Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
TheHolyKiwi 
I'd just like to point out as of September 2018 this chart is outdated, I also don't use this site anymore as I don't appreciate the community at all anymore. I've moved over to RYM and you can find me @ https://rateyourmusic.com/~Lythelus
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Please don't attack my chart, it's my opinion and hopefully should be respected, thank you! :)
In retrospect, why hate? Ask yourself this question. Do you gain anything from it?
I come back every so often to add/remove albums and sort out the chart's placings, so I can't say it's ever rock solid.
At this current point in time 05/02/2018, it's a solid as it will be for the subsequent upcoming months.
I've added genres to every album on the list, I saw other members doing it and it looked nice, so I thought I'd try it! I also state Key Tracks, these point out what I feel is the most important track of the album while also reflecting my favorite in personal taste.
I have a rule and more of a custom to follow to not have more than one album per artist! I really prefer to only stick with one album per artist because it it allows for a lot more diversity and I listen to a LOT of albums.
If you're going to complain about the rule above, think again, I'm a music connoisseur, I listen to too much music to repeat a ridiculous amount of the same artist, I would NOT be HONEST with myself if I did that. The less artist repeats, the more honest this chart would actually be. I am constantly looking for spaces from artists that I love but can't fit in the chart. So think again, do not bitch about it and do not say it is dishonest. This chart is full 100% honesty. I just can't contemplate why I would flood the chart with multiples from the same artist, it doesn't make sense.
Well what are you waiting for!? Go ahead and read away! Hopefully I introduce some new underrated albums that you can give a listen!
- Chart updated: 10/23/2018 10:15
- (Created: 08/12/2014 11:28).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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Dark folk • post-rock • atmospheric black metal • progressive metal
For starters, Agalloch’s style of music and genre mashups, mixing both black and folk metal can be particularly daunting for even the most seasoned of metal listeners to grasp. But, this is the perfect example of a band that has the boundless talent and vision to combine these various genres with numerous influences that you would not typically hear on a metal album or many albums within the spectrum of music in geneal for that matter. The Mantle is a product of experimentation, where the band strained their intellectual appeal into further depths of song-writing and deep lyricism. The album transitions between multiple moods and phases yet never manages to get lost in the process. A timpani and acoustic guitar backed by a droning synthesizer slowly crescendo and build the very foundations of The Mantle from the first minutes right to the end. From the introduction into the first true track that is “In The Shadows of our Pale Companions” there are not many of the signature elements that hint back to the type of black metal bands typically embrace. The absence of relentless double bass drumming and blast beats are replaced by a slow and steady pace for the majority of the album with a sizeable emphasis on acoustic and folk. The result is something even more haunting in comparison. Clean vocals appear alongside an entirely unique heavier style of vocal, that has been helmed and mastered by John Haughm for decades, that is remarkably similar to whispering. The guitars drift from acoustic interludes and passages into explosive climaxes seen in post rock that manage to retain all of the atmosphere heard in the softer, slower sections. The bass guitar instrumentation is also unfathomably unique and the fact is, the bass is highly audible! An accomplishment in itself as bassists typically do not play a large role within the realm of black metal. The bass lines rarely if ever mimic the guitars and compliment the songs extremely well, leading into that experimentation that Agalloch so thoroughly implements within the music. The Mantle also borrows a lot from post-rock and atmospheric sludge metal when it comes to the near cinematic level of detail placed on atmosphere and structure. All in all, Agalloch amplified everything that worked on Pale Folklore, a debut record that ranks among some of the finest ever and embraced a vast selection of fresh elements. The effortless transitions between the numerous ideas, genres and moods is what makes The Mantle such a brilliant and beautiful album full of boundless experimentation and astounding artistic vision. The Mantle has much to say and not every proclamation is heard on the first listen or even comes across clearly with subsequent listens, it’s as deep as records come as is a classic within and outside the genre’s constrants and suits the landscapes that Winter and Fall provides with perfection.
Key Track: In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion
This entry also includes - "Ashes Against the Grain"
This was the write up I did for it previously when it was on my top 100 but then decided to stick with 1 entry per artist. Another record by Agalloch, huh? Well Agalloch have quite a special place in my heart and this album departure is a obvious go to staple for my list. The mood, blending in with it's surroundings as it pummels the atmosphere surrounding, growing bleaker, giving me respite, the remaining ashes of burnt past, laying against the grain. A transported world, not for the faint of heart, but the experience dwells upon memory and the fire burning bright, melting snow but the blizzard does not cease, the impending notions of the environment, no more movement, falling into the ash, swept into the grain. An adventure not forgotten, for it delves straight into the darkest pits of nature's secrets, contemplating the earth, the forests, the ice and the cold wind shimmering my skin. Ashes Against the Grain shows Agalloch taking a step away from the sound of their previous albums by putting more emphasis on electric guitars and mammoth, dense, encompassing riffs and passages. Pale Folklore, and to a much larger degree, The Mantle, had the band making more acoustic based music and utilizing subtle sounds and effects. Ashes Against the Grain goes in the complete opposite direction. The band takes this new sound and, by some stroke of luck, manages to not have to fiddle around with it to perfect it; they get it right on the first go. It sounds absolutely massive, emotionally impending and beautifully destructive, creating incredible scenery reminiscent of fire blazing through icy-cold blizzards. Thus yet again, Ashes Against the Grain is another epic, incendiary masterpiece from one of atmospheric black metal's best bands.
Key Track: Bloodbirds [First added to this chart: 05/28/2015]
For starters, Agalloch’s style of music and genre mashups, mixing both black and folk metal can be particularly daunting for even the most seasoned of metal listeners to grasp. But, this is the perfect example of a band that has the boundless talent and vision to combine these various genres with numerous influences that you would not typically hear on a metal album or many albums within the spectrum of music in geneal for that matter. The Mantle is a product of experimentation, where the band strained their intellectual appeal into further depths of song-writing and deep lyricism. The album transitions between multiple moods and phases yet never manages to get lost in the process. A timpani and acoustic guitar backed by a droning synthesizer slowly crescendo and build the very foundations of The Mantle from the first minutes right to the end. From the introduction into the first true track that is “In The Shadows of our Pale Companions” there are not many of the signature elements that hint back to the type of black metal bands typically embrace. The absence of relentless double bass drumming and blast beats are replaced by a slow and steady pace for the majority of the album with a sizeable emphasis on acoustic and folk. The result is something even more haunting in comparison. Clean vocals appear alongside an entirely unique heavier style of vocal, that has been helmed and mastered by John Haughm for decades, that is remarkably similar to whispering. The guitars drift from acoustic interludes and passages into explosive climaxes seen in post rock that manage to retain all of the atmosphere heard in the softer, slower sections. The bass guitar instrumentation is also unfathomably unique and the fact is, the bass is highly audible! An accomplishment in itself as bassists typically do not play a large role within the realm of black metal. The bass lines rarely if ever mimic the guitars and compliment the songs extremely well, leading into that experimentation that Agalloch so thoroughly implements within the music. The Mantle also borrows a lot from post-rock and atmospheric sludge metal when it comes to the near cinematic level of detail placed on atmosphere and structure. All in all, Agalloch amplified everything that worked on Pale Folklore, a debut record that ranks among some of the finest ever and embraced a vast selection of fresh elements. The effortless transitions between the numerous ideas, genres and moods is what makes The Mantle such a brilliant and beautiful album full of boundless experimentation and astounding artistic vision. The Mantle has much to say and not every proclamation is heard on the first listen or even comes across clearly with subsequent listens, it’s as deep as records come as is a classic within and outside the genre’s constrants and suits the landscapes that Winter and Fall provides with perfection.
Key Track: In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion
This entry also includes - "Ashes Against the Grain"
This was the write up I did for it previously when it was on my top 100 but then decided to stick with 1 entry per artist. Another record by Agalloch, huh? Well Agalloch have quite a special place in my heart and this album departure is a obvious go to staple for my list. The mood, blending in with it's surroundings as it pummels the atmosphere surrounding, growing bleaker, giving me respite, the remaining ashes of burnt past, laying against the grain. A transported world, not for the faint of heart, but the experience dwells upon memory and the fire burning bright, melting snow but the blizzard does not cease, the impending notions of the environment, no more movement, falling into the ash, swept into the grain. An adventure not forgotten, for it delves straight into the darkest pits of nature's secrets, contemplating the earth, the forests, the ice and the cold wind shimmering my skin. Ashes Against the Grain shows Agalloch taking a step away from the sound of their previous albums by putting more emphasis on electric guitars and mammoth, dense, encompassing riffs and passages. Pale Folklore, and to a much larger degree, The Mantle, had the band making more acoustic based music and utilizing subtle sounds and effects. Ashes Against the Grain goes in the complete opposite direction. The band takes this new sound and, by some stroke of luck, manages to not have to fiddle around with it to perfect it; they get it right on the first go. It sounds absolutely massive, emotionally impending and beautifully destructive, creating incredible scenery reminiscent of fire blazing through icy-cold blizzards. Thus yet again, Ashes Against the Grain is another epic, incendiary masterpiece from one of atmospheric black metal's best bands.
Key Track: Bloodbirds [First added to this chart: 05/28/2015]
Year of Release:
2002
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,483
Rank in 2002:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
9
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Avant-garde metal • progressive rock
Perhaps the most dazzlingly varied album I've ever come across. "Bath" is a breathtaking, one hour demon that like no other album can make you feel every kind of emotion accessible to an individual. Bath personally is a behemoth on my catalogue of interesting records, it is quite possibly the most unique record I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. It blends styles from and contains elements from many different genres including jazz, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, post rock, art rock, progressive metal, doom metal, death metal, and gothic metal, as well as chamber music, ambient music and new-age music. I don't think any other albums outside of Toby Driver's - Maudlin & Kayo Dot - discography have been able to make this feat so accomplished and incredible to listen to, it flows almost perfectly, nothing feels out of place. Maudlin released another album in 2001, which are considered twin albums, Bath and Leaving Your Body Map. With these two albums, they established themselves as one of the most tantalizingly interesting bands out there today, well for me in particular. The first one that got released was "Bath", the masterpiece of Toby Driver's first period, and possibly the quintessential Maudlin album. The band has reached definite maturity with this album, and surely will go down in music history as one of the best avant-garde records out there, yet again, well at least for me. Don't sleep on the other album released in the same period though, it's nearly as brilliant. The first thing you notice when you listen to a Maudlin album is how incredibly eclectic the band is: one song can be a nice, beautiful piece, while another can be a brutal death metal tune, another one can be a schizophrenic ballad full of tension and creepy moods. Well, with "Bath", this kind of eclecticism is more developed and perfected in their catalogue. As a consequence for the eclecticism, the band has to have many band members: Of course we have Toby Driver, with his beautiful warm voice that can immediately turn into ferocious growling, as well as his beautiful and clean sounding guitar, but let's not forget Sam Gutternam's at times jazz influence at times powerful and death metal influenced drumming, Maria Stella Fountoulakis' breathtaking voice, that always gives a nice and warm touch to the song, and also the horn section that sometimes pops out of nowhere. In necessity, they are a huge group and with every release up until their break-up each individual member put their heart and soul into this masterpiece. Give it a listen, you will be rewarded.
Key Track: Birth Pains of Astral Projection
This entry also includes - "Leaving Your Body Map" [First added to this chart: 02/23/2017]
Perhaps the most dazzlingly varied album I've ever come across. "Bath" is a breathtaking, one hour demon that like no other album can make you feel every kind of emotion accessible to an individual. Bath personally is a behemoth on my catalogue of interesting records, it is quite possibly the most unique record I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. It blends styles from and contains elements from many different genres including jazz, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, post rock, art rock, progressive metal, doom metal, death metal, and gothic metal, as well as chamber music, ambient music and new-age music. I don't think any other albums outside of Toby Driver's - Maudlin & Kayo Dot - discography have been able to make this feat so accomplished and incredible to listen to, it flows almost perfectly, nothing feels out of place. Maudlin released another album in 2001, which are considered twin albums, Bath and Leaving Your Body Map. With these two albums, they established themselves as one of the most tantalizingly interesting bands out there today, well for me in particular. The first one that got released was "Bath", the masterpiece of Toby Driver's first period, and possibly the quintessential Maudlin album. The band has reached definite maturity with this album, and surely will go down in music history as one of the best avant-garde records out there, yet again, well at least for me. Don't sleep on the other album released in the same period though, it's nearly as brilliant. The first thing you notice when you listen to a Maudlin album is how incredibly eclectic the band is: one song can be a nice, beautiful piece, while another can be a brutal death metal tune, another one can be a schizophrenic ballad full of tension and creepy moods. Well, with "Bath", this kind of eclecticism is more developed and perfected in their catalogue. As a consequence for the eclecticism, the band has to have many band members: Of course we have Toby Driver, with his beautiful warm voice that can immediately turn into ferocious growling, as well as his beautiful and clean sounding guitar, but let's not forget Sam Gutternam's at times jazz influence at times powerful and death metal influenced drumming, Maria Stella Fountoulakis' breathtaking voice, that always gives a nice and warm touch to the song, and also the horn section that sometimes pops out of nowhere. In necessity, they are a huge group and with every release up until their break-up each individual member put their heart and soul into this masterpiece. Give it a listen, you will be rewarded.
Key Track: Birth Pains of Astral Projection
This entry also includes - "Leaving Your Body Map" [First added to this chart: 02/23/2017]
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Atmospheric sludge metal • post-metal
Through Silver In Blood is by no means accessible, in fact it's the complete opposite, it follows the common viewpoint the band exhibits on every record - inaccessibility. Neurosis aren't trying to commit to the masses, they have their own audience they're creating music for, tough music that requires full attention and nail-biting commitment from the listener. The record is long, twisted, winding and thoroughly exhausting but it all holds an incredible weight, something so emotionally powerful that is rarely ever seen elsewhere. Through Silver In Blood is the soundtrack to a war. Not the glamorous, glorified war that common bands like to portray, but rather the true, gritty, horrific essence of war. The thunderous climaxes are portrayals of the ferocious battles, and the ambient lulls are a representation of the uneasy calm between the killings. Within Through Silver And Blood, Neurosis outdid themselves with what would shape up as they're penultimate classic. They explored the brutal heaviness of their sound, and took that specific element as far as it could figuratively go. Never has Neurosis sounded this powerful, this compellingly heavy. Every part of the instrumentation and vocals pounds the viewer into submission, it demands your full attention. The power this record conveys is simply tectonic, complete with colossal sludge metal riffs, distorted bass playing, poly-rhythmic tribal drumming, eerie electronic additions, and tortured growls that sometimes consists of three different vocal tracks at once from each additional band member. All of this chaos is drenched in an unfathomable atmosphere that utilizes Neurosis' signature sound. In retrospect, full blast assaults are only one part of the unique post metal / atmospheric sludge formula that Neurosis utilizes, which consists of uneasy ambiance followed by jarring and disturbed noise. The ambient sections of Through Silver In Blood are a key part to shaping the impending atmosphere that clouds the record, they serve to create tension and apprehension and therefore are the finishing touches to shaping the record. If you thought there was something you could categorize as elite within the metal genres, I'd say Neurosis comes pretty close to fitting in that category among music lovers. I wouldn't remove a single minute nor second from this record, it is absolutely timeless and sits atop as the reigning sludge metal classic.
Key Track: Locust Star
This entry also includes - "The Eye of Every Storm" [First added to this chart: 05/28/2015]
Through Silver In Blood is by no means accessible, in fact it's the complete opposite, it follows the common viewpoint the band exhibits on every record - inaccessibility. Neurosis aren't trying to commit to the masses, they have their own audience they're creating music for, tough music that requires full attention and nail-biting commitment from the listener. The record is long, twisted, winding and thoroughly exhausting but it all holds an incredible weight, something so emotionally powerful that is rarely ever seen elsewhere. Through Silver In Blood is the soundtrack to a war. Not the glamorous, glorified war that common bands like to portray, but rather the true, gritty, horrific essence of war. The thunderous climaxes are portrayals of the ferocious battles, and the ambient lulls are a representation of the uneasy calm between the killings. Within Through Silver And Blood, Neurosis outdid themselves with what would shape up as they're penultimate classic. They explored the brutal heaviness of their sound, and took that specific element as far as it could figuratively go. Never has Neurosis sounded this powerful, this compellingly heavy. Every part of the instrumentation and vocals pounds the viewer into submission, it demands your full attention. The power this record conveys is simply tectonic, complete with colossal sludge metal riffs, distorted bass playing, poly-rhythmic tribal drumming, eerie electronic additions, and tortured growls that sometimes consists of three different vocal tracks at once from each additional band member. All of this chaos is drenched in an unfathomable atmosphere that utilizes Neurosis' signature sound. In retrospect, full blast assaults are only one part of the unique post metal / atmospheric sludge formula that Neurosis utilizes, which consists of uneasy ambiance followed by jarring and disturbed noise. The ambient sections of Through Silver In Blood are a key part to shaping the impending atmosphere that clouds the record, they serve to create tension and apprehension and therefore are the finishing touches to shaping the record. If you thought there was something you could categorize as elite within the metal genres, I'd say Neurosis comes pretty close to fitting in that category among music lovers. I wouldn't remove a single minute nor second from this record, it is absolutely timeless and sits atop as the reigning sludge metal classic.
Key Track: Locust Star
This entry also includes - "The Eye of Every Storm" [First added to this chart: 05/28/2015]
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Post-metal • post-rock
Isis, oh what a word that is now disgusted in today's society, such is a shame when the same name related to the Egyptian goddess is labelled to one of the greatest bands in metal and has no relation to the real problem. Alas, it shall never affect my viewpoint on this completely unrelated band. The word "epic" can be attributed to many things in life. When speaking about music, things that are labeled as such are because that have the capability to invoke certain emotions within people. Isis are a band that are more than capable of achieving this - the band within their genre constraints of incredible envelope-pushing metal have consistently released records that showcase their incredibly dense brand of the genre to perfection. Panopticon is indeed an album that could be classified as "epic" as it holds nothing back. From the way each song is structured to the overall structure of the album, everything is built into perfection, the instrumentation on every track, briskly edited, overlapping and set to a mind-bending level of technical prowess and finesse. The album opens up with one of the highlights. So Did We thrusts you straight into it, with a dense series of riffs coupled with the simple yet hypnotic drumming and the magnificently tuned vocals of front-man Aaron Turner, using his voice just like any other instrument in the mix. Indistinguishable bass, highly recorded into the mix from the guitars, it weaves in and out of the mix with some very pleasing yet never overtly technical lines, all the more contributing to the immense wall of sound the band create. So Did We is also a perfect example of how the band juxtapose their mammoth heavy sections with calming, almost ambient like pieces that help to add so much diversity into their sound. In continuation, Panopticon never falls short of this first track, Backlit creates a strange kind of atmosphere, retaining and uplifting feel throughout but never in the way that a song structured around major keys would establish. Whilst Oceanic was slightly darker in it's theme, mostly because of the concept it was centered around, Panopticon retains a slightly more upbeat and lighter feel as a whole, it's not as heavy as its counterpart. With that said, the atmosphere created by the album is stunningly beautiful - this is further demonstrated by the track In Fiction, which builds up huge amounts of suspense with a lengthy, yet never untiring introduction into one of the best climaxes they've done. Tracks such as Syndic Calls and Wills Dissolve will follow similar patterns to aforementioned tracks but with Isis being the band they are, they always manage to retain the listener's attention. Their combination of density and ambiance is definitely a winner throughout. As far as cons go, Panopticon is an album that lacks them, almost entirely. Isis write lengthy songs that are likely to put some people off. Post metal is also not everybody's cup of tea - it's an inaccessible genre, it always has been and will continue to be. Otherwise, people searching for wild technicality or blazing virtuosity should also look elsewhere, as neither of these things are the focus or central point of Isis' music - But! If you like your music to be crushingly heavy but beautifully touching at the same time, intelligent and as different from other acts as far as metal goes, then "Panopticon" is a surefire way to get you interested along with their previous album and also highly underrated "Oceanic".
Key Track: Grinning Mouths
This entry also includes - "Oceanic" [First added to this chart: 05/28/2015]
Isis, oh what a word that is now disgusted in today's society, such is a shame when the same name related to the Egyptian goddess is labelled to one of the greatest bands in metal and has no relation to the real problem. Alas, it shall never affect my viewpoint on this completely unrelated band. The word "epic" can be attributed to many things in life. When speaking about music, things that are labeled as such are because that have the capability to invoke certain emotions within people. Isis are a band that are more than capable of achieving this - the band within their genre constraints of incredible envelope-pushing metal have consistently released records that showcase their incredibly dense brand of the genre to perfection. Panopticon is indeed an album that could be classified as "epic" as it holds nothing back. From the way each song is structured to the overall structure of the album, everything is built into perfection, the instrumentation on every track, briskly edited, overlapping and set to a mind-bending level of technical prowess and finesse. The album opens up with one of the highlights. So Did We thrusts you straight into it, with a dense series of riffs coupled with the simple yet hypnotic drumming and the magnificently tuned vocals of front-man Aaron Turner, using his voice just like any other instrument in the mix. Indistinguishable bass, highly recorded into the mix from the guitars, it weaves in and out of the mix with some very pleasing yet never overtly technical lines, all the more contributing to the immense wall of sound the band create. So Did We is also a perfect example of how the band juxtapose their mammoth heavy sections with calming, almost ambient like pieces that help to add so much diversity into their sound. In continuation, Panopticon never falls short of this first track, Backlit creates a strange kind of atmosphere, retaining and uplifting feel throughout but never in the way that a song structured around major keys would establish. Whilst Oceanic was slightly darker in it's theme, mostly because of the concept it was centered around, Panopticon retains a slightly more upbeat and lighter feel as a whole, it's not as heavy as its counterpart. With that said, the atmosphere created by the album is stunningly beautiful - this is further demonstrated by the track In Fiction, which builds up huge amounts of suspense with a lengthy, yet never untiring introduction into one of the best climaxes they've done. Tracks such as Syndic Calls and Wills Dissolve will follow similar patterns to aforementioned tracks but with Isis being the band they are, they always manage to retain the listener's attention. Their combination of density and ambiance is definitely a winner throughout. As far as cons go, Panopticon is an album that lacks them, almost entirely. Isis write lengthy songs that are likely to put some people off. Post metal is also not everybody's cup of tea - it's an inaccessible genre, it always has been and will continue to be. Otherwise, people searching for wild technicality or blazing virtuosity should also look elsewhere, as neither of these things are the focus or central point of Isis' music - But! If you like your music to be crushingly heavy but beautifully touching at the same time, intelligent and as different from other acts as far as metal goes, then "Panopticon" is a surefire way to get you interested along with their previous album and also highly underrated "Oceanic".
Key Track: Grinning Mouths
This entry also includes - "Oceanic" [First added to this chart: 05/28/2015]
Year of Release:
2004
Appears in:
Rank Score:
831
Rank in 2004:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Mathcore • hardcore punk
In a genre, so tired, so exhausted, full with uninspiring messes of cliche albums, the originals, the pioneers, beginning back in 1990, ladies and gentleman, Converge - hit you with a face-fucking hurricane of hatred and pure bliss. With their rhythmically complex and dissonant style of the genre, Mathcore, they craft some of the most extreme, hard-hitting music ever and Jane Doe is the pinnacle of this style. Few albums have such a fulfilling effect after listening to, especially within this genre. From start to finish, Jane Doe is full of liveliness and astonishing variations among each track. The channeling beauty of math and hardcore infused extreme metal is incredibly complex and often stuns new listeners and even veteran listeners, it’s something that could hardly be re-created outside of Converge’s incredibly consistent discography. One would figure if they could produce this masterpiece, what they would come up with next would just as pleasurable, and it definitely shows with the amount of brilliant content they have offered to the world of metal. Due to this, Converge’s work Jane Doe altered a genre and the musicians that followed. Converge have created an undisputed masterpiece with their album Jane Doe, which is an album that people who embrace it, will not forget it - and it will continue to stand the test of time as an ultimate classic within the extreme metal genre.
Key Track: Jane Doe
This entry also includes - “You Fail Me Redux” [First added to this chart: 04/16/2015]
In a genre, so tired, so exhausted, full with uninspiring messes of cliche albums, the originals, the pioneers, beginning back in 1990, ladies and gentleman, Converge - hit you with a face-fucking hurricane of hatred and pure bliss. With their rhythmically complex and dissonant style of the genre, Mathcore, they craft some of the most extreme, hard-hitting music ever and Jane Doe is the pinnacle of this style. Few albums have such a fulfilling effect after listening to, especially within this genre. From start to finish, Jane Doe is full of liveliness and astonishing variations among each track. The channeling beauty of math and hardcore infused extreme metal is incredibly complex and often stuns new listeners and even veteran listeners, it’s something that could hardly be re-created outside of Converge’s incredibly consistent discography. One would figure if they could produce this masterpiece, what they would come up with next would just as pleasurable, and it definitely shows with the amount of brilliant content they have offered to the world of metal. Due to this, Converge’s work Jane Doe altered a genre and the musicians that followed. Converge have created an undisputed masterpiece with their album Jane Doe, which is an album that people who embrace it, will not forget it - and it will continue to stand the test of time as an ultimate classic within the extreme metal genre.
Key Track: Jane Doe
This entry also includes - “You Fail Me Redux” [First added to this chart: 04/16/2015]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,798
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Progressive rock • art rock
Wait a minute, aren’t Tool that band that have a ridiculous amount of pretentious as fuck fans? Shouldn’t their music suck ass then? Well in fact, it actually doesn’t, don’t let that Pitchfork review persuade you otherwise, just give it a listen, soon you will release “Hey, this record's pretty gooood!” In many conversations that involve Tool, pretension always seems to always be brought up one way or another or entirely alluded to, to the point of ruining quality talk. Sometimes this accusation is true due to the fact that they end three of their albums with static and other types of noise, that they take over five years to come out with a new album or how fucking annoying their fanbase seem to make themselves blatantly. Unfortunately, the people that get wrapped up in the pretense aspect often overlook the sheer amount of talent that this band possesses. From Maynard's powerful vocals to the band's unique sound that bands often appear to duplicate, this is one of the most influential modern progressive metal bands for a reason and Lateralus shows it the most. So what makes this record standout over everything else within prog in general and even their own discography for example? Maturity, that’s right - Maturity. The amount of maturity seen on Lateralus one almost never sees in a studio album at this point in a band’s career. Five years back the band released Aenima which was raw, powerful but centered on anger and frustration, this time around almost all of the lyrical content is focused on zen, letting go, and moving on - and holy shit do these lyrics really give food for thought. This is exactly why this record Lateralus is their magnum opus in my eyes, starting with a quick jab that is masterful in creating an album’s atmosphere then it just keeps on rolling brilliantly until it monumentally ends with the ultimate trifecta that is Disposition, Reflection and Triad. Armed with brilliant varied vocal work from MJK, some of the most technical drumming in existence by the one and only god - Danny Carey and fantastic guitars by both Jones and Chancellor - this record is truly a masterpiece in its own right and a damn perplexing one too.
Key Track: Lateralus
Honorable Mention - "Aenima" [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Wait a minute, aren’t Tool that band that have a ridiculous amount of pretentious as fuck fans? Shouldn’t their music suck ass then? Well in fact, it actually doesn’t, don’t let that Pitchfork review persuade you otherwise, just give it a listen, soon you will release “Hey, this record's pretty gooood!” In many conversations that involve Tool, pretension always seems to always be brought up one way or another or entirely alluded to, to the point of ruining quality talk. Sometimes this accusation is true due to the fact that they end three of their albums with static and other types of noise, that they take over five years to come out with a new album or how fucking annoying their fanbase seem to make themselves blatantly. Unfortunately, the people that get wrapped up in the pretense aspect often overlook the sheer amount of talent that this band possesses. From Maynard's powerful vocals to the band's unique sound that bands often appear to duplicate, this is one of the most influential modern progressive metal bands for a reason and Lateralus shows it the most. So what makes this record standout over everything else within prog in general and even their own discography for example? Maturity, that’s right - Maturity. The amount of maturity seen on Lateralus one almost never sees in a studio album at this point in a band’s career. Five years back the band released Aenima which was raw, powerful but centered on anger and frustration, this time around almost all of the lyrical content is focused on zen, letting go, and moving on - and holy shit do these lyrics really give food for thought. This is exactly why this record Lateralus is their magnum opus in my eyes, starting with a quick jab that is masterful in creating an album’s atmosphere then it just keeps on rolling brilliantly until it monumentally ends with the ultimate trifecta that is Disposition, Reflection and Triad. Armed with brilliant varied vocal work from MJK, some of the most technical drumming in existence by the one and only god - Danny Carey and fantastic guitars by both Jones and Chancellor - this record is truly a masterpiece in its own right and a damn perplexing one too.
Key Track: Lateralus
Honorable Mention - "Aenima" [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Year of Release:
2001
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,741
Rank in 2001:
Rank in 2000s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Alternative rock • grunge • shoegaze • dream pop
Ah Billy Corgan, what a career you have had and it all started back here when you and the best Pumpkins line-up poured your hearts and souls into your work, with Siamese Dream being the ultimate breakthrough into a level of musicianship they could never top in subsequent releases. A pillar at the pinnacle of 90s alternative rock, Siamese Dream is the Pumpkins magnum opus, grandest album and their best to date. With Butch Vig’s ability on the production helm where his perfectionist ability was never as prevalent, the smashing pumpkins created their masterpiece with the ultimate production-- swirls of vintage and a fuzz sound reminiscent of shoegaze and dream pop movements and the bands preceding this record. I can't express how astonishingly high the production value of this album is - it's mind-blowing, the song "Soma" literally had 40 overdubbed guitar parts. An album notorious for at least 27 tracks of guitar per song (what a statement)- Siamese Dream is a relentless onslaught of supersonic guitars sailing through fuzzy seas and it sounds euphoric. Siamese Dream seems to follow some sort of mood trip; while not outright considered a concept album, I truly believe it is in some sort of arrangement, an adventure into the depths of our dreams. It begins sarcastic, dark and angst-ridden, it flows into remorseful and depressing, then into surreal and poetic with no real potent theme-- it twists and turns, morphing from each to the next just like a dream would, and ends on a wistful and romantic tone - Luna and Sweet Sweet anyone? Siamese Dream is a collage of moods and feelings as well as competently and invigoratingly made music, one moment lashing out at someone in a rage buried under a wall of distortion, the other embracing that same person romantically in dreamy atmospheres, something conveyed just as astonishingly well as any dream pop classic. Siamese Dream proved that the best music can still be made while going insane, it shows that the darkest aspects of our lives can lead to the greatest. And so, through various tensions, contemplations of suicide, alcoholism and drug addictions - Smashing Pumpkins proved to be the little band that could. Well, for one more album at least. Even drudging through a serious case of writer's block - Billy Corgan overcame this obstacle with his band mates and put countless hours of sweat, blood and heart into this masterpiece, all I can ask is for you to at least give it a listen, just one will do. It is amazingly complex, beautiful and truly the most prepossessing dream, a dream that recorded itself in the upper-echelon of my music life, a dream that enchants the listener upon every listen.
Key Track: Mayonaise
Honorable Mention - "Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness" [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Ah Billy Corgan, what a career you have had and it all started back here when you and the best Pumpkins line-up poured your hearts and souls into your work, with Siamese Dream being the ultimate breakthrough into a level of musicianship they could never top in subsequent releases. A pillar at the pinnacle of 90s alternative rock, Siamese Dream is the Pumpkins magnum opus, grandest album and their best to date. With Butch Vig’s ability on the production helm where his perfectionist ability was never as prevalent, the smashing pumpkins created their masterpiece with the ultimate production-- swirls of vintage and a fuzz sound reminiscent of shoegaze and dream pop movements and the bands preceding this record. I can't express how astonishingly high the production value of this album is - it's mind-blowing, the song "Soma" literally had 40 overdubbed guitar parts. An album notorious for at least 27 tracks of guitar per song (what a statement)- Siamese Dream is a relentless onslaught of supersonic guitars sailing through fuzzy seas and it sounds euphoric. Siamese Dream seems to follow some sort of mood trip; while not outright considered a concept album, I truly believe it is in some sort of arrangement, an adventure into the depths of our dreams. It begins sarcastic, dark and angst-ridden, it flows into remorseful and depressing, then into surreal and poetic with no real potent theme-- it twists and turns, morphing from each to the next just like a dream would, and ends on a wistful and romantic tone - Luna and Sweet Sweet anyone? Siamese Dream is a collage of moods and feelings as well as competently and invigoratingly made music, one moment lashing out at someone in a rage buried under a wall of distortion, the other embracing that same person romantically in dreamy atmospheres, something conveyed just as astonishingly well as any dream pop classic. Siamese Dream proved that the best music can still be made while going insane, it shows that the darkest aspects of our lives can lead to the greatest. And so, through various tensions, contemplations of suicide, alcoholism and drug addictions - Smashing Pumpkins proved to be the little band that could. Well, for one more album at least. Even drudging through a serious case of writer's block - Billy Corgan overcame this obstacle with his band mates and put countless hours of sweat, blood and heart into this masterpiece, all I can ask is for you to at least give it a listen, just one will do. It is amazingly complex, beautiful and truly the most prepossessing dream, a dream that recorded itself in the upper-echelon of my music life, a dream that enchants the listener upon every listen.
Key Track: Mayonaise
Honorable Mention - "Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness" [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Year of Release:
1993
Appears in:
Rank Score:
19,450
Rank in 1993:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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Shoegaze • dream pop
Key Track: Sometimes [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Key Track: Sometimes [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
33,774
Rank in 1991:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Alternative rock • noise pop
Hands down - the most influential rock band of all time, but you weren’t thinking of the Pixies if the question was raised? If you didn't choose The Pixies, which I hope you did, I'll give you another chance. In the meantime, listen to Doolittle and learn from your mistakes. In all of alternative, there may be not a single record more blatantly copied from than the Pixies’ sophomore masterpiece Doolittle. Few record have the importance and blemish left upon the music world that Doolittle possesses, little albums prove to have influence so vast, so time-bending that this album may have even impacted your life to this very day. Just give that a thought, it’s a mesmerizing thing ain’t it? Famous for being ridiculously varied in almost every sense as well as being bat-shit insane, a few glances at the lyrics will blow you away. To this day, Doolittle may be consistently copied but never properly replicated. A timless classic for sure and that’s exactly why it appeals to me so much.
Key Track: Hey
Honorable Mention - "Surfer Rosa" [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Hands down - the most influential rock band of all time, but you weren’t thinking of the Pixies if the question was raised? If you didn't choose The Pixies, which I hope you did, I'll give you another chance. In the meantime, listen to Doolittle and learn from your mistakes. In all of alternative, there may be not a single record more blatantly copied from than the Pixies’ sophomore masterpiece Doolittle. Few record have the importance and blemish left upon the music world that Doolittle possesses, little albums prove to have influence so vast, so time-bending that this album may have even impacted your life to this very day. Just give that a thought, it’s a mesmerizing thing ain’t it? Famous for being ridiculously varied in almost every sense as well as being bat-shit insane, a few glances at the lyrics will blow you away. To this day, Doolittle may be consistently copied but never properly replicated. A timless classic for sure and that’s exactly why it appeals to me so much.
Key Track: Hey
Honorable Mention - "Surfer Rosa" [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
37,372
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Psychedelic rock • folk rock
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is about the strangeness it conjures in the face of the listener, the wholly unique sound encapsulates us but it’s just where the incredible lyrics take the music to - somewhere stripped down and personal. Jeff Magnum seemed to conjure everything raw, unfathomably honest and exceptional about his song-writing skills in one magnificent album, I think Bob Dylan's jealous to a lyrical degree. Perfectly lyrically written and as a psychedelic folk/rock or whatever genre you conceive the album to be - it's the best you'll ever hear.
Key Track: Oh Comely [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is about the strangeness it conjures in the face of the listener, the wholly unique sound encapsulates us but it’s just where the incredible lyrics take the music to - somewhere stripped down and personal. Jeff Magnum seemed to conjure everything raw, unfathomably honest and exceptional about his song-writing skills in one magnificent album, I think Bob Dylan's jealous to a lyrical degree. Perfectly lyrically written and as a psychedelic folk/rock or whatever genre you conceive the album to be - it's the best you'll ever hear.
Key Track: Oh Comely [First added to this chart: 08/13/2014]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank Score:
39,454
Rank in 1998:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1970s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1980s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1990s | 36 | 36% | |
| 2000s | 32 | 32% | |
| 2010s | 8 | 8% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Opeth | 1 | 1% | |
| Pink Floyd | 1 | 1% | |
| Grimes | 1 | 1% | |
| Charles Mingus | 1 | 1% | |
| Nokturnal Mortum | 1 | 1% | |
| J Dilla | 1 | 1% | |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
|
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| |
57 | 57% | |
 |
16 | 16% | |
 |
7 | 7% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 2 from 16th to 14th Deathconsciousness by Have A Nice Life |
| Up 1 from 14th to 13th Verisäkeet by Moonsorrow |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 3 from 13th to 16th Dopethrone by Electric Wizard |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
91/100 (from 106 votes)
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 106 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
85/100  | 09/23/2023 06:46 | mikepen | | 93/100 |
100/100 | 12/13/2021 19:02 |  AvalancheGrips | | 89/100 |
95/100 | 09/01/2021 22:26 |  DriftingOrpheus | | 91/100 |
100/100 | 11/20/2020 21:55 | mrmcrook | | 92/100 |
100/100 | 10/21/2020 08:00 |  ssteve | | 92/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 91.4/100, a mean average of 90.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 91.9/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 10.5.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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100/100
From mrmcrook 11/20/2020 21:57
Best chart I've come across so far. Love that you've put each album into not just there genres, but sub genres. Top notch. Well done
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
80/100
From vancevisuals 06/07/2019 21:28
have some stuff on here I am not familiar with. Based on the ones we have in common, will give some of them a try
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Paule 05/14/2019 08:24
Paule 05/14/2019 08:24
People who like their guitar sound distorted and heavy should remember your chart by heart. QOTSA, Kyuss, Primus, Dillinger, Refused, Agalloch and many essentials more!!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
80/100
From 
Boltzmann 10/23/2018 22:07
Boltzmann 10/23/2018 22:07
Bonus points for honesty, something you don’t see enough on this site. But it would really be great to see some genres that aren’t metal, or at least some more picks that aren’t guitar oriented. I see you have Art Angels on here, why not try St. Vincent’s Strange Mercy.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (2 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
ForegroundNoise 05/26/2018 21:00
ForegroundNoise 05/26/2018 21:00
Though I've gotta say there's a little too much emphasis on progressive metal at the expense of pre-90s stuff I dig this chart. Love the lengthy write-ups - bit random though that you stole Pitchfork's one for Doolittle in their list of best albums of the 80s? Stick to your own writing man you've clearly got the passion for it :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Graeme2 04/02/2018 09:08
Graeme2 04/02/2018 09:08
Great. Plenty good metal recs for me here. I should really give Siamese dream another try.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
80/100
From 
C_Krug2009 03/27/2018 17:14
C_Krug2009 03/27/2018 17:14
Glad to see Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones, System of a Down, and Tool, all great bands
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
Antonio-Pedro 02/17/2018 17:23
Antonio-Pedro 02/17/2018 17:23
what a chart, gotta feed up my love for some notes on albums! Pretty much well pictured your love for your top 20, also your headline note made me laugh, very human stuff :D
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
mozzmozz 12/05/2017 22:42
mozzmozz 12/05/2017 22:42
Great metal-heavy chart with some light touches as well. Good balance. Good to see Uroboros in there. I should listen again to it.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
WildHorses 12/04/2017 13:47
WildHorses 12/04/2017 13:47
Best chart in BEA!
heaviness taste at its finest
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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