Top Ten Most Influential Metal Albums

The top ten most influential metal songs of all time. Remember that its all metal songs!
The Top Ten
1 Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Though this album may not be the BEST metal album in terms of quality, still Black Sabbaths debut not being number 1 is outrageous. It was the first real heavy metal album in history, and an album made 16 years later by a band that was probably influenced BY Black Sabbath is just...

Number is my favorite, but this is where metal came from, so it kind of HAS to be the most influential - all the others that came afterwards wouldn't have been without this one, therefore there influence adds to this ones influence.

This is not a greatest albums list, it is a most influential albums list. So why are master of puppets and number of the beast higher than the first heavy metal album. Master of puppets is better, but certainly not as influential as Black Sabbath

2 The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden

See, Metallica is, although a great band, not as influential as the leaders of NWOBHM (sharing the title with the LEGENDARY Judas Priest).
When we say influential, there should either be a Black Sabbath album or a Judas Priest album or and Iron Maiden album up there. Metallica's Master Of Puppets, does not deserve the first place in my opinion

The best of the best in terms of quality, and one of the most influential along with early Sabbath and Deep Purple albums.

MUCH better than Master. In fact, Master wouldn't have happened without this. And since the list is most influential...

3 Master of Puppets - Metallica

Even if it's not my favorite album, I gotta admit that there isn't a single album that influenced so many bands like this one do. It's a masterpiece, can't deny!

Each and every song is a masterpiece. Honestly you're mentally challenged if you don't admit this album deserves number one

Great album, but to be honest, without Black Sabbath, there would be no Master of Puppets.

4 Rust in Peace - Megadeth

I love James' way of writing a song, especially in his early days. My surroundings were always more into Metallica and not so much into Megadeth. It's a shame that this band really came into my life when I was older, over 25, but since then it has never left me.

Metallica is for sure one of my favourite bands in Metal and it was breathtaking when I first listened to the Master Of Puppets Album. But when I first listened to the whole Rust in Peace, it was like, "How is someone even able to write such songs?" It's not like, "Yeah, this riff is awesome." It's more like you listen to a great riff and then comes the solo which makes the song even better.

I mean, when you listen to a song, then you for sure will lay more interest in the riff structure and the solo is a cool fill but barely influences the sounding of a song. Friedman, in my opinion, is such a genius on the guitar and his shredding stuff is so unique. Dave wrote a song and then Marty came up and used Dave's feelings in this song to make a solo that makes every song perfect from the beginning to the end.

And that's just it. Master of Puppets is also so amazing, but Kirk isn't making a Solo in a kind that has happened on Rust in Peace. So for me, Rust in Peace compared to all the Metal Albums I know so far, is "the one" that came closest to perfection.

5 Paranoid - Black Sabbath

I think a lot of fans may be too young to know how unlike anything else, this album was. Though the first album was recorded and released before this one, Paranoid benefitted from a much wider distribution. When you hear Paranoid in the context of modern metal it might sound bluesy. But when you here it in the context of what was around at the time, it's stunning. Changed my life.

Influential guys, influantial. Master of puppets but it has not influenced people... guns and Roses on that list : Influantial : hair metal band were there before and after...

Ask anyone in metal what they think is the most influential metal album of all time. It'll be this, or Black Sabbath's Black Sabbath.

6 Reign In Blood - Slayer

Thus beast of an album influenced a lot of bands such as Pantera, Cannibal Corpse and many other extreme metal bands. It's not the most influential but gave birth to the roots of Death, Black and Groove Metal.

While I don't like the album itself, I have to admit, it's the golden standard for the extreme subgenres of metal and is cited as an influence way more than any other album by the big4.

Not my favourite album on the list but this is the album that basically created the death metal genre.

7 Kill Em' All - Metallica

James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine were the greatest song writing duo that metal has ever seen. I'm glad we have two great bands now, but it's a shame that we didn't get to hear more of what these two could do together.

Kille Em' All is faster than Master of Puppets, even though I love and own all of the albums in this list, I like Kill Em' All
better...

Kill Em' All started thrash metal, and that's a fact.

8 Black Metal - Venom

This should be at least in the top 5. Instead of voting for master of puppets just because you like it. Think of this, an influential album is one that has an impact on music, brings new techniques and styles to the table, and revolutionizes heavy metal. This album not only influenced thrash metal, particularly slayer, but it also coined the term Black Metal, and was the first album to use extreme satanic lyrics. This album was the main influence for all of the Scandinavian Black Metal Bands.

Second most important metal album after sabbaths debut, pretty much launched everything that came after it (slayer, metallica, bathory, pantera, death).

Great album and underrated band, although I prefer At War With Satan (19 minute song full of screams, now that's talent).

9 Sad Wings of Destiny - Judas Priest

While early metal had its foundation together with traditional doom (Black Sabbath), Judas Priest was, into a set of bands, the most important in shaping HEAVY metal as we know it.

The Top 3 albums that shaped the metal genre in its early development were:
1. Machine Head - Deep Purple;
2. Rising - Rainbow;
3. Sad Wings Of Destiny - Judas Priest.

Black Sabbath were not metal in the 70s - they were heavy blues rock. Black Sabbath joined the metal movement in 1980 after lots of stylistic changes in their sound and style.

It has to be either this album or sabbath's first album. It's a toss-up. I give this the nod because I think that this is just a better album all around and Rob Halford's vocal stylings were way more influential to metal music than Ozzy's strange guttural wails.

10 Scream Bloody Gore - Death

Though Scream Bloody Gore kept more thrash influences ingrained in Death's music than later (Sound of Perseverance or Symbolic, their really good) era work, it's influence within the genre of death metal cannot be overstated.

The birth of a legend, every following album is better than the previous. One of the few bands in the history that never released a bad album or song. Just pure bliss. RIP Chuck.

I'm tired of seeing people voting to their favorite albums instead of the influential ones.

The Contenders
11 Cowboys from Hell - Pantera

This album revolutionized heavy metal and turned thrash metal to a groove metal sound thanks to dimebags shredding riffs and phil's insane vocals.. tracks like domination, cowboys from hell, heresy are hit

One of the most amazing albums ever. Has one of the very few metal songs on it that can actually make me almost cry when I listen to it.

12 Machine Head - Deep Purple

This album should always be at #1 because it contains several songs, which defined all basic metal elements.

Highway Star - the first metal masterpiece. It's widely considered as the prototype of speed metal and metal in general.

Hard Lovin' Man - pure speed metal, too. Give a listen to this underrated song and you will hear everything you hear in 50% of the metal songs created later by other bands - the gallop, vocals/screams and song structure.

Ian Gillan was Bruce Dickinson's vocal idol for a reason. And obviously, Iron Maiden made this galloping style popular.
Deep Purple and Rainbow influenced directly and massively the NWOBHM and thus - the whole metal genre as we know it now.

13 Ride the Lightning - Metallica

This is Metallica's best album to me.

14 Rising - Rainbow

An extremely influential metal album released in 1976 and a metal masterpiece.
It helped to define and strengthen this baby genre (metal) in the mid 70s.
This is a top 3 most influential album - without this album you can't explain the fast and non-bluesy sound of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden in the late 70s.

Metal epicness was introduced with all its aspects - epic songs, epic vocal performances, and also epic, fast and technical instrumental sections (credits to Ritchie Blackmore and Dio).
On this album are songs like "Stargazer" and "A Light In The Black".
Credits for inventing several subgenres like power metal, neo-classical metal, and so on. Dio's star also began to rise.

There would be no Metallica without them. Lars credits them as one of his main influences. Also, it is where Dio got his start. They helped make metal more complex with Blackmore's classically influenced solos.

15 In Rock - Deep Purple

Oh man, I can't believe this list was created 8 years ago and I had to add at #93 one of the two albums that created metal.
In Rock by Deep Purple and Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath were these 2 important albums that started metal, both albums released in 1970.
Black Sabbath album contained the template for doom metal, Deep Purple album - for all metal subgenres that are fast.

Ritchie Blackmore's guitars and Ian Gillan's vocals were essential to go beyond hard rock and create the genre of metal itself.

14? Are you kidding? This album pretty much invented metal.

16 Morbid Tales - Celtic Frost

Perfectly exemplifies the birth of the estremes black and death metal upon the cornerstone of thrash.

Pretty heavy album for 1984, very Venom and Black Sabbath influenced sound

17 British Steel - Judas Priest

This album is the moment at which metal truly reached the mainstream, for better or worse.

One of the best Heavy Metal albums ever also with Number of the Beast, Master of Puppets, Rust in Peace, Black Sabbath and Reign in Blood

18 Korn - Korn

It's the rawest most emotionally draining album ever made... Singing about personal demons is scarier than chanting about evil spirits... A revolutionary album that changed the phase of heavy music forever! Truly a masterpiece...

Heavy in a different way to every other album in this list and better than every other metal album I've ever heard. The songs make me want to slam my fist through a window

With the popularity the Nu Metal achieved, it's hard not to place the record that started it all in the top 10.

19 Led Zeppelin I - Led Zeppelin
20 Bonded by Blood - Exodus
21 Back in Black - AC/DC

Some people read correctly the question: most influential METAL albums?
Led Zep, AC/DC and Guns N' Roses are not metal.
Speaking of who influenced metal without being metal I have to list Paganini, Bach, Beethoven and Wagner but we can't put them here because their albums are not metal.
Where is Rainbow by the way? A really influential metal band with genre defining albums.

Laugh Out Loud.. What is AC/DC doing on this list?
What is Guns N' Roses doing on this list?
What is Led Zeppelin Doing on this list?
Ok all of them are great rock bands.. But why they are in "most influential metal albums"

I think a lot if people misread most influential metal albums. Not all are metal but they influenced metal

22 Pleasure to Kill - Kreator
23 Lightning to the Nations - Diamond Head

One of the first metal albums, inspired Metallica, Megadeath, and many more.

24 Master of Reality - Black Sabbath

The Masters of Genres gave birth to doom, stoner and even christian metal all at once on this masterpiece of album.

The most doom metal influential album like a giant passing all around of our ears, tony is the master, ozzy the madman, gezeer the mental ill and bill the puncher

25 Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin

It's not metal, not even close to metal. Led Zep did not influence metal and did not invent metal. They distance themselves from anything related to metal, too.
Among the greatest rock bands, definitely Queen sound closest to metal. Or, to put it that way: metal bands sound more like Queen than like Led Zep, ACDC or Guns N' Roses. No wonder Queen released a song in 1974 (Stone Cold Crazy), labeled "thrash metal before the term had been invented". It was 9 years before Metallica! Metallica obviously noticed the thrash potential of this song and did a cover. Cheers!
Forget about Led Zep and say hello to Queen!
Pink Floyd influenced prog metal.
Another rock band that really influenced metal was Thin Lizzy (A dozen of their songs are even considered metal). Some of their biggest fans are Metallica, Iron Maiden and Vader, to name a few.

8Load More
PSearch List