The top ten best heavy metal albums of all times...

G'day,

After I've posted my top ten list of the best albums of all times I have received some comments and so I thought about other top tens (and it's actually fun to do). So today I proudly present my top ten heavy metal albums. For the sake of argument I include "hard rock" into this category so don't send me a comment like "bla bla bla is not heavy metal, it's insert-whatever-crazy-subcategory". Again the albums are in no particular order.

The band that started it all. The inventors of heavy metal, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Ozzy Osborne and Geezer Butler (to quote my friend Pudgey: "Every fucking bassist should be called Geezer!"). This album is a milestone, a must in every record collection.
Motörhead's Ace of Spades, some might call it hard rock but I call it brilliant heavy metal. If you don't know this album, you haven't lived a decent life, period.
White Zombie, La Sexorcisto. Well, that's Metal with Groove! Rob Zombie may not be the best director in the world but he sure put a great band together. This record is like the Misfits with balls!
Ok, true enough, Metallica has sold out. They have become mainstream and from "...and justice for all" on they have become pop. A drum-kit on wheals, James Hetfield getting sober and taking vocal lessons...argh. But on the other hand "Master of Puppets" is one f the best metal albums of all time. Honestly "Ride the lightning" is as good but I only just like Masters a little better.
"Seasons in the abyss". Compared to Metallica this is a different cup of tea alltogether. Slayer have never sold out and never will. I saw them live the first time in 1992 and they just blew me away. This is the true spirit of heavy metal, the one and only constant. The one band you can instantly recognise withing the first 10 seconds of any song. Fuck, Slayer rules!
Who had thought that Brazilians could play heavy metal before Sepultura? Well, they can and Sepultura is pure aggression. If I'm pissed off at something, I just listen to a bit of "Arise" and it gets better. This album is also connected with one of the more interesting stories in rock n roll history. The guy who mixed this album is called Andy Wallace and in summer 1991 a young quite unknown Seattle grunge band called Nirwana listened to "Arise" and decide that they want the guy who mixed that album to mix their next record "Nevermind". The rest is history. Btw, Andy Wallace mixed/produced four of my top ten metal albums...
Tool "Undertow". Ok, you can't really classify Tool anyway so I might as well sort it into the heavy metal/hard rock drawer. This is definitively their best album, later they have become a little too eclectic. I still remember fondly when I saw them on the Undertow tour in 1994 in a little auditorium at university of Enschede. 3 hours live and they played "No quarter" by Led Zeppelin. It was freaking awesome.
The first Iron Maiden album with Bruce Dickinson. One of the best bands ever and undoubtedly their masterpiece. Songs like "Run to the hills", "Hallowed be thy name" and "Number of the beast" are anthems and this album is a modern classic, a must for any record collection.
Again I'm not sure if this is properly classified as heavy metal but who gives a flying fuck anyway? It's an awesome album, groovy but hard and very very angry. I am still silently giggling when I remember my former flatmate Stippel "dancing" to "Killing in the name" in Sputnik...
Last but not least Ministry's "The mind is a terrible thing to taste". Pure aggression, "Thieves" was banned from the play list in the club I used to go when I was young as people tended to bash their heads in while dancing to this song. Btw this album is extremely good to listen to on the iPod while being at the dentist, the sounds of a dentist drill merge right into the music as if intended to be their by nature. Apart from that it's just a killer album.

Well, that was my top ten heavy metal albums, again I'm looking forward to any comments you might have ad if you are from my parents generation i.e. 50+, don't worry if you only know Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden but at least you should have heard of those two bands.

Have a great day, stay save and cya