100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time

The Top 10: The Albums That Built Metal

1. 1

   Paranoid

   (1970)

   Black Sabbath

   The album that made heavy metal a genre: "War Pigs", "Iron Man" and the title track written in a single afternoon, all on one record that still sounds like the beginning of everything.

   Also ranked: #1 Greatest Metal Songs · #12 Greatest Rock Songs · #54 Classic Rock Songs

2. 2

   Master of Puppets

   (1986)

   Metallica

   Thrash at its most ambitious and most controlled, from "Battery" to the title track's eight-minute arc; the last album with Cliff Burton and the one every metal band since has measured itself against.

   Also ranked: #2 Greatest Metal Songs · #23 Greatest Music Videos · #55 Greatest Rock Songs

3. 3

   Reign in Blood

   (1986)

   Slayer

   Twenty-nine minutes, ten songs, no let-up. "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood" set the ceiling for speed and aggression that extreme metal has spent forty years trying to reach.

   Also ranked: #3 Greatest Metal Songs · #3 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #5 Greatest Metal Bands

4. 4

   The Number of the Beast

   (1982)

   Iron Maiden

   Bruce Dickinson's first album with the band and the moment Maiden became the biggest metal band in the world: "Run to the Hills", "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and the title track.

   Also ranked: #4 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Metal Bands · #28 Greatest British Rock Bands

5. 5

   British Steel

   (1980)

   Judas Priest

   The record that defined the sound and look of heavy metal for the eighties: "Breaking the Law", "Living After Midnight", twin guitars, leather and studs.

   Also ranked: #5 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Metal Bands · #36 Greatest British Rock Bands

6. 6

   Rust in Peace

   (1990)

   Megadeth

   The most technically accomplished thrash album ever made. "Holy Wars… The Punishment Due", "Hangar 18" and "Tornado of Souls" with Marty Friedman on lead guitar.

   Also ranked: #9 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #6 Greatest Metal Bands

7. 7

   Master of Reality

   (1971)

   Black Sabbath

   Tony Iommi tuned down and the sound of doom, stoner and sludge metal was born: "Sweet Leaf", "Children of the Grave", "Into the Void".

   Also ranked: #1 Greatest Metal Songs · #12 Greatest Rock Songs · #54 Classic Rock Songs

8. 8

   Vulgar Display of Power

   (1992)

   Pantera

   Groove metal's defining statement and the heaviest album to go platinum in the grunge era: "Walk", "Mouth for War", "This Love" and Dimebag Darrell's finest riffs.

   Also ranked: #8 Greatest Metal Songs · #5 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #7 Greatest Metal Bands

9. 9

   Ace of Spades

   (1980)

   Motörhead

   The bridge between punk and metal, and the album whose title track is the most recognisable two minutes and forty seconds in heavy music.

   Also ranked: #7 Greatest Metal Songs · #8 Greatest Metal Bands · #47 Greatest British Rock Bands

10. 10

    Holy Diver

    (1983)

    Dio

    Ronnie James Dio's first solo album, with "Holy Diver", "Rainbow in the Dark" and the voice that defined classic heavy metal singing.

    Also ranked: #14 Greatest Metal Songs · #12 Greatest Metal Bands

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The Canon: Ranks 11–40

11. 11

    Black Sabbath

    (1970)

    Black Sabbath

    Released on Friday 13 February 1970, the first heavy metal album: the tritone riff of the title track, the rain and the church bell, and the genre's whole atmosphere in one song.

    Also ranked: #1 Greatest Metal Songs · #12 Greatest Rock Songs · #54 Classic Rock Songs

12. 12

    Ride the Lightning

    (1984)

    Metallica

    The leap from thrash to something larger: "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Fade to Black" and "Creeping Death" showed a band that could slow down, orchestrate and still crush.

    Also ranked: #2 Greatest Metal Songs · #23 Greatest Music Videos · #55 Greatest Rock Songs

13. 13

    Painkiller

    (1990)

    Judas Priest

    Priest's fastest and heaviest record, with Scott Travis's double-bass drumming and Rob Halford's screams on the title track redefining the band for the thrash generation.

    Also ranked: #5 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Metal Bands · #36 Greatest British Rock Bands

14. 14

    Powerslave

    (1984)

    Iron Maiden

    "Aces High", "2 Minutes to Midnight" and the thirteen-minute "Rime of the Ancient Mariner": Maiden at the peak of their eighties run, with the World Slavery Tour behind it.

    Also ranked: #4 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Metal Bands · #28 Greatest British Rock Bands

15. 15

    Heaven and Hell

    (1980)

    Black Sabbath

    Dio replaced Ozzy and Sabbath made an album most bands would kill for as a debut: "Neon Knights", "Children of the Sea" and a title track that became a standard.

    Also ranked: #1 Greatest Metal Songs · #12 Greatest Rock Songs · #54 Classic Rock Songs

16. 16

    Metallica

    (1991)

    Metallica

    The Black Album: "Enter Sandman", "Sad but True", "Nothing Else Matters" and more than thirty million copies sold. Metal's biggest commercial record and still a heavy one.

    Also ranked: #2 Greatest Metal Songs · #23 Greatest Music Videos · #55 Greatest Rock Songs

17. 17

    Blizzard of Ozz

    (1980)

    Ozzy Osbourne

    Ozzy's post-Sabbath rebirth with Randy Rhoads: "Crazy Train", "Mr. Crowley" and a new template for metal guitar.

    Also ranked: #10 Greatest Metal Songs · #59 Greatest Rock Songs

18. 18

    Piece of Mind

    (1983)

    Iron Maiden

    Nicko McBrain's first album and the record that gave Maiden "The Trooper", "Flight of Icarus" and "Where Eagles Dare".

    Also ranked: #4 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Metal Bands · #28 Greatest British Rock Bands

19. 19

    Peace Sells… but Who's Buying?

    (1986)

    Megadeth

    Mustaine's political thrash breakthrough, the title track's bassline known to a generation of MTV viewers, and "Wake Up Dead" at its most venomous.

    Also ranked: #9 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #6 Greatest Metal Bands

20. 20

    Symbolic

    (1995)

    Death

    Chuck Schuldiner's masterpiece: death metal made melodic, progressive and philosophical without losing an ounce of weight. "Crystal Mountain" and the title track are the genre's high-water mark.

    Also ranked: #32 Greatest Metal Songs · #1 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #13 Greatest Metal Bands

21. 21

    Altars of Madness

    (1989)

    Morbid Angel

    The album that set death metal's technical standard: Trey Azagthoth's alien leads, Pete Sandoval's drumming and "Chapel of Ghouls".

    Also ranked: #77 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #23 Greatest Metal Bands

22. 22

    De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

    (1994)

    Mayhem

    The most infamous album in metal, finished after the murder of its guitarist by its bassist, and still the definitive Norwegian black metal record. "Freezing Moon" is the genre in one song.

    Also ranked: #31 Greatest Metal Songs · #1 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #18 Greatest Metal Bands

23. 23

    South of Heaven

    (1988)

    Slayer

    The slower, darker sequel to Reign in Blood that proved Slayer could be as heavy at half the speed. The title track and "Mandatory Suicide" are live staples to this day.

    Also ranked: #3 Greatest Metal Songs · #3 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #5 Greatest Metal Bands

24. 24

    Among the Living

    (1987)

    Anthrax

    "Caught in a Mosh", "Indians" and "I Am the Law": the East Coast entry in the Big Four canon, and thrash with a sense of humour.

    Also ranked: #29 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #17 Greatest Metal Bands

25. 25

    Roots

    (1996)

    Sepultura

    Brazilian percussion, Xavante tribal recordings and the down-tuned groove of "Roots Bloody Roots": the album that pointed metal toward the nu-metal decade.

    Also ranked: #34 Greatest Metal Songs · #6 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #16 Greatest Metal Bands

26. 26

    In the Nightside Eclipse

    (1994)

    Emperor

    Symphonic black metal's founding document: keyboards, blast beats and "I Am the Black Wizards", recorded when the band was barely out of its teens.

    Also ranked: #76 Greatest Metal Songs · #3 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #22 Greatest Metal Bands

27. 27

    Screaming for Vengeance

    (1982)

    Judas Priest

    "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" broke Priest in America and "Electric Eye" opens every show since; the band's biggest-selling album.

    Also ranked: #5 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Metal Bands · #36 Greatest British Rock Bands

28. 28

    Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

    (1988)

    Iron Maiden

    A concept album with synthesisers that somehow made Maiden heavier: "Moonchild", "The Evil That Men Do" and "The Clairvoyant".

    Also ranked: #4 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Metal Bands · #28 Greatest British Rock Bands

29. 29

    Machine Head

    (1972)

    Deep Purple

    "Smoke on the Water", "Highway Star" and "Space Truckin'": the hard rock album that taught metal how to build a riff and a solo.

    Also ranked: #5 Classic Rock Songs · #21 Greatest Metal Songs · #57 Greatest Rock Songs

30. 30

    Rising

    (1976)

    Rainbow

    Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio's finest hour: "Stargazer" is the song that invented power metal and epic doom in eight and a half minutes.

    Also ranked: #22 Greatest Metal Songs · #88 Greatest Classic Rock Bands

31. 31

    Cowboys from Hell

    (1990)

    Pantera

    The album where Pantera became Pantera: the glam years erased, Dimebag's groove riffs and "Cemetery Gates" announcing the band that would own the nineties.

    Also ranked: #8 Greatest Metal Songs · #5 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #7 Greatest Metal Bands

32. 32

    …And Justice for All

    (1988)

    Metallica

    Nine-minute songs, no audible bass and "One", the band's first hit single and video. Thrash at its most progressive and its most severe.

    Also ranked: #2 Greatest Metal Songs · #23 Greatest Music Videos · #55 Greatest Rock Songs

33. 33

    Blood Fire Death

    (1988)

    Bathory

    Quorthon's turn from proto-black metal toward Viking themes and epic structures; the album that created Viking metal and inspired the entire Norwegian second wave.

    Also ranked: #74 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #32 Greatest Metal Bands

34. 34

    Transilvanian Hunger

    (1994)

    Darkthrone

    Black metal reduced to its essence: four-track production, hypnotic tremolo riffs and no concessions. The most imitated sound in the genre.

    Also ranked: #75 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #37 Greatest Metal Bands

35. 35

    Heartwork

    (1993)

    Carcass

    Melodic death metal's blueprint: Michael Amott and Bill Steer's harmonised leads over precision brutality, and the album Swedish metal spent a decade chasing.

    Also ranked: #80 Greatest Metal Songs · #9 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #62 Greatest Metal Bands

36. 36

    Slaughter of the Soul

    (1995)

    At the Gates

    The Gothenburg sound in its purest form and the most influential melodic death metal album ever made; American metalcore was built on it.

    Also ranked: #79 Greatest Metal Songs · #7 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #42 Greatest Metal Bands

37. 37

    Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

    (1986)

    Candlemass

    The album that named doom metal and defined its epic strain: "Solitude" and "Crystal Ball" with Johan Längqvist's operatic vocals.

    Also ranked: #88 Greatest Metal Songs · #30 Greatest Metal Bands

38. 38

    Melissa

    (1983)

    Mercyful Fate

    King Diamond's falsetto, occult theatre and twin-guitar complexity on a debut that prefigured both black metal and progressive metal.

    Also ranked: #72 Greatest Metal Songs · #9 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #92 Greatest Metal Bands

39. 39

    Black Metal

    (1982)

    Venom

    The album that named a genre. Crude, fast and blasphemous, it drew the map for every extreme band that followed.

    Also ranked: #71 Greatest Metal Songs · #7 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #31 Greatest Metal Bands

Modern Classics: Ranks 41–70

40. 40

    Lateralus

    (2001)

    Tool

    Progressive metal as mathematics and ritual: the title track's Fibonacci structure, "Schism" and an hour of music that rewards its hundredth listen.

    Also ranked: #42 Greatest Metal Songs · #71 Greatest Rock Songs · #10 Greatest Metal Bands

41. 41

    Leviathan

    (2004)

    Mastodon

    Moby-Dick as sludge-prog metal: "Blood and Thunder", "Iron Tusk" and the album that made Mastodon the defining American metal band of the 2000s.

    Also ranked: #47 Greatest Metal Songs · #14 Greatest Metal Bands · #37 Best 2000s Rock Bands

42. 42

    Blackwater Park

    (2001)

    Opeth

    Death metal growls, acoustic passages and seventies prog in seventy minutes; the album that made Opeth critics' favourites and defined progressive extreme metal.

    Also ranked: #49 Greatest Metal Songs · #10 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #15 Greatest Metal Bands

43. 43

    Toxicity

    (2001)

    System of a Down

    "Chop Suey!", "Toxicity", "Aerials": Armenian folk, hardcore and pop hooks on the most inventive nu-metal-era album, released the week of 9/11.

    Also ranked: #41 Greatest Metal Songs · #70 Greatest Rock Songs · #3 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands

44. 44

    Iowa

    (2001)

    Slipknot

    The heaviest album ever to debut in the top five of the Billboard 200: nine masked men at their most nihilistic, with "People = Shit" and "Left Behind".

    Also ranked: #43 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands · #11 Greatest Metal Bands

45. 45

    From Mars to Sirius

    (2005)

    Gojira

    French death metal reborn as environmental prog: "Flying Whales" and "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe" made Gojira the most respected metal band of the 2010s.

    Also ranked: #48 Greatest Metal Songs · #24 Greatest Metal Bands · #28 Greatest Death Metal Bands

46. 46

    Destroy Erase Improve

    (1995)

    Meshuggah

    Polyrhythms, eight-string precision and the origin of djent; the album that turned metal into a math problem and solved it.

    Also ranked: #51 Greatest Metal Songs · #26 Greatest Metal Bands

47. 47

    Images and Words

    (1992)

    Dream Theater

    "Pull Me Under" and "Metropolis Pt. 1": the album that made progressive metal a commercial genre and John Petrucci a guitar hero.

    Also ranked: #52 Greatest Metal Songs · #35 Greatest Metal Bands

48. 48

    Korn

    (1994)

    Korn

    The nu-metal template: seven-string guitars, hip-hop rhythms, Jonathan Davis's trauma on "Blind" and "Faget"; the sound of late-nineties metal begins here.

    Also ranked: #44 Greatest Metal Songs · #1 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands · #20 Greatest Metal Bands

49. 49

    Ashes of the Wake

    (2004)

    Lamb of God

    The New Wave of American Heavy Metal's peak: "Laid to Rest" and "Now You've Got Something to Die For", groove metal for the Iraq War era.

    Also ranked: #46 Greatest Metal Songs · #25 Greatest Metal Bands · #84 Best 2000s Rock Bands

50. 50

    Dirt

    (1992)

    Alice in Chains

    Grunge's heaviest record and, in "Them Bones", "Rooster" and "Would?", one of metal's most emotionally devastating; the sound every 2000s hard rock band borrowed.

    Also ranked: #42 Greatest Rock Songs · #58 Greatest Metal Songs · #54 Greatest Rock Artists

51. 51

    Rage Against the Machine

    (1992)

    Rage Against the Machine

    "Killing in the Name" and Tom Morello's guitar-as-turntable on the album that fused rap and metal into something politically dangerous.

    Also ranked: #41 Greatest Rock Songs · #45 Greatest Metal Songs · #7 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands

52. 52

    Angel Dust

    (1992)

    Faith No More

    Mike Patton's band making the weirdest major-label metal album of the decade: samples, lounge, thrash and "Midlife Crisis". Every alternative metal band cites it.

    Also ranked: #59 Greatest Metal Songs · #8 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands · #28 Greatest Metal Bands

53. 53

    Burn My Eyes

    (1994)

    Machine Head

    "Davidian" and the album that kept aggressive metal alive between thrash's collapse and nu-metal's rise; Roadrunner's best-selling debut at the time.

    Also ranked: #60 Greatest Metal Songs · #43 Greatest Metal Bands

54. 54

    White Pony

    (2000)

    Deftones

    Shoegaze textures, trip-hop and metal weight on "Change (In the House of Flies)" and "Digital Bath": the nu-metal era's art album.

    Also ranked: #56 Greatest Metal Songs · #5 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands · #38 Greatest Metal Bands

55. 55

    Meliora

    (2015)

    Ghost

    "Cirice" won a Grammy and "From the Pinnacle to the Pit" filled arenas: the album that made Ghost the biggest new metal band of the 2010s.

    Also ranked: #50 Greatest Metal Songs · #76 Greatest Metal Bands

56. 56

    City of Evil

    (2005)

    Avenged Sevenfold

    Metalcore abandoned for full-blown heavy metal: "Bat Country" and twin-guitar theatrics that took the band from Warped Tour to arenas.

    Also ranked: #53 Greatest Metal Songs · #35 Best 2000s Rock Bands · #46 Greatest Metal Bands

57. 57

    Alive or Just Breathing

    (2002)

    Killswitch Engage

    The album that defined melodic metalcore: Gothenburg riffs, breakdowns and Jesse Leach's clean choruses on "My Last Serenade".

    Also ranked: #54 Greatest Metal Songs · #48 Greatest Metal Bands · #83 Best 2000s Rock Bands

58. 58

    The Downward Spiral

    (1994)

    Nine Inch Nails

    Industrial metal's masterpiece: "Closer", "Hurt" and "March of the Pigs" on an album that made Trent Reznor a mainstream star without softening anything.

    Also ranked: #25 Greatest Music Videos · #63 Greatest Metal Songs · #68 Greatest Rock Songs

59. 59

    Bloody Kisses

    (1993)

    Type O Negative

    Gothic doom with a sense of humour: "Black No. 1" and "Christian Woman" on the album that made Peter Steele's band Roadrunner's first platinum act.

    Also ranked: #62 Greatest Metal Songs · #41 Greatest Metal Bands

60. 60

    Welcome to Sky Valley

    (1994)

    Kyuss

    Desert rock's definitive album: down-tuned, jammed in the California desert, and the root of Queens of the Stone Age and the entire stoner metal genre.

    Also ranked: #94 Greatest Metal Bands

61. 61

    Dopethrone

    (2000)

    Electric Wizard

    The heaviest doom album ever recorded, by common consent: fuzz, feedback and "Funeralopolis" at a volume that reorganises internal organs.

    Also ranked: #89 Greatest Metal Songs · #52 Greatest Metal Bands

62. 62

    Dopesmoker

    (2003)

    Sleep

    One song, sixty-three minutes, one riff: the stoner-doom monolith that Sleep's label refused to release and that became a genre landmark anyway.

    Also ranked: #90 Greatest Metal Songs · #51 Greatest Metal Bands

63. 63

    Left Hand Path

    (1990)

    Entombed

    The Swedish death metal sound, the "buzzsaw" Boss HM-2 guitar tone, and a title track that ends with an outro every Stockholm band copied.

    Also ranked: #81 Greatest Metal Songs · #8 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #57 Greatest Metal Bands

64. 64

    Slowly We Rot

    (1989)

    Obituary

    Florida death metal's rawest founding album: John Tardy's inhuman vocals and riffs that crawl instead of sprint.

    Also ranked: #78 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #56 Greatest Metal Bands

65. 65

    Tomb of the Mutilated

    (1992)

    Cannibal Corpse

    "Hammer Smashed Face", a Jim Carrey cameo in Ace Ventura and a cover banned in three countries; death metal's most notorious and most durable band at its peak.

    Also ranked: #33 Greatest Metal Songs · #3 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #36 Greatest Metal Bands

66. 66

    Scum

    (1987)

    Napalm Death

    Grindcore begins here: twenty-eight songs including "You Suffer", the shortest song ever recorded at 1.3 seconds.

    Also ranked: #34 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #85 Greatest Metal Bands

67. 67

    Filosofem

    (1996)

    Burzum

    Recorded before Varg Vikernes's imprisonment, the ambient-black metal album whose lo-fi hypnosis shaped atmospheric black metal and post-metal alike; the artist's crimes are inseparable from its history.

    Also ranked: #6 Greatest Black Metal Bands

68. 68

    At the Heart of Winter

    (1999)

    Immortal

    Black metal with thrash riffs and epic grandeur; the album that made Immortal the most listenable band of the Norwegian second wave.

    Also ranked: #83 Greatest Metal Songs · #5 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #50 Greatest Metal Bands

Foundations and Deep Cuts: Ranks 71–100

69. 69

    Storm of the Light's Bane

    (1995)

    Dissection

    Melodic black metal perfected: "Where Dead Angels Lie" and "Night's Blood", classical structures inside blast-beat fury.

    Also ranked: #12 Greatest Black Metal Bands

70. 70

    To Mega Therion

    (1985)

    Celtic Frost

    Tom G. Warrior's avant-garde extreme metal, with orchestral horns and H.R. Giger cover art; the bridge from Venom to black metal and death metal.

    Also ranked: #73 Greatest Metal Songs · #8 Greatest Black Metal Bands · #80 Greatest Metal Bands

71. 71

    Pleasure to Kill

    (1986)

    Kreator

    German thrash at its most violent, and a direct ancestor of death metal: the title track and "Ripping Corpse" at speeds Slayer had not yet reached.

    Also ranked: #84 Greatest Metal Songs · #10 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #34 Greatest Metal Bands

72. 72

    Bonded by Blood

    (1985)

    Exodus

    Bay Area thrash's founding album, with Paul Baloff's manic vocals and the riffs Kirk Hammett wrote before leaving for Metallica.

    Also ranked: #85 Greatest Metal Songs · #8 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #33 Greatest Metal Bands

73. 73

    The Legacy

    (1987)

    Testament

    Alex Skolnick's leads and Chuck Billy's roar on the album that made Testament the fifth member of the Big Four in all but name.

    Also ranked: #86 Greatest Metal Songs · #7 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #29 Greatest Metal Bands

74. 74

    The Years of Decay

    (1989)

    Overkill

    East Coast thrash's finest album: Bobby Blitz at his most unhinged and "Elimination" as a genre anthem.

    Also ranked: #87 Greatest Metal Songs · #9 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #84 Greatest Metal Bands

75. 75

    Human

    (1991)

    Death

    Death metal turns technical and progressive: Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal joined Schuldiner for "Flattening of Emotions" and the genre's first virtuoso album.

    Also ranked: #32 Greatest Metal Songs · #1 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #13 Greatest Metal Bands

76. 76

    Scream Bloody Gore

    (1987)

    Death

    Widely regarded as the first true death metal album, recorded by Chuck Schuldiner at twenty; the genre's name comes from this band.

    Also ranked: #32 Greatest Metal Songs · #1 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #13 Greatest Metal Bands

77. 77

    Blessed Are the Sick

    (1991)

    Morbid Angel

    Slower, stranger and more orchestrated than the debut; the album that showed death metal could be atmospheric without being less brutal.

    Also ranked: #77 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #23 Greatest Metal Bands

78. 78

    Realm of Chaos

    (1989)

    Bolt Thrower

    Warhammer 40,000 lore and tank-tread riffs; the British death metal album whose mid-tempo crush defined the band's whole career.

    Also ranked: #15 Greatest Death Metal Bands

79. 79

    Operation: Mindcrime

    (1988)

    Queensrÿche

    The great metal concept album of the eighties: a conspiracy narrative, Geoff Tate's vocals and "Eyes of a Stranger".

80. 80

    Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II

    (1988)

    Helloween

    "I Want Out" and "Eagle Fly Free": the album that established power metal as a genre and Germany as its home.

    Also ranked: #91 Greatest Metal Songs · #21 Greatest Metal Bands

81. 81

    Nightfall in Middle-Earth

    (1998)

    Blind Guardian

    Tolkien's Silmarillion as a power metal opera; Hansi Kürsch's layered choirs made this the genre's most ambitious record.

    Also ranked: #92 Greatest Metal Songs · #39 Greatest Metal Bands

82. 82

    Rising Force

    (1984)

    Yngwie Malmsteen

    Neoclassical metal begins: Bach and Paganini at ninety miles an hour, and the album that started the eighties shred era.

    Also ranked: #12 Greatest Metal Guitarists · #57 Greatest Guitarists

83. 83

    Lightning to the Nations

    (1980)

    Diamond Head

    "Am I Evil?" and "Helpless", the NWOBHM album Metallica covered so often that Diamond Head's songs became thrash's foundation.

    Also ranked: #96 Greatest Metal Songs · #61 Greatest Metal Bands

84. 84

    Wheels of Steel

    (1980)

    Saxon

    The NWOBHM's working-class anthem album: the title track, "747 (Strangers in the Night)" and "Motorcycle Man".

    Also ranked: #95 Greatest Metal Songs · #60 Greatest Metal Bands · #86 Greatest British Rock Bands

85. 85

    Balls to the Wall

    (1983)

    Accept

    German heavy metal's breakthrough in America; Udo Dirkschneider's rasp on a title track that remains a stadium chant.

    Also ranked: #94 Greatest Metal Songs · #79 Greatest Metal Bands

86. 86

    Iron Maiden

    (1980)

    Iron Maiden

    Paul Di'Anno's punk-edged debut: "Phantom of the Opera", "Running Free" and "Iron Maiden", the NWOBHM's most important record.

    Also ranked: #4 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Metal Bands · #28 Greatest British Rock Bands

87. 87

    Sad Wings of Destiny

    (1976)

    Judas Priest

    "Victim of Changes" and "The Ripper": the album where Priest left blues-rock behind and heavy metal proper took shape.

    Also ranked: #5 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Metal Bands · #36 Greatest British Rock Bands

88. 88

    Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

    (1973)

    Black Sabbath

    Sabbath at their most musical: the title track's riff, "Killing Yourself to Live" and Rick Wakeman on keyboards.

    Also ranked: #1 Greatest Metal Songs · #12 Greatest Rock Songs · #54 Classic Rock Songs

89. 89

    Diary of a Madman

    (1981)

    Ozzy Osbourne

    Randy Rhoads's last album before his death at 25: "Over the Mountain", "Flying High Again" and the classical-metal title track.

    Also ranked: #10 Greatest Metal Songs · #59 Greatest Rock Songs

90. 90

    Countdown to Extinction

    (1992)

    Megadeth

    "Symphony of Destruction" and "Sweating Bullets" took Megadeth to No. 2 on the Billboard 200; thrash's most successful crossover.

    Also ranked: #9 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #6 Greatest Metal Bands

91. 91

    Persistence of Time

    (1990)

    Anthrax

    Anthrax's darkest and most serious record, with "Got the Time" and the seven-minute "Blood".

    Also ranked: #29 Greatest Metal Songs · #4 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands · #17 Greatest Metal Bands

92. 92

    Nothingface

    (1989)

    Voivod

    Canadian sci-fi progressive thrash, Piggy's dissonant chords and a cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine" that reached MTV.

    Also ranked: #23 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands

93. 93

    Mental Vortex

    (1991)

    Coroner

    Swiss technical thrash at its peak, jazz-inflected and precise; a cult album that later generations of tech-metal bands rediscovered.

    Also ranked: #24 Greatest Thrash Metal Bands

94. 94

    Crack the Skye

    (2009)

    Mastodon

    Astral projection, Rasputin and the band's most melodic songwriting; the album that took Mastodon into the mainstream without losing the prog.

    Also ranked: #47 Greatest Metal Songs · #14 Greatest Metal Bands · #37 Best 2000s Rock Bands

95. 95

    Still Life

    (1999)

    Opeth

    A gothic love story told in growls and acoustic guitar; the album where Opeth's progressive death metal reached full maturity.

    Also ranked: #49 Greatest Metal Songs · #10 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #15 Greatest Metal Bands

96. 96

    The Jester Race

    (1996)

    In Flames

    The other founding album of the Gothenburg sound, with folk melodies and harmonised leads that metalcore would carry into the 2000s.

    Also ranked: #13 Greatest Death Metal Bands · #45 Greatest Metal Bands

97. 97

    Once

    (2004)

    Nightwish

    "Nemo" and "Wish I Had an Angel" with a full orchestra: symphonic metal's commercial breakthrough and Tarja Turunen's last album with the band.

    Also ranked: #93 Greatest Metal Songs · #44 Greatest Metal Bands

98. 98

    Slipknot

    (1999)

    Slipknot

    "Wait and Bleed" and "Spit It Out" on the debut that introduced the masks, the nine members and the most extreme band ever to go double platinum.

    Also ranked: #43 Greatest Metal Songs · #2 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands · #11 Greatest Metal Bands

99. 99

    Hybrid Theory

    (2000)

    Linkin Park

    Nu-metal's best-selling album and the biggest debut of the 2000s: "In the End", "Crawling" and "One Step Closer".

    Also ranked: #39 Greatest Rock Songs · #61 Greatest Metal Songs · #96 Best 2000s Songs

100. 100

     Around the Fur

     (1997)

     Deftones

     "My Own Summer (Shove It)" and "Be Quiet and Drive": Deftones separating themselves from nu-metal with texture and space.

     Also ranked: #56 Greatest Metal Songs · #5 Greatest Nu-Metal Bands · #38 Greatest Metal Bands

Write a riff Sabbath would nod at.

Type "doom metal, down-tuned, Ozzy-style vocals" and Sonx builds the full track, lyrics and all.