Your top 10 METAL albums of all time(including Dream Theater)!

[twosuitsluke]

Anyone got the time to compile a list showing which are the most popular albums on all these lists? It's good/interesting to see which albums are cropping up frequently.

I'll try and do it later if I get a chance if I'm not too lazy.

[bosk1]

RANK THEM ALL! 

[425]

7.  Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier

GREAT choice. I don't know exactly what my list would look like, but The Final Frontier would definitely be on it.

[bosk1]

Wow, I was prepared to stand COMPLETELY alone on that choice.    Good to know I have some company. 

Honestly, it was the album that FINALLY made me a fan after being aware of the band almost all of my life and never really getting into them.  Having gone back and "discovered" the earlier albums that were coming out when I was younger, I would definitely put Piece of Mind up there as a close #2.  But TFF has got to be my all-time favorite.

[Samsara]

Been thinking about this lately, as I never really came up with a list like that before.

My top-3 are:

1. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
2. Fifth Angel - Fifth Angel
3. Metallica - ...And Justice for All

But I am not sure of the ranking for the others on the list. These include Sevendust - Animosity, Mastodon - Crack the Skye, Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger, Dream Theater - Images and Words, and quite a few others.

My problem is, some of what I like was considered "metal" at the time, and now has morphed more into "hard rock" in considering how labels have changed over time. Guns 'N Roses - Appetite for Destruction, for example. That album would be #4 on my list most likely, but it's more hard rock than metal these days. But back in 1987, it was called metal. So, I'm not really sure how to answer.

[The Walrus]

No disrespect - but it's so strange to me to see Final Fontier there. Wow.

[TAC]

The Final Frontier is amazing.

[Adami]

The Final Frontier is amazing.

I mean, not counting the new ones, it's by far the worst Star Trek movie.

[Samsara]

The Final Frontier is amazing.

I mean, not counting the new ones, it's by far the worst Star Trek movie.

 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Anyone got the time to compile a list showing which are the most popular albums on all these lists? It's good/interesting to see which albums are cropping up frequently.

I'll try and do it later if I get a chance if I'm not too lazy.

I've thrown all the ones here (that are in lists, not just those mentioned) into a spreadsheet. As of now I'm just counting a mention on a list as one point, so these aren't taking into account their respective positions in everyone's rankings. Which is fine, since people (myself included) aren't putting too much stock in their actual ranking.

As of now, the albums with the most mentions are, in order,

Metallica - Master of Puppets (6)
Between the Buried and Me - Colors (5)
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast (5)
Dream Theater - Images and Words (4)
Opeth - Blackwater Park (4)
Dream Theater - Scenes From a Memory (4)

And there are a bunch of (3)s after that which I'm not going to type out. The vast majority of albums, unsurprisingly, have only one mention. I think I'm also going to collate mentions per artist, as well as mentioned albums per year and see what that data looks like. Might take a while though.

[TAC]

The Final Frontier is amazing.

I mean, not counting the new ones, it's by far the worst Star Trek movie.

I wouldn't know.

[Samsara]

Seriously, some of you dig Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier that much? I mean, I liked it, but I never regularly listen to it. I'll have to go back and give it a few spins. To me, it just isn't one I reach to listen to.

[Zantera]

Yeah the love for TFF is a bit surprising to me as well. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good album, has some really good modern Maiden songs on it, some forgettable ones, but compared to their classics it's not really that strong, even compared to other reunion albums like A Matter of Life and Death and Brave New World I would say it falls short.

[pg1067]

Ok, why not?  Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
DT - SFaM
DT - I&W
Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys: Pt. II
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime

I'm sure if I re-thought about this tomorrow, I'd change at least a couple of these.

[pg1067]

Ok, why not?  Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
DT - SFaM
DT - I&W
Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys: Pt. II
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime

I'm sure if I re-thought about this tomorrow, I'd change at least a couple of these.

Damn...I missed the one album per band rule....  In that case:

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
DT - SFaM
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys: Pt. II
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
Rainbow - Rising

[Stadler]

Yeah the love for TFF is a bit surprising to me as well. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good album, has some really good modern Maiden songs on it, some forgettable ones, but compared to their classics it's not really that strong, even compared to other reunion albums like A Matter of Life and Death and Brave New World I would say it falls short.

And you didn't even mention their best reunion album, Dance of Death. 

[Ninjabait]

Anyone got the time to compile a list showing which are the most popular albums on all these lists? It's good/interesting to see which albums are cropping up frequently.

I'll try and do it later if I get a chance if I'm not too lazy.

The Top 11 so far are (#1 is worth 10 points, #2 worth 9, #10 is 1, etc, ties counted, unranked not counted):

01. Metallica - Master of Puppets (1/1/2/0/1/0/0/0/0/0, 41 total points)
02. Dream Theater - Images & Words (3/0/0/0/1/0/0/0/0/0, 36 total points, most #1s)
03. Ayreon - The Human Equation (0/2/1/0/0/0/0/0/0/0, 26 total points)
04. Leprous - Bilateral [TIE] (0/1/1/1/0/0/0/0/0/0, 24 total points)
04. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2 [TIE] (1/0/1/0/1/0/0/0/0, 24 total points)
04. Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast [TIE] (2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/1/2, 24 total points)
07. Megadeth - Rust in Peace [TIE] (0/0/2/1/0/0/0/0/0/0, 23 total points)
07. Opeth - Blackwater Park [TIE] (0/0/1/1/0/1/0/1/0/0, 23 total points)
10. Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1/0/1/0/0/0/1/0/0/0, 22 total points)
11. Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect (0/1/1/0/0/0/0/1/0/0, 20 total points)

These are the only albums that have more than 20 points. Number of the Beast and Images are the only two albums with more than one #1.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Yeah the love for TFF is a bit surprising to me as well. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good album, has some really good modern Maiden songs on it, some forgettable ones, but compared to their classics it's not really that strong, even compared to other reunion albums like A Matter of Life and Death and Brave New World I would say it falls short.

And you didn't even mention their best reunion album, Dance of Death. 

You misspelled The Book of Souls. 

[The Walrus]

Yeah the love for TFF is a bit surprising to me as well. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good album, has some really good modern Maiden songs on it, some forgettable ones, but compared to their classics it's not really that strong, even compared to other reunion albums like A Matter of Life and Death and Brave New World I would say it falls short.

And you didn't even mention their best reunion album, Dance of Death. 

You misspelled The Book of Souls. 

 

[TAC]

Seriously, some of you dig Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier that much? I mean, I liked it, but I never regularly listen to it. I'll have to go back and give it a few spins. To me, it just isn't one I reach to listen to.

Sam, I rate TFF pretty high. From BNW to DOD to AMOLAD, I felt through the Reunion Era that each album built upon the previous one. I remember thinking how the hell will Maiden top AMOLAD.
I don't think TFF tops AMOLAD. But to me, it equals it in musical strength. Other than the music, I feel like AMOLAD has this easily identifiable mood/theme of war and darkness. I think it's easier to relate to because of that.
TFF is musically, every bit AMOLAD's equal. But instead of it being brooding, it is colored much lighter. In a way, it does feel less heavy, but I like the influence of 70's prog on it.

I just find TFF a bit easier on the ears. It doesn't have the constant thematic intensity of AMOLAD, but like I said, musically and performance wise, it is every bit as strong. When I did my Top 50, I included them together. I consider them true sister albums. One dark, one light, but both musically incredible.  With both albums, I appreciate Maiden not resting. They push themselves, both in composition and performance.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Here are albums by year. I haven't figured out how to get Google Sheets to generate charts that don't look like trash, so this chart looks like trash.

[Big Hath]

something in this neighborhood:

Metallica - Master of Puppets
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Redemption - Snowfall on Judgement Day
Mastodon - Crack the Skye

Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition
Extreme - Pornograffitti
Symphony X - The Odyssey
Ayreon - 01011001
Metallica - …And Justice For All
Dan Swano - Moontower

[twosuitsluke]

Here are albums by year. I haven't figured out how to get Google Sheets to generate charts that don't look like trash, so this chart looks like trash.

 

I've been saying for years that 2005 was the best year in music! Seriously, I'd love to make a list of all the fucking killer albums that came out that year!

[MirrorMask]

About the whole The Final Frontier thing, I'm happy the album gets some love, but in a lineup of impressive supermodels such as the reunion albums, it's still the least hot supermodel to me. While it sounds nothing like its predecessor, the kind of songs were basically the same, to the point that you could rearrange the tracklist and have more or less the same order of Matter.

Let's skip the intro and we get...

Different Worlds / Final Frontier: the energetic opener
Colors / Eldorado: the single-ish, simpler song
Brighter / Mother mercy: broody song about war
Pligrim / Alchemist: fast song
Longest day / Avalon: epic with a long buildup
Shadows / Coming Home: ballad-ish
Benny Breeg / Man'd be King: bluesy epic
Greater Good / Wind Blows: longest song of the album, solo Harris
Lord Light / Starblind: oddball epic
Legacy / Talisman: epic with a long acoustic intro

Sure, stuff like "song about war" and "epic with slow intro" can be applied to any Maiden album. But, without stretching it too much with hyperbole, having a 10:10 match of kind of songs on two consecutive album is a bit weird. It's good they changed the formula on The Book of Souls.

Still, I'm glad that people like it, but you all should like Dance of Death more 

[Cruithne]

Floating definitions of metal drive me nuts sometimes.

It hardly helps when the likes of Joe Elliott distance themselves from the term even when their debut album was pretty much a stereotypical NWOBHM album just with more harmonies than most.

But yeah, it makes working out a list such as this a bit tricky...

1) Operation: Mindcrime - Queensryche (this is top of my list, metal or not).
2) Addicted - Devin Townsend
3) Circle - Amorphis
4) Rust In Peace - Megadeth
5) Powerslave - Iron Maiden
6) City - Strapping Young Lad
7) ...And Justice For All - Metallica
8) Burn My Eyes - Machine Head
9) Heartwork - Carcass
10) So Far, So Good... So What? - Megadeth

[TAC]

10) So Far, So Good... So What? - Megadeth

 

Such a great album. Easily my fave from Megadeth, and one of my all time faves!

[The Walrus]

Early Deth, best Deth. Hell yeah.

[425]

Wow, I was prepared to stand COMPLETELY alone on that choice.    Good to know I have some company. 

Honestly, it was the album that FINALLY made me a fan after being aware of the band almost all of my life and never really getting into them.  Having gone back and "discovered" the earlier albums that were coming out when I was younger, I would definitely put Piece of Mind up there as a close #2.  But TFF has got to be my all-time favorite.

You are definitely not alone. It was actually my first Maiden album, so I have a similar history with it! But I really believe it is that good.

Sam, I rate TFF pretty high. From BNW to DOD to AMOLAD, I felt through the Reunion Era that each album built upon the previous one. I remember thinking how the hell will Maiden top AMOLAD.
I don't think TFF tops AMOLAD. But to me, it equals it in musical strength. Other than the music, I feel like AMOLAD has this easily identifiable mood/theme of war and darkness. I think it's easier to relate to because of that.
TFF is musically, every bit AMOLAD's equal. But instead of it being brooding, it is colored much lighter. In a way, it does feel less heavy, but I like the influence of 70's prog on it.

I just find TFF a bit easier on the ears. It doesn't have the constant thematic intensity of AMOLAD, but like I said, musically and performance wise, it is every bit as strong. When I did my Top 50, I included them together. I consider them true sister albums. One dark, one light, but both musically incredible.  With both albums, I appreciate Maiden not resting. They push themselves, both in composition and performance.

I agree with almost all of this, particularly the part about the two of them being sister albums.

In general, I prefer reunion Maiden to any other era of the band. Within the reunion era, I agree with what I think is the general consensus that the longer songs are almost uniformly good and the shorter songs are hit-or-miss. Well, on The Final Frontier, I think the short songs are all hits and four out of the five longer ones are among their best of the band's history. And The Man Who Would Be King does not fall far behind.

AMOLAD is very close to being as good, but I think the short songs are just a little bit weaker (especially Different World and Out of the Shadows), and The Longest Day is a little bit weaker because, although it starts GREAT, it gets way too repetitive and fizzles out a little bit.

And Satellite 15 is, in my opinion, a fantastic and unique album intro.

[bosk1]

Yeah, I love just about everything about it as well.  It's as close to a perfect album as you're going to get from Maiden.  Add to that the fact that I think I have 4 songs from that album in my top 20 Maiden songs. 

[Samsara]

Seriously, some of you dig Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier that much? I mean, I liked it, but I never regularly listen to it. I'll have to go back and give it a few spins. To me, it just isn't one I reach to listen to.

Sam, I rate TFF pretty high. From BNW to DOD to AMOLAD, I felt through the Reunion Era that each album built upon the previous one. I remember thinking how the hell will Maiden top AMOLAD.
I don't think TFF tops AMOLAD. But to me, it equals it in musical strength. Other than the music, I feel like AMOLAD has this easily identifiable mood/theme of war and darkness. I think it's easier to relate to because of that.
TFF is musically, every bit AMOLAD's equal. But instead of it being brooding, it is colored much lighter. In a way, it does feel less heavy, but I like the influence of 70's prog on it.

I just find TFF a bit easier on the ears. It doesn't have the constant thematic intensity of AMOLAD, but like I said, musically and performance wise, it is every bit as strong. When I did my Top 50, I included them together. I consider them true sister albums. One dark, one light, but both musically incredible.  With both albums, I appreciate Maiden not resting. They push themselves, both in composition and performance.

I'm a big, big fan of both BNW and AMOLAD. And yes, AMOLAD is darker, which is why I probably dig it so much. But I'll give TFF a spin in a few minutes and see how it has aged for me.

[bosk1]

I like dark as well, but AMOLAD just never clicked with me as one of their greater works.  I don't dislike it.  But I'd put it somewhere down in the middle of the pack.

[TAC]

I like dark as well, but AMOLAD just never clicked with me as one of their greater works.  I don't dislike it.  But I'd put it somewhere down in the middle of the pack.

It's TFF's evil twin.

That build up in The Longest Day is one of the most amazing parts in their discography.

[The Walrus]

Guys, guys, guys. You're mixing up the albums. Brave New World is the one with all the bangers on it, TFF is the one you play when you can't go to sleep.


































Just kidding. Except not really re: BNW. 

[Nekov]

Brave New World is a great album

[bosk1]

I can respect pretty much any opinion with regard to which Maiden album/song is "best."  They are such a talented band with so many well-written songs.  All I can say is, FOR ME, TFF is the best of the best, and there is a lot of the reunion era that is simply good but not great.  I don't care for the first two albums, or the Blaze albums.  And other than the odd song here and there, I don't care for anything after Somewhere In Time in the first Bruce era.  Not to turn every thread into a ranking thread, but here is how I would rank Maiden's albums:

1.  The Final Frontier:  The best of the best.  This album made me a fan.  Well, specifically, En Vivo! made me a fan.  But it was largely due to the amazing performances of what I consider the best songs from this album, with an excellent sampling of Maiden classics.  Due to some forum discussions, I was already warming up to them from Rock In Rio.  But En Vivo! blew my mind and sealed the deal. 

2.  Piece of Mind:  As with a lot of Maiden albums, this one has its clear standouts, its good deep tracks, and its "filler" songs.  But the standout tracks are truly excellent, the good deep tracks plenty in number, and the filler songs minimal.  I ALMOST got into Maiden back when this album was out.  Wish I had.

3.  Somewhere In Time:  This could be my #2 on many a day, for similar reasoning. 

4.  The Dance of Death:  Some great tracks on this one.  The #4 spot is a bit of a dropoff from the top 3, but not a huge one.

5.  Beast:  Classic era much?  Why, yes.  Yes I do.  Very consistent album.  And very misunderstood by all the moms in the '80s.

6.  The Book of Souls:  Really good album.  I listen to it more than NOTB, so it feels like it should rank higher.  Maybe it is really my #5 and just forgot to tell me.

7.  AMOLAD:  This is where the most significant dropoff is before I stop caring.  Nothing bad about this album at all.  And there are a few really good songs.  But I just don't find myself reaching for it much.

8.  Powerslave:  I don't put it last out of my albums because of Mariner.  3 1/2 songs are really solid.  But I just want a little bit more than that to feel like a complete album. 

9.  BNW:  Not bad.  But not something I find myself reaching for when I can enjoy live versions of the couple of standout tracks. 

Don't care about the rest.  And that's okay.  A band I was never even into back in the day gave me 9 really strong studio albums worth of material to enjoy, not to mention several live albums as well.  That's an awesome huge win.