Classic Albums, Reviewed
The records from before 2023 the editors went back to, best first.
24 reviews
9.5
Slayer
Reign in Blood
Under half an hour of floodwater, and the valley never dried out.
Saint Sylveszter
Aug 25, 2026
9.5
Black Sabbath
Paranoid
Poured in days, and the whole genre is still cooling around it
Ilse Brandt
Aug 18, 2026
9.5
Metallica
Master of Puppets
The siege that broke thrash open, fought twice from the same plans
Saint Sylveszter
Aug 17, 2026
9.4
Iron Maiden
The Number of the Beast
One lame horse in the column, and still the charge that took the field.
Declan Rourke
Aug 20, 2026
9.3
Judas Priest
Painkiller
Priest light the afterburners and leave a whole genre chasing the vapour trail
Declan Rourke
Sep 11, 2026
9.3
Megadeth
Rust in Peace
Thrash wound to the last tooth, with only the voice running rough.
Saint Sylveszter
Sep 4, 2026
9.3
Mayhem
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
The cathedral the genre still worships in, with the right priest howling
Eirik Solvang
Aug 30, 2026
9.3
Opeth
Blackwater Park
Still water over a drowned forest, and every tooth still sharp.
Julien Vasseur
Aug 19, 2026
9.3
Morbid Angel
Altars of Madness
Thirty eight minutes that taught death metal how to play.
Rafael Quintero
Mar 24, 2026
9.2
Emperor
In the Nightside Eclipse
The record that built the vocabulary, in a mix that half buries it.
Eirik Solvang
Apr 28, 2026
9.1
Godflesh
Streetcleaner
A drum machine, two men, and the end of metal's need for a drummer.
Curtis Vance
May 7, 2026
9.0
Death
Symbolic
The cleanest stone Chuck Schuldiner ever cut, and nearly every facet burns.
Rafael Quintero
Aug 28, 2026
9.0
Helloween
Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I
The first true map of power metal, and only half the continent
Julien Vasseur
Aug 23, 2026
9.0
Pantera
Vulgar Display of Power
Six bare-knuckle shots flatten the room, and the rest is a victory lap
Jonah Pike
Aug 22, 2026
9.0
Carcass
Heartwork
Goregrind's pathologists turned surgeons, and every incision still holds thirty years on
Andrzej Sawicki
Aug 21, 2026
9.0
Vader
De Profundis
Thirty four minutes, nine songs, and a scene finally audible abroad.
Andrzej Sawicki
Jul 10, 2026
9.0
Killswitch Engage
The End of Heartache
The album that taught a whole genre how to write a chorus.
Jonah Pike
Jun 20, 2026
9.0
Therion
Leviathan
Listening to Therion’s early releases, which were a mix of death and doom metal with symphonic elements, I was curious a...
Julien Vasseur
May 6, 2022
8.8
Paradise Lost
Gothic
The players were not ready. The sound was, and the sound won.
Ilse Brandt
Jun 11, 2026
8.8
Blind Guardian
Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Eleven songs of genuine grandeur, and eleven fragments that are not songs.
Julien Vasseur
May 23, 2026
8.8
Napalm Death
Scum
Two bands, one drummer, and the year music stopped being polite.
Gareth Llewellyn
Apr 9, 2026
8.5
Saxon
Wheels of Steel
The album that bought a career, and still sounds like it knew.
Declan Rourke
Aug 1, 2026
8.5
Kataklysm
Serenity in Fire
If you want grim-sounding, self-admittedly groove-infused death metal with blasting drums and intelligible growls, then...
Rafael Quintero
Feb 28, 2022
8.0
Besieged
Violence Beyond All Reason
BESIEGED have returned from the metal cosmos with “Violence Beyond All Reason” and it’s been worth the wait. Their signa...
Declan Rourke
Jun 14, 2022