Gonna go with my gut and vote
Stained Class, but it could honestly go either way.
I mean, come the fuck on.
The Jester Race is good and all, but
Blackwater Park's title track is the greatest thing in all eight of these albums. It transcends death metal. It's probably the greatest death metal song ever written. So many shades over those twelve minutes, and I swear to god the vocals are a HUGE part of why it's so good. If you had Bruce Dickinson singing it you wouldn't get the darkness and the complexity Opeth are trying to bring across. They throw in heavy-as-fuck riffs, and then complement them with acoustic passages that allow the listener to gain more than you'd expect. And like, the lyrics are incredible too. It's got one of the best endings I can think of to any song:
"We have all lost it now
Catching the flakes of dismay
Born the travesty of man
Regular pulse midst pandemonium
You're plucked to the mass
Parched with thirst for the wicked
Sick liaisons raised this monumental mark
The sun sets forever over Blackwater Park..."
Chills man. This song alone would be enough to secure the album's victory, but every other song on here is almost of the same quality as well. Seriously, easy vote.
I don't think that
Rising is quite the masterpiece a lot of people claim. "Run With the Wolf" and "Starstruck" are okay-bordering-on-boring. "Do You Close Your Eyes" is interesting but not really necessary, and while I really do like "A Light in the Black", it seems like a gigantic step down from its predecessor when listening to the album in full. Luckily, the sheer majesty of "Tarot Woman" - everything about it is cool as hell, bar the verses, which seem a bit stock, but I can look over it since the rest is great - and the absolutely monumental "Stargazer" - truly one of the greatest, the drum intro is so cool, the solo section
rises to the top of the world, the vocals, the story, it's a fucking amazing song - make up for anything their peers lack. Sorry to Alter Bridge, but another easy choice.
Sin After Sin is boring.
Don't Break the Oath is one of those classic metal records that deserves its high standings in the community's estimations. And it's not even for King Diamond - I know, he's a love him or hate him kind of vocalist, and I'm in the first camp although I don't like him as much as I once did. That's neither here nor there.
Don't Break the Oath is one of the greatest guitar albums ever. Seriously. Michael Denner and Hank Shermann are one of my favorite guitar duos ever. In fact I would go so far as to say that just on the back of THIS record, they rank behind only Murray / Smith of Iron Maiden. That's right, I would take them over Tipton / Downing any day of the week (even if
Painkiller does come close). The way they play off each other is astounding. The sound of the guitars is just so warm and cozy while also hellishly infernal at the same time. It's so fucking good. The riffs are iconic. The solos are memorable. And throwing King Diamond on top with his ghostly wails just makes it all come together.
It's an album that opens up with a warning not to mess with demons and then says, "Fuck it! Hail Satan!" through all the others. The lyrics are Satanic to the extent that they become comical, and yet the band plays it so straight that you can't help but smile as they profess their love for Hell and at the same time, can also feel the rebeliousness you had when you first heard it and realized that if your parents knew what you were listening to they'd have a stroke. In a sense then it's almost a childish record, but truly in the best of ways. An album that tricks you into thinking that it takes itself seriously at first, but then you understand that it's really just a joke and you end up liking it even more because of that. Not many albums manage to straddle the line like that. The only other album I can think of at the moment that does this in such a way that I can consider it a favorite of mine is
Bat Out of Hell.
One last thing I'll bring up is that if you listen to both Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate you'll notice that the latter picked up quite a lot of influence from the former, particularly in the guitar department (they also covered "The Ripper", so that was kind of obvious). Yet their tones and styles of playing really bring out the flavors they're incorporating more than Judas Priest are able to. I'd take
Don't Break the Oath over nearly every Priest album. It's a really great record and one of those 'classic' albums that is truly a classic. It's not perfect, but damn is it good.
