Your Favorite Metal Releases.

[RG]

Well you should at least give Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning a fair listen, Ryan. I guess I viewed them the same as you do. I had been listening to metal for years before I paid attention to them, because I mainly associated them with their stuff from The Black Album onward, but damn when I finally listened to their first three albums they blew me away. Too bad the recent vinyl reissues sound like fucking shit.

I'm mostly drawn to bands that change throughout their careers, instead of the ones that keep basically releasing the same album over and over with slight variation. It's hard for me to name favorite releases, but my two favorite bands of all time are the Melvins and Neurosis. Bands like Bathory and Immortal are great too because they each have two very distinct periods. Enslaved is another great band that has grown and mutated but their last 3-4 albums haven't done much for me.

[Henrik III]

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/RyanWreck/ryanwrecks_50_favorite_metal_albums_ever___wip_

Your favorites? Comments? Ideas? Metal discussion in general is welcome.

Plenty of great releases listed but also stuff that from my point perspective is more cool and fun than anywhere close to essential (like Executioner and Virus), and on the other hand many unsurpassable classics are missing. Also I think bands like Bathory, Onslaught and Slayer improved a lot from their debuts on the subsequent records. My own taste leans towards deathrash and (today) the listing might start something like this:

Autopsy "Mental Funeral"
Burzum "Hvis lyset tar oss" or "Filosofem"
Carcass "Symphonies of Sickness"
Celtic Frost "To Mega Therion"
Dark Angel "Darkness Descends"
Death "Scream Bloody Gore"
Entombed "Left Hand Path"
Exodus "Bonded by Blood"
Iron Maiden "Piece of Mind" or "Powerslave"
Judas Priest "Painkiller"
Kreator "Pleasure to Kill"
Mayhem "De mysteriis dom sathanas"
Metallica "Ride the Lightning"
Possessed "Seven Churches"
Sadus "Illusions"
Slayer "Hell Awaits"
Voivod "Dimension Hatröss" (or "Nothingface" or "Killing Tech")

And so much more...Sepultura, Sodom, Destruction, Bathory, Assassin, Deathrow, Morbid Angel, Accept, Candlemass, Repugnant, Pestilence, Rainbow, Darkthrone, Grotesque, Repulsion, Grave, Motörhead, Exciter, Obituary ("Slowly We Rot" only!) and so forth. To my horror I have noticed that in this ripe age I have learned to tolerate Mercyful Fate to some degree. I have these two metal (of death) axioms that 1) all the best metal records are made by youngsters (max. 21 years) and 2) USA bands = debut is the best record, Euro bands = record no. 2 or 3 is the best.

[fin de siècle]

Great ... finally a topic i am glad to join!

Nocturnus - The key LP
Nocturnus - Thresholds LP
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness LP
Meat Shits - Fuck Frenzy MC
Carcass - Symphonies of sickness LP 1989
Darkthrone - Soulside journey CD 1989
Impetigo - Ultimo Mondo Cannibale CD
Goreaphobia - Omen of machosism 7"
Paradise Lost - Gothic CD
Pestilence - Malleus Maleficarum CD
Pestilence - Consuming impulse CD
Pungent Stench/Disharmonic Orchestra - Split LP
Righteous Pigs - Stress related CD
Slayer - South of heaven LP
Type O Negativ - October Rust CD
Incantation - Primordial Domination CD
Megadeth - So far, so good... so what! LP 1987
Nehemah - requiem tenebrae CD
Ondskapt - Dödens evangelium Do-LP
King Diamond - The eye CD

[tiny_tove]

I will stick to the classic and leave out all modern black metal and metalcore/postcore/crossover I listen to, in no particular order -some cut and past from other posters ;)

Bathory - Under the sign of the black mark /blood fire death / Nordland 1
Slayer - raining blood
Iron Maiden - Piece of mind/Number of the beast/Powerslave
Ac/Dc - Back in black / For thos about to rock
Celtic frost - Morbid Tales / To meha therion
Anthrax - Among the living
Manowar - any
Metallica - Kill 'em all / Ride the lightning / Master of puppets
Judas priest - British steel
Accept - Accept / restless and wild /Russian roulette / Metal heart
Possessed - 7 gates /Beyond the gates
Venom - Welcome to hell / Black metal
WASP - WASP / The last command / The headless children
CARNIVORE - retaliation
Running wild - Ready for boarding /Under jolly roger
Kreator - Pleasure to kill
Sodom - The  sign of evil
Living death - Protected from Reality
Mercyful fate - don't break the oath / Melissa
King diamond - Fatal portrait
Black sabbath - Anything with Ozzy and Ronnie James Dio
DIO - Holy diver
Rainbow - Rising
Schizo - Main frame collapse
Pestilence - Malleus Maleficarum / Consuming impulse
Voivod - any
Carcass - Reek of putrefaction/Symphonies of sickness
Death  - Scream Bloody Gore
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Exodus - Bonded by Blood
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Deicide - Deicide / Legion
Acheron - Rites of the black mass
Guns n' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
S.O.D. - Speak English Or Die
Motorhead - any

hundreds more

[RyanWreck]

Living death - Protected from Reality

Schizo - Main frame collapse

Both are extremely underrated releases, especially Schizo. I love that album.

[ConcreteMascara]

In regards to Metallica, I've always thought ...And Justice For All was the best Metallica album by far, but I do have deep love for Ride the Lightning. AJFA has such complex but effective arrangements and the way it closes at full speed with Dyers Eve... fuckkk.

and to further digress I, like some others here, came to noise through electronic music, primarily IDM. Found MERZBOW through Warp Records release of Satanstornade album with Russell Haswell.

but in terms of metal, just some of my favorites (excluding black metal, grindcore, industrial metal).

Neurosis - everything, especially the classic period from 92-98.
Black Sabbath - the first 3 albums, it doesn't get much better than this
Carcass - Necroticism....
Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos, In Battle There Is No Law
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Corrupted - Nadie EP, Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos
Ilsa - Tutti il Colori del Buio
Metallica - ...And Justice for All, Ride the Lightning

that's what I can think of off the top of my head.

[ARKHE]

Won't bother listing releases, but I suppose I'm one of the metalheads running astray in the industrial environment after hearing MZ412 fucking up the boundaries between the two. Origins in all kinds of 90's black metal (norwegian, of course, including the later stuff by Emperor, Ulver etc). Began in Iron Maiden & Metallica, grown bored to death of both and will only promote Master of Puppets & DiAnno years). Bands:

FURZE
DEATHSPELL OMEGA
BLACK SABBATH (69-75)
DARKTHRONE (89-04)
MORTUARY DRAPE
ARMAGEDDA
MORBID ANGEL
CELTIC FROST
VOIVOD (up until Jasonic joined)
BAL-SAGOTH (fuck off, they're amazing)
ARCTURUS (as above)
DÖDHEIMSGARD/BURZUM/ISVIND/KVIST/etcetcetc
AUTOPSY
...could continue for a day or two. nwobhm, florida death metal, italian occult doom metal, grindcore, heavy rock... etc. not a big thrash listener though, besides the classics. I'll get back to this thread.

[Bleak Existence]

Sabbath - St Vitus -Venom - Hellhammer -Celtic Frost - Bathory - Sodom - Sarcofago

[halthan]

Celtic Frost

[xdementia]

I use the term "metal" loosely since I grew up listening to so much hardcore as well. Plus I always like new stuff a lot, so not all of these are "classic" albums.

Neurosis - Enemy of the Sun, Times of Grace
Slayer - Divine Intervention
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk
Ash Pool - For Which He Plies the Lash
Isis - Celestial, Oceanic
Dissection - The Somberlain, Storm of the Light's Bane
At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow, Systems Overload, Season in the Size of Days
Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt
Converge - Jane Doe
The Psyche Project - Apnea
Coalesce - Functioning on Impatience
Fukpig - Spewings from a Selfish Nation
Baroness - The Red Album
Kaospilot - Kaospilot
Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
Summoning - Dol Guldor
Liturgy - Aesthetica
Tragedy - Vengeance
Ulver - Capitel
Fear Factory - Demanufacture
Bloodlet - The Seraphim Fall
Burst - Origo

edited to add:

Cryptopsy - Whisper Supremacy

[Goat93]

ildjarn

[nidding]

Asunder - A Clarion Call
Black Sabbath - Paranoid + Master of Reality
Corrupted - Nadie + Paso Inferior
Darkthrone - Transylvanian Hunger
Deathspell Omega - Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice
Eyehategod - In The Name of Suffering
Grave - Into the Grave
Metallica - ... they have a special place in my heart, so I really can't be critical.
Moss - Sub Templum
Sleep - Dopesmoker
Thou - pretty much their whole discography.

And of course this list doesn't include any classic rock albums (perhaps with the exception of Sabbath) and stuff, otherwise it would be way too long. Alphabetized, not prioritized. In all actuality there's too many to list, but I've noticed that these get more spins than most others.

[RyanWreck]

Celtic Frost

All of it?

[Jaakko V.]

Celtic Frost

All of it?

Hey, after all - Cold Lake is not so bad!

[ARKHE]

Celtic Frost

All of it?

Hey, after all - Cold Lake is not so bad!

What about the goth stuff on Monotheist?