily their best. Nergal is in fine form and the band are the sonic equivalent of the fires of hell. To be fair it is nothing new from the band, but it was fair to wonder how their sound would be after 5 long years since Evangelion (which was probably their best album to that point).
29. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Sabbath picked up right where they left off on Paranoid for their third and best album. Take your pick, “Sweet Leaf”, “Children of the Grave”, “Lord of This World”, and “Into the Void” are all among the best things Iommi and company ever came up with. There are no shortage of classic riffs and songs from a band who was still sort of inventing it as they went along. After birthing all of heavy metal and laying the groundwork for doom metal, “Sweet Leaf” would be the definitive calling card for the yet to emerge stoner metal subgenre.
28. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1
The roots of power metal can probably be traced back to the 70s, but it crystallized when Helloween made Keeper of the Seven Keys. Even for the biggest naysayers of the subgenre, it was hard to deny how awesome this album was. These Germans touched on all the trademarks. Sweet harmonies, soaring vocals, lots of nonsense about dragons and wizards. Kai Hansen would soon depart to form the also excellent Gamma Ray, but his songwriting is all over this. The Priest and Iron Maiden influence is definitely there, but Helloween dialed that up to another level, blazing their own trail.
27. Mercyful Fate - Melissa
There are a few bands you can probably flip a coin for to pick their best album. Mercyful Fate were definitely one of them. Numerous albums on this list are meant to stand in for two or more, but these first two are so damn good I couldn’t pick just one. My preference to Melissa is due in part to the things some people complain about, so much instrumental wanking. Before the genre was quite defined, Mercyful Fate was laying the groundwork for prog-metal. If King Diamond wasn’t so obsessed with the occult and Satan you could make an argument they also helped lay the foundation for power metal as well. Influence aside, “Curse of the Pharaohs”, “Into the Coven”, “Satan’s Fall” and the title track were just some of the many highlights.
26. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Crack the Skye was the first Mastodon album I heard and it didn’t take me long to get converted. Almost completely abandoning the metal vocals of their previous albums, this fully embraced the progressive rock tendencies already apparent on Blood Mountain and Leviathan. This time around they focus the album on Czarist Russia, with seven of their absolute best tracks.
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