Albums You Think Are Absolutely Perfect

I was referring to the amount of broken images, rather than changes in opinion. 

Currently, I've got 78 metal albums that I consider perfect.  I know that feels like a lot, but I have a firm rule about judging every genre: every genre is its own artform with its own set of rules, and these rules should be taken into account when judging.  Since I listen to every type of metal, I have quite a few examples of perfection, ranging from the melodic and extreme black metal of Thurisaz to the complex and maniacal punk-metal of Converge to even the lighter but still energetic bridge between heavy metal and hair metal of Motley Crue, who put the metal in hair metal in ways most hair bands can't do.

NOTE: I do NOT consider Van Halen hair metal.

Once I get through with Decade of Aggression, I'll check on some of the metal albums I fear I may be overrating, like Stormwarrior's At Foreign Shores and Ensiferum's self-titled.  But here's my top ten:

1. Metallica - Ride the Lightning (thrash and heavy with touches of speed and prog)

2. Black Sabbath - Paranoid (early heavy metal with a little doom and psych)

3. Neurosis - Through Silver and Blood (somewhat progressive atmo-sludge)

4. Blind Guardian - A Night at the Opera (controversial pick, I know, but the least monotonous of the BG classics)

5. My Dying Bride - The Dreadful Hours (death doom metal with a strong Gothic touch)

6. Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2 (prog metal with touches of Queensryche and Pink Floyd)

7. Helloween - Keeper, Pt. 2 (power metal's most anthemic and catchy album)

8. Immortal - At the Heart of Winter (melodic black with some thrash and a hint of prog)

9. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (early heavy metal with strong doom undertones)

10. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime (a very diverse metal album, but not the prog album it's made out to be)