It’s not an enviable position to come up with a list of the 100 top metal albums of all time. There are so many different genres to consider. Bands that were considered “metal” back in the day sometimes barely qualify as rock these days. And the genre is 47 years old. However, Rolling Stone has made their list and it’s… actually pretty good. They’ve gotten some of the more credible metal scribes to contribute (Noisey’s Kim Kelly, SiriusXM’s Ian Christe, Adrien Begrand and more), they acknowledge the herculean task ahead of them with some disclaimers about why some bands, like Deep Purple and Guns N’ Roses, didn’t make the cut, and it’s a very inclusive list.
It’d be hard to have a list of 100 of the best metal albums without including multiple albums by some of the same artists, like Slayer, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth. But by including artists from Sunn0))) to Evanescence and genres from hair metal to grindcore, they’ve pretty much made a list that’s hard to argue with. Granted, it’d be hard to find a metalhead that likes every album on this list, but by including bands from Def Leppard to Death, they’ve admirably covered all the bases, even power metal and nu-metal. You should absolutely read the entire article here, but here is the entire list
100) Avenged Sevenfold – “City Of Evil”
99) Evanescence – “Fallen”
98) Sunn O))) – “Monoliths & Dimensions”
97) Gojira – “From Mars To Sirius”
96) Kvelertak – “Meir”
95) Dream Theater – “Images And Words”
94) Deafheaven – “Sunbather”
93) White Zombie – “La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One”
92) Eyehategod – “Take As Needed For Pain”
91) Naked City – “Torture Garden”
90) Body Count – “Body Count”
89) Nightwish – “Once”
88) Pig Destroyer – “Terrifyer”
87) Manowar – “Hail To England”
86) Lamb Of God – “As The Palaces Burn”
85) Darkthrone – “Transilvanian Hunger”
84) High On Fire – “Blessed Black Wings”
83) Baroness – “The Red Album”
82) Entombed – “The Left Hand Path”
81) Bathory – “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark”
80) Ministry – “Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs”
79) At The Gates – “Slaughter Of The Soul”
78) Voivod – “Dimension Hatröss”
77) Meshuggah – “Destroy Erase Improve”
76) Twisted Sister – “Stay Hungry”
75) Morbid Angel – “Covenant”
74) Venom – “Welcome To Hell”
73) Scorpions – “Blackout”
72) Isis – “Oceanic”
71) Living Colour – “Vivid”
70) Death – “Human”
69) Soundgarden – “Louder Than Love”
68) Marilyn Manson – “Portrait Of Am American Family”
67) Queensrÿche – “Operation: Mindcrime”
66) Deftones – “White Pony”
65) Faith No More – “Angel Dust”
64) Godflesh – “Streetcleaner”
63) Sodom – “Agent Orange”
62) Sleep – “Jerusalem”
61) Converge – “Jane Doe”
60) Melvins – “Bullhead”
59) Napalm Death – “From Enslavement To Obliteration”
58) Life Of Agony – “River Runs Red”
57) Emperor – “Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk”
56) The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Calculating Infinity”
55) Opeth – “Blackwater Park”
54) Helmet – “Meantime”
53) Type O Negative – “Bloody Kisses”
52) Def Leppard” – “Pyromania”
51) Carcass – “Heartwork”
50) Slipknot – “Iowa”
49) Neurosis – “Through Silver In Blood”
48) Rainbow – “Rising”
47) Slayer – “South Of Heaven”
46) Mastodon – “Leviathan”
45) Exodus – “Bonded By Blood”
44) Mötley Crüe – “Shout At The Devil”
43) Judas Priest – “Stained Class”
42) Diamond Head – “Lightning To The Nations”
41) Kyuss – “Blues For The Red Sun”
40) Mayhem – “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”
39) Pantera – “Far Beyond Driven”
38) Iron Maiden – “Powerslave”
37) Black Sabbath – “Heaven And Hell”
36) Van Halen – “Women And Children First”
35) Metallica – “Kill ‘Em All”
34) Black Sabbath – “Master Of Reality”
33) Megadeth – “Countdown To Extinction”
32) Black Sabbath – “Sabotage”
31) Slayer – “Seasons In The Abyss”
30) Korn – “Korn”
29) Sepultura – “Chaos A.D.”
28) Celtic Frost – “Morbid Tales”
27) System Of A Down – “Toxicity”
26) Alice In Chains – “Dirt”
25) Metallica – “Metallica”
24) Rage Against The Machine – “Rage Against The Machine”
23) Danzig – “Danzig”
22) Mötley Crüe – “Too Fast For Love”
21) Metallica – “…And Justice For All”
20) Anthrax – “Among The Living”
19) Megadeth – “Rust In Peace”
18) Tool – “Ænima”
17) Mercyful Fate – “Melissa”
16) Dio – “Holy Diver”
15) Ozzy Osbourne – “Diary Of A Madman”
14) Black Sabbath – “Vol. 4”
13) Iron Maiden – “Iron Maiden”
12) Judas Priest – “Screaming For Vengeance”
11) Metallica – “Ride The Lightning”
10) Pantera – “Vulgar Display Of Power”
09) Ozzy Osbourne – “Blizzard Of Ozz”
08) Megadeth – “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?”
07) Motörhead – “No Remorse”
06) Slayer – “Reign In Blood”
05) Black Sabbath – “Black Sabbath”
04) Iron Maiden – “The Number Of The Beast”
03) Judas Priest – “British Steel”
02) Metallica – “Master Of Puppets”
01) Black Sabbath – “Paranoid“
[art via theprp]
