The most influential metal albums of your life (100 of them)

[DJ James]

which people can disagree whether it is truly a metal record.

Loads of metal bands that were around in 1983 would've loved to have a metal song that kicked as much ass as Foolin' does. Definitely a metal album in my book.

 

[DJ James]

Alright @karljant going by the categories and specifications for each category that you detailed, here is "the metal I'm made of" (ranked from 'most influential to myself' to 'least influential to myself' in each category):

1- Early Metal:

1. KISS - Destroyer
2. Pentagram - Bias Recordings Studio
3. Mercyful Fate - Melissa
4. KISS - Hotter Than Hell
5. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
6. Deep Purple - Fireball
7. UFO - Phenomenon
8. Flower Travellin' Band - Satori
9. Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum
10. Deep Purple - Burn

2- Classic Heavy Metal:

1. Ratt - Out of the Cellar
2. Slayer - Show No Mercy
3. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
4. Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
5. Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
6. Motörhead - Iron Fist
7. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
8. KISS - Creatures of the Night
9. Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
10. Iron Maiden - Powerslave
11. Mötley Crüe - Too Fast For Love
12. Dokken - Under Lock and Key
13. Exciter - Heavy Metal Maniac
14. Quiet Riot - Metal Health
15. Satan - Court in the Act

3- Thrash/Speed Metal

1. Motörhead - Ace of Spades
2. Havok - Time is Up
3. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
4. Sodom - Persecution Mania
5. Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence
6. Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death
7. Nuclear Assault - Game Over
8. Voivod - Nothingface
9. Flotsam & Jetsam - Doomsday For the Deceiver
10. Liege Lord - Master Control
11. ADX - Exécution
12. Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider
13. Municipal Waste - Slime and Punishment
14. Overkill - Horrorscope
15. Hallows Eve - Tales of Terror

4- Groove/Industrial Metal

1. Overkill - From the Underground and Below
2. DOWN - NOLA
3. Overkill - The Killing Kind
4. Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
5. Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese
6. Overkill - ReliXIV
7. Overkill - Killbox 13
8. Overkill - Necroshine
9. Overkill - Bloodletting
10. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
11. Primus - Pork Soda
12. Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
13. Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
14. Sepultura - Roots
15. Machine Head - The Blackening

5- Extreme Metal

1. Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos
2. Bathory - The Return......
3. Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
4. Death - Scream Bloody Gore
5. Sodom - In the Sign of Evil
6. Dissection - The Somberlain
7. Asphyx - The Rack
8. Cannibal Corpse - Eaten Back to Life
9. Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
10. Repulsion - Horrified
11. Entombed - Left Hand Path
12. Carnage - Dark Recollections
13. Possessed - Seven Churches
14. Protector - Urm the Mad
15. Enslaved - Mardraum: Beyond the Within

6- Doom/Post Metal

1. Pentagram - Pentagram (Relentless)
2. Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
3. Bongripper - Satan Worshipping Doom
4. Candlemass - Nightfall
5. Candlemass - Tales of Creation
6. Pentagram - Sub-Basement
7. Pentagram - Curious Volume
8. Scald - Will of Gods is a Great Power
9. Cirith Ungol - One Foot in Hell
10. Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead
11. Trouble - Trouble
12. Major Kong - Brace For Impact
13. Belzebong - Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves
14. Ufomammut - Godlike Snake
15. Sleep - Dopesmoker

7- Prog Metal

1. Winger - Winger
2. Rush - Hemispheres
3. Yes - Close to the Edge
4. Rush - Power Windows
5. Rush - 2112
6. Rush - Moving Pictures
7. Rush - Signals
8. Yes - Relayer
9. Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
10. Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite
11. Elder - Lore
12. Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
13. Yes - Drama
14. Dream Theater - Images and Words
15. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

 

[karljant]

Nice go! I put my categories in a quite random order by the way. Now I would like to point some really great picks you made that didn't made to my list:

Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum

Blue Cheer's debut is really something! I don't know if I'd call 'em metal but they have quite a brute (and great) sound though.

Motörhead - Ace of Spades

A true classic (more of a classic metal album though it really doesn't matter the category since it's minimally rigorous and that's the case). Wanted to fit Overkill in the 70's metal part but i'm to much of a fan of the compositions of Sabbath, Priest and Maiden during that era.

DOWN - NOLA

Great record... Bury me in smoke and Lifer are two hell of grinders.

Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese

As weird as ingenious... Les rules.

Bathory - The Return......

Great record. I was trying to fit Blood Fire Death on my list but unfortunately there wasn't space.

Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Sodom - In the Sign of Evil
Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
Repulsion - Horrified
Possessed - Seven Churches

Five of the most pivotal releases in metal. I especially love Horrified but once again there's so much great stuff...

Carnage - Dark Recollections

Hey! This album is stupidly great! Mike Ammot is on fire here.

Trouble - Trouble

Another amazing record that had to be left out.

Ufomammut - Godlike Snake
Sleep - Dopesmoker

Two more amazing albums: Ufomammut is the definition of heaviness and Dopesmoker... well the title says it all. I remembered another great and pivotal doom metal album I had to drop: Winter's Into Darkness.

Elder - Lore

Elder is an excellent band (though my favorite album is Reflections of a Floating World). Rush's 2112 is also a masterpiece. It's quite a stretch to label Yes metal but never mind. The same works for In the court Of The Crimson King (mn that record is so good I think I never met a single rock fan that dislikes it).

 

[DJ James]

Wanted to start by saying that yes, I also had to leave a LOT of albums off that I really wanted to include. And my list above shouldn't be interpreted as my favorites in those respective categories, just great examples of what I want to hear out of each of those categories. Out of the Cellar and The Ultimate Sin (for example) are two albums that perfectly en-capsule what I want out of a heavy metal album: virtuosic guitar playing with excellent sense of melody throughout, occasionally glimpses of aggression, filth or sleaze, and debauchery, lots of hooks, and a good image or good imagery.

Admittedly, my groove, doom, and prog sections are pretty scarce as I don't listen to those genres a lot. My prog section is pretty telling.

A true classic (more of a classic metal album though it really doesn't matter the category since it's minimally rigorous and that's the case). Wanted to fit Overkill in the 70's metal part but i'm to much of a fan of the compositions of Sabbath, Priest and Maiden during that era.

Yes, I agree that I could have put it in the Classic Heavy Metal section, yet I get so much speed metal out of it. And a lot of bands do too. And you know what, I hear those crust punk guys get a lot out of this album too. I love how Ace of Spades is such a venerable album. Heavy metal, speed, thrash, hardcore, punk, crust, rock and roll, you name it... This one album changed the landscape permanently. All these different facets of heavy music still to this day draw so much inspiration from it. Great album, Overkill is too.

Great record. I was trying to fit Blood Fire Death on my list but unfortunately there wasn't space.

I could have easily put that one and the s/t and Under the Sign on here too.

Five of the most pivotal releases in metal. I especially love Horrified but once again there's so much great stuff...

Excellent albums. I also didn't notice that we both had Realm of Chaos as our most influential extreme metal album. There is a venerable quality to that one too.

Also, I haven't heard that Winter album yet! I'll give it a listen.