The Best Metal Albums of Each Year Since 1980

1980
1. Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
2. Judas Priest - British Steel
3. Motörhead - Ace of Spades
4. Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
5. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

1981
1. Iron Maiden - Killers
2. Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
3. Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
4. Saxon - Denim and Leather
5. Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love

1982
1. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
2. Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
3. Scorpions - Blackout
4. Accept - Restless and Wild
5. Anvil - Metal on Metal

1983
1. Dio - Holy Diver
2. Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
3. Metallica - Kill 'Em All
4. Mötley Crüe - Shout at the Devil
5. Quiet Riot - Metal Health

1984
1. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
2. Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith
3. Iron Maiden - Powerslave
4. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force - Rising Force
5. Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath

1985
1. Slayer - Hell Awaits
2. Exodus - Bonded by Blood
3. Accept - Metal Heart
4. Helloween - Walls of Jericho
5. Dokken - Under Lock and Key

1986
1. Stryper - To Hell With the Devil
2. Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory
3. Metallica - Master of Puppets
4. Slayer - Reign in Blood
5. Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

1987
1. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I
2. Anthrax - Among the Living
3. Dokken - Back for the Attack
4. Judas Priest - Priest... Live!
5. King Diamond - Abigail

1988
1. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II
2. Judas Priest - Ram It Down
3. Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
4. Impellitteri - Stand in Line
5. Manowar - Kings of Metal

1989
1. Skid Row - Skid Row
2. Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood
3. Savatage - Gutter Ballet
4. Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
5. Coroner - No More Color

1990
1. Judas Priest - Painkiller
2. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
3. Gamma Ray - Heading for Tomorrow
4. Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
5. Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

1991
1. Savatage - Streets: A Rock Opera
2. Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
3. Metallica - Metallica
4. Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
5. Death - Human

1992
1. Dream Theater - Images and Words
2. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
3. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
4. Firehouse - Hold Your Fire
5. W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol

1993
1. Death - Individual Thought Patterns
2. Carcass - Heartwork
3. Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses
4. Cynic - Focus
5. Fight - War of Words

1994
1. N.EX.T - The Return of N.EX.T Part 1 - The Being
2. Dream Theater - Awake
3. Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
4. Tiamat - Wildhoney
5. Megadeth - Youthanasia

1995
1. Blind Guardian - Imaginations from the Other Side
2. Royal Hunt - Moving Target
3. Death - Symbolic
4. Gamma Ray - Land of the Free
5. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

1996
1. Stratovarius - Episode
2. Cradle of Filth - Dusk... and Her Embrace
3. Theatre of Tragedy - Velvet Darkness They Fear
4. Tool - Ænima
5. Edge of Sanity - Crimson

1997
1. Lacrimosa - Stille
2. Haggard - And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer
3. N.EX.T - Lazenca: A Space Rock Opera
4. Stratovarius - Visions
5. Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy

1998
1. Cradle of Filth - Cruelty and the Beast
2. Therion - Vovin
3. Nightwish - Oceanborn
4. Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands
5. Death - The Sound of Perseverance

1999
1. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
2. Lacrimosa - Elodia
3. Kamelot - The Fourth Legacy
4. Virgin Steele - The House of Atreus: Act I
5. In Flames - Colony

2000
1. Anorexia Nervosa - Drudenhaus
2. In Flames - Clayman
3. Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite
4. Within Temptation - Mother Earth
5. Iron Maiden - Brave New World

2001
1. Secret Sphere - A Time Nevercome
2. Avantasia - The Metal Opera
3. Lacrimas Profundere - Burning: A Wish
4. Rhapsody - Rain of a Thousand Flames
5. Opeth - Blackwater Park

2002
1. Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Rhapsody - Power of the Dragonflame
3. Dark Tranquillity - Damage Done
4. Nightwish - Century Child
5. Agalloch - The Mantle

2003
1. Lost Horizon - A Flame to the Ground Beneath
2. Dream Theater - Train of Thought
3. Insania - Fantasy (A New Dimension)
4. Children of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll
5. Kamelot - Epica

2004
1. Angra - Temple of Shadows
2. Nightwish - Once
3. Edguy - Hellfire Club
4. Within Temptation - The Silent Force
5. Mastodon - Leviathan

2005
1. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
2. Kamelot - The Black Halo
3. Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution
4. Primal Fear - Seven Seals
5. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius

2006
1. Heavenly - Virus
2. Edguy - Rocket Ride
3. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
4. Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
5. Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress

2007
1. Alcest - Souvenirs d'un autre monde
2. Dark Tranquillity - Fiction
3. Between the Buried and Me - Colors
4. Primordial - To the Nameless Dead
5. Machine Head - The Blackening

2008
1. Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls
2. Opeth - Watershed
3. Equilibrium - Sagas
4. Cynic - Traced in Air
5. Avantasia - The Scarecrow

2009
1. Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
2. Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
3. Lacrimosa - Sehnsucht
4. Vektor - Black Future
5. Mastodon - Crack the Skye

2010
1. Scorpions - Sting in the Tail
2. Alcest - Écailles de lune
3. Ghost - Opus Eponymous
4. Won - Majesty
5. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus

2011
1. Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows
2. Royal Hunt - Show Me How to Live
3. Septicflesh - The Great Mass
4. Havok - Time Is Up
5. Downhell - A Relative Coexistence

2012
1. Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I
2. Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence
3. Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind
4. Testament - Dark Roots of Earth
5. Primal Fear - Unbreakable

2013
1. Persefone - Spiritual Migration
2. Gorguts - Colored Sands
3. Deafheaven - Sunbather
4. Carcass - Surgical Steel
5. Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn

2014
1. Crux - Elapse with the Relapse
2. Behemoth - The Satanist
3. Won - Rocker's Manual
4. Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls
5. Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel

2015
1. Batushka - Litourgiya
2. Mgła - Exercises in Futility
3. Method - Abstract
4. Soilwork - The Ride Majestic
5. Deafheaven - New Bermuda

2016
1. Vektor - Terminal Redux
2. Megadeth - Dystopia
3. Insomnium - Winter's Gate
4. Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence
5. Moonsorrow - Jumalten aika

2017
1. Beast in Black - Berserker
2. Persefone - Aathma
3. Jeremy - The Dawn of the Universe - New Type
4. Cradle of Filth - Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay
5. Converge - The Dusk in Us

2018
1. Judas Priest - Firepower
2. Dark Mirror ov Tragedy - The Lord ov Shadows
3. Sleep - The Sciences
4. Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
5. Ghost - Prequelle