Top 50 Metal Albums of All Time

Considering this post is about metal albums, it would be horrible not to include Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest or any of the Big Four on here. So here are the Top 50 Metal Albums of All Time.

50
Accept
-Balls to the Wall
-German heavy metal

49
Mayhem
-De Myeriis Dom Sathanas
-Norwegian black metal

48
Slipknot
-Slipknot
-Iowa based metal band

47
Cannibal Corpse
-Tomb of the Mutilated
-Death metal

46
Darkthrone
-A Blaze in the Northern Sky
-Norwegian black metal

45
Iron Maiden
-Iron Maiden
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal
-I wasn't really all that impressed with this one. The only non-Bruce Dickinson album I really like is Killers. I didn't even know who that was singing until I looked on the case and seen Paul Di'Anno. But I have to say I'm definitely all for the Bruce Dickinson-era of Maiden. Although I do like the track "Wrathchild". That one is good!

44
Morbid Angel
-Altars of Madness
-Death metal

43
Helloween
-Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. I
-Described as "Iron Maiden on steroids", in the sense that Helloween often has air raid level vocals, the punk edge of thrash metal and the high speed of metal

42
Neurosis
-Times of Grace
-Oakland, California-based metal band

41
King Diamond
-Abigail
-Heavy metal

40
Bathory
-Bathory
-Swedish black metal

39
Korn
-Korn
-Bakersfield, California-based nu metal

38
Mercyful Fate
-Don't Break the Oath
-Occult metal

37
Emperor
-Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
-Black metal

36
Metallica
-The Black Album
-Thrash metal
-I actually have this on my MP3. A lot of good tracks. "Sad But True": love it. "Nothing Else Matters": love it! Almost the entire album, with the exception of a few songs, is good!!! I highly agree it deserves to be on here!

35
Iron Maiden
-Powerslave
-I'll have to re-listen to this one. If there are good tracks on it, then I will definitely check it out
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal

34
Death
-Human
-Florida-based death metal

33
Megadeth
-Rust in Peace
-Thrash metal

32
Metallica
-Kill 'em All
-Thrash metal

31
Judas Priest
-British Steel
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal
-This is the album that really got people's attention turning to Priest. With iconic tracks like "Breaking the Law" "Metal Gods" "Living After Midnight", it's hard not to know this album, especially if you're a Priest fan!

30
At the Gates
-Slaughter of the Soul
-Swedish death metal

29
Anthrax
-Among the Living
-Thrash metal

28
Celtic Frost
-To Mega Therion
-Extreme metal

27
Entombed
-Wolverine Blues
-Swedish death metal

26
Exodus
-Bonded by Blood
-Bay Area thrash metal

25
Dream Theatre
-Images and Words
-Progressive metal

24
Queensryche
-Operation: Mindcrime
-Heavy metal

23
Black Sabbath
-Heaven and Hell
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal
-Ironically, the title track for this album gets played only rarely on the radio. I'm surprised. The radios always play "War Pigs", "Iron Man" or "Paranoid", but this song? Not too much. "Heaven and Hell" is a Black Sabbath song and a good one at that! And it's good despite those who don't like it!!

22
Slayer
-Seasons in the Abyss
-Thrash metal

21
Sepultura
-Beneath the Remains
-Brazilian death/thrash metal

20
Rainbow
-Rising
-It's said this album inspired everyone in metal, from Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson to Metallica's Kirk Hammett. This band, Rainbow, was originally a side project formed by former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore

19
Mastodon
-Leviathan
-Atlanta, Georgia-based metal

18
Judas Priest
-Sad Wings of Destiny
-This album is iconic in the sense that it's the first album where you see the three pronged pitchfork symbol nowadays associated with Judas Priest. This album catapulted Priest into the world of heavy metal, with tracks like the complex "Victim of Changes" to the short yet dangerous "The Ripper"

17
Dio
-Holy Diver
-"Castle metal", meaning the lyrical content is about dungeons, dragons, castles and all manner of medieval topic.
-I actually have this album. Very good. The first Dio album I ever bought. I bought it for "Rainbow in the Dark", but loved every track!! SWEET!!!

16
Black Sabbath
-Black Sabbath
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal

15
Opeth
-Blackwater Park
-Swedish death metal

14
Venom
-Welcome to Hell
-Black metal

13
Tool
-Lateralus
-Heavy metal from California

12
Motorhead
-Ace of Spades
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal

11
System of a Down
-Toxicity
-Speed metal

10
Black Sabbath
-Master of Reality
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal
-This album is amazing. The track "Solitude" is probably the quietest song they've written to date, lol. It's slow, an almost love song. Very good. Ozzy has an amazing voice for ballads. And if you listen real close, you can hear flutes on it, being played by none other than Tony Iommi, inspired by his short stint in Jethro Tull. Overall, the entire album is awesome. "Sweet Leaf" makes me laugh because of how it starts-Tony coughing his head off from a joint, lol!!!!

9
Megadeth
-Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?
-Thrash metal

8
Metallica
-Ride the Lightning
-Thrash metal

7
Judas Priest
-Screaming for Vengeance
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal
-This is the album that gave the world "You Got Another Thing Coming", which a lot of people say is one of Priest's not so good songs. Are they insane?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? This is one of their best songs. I just love the head banging, pile driving power of this song. A perfect head banger's song!

6
Ozzy Osbourne
-Blizzard of Ozz
-Heavy metal. No specific type

5
Pantera
-Vulgar Display of Power
-Thrash

4
Slayer
-Reign in Blood
-Thrash metal

3
-Iron Maiden
-The Number of the Beast
-I really want to get this album. So many good tracks! And not to mention, this is the first one Bruce Dickinson did with Maiden. How amazing is that?
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal

2
Metallica
-Master of Puppets
-Thrash metal

1
Black Sabbath
-Paranoid
-This was the first Black Sabbath album I ever bought!! This is what got me into the legendary heavy metal band!!
-New Wave of British Heavy Metal