old school here, too

Black Sabbath Volume 4

Toss up between Number of the Beast and Ride the Lightning.

This is a tough one.. My mood determines my favorites.

I'll go with my early favorites. These are the records that changed my life (and still love them):

Nazareth: No mean city & Hair of the Dog.  Black Sabbath: Born Again & Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

The first metal music I ever heard. I would never be the same. The aggression in the guitar of Manny Charlton and the voice of Dan McCafferty, The opression and heaviness of Iommi's riffs, the bone-chilling screams of Ian Gillan.

The crushing drum beats,  the bass-thick riffs, the piercing solos. I never heard before such anger and darkness in music. I was hooked for life.

There are so many great ones...

Slayer South of Heaven

Its a tough one......

     Iron Maiden - Seventh son of a seventh son. - classic maiden riffage, varied vocals, and an element of progressive work too, 1988 was agreat year for metal!

I don't think I have a single favorite album, but...

Metallica - Ride the Lightning

Megadeth - Rust in Peace

Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power

1. Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk    

2. Opeth - Blackwater Park

3. Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse

4. Bathory - Blood Fire Death

5. Slayer - Reign In Blood

6. Metallica - Ride The Lightning

i gotta cheat but i'm not the only 1

slayer- south of heaven

kreator- enemy of god

death angel- act III

mercyful fate- 9/into the unknown/in the shadows

iced earth- alive in athens

I have to cheat as well. Impossible to name just one.

1. Ashes of The Wake

2. Obzen

3. An Ocean between Us

4. Retribution

5. Master of Puppets

Meshuggah's latest Alive 2010 i think deserves a mention, some of the best tracks from past albums. Great sound for live recording's. Also if you haven't heard As I Lay Dying's new album The Powerless Rise...OMFG! Kick ***

Panteras Vulgar Display of Power

There's really many of them, but if I had to nail it down to a specific album I think I'd have to say Killers with Iron Maiden! That was the album that put me on the right metal path from the start!

my favourite black metal album: panzer division marduk by marduk

favourite death metal album: deicide by deicide

favourite thrash metal album: reign in blood by slayer

favourite melodic death metal album: mirror of madness by norther

i pretty much dont listen to "plain" metal , i mostly listen to extreme metal, but i like some old school black sabbath here and then.

Like everyone else here I'm sure, my tastes fluctuate more than a politician's "priorities". However, there are a number of albums that I keep coming back to whenever I need to recharge from dealing with this trash we call life.

1. Mastodon: Leviathan (Heaviness and good clean country pickin'? Come on..)

2. Opeth: Ghost Reveries (Songwriting, songwriting, songwriting)

3. Crowbar: Sonic Excess In Its Purest Form (Who doesn't like to tune down and tune out?)

4. Gojira: The Link (Can metal actually cause an aneurism?)

5. High on Fire: Death Is This Communion (Matt Pike and things that rock for $500 Alex...)

So there you go, that's my contribution. I know more than a few of you will think I'm all wrong and you're probably right. But you know what? Who cares. That's what makes it METAL!!!!!!

my favorites would be.....

Number of the Best- Iron Maiden

Black Sabbath- Heaven & Hell

Helloween- the Dark ride

Iced Earth- Something Wicked This Way Comes

Evergrey - Torn (I also like their new one, Glorious Collision so it's kind of a toss up between the 2).

2 of my fav's worth mentioning, which I deem as solid foundations for true metal are:

Metallica - Master of Puppets (they set the tone for metal tone; no pun intended)

Judas Priest - Painkiller