10 Best Metal Albums for People Who Hate Metal

The Top Ten

1 Paranoid - Black Sabbath

I'm not a massive metal fan but this album is really great.

I love this album and I'll love it forever

2 The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden

Great pick for the uninitiated. While it is heavy enough for fans of both Maiden and metal, and definitely not the most mainstream album on this list, the pop sensibilities help to make it very accessible for non-fans. Mostly short songs, catchy choruses, memorable hooks, sing-a-long aspect and enough grandiose to leave an impact demonstrate these pop touches which makes it recommendable to those who either hate metal or those who want to engage with it but don't know where to start. However, it is also heavy enough to appeal to Maiden fans too. It's the perfect in-between.

The album not the song

3 Metallica (Black Album) - Metallica

Why would they listen to it of they hate metal?

4 City of Evil - Avenged Sevenfold

5 Mezmerize - System of a Down

6 Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses - Slipknot

7 The Hunter - Mastodon

8 Blizzard of Ozz - Ozzy Osbourne

I'm not a metal fan but Ozzy Osbourne is probably better than most heavy metal.

9 Images and Words - Dream Theater

10 The Strength, the Sound, the Songs - Volbeat

The Contenders

11 Holy Diver - Dio

12 Sehnsucht - Rammstein

13 Once - Nightwish

Its symphonic metal. And symphonic metal is one of the softest metal genres. So I think it'd be good for metal haters. Because usually people hate metal for its heaviness.

14 At the Edge of Time - Blind Guardian

Contains The Song Wheel of Time which is impossible to hate

15 Meliora - Ghost

Poppy enough for pop fans to like

16 British Steel - Judas Priest

A very mainstream sound makes this the ideal record for those who hate metal, as it is heavy enough to be applicable under the genre label but not to the point to alienate those listeners.

17 The Scarecrow - Avantasia