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

which would be so, so dull imo

honestly, and they may revoke my metal credentials because of this, I'd agree -- however, I'd still be able to get behind it in favor of Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeath, etc. My only real issue with it (and Slayer in general), is that I heard it after I'd already been into stuff like Kreator, Possessed, Sadus, Morbid Saint, not to mention tons of black and death metal. Compared to that stuff, it seems a little tame, and the vocals are (ha) too clean. But I haven't met a metal-head yet who actually agrees with me, and I'm quite sure my position is based on a retrospective appreciation of metal -- if I was a kid in 1986, it probably would have blown my mind.

Nightside Eclipse or Anthems I reckon.

#1 will be The Eagles - Greatest Hits.

hearing Reign in Blood was a game-changer for me, the first time I had heard music that felt genuinely scary

i had the same thing with 'Reign In Blood'. All my life I'd been told about this absolutely insane, face-melting metal album to rule them all. When I finally heard it, I was like 'sounds like Metallica but slightly faster'

xp

there's loads of young ones out there who think anything before slayer isnt metal and that it all started from them.

Ive actually argued online with some who insist sabbath,maiden, priest are heavy rock. They also tend to hate black metal for some reason.
I suppose they only like the Slayer - death metal lineage?

for people our age hearing slayer in the 80s was definitely "extreme" but quite obviously post death metal et al its not extreme at all. But it would be silly to say slayer arent extreme. It would just be deadly dull if they or any of the big four won this poll.
otoh I cant honestly say there's anything I think should win.

can we just not ever reveal the top 4? :D

1. YOUR HARD DRIVE

I have to think Lombardo's drumming -- and the production of that drumming -- was a huge part of RiB's face melting. Yeah, Possessed and Kreator were darker, Dark Angel was more vicious; but there's something in the sheer punchiness of RiB that made it leap out of the speakers unlike any other album of the time. If you listen to just the guitars and vocals alone, there's really not that much of a 'holy shit' factor. Those drums, though ...

Those famous Slayer arpeggios were genuinely creepy, too.

These days the creepiest things are their fans

xpost Having said that, I was still never clear on whether thrash was allowed in this vote so I didn't include as much as I could've -- and really mostly only the bigger American names. Very unscientific. And unmetal, probably.

xpost

yeah, Lombardo is a Hall-of-Famer, one of those Bonham-type guys who really did change the game. And imo in metal, instrumental game-changing is part of the equation in a way that it isn't in most other genres. The problem as a decades-later listener, is that you only have to jump a ahead a few years to hit Pete Sandoval, and then Flo Maunier, etc etc etc. I can argue that Lombardo was as good or better a *musician* as any who came before/after him, but you can't argue that people did crazier/faster stuff not very long after. Metal has a ruthless way of making the past obsolete, while at the same time always keeping a candle lit for the Ones Who Came Before.

Has metal hit max-extremity yet?

I suppose with technology it could get even faster and unlistenable

I think even with just good old human ambition, there's never going to be a "max extremity" point -- unless metal extremes itself out of being recognizably metal anymore.... at which point, a new starting point for some other kind of music to evolve is set.

Extremity doesn't need to mean speed. It can refer even more pleasingly to complexity and depth of composition, which has no limit. I would even call speed a red herring, a battle of metal's early days and comparatively modest ambitions.

to most people its speed and it must also have growly vox

nanotonality is the future

It can refer even more pleasingly to complexity and depth of composition, which has no limit

I dunno, you gotta draw the line somewhere and Dream Theater is that limit

I do like the idea that Ferneyhough is the future of metal.

Ferneyhöügh?

Korn invented Future Metal remember

would be lols if Frobisher was making us wait because reign in blood was next

i would be happy if south of heaven was number one. but you guys probably voted for alcest.

the only Alcest nominated has placed

no sorry, as an American, I got up little over an hour ago, running on the Pacific time zone, and now upon finishing breakfast and everything else I am getting back to running the poll. Sorry if this conflicts with your schedules.

and my internet isn't working right today either. :(

69. Celtic Frost - Monotheist (322, 5 votes)

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

https://youtu.be/N59La4jsOjA
https://open.spotify.com/album/3Jyy0CkiG9OkGDxQQGhMgy

^^^^^^ yesssss

One of the greatest comeback albums ever not just in metal but all music

68. Corrupted - El mundo frio (324, 4 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/vhskD1.jpg

https://youtu.be/JiFeDwKKSCo

Cthulow..

nanotonality is the future

― moans and feedback (Dinsdale)

i forsee this to be true

67. Burzum - Hvis lyset tar oss (325, 4 votes, 1 #1)

https://i.sli.mg/JHTPW9.jpg

https://youtu.be/JiFeDwKKSCo
https://open.spotify.com/album/277GP8d3KlBSQwMZJza6pe

o ffs...

https://i.sli.mg/NwiG2D.jpg

oh wow. I thought that was a certainty for the top 10. It was in the top 10 of the all-time metal poll iirc

If Burzum are this low maybe Pantera will miss out too.

Thrash taking a grip on the top 10 maybe? can see at least half of the top 10 being albums by the big four

only one metallica album has placed so far...

66. Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise (328, 5 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/3iS1XT.jpg

https://youtu.be/_w9TbulMd70
https://open.spotify.com/album/5jxBi6eZrzosLglD1l23XG

5 votes! how many were sund4rs?

I like it (and probably voted for it) but too high!

Shit! There's one of my votes I didn't expect to work out. Feels too high, but good record

65. Sepultura - Beneath The Remains (329, 5 votes)

https://i.sli.mg/BiCJu1.jpg

https://youtu.be/By-Lxxy-HpU
https://open.spotify.com/album/3BDZvMYxZ6E8IuSQL2ew6Z

everything is too high or too low -- this poll is EXTREME!

feels weird seeing albums that hadnt even been out a year when voting took place placing this high

xps

Late but Burzum's another one I can't get into -- having nothing to do with loathsomeness of the artist, I should add -- thus none on my list. When putting together my ballot I'm sure I capriciously bounced around from "historical significance" to "personal favorite" and I guess Burzum lost out when my considerations were swinging to the latter. Again, this was all very unscientific.