Top 10 Most Important Albums in Extreme Metal History

There is no denying Slayer's influence on metal as a whole. They may not have been as popular as Metallica or as technical as Megadeth, but their sheer ferocity, blistering speed, machine-gun drumming, and volatile vocals and lyrics shaped Reign in Blood, an album that not only broke the limitations of thrash metal during its time but also laid the groundwork for what was to come in death metal and extreme metal as a whole.

For that, thank you and congratulations, Slayer. You've made a timeless classic that still holds up and remains influential even after 30 years.

It's prominently described as speed metal, but it influenced thrash more, as well as the emergence of death metal. I think every person who has listened to this album would say that it was made way too rough. Let me tell you - it was recorded in just three days as a debut. It's awesome. I have this album, and of course, who can forget Witching Hour?

This is the template for all extreme metal genres - the first speed, thrash, death, and black metal album.

@Ananya - I agree there are thrash elements, and I wouldn't debate this (thrash or speed) because the difference between thrash and speed metal was even smaller back then - thrash was a development of speed metal. Whatever it was, this album was very important, mostly for the black metal ideas in it.

I'd consider this to be the first true black metal album. It contains all of the elements that would become prominent on future black metal albums.

Released in 1984, the album combined black metal and thrash metal. The thrash metal intensity of Morbid Tales had a major influence on the then-developing death metal and black metal genres. It included elements that were adopted by the pioneers of both styles. The band's bleak and dead-serious fashion style was also influential, including their corpse paint face makeup.

1985 - the official birth of death metal, but Possessed had a demo released earlier, in 1984.

This was the best album from Venom. I played it all day when I was young, and my parents got mad about the loud music. When we played that record, a strange thing happened in my house. When I was home alone with my girlfriend, the devil came into my house. I was laughing, but not my girlfriend. I was a fan of that group. I saw them live for the first time, but now it's not the same. Sorry if the spelling of some words is not correct.

1982 - thrash metal and black metal. Oddly enough, the title track (Black Metal) is a thrash song and not a black metal song.

This album was released in 1989 and set a new precedent for heaviness and extremity, both musically and lyrically. It's definitely one of the most influential metal albums of all time. Between Reign in Blood and this one, two albums by Death were released, but they didn't manage to be recognized for their importance in extreme metal history at that time. The flames of Slayer and Morbid Angel (and don't forget Metallica) burned brightly.

I'm not a fan of Morbid Angel, but this album has been underrated in recent decades.

Released in 1996, this album did not create technical death metal, but it fully demonstrated the brutality of technical death metal and produced one of the heaviest and most brutal sounds in metal. Even now, 20+ years later, this album still sounds damn heavy and brutal.

None So Vile came out before Nile and Necrophagist's debut albums.

Flo Mounier turned the drums into a whole other instrument. The way he plays is unlike any other album I've ever heard.

Flo Mounier... yeah, this machine. I was like, what kind of weapons did he use instead of drums?

This should be in the #1 spot. We are talking about the most important albums...

Absolutely disgusted that this album is so low. Without Motorhead, Metallica (one of the biggest bands in metal history) most likely never would have existed.

Released in 1993, this album pioneered melodic death metal. Carcass and In Flames released albums in the same year but several months later. I don't think they influenced each other's albums, so all three bands count. Also, a fourth band (At The Gates) released an album with melodic death metal in 1994.

There are still some discussions about who was first, so I mentioned all four bands.

It's a pity that this was the only album from the band. Its experimental sound inspired many others across different subgenres.