I’ll start first, it’s Once Sent From The Golden Hall. I’m also open to discussion about said albums!
Master of Puppets. I know it’s not a particularly daring choice, but I don’t care, it’s perfection.
Blackwater Park by Opeth
Hard to pick a single one, so I’ll just list a few ones that I keep going back to.
Dream Theater - Awake
Destiny Potato - Lun
Fear Factory - Digimortal
In Flames - ClaymanOoh! I really love clayman. Such a good album!
Where owls know my name by rivers of nihil The phanerozoics by the ocean
It’s hard to just pick one but my favorite is probably Chaos A.D.
Death - Symbolic
Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Mastodon - Leviathan
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Riot - Thundersteel
Symphony X - V, The New Mythology Suite
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Heart like a grave from Insomnium. They tried to create the most melancholy melodic death metal album from Finland and succeeded. Just listen to songs like “twilight trails” or “pale morning star” (warning: it’s about suicide cause of loosing a loved person).
The perfect album is Pelagial by The Ocean. My favourite however is Ride the Lightning. And the one I’ll keep spinning until I die is Somewhere Along the Highway by Cult of Luna. But you know what? I saw the Darkness last week on their 20th anniversary of Permission to Land, and that album still has it!
Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Mastodon - Leviathan Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery
Cynic - Traced in Air
Symphony X - Paradise Lost
Psycroptic - The Inherited Repression
That which you fall in love as a teenager, innit?
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Heartwork by Carcass Stigmata by Arch Enemy Srontgorrth by Nagelfar Legends of Evil and Eternal Death by Hirilorn Carelian Satanist Madness by Satanic Warmaster Blackwater Park by Opeth
No particular order, depends on the day.
The Suffer album by Bad Religion
NIN - The Fragile
Fiona Apple - When the Pawn…
RATM - Battle of Los Angeles
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
Yo-Yo Ma - Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites
This might catch laughs but…
Hatebreeder by Children of Bodom
It was the first album that made me stop, and start to love metal. An old friend, the kind of person who’s a literary character in real life, and now is incredibly still alive after being hit by a goddamn train introduced me to a new world of music with that album. He’s obviously never been the same since the train, but he’s no longer an alcoholic, and always seems happy in spite of (or because of) the severe brain damage. I think of him especially when I go back to that album, and remember laughing at how ridiculous some of it is, when you really listen. It’s nice and baroque, with some amusing bits, and fun to listen through.
I’m not quite as well versed in metal as my spouse, but I’m glad to see these lists here, so I have more to check out!
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
Fantomas - The Director’s Cut
And, not really metal but you asked for just favorite:
Refused - The Shape Of Punk To Come
The Contortionist - Language
Between the Buried and Me - Colors
Reflections - The Color Clear
Northlane - Singularity
Monolord - Empress Rising