While I'm open to suggestions on topics, an idea for a series I'm working with is '10 Albums Every Headbanger Should Hear'.

Each one based on a different genre. 

Starting basic, the first genre I'm going to nominate is Technical Death Metal. 

Here's how I see this working: Anyone who replies to this thread nominates two albums to include. The first album is their primary choice, which will always be included if they are one of the first nine to post (the first will always be picked by whoever picks the next theme). A second album is there in the event that we don't give enough people comment (again, this is absolutely an experiment), again first to post get included. 

There is no need to re-post any album that someone above you already put as their first pick. You can mention someone's second pick to ensure it's inclusion. Try to also make it 10 different bands as well. 

So for Technical Death Metal my picks are:

First Pick: Augury - Concealed

Second Pick: Death - Symbolic

Atheist - Piece of Time

Disharmonic Orchestra - Not to be Undimensional Conscious

Three very good releases there that would be on my list. I can't speak to Disharmonic Orchestra unfortunately, but I don't doubt it's good. I'll add it to me list of listens

For my two selections, I'll go with Obscura by Gorguts (which just pips Colored Sands for me) followed by Nile and Annihilation Of The Wicked.

I'm going to grab Adam's second for my number one because there's no way Symbolic doesn't deserve a place.

I'll give my second pick to Obscura - Omnivium.

1. Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients

2. Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis

1. Nocturnus - The Key

I'll follow suit and only mention a couple that haven't been mentioned so far.

BTW great choices above!

I'm really loving this 2021 release

Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse

Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

Allegaeon - Proponent for Sentience

Some outstanding albums above and a few I'm not familiar with which shall be rectified this coming week.  I shall go with...

Gorguts - Colored Sands (I'm the opposite as Chris, this just pips Obscura for me but I think each deserve to be here).

Baring Teeth - Ghost Chours Among Old Ruins

I'd like to keep it a maximum two per artist so the following bands won't be accepted at this point: Nile, Gorguts, Decapitated & Death. 

I don't have a genre in mind for the next one, so open to suggestions.

Alternative Metal. 

Now we're talking, and I'll give nu metal as my suggestion.

for alt metal:

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger

Chevelle - The North Corridor

EDIT: If sub-genres are included, switch Chevelle with Korn - Issues

Breed 77 - In My Blood

Babymetal - Babymetal

Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese

Devin Townsend - Addicted

I'll offer:

Faith No More - Angel Dust

Deftones - White Pony

Or if you want less obvious:

Dir En Grey - Uroboros

Rollins Band - The End Of Silence

Have 12 so far, plus a few extra nominations that can be used to make up the number if needed. 

Sub-genres are fine, though lets not rule out doing any sub-genre specific ones at some point. 

Second pick: Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts.

I would also nominate:

Helmet - Meantime

A 2nd Primus album would be good   I would propose Antipop 

If you got all these three, I'll add Soundgarden - Louder Than Love and Powerman 5000 - Mega!! Kung Fu Radio

Perhaps let's go classic this time: Heavy Metal. But let's try to make it interesting and avoid the major acts that we'll fight over which two albums should be included: so no Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, etc. And for the sake of how much it crosses over we'll also say that most things tagged as USPM here will also be allowed. 

I put forward:

A Sound of Thunder - The Lesser Key of Solomon

Dark Forest - Dawn of Infinity

Is Motorhead allowed?  guessing no

Is Iced Earth allowed? guessing yes

Helstar - Burning Star

Buffalo - Volcanic Rock

Pantera - Power Metal

Voivod - Voivod

...and hope that somebody else lists Slave to the Grind 

I was at first going to pick Power Metal, but since some USPM was okay I had to pick Burning Star, but I'm glad you picked it!

and yeah, hopefully someone picks Slave to the Grind and Symbol of Salvation.

Anselmo's vocals on that album are astounding, I love it so much

Saxon - Power and the Glory

^Two more fantastic picks!

Triceratopsoil wrote: Unitron wrote: Triceratopsoil wrote: Sounds good, I'll go with: Pantera - Power Metal ...and hope that somebody else lists Slave to the Grind  I was at first going to pick Power Metal, but since some USPM was okay I had to pick Burning Star, but I'm glad you picked it! and yeah, hopefully someone picks Slave to the Grind and Symbol of Salvation. Anselmo's vocals on that album are astounding, I love it so much

Yeah, he basically out-Halford's Halford, such an underrated album. Have you heard The Will to Survive from the Cowboys demos? It's basically a bridge between the two albums and his vocals are incredible.

Lets revert to anything goes. 

If need be we'll do more than 20 albums in the list. Still maximum two albums per artist though, maybe three for the really major acts. Actually I think the fairest way to do the major acts is if everyone who wants a say picks up to three albums for each of them as well as their two normal picks and it'll be the most mentioned albums that get in. Ties get decided by MMA score. 

For my money:

Iron Maiden: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Powerslave & Brave New World.

Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath, Paranoid & Heaven and Hell.

Judas Priest: Painkiller (it's in Power here, but it's obviously still okay to include), Sad Wings of Destiny & Stained Class.

I've no opinion on Motorhead or any other band. I honestly don't know how major you'd want to call Saxon and Manowar.

edit: if your intention is strictly obscure bands just say so - there's a world of difference in # of listeners between Iron Maiden and Saxon

oOPS missed this

Maiden: Iron Maiden, Killers, Powerslave

Priest: Sad Wings of Destiny, Screaming for Vengeance, Painkiller

Sabbath: Black Sabbath, Vol 4, Sabotage

Motorhead: Overkill, Iron Fist, Orgasmatron

and keeping Pantera - Power Metal and Voivod - Voivod for my other 2

Rainbow - Rising

Iron Maiden: Seventh Son, Powerslave, Dance of Death

Black Sabbath: Paranoid, Heaven & Hell, Black Sabbath

Judas Priest: Painkiller, Sad Wings of Destiny, Killing Machine

I've got precious little Motorhead stuff, but I'll give a nod to Ace of Spades and Overkill. 

Keeping these as my two, but for major bands:

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance, Point of Entry, Sin After Sin

Black Sabbath -  Born Again, Master of Reality, Sabotage

Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time, Killers, Powerslave

Motorhead - Sacrifice, Ace of Spades, Orgasmatron

this album also rules, reminds me of Testament's Low

Definitely shows a similar evolution in sound, both albums were probably the bands at their heaviest. Both have also always been my favorites from each as well. War for War especially is probably my favorite Motorhead song.

A Sound of Thunder - The Lesser Key of Solomon

Dark Forest - Dawn of Infinity

Helstar - Burning Star

Buffalo - Volcanic Rock

Pantera - Power Metal

Voivod - Voivod

Saxon - Power and The Glory

Manowar - Fighting the World

Hell - Human Remains

Rainbow - Rising

Armored Saint - Win Hands Down

We don't have Skid Row Slave To The Grind?

How about a bit more NWoBHM?

Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations?

Angel Witch - Angel Witch?

I'm showing my age

If more suggestions are needed, any of these would be great:

Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation

Scorpions - Taken by Force

Riot - Fire Down Under

Budgie - Budgie

2. Grand Magus - Hammer Of The North

Majors...

Iron Maiden - Powerslave, Piece Of Mind, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance, Painkiller, British Steel

Black Sabbath - Paranoid, Vol 4, Black Sabbath

Motorhead - Overkill, Inferno, Ace of Spades

I presume Bruce Dickinson on his own can just be chosen.

1. Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding

2. Accept - Restless and Wild

Iron Maiden: Powerslave, Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son.

Judas Priest: Painkiller, Stained Class and Killing Machine

Black sabbath: Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Heaven and Hell.

I am adding the following further albums:

MorningStarlett - MorningStarlett

Flower Travellin' Band - Satori

I also think we should have a second Saxon. Not knowing the band personally, I've pre-selected the highest rated one from MMA, Wheels of Steel, to be included. People can make a different case if they wish. 

Racer X - Street Lethal

Some possibilities to consider:

Dio - Holy Diver

Legend - Death in the Nursery

Raven - All For One

Satan - Court in the Act

Chastain - The Voice of The Cult

Crimson Glory - Transcendence 

Metal Church - Metal Church

Wheels of Steel is great, but I'd pick Strong Arm of the Law or Rock the Nations as a second album personally.

and I second Hall of the Mountain King

Too many more suggestions:

Blue Cheer - What Doesn't Kill You... (I would pick Outsideinside, but as it isn't under heavy metal here, here's this album. Can't not have an album from the first metal band)

Danzig - Danzig

Anvil - Plenty of Power

Def Leppard - High and Dry

Krokus - Headhunter

Loudness - Disillusion

Metallica - Load

Queensryche - Rage for Order (I consider this USPM, but it's heavy metal here)

W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children

Warlock - Triumph and Agony

Girlschool - Hit and Run

Megadeth - Youthanasia

Manilla Road - The Courts of Chaos

Sword - Metalized

Quiet Riot - Down to the Bone

Dokken - Tooth and Nail

Rock Goddess - Rock Goddess

Damn, this is telling me that classic heavy metal might be my favorite metal genre after nu and sludge/stoner/grunge lol

EDIT: BTW when we get to thrash we should probably do similar, big 4 picks separate from the main picks.

At this point I can either trim this down to 50 or we go all out and get it to 100.

I'm not sure what the final list is but three Saxon seems excessive out of 50. As for Load, I know it has its fans but it really isn't the best HM album that Metallica made.

Huntress - Spell Eater

Rebellion - Born a Rebel

Budgie - Never Turn Your Back On A Friend

Eternal Champion - The Armor of Ire

Night Viper - Exterminator

Torch - Torch

But it is.

I'd argue that it's mandatory listening because of its reputation along with being an excellent album imo. All the more reason for people to listen to it themselves to form their own opinion instead of just going with what everybody says and not giving it a fair shot. That happens way too often with albums with bad reputations.

EDIT: but I completely understand not including it lol, it's not a big deal

Don't know where you pulled this from, but these aren't my words. 

I wasn't saying you were saying people shouldn't listen to it, it was just a comment about my reasoning for choosing it, but I understand not wanting to include it. Unless I'm misunderstanding something?

EDIT: I just noticed your post says edited by Bosh, did he mean to post that but accidentally edited yours?

'IAs for Load, I know it has its fans but it really isn't the best HM album that Metallica made.'

^ Not my post. 

To be honest, I don't disagree with it. But whatever my personal thoughts on the album, my main issue is that it's an album with an average on here of just 2.67. Average rating hasn't been a factor in these lists and there are a few picks that have below 3.0, but they're not for such a major act or for an album with, let's say a bit of reputation. 

Given me an idea for a future list though: picking albums you feel are underrated. 

Like I said, makes sense why it shouldn't be included.

Maybe something specific like "Albums that generally get a bad rep that you should listen to" would make an interesting list. I'd be curious to see what everyone would pick.

Let's do this one next. 

Any further trad suggestions or we can go for 70 long?

Next subject, changing it up from genre lists as suggested earlier, is disliked albums that deserve a second chance / Albums that generally get a bad rep that you should listen to / whatever we end up calling it.

I don't have a total in mind for this one, so let's see how it goes. We need at least ten to post though. I feel this is more of a one pick per person thing.

I nominate Iron Maiden - Virtual XI.

Could go with so many albums, but I'll go with the album that made me think of this

Metallica - Load

Bosh66 wrote: Also Born Again by Sabbath

Seconded

A few more:

Megadeth - Risk

Judas Priest - Point of Entry or Turbo

Razor - Custom Killing

Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

I would also say Pantera Power Metal, but that was already in the heavy metal list, and also I feel like that albums general reputation has gotten a lot better over the years with more people giving it a chance.

I haven't taken every suggestion for this list, as there's been a couple mentioned where I don't see the evidence that the albums have as bad a rep as you seem to think: The Darkness and Razor albums both have managed to get over the 3.0 mark on RYM and as said before, those guys hate everything. Same for both Judas Priest albums mentioned, although I do hear people bash those on occasion. I've taken the liberty of putting Jugulator in instead. I mean, that Sabbath one passes the 3.0 barrier as well if that's really a consideration, but I do hear people dismiss that album more regularly so I'm more comfortable with including it. 

I didn't include Limp Bizkit, because basically their whole career would qualify. 

I'll be posting it shortly, just making up a cover image for it.

Back to genres for the next subject and I think we'll do thrash metal next.

Same deal on the so called Big 4 as with heavy metal's major acts:

Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Everyone votes for up to three albums each. Make sure they're actually tagged as thrash metal here though. 

Otherwise you get two picks each or more if we need to make up the number. 

Paradox - Tales of the Weird

Metallica: Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, Kill Em All

Megadeth: Rust in Peace, Peace Sells, Countdown to Extinction

I don't know Anthrax well but I'll throw a vote to Among the Living at least

No real opinion for Slayer but I guess Seasons in the Abyss is an OK album. 

^ I'd agree with all them, bar Slayer on which I have no meaningful comment.

Anthrax is a dificult one. I'd say Spreading The Disease, but that may be because it was the first one I got. Some later albums too would be nice but to my ears they're good albums (Worship / For All Kings) rather than classics.

Metallica: Ride the Lighting, Master of Puppets, And Justice For All

Megadeth: Killing is my Business, So Far So Good So What, Rust in Peace

Slayer: Show No Mercy, Reign in Blood, South of Heaven

Anthrax: Fistful of Metal, Spreading the Disease, State of Euphoria

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion

Stone - No Anaesthesia

Overkill - The Years of Decay

Jurassic Jade - Gore

Metallica - Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, Kill 'em All

Megadeth - Peace Sells, But Who's Buying?, Killing is My Business, and Business is Good!, So Far, So Good, So What!

Anthrax - State of Euphoria, Persistence of Time, Among the Living

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss, South of Heaven, Hell Awaits

Megadeth - Killing Is my Business, Peace sells, So Far, So Good, So What

Slayer - Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss

Anthrax - Spreading the Disease, Among the Living, Persistence of Time

Kreator - Extreme Aggression

Exhorder - Slaughter in the Vatican