Heavy metal has a rich history, filled to the brim with quality albums that have been delighting the headbanging masses of Planet Earth for decades. These are heavy metal albums that are unquestionably rated 10/10, not in any particular order. Influential, leaders of a particular scene within heavy metal, or just plain kicking more ass than can be comprehended,these heavy metal albums are perfectexamples of music’s heaviest art form.
Before anyone loses their lunch over the choices that populate this list, we should establish thatheavy metal has been loosely categorized as “Pantera and the sounds that came before it.“That is why you will not find Nu Metal, Metalcore, or anything of the sort in this particular list. Here, you will find a list of bands that adorn patches on a battle jacket, and these are the best albums they produced.
10Reign In Blood (1986)
Slayer
After firing many warning shots on their first two albums,Slayer perfected thrash metal in 1986 onReign In Blood. Pushing the agenda to play faster, harder, and nastier than the other bands in their scene,Reign In Bloodis 28 mins and 55 seconds of ageless, breakneck thrash. As the album approaches its 40th anniversary, it stands the test of time spectacularly well.
There’s something gleefully evil aboutReign In Blood.Slayer revel in controversial themessuch as the Holocaust (“Angel Of Death”), final thoughts before death (“Necrophobic”), serial killers (“Criminally Insane”), and tearing down religion (“Jesus Saves”), while Kerry King and the dearly missed Jeff Hanneman trade riffs and Tom Araya barks words furiously. From its artwork to its music, there will never be a day whenReign In Bloodisn’t one of the coolest albums in existence.
9Danzig (1988)
Danzig
The reinvention of former Misfits singer Glenn Danzig is one of the most underrated moments of Rick Rubin’s career. The Misfits were (and remain) a bunch of punk-rock ghouls, singing about vampires, b-movie monsters, and teenagers from Mars. That artistic direction became too stifling for the Evil Elvis, who sought new adventures with his next artistic endeavor.
As such,Danzig’s first solo album is a sexy and toughcollectionof bluesy, gothic heavy metal. Opening with the slinky headbanging strust of “Twist Of Cain”,Danzigis a dangerous and seductive album. Crucially, in an era that was masculine to a nauseating extent, Danzig played heavy metal that felt in line with the female-friendly riffing of The Cult and Whitesnake’s harder moments.
8Symbolic (1995)
Death
Coming later into heavy metal’s lifespan than the majority of these records, Death is one of death metal’s most loved acts. Much like Deftones,Death seems to be more influential now than everbefore, with critical darlings such as Blood Incantation and Tomb Mold openly worshiping at the altar of Death. Of all of their excellent albums, it isSymbolicthat is most right for today’s metal fan.
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As the Floridian death metal band’s career drew onward, Death slowly became more technical and progressive with each passing album.Symbolicis the pinnacle of Death’s technical death metal experimentation, powered by disorientating riffs and phenomenal rhythmic patterns. Its extremity means it won’t be for everyone, but if you like the emphasis on the heavy part of your metal,Symbolicis a masterpiece.
7Master Of Reality (1971)
Black Sabbath
you may pick any of the Ozzy Osborne-fronted Black Sabbath albums, and it could be considered perfect (okay, maybe not the self-titled).Master of Realityis the Sabbath album for riff junkies, as Tony Lommi peels out more building-shaking riffs per minute than should be legal. Ward and Butler are at their jazz-swinging best, and the whole thing is really wondrous to behold when in full flight.
Sabbath had darkness and evil in their veins on their debut album, and onParanoid, they found a groove for greater songwriting chops and the power of the riff.Master of Realityperfected all of Sabbath’s raw elementsto form the band’s classic sound, a riff-heavy formula that has never dated. There really is no wrong answer for the most perfect of Black Sabbath’s collection of 10/10 albums (not including the first one).
6Rust In Peace (1990)
Megadeth
When everything finally came together for Mustaine and his band of (un)merry men,Megadeth created a technical thrash masterpieceonRust In Peace. Being seen as lessers in the eyes of way too many because of Metallica’s success without the Megadeth frontman, Metallica’s shift in direction on The Black Album was perfect for Megadeth. Anyone who felt like Metallica had gone soft had the best Megadeth record yet to console themselves with. Everybody wins.
It took Megadeth the longest ofThe Big Fourto do something truly brilliant, butRust In Peaceis at its best when melding technical wizardry with catchiness.Mustaine’s solos are masterfuland the likes of “Holy Wars,” “Take No Prisoners,” and “Tornado Of Souls” are a desert storm of blazing riffing and frantic rhythmic flurries. It’s easier to forgive the things Dave Mustaine says while speaking when you can put onRust In Peace.
5Screaming For Vengeance (1982)
Judas Priest
Screeching in on a motorcycle and dressed head to toe in leather,Judas Priest are one of metal’s most cherished bandsfor their dedication to all things heavy metal. Even some of metal’s biggest bands seem ashamed to be heavy metal bands, but not Judas Priest. Everything great about Judas Priest and heavy metal can be found onScreaming For Vengeance.
Even some of metal’s biggest bands seem ashamed to be heavy metal bands, but not Judas Priest.
Judas Priest are larger than life on this record, hyped up in their 1970s form, establishing them as one of metal’s most respected bands. Glen Tipton and K.K. Dowling slash through jagged heavy metal riffs on “Riding on the Wind” and the enormous “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.” It meantJudas Priest provided more aggressionthan many of their peers, with the likes of the Bay Area thrash bands and the Scandinavian black metal bands all being disciples of the British metal legends.
4Heartwork (1993)
Carcass
Hailing from the world of extreme metal,it’s amazing how futuristic Carcass’sHeartworkwasover 30 years from its original release. Crawling with nasty riffing that clings to the skin and vocals that sound like Jeff Walker’s childhood diet was broken glass and lava,Heartworkdoes not sound like an album from the same year Whitney Houston’sThe Bodyguardsoundtrack was the best-selling album.
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Outsiders to the genre will scoff at the idea of such a thing existing, butCarcass are largely responsible for melodic Death Metal. Swedish guitar whizz Michael Amott would form Arch Enemy following his stint in Carcass, a band often cited as one of melodic death metal’s most influential acts, butHeartworkremains his best work. That Carcass had the nerve to come back and drop another fantastic album in 2021 after splitting up for over 20 years was just showing off.
3Far Beyond Driven (1994)
Pantera
It was a weird decade for heavy metal music, butPantera saved metal’s commercial bacon in the 90s. After grunge had made heavy metal seem uncool, Faith No More laughed at the genre’s rulebook, and Metallica had paved a new road for themselves and others in a more hard rock direction, heavy metal had never seemed less cool. Enter the Cowboys From Hell.
Bridging the gap between the heavy metal of yesteryear and what was to come in the 90s and beyond, Pantera created groove metal onCowboys From Helland spent their next few albums fine-tuning that.Vulgar Display of Powerhas an almighty first half of the record and CFH has its moments, butFar Beyond Drivenis where it all comes together. The Abbott brothers are two of the finest musicians to grace heavy metal, and it’s cool that their bandmates still get to tour their music in tribute to them on stages across the world today.
2Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988)
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden continue to tour their steadfast brand of bombastic showmanship and legendary heavy metal, bringing legions of young and new fans to their family in one of metal’s most impressive feats. They are pretty close to being a prog band with a distortion pedal on their modern albums, and soSeventh Son of a Seventh Sonis the perfect classic Maiden albumfor modern fans - or any fans of heavy music, for that matter.
Setting out its stall from its very first song, “Moonchild”’s mystical feel is a perfect distillation of a time when Dungeons and Dragons captured the youth of the world,Highlanderowned the silver screen, and Maiden were the closest thing they’ve ever been to being trendy. Cinematic in its narrative and lengthy with the song’s running time,Seventh Son of a Seventh Sonis 80s Maiden’s most interesting album. That leads into another iconic heavy metal album of the same decade.
1Master Of Puppets (1986)
Metallica
It can be boring for metal fans to hear about how great this album is, but that’s becauseeveryone with ears knowsMaster of Puppetsis a 10/10 album. It’s indisputable. On mainstream lists of heavy music, this collection of complex song structures and King Kong-sized riffs, powered by James Hetfield’s masterful right hand, Cliff Burton’s musicality, Kirk Hammett’s varied collection of solos, and Lars Ulrich simply never gets old.
It is the album for which the biggest heavy metal act of all time will be known forever.
There’s a great saying that you can only trust yourself and the first four Metallica albums, but even in that collection of non-stop gold,Master of Puppetsis Metallica’s finest hour. It is the album for which the biggest heavy metal act of all time will be known forever. You may get tired of hearing it, butMaster of Puppetsis heavy metal music’s MVPuntil somebody beats it - and good luck with that.
