Goz

Reign in Blood with Entombed - Left Hand Path a close second.

Hiro11

These are my personal favorites of the last twenty years or so:

1. Master of Puppets
2. Reign in Blood
3. Sepultura: Chaos AD
4. Motorhead: Ace of Spades
5. Ministry: Land of Rape and Honey
6. Megadeth: Peace Sells
7. Tool: Aenima
8. Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun
9. Iron Maiden: Piece of Mind
10. Dream Theater: A Change of Seasons

bonus five:
11. Opeth: Blackwater Park
12. Ozzy: Blizzard of Ozz
13. Meshuggah: Nothing
14. Faith No More: Angel Dust (is this metal?)
15. Def Leppard: Pyromania (poppy, I know, but still "metal")

Flashback

Great list...I would sub #10 with Anthrax 'Among the Living' or Megadeth 'Peace Sells'

cerial442

The metal album to own is Master of Puppets.

Ok, well here is my list, in no real order, also for the heck of it, one album per band

1. Metallica - Master of Puppets
2. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
3. Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
4. Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
5. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
6. Megadeth - Rust In Peace
7. Anthrax - Sound of White Noise
8. Ozzy - No More Tears
9. Fear Factory - Demanufacture
10. Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve

Honorable mention :
Cradle of Filth - Midian
White Zombie - Devil Music vol. 1
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Earth Crisis - Firestorm
Vision of Disorder - Imprint
Hatebreed - Satisfaction is the Death of Desire
Slayer - Reign in Blood Pantera - "Great Southern Trendkill"
Any Opeth album
Lamb of God, any of the three
Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance
Entombed - Wolverine Blues

I better stop, I could go on all day.................................

woofman

See Sig.

Mazinger

My personal fav.

Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2

Swanöholic

The album that pretty much single-handedly got me into metal...

uncle markie

Another vote for Master of Puppets.

I would have said Def Leppard's High 'n Dry if I didn't think I would get abused for it. I think it's an overlooked classic and a much stronger album than either Pyromania or Hysteria.

flair

even though its new, ive still been jamming this album since the day i got it 2 years ago.

converge - jane doe

Mordred

Put me down for Master of Puppets. I'd also say thats the greatest album of all time.

High 'n Dry is a definite classic, but I don't think I'd call it metal... more Hard Rock than anything else. I shudder to think how good Def Leppard could have been if they'd continued on in this style.

Mordred

Rypro 525

(gets ready for gunshots to head)
1. Rage: Battle for LA
2. Tool Latteralus
3. Metallica: Master of Puppets
4. Ac/Dc: Back in Black
5. Metallica St. Anger
6. G & R Appetite for Distruction
7. System of a Down: Toxicity
8. Faith No More: The Real Thing
9. Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Oz
10. Black Sabbath: Paranoid

Scorpio

Guns N' Roses is hard rock.

Goat3001

Rage Against The Machine is metal? Guess I missed the memo on that one.

cactusoly

My Top 25 Metal Albums (so many to choose from)

1) Judas Priest : Defenders Of The Faifth
2) Iron Maiden :Piece Of Mind
3) Black Sabbath : Black Sabbath
4) Judas Priest : British Steel
5) Iron Maiden : Iron Maiden
6) Black Sabbath : Heaven And Hell
7) Metallica : Master Of Puppets
8) Iron Maiden : Nimber Of The Beast
9) Judas Priest : Stained Class
10) Black Sabbath : Paranoid
11) Ozzy Osbourne : Diary Of A Madman
12) Anthrax : Among The Living
13) Armored Saint : Symbo Of Salvation
14) Metal Church : Blessing In Disguise
15) Judas Priest : Hell Bent for Leather
16) Iron Maiden : Killers
17) Testament : Practice What You Preach
18) Overkill : Years of Decay
19) Black Sabbath : The Mob Rules
20) Metal Church : The Dark
21) Helloween : Keeper Of The 7 Keys Part 1
22) Accept : Balls To The Wall
23) Iron Maiden : Somewhere In Time
24) Judas Priest : Point Of Entry
25) Ozzy Osbourne : Blizzard Of Oz

Edited 6/8
I forgot to add a few more deserving top metal albums:
Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe
White Zombie: La Sexoristo
Pantera: Cowboys From Hell
Sometime its hard to keep track off the top of your head


Top 5 in the "Are They Metal Or Not Metal" category

1) Alice Cooper : Billion Dollar Babies
2) Kiss : Destroyer
3) Aerosmith : Rocks
4) Deep Purple : Machine Head
5) AC/DC : Highway To Hell

B5Erik

In no particular order (because it's so damn hard to put any one over the others...)

Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
Black Sabbath - The Eternal Idol
Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance
Armored Saint - Symbol Of Salvation (AWESOME album!)
Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads - Diary Of A Madman
AC/DC - Back In Black
Metallica - Ride The Lightning
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Y&T - Mean Streak
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth
Halford - Resurrection
DIO - Holy Diver
DIO - The Last In Line
DIO - Killing The Dragon
Riot - Restless Breed
Riot - Fire Down Under
Saxon - Unleash The Beast

Those are just off the top of my head, I could probably list 20 more....

HistoryProf

1. AC DC - Back In Black - the most definitive Rock Album ever made. Period.
2. Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
3. Tool - Undertow
4. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
5. Ministry - The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste
6. Metallica - Master Of Puppets
7. AC DC - Highway to Hell
8. Guns N Roses - Apetite For Destruction
9. Anthrax - Among the Living
10. Metallica - ...And Justice For All

sinister

vulgar display of power
far beyond driven
pantera was the best metal band of the 90's. dimebag's a god.
Megadeth-countdown and peace sells
metallica-justice and master
Rage-killin in the name of
danzig-how the gods kill
motley-shout at the devil
ozzy-madman

raiders757

It is just to hard to pick just one ultimate metal album. Metal spans so many decades, and has had so many good bands with good albums. I guess since nobody has picked it yet, I'll just throw this one into the hat.



IRON MAIDEN - LIVE AFTER DEATH



Not my favorate Maiden album, that would be Piece of Mind, but what the heck. Live After Death is what Metal is all about. My others to ponder over are...

Rainbow - Riseing / Long Live Rock n Roll
Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith / Unleashed in the East
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell / Mob Rules
Dio - Holy Diver
Accept - Restless and Wild
AC/DC - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
Anthrax - Among the Living
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Oz
Megadeth - Piece Sells... But Who's Buying / So Far So Good... So What / Rust in Piece
Iron Maiden - From Killers to 7th Son of a 7th Son

Aand thats not even the end of it. Slayer, Testament, and the Suicidal Tendencies (MSpell?) come to mind, the list just goes on and on.

cactusoly

Not to start any arguments, but being a MAJOR Priest Fan I think "Screaming For Vengeance" is one of Judas Priest's weakest albums. Granted just about any thing Priest puts out is awesome, Vengence is essentually a 1 song album. Everyone remembers it because of "You Got Another Thing Coming" because it was their biggest "hit". "Electric Eye" and Riding on The Wind " are great too but the rest of the album is just average for a Priest album.

"Defenders of The Faifth" on the other hand kicks @$$ top to bottom, every song is a classic. Same thing with "British Steel"

Gourmet Artist

My vote goes to Strapping Young Lad's City.

Swanöholic

Devy is beyond intense on that album...great stuff.

demonio

Iron Maiden Seventh Son of A Seventh Son!

Phodg

Apart from the obvious (Reign In Blood, Master Of Puppets etc.) ...

Vio-lence - Eternal Nightmare
Exodus - Bonded By Blood
Sabbat - History Of A Time To Come
Suicidal Tendencies - How Will I Laugh Tomorrow (When I Can't Even Smile Today)
Forbidden - Forbidden Evil
Testament - The New Order
Carcass - Heartwork
Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption
Obituary - Slowly We Rot
Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

MJKTool

I think these deserve a mention as well.

Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
Tool - Opiate
Deftones - Adrenaline
Deftones - Around the Fur

TeeSeeJay

Jethro Tull - Crest of a Knave