A Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums List by Rexorcist
Genre: Heavy Metal
This is a list of the top 100 albums that I tag under the heavy metal genre as one of, if not the sole, primary. This list also includes any subgenres, such as US power metal and speed metal. There will also be albums of other genres mingled in with this one, notably a little thrash and a little hard rock, so bear with me as there is a minimum amount of heaviness, as well as a maximum, that goes into it.
This list is based on my personal genre tree
* Heavy Metal
** NWOBHM
** US Power Metal
NOT COUNTED BUT POSSIBLY FEATURED: Glam Metal
100 / USA
Thrash Metal, HM
Not only is the perfect balance between thrashers, jammers and melodies, but displays the best of multiple early forms of metal with the most metallic production and sound I've ever heard out of roughly 2,000 metal albums. The album might be classified more as a straight-up thrash album, but every song, like Paranoid, has its own identity. The first side gets softer as it goes along from pure and outrageous thrash to a somewhat progressive power ballad, and the second half is a bit more mixed in terms of applied power. Creeping Death might've been a perfectly fitting ending, but we were lucky and still got The Call of Ktulu anyway. Mixing thrash, speed and prog with heavy metal ballads Metallica are here to sing eight beautiful songs, ABOUT DEATH! Death is comiiiing.
100 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
Each brilliant song has its own identity ranging from early doom influence to proto-punk influence, handling both heavy metal and hard rock with a touch of psychedelia and blues, and a lot of heaviness. There was nothing this rough before except the debut, and this had stronger musicianship. It ranged from heavy metal energy to slow, doomy psychedelia, and incorporated other forms of rock to create something truly unpredictable. It's this high up because other metal albums show the bands sticking with a couple or a few sounds and keep relying on those sounds. That gets tedious. Paranoid doesn't do that. It shifts into new territory consistently, and never lowers in quality.
100 / USA (Live)
Thrash Metal, HM
This album IS Metallica. Every Metallica album up to that point is a little different, and this live album captures the best of those differences with MAYBE a slight drop in quality in the arena. The thrashing is still phenomenal and the melodies are just as fine. This may be a three-hour long album, but all three hours are worth it for Metallica fans.
100 / USA
US Power Metal, Power Metal, HM, Thrash Metal
I know, I know, Iced Earth is cool to hate these days. But I'm not gonna deny that this is the only Iced Earth album that flat-out amazed me. Even though a couple songs need to be a little heavier, the album seamlessly blows through a plethora of metal genres including symphonic, thrash, death, prog and doom while still remaining a US power metal album at heart.
100 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
Picking up where Paranoid stopped (and with a stronger emphasis on the metal), this drugged-up rock album is completely otherworldly and pulls stunts unheard and unheard of at the time of release. Its level of diversity and track-by-track identity is exactly the same as Paranoid, even if it doesn't have that special factor of every song being a five-star one. However, one can forgive a couple 4.5 stars, right?
100 / USA
HM, Metal Opera
Even though I don't consider this a prog metal album, I consider it one of the finest. The storytelling and songwriting balance are working together at peak performance. I can't deny that this is one of the coolest albums I've ever heard, and a surprise piece of art from a band who could've otherwise only had a couple hits on the radio. And up to the grand finale, we have some of their best lyrics, an amazing level of variety going from hard rock to speed metal, and something most metal albums can't capture: real human drama, and somehow that includes romance.
100 / USA
US Power Metal, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal
A difficult album to classify, Metal Church's debut boasts most of their best ideas with a US power and speed force that's too metal to resist. The first half covers more traditional metal while the second is more routed in speed. But the nine tracks are all phenomenal, even their cover of Highway Star.
100 / USA
Hard Rock, HM
Too mature for hair metal, this album is a constant 80's rock and metal jammer that showcases Axl's lost skills as a singer. The jams are peak jams that are hard to resist, and the band gives it their all even unto the end. Rocket Queen is a real jam and a great ending for this album. Even after 2,000 albums, it's hard to find an album with this serious level of headbanging attitude.
100
HM
Before this, I was only familiar with a bunch of attitudinal 70's and 80's singles that I didn't really care for on the radio. Then a thrash metal / speed metal riff starts up and Halford's voice is screaming like he's a literal banshee about to kill me. Painkiller is probably the most “metal” album in existence since it does a flawless job combining heavy, speed, thrash and power metal like the four genres were the bandmates themselves. Judas Priest betrayed the hard rock for a whole new bombastic side which panned out for them in every possible way. There are few albums as metallic as this album, and the title track might be the most metal song ever.
100 / ENG
Hard Rock, HM
This might be seen as a hard rock album, but it's heavy enough to qualify and that attitude is there. Even when the album is being slow and epic like a medieval story, it's displaying some early metal attitude, even building up to some amazing metal riffs.
100 / Germany
Hard Rock, HM
Even though this is before they became huge, Taken By Force showcases Scorpion's best lyrics and many of their best melodies and riffs.
100 / ENG
HM
Seventh Son combines the raw attitude of Number of the Beast with the moon of Powerslave and the technicality of Somewhere in Time, and we get many of Iron Maiden's best and catchiest riffs as well as some of the best vocal performances by Dickenson. It just takes you away on a trip through various epic musical phenomena wihtout once steering into pretentious guitar wankery.
100 / ENG
Hard Rock, HM
A creative high point for Judas Priest that amplifies everything good after Sad Wings of Destiny and takes the first steps towards' Priest's beloved personality.
100 / USA
Glam Metal, HM
Yes, there's a glam metal album here. True, I don't think of glam as real metal, but Crue were always a heavy metal act as well, and here on Dr. Feelgood they recapture the spirit of Shout at the Devil but steer into some of heavy metal and hard rocks roots as well. There's more necessity for variety and ever song, even the filler packed an indomitable spirit perfect for any fan of hard rock.
100 / USA
Hard Rock, HM
It might not be a Sabbath album, but its lyrical fantasy imagery and beautiful solos and melodies put it on the same level as Sabbath. Rainbow's magnum opus evolves their hard rock sound into new territory, perfectly capturing the early metal spirit and adding a very strong mythical flair. And I don't need to tell anyone that Ronnie James Dio does a flawless job on the vocals.
99 / USA
US Power Metal, Power Metal, Speed Metal
A Distant Thunder is one of those albums that gives you everything a person could possibly love about metal at that time. Although it doesn't reach death and black extremities, as far as the heavy scene goes, this one one of the most varied and consistent albums of the metal spectrum and it still is.
98 / Denmark
HM, Metal Opera
More beautiful and progressive in its own evil atmosphere than Mercyful Fate, Abigail is a shocking, weird and perfectly told metal story with some of the finest instrumentation a heavy metal album had back in that day and age. Diamond outdid himself. In fact, I'm sometimes at odds as to whether or not the metal fan in me can stomach going through that story again, which means it worked too well.
98 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is an improvement over the largely radio-oriented Vol 4 where the songs are mostly there to sell another jamming hard rock album, but there are much better rhythms and much more well-fleshed lyrical themes.
98 / ENG
HM
Iron Maiden caved into more sci-fi themes which makes this album fairly unique from the early Maiden catalogue and slightly improves over Powerslave.
100 / USA
HM, US Power Metal
The Deluge is the darkest and most fantasy-oriented album of the classic Manilla Road albums. On top of that, the singer's voice more easily matches the band's tones, unlike in Crystal Logic.
98 / Denmark
HM
Don't Break the Oath was a huge step forward in metal darkness as the content, riffs and metal energy are as unrelenting as the fire on the cover.
98 / USA
Glam Metal, HM
Dokken proved that it's possible to be a glam metal artist and an ARTIST at the same time with a good collection of fantastic glam metal ballads, jams and everything in between.
97.5 / ENG
HM
Powerslave showcases Iron Maiden's newfound love of prog with some very intriguing songs that do an excellent job of bringing out the best of the lyrical themes.
97 / Germany
HM, Hard Rock
Lovedrive comes pretty damn close to the heights of Taken by Force, but it's obvious that Scorpions are becoming more of a radio band. Thankfully, this barely damages their output as they are able to put out a good collection of radio songs at once.
97 / ENG (Live)
HM, Hard Rock
As expected, this is a fantastic live version showing off many of their best songs at this point. Simply put, that's all that can be said.
100 / USA
Thrash Metal, HM
This is where Metallica were really becoming Metallica. What could have been a bloated hour of repetitve thrash is instead a hypnotic journey into the theme of slavery. The dark and Gothic sound of the production makes this clean and sparse fifty-five minutes a testament to the deepest fears of mankind, and the lyrics are so utterly beautiful and poetic that they may in fact be the greatest metal lyrics ever written. The rhythms and melodies are out of this world, and the instrumentation is nothing short of perfection.
97
US Power Metal, HM, Speed Metal
97 / USA (Live)
HM, Glam Metal, Hard Rock
97 / ENG (Live)
HM, Hard Rock
97 / USA
US Power Metal, HM
97
HM, Hard Rock
100 / Germany
HM, Power Metal
98 / USA
US Power Metal
96 / USA
US Power Metal, Speed Metal
96 / USA
HM, US Power Metal
96 / Germany
HM, Power Metal
96.5 / USA
Thrash Metal, HM
96 / USA
Power Metal, HM, US Power Metal
96 / Germany
HM, Hard Rock
96 / USA
HM, Hard Rock
96 / USA
Thrash Metal, HM
96 / USA
Christian Metal, Goth Metal, HM
96 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
96 / Germany (Live)
Hard Rock, HM, Arena Rock
96 / USA
US Power Metal, HM
96 / ENG (Live)
HM, NWOBHM
96 / Denmark
HM, Metal Opera
96 / USA
HM, Glam Metal
96 / Germany
Power Metal, HM
96 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
95 / ENG
HM, NWOBHM
95 / Germany
HM, Hard Rock, Arena Rock
95 / USA
US Power Metal, HM
95 / Germany
HM, Power Metal
95 / USA
Prog Metal, HM, US Power Metal
95 / USA
Glam Metal, HM
95 / USA
HM
95 / USA
HM, US Power Metal, Speed Metal
95 / USA
Power Metal, HM, US Power Metal
95 / USA
Power Metal, US Power Metal, HM
95 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
95 / Germany
Power Metal, HM
95 / USA
US Power Metal, Power Metal, HM
95 / USA
Glam Metal, Hard Rock, HM
95 / USA
Power Metal, HM, Thrash Metal, US Power Metal
94 / USA
US Power Metal, HM
94 / ENG
Hard Rock, HM
94 / USA
Power Metal, HM, US Power Metal
93 / USA (Live)
US Power Metal, HM, Power Metal
93 / USA
Power Metal, HM
93 / ENG
Hard Rock, HM
93 / ENG
Hard Rock, HM
93 / USA (Live)
HM, Power Metal, US Power Metal
93 / USA
Traditional Doom Metal, HM, Christian Metal
93 / ENG (Live)
HM, Hard Rock
93 / USA
HM, US Power Metal
92.5 / USA
Power Metal, US Power Metal, Neoclassical Metal
92.5 / ENG
Hard Rock, HM
92.5 / Denmark
HM
92.5 / USA
Power Metal, HM, US Power Metal
92.5 / ENG
HM, NWOBHM
92 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
92 / USA
HM, US Power Metal, Power Metal, Metal Opera
92 / Germany
Power Metal, HM
92 / Germany
Power Metal, HM
92 / ENG
HM
92 / USA
Power Metal, HM
92 / ENG
Speed Metal, NWOBHM
92 / France
Speed Metal, HM
92 / Germany
Power Metal, HM
92 / USA
Power Metal, HM, US Power Metal
92 / USA
Glam Metal, HM, Hard Rock
91.5 / USA
HM
91.5 / ENG
NWOBHM, HM
91 / ENG
HM, Hard Rock
91 / USA
HM, Glam Metal
91 / Sweden
HM, Neoclassical Metal