The Best Metal Albums Of All Time Ranked
Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats and loudness. In 1968, three of the genre’s most famous pioneers –Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple – were founded. Though they came to attract wide audiences, they were often derided by critics. Several American bands modified heavy metal into more accessible forms during the 1970s: the raw, sleazy sound and shock rock of Alice Cooper and Kiss; the blues-rooted rock of Aerosmith; and the flashy guitar leads and party rock of Van Halen. During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre’s evolution by discarding much of its blues influence, while Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Beginning in the late 1970s, bands in the new wave of British heavy metal such as Iron Maiden and Saxon followed in a similar vein. By the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as “metalheads” or “headbangers”. The lyrics of some metal genres became associated with aggression and machismo, an issue that has at times led to accusations of misogyny. Here are all of the best Metal albums of all time.
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15. Metallica – Metallica (The Black Album)
“Metallica’s first Number One album came a decade into their career. On their self-titled fifth LP – whose nearly pitch-black cover design earned it the nickname “the Black Album” – the band took a 180 from thrash metal without abandoning their core ethos. For the album that would catapult the band into the rock mainstream, they turned to producer Bob Rock, whose work on Mötley Crüe’s pristine and massive Dr. Feelgood caught Metallica’s attention. With Rock’s help, the band members honed a slower, more contemplative sound that stretched their musical range, and though the process of recording the album was often strenuous and fraught, their perfectionism created a monster.”
14. Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz
“(Epic Records, 1980) One of heavy metal’s greatest comeback stories, Ozzy Osbourne silenced a world of naysayers when he rose from the ashes of his ugly departure from Black Sabbath on the winds of his ‘Blizzard of Ozz.’ With the incomparable guitar phenom, Randy Rhoads, by his side, Ozzy helped shape ’80s metal with songs like “Crazy Train,” “Suicide Solution” and “Mr. Crowley.”
13. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
“(Vertigo, 1970) Everything metal begins with Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut, which condensed all of the proto-metallic contributions that were roiling through the late ’60s (Blue Cheer, Cream, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin) into the style’s de facto primordial soup. Recorded in a single day with next-to-no overdubs, ‘Black Sabbath’ is the real deal: a nasty, gnarly, doom-laden beast bursting with spontaneous misanthropy that outsiders everywhere related to immediately.”
12. Dio – Holy Diver
“After establishing himself as a top-tier hard-rock vocalist via his late-Seventies/early-Eighties stints in Rainbow and Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio truly ascended into the metal pantheon with his 1983 solo debut. More bracingly metallic than anything he had done before – thanks in part to 20-year-old Irish guitarist Vivian Campbell, whose crunchy chords and squealing leads meshed perfectly with the paint-peeling intensity of Dio’s piercing wail – Holy Diver‘s stirring anthems like “Stand Up and Shout,” “Rainbow in the Dark” and the immortal title track found Dio planting one boot in Dungeons & Dragons–style fantasy and the other in contemporary social commentary.”
11. Opeth – Blackwater Park
“Through the 1990s Swedish band Opeth had steadily built a reputation for their unique hybrid of death metal, doom and progressive rock, but it wasn’t until fifth album Blackwater Park that those elements truly coalesced. Much of the credit goes to the increasingly mature songwriting of guitarist-leader Mikael Åkerfeldt and the chemistry of the entire four-piece band, but the influence of producer Steven Wilson cannot be ignored. The mastermind behind popular prog-rock band Porcupine Tree, Wilson harnessed Åkerfeldt’s myriad influences and shaped the record into an immaculate, spellbinding whole.”
10. Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power
“When we’re talking the best *album*, Vulgar Display of Power takes the title. Master of Puppets had epic songs front to back, but Pantera put together a listening experience that flowed like none of these other entries. It hits hard and takes you for a vicious ride, but it does it with style… angry, angry style. You can’t listen to This Love without expecting to hear Rise blast in right after! And Hollow leads back into Mouth for War so seamlessly you never thought the album ended!”
9. Judas Priest – Painkiller
“Priest classic heavy, aggressive release with grinding heavy riffs, Scott Travis brilliant drums, and of course the master of metal HALFORD whose voice no one can touch! Metal gods forever. Just pure badass, nothing more to say. Guaranteed adrenaline. One of the best metal albums to ever be made!”
8. Iron Maiden – Powerslave
“By the time Iron Maiden released their landmark fifth LP, Powerslave, in 1984, the British metal group had four seminal albums under their studded belts and had become such a powerful touring force that they were already planning to record a live album – what would become the epochal Live After Death – on their next world tour. “We took what was best from [our last record, Piece of Mind]and gave it the aggressive style of [1982’s] Number of the Beast,” lead singer Bruce Dickinson said at the time of Powerslave‘s release. “We’ve made a high quality record … artistically speaking, of course!” Dickinson’s pride in the album is justified: The singer’s stunning skill is evident throughout, as when he soars above tracks like the aerial-combat–inspired “Aces High” and the anti-war screed “Two Minutes to Midnight,” as bassist Steve Harris and drummer Nicko McBrain weaponize their trademark rhythm-section gallop and guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray hand each other the shred baton like Olympian relay racers.”
7. Metallica – …And Justice for All
“Explicit work by Kirk, and all the things we love about Metallica and the heavy/trash genre in general are combined into what I think is the greatest album of all times, everything is just perfect and beautiful. The album is filled with awesome songs, some of the most underrated songs, such as Harvester of Sorrows, Dyers eve, and justice for all (the song) and I believe that To live is to die is the most beautiful music ever created, it’s like Mozart to me.”
6. Slayer – Reign in Blood
“Reign in Blood, the first and last word on speed metal, starts at 210 beats per minute with the song “Angel of Death,” and it barely lets up for the next 29 blistering minutes. Its 10 songs are built on Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman’s rigid guitar riffs and abstract-expressionistic solos – metal’s equivalent to a Pollock paint splatter – all while drummer Dave Lombardo pounds out Olympic-ready tempos and singer-bassist Tom Araya hails Satan.”
5. Metallica – Ride the Lightning
“This album is amazing. When you look at thrash metal albums this is the best hands down because of efforts like Ride The Lightning and Creeping Death. The just as legendary For Whom The Bell Tolls shows off just how good Cliff Burton was on bass. The greatest instrumental of all time is the Call Of Ktulu which installs a creepy atmosphere that words can’t even describe. Escape and Trapped Under Ice which are the weaker songs on the album are still master pieces. Then you add a dose of the insanly fast Fight Fire With Fire and the ultimate power ballad (Besides One) Fade To Black which makes this album the best metal album of all time.”
4. Black Sabbath – Paranoid
“I know technically Black Sabbath is considered the first metal album, but I think this is the first true metal album, stablishing the kind of sound we’re familiar with in the genre. Their first album’s great too, but ir’s more similar to Doom Metal. This is definitely Traditional Metal, and a masterpiece of the genre.”
3. Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast
“Iron Maiden’s third LP overall, and their first with singer Bruce Dickinson, ‘The Number of the Beast,’ is probably the ’80s quintessential, pure heavy metal album. Every metalhead worth his or her salt can usually recite most of the lyrics to the galloping “Run to the Hills,” the occult-laced title cut and the dramatic mini-epic “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” and then there are next-tier classics like “22 Acacia Avenue,” “Chlidren of the Damned,” etc.”
2. Megadeth – Rust in Peace
“We most certainly had to have this one in the list. Certainly Megadeth’s most intense 90s album. I like both the original and remixed/remastered versions equally… Actually, I like the original slightly more. I feel the re-recorded vocals on the remastered are underrated, they’re kind of unique to listen to especially if you have the original one to compare with. 5 Magics, Take No Prisoners, Lucretia, and Rust in Peace… Polaris are the songs that have different vocal tracks from one edition to the other (just letting you know). I just love singing along with either version of 5 Magics every time. Holy Wars… The Punishment Due was so amazing too, I got to see that song live and that was their closure”
1. Metallica – Master of Puppets
“Has the best of all worlds. James’s lyrical composition is pure genius, and Cliff’s Orion is an absolute opus that meshes sounds that should not sound good together. Kirk nails it with his solos in songs like MOP, Damage Inc, and Battery. This album was foreshadowed a little by songs like Fade to Black from Ride the Lightning, and Orion and MOP also speak of what is to come with the amazing composition of…And Justice For All. The lyrics are deep, and meaningful, unlike popular rap music of today with only *talks* about drugs, sex, and money. I think that this is definitely the greatest album, not only in metal but of all time. Keep on headbanging, everyone.”
