Finally... The Top 200 Extreme Metal Albums of ALL TIME!(results)

And it's my birthday now so I reserve the right to be indulgent

xxp I either didn't know this poll was happening or was in my "I ain't votin' in no poll!" phase, totally would've voted for that one.

Also, sund4r, if you haven't already check out Virus and Fleurety!

I still need to get that Dismember album. I know I'm totally slack but them sounding so much like Entombed really bugged me at the time. Which seems hilarious in an era where like a third of the metal I buy is d-beat/HM-2 death metal but, you know, things change.

Huh, that Cleric does in fact sound like SYL's City (per the YT comment). Gonna have to give this one a full listen.

I hope that this rollout introduces people to some stuff they've never heard of.

or didn't care to listen to at the time, as well...

Its a shame Nocturnus - The Key placed so abysmally low, it's been my #1 new listen so far.

Cosmic Slop is gonna miss out on one of his favorites placing...

154. Thergothon - Stream From The Heavens (183, 3 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/V35Ltu.jpg

https://youtu.be/tRJAkNSCn_Y
https://open.spotify.com/album/3CTRpruFgLKDVPHWLe2XET

Its a real beast, a foundational funeral doom album for sure.
I love this a lot, but I'm personally not really into the sound of the vocals.

the best album ever

"The Unknown Kadath in The Cold Waste" is a perfect song, imo.

which i intend to describe both like an ever flowing stream AND stream from the heavens

best streams ever

xpost

I love the Angel Hair.

don't xpost the streams

lol

I will, GOTT PUNCH.

TOO LOW

153. Morbid Angel - Covenant (184, 2 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/0r9d52.jpg

https://youtu.be/f8qnS_X5omQ

xp lol I thought you went to bed, you have to get up early!

Yay Thergothon! I will also rep their super-raw demo!

And can I recommend checking out Unholy's "Trip to Depressiv Autumn" demo for guys that dig Thergothon and Skepticism? I quote a metal archives review: "(A) glowing piece of low production filth (...) The guitar and bass just pound until you fuckin' puke."

I'll check it out for sure.

I mean it doesn't really sound like either of those bands, but that demo is insane. The guitars, man...

xxxpost I remember agonizing over which Morbid Angels to put on my ballot and finally decided to go with just the first two (at numbers 2 and 4, to boot). Honestly I should've included Covenant, Formulas, and especially Gateways. What a ridiculously great band.

I may have let "Angel of Disease" be the dissuading factor in this specific case.

Weird that VBE only got two votes, I thought it was almost like a canon album, shows what I know. Regressions is worryingly intense. I voted both of those pretty highly iirc

we'll show 'em

and yeah, seriously, VBE are spoken of in hushed tones in any extreme metal conversation OR SO I THOUGHT

listening to Reverend Bizarre. it's mad. approve.

152. Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape (184, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/NzKRvM.jpg

https://youtu.be/IIJ56d-8yPs
https://open.spotify.com/album/1Nsz6t50Wz9nAGZFdIw8d1

Haven't listened to this in a long time time but I remember liking it quite a bit.

I don't think VBE is canon exactly -- more in the "infamous" category, as showing how metal can be truly weird when it wants to be (and maybe especially for showing how black metal could be more than it was circa mid 90s). I like that both VBE and a DHG album made this poll!

I love that Sigh album. I'm kind of not into the "collage of genres"+metal thing generally but they do it so well on that album, it either doesn't feel contrived or it feels so contrived it's kind of genius.

This is the only Sigh album I kinda like

DHG are returning. 666 International might even make the top 100…maybe…

Sigh! Oh dear. Certainly extreme but comes off a bit cheesy to me. Except for 'A Sunset Song', which transcends cheese and becomes amazing. Maybe the album deserves to be here just for that

151. Tiamat - Wildhoney (185, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/tavs1O.jpg

https://youtu.be/B4CPKum9M2o
https://open.spotify.com/album/4SqDD8tTRLJB6YWxQe5Kyp

Wildhoney hasn't aged that well but I really liked Tiamat back in the day.

I'm liking it well enough, two tracks in...

seems like they hedged too much when they could have been artier and made a better album, though.

ok folks, are you ready for the last album of the night? its a pretty good one, imo.

xpost

also, I will say that the Dismember (which I'd argue *is* canon) is too low! Compared to what death metal became only a few years later, it might seem quaint, but the tunes are good, and for some reason, I am a sucker for death with d-beats.

I really didn't like Wildhoney when I listened to it ages ago, I'll give at another go at some point. My taste in metal has changed somewhat in the last few years.

150. Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Cosmosophy

https://i.sli.mg/UWecti.jpg

https://youtu.be/XT1N6cXgGiA
https://open.spotify.com/album/6hCtkhHQEQdboBgJmpBuhi

I've tried really hard to get into BaN but nothing sticks. It all sounds so monotonous to me, which may be the point but it doesn't make for anything particularly interesting

Aaaaaaah this is so good, the opening track is like the perfect straight BM song. Then it gets weird, having made its point!

Such a smooth, melodic record. I know this might seem boring, but it sounds like honey - it's exquisite. Coming from a guy whose grasp of dissonance is so extensive, too!

By far my favourite BAN, of those I've heard, and my number 9

P.S. I'm listening to the Angel Hair now. It's great!! Who knew this kind of stuff was being made in the 1990s? Not I!

*sigh* This is the sort of thing I grew up believing "emo" to mean.

i still listen to wildhoney! that came out at a time when there were sooooo many cool albums that i really felt should have crossed over more and gained non-metal fans. just stuff i thought more people should hear. that list is kinda endless though. plus, people suck and they wanted to listen to terrible music.

777 was my #5. It manages to be so pleasant in its mind-warping pitch-bending.

xp The 'emo' comment was re Angel Hair btw.

I never knew people thought of the '90s Gravity Records bands (Angel Hair et. al.) as metal-related at all.

Angel Hair sounds like what I'd call "screamo," which certainly had crossover into metal scenes.